Anonymous - Mother Stories from the Old Testament
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Anonymous >> Mother Stories from the Old Testament
[Illustration: Front Cover]
[Illustration: Frontispiece: JOSEPH SOLD INTO CAPTIVITY.]
MOTHER
STORIES
FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT
A Book of the Best Stories from the
Old Testament That Mothers
Can Tell Their Children
With Forty-five Illustrations
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
ALTEMUS' MOTHER STORIES SERIES
MOTHER STORIES
A Book of the Best Stories that Mothers can tell their Children
MOTHER NURSERY RHYMES AND TALES
A Book of the Best Nursery Rhymes and Tales that Mothers can tell
their Children
MOTHER FAIRY TALES
A Book of the Best Fairy Tales that Mothers can tell their Children
MOTHER NATURE STORIES
A Book of the Best Nature Stories that Mothers can tell their Children
MOTHER STORIES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT
A Book of the Best Old Testament Stories that Mothers can tell their
Children
MOTHER STORIES FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT
A Book of the Best New Testament Stories that Mothers can tell their
Children
MOTHER BEDTIME STORIES
A Book of the Best Bedtime Stories that Mothers can tell their
Children
MOTHER ANIMAL STORIES
A Book of the Best Animal Stories that Mothers can tell their Children
MOTHER BIRD STORIES
A Book of the Best Bird Stories that Mothers can tell their Children
MOTHER SANTA CLAUS STORIES
A Book of the Best Santa Claus Stories that Mothers can tell their
Children
Profusely illustrated and handsomely bound in cloth, with
ornamentation in colors
$1.00 PER VOLUME
COPYRIGHT 1908 BY HOWARD E. ALTEMUS
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS.
PAGE
ADAM AND EVE 7
CAIN AND ABEL 8
THE FLOOD 10
THE TOWER OF BABEL 12
LOT'S FLIGHT FROM SODOM 14
ABRAHAM AND ISAAC 16
THE STORY OF REBEKAH 18
JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN 22
THE FINDING OF MOSES 28
THE FLIGHT FROM EGYPT 30
MOSES STRIKING THE ROCK 32
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 34
BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB 36
THE BRAZEN SERPENT 38
PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN 40
THE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD'S HOST 42
HOW JERICHO WAS CAPTURED 44
ACHAN'S SIN 46
THE ALTAR ON MOUNT EBAL 48
THE CITIES OF REFUGE 50
JOSHUA'S EXHORTATION 52
GIDEON AND THE FLEECE 54
THE DEFEAT OF THE MIDIANITES 56
THE DEATH OF SAMSON 58
RUTH AND NAOMI 60
BOAZ AND RUTH 62
HANNAH PRAYING BEFORE THE LORD 64
ELI AND SAMUEL 66
DEATH OF ELI AND HIS SONS 68
PLAYING ON THE HARP BEFORE SAUL 70
DAVID AND GOLIATH 72
NATHAN REPROVING THE KING 74
DAVID AND ARAUNAH 76
ELIJAH FED BY RAVENS 78
PLOUGHING IN CANAAN 80
THE SHUNAMMITE'S SON 82
THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 84
JONAH AT NINEVEH 86
HEZEKIAH AND SENNACHERIB 88
THE BRAVE HEBREW BOYS 90
DANIEL AND THE LIONS 92
ESTHER BEFORE THE KING 94
DAVID AND JONATHAN 96
OLD TESTAMENT STORIES
ADAM AND EVE.
In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth He also made the
sun, moon, and stars; trees, flowers, and all vegetable life; and all
animals, birds, fishes, and insects. Then God made man. The name of
the first man was Adam, and the first woman was Eve. Both were placed
in a beautiful garden called the Garden of Eden, where they might have
been happy continually had they not sinned. But God forbade them to
eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan
tempted Eve to take the fruit of this tree. She ate, and gave to Adam,
and he ate also. Thus they sinned, and sin came into the world.
Then God called to Adam and said, "Where art thou?" Before this, Adam
and Eve had been happy when God was near, now they were afraid. Why?
Because they knew they had done wrong. So sin makes us afraid of God.
God rebuked them for the evil they had done; and then drove them out
of the Garden of Eden, placing an angel to keep watch over the gate so
that they could not return.
CAIN AND ABEL.
What a sad story the Bible tells us in the fourth chapter of Genesis!
Cain and Abel were brothers, the sons of Adam and Eve. How they should
have loved each other! Yet we find that Cain killed Abel. Why did he
do this?
Cain was a husbandman, who tilled the ground; Abel was a shepherd, who
kept sheep. One day each offered a sacrifice to God. Cain brought
fruit, and Abel brought a lamb. God accepted Abel's offering, but not
Cain's. Why? Well, I am not quite sure, but I think it was because
Abel offered his sacrifice according as God had commanded, and had
faith in a promised Saviour; but Cain simply acknowledged God's
goodness in giving him the fruits of the earth. God had probably told
them, too, that when they came to worship Him, they were to bring a
lamb or a kid as a sacrifice for their sins; this Abel had done, but
Cain had not. Cain was angry because God had accepted Abel's offering
and not his; and he hated his brother Abel.
God knew the evil thought Cain had towards his brother, and asked him,
"Why art thou wroth?" and said, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be
accepted?" But Cain did still more wickedly. When out in the field he
killed his brother. Was it not a cruel deed? They were alone when this
murder was committed, yet one eye saw it all. God saw it, and said to
Cain: "Where is Abel, thy brother?" We cannot sin without God knowing
it! Cain told God a lie. He answered, "I know not." But he did know.
God was angry with Cain for his sin, and sent him as a fugitive and
vagabond to wander on the earth.
[Illustration: ABEL'S SACRIFICE.]
THE FLOOD.
About fifteen hundred years had passed since Cain slew Abel, during
which time man had become more and more wicked. At length God saw
"that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Then God said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face
of the earth."
But one man was righteous and served God. His name was Noah. God told
him that the world would be drowned by a flood because of the
wickedness of the people, and commanded him to build a great ark to
float upon the waters. In this ark God promised to preserve alive Noah
and his family; and also two of each of every living thing on the
earth--animals, birds, and creeping things. All the rest were to die.
Noah built the ark as God commanded. It took him a great many years,
during which time the people were warned to forsake their sins and
turn to God, but they did not do so. At last the ark was finished, and
Noah, with his wife, and his sons with their wives, and the animals,
birds, and creeping things, as God had commanded, all entered into it.
What a long procession it must have been! Then God shut them in, and
they dwelt in safety while the rain came down, and the waters rose up
and covered the earth. All were drowned except those in the ark.
A year afterwards, when the waters were dried up, Noah, and all that
had been with him, left the ark. Then Noah built an altar, and offered
sacrifices to God, in thankfulness for God's goodness to him and his
family.
[Illustration: ENTERING THE ARK.]
THE TOWER OF BABEL.
Babel means confusion. Was it not a strange name to give a tower? How
did it get this?
After Noah left the ark, God made a promise to him that He would no
more destroy the earth by a flood, and blessed him and his sons. In
course of time many little children were born, baby boys and girls,
who grew up to be fathers and mothers having children also. In this
manner a great many people dwelt again on the earth. For more than one
hundred years they all spoke the same language, and as, in course of
time, they journeyed onward, they came to a large plain in the land of
Shinar, near to where Babylon was afterwards built. Here they said
they would remain and build a great city, with a high tower ascending
to heaven.
Now God, when he blessed Noah, had said to him, "Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth;" meaning that the people were to
scatter abroad, so that the world might become inhabited again. But
these men wanted to keep together, and found one great empire, the
centre of which should be the great city with the lofty tower. So they
made bricks and burnt them, and took a kind of pitch for mortar, and
began to build. Some learned men say they took three years in getting
the materials, and were twenty-two years building the tower. It was
very great and high, but it was never finished. The people did
wickedly in building it, and God, who saw all they were doing,
confounded their language, so that one could not understand another.
Thus they left off building the tower, and that is why it is called
Babel. Then God scattered them abroad to re-people the earth.
[Illustration: BUILDING THE TOWER OF BABEL.]
LOT'S FLIGHT FROM SODOM.
In Palestine, the land in which Jesus dwelt when He was upon earth,
there is an inland sea, called the Dead Sea. Its waters are very salt,
and no trees grow upon its shores. Many long years before the birth of
Jesus Christ, two cities stood upon the plain which the waters of the
Dead Sea now cover. These cities were named Sodom and Gomorrah. Their
inhabitants were very wicked, so God destroyed their cities by raining
brimstone and fire upon them.
Before God destroyed these cities, He sent two angels to Lot,
Abraham's nephew, who dwelt in Sodom, commanding him to flee from it,
taking his family with him. The angels hastened him, saying, "Arise,
take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be
consumed in the iniquity of the city." Then the angels took all four
by the hand and led them out, and said to Lot, "Escape for thy life;
look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to
the mountain, lest thou be consumed."
Lot pleaded that he might take refuge in a little city, named Zoar,
not very far distant; and having obtained the angels' permission to do
so, he took his wife and daughters, and hastened away. In our picture
we see him and his daughters entering Zoar, and Sodom burning in the
distance--but what is that strange figure standing on the plain? Alas!
that is Lot's wife; the angel had commanded them that none were to
look back, but she did so, and was turned into a pillar of salt.
Lot did wrong in dwelling in such a wicked city as Sodom, and lost all
his property when he escaped for his life.
[Illustration: LOT ENTERING ZOAR.]
ABRAHAM AND ISAAC.
Abraham feared God and obeyed His commandments; and God promised to
bless Abraham very greatly. He gave him riches in cattle, and silver,
and gold; and said that the land of Canaan should belong to him and
his descendants. God also gave him a son in his old age, whom he
loved, very dearly and named Isaac. But God intended to try Abraham,
to see if he loved Him above all else.
One day God told Abraham to take his son Isaac, and to journey into
the land of Moriah; there to build an altar and offer Isaac as a
sacrifice upon it. It was a strange command, but Abraham knew that God
would not bid him do what was wrong, and believed that even if he slew
his son, God was able to raise him to life again. So he rose early in
the morning, saddled his ass, took two of his young men, and wood for
the fire; and then, accompanied by Isaac, started on his journey. On
the third day they came near the place God had pointed out, and
Abraham left the young men with the ass, while he and his son
journeyed up the mountain alone. As they went along, Isaac--who
carried the wood, while his father carried the knife and the fire,
said: "My father." And Abraham replied, "Here am I, my son." Then
Isaac said: "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a
burnt offering?" Abraham answered: "My son, God will provide Himself a
lamb for a burnt offering."
The altar was built, Isaac was bound and laid upon it, and Abraham's
arm was uplifted to strike the blow that was to take his son's life
away. Then God called to Abraham, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad,
neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from
Me." Abraham looked up, and behind him saw a ram which was caught in a
thicket by its horns; this he took and offered as a sacrifice to God.
So God tried Abraham; and also Himself provided the lamb for the burnt
offering, as Abraham had said.
[Illustration: ABRAHAM AND ISAAC.]
THE STORY OF REBEKAH.
When Abraham had grown old, he desired that his son, Isaac, should
take a wife. But he did not wish him to choose one from among the
women of Canaan, for they worshipped idols. So he called his oldest
servant, and commanded him to make a journey to Abraham's own country,
and there to choose a wife for Isaac. Then the man took ten camels,
together with food and other goods for the journey, and set out for
the city of Nahor. When he came to the walls of the city he spied a
well, and, as it was evening, the young women were coming out to draw
water. Then he asked God to help him to choose a wife for Isaac,
saying, "Let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say,
'Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink,' and who shall
reply, 'Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also;' let her be the
one Thou hast chosen for Thy servant Isaac."
[Illustration: REBEKAH GIVING DRINK TO ABRAHAM'S SERVANT.]
Before he had done speaking, there came out a beautiful young woman,
whose name was Rebekah. She was the grand-daughter of Nahor, Abraham's
brother. She carried a pitcher upon her shoulder, and went down to the
well and filled it. Then Abraham's servant ran to her and asked her
for a drink from her pitcher. She said, "Drink, my lord," and held the
pitcher for him, and afterwards drew water for his camels also. Then
he took a golden jewel and a pair of gold bracelets, and put them upon
her, and asked whose daughter she was, and if her father could lodge
him and his company. When she told him who she was, he was glad, and
worshipped God, for he was sure then that he had been led to the house
of Abraham's brother.
Then Rebekah called out her friends, and they took the man in to lodge
him for the night, and set food before him. But he would not eat until
he had told them his errand, and how he believed God had chosen
Rebekah for Isaac's wife. He then asked the parents to say whether
they would give their daughter or not, but they said: "It has been
ordered by God; we cannot give or refuse her. Rebekah is before you.
Take her and go. Let her be Isaac's wife, as the Lord hath spoken."
When the man heard these words, he again praised God, and then he
brought out rich clothing, and jewels of gold and silver, and gave
them to Rebekah. He also gave presents to her mother and brother. When
they asked Rebekah if she would go with the man, she said "Yes," and
took leave of her friends, who blessed her. Then, with her nurse and
her maids, she rode upon the camels, and followed the man, for she
believed that so God had ordered it.
Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi, and one evening he walked into the
fields to meditate. As he lifted up his eyes he saw the company of
camels coming towards him. At the same time, Rebekah lifted up her
eyes and saw Isaac. When the man told her it was his master Isaac, she
alighted from the camel, and covered her face with a veil, according
to the custom of the East. When the man told Isaac all he had done,
Isaac was pleased, and welcomed Rebekah, and gave her the tent that
had been his mother's. And she became his wife.
[Illustration: REBEKAH JOURNEYING TO ISAAC.]
* * * * *
JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN.
How wonderful is the way in which God works for those who fear Him!
The history of Joseph teaches us this truth.
Joseph had one younger and ten elder brothers. The name of the younger
brother was Benjamin. Jacob was the father of them all; and Rachel was
the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob loved Joseph more than all
his other sons, and made him a coat of many colours; but his elder
brothers hated him, and one day, when far away from home, proposed to
kill him. They cast him into a pit instead, and afterwards sold him as
a slave to some merchants who were travelling from Gilead to Egypt.
When they returned to their father, they took Joseph's coat of many
colours, which they had dipped in blood, and brought it to Jacob,
saying: "This have we found: know now if it be thy son's coat or no."
Jacob knew the coat; and thought Joseph had been killed by some wild
beast, and mourned for him greatly.
[Illustration: THE MEETING OF ISAAC AND REBEKAH.]
The merchants carried Joseph into Egypt, and sold him to one of the
king's officers, named Potiphar. But, though a slave, he was not
forsaken by God. No, God was with him, and made all that he did to
prosper. His master placed him over all his house, but his mistress
wanted him to commit a great sin. When he refused, she accused him
unjustly to his master, and Potiphar had him cast into prison.
God was with Joseph in the prison, and gave him such favour with the
keeper that he set him over all the other prisoners. Among them were
two; one who had been the king's butler, and the other his baker. Both
had dreams which troubled them much, but Joseph was enabled by God to
interpret their dreams for them. By-and-by Pharaoh, the king, dreamed
a dream. He was standing on the banks of a river, and saw seven fat
cows come up out of the water and feed in a meadow; afterwards seven
very lean cows came up and devoured the fat ones. Then Pharaoh awoke;
but he dreamed again, and saw that seven very poor ears of corn
devoured seven that were full and good. In the morning he was greatly
troubled. What could the dreams mean? He called for the magicians and
the wise men, but they could not tell. At last it was told him how
Joseph had interpreted the dreams in the prison; so he sent for
Joseph, who came from the prison, and stood before the king.
Pharaoh said, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can
interpret it; and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand
a dream to interpret it." Joseph answered, "It is not in me: God shall
give Pharaoh an answer of peace." Then Joseph told Pharaoh that the
dreams had been sent by God, to show him that after seven years of
great plenty had passed there would come seven years of famine. He
also advised Pharaoh to lay up corn in cities during the years of
plenty, so that the people might be fed during the years of famine.
Pharaoh saw what great wisdom God had given Joseph, and made him ruler
over all the land of Egypt. The corn was stored up; and after the
years of plenty the famine came.
[Illustration: JOSEPH BEFORE THE PHARAOH.]
During all this time Jacob and his sons had been dwelling in Canaan;
where, through the famine, they were now in want of food. So Jacob
sent his sons to Egypt to buy corn. The Bible tells us, in the book of
Genesis, how they came to Egypt, and all that befell them there; and
how at last Joseph, the ruler of the mighty kingdom, made himself
known to them as the brother they had cruelly sold for a slave. But he
forgave them, and sent to fetch his father Jacob, saying that all were
to come into Egypt, where he would provide for them.
Jacob could not at first believe the good news his sons brought; but
when he saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him and the
little ones, he said, "It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I
will go and see him before I die." So he journeyed to Egypt, with his
sons, and all that he had; and as he drew near Joseph went to meet
him. When Joseph met his father, he fell on his neck, and wept there.
And Jacob said, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because
thou art yet alive." He was so full of joy that it seemed to him there
was nothing else worth living for. Afterwards Joseph presented his
father to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh; who allowed him and his
family to dwell in the land of Goshen.
[Illustration: JACOB PRESENTED TO PHARAOH.]
THE FINDING OF MOSES.
Pharoah, becoming alarmed at the increasing power and numbers of the
Israelites in Egypt, ordered that every male child who might be born
to them should be cast into the river, and drowned. But the wife of a
man named Levi felt that she could not give up her babe, and for three
months she hid him. When she could hide him no longer, she prepared a
basket of rushes, and coated it with pitch, so that it would float
upon the river and keep out the water. In this ark she placed her
infant son, and hid the ark among the flags and bulrushes on the
river-bank, and set the child's sister to watch it.
Now it happened that the daughter of Pharaoh came with her maidens to
bathe in the river; and when she saw the basket she sent one of her
maids to fetch it. And when she looked at the child he wept, and she
had compassion for him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews'
children." Then the child's sister came forward and said to Pharaoh's
daughter, "Shall I call to thee a Hebrew woman that she may nurse the
child for thee?" And when the princess said, "Go!" she, the maid, went
and called her own mother, to whom Pharaoh's daughter said, "Take this
child and nurse him for me, and I will give thee thy wages." And the
woman took the child and nursed him. And when he had grown, his mother
took him to the princess, who adopted him as her son, and called his
name Moses, which means _drawn out_, because she took him from the
water. Afterwards he grew to be a great man: he was learned in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians; and we are told, "he was mighty in words and
deeds."
[Illustration: THE FINDING OF MOSES.]
THE FLIGHT FROM EGYPT.
When Moses was forty years old he had to flee from Egypt. He went to
Midian, where he dwelt for forty years; at the end of which time God
appeared to him, and instructed him to return to Egypt; where he was
appointed by God to lead the Israelites from bondage to the land of
Canaan. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and delivered
to him God's command to let the people of Israel go; telling him that
if he disobeyed terrible plagues would come upon his land. Pharaoh
hardened his heart against God, and refused to let the people go; so
ten dreadful plagues were sent, the last of which was that the
firstborn of every Egyptian should die, whether it were man or beast.
But not a single Israelite was to suffer harm. This plague God said
should come in the night; when an angel would pass through the land,
destroying the Egyptians but sparing the Israelites.
Each family of the Israelites was commanded, on the evening that God
had appointed, to kill a lamb, and to dip a bunch of hyssop in its
blood, sprinkling this blood upon the top and side posts of the door.
All the houses thus marked God said would be spared when the
destroying angel passed through the land. In the night, while the
Israelites were, according to God's command, eating the lambs that had
been slain, all ready to depart, a great cry arose among the
Egyptians. In every house, from the palace downwards, the eldest child
lay dead.
Then the Egyptians arose, and thrust the Israelites out; and they left
Egypt, and journeyed towards the Red Sea.
[Illustration: SPRINKLING THE BLOOD.]
MOSES STRIKING THE ROCK.
After the Israelites left Egypt they crossed the Red Sea, whose waters
divided so that they passed through on dry land. Then they travelled
through the wilderness toward Mount Sinai. Passing onward, they wanted
water and food; and forgetting the great things God had already done
for them, they began to murmur. At a place called Marah they found the
water too bitter to drink; so they grumbled, saying to Moses, "What
shall we drink?" He asked God; who showed him a tree, which, when cast
into the water, made it sweet.