Read Ebook: Half Hours in Bible Lands Volume 2 Patriarchs Kings and Kingdoms by Headley P C Phineas Camp

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ose up, and laid The wood upon the altar. All was done, He stood a moment--and a deep, quick flush Passed o'er his countenance; and then he nerved His spirit with a bitter strength, and spoke-- 'Isaac! my only son'--the boy looked up, And Abraham turned his face away, and wept. 'Where is the lamb, my father?' O, the tones, The sweet, the thrilling music of a child! How it doth agonize at such an hour! It was the last, deep struggle--Abraham held His loved, his beautiful, his only son, And lifted up his arm, and called on God And lo! God's angel staid him--and he fell Upon his face and wept."

The years fled, the good old Abraham died, and Isaac succeeded him to the patriarchal honors. He had two sons, Esau and Jacob. The elder brother was irreligious, and married a heathen wife. God had rejected him, and promised to Jacob the birthright; in other words, he was to be the chief patriarch, through whose descendants the Messiah should come. He was his mother's favorite boy, while Isaac clung to Esau.

When the fond father became weak and blind from age, feeling that death was near, one day he called Esau, and told him as he might die suddenly, to get him venison, and prepare for the solemn occasion of receiving his parting blessing, which should secure the privileges and pre-eminence of the first-born. The hunter went into the fields, and Rebekah recollected that Jacob had purchased the birthright of his brother for a mess of pottage one day when he came in from the chase faint with hunger and exhaustion. She determined by a stroke of management to secure the patriarchal benediction. She sent him to the flocks after two kids, which were prepared with the savory delicacy his father loved, dressed him up in Esau's apparel, covering his hands and neck to imitate the hairiness of the rightful heir, and sent him to the beside of the dying Isaac. When the patriarch inquired who he was, he replied, "I am Esau, thy first-born." This was beyond belief, because even the skillful hunter could scarcely, without a miracle, so soon bring in the game, and dress it for his table. Jacob was called to his side, and he felt of his hands; the disguise completed the delusion, although his voice had the milder tone of the young shepherd to that father's ear. He repeated the interrogation concerning his name, then embracing him, pronounced in a strain of true poetry, the perpetual blessing of Jehovah's favor upon his undertakings, and his posterity. The stratagem had succeeded, and Jacob hastened to inform his mother of the victory, just as Esau entered. When Isaac discovered the mistake, he trembled with excitement, while his son cried in anguish, "Bless even me also, O my father!" That cry pierced the breaking heart of the aged man, but it was a fruitless lament, He was inflexible, and Esau wept aloud over his blasted hopes; plotting at the same time, in his awakened enmity, the murder of Jacob.

This scene of deception, disappointment, and providential working, the introductory picture brings vividly before us.

The patriarchs were generally shepherds, and when we read in the Bible of shepherds, we have but a poor impression of their business, if we think only of the keeping of the small flocks kept in the fenced fields and yards of modern farmers. They made their wealth chiefly by feeding immense flocks and herds. They had extensive open plains; and were obliged to watch the animals to prevent their being lost, stolen by robbers, or devoured by ferocious beasts. When it was at all safe, the shepherds and their flocks slept in the fields, beneath the open sky, or under the sheltering trees.

If the country was infested by dangerous men or animals, the owners of the flocks built the fold or sheep-cote. This enclosure was sometimes merely a rude pen. The walls were of wood or stone, with a thatched roof--if they had any at all. The shepherd follows a wayward sheep, and brings him back to a place of safety.

Thus the Good Shepherd of souls, whose disciples, like the flocks of the East, "know his voice," with his rod of affliction restrains the wandering and keeps securely the trusting ones.

Occasionally a rich land owner would make an expensive fold--a kind of town or fortress for his flocks. Keeping the sheep in the air, it was believed improved the texture of the wool, making it softer and firmer than when exposed to the sweating and vapors which would necessarily result from crowding them often and long into enclosures.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were among the richest shepherds of antiquity, and stand alone in moral grandeur of character, so far as we have any records of the Hebrew husbandmen.

The great enemy of the sheep the world over, is the wolf--a cunning, savage, and daring creature. A lamb of the flock seems to be a dainty feast for him. He relishes even a child; the human delicacy is quite as delicious as the other. A mother, with three children, was once riding in a sledge in a desolate region, when a pack of wolves came running after her. She drove rapidly on, but they came nearer and nearer, until their hot breath fell on her face. In her terror, she threw one of the children to the hungry wolves, hoping thus to pacify or check them until she could get out of their reach. Soon, however, they came galloping on, surrounding her sledge, and she flung another upon the snow. A brief delay, and they were once more around her, and the last child was given to the beasts; and then she reached her home in safety.

When she told the story to her neighbors, an exasperated peasant hewed her down with an axe, because she fed the wolves on her own offspring, selfishly saving by the sacrifice, her own life.

How like the destroyers of human virtue, and the great destroyer himself! Wolves in sheep's clothing, stealing upon unguarded victims, and glorying in the destruction of all that is "lovely and of good report." for the transitory present and endless future!

We now turn to the annals of a patriarchal life which is entirely new, and intensely interesting--the only record of the kind in the Bible.

The inspired history introduces him in the following words: "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job." This region was in Eastern Arabia, and probably near the home of Abram when he was summoned by God to leave his idolatrous friends and neighbors in "Ur of the Chaldees."

It is thought he lived not far from the time of the great founder of the Hebrew patriarchy. Job was probably a descendant of Nahor, Abram's brother. He was a devout, rich, and benevolent Gentile patriarch. The princely fortune of this "greatest of all the men of the East," is indicated by an inventory of his flocks and herds. He had "seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses." His household was also "very great." This mighty man was a humble servant of God; and Satan could not bear to see his influence and prosperity; and he determined to make him the shining mark of his enmity to God and man.

The mysterious account of his entrance upon the cruel work of attempted ruin, is in the following words: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." The saints of that early age were called "Sons of God," but the meaning seems to be that either Satan was permitted to appear in a gathering of angels who, returning from their ministries of love, were reporting to their king, and awaiting new instructions, or, it is designed only to represent the real character and power of the tempter, in contrast with the loyalty of God's servant.

The whole narrative bears the marks of a real history; and Jehovah is not limited by our ideas of what he can consistently do. "My ways are not your ways, nor my thoughts your thoughts, saith the Lord."

The devil charged Job with selfish motives in serving God. He could afford to be religious with such rare and splendid prosperity. To show to the universe Satan's lying malice, his loyal subject's holy character, and to comfort his people in all the ages following, while the discipline purified and beautified the sufferer, he told the adversary to try the patriarch with a change of circumstances--the severest trials; only his body must not be touched.

The gratified fiend hastened away to his attack upon the unsuspecting friend of God, over whom he anticipated a great victory. The patriarch's family was large, and evidently a united and happy one. They had their anniversary festivals, which were hallowed by religious services; the faithful and affectionate father offering sacrifices on such occasions. The Lord was recognized amid the most joyful scenes of social life; and not, as in many prosperous households of Christian name in all the ages since, excluded from the circle of pleasure like an unwelcome, unworthy guest.

The birthday seems to have been the favorite anniversary; and at the very moment Satan left Jehovah, the children were assembled at the house of the oldest brother. Job was not there. He may have gone away for awhile, or not yet have joined the rejoicing company.

For a messenger rushed into his presence with the startling intelligence that the lawless Sabeans living in the region, had fallen upon the servants keeping the oxen and asses, and slaying them, had taken the animals away. No sooner had the devil obtained permission to engage, in the wicked enterprise, than he found ready agents among men. And before the evil report was finished, another terrified, excited servant, came in, saying that the lightning of heaven had consumed the seven thousand sheep.

This intelligence was falling from the lips of the only shepherd who escaped the devouring fire, when a third messenger entered, pale with alarm, and announced the raid of three companies of Chaldeans upon the keepers of the three thousand camels, killing all but the bearer of the news, and driving off the beasts of burden. The trembling man was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the fourth servant, wild with terror, crowning the crushing tidings already received, by telling Job that a gale from the wilderness had swept down upon the eldest son's dwelling, where the whole family were, excepting the patriarch, and thrown walls and roof into a common wreck, burying his ten children under the fragments.

We cannot easily imagine the stunning effect of these reports, following each other like successive claps of thunder from a cloudless sky. Satan was watching the effect, ready to exult over the first expression of repining and rebellion. But how sublime the resignation of the loyal heart of the childless, homeless, and penniless sufferer! After the eastern custom in time of affliction, he cut off his hair, rent his robe, fell upon the ground, and worshipped. The lips, tremulous with sorrow, uttered the often-quoted and beautiful words: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." No disloyal act, or foolish complaint against Jehovah, gratified the expectant enemy of God and man. But Satan was not satisfied with the trial of faith. He was allowed to appear before God, and in answer to the questioning respecting the patriarch's lofty yet meek submission, basely and meanly declared that if he had been permitted to torture the body, he should have succeeded in proving Job to be a hypocrite. The Lord had purposed to silence the devil, and thoroughly try and sanctify his own child. So he told the tempter to do what he pleased, only he must spare life.

Suddenly poor Job was covered with burning ulcers, which defiled his form until he scraped it with a piece of broken pitcher. While sitting in the dust, a wretched mass of corruption, he found a new tempter in the person of his wife: She asked him if he could still "retain his integrity," and urged him to "curse God and die." Beautifully again his breaking heart uttered its loyalty. Charging her with folly, he inquired: "What! shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

The scene of sorrow is now changed. Job had three friends living in the country not far off, who were clearly intelligent, noble men. They heard of his calamities, and started on a visit of condolence. When they came in sight of him, he was so changed that at first they did not know him. They wept aloud, rent their robes, and scattered dust on their heads, to express their overwhelming grief. There he sat, in miserable poverty and disease, and all around him the ruins of his just before magnificent fortune, and the bodies or graves of his sons and daughters. They approached him, and could say nothing, but sat down with him seven days and nights without speaking a word--an awful, expressive silence. At length Job could refrain no longer, but in his despondency, began to bewail his birth, and wish he had at least died in earliest infancy. Then was opened a long, eloquent, and wonderful discussion by the mourning company upon the providence and grace of God.

Among the animals to which reference is made, there are three conspicuous ones, about which naturalists disagree--they cannot certainly tell us what they were. These are the unicorn, supposed by many to be the rhinoceros of the present day; the behemoth, thought to be the hippopotamus or river-horse; and the leviathan, which answers very well to the whale.

The description of the war horse is the finest ever written, and given in a few words; and yet he had not been seen amid the wildest storm of battle, bearing his rider to the flaming mouths of ordnance, and through the leaden hail of numberless infantry arms. "Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength, he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting."

He alludes to a very beautiful wonder of his forming skill--"the treasures of the snow." Few persons imagine the marvels of the fleecy storm that whiten the earth in winter. What a variety of perfect crystals! and how delicate their form and finish! The ice is made of crystals, and often gives out aeolion music at the touch of winter. Even the frost makes fine drawings on the window panes of leaves and flowers.

But the people of Palestine and the regions around it, know little of our northern winters. The cold season is brief, and the occasional snow storms light, and of short duration.

After God had finished his sublime appeal, Job bowed his head low before him, and declared that all he had known of him before, compared with what he had learned since he was afflicted, was no more than hearing about him; "for," he added, "now mine eye seeeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Then the Lord rebuked Job's friends, because they had judged him harshly, and "had multiplied words without knowledge," directing them to offer a sacrifice for him.

The patriarch prospered again under Jehovah's smile, and became greater in wealth, and family, and influence, than he was when Satan assailed him. The deceiver and persecutor does not appear again in the annals of the devout Arabian; disappointed and enraged, he turned his malice against others more easily conquered and led captive by his wiles.

How awakening the thought that he still goes about "as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." But with loving trust in God, he can only repeat his fruitless effort to destroy, preparing the way for richest blessings.

THE BIBLE AND THE HOLY LAND.

PATRIARCHS. KINGS. AND KINGDOMS.

THE FIRST KINGS.

Theocracy, we have seen, was the first form of government in the world.

The word is from Theos, which means God; for He ruled by direct command, and would have continued to have been the only and perfect sovereign, had not man been disloyal to him.

The patriarchal quay, which was that of the family, having at length united households and extended authority, was still a Theocracy.

When God made his people a separate nation, each of the twelve tribes, which sprang from the sons of Jacob, had its own ruler. If any important matter concerning them all demanded public attention, they called an assembly of their leaders.

When the bondage in Egypt was broken, Moses was the deliverer and lawgiver of Israel, and Joshua the great general or military chieftain.

The high priest was the visible servant of God--his representative of the Redeemer of his people.

Then came the judges, who were a kind of governors, having power to declare war and make peace for the nation, but wearing no badges of distinction. Jehovah revealed through them his will, and was still the glorious king of Israel.

With the increase in numbers and general prosperity, there was a decrease of the religious element and of harmony among the people. They also ceased to appreciate the simple and sublime principles of a Theocracy, while all around them was the central power and the pomp of pagan monarchies; and they became tired of God's holy sovereignty, having no visible display of authority. There were dissensions and civil strife in Israel, in consequence of these departures from the Lord, and strange melancholy blindness to their preeminence over other nations.

It was with them as it will be in the great American Republic, if Puritan faith and works decline, until practical atheism prevails in our "goodly land." The people will throw off wholesome restraints, become divided North and South, and corrupt in morals, until a monarchy will be the natural resort of the people, as a protection against their own selfish passions and conflicts.

Samuel, the wonderful child of Elkanah and Hannah, given to them, like Jephthah and Samson, as a special mark of divine favor, and who early entered the temple-service under Eli, was the last of the judges, excepting the authority which he delegated to his sons. He was a noble, dutiful and devout boy, and a faithful priest and magistrate in Israel. Eli, whose sons were dissipated, and slain by God's revealed purpose on account of their enemies, preceded him, so that Samuel saw the last of the Theocracy, and inaugurated by the Lord's command a monarchy in Palestine.

The Hebrews came to him begging for a king, and urging, as one reason for the change, the unfitness of his sons to succeed him. They were mercenary and open to bribery, and it is not strange that they were disliked by the people. It is one of many instances of departure by children from the counsels and prayers of the kindest parents, and choosing the "wages of sin."

Samuel took the petition of the people to God for direction in answering it. The Lord's message was the following:

"Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done, since the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to thee. Now, therefore, hearken to their voice: nevertheless testify solemnly to them, and show them the practice of the king that shall reign over them."

He then enumerated the burdens of the state which they must bear. The inventory of these royal exactions is so true to the experience of all countries under kingly rule, you will read it with interest. It was the first divine statement of the nature of a monarchy, and has needed no important change in the progress of the ages. Jehovah told Samuel to repeat the following description of the desired blessing, a king:

"He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war and instruments of chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectioners, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his officers, and to his servants; and he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his works. And he will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day, beware of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day."

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