THE STORY OF
Our. Bible
HOW-ITGREW-TO'BE-WHAT-IT' IS

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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

GIFT OF
GEORGE M, MURRAY '17
FR0MTHEI,IS:?AI1Y0P
WILLIAM D, MURRAY 'SO

THE STORY
OF OUR BIBLE

¦ WHEN I MEDITATE ON THEE IN THE NIGHT WATCHES "

THE STORY
OF OUR BIBLE
HOW IT GREW TO BE WHAT IT IS

BY
HAROLD B. HUNTING

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1915

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Copyright, 1914, 191S. by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published August, 1913

PREFACE
Back of the Bible lies a fascinating story, the story
of the men and women who wrote it. They were human
beings like ourselves, with their hopes and fears, their
dreams and their longings. More than that, they were
noble, heroic men and women, whose supreme aim was
to help others, by bringing to them the glad tidings of
the living God. They sought to accomplish this first of
all through personal contact and teaching, and then, as
a secondary method, through writings. Each book in
the Bible, therefore, was written for a definite purpose,
and originally played an important part in some great
hero's Ufe-battle for God and for the right. Sometimes
the Biblical book itself describes or suggests the circum
stances which called it forth, and the special purpose
for which it was written. Sometimes we must infer the
story from references found in other books, and by our
knowledge of ancient life and customs. For centuries
men have been patiently searching for these facts. As
a result of their work it is now possible to teU the story
of the Bible as a whole; how its various books came to
be written and what results they achieved; and finally
how these books were preserved through the centuries
and thus handed down to us.
This is the story which will be told in the following
pages. It begins with the New Testament, although
chronologically it might seem that it should begin with
the Old. It is easier to understand the conditions in
which the New Testament arose, for the very reason
that they are more like those of modem life.

CONTENTS
CHAPTEE 7AGE
I. The Story of Tertius, A Christlvn Scribe . i
II. Some Letters of a Missionary  7
III. Winning Back Faithless Converts ... 13
IV. The Plans of a Great Religious Statesman 21
V. An Eye-Witness of Jesus' Arrest ... 28
VI. Cherishing the Sayings of Jesus .... 34
VII. A Compassionate Physician  41
VIII. Messages of Encouragement for Perse
cuted Christians  49
IX. What is True Christianity?  58
X. A Spiritual Gospel  63
XI. Jesus the Divine Saviour  70
XII. The Story of the New Testament ... 77
XIII. Bards and Ballad-Singers  81
XIV. Old Stories Told in a New Way ... 88
XV. Stories of a Nation's Heroes  95
XVI. Justice Through Laws  100
XVII. A Century of Great Reformers .... 105
XVIII. A Forgiving Husband Who Told of God's
Mercy  112
XIX. The Counsels of a Statesman-Prophet . 118
vii

viii CONTENTS
CHAPTEK PAGE
XX. A Great Prophet and His Faithful Secre
tary  124
XXI. Lessons from a Nation's Misfortunes . . 131
XXII. Comforters and Guides in Dark Days . 137
XXIII. A New Message for the Oppressed . . 144
XXIV. A New Kind of Patriotism  149
XXV. Prayers for Help in Time of Oppression 155
XXVI. Hymn-Books Within Hymn-Books .... 160
XXVII. Appealing to History in a Church Quarrel 166
XXVIII. Two Kinds of Patriotism  172
XXIX. Hebrew Love Songs and a Hebrew Love
Story  177
XXX. Wise Men Who Taught in the Gate . . 183
XXXI. A Man Unjustly Condemned  189
XXXII. A Man Who Thought for Himself ... 195
XXXIII. A Pessimist and an Optimist  201
XXXIV. Greek-Speaking Jews Who were True to
Their Faith  207
XXXV. A Story of Martyrdom and Triumph . . 213
XXXVI. The Canon of THE Old AND New Testaments 219
XXXVII. "The Books" in a Second Century Church 225
XXXVIII. Making Bibles by Hand  229
XXXIX. The Beginnings of Our English Bible . 234
XL. A New Era of Triumph for the Bible . 241
XLL The Bible for the German People . . . 247
XLII. The Father of the English Bible . . . 253

CONTENTS ix
CZAPTES PACE
XLIII. A Masterpiece of English Literature . 260
XLIV. A Quest for Perfect Accuracy .... 267
XLV. The Bible in Non-Christian Lands . . . 273
XLVI. The Bible and the Spade  279
XLVII. The Bible, Science, and Religion ... 287

ILLUSTRATIONS Color Plates
When I Meditate on Thee in the Night Watches . . Frontispiece PACING PAGE
I wUl Lift up Mine Eyes  144
The Lord is My Shepherd  158
When I Consider Thy Heavens  . 192
Half-Tone Plates
A Pap3rrus Swamp  2
An Ancient Letter — Portion of a Papyrus Found at Assuan,
Egypt  6
Two Views of an Ancient Papyrus Letter, Showing Strings and
Clay Seal  10
The Traditional House of St. Paul in Rome  24
The Last Supper  28
The Good Samaritan  44
The Last Prayer — Christian Martyrs in the Coliseum .... 50
Among the Lowly  68
Ancient Systems of Writing  86
Babylonian Cylinders  92
Stone Column on which Hammurabi's Law Code is Inscribed . 102
Typical Assyrian Scenes  120
"Our Feet are Standing Within thy Gates, 0 Jerusalem" . . . 162
Ruins of a Graeco-Roman Temple at Samaria  166
Ruth the Moabitess  180
zi

xii ILLUSTRATIONS
PACING PACE
The Old Codex at Shechem  212
Ancient Book-Rolls  226
Container for Book-Rolls  230
Gothic Bible  234
Wyclif's Bible  238
A Gutenberg Press  242
Manuscript Discovered by Tischendorf on Mount Sinai . . . 268
The Moabite Stone  280
Recently Discovered Papyrus: Sayings of Jesus  286

THE STORY
OF OUR BIBLE

THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
CHAPTER I
THE STORY OF TERTIUS, A CHRISTIAN SCRIBE
Rom. 16:1-27
( Date of writing about 56 A. D. )
The Earliest New Testament Writings
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — every one knows
that these are the first four books in the New Testament.
We might naturaUy suppose that they were the first
New Testament books to be written. As a matter of
fact, the oldest part of the New Testament is not the
Gospel of Matthew but the letters of the Apostle Paul.
In the study which we are now tmdertaking we shall
foUow, in general, the chronological order of the various
Biblical writings. The earhest letter of Paul was either
I Thessalonians or Galatians. We shall study these
two letters in chapter two. In the present chapter, we
begin our study with a short letter, which is not indeed
among the earliest of Paul's writings, but which illustrates
very well the method by which all his letters were written.
It is found in the sixteenth chapter of Romans.
An Apostle Dictating a Letter
We begin with a scene from the life of the Apostle
Paul. He is dictating a letter, in his room at the house
of a man named Gains in the city of Corinth. He has
been preaching in Corinth for some months, and has
won many converts. For some time he has been planning
to send a letter to a group of Christians in another city.
Paul himself seems to have been somewhat awkward
with the pen; he cannot afford to hire a professional
1

2 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
scribe, however; so he has inquired whether there is a
good vmter among the converts there at Corinth. Some
one has told him about a certain man named Tertius,
and Paul has sent for him. Would Tertius be kind
enough to come to the house of Gains, some time this
week and write a letter from Paul's dictation? Tertius
has answered that he would be glad indeed to do so.
His heart is warm with his new love for Christ, of whom
Paul has told him, and he feels deep gratitude toward
Paul himself, through whose tender, burning words he
first found God. So Tertius has arranged to call at Paul's
room, to act as his scribe.
Ancient Writing Materials and Styles of
Writing
Before coming at the appointed hour, Tertius had to
provide himself with writing material. Short letters
were often written on wax tablets. Such a tablet con
sisted of two wooden frames, folding together Hke an
old-fashioned pair of slates. The soft yielding wax
was packed into each frame, and its surface made level
and smooth. The writing was done with a sharp metal
pencil or stylus by means of which the characters could
be scratched on the wax. Tertius may have provided
himself with several of these tablets; but as Paul probably
wished to send a letter of considerable length, he doubt
less bought several sheets of papyrus. Caspar Rene
Gregory, a noted German scholar, gives the following
description of papyrus: "It is a plant that one can often
find in parks and botanical gardens. In the parks,
it is four or five feet high. If I am not mistaken I saw
it fifteen feet high at the Arethusa Spring at Syracuse.
It has a three-cornered stem, and the sides are covered
by a thin green sldn. There are no joints. At the top
is a large inverted tassel of grass-like hair like the crest
of a helmet. The great place for papyrus in ancient
times was Egypt, although European rivers, for example
the Anapo near Syracuse, also produced it. The pith
stem was cut crossv^ise into lengths of eight or ten inches,

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STORY OF TERTIUS 3
according to wish, and then cut lengthwise into thin
fiat strips like tape. These tape-like strips were laid
vertically to the edge of the table side by side, till there
were enough for a leaf of the desired size. Then a layer
of paste or glue was spread over them, and other strips
laid across, that is to say horizontally, running parallel
with the edge of the table. These leaves were pressed,
so that the strips should all stick fiat together, and left
to dry. The drying is easy in Egypt. Things dry almost
before they have come to perceive that they were wet.
The dried leaves were a trifle rough. For nice paper
the surface was then smoothed off, it may be with pumice-
stone, or it was hammered. It was a very good surface
to write upon, not unlike birch bark, which many readers
wiU know from the Adirondacks or Maine or Canada."
It is an interesting fact that our word "paper," is
derived from this word "papyrus." The leaves which
Tertius bought were doubtless of a uniform size, with
neatly trimmed edges. If Paul told him that he expected
to send a long letter, he may have bought a blank roll.
If so, that roll was made by pasting several sheets together,
by the edges. Tertius began to write on the left-hand
end of the roll. He wrote in columns about as broad as
a finger is long. Professional scribes were paid by the
line, and the usual rule was to make each line about as
long as the average line of a modem printed page. Longer
lines would have been harder to read.
Tertius also provided himself with pens and ink. His
pens were made of reeds, pointed and split like our pens
today. He doubtless prepared three or four of them,
so as not to keep Paul waiting while he mended pens.
His ink was made of oak-gaUs, and was probably brownish
in color, and paler and less clear than ours. He kept it
in a glass or metal bottle, stoppered with wax. All
these articles he carried in his girdle, which, in those
days, served for a pocket.
Arriving at the house of Gains, Tertius takes his seat
at the writing table. Paul reclines on a couch, or perhaps
in his enthusiastic manner walks back and forth across

4 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
the room. As he rapidly dictates the sentences, Tertius
writes them down as best he can. It is quite possible
that Tertius took down Paul's words in shorthand,
using cheap papyrus for that purpose. A very good
system of shorthand had been invented and was widely
used. He probably wrote the final copy of the letter in
a "cursive" or "running" style of hand writing, which
was different from the letters which were used in per
manent books, just as our script is different from print.
Unlike our writing or printing, there were no spaces
between the words in Tertius' letter, and almost no
punctuation marks.
A Letter of Introduction for Phoebe of
Cenchre^
Paul probably dictated two letters to Tertius. The
first was a long one to the Christians at Rome. We will
have its storyi-in chapter four. The second was only a
short note. In after years, the two were copied by other
writers on one roll, and in that way became a single
letter, and we now have the shorter one as the sixteenth
chapter of our "Epistle to the Romans." It was really
a note of introduction for a certain woman named Phoebe,
a prominent Christian worker in the Httle sea port of
Cenchreag, just across the isthmus, ten miles from
Corinth. She was going to Ephesus on business, and
Paul wrote this letter for her to give to friends of his
among the Christians there. As a stranger in the city,
and a woman, she would greatly appreciate their hospi
tality. Paul had recently spent three years in Ephesus,
and had many dear friends there; so in the letter for
Phoebe, he sent greetings to many of them, just as in
our letters we ask to be "remembered" to various friends.
In the midst of these greetings, there seems to have been
a slight interruption. Perhaps a visitor came in and
talked a little while with Paul. Possibly Gaius and other
friends were in the room. Meanwhile Tertius, as he
sits there waiting, thinks "I know some of the people
to whom Paul is writing; I used to loiow Prisca and

STORY OF TERTIUS 5
Aquila, when they made tents here in Corinth. [Rom.
16:3 and see Acts 18:1-3.] I beHeve I'll just put in
a friendly word for them." So he writes, "I, Tertius,
who am writing the letter, salute you in the Lord."
Then the visitor goes out. Paul continues, "Gaius, my
host, salutes you," and after a few closing words the
letter is finished. A Httle later, it is roUed together as
compactly as possible, tied with a cord, and sealed with
a drop of wax. Tertius writes on it the address. To — , '
in the city of Ephesus, the Province of Asia. The next
day Phoebe comes in and the letter is put in her hands.
No doubt she thanks Paul warmly, as she bids him good
bye. A Man who Performed an Humble Service
in a Noble Spirit
It is not very much that we know about the scribe,
who thus wrote the very first copy of one of Paul's letters,
but what is known about him is intensely interesting.
This Tertius was not a man of genius. He was not an
intellectual giant, Hke Paul. Yet he could do something
that Paul could not do — ^he could write a clear legible
hand, and Paul needed his help. Had it not been for
this man Paul might not have been able to write his
letter. But Tertius performed the needed service; and
he did it, not for sake of money or fame, but because
he loved the Master. "I, Tertius, . . . salute you in the
Lord." These last three words show that he was a
Christian and that he was proud of his membership in
the Christian church. Moreover, he was quick to seize
opportunities to extend his Christian influence. "I
salute you in the Lord." "I'm with you," Tertius
seems to say, "Don't forget I'm on your side, too."
Some days after the writing of this letter, Phoebe landed
at the docks in the harbor at Ephesus, and went to the
house which Paul had mentioned. When the letter
was opened and passed around among Paul's friends,
we can easily imagine their pleasant surprise when
they came to that sentence from Tertius. ' ' Look, Aquila,

6 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
said Prisca, "do you remember Tertius? WeU, it was
Tertius to whom Paul dictated this letter, and Tertius
himself has put in a special greeting for us. ' I, Tertius,
salute you in the Lord. ' ' ' And Aquila may have answered,
as he went on with his tent making, "Really, I am almost
as glad to receive that greeting from Tertius, as I am to
hear from Paul himself."

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AN ANCIENT LETTER— PORTION OF A PAPYRUS FOUND AT
ASSUAN, EGYPT.
CHAPTER II
SOME LETTERS OF A MISSIONARY
Galatians and I and II Thessalonians
(Date of writing about 51 A. D.)
Why Paul Wrote Letters
The Apostle Paul was a great writer, yet he left only
a few letters as his contribution to the world's Hterature.
The reason is evident. He was a busy man. What
with earning his own living by tent making, and his
unwearying evangelistic efforts, he had no time to write
books. His letters, on the other hand, were called forth
by the practical needs of his work. He had laid out
for himself a unique life task. He had planned, ap
parently, to carry the Gospel message around the entire
coast of the Mediterranean Sea, or in other words, through
out the central portion of the Roman Empire. He
would stop a few months or years in one of the leading
cities, gathering and training converts and then go on
to the next town, planting a church in each. These
chtirches were to be centers from which Christianity
would spread into the surrounding regions, and thus
the entire Empire would eventuaUy be Christianized.
It was a stupendous undertaking. No one had ever
dreamed of such a thing, hitherto. In fact up to the
time of the Roman empire, it would have been physically
impossible, for the lack of roads and ships, would have
kept the missionary at home. Now, however, the Roman
govemment had buUt good roads into the most remote
provinces, and had swept the pirates from the sea, and
the robbers from the public highways. There were
passenger ships making regular trips between aU the
large cities on the coast of the Mediterranean. People
traveled a great deal. The Greek language was every-
7

8 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
where tmderstood. These facts made it possible for
Paul to cany out his campaign with a large measure
of success.
If this work, however, was to accompHsh permanent
results, it was necessary for Paul to find some way to
foUow up his own short personal campaigns in each
city, otherwise the newly planted churches would wilt
and die in the heat of persecution or temptation. There
was nothing superficial in Paul. Whatever he undertook,
he did thoroughly. So he devised two methods for
looking after new converts. In the first place, he gradu
aUy built up a corps of Heutenants, men and women Hke
Prisca and Aquila, Timothy, Silas, and Luke. Whenever
he left a city, one of these assistants remained behind,
if possible, to go on with the work. At frequent intervals,
these helpers reported to him, wherever he happened
to be. The second method of looking after his converts,
was through letters. These he sent by his assistants,
or by any messenger whom he could secure. Thus in
addition to his missionary preaching, he was able to
keep constantly in touch with aU his previous converts;
sympathizing with their perplexities and troubles; re
buking their wrong doings; and cheering them on in
times of discouragement. As the number of churches
grew, it is not surprising that Paul sometimes felt burdened
by "that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for aU
the churches. ' ' (II Cor. 11 : 28) .
The Letters to Thessalonica
Of the letters of Paul which are preserved in our New
Testament, the earhest are a group of three which were
written in Corinth during his first visit there, namely,
Galatians, and I and II Thessalonians. This visit
should probably be dated sometime between the autumn
of 50 A.D., and the spring of 52 A.D. When the first
letter to the Thessalonians was written, Silas and Timothy
had just come down from Macedonia to Corinth. As
they appeared in the low doorway of the tent-maker's
shop, where Paul and Prisca and Aquila were at work.

LETTERS OP A MISSIONARY 9
they received a royal welcome. Paul had been having
a fit of the blues. His work in Athens just before coming
to Corinth, had seemed a total failure, and he was ap
parently succeeding no better in Corinth. He had
been compeUed to flee from Macedonia much sooner
than he intended, and he was very anxious about his
converts there, especially the Thessalonians. The travel-
stained newcomers, however, brought good cheer. The
PhiHppians had actually taken up a coUection, and had
sent the money to Paul through Silas. As for the Thessa
lonians, Timothy reported that in spite of the fact that
they had been severely persecuted, they had proved
themselves true Christians. At these good tidings,
Paul's spirits rose with a bound. Immediately he sent
the Thessalonians a letter praising them, and encouraging
them to continue in the good way. The second letter
was written a few weeks after the first. In their expecta
tion that Christ would soon retum to earth, some of
the Thessalonians had ceased from their daily work.
Paul explained to them that the longed-for retum of
the Master might be delayed, and urged them to retum
to their work. "If any will not work," he says, "neither
let him eat." For the most part, the letters to the
Thessalonians are letters of praise, rather than of reproof,
and are fiUed with beautiful and tender expressions of
Paul's love. The Letter to the Galatians
The letter to the Galatians was written about the
same time as I Thessalonians, perhaps even earlier.
Messengers had just come to Paul, from the cities of
southern Galatia, where he had founded churches.
(Acts 13-14). There were four of these cities, namely
Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. Since
Paul's last visit, some Jewish-Christian teachers from
Jerusalem had come among them, saying that the Gentile
Christians, as well as the Jews, must observe the rites
and ceremonies of the law of Moses, else they could not
be saved. "Paul was mistaken," they said, "in teUing

10 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
you that these rites are unnecessary. He was not one
of the original twelve Apostles anyway. He never even
saw Jesus while He was on earth." The messengers
reported that many of the Galatians had believed wha,t
these men said, and that aU the churches were in a turmoil
over the question. Paul was deeply stirred and troubled
by what he heard. He realized, of course, that these
old ceremonies, in themselves, were not worth a contro
versy. It was a matter of no consequence whether
they were observed or neglected. But the Jewish Chris
tians taught that these things were an essential element
in Christianity. Thus they made religion a burden and
a bondage. Paul's reHgion, on the other hand, was a
religion of freedom. His mission among the GentUes
was not to lay new burdens upon them, but to free them
from their old burdens, by teUing of a wondrous power
from on high which would make all burdens Hght. We
cannot wonder that Paul was angry, with a holy anger,
when the very heart and core of his message was thus
perverted, and when his whole work among the Galatians
was being undone. It was to fight these "bHnd leaders
of the blind," that he wrote his letter. It is in many
respects the greatest letter he ever wrote. It is more
like a firebrand than a letter. Every sentence, every
line, either blazes with indignation, or quivers with the
pleadings of love. He defends his own authority as a
religious teacher. He declares that even though he
never saw Jesus in the flesh, yet he has known him, in
the spirit. He appeals to their own experience and to
the teachings of the Old Testament, to prove that the
Jewish rites are not essential, but that God gives His
blessings freely to all, both to Jews and Gentiles, on the
one condition of faith. In other words, men are not kept
from God by the fact that they are not Jews, or by the
fact that they have not performed a certain ceremonial
rite. Only one thing can shut men away from God,
their own wUful unbeHef.

TWO VIEWS OF AN ANCIENT PAPYRUS LETTER, SHOWING
STRINGS AND CLAY SEAL. FOUND AT ASSUAN, EGYPT.

LETTERS OF A MISSIONARY 11
How Paul's Letters were Received
Suppose we foUow this Galatian letter to its destination,
as a good iUustration of the history of aU of Paul's letters.
The same messengers who brought the news from Galatia
to Paul, no doubt returned with his answer. After a
short sea voyage from Cenchrege to Ephesus, or Miletus,
and a joumey of a hundred nules or so along the Roman
road into the interior of Asia Minor, they arrived at the
city of Pisidian Antioch. They probably delivered the
letter to an elder in the church there, who immediately
sent word to aU the Christians in the town to come to
his house that night. "A letter from Paul!" the news
was flashed very quickly from home to home. In the
evening, the room is crowded. Amidst an eager silence,
the elder begins to read. The characteristic sentences
of the great Apostle bring back to the minds of the Hsteners
the familiar tones and inflections of Paul's voice. After
about an hour's reading the letter is finished. A half-
suppressed sigh sweeps through the room, and there are
some rather shame-faced glances. Here is a man who
remembers that he caUed a fellow-disciple by a hard
name the other day, because he was not observing the
Jewish fast of the new moon. Here is a woman who
has been saying rather unkind things about Paul himself.
FinaUy one of the leaders rises, a man who has the con
fidence of aU. "Brothers and sisters," he says, "Paul is
right. I had begun to observe these Jewish ordinances,
like most of you here; but I, for one, wiU do so no more.
These things only cultivate self -righteousness and pride.
It is through God's free grace that we are saved." At
this, one after another rises and declares himself on
Paul's side. There is not a person in that room, who
has not gained a new insight into the beauty of the Chris
tian Hfe.
The next day the letter was probably taken to Iconium,
twenty-five miles distant, where in the evening it was
read to the assembled disciples just as in Antioch. The
next evening it was read in Lystra, and finally in Derbe.
The disciples in Derbe probably kept it until they could

12 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
make a copy of it; copies were likewise made in each of
the other towns. In their future meetings, they would
read and reread these copies, until the favorite parts
became finger marked, and the papyrus became ragged
and tom. Then new copies would be made. Some of
the members would make private copies for themselves.
Thus Paul's influence lived on from year to year, and
from generation to generation.

CHAPTER III
WINNING BACK FAITHLESS CONVERTS
Trouble in the Church at Corinth
(Date, about 55 A.D.)
Paul's Four Letters to the Corinthians
"Four Letters!" some one may object; "We have heard
about First and Second Corinthians, but never of Third
Corinthians or Fourth." Yet it is now generally agreed
that Paul wrote four letters to the Christians in Corinth,
and probably aU four of them are in our Bible. This
series of letters was begun during the last few months
of Paul's stay in Ephesus. He had come to that city
in the autumn of 52 A.D., soon after leaving Corinth,
where he wrote the letters described in the previous
chapter. He had taken up an exceedingly active mis
sionary campaign, which continued during three eventful
years, and brought to him many anxious hours. At
times, just as in Corinth, he ran short of money and
nearly starved. His clothes grew shabby and wom.
He was thrown out of his lodgings because he could not
pay the rent. With all this, his preaching was so success
ful, that he won a large number of converts. This aroused
the hatred of both the Jews and the heathen Greeks and
he was nearly killed in the persecution which foUowed.
It was just as this strenuous career in Ephesus was
drawing toward its cHmax, that news came to Paul of
trouble among his converts in Corinth. The story of
the correspondence which at once began between the
Corinthians and Paul, and which lasted about a year,
is weU-nigh as exciting as anything which happened in
Ephesus.

13

14 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
The First Letter
The first of these four letters was called out by a scandal
in the Corinthian Church. Word was brought to Paul
by friends who happened to come to Ephesus, that the
Christians in the former city had received into the church
a man who was openly living an immoral life. It seems
that he had married his father's wife, that is, his own
stepmother. Paul, of course, was shocked, and wrote
a short but emphatic note protesting that this man should
never have been taken into the church, and should at
once be expelled, unless he would repent of his wrong
doing, and cease from his evil life. It was formerly
believed that this note was lost. Modem scholars,
however, have perhaps discovered it in what is now II
Cor. 6: 14 — 7: 1. We have already seen how the letter
for Phoebe was added to the letter to the Romans.
Apparently this short note to the Corinthians has found
its way into the middle of a longer letter. Perhaps
some later scribe intended to copy it at the end, but
accidentally disarranged the leaves of papyrus on which
he was writing, and thus inserted it by mistake in its
present position. If so, then the note began as follows:
"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers;
for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity?
or what communion hath light with darkness? And
what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion
hath a believer vnth an unbeliever? And what agreement
hath a temple of God with idols?" These short crisp
sentences are like blows of the fist. They must have
awakened some, at least, of the Corinthians, to a realiza
tion of the mistakes which they had made, and must have
helped to recall them to their senses.
Other Shortcomings of the Corinthians
After sending this note, Paul received further informa
tion regarding the state of affairs at Corinth. It was a
discouraging situation in many ways. These Corinthian
Christians were full of rehgious enthusiasm, but their
everyday conduct was far from ideal. Many of them

WINNING BACK FAITHLESS CONVERTS 15
before their conversion, had been thieves, swindlers,
drunkards and grossly immoral. It is not surprising,
therefore, that even after their conversion, their standards
of conduct were somewhat low. There were also certain
persons in Corinth who ridiculed the Christian belief
in a Hfe after death when men will be punished or re
warded, according to their deeds on earth. "Let us
eat, drink and be merry," these scoffers seemed to say.
" Let us indulge ourselves as we please for tomonow we
die." Some of the Christians had been influenced by
these arguments. Furthermore the church was tom with
jealousies and quarrels. They had quaneled over the
question, " who is the more eloquent preacher, Paul or
ApoUos" (Paul's friend and associate). They had
quaneled over the matter of spiritual gifts. Each one
claimed special honor for his own gift. This quanelsome
spirit led to disorders in their meetings. Those who spoke
first, took up too much time. Often there would be
several persons trying to speak at once. At their suppers,
they broke up into little cliques, the members of each
cHque in a comer by themselves. Here wotdd be a group
of weU-to-do people, who had brought a fine dinner,
and were behaving like gluttons, while over on the other
side of the room, would be certain poor persons who had
been able to bring Httle or nothing, and who were hungry
and embanassed. FinaUy, what was perhaps more
discouraging than anything else, the majority of the
Corinthians including some of the worst offenders, were
excessively proud and conceited. They would take
advice from no one. They regarded themselves as
already weUnigh perfect. When any of the wiser members
attempted to remonstrate vsdth them, they felt themselves
insulted. In general they were behaving Uke spoiled
children.
Paul Handles the Situation Boldly.
His Second Letter
Paul's second letter to this church, we have in the New
Testament under the heading First Corinthians. It

16 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
was written some weeks after the real first letter. Paul
had just received an answer to that letter, in which the
Corinthians asked him how it would be possible to avoid
associating with immoral persons unless they were to go
out of the world altogether. It was a rather foolish
question, and shows that they were trying to excuse
themselves for their conduct. They also asked a number
of other questions, as for example, whether it was ever
right to eat meat which had been dedicated to an idol.
In his second letter (I Corinthians), Paul gives practical
commonsense answers to aU their questions, and also
goes very thoroughly into all the matters regarding which
they needed instruction. This letter must have made
a sensation. It was charged with spiritual electricity.
Patiently, tactfully, but with absolute fearlessness, Paul
discussed their errors and shortcomings. Two great
purposes underlie the whole letter, first, to lift the Corin
thians to a higher standard of morals, and secondly to
inspire them with the Christian spirit of love. The
greatest passage in the letter, is the chapter in praise of
love, beginning with the words, "If I speak with the
tongues of men or of angels, but have not love, I am
become sottnding brass or a clanging cymbal." This
is one of the noblest and most eloquent passages in all
Hterature. Trouble-makers from Outside
This second letter would probably have accompUshed
its purpose had it not been that most unfortunately, some
of Paul's enemies among the Jewish Christians, came to
Corinth just at this time. These persons were perhaps
the very men who had tried to persuade the Galatians
to observe the Jewish law. They followed the same
course in Corinth, except that they attacked Paul him
self, more bitterly. "Do you know who this man is?"
they asked. "Did he bring any letters of recommenda
tion from the mother-church at Jerusalem?" They
found a ready hearing for these insinuations among those
whose conduct Paul had just rebuked. Getting together
a group of them, they poured into their wiUing ears some

WINNING BACK FAITHLESS CONVERTS 17
such tale as follows. "You Corinthians have been
outrageously deceived. This man told you that he was
an apostle of Christ. He is always bragging about him
self, and claiming to be some great personage. In reality
he is a rank imposter. He admits that he never knew
Christ while He was on earth, as the other apostles did.
Moreover, his teaching is false. He says that you
Gentile Christians do not need to keep the law which
God revealed to Moses. What a blasphemy to teU men
that they do not need to obey God's law! What then
is there to hinder any man committing any sin he may
choose ? The f eUow knows that his doctrines lead directly
to this dreadful conclusion, although he is too clever to
admit it. He throws a veil over his real meaning. Do
you ask what he is doing all this for? Why he wants your
money. True, he would not accept any money from
you for his support, but that was merely in order to win
your confidence. Is he not at this very time raising a
great collection for the poor in Jerusalem? Do you
suppose the poor wiU ever see that money? Really, the
fellow is a scoundrel. He is not only a liar, he is a coward
as weU. His letters are bold and threatening to be sure,
but when he is with you does he dare to carry out his
threats? Soon after he first pretended to be converted,
he showed himself a coward; we heard aU about it. He
was preaching in Damascus, and some of the unbelieving
Jews threatened to kUl him. There reaUy was no danger
at all, yet he ran from the city in tenor. Why even his
bodily presence is weak, and his manner of speech is
contemptible." In their desperate attempt to blacken
Paul's character, these Jews seem to have even refened
to a chronic illness to which Paul was subject, and which
caused him much pain and annoyance. Perhaps this
disease was epilepsy. The Jews always regarded any
disease and especially nervous weaknesses of this kind,
as the result of some previous sin and therefore evidence
of a sinful character. This affliction was sent upon
Paul, so the Corinthians were told, as a punishment of
his evil deeds. There was just enough truth in some of

18 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
these statements to make an impression on the Corin
thians. Even those who had been most loyal to Paul,
found it hard to keep unshaken faith in him. When
Paul himself heard what was being said about him, he
was of course deeply grieved and hurt and also filled
with anxious concem for the Corinthians themselves.
So he dropped his work in Ephesus and made a flying
visit to Corinth, thinking that he could quickly raUy
his old friends about him. It was a sonowful visit,
however. Scarcely any one welcomed him. At every
door, he was received with cold and suspicious glances.
He was even publicly insulted at a gathering of the
church members, and the man who committed the outrage
was not rebuked; on the contrary, the majority of those
present seemed to approve. So almost heart broken,
Paul sailed back to Ephesus.
How Paul Regained the Confidence of the
Corinthians.
The Third Letter
Nevertheless this painful visit was not whoUy a faUure.
After Paul had gone the Corinthians began to be ashamed
of themselves. When his associate Titus came to them
from Ephesus, some two or three weeks later, with a
letter from the apostle, they were already in a better frame
of mind. This was Paul's third letter to them. We have
this letter, or a part of it, in the New Testament, at the
end of what is now called Second Corinthians (Chapters
10-13). It was doubtless added here by some one who
was making a copy of Paul's letters. It was a very
severe letter. Part of it seems never to have been made
pubHc, probably because it mentioned the name of the
man who had insulted Paul. In the part which has
been handed down to us, Paul pleads for a fair hearing.
He is fighting now with his back to the waU. With
biting irony, and splendid eloquence, he defends his
character and mission. He appeals to his past record
of toil and sacrifice for the cause of Christ. Referring
to the Jewish Christians, he asks: "Are they ministers

WINNING BACK FAITHLESS CONVERTS 19
of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself), I am more;
in labors more abundantly,' in prisons more abundantly,
in stripes above measure, in deaths oft." Then follows
a most remarkable and moving story of what he had
endured and achieved for Christ. (II Cor. 11:23-33).
In answer to the charge that his attacks of bodily sickness
were sent upon him as a punishment, he says that this
"thom in the flesh" was really sent to him in connection
with his wonderful visions and revelations from the Lord,
lest he should be tempted by them to be unduly proud.
Moreover, it had really been one of his greatest blessings
for through it he had leamed that the power of God was
made perfect in human weakness. "Most gladly there
fore, will I rather boast in my weaknesses," — "for when
I am weak, then am I strong." This letter went home
Hke an anow to its mark. It would seem that the whole
assembly broke down in weeping, when it was read. To
think that instead of giving this great souled man their
truest love, they had pointed the finger of scom at even
those physical sufferings which should have awakened
their deepest sympathy! They begged Titus to hurry
back to Paul and teU him they were sorry, and were longing
for his forgiveness. They also severely reprimanded the
man who had been guilty of the act of insult,
Paul's Fourth Letter: The Happy Reconciliation
MeanwhUe, Paul's tender heart had been smiting him.
How would they take his letter? Had he written too
severely? Would they be alienated from him altogether?
Would Titus never come back? Unfortunately it had
been understood that Titus was to retum by way of
Macedonia. So at last, when Paul could endure the
delay no longer, he closed his work at Ephesus, and
went to Troas, where the Macedonian boats came in.
Not finding Titus there, he went on across the sea, and
in one of the cities of Macedonia, he found the man he
was looking for. How about it, Titus? TeU us quickly.
What news from Corinth? Eagerly and joyously Titus
pours out his welcome news. 'Then in overflowing

20 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
happiness, Paul writes one more letter, a fourth, which
we have as II Cor. 1: 1—6:13; 7:2-9. He sends it back
post haste, with Titus, promising to come himself very
soon. In this letter Paul fairly sings his tenderness and
his gratitude to God. He begs the Corinthians not to
deal too severely with the member who had wronged
him, but rather to forgive and comfort him, lest he should
be "swallowed up with his overmuch sorrow."
To dispel any Hngering perplexities which the Jewish
Christians may have suggested to their minds, he burst
forth into one final, splendid defence of himself, and his
gospel. He does not need "letters of recommendation,"
he says, "Ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Hving
God." In answer to the charge that he had not known
Jesus while He was on earth, Paul says, "Wherefore,
henceforth, I will know no man after the flesh; even
though I have known Christ after the flesh, yet now I
will know Him, so, no more." That is, Paul does know
something of the events in the earthly Hfe of Jesus, through
his acquaintance with Peter, and James, the Lord's
brother; it is possible that he had even seen Jesus, when
He was in Jerusalem, but He is resolved to make use of
this knowledge even less in the future than in the past.
He will appeal rather to his knowledge of the Hving Christ,
who ' ' shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowl
edge of the glory of God."
This letter was delivered in due time. The Corinthians
were not expecting it so soon, for they supposed that
Paul was still in Ephesus. When Titus gave it into
their hands, how quickly they tore open the seal, and
scanned its closely written lines. Quickly the word
was passed around among all the members; "A letter
from Paul already! He has forgiven everything." And
then they began to count the days before Paul should
come in person once more. The letters had accomplished
their purpose. The Corinthian Church had been saved
for Paul, and for the cause of Christ.

CHAPTER IV
THE PLANS OF A GREAT RELIGIOUS
STATESMAN
Paul's Letter to Rome, and Letters Written
FROM Rome
(Date 56—61 A. D.)
Looking Westward from Corinth:
Hopes and Forebodings
When Paul sent his last letter from Macedonia to the
Corinthians, his work in that part of the world was
nearly completed. He had preached the Gospel in
Damascus, in Antioch, in the cities of Galatia, in Ephesus,
in Corinth, in the cities of Macedonia, and even as far
as lUyricum, northwest of Macedonia. In most of these
cities he had established churches, and thanks to his
ceaseless care and effort, these churches were now strong
and flourishing organizations. In accordance with his
missionary plan, his eyes now turned to the great provinces
of the west: to Rome, the mighty heart and metropolis
of the whole empire, and beyond Rome, to distant Spain.
Before he could embark on this new part of his enterprise,
however, there was one duty which he felt that he must
fulfil. We have seen that he had been having constant
friction with certain Jewish-Christian teachers. They
had done aU in their power to hinder him in his work.
They were evidently sincere in beUeving him to be a
hypocrite, and a thoroughly bad man. There were,
to be sure, a few of the Jewish-Christian leaders, Peter,
for example, who believed in Paul; but a large number
of the Christian Jews in the church in Jerusalem, and
elsewhere, bitterly opposed him. Paul defended himself
against their attacks with all his might. Yet it was a
deep sonow to him to be in confHct with men of his own
21

22 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
race, and especially with men who tried to follow the
teaching of Christ, however imperfect their appreciation
of Christianity may have been. He grieved over the
growing bitterness between the GentUe Churches which
he had founded, and the original mother-Church at
Jerusalem, and he determined to do what he could to
bring about a reconciliation. To this end, he had been
gathering for a year or more, a great collection for the
poor among the Christians at Jerusalem. (See I Cor.
16 : 1-3 ; II Cor. 8-9). This had been suggested, originally,
by Peter and other Jerusalem leaders who were friendly.
Paul took up the idea with enthusiasm, and his converts,
everywhere, responded generously. When he finally
reached Corinth, the money had all been gathered. He
was to take it to Jerusalem, in company with some eight
or nine men, representing the leading Gentile Churches.
It was hoped that this findly gift would not only help
the poor, but would also win the hearts of the Jewish
brothers. For Paul, this joumey was dangerous. In
fact, Jerusalem was the most dangerous place in the world
for him. If the Jewish Christians were in conflict with
him, how much more, the unbelieving Jews! They re
garded him as a renegade and a traitor. Many of his
friends besought him not to undertake the joumey. If
he should once enter Jerusalem, would he ever leave it
alive? Would he ever see the fulfilment of his dreams?
Would he ever really preach the Gospel in Rome?
A Letter to the Christians in Rome
With this eager ambition to go to Rome, and mingled
with it, this anxious foreboding as to the outcome of his
visit to Jerusalem, Paul's spirit must have chafed within
him, as he watched the white winged ships setting sail
for Italy from the harbor at Corinth. Fortunately, before
he left this city, he met vnth an acquaintance who was
going to Rome, and who could deliver a letter to the
Christians there; so Paul determined to write to them.
If he were successful in carrying out his plans, the letter
would prepare the way for his coming. If on the other

PLANS OP A RELIGIOUS STATESMAN 23
hand, it should prove to be the Lord's will that he die
in Jerusalem, he would have spoken his message at least
through this letter, in the great metropolis of the world.
It was probably dictated to Tertius, like the note for
Phoebe. It is the longest of his letters. Apparently,
he had a little more leisure than usual, during these
closing days at Corinth. He teUs the Romans how for
a long time he has been planning to come and visit them
and "be set forward by them" to Spain. (Rom. 1: 13-15;
15: 22-28). He gives them a fuU statement of the Gospel
message as he preached it. The entire human race, he
says, both Jews and GentUes, is in deep need of salvation
from sin. We have a knowledge of God's will, to be sure,
both in our consciences, and in the law of Moses, but no
man, in his own unaided strength, can obey God's law.
We are too weak and sinful. God has therefore sent His
Son to be our Saviour. If we will but trust Him, His
Spirit will transform our characters. A new love will
be kindled in our hearts which will manifest itself in a
life of righteousness and helpfulness. In a touching
closing paragraph, Paul refers again to his hopes and
fears, and asks the Roman Christians to pray for him,
"that I may be delivered from them that are disobedient
in Judea, and that my gift which I have for Jerusalem
may be acceptable to Christ's people there; that I may
come to you in joy through the will of God, and together
with you find rest." (Rom. 15: 30-33).
Rome at Last — But A Prisoner
Paul's prayer was answered, but only in part. He
did come to Rome, but not until three years later, and
then only as a prisoner, in the custody of a Roman cen
turion. He had barely been in Jerusalem a week or so,
when he was mobbed by the Jews in the temple court,
and nearly killed. Rescued by Roman soldiers, he was
sent to Caesarea for trial. After his case had dragged
along through two years marked by vexatious delays, he
exercised his right as a Roman citizen and appealed to
Caesar, and was sent to Rome for trial. After an event-

24 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
ful voyage, and a shipwreck which nearly cost him his
life, he reached Rome, in chains. His heart must have
beat fast, as for the first time he walked along the streets
of the famous city, the capital of the world. Yet what
a disappointment! He was naturally so full of energy,
and he had planned such great things. Had he been
free, how quickly he would have explored the city and
all that region! What an impetus he would have given
to the Christian movement there! Instead of that,
however, he must sit, day after day, chained to a soldier.
Nevertheless, Paul was not the man to mope and whine.
He always proceeded cheerfuUy to make the best of things ;
and being granted the privilege, somewhat tmusual for
a prisoner, of living in his own hired house, he was able
to do much good service for the cause of Christ. He
could talk with those who came to see him. Through
these visitors, he could send letters far and wide.
Each of these avenues of influence is illustrated in the
story of two men who set out from Paul's lodgings one
day, to take ship for Asia Minor. The older of the two
was one of Paul's lieutenants named Tychicus. Paul
was sending him to certain churches in the province of
Asia, east of Ephesus, especiaUy the church in the town
of Colossse. Paul himself had never visited this district.
The young man with Tychicus was a runaway slave
named Onesimus. He had stolen money from his master,
and had fled to Rome. Some friend of Paul's had found
him wandering about the city, friendless and disconsolate,
and had brought him to the apostle. Through Paul's
influence he became a Christian, and when at last he told
his whole story, it came out that he had belonged to an
old friend and convert of Paul himself, a man named
Philemon, who was living at that time in Colossse.
So Paul said to the young man, "Onesimus, why don't
you go back to your old master, with Tychicus here?
Stirely it is providential that he is just about to set saU
for that very city, Colossse. I will write a letter for you
to take to Philemon, and I am sure he vnll forgive you."
So Paul wrote a kindly, courteous note, the "Epistle to

THE TRADITIONAL HOUSE OF ST. PAUL IN ROME.

PLANS OF A RELIGIOUS STATESMAN 25
Philemon." In this letter he shows himself a trne
Christian gentleman. (Read Philemon, verses 8-10.)
He also wrote two letters for Tychicus to deliver. One
was addressed to the Christians in Colossse, and is known
to us as "The Epistle to the Colossians." The other is
called in the New Testament, "The Epistle to the Ephe
sians," but was probably a circular letter intended for
aU the churches in that region. In these letters, Paul
says to his readers that love for Christ should be the
supreme motive of their lives. "Seek the things that are
above, where Christ is  Set your mind on the things
that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth."
(Col. 3:1-21). With these letters therefore, the two
men set out together. When they reached Colossse,
Onesimus was doubtless received back into Philemon's
household, "no longer as a servant, but as more than a
servant, a brother beloved"; and wherever Tychicus
went he had only to say the magic word, "A letter from
Paul," to be sure of the most cordial welcome.
The Deepening Shadows
Our knowledge of the closing scenes of Paul's life is
very fragmentary. It seems unlikely that he ever carried
out his ambition to go to Spain. He was finally put to
death by order of the Roman emperor Nero. Our
chief source of information regarding the course of events
during this period is from his letter to the Philippians.
This was a letter thanking his old friends in Philippi for
a gift of money. Prisoners, in those days, were not
supported by the govemment. Their food and clothing
and other necessities had to be provided by friends.
When Paul first reached Rome, he seems to have been well
supplied with money, through the generosity of the
churches. For two years he was able to rent a house
in which he was held as a prisoner. But alas for poor
human nature, it is so easy to forget an absent friend,
no matter how dear he has been to us. The churches
were busy with their own affairs, and graduaUy Paul
began to suffer from want. No doubt he had to give up

26 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
his lodgings, and he was then thrown into some Roman
dungeon. Probably he even suffered from cold and hun
ger. Just as his suffering was grovnng acute, however,
there came a welcome visitor. A messenger from the
Philippian Christians a man named Epaphroditus had
sought him out. The PhiHppians had surmised that
Paul would need more money, and had raised a consider
able sum, and had bidden Epaphroditus to take it to him
as quickly as possible. The messenger had been faithful
to his trust. He had been sick on his way to Rome, but
realizing that Paul's need might perhaps be urgent,
he had kept steadily on his way. When he staggered
into Paul's dungeon that day, he was in truth a, very sick
man, and he nearly died from the effects of his joumey.
Paul's heart was touched to the depths. Here was a
church then, whose members had not forgotten him,
here was a man who was willing to risk his life, to help
him in his need. As soon as Epaphroditus was again
able to travel, Paul sent him back to PhUippi with a
veritable love letter for his friends there. "Thank
you, and God bless you" — is the keynote of it.
Still later, Paul wrote a letter or letters to his best
loved lieutenant, Timothy. At this time, or earher
he also wrote a short note to Titus. These letters to
Timothy and Titus have probably not been preserved
in the form in which Paul wrote them. In later times,
all of Paul's letters were read in the meetings of the
Christians, and long sections seem to have been added
to these short personal notes in order to make them more
useful in public worship. There is one passage in II
Timothy, however, which is almost certainly from Paul's
own hand. "I am already being offered," he says,
' ' and the time of my departure has. come. I have fought
a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the
faith." (II Tim_. 4:6-8.) Evidently Paul has been
condemned to die, and writes this letter to comfort
Timothy, and to help him to say, "I also will try to fight
the good fight no matter how hard a fight it may prove
to be." When Timothy next visited one of the old

PLANS OF A RELIGIOUS STATESMAN 27
churches, Ephesus, perhaps, or Philippi, or Corinth,
no doubt the people crowded aroimd him as usual.
"Have you a letter for us, from Paul," they said. But
they read their answer in the look on Timothy's face.
"No, comrades, there wiU be no more letters for you,
from your old captain. All that remains now, is to treas
ure up his memory, and like him to 'fight the good fight,
to finish our course, to keep the faith.' "

CHAPTER V
AN EYE WITNESS OF JESUS' ARREST
John Mark and His Gospel
¦ (Written about 70 A. D.)
The Synoptic Gospels
Next after the letters of Paul, the earliest New Testa
ment writings were the three Gospels, now known as
Mark, Matthew, and Luke. These books are in many
ways very similar, and are therefore classed together.
They are called the Synoptic Gospels. This word,
"synoptic," means, "from the same point of view."
In this chapter, we take up the story of the Gospel of
Mark, which was written about ten or fifteen years after
the death of Paul.
A Boy who Tried to Warn His Mother's Friend
Among those present in the Garden of Gethaemane
when Jesus was anested, was probably a young man
named John Mark. Earlier that evening Jesus had
eaten supper with His disciples. The place of the supper
was probably an upper room in Mark's home. The
house belonged to Mark's mother, a widow named Mary.
We can picture the scene. The family had been awakened
not long after the departure of their guests, by a loud
knocking at the street door. When Mary opened the
door, she saw before her a crowd of men, carrying torches,
andj -armed with swords and clubs. Their leader, who
wore the garb of a priest, asked for Jesus of Nazareth.
When they had assured themselves that Jesus was not
in the house, they went away, grumbling and cursing.
Mary hurried to her son, who had been awakened by the
commotion, and told him that a wicked plot was on foot
against the Master. "And they wiU go straight from
28

AN EYE WITNESS OF JESUS' ARREST 29
here to the OU Press on the Mount of Olives," added
Mary. "Judas knows that Jesus often sleeps there,
and they wiU find Him there tonight." Springing from
his mattress, and stopping only to wrap a Hnen sheet
about him (for the night was chilly), Mark set out to
warn Jesus. Hurrying out of the house, he was off
through the dark nanow streets, without a moment's
delay. He was young and strong, and he hoped to cover
the two miles or so to the old olive orchard, sooner than
the men with Judas. When, at last, however, he came
breathless up the hill to the orchard gate, the torches
were there ahead of him. By their glare, and by the
light of the full moon, he could see Jesus' hands being
tied ; he saw the blow which cut off the ear of the servant
of the high priest; finally he saw the disciples tum and
run. After this the men set out with Jesus in the direction
of the city. As they passed out the gate and started
down the hill, Mark followed along behind, almost
broken hearted that he had come too late. Drawing
up a little too close, he was seen by one of the men, who
turned and seized him, thinking that he was one of the
disciples. Slipping out however, from the folds of the
sheet which he was wearing, Mark left it in the man's
hand, and fled away.
Telling the Story of Jesus
A few weeks later, there was a gathering of men and
women, mostly Galileans, in Mark's home, perhaps in
that same upper room where Jesus had eaten the Last
Supper. What wonderful events had happened since
that tragic night, when Mark had sped across the Kidron
valley on his enand of waming ! Jesus had been crucified.
And yet. He still lived! Every member of that little
band in Mark's home, had been in His presence. They
were a joyous company therefore. "Jesus is still alive,
and will one day be the King of Israel." This was the
thought which filled their minds. Their hopes were
chiefly of the future, when that Kingdom was to be
established, but they could not forget the past. How

30 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
they must have loved to rehearse together their memories
of Jesus. One after another would tell of this incident
or that. Among those who listened, with shining eyes,
was Mark, sitting with his mother; and when they talked
of Jesus' anest, the young man could contain himself
no longer. "I was there," he cried, and then, of course,
he had to tell the story of his experience that night.
The disciples were deeply interested, and for a special
reason. The Jews claimed that Jesus could not be the
Messiah, for He had been crucified. The disciples
replied that Jesus died for the sins of others, even as
was foretold in the Book of Isaiah: "He was bruised for
our transgressions." Now this story of Mark helped
to prove the truth of their belief; for Mark could testify
that Jesus made no attempt to escape or to resist those
who came to arrest Him. On the contrary, He "laid
down His life," of His own free will. It was perhaps
because he could give this testimony that Mark, in spite
of his youth, quickly rose to prominence as a leader
among the disciples. A few years later, he went with
Paul, and with his uncle Barnabas, on a missionary tour.
It was perhaps a decade or so later, that he became an
assistant of Peter. We are told that he acted as Peter's
interpreter. Peter himself spoke Aramaic, a dialect of
Hebrew, the mother tongue of Jesus and of all the early
disciples in Palestine. In preaching to Greek-speaking
people, he would of course need an interpreter. In this
missionary work Mark had many opportunities to tell
his own story. In winning others to believe in Jesus
the disciples found that one of their most effective argu
ments was the simple nanative of Jesus' life. Peter's
missionary sermons seem to have been made up largely
of reminiscences of his experiences with Jesus. Mark
also would no doubt be called on many times to tell
how he was present when Jesus was anested, and how he
saw Him "led as a lamb to the slaughter," for the sins
of men. Doubtless, many a heart was touched, and many
a disciple won. As new converts came into the churches,
it was necessary to tell them over and over again, what

AN EYE WITNESS OF JESUS' ARREST 31
kind of a life Jesus had lived on earth. Those who could
tell anecdotes about Him were called upon at their
meetings. Some stories as for example, that of Mark,
were especially popular; for they listened eagerly to
every scrap of information regarding Jesus' self-sacrificing
death. A Priceless Treasure in Danger of Being Lost
For the first few years after Jesus' death, it did not
occur to the disciples that a written narrative of His
life would ever be needed. They were for the most part,
not familiar with books, or with their value. They were
not looking forward to twenty centuries of Christian
history. On the contrary they supposed that Jesus would
rettim within a few years, at which time, "this present
evil world" would pass away. In the next world they
would need no books. For a long time therefore, the
story of Jesus was handed down orally from teacher to
pupil, and from friend to friend. Those who told these
stories no doubt tried their best to be accurate. Human
memory however is weak, and errors easily crept into
these nanatives. There was an unconscious tendency
to over-emphasize some points, and to neglect others
perhaps more important. As time went on, it became
more difficult to conect such enors by the testimony
of eye witnesses for death thinned the ranks of those who
had been with Jesus. Many perished as martyrs. Peter
himself was crucified by Nero. Finally the disciples
began to reahze that the facts regarding Jesus were in
danger of being forgotten. Those eye witnesses therefore
who still remained, were urged to write down their rec
oUections. Written narratives were accordingly pre
pared, and were read at the church gatherings in place
of stories told from memory. In the case of the more
popular stories, as that of the Supper by the Sea, a number
of different narratives were prepared by different men.
The Gospel of Mark
At this period in the history of the church, John Mark
was probably living in Rome. Peter seems to have

32 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
spent his last days in that city, and Mark may have
remained there. We may imagine that some friend of
his spoke to him somewhat as follows: "Brother Mark,
you were an intimate associate of the Apostle Peter;
again and again you must have heard him teU of incidents
of Jesus' life. You yourself saw Jesus anested. You
ought by all means to write these things down, before
you forget them. We need such a book in our mis
sionary work." So Mark wrote for the Roman Christians
the book which we call the Gospel of Mark. It was
largely a collection of the stories of Peter. To some extent
it probably reproduced Peter's own language. Naturally
enough, the chief character in it, next to Jesus was Peter.
We even find in it the story of Peter's denial, which is
doubtless just what honest, humble Peter would have
wished. Throughout his book, Mark tried to be accurate.
He seems to have had accurate information regarding all
the more important events, but his sources of information
were not always perfect. For example he did not know
the exact order in which many of the events in Jesus
Hfe occuned. He had heard Peter relating one anecdote
or another in accordance with the needs of his hearers
and he evidently set down these events in the order that
seemed most probable. To some extent, in addition to
what he remembered from Peter, he made use of nana
tives which had already been written, copying them into
his book. Sometimes he copied two stories which he
thought represented two distinct events, but which were
really two different accounts of the same event. (Com
pare Mark 6:30-43 with Mark 8:1; 10.) At one im
portant point in the story, however, he did not need to
rely on the testimony of others. At the close of his account
of Jesus' anest, he added this sentence: "And a certain
young man followed with him, having a linen cloth cast
about him, and they laid hold on him; but he left the
linen cloth and fled away naked." It is quite possible
that he was an eye-witness of other events in that closing
week, besides the arrest in Gethsemane. At any rate,
his mother must have been in close touch with Jesus and
the disciples, and a keen witted young man like Mark

AN EYE WITNESS OF JESUS' ARREST 33
could not have failed to know what was going on. As a
result, his account of the closing days of Jesus' life is
very fuU and complete. This Hfe of Jesus by Mark,
was so much better than any of the other nanatives
which had been written, that these others were no longer
used and soon aU copies seem to have been lost. Other
important Gospels were written later, as we shaU see, of
which Matthew, Luke and John, have been preserved
in our New Testament. These Gospels give us the
sayings of Jesus which Mark for the most part omitted.
They also give us some very valuable additional in
formation regarding Jesus' deeds, and the events in His
life. These other writers, however, relied on Mark for
the main body of their story of His deeds. As we shall
see, Matthew and Luke copied into their Gospels practi
caUy the whole of Mark. It is to Mark, therefore, that
we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge of the course
of Jesus' Hfe. And what a story he has told us! Not
that Mark was a literary genius. His language is not
particularly elegant. He simply told what he knew,
in plain, straightforward sentences. But through him,
we hear Peter's voice, telling us of his association with
the Master. Through Mark, for example, we go with
Peter and Jesus into Peter's lowly fisherman's cottage
in Capernaum. Through Mark, we see the crowds
gather around the cottage door, when the sun had set,
and we see the many sick people restored to health by
the healing touch of Jesus. Through Mark, we seem to
hear the voice of Jesus calling to us, across the rippHng
waves of the lake, "Follow me." Countless multitudes,
through Mark's story, have "left all," like Peter, to
follow Jesus. Above all, what an influence has been
wielded by Mark's story of Passion Week: from the
triumphal entry into Jerusalem, to the betrayal, arrest,
trial, crucifixion and resunection. What would the
Christian reHgion be without the story of the Cross?
We may truly say that this story as told by Mark has
created Christian history, and it remains today the
supreme influence for the creation and development of
Christian character.

V^fF NvnuTif Qpmm

CHAPTER VI
CHERISHING THE SAYINGS OF JESUS
The Gospel of Matthew
(Written about 80 A. D.)
A Teacher who Wrote his Messages only on Men's
Hearts
Only once in the Gospel records is there reference to
Jesus' use of writing. When the Pharisees brought into
his presence a sinful woman, and asked him what punish
ment should be inflicted upon her, he "stooped down and
with his finger wrote on the ground." (John 8:6.)
Jesus, then, knew how to write, in spite of the fact that
the scribes considered him uneducated. (John 7:15.)
For the most part, however. He made Httle use of the
art of writing. When He died He left behind him no
books. This is aU the more remarkable, when we con
sider His astonishing anticipations for the future. He
believed that His life and work were introducing a new
era in history, the triumph of God's kingdom in all the
earth. This behef must have seemed to many Hke a
beautiful but impossible dream. Yet when His disciples
were discouraged because so few persons were being in
fluenced by His message. He said to them, "The Kingdom
of God is like a grain of mustard seed, which indeed is less
than all seeds, but when it is grown ... it becometh a
tree." In this parable, Jesus implies that His influence
will not be limited to the few disciples who can listen
to his voice, but will be vastly extended, untU the tiny
mustard seed becomes a great tree. Yet it never seemed
to occur to Jesus to hasten this extension of His influence
by writing down His teachings. These sayings, and
especially His parables, are classed with the world's
supreme masterpieces of literary beauty. Yet He made
34

CHERISHING SAYINGS OF JESUS 85
no effort to preserve them in written form. He was
content that the beautiful form of His sayings should
be forgotten. He did not even urge His disciples to
commit His words to memory. His great injunction,
was not "remember" but "do." His chief desire was
that they should take His truth to heart, and practice
it in their Hves. "Every one that heareth these words
of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man."
With sublime faith. He was only anxious that His truth
should be planted in the hearts of living men; thus. He
believed, it would be transmitted through them to others,
untU at last the Kingdom should triumph on the earth.
Keeping in Memory the Master's Words
Nevertheless, Jesus' disciples from the very beginning
were careful to memorize word for word as many of His
1 sayings as possible. This was in harmony with the cus
toms and ideas of that age. In Judea of old, as in China
up to recent years, the chief business of pupils in school
was to commit their lessons to memory. Every Jewish
rabbi of that day had his circle of pupils, who strove to
store away in their minds every syllable of his utterances.
"A good pupil," says one of their proverbs, "is like a
cistern Hned with mortar, from which not a drop of water
can leak out." There were many such pupils, and their
feats of memory were truly astonishing. An enormous
mass of Rabbinic teaching, much of it exceedingly dull
and uninteresting, was handed down through centuries
of oral tradition, with very few mistakes, and may now
be found in the Jewish book. The Talmud. So likewise,
the disciples of Jesus were able to remember almost the
exact words of many of their Master's more important
sayings. No doubt in their leisure hours they repeated
them to one another, and helped to refresh each other's
memories. Surely no utterances were ever easier to
remember. The difficult thing would have been to
forget them. His sentences were short and crisp. His
figures of speech were homely and striking. He loved
proverbs and paradoxes. "Let not thy right hand know

36 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
what thy left hand doeth." "He that would save his
life shall lose it." "He that loseth his life shaU flnd it."
Such sayings as these are unforgettable. They worked
their way once for aU into the very souls of men. Many
of Jesus' sayings were poetical in form, and poetry is
always easier to remember than prose. The following
saying, for example, really consists of two stanzas of
Hebrew poetry.
" Ask and it shaU be given you;
Seek, and ye shall fmd;
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
" For every one that asketh, receiveth;
And he that seeketh, findeth;
And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."
Note the parallelism in thought between the lines of each
stanza. Finally, and best of all, Jesus loved to illustrate
His meaning with stories, — and such stories ! Each one
was a perfect picture, not a single word lacking, not a
single word too many. Certainly the disciples could
have had little difficulty in remembering such stories as
The Sower, The Hidden Treasure, The Lost Sheep, or
The Good Samaritan. With what loving care they
cherished these stories and all the sayings of Jesus,
seeking to pass them on to others just as they first fell
from their Master's lips. For years, perhaps for decades,
after Jesus' death His teachings were handed down to
new converts in oral form. They were repeated
at the meetings of the disciples, just like the stories of
His deeds and the events in His life, except that they were
guarded even more carefully from omissions and mistakes.
The First Written Collections of the Words of
Jesus
Notwithstanding all this care and effort, some enors
began to creep into even this transmission of the teachings
of Jesus. The disciples could not help remembering
best, those sayings which they themselves best understood

CHERISHING SAYINGS OF JESUS 37
and appreciated. Other sayings equally important,
gradually faded from their minds, or else lived on in a
more or less distorted form. Often alas, it would be
the boldest, the noblest, the most original of the great
Teacher's utterances which would be the most imperfectly
understood. As the image of a lovely face may be maned
by flaws in a minor, so the great thoughts of Jesus were
sometimes imperfectly transmitted as a result of the
moral weakness or the spiritual dullness of the disciples.
A good example of this process of partial distortion may
perhaps be found in Matt. 10:5-6. "These twelve
Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into
any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of
the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel." No doubt, Jesus regarded himself
as specially called to save the "lost sheep of the house of
Israel," and he may have advised his disciples on their
first missionary tour not to attempt at that time to preach
to Gentiles. But Jesus, Himself, both preached to
Samaritans, and told the story of the good Samaritan; and
we cannot believe that He ever commanded his disciples
not to enter into any Samaritan city. This was merely
the mistaken inference of some Jewish Christian who
shared the prejudices of the average Jew, in his attitude
toward the people of this despised and hated province,
Samaria, and who was perhaps offended also by the
Gentile missions of Peter and Paul. Doubtless this
nanow minded Christian really believed that these
missions among the Samaritans and among the Gentiles
were contrary to the wishes of Jesus. As a result of these
imperfections of character and memory, there came to
be conflicting versions of the same saying. Disputes
arose in the meetings of the disciples. Some one would
say that Jesus taught such and such a thing; others
would insist on a different wording and interpretation.
The burning question would arise: what did Jesus really
say regarding this matter? Thus it came about that
written collections of Jesus' sayings began to be prepared.
The most important of these collections was written by

38 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
the Apostle Matthew. He had been with Jesus almost
from the beginning of his work. After Jesus' death he
seems to have spent all his life in Judea, where naturally
the sayings of Jesus were best remembered. Many
copies of Matthew's collection were quickly made and
distributed among the churches in Palestine. Since it
was written in Aramaic, the mother tongue of Jesus and
His first disciples, it was at first of no use to Greek-speak
ing Christians. Before long, however, it was translated
into Greek, and copies of this Greek version were widely
distributed. Many a Httle group of new converts, who
had never been able to hear the words of Jesus, except
when some traveling apostle came to visit their church,
were now able to read them for themselves.
The Gospel of Matthew
Thus there had come into existence two books about
Jesus; first, Mark's story of His Hfe (see Chapter five),
and second, Matthew's collection of His sayings. Many
churches had a copy of both, and a passage from each was
frequently read at their regular meetings. Then came
the thought, would it not be a good thing to combine
these two books into one ? "In one " they said, ' ' we have
a collection of Jesus' sayings, but it teUs us very little as
to the occasions when Jesus uttered them. In the other
is a story of the events of Jesus' life, but it tells us little
conceming the words which He spoke." It was to meet
the need for such a combination, that the book was
written which we call the Gospel of Matthew. The
name of the real author we do not know. He must have
been a man of ability and education. He was a Christian
Jew, and was particularly anxious to tell his story in such
a way as to attract Jews. He was especially fond of
pointing out how Old Testament prophesies had been
fulfilled in the life of Jesus. Suppose we call him Matthew
the Second. His book came to be known as Matthew's
Gospel, because a large part of it consisted of extracts
from Matthew's collection of sayings. In fitting these
extracts into the framework of Mark's story, he simply

CHERISHING SAYINGS OF JESUS 39
used his own judgment. For example he found in the
older coUection, an address which was evidently spoken
to Jesus' own disciples; on the other hand, he found in
Mark's story, the account of how Jesus went up into a
mountain, and chose twelve of His followers to be
Apostles; but Mark said nothing about a sermon in this
connection. In the new book, Matthew the Second
inserted the address to the disciples just at this point.
Thus it has come to pass that it is always called the
Sermon on the Mount. Probably some of the passages
which this author included were really spoken on other
occasions, for example, the passage in Matt. 6 : 19-34,
which bids us not to be anxious about daily bread, is not
found in Luke's version of this sermon, (Luke 6:20-49),
but appears further on in the book. The second Matthew,
however, liked to group together the sayings of Jesus
in long sermons, each bf them bearing on a certain general
subject. On the whole, these anangements of his are
very logical, and the various passages are skilfully fitted
together. His version of the Sermon on the Motmt, for
example, wUl always hold a unique place in the hearts
of men.
In addition to the older collection of sayings, and the
Gospel of Mark, the second Matthew included in his
book certain other stories. The most important are
those of Jesus' birth and infancy (Matt. 1-2). No one
knows where he found these stories. Until recently they
were generally accepted as historical facts. Some
scholars, however, regard them merely as popular tra
ditions which grew up among Christians at a later time.
We may leave this problem for professional scholars to
solve. Fortunately for us, we need feel no uncertainty
regarding the main facts of Jesus' life and teaching.
Although the early disciples were human like ourselves,
and had their faults and weaknesses, we owe them an
incalculable debt. Thanks to the painstaking and
loving care with which they wrote those simple, honest
nanatives, we may still look back through the centuries
of forgetfulness and misunderstanding to the real Jesus.

40 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
The chief value of the Gospel of Matthew is its record
of the sayings of Jesus. In the beatitudes, we may still
find the secret of true happiness. In those heart-searching
words which condemn the sinful thought as well as the
sinful act, and in those others which insist that our prayer
and our every act of worship shall be absolutely sincere,
our eyes are opened to a new ideal of goodness and religion.
Finally in those tender words about God's care for all
His creatures, and especially for His human children,
we may still leam to know our Heavenly Father whose
love Jesus came to reveal.

CHAPTER VII
A COMPASSIONATE PHYSICIAN
The Gospel of Luke, and the Book of Acts
(Written about 80-90 A. D.)
The Apostle Paul Inquiring for a Doctor
Among the cities where important events took place
in early Christian history we should not forget the Httle
seaport town of Troas, on the northwestern coast of Asia
Minor. Here Paul came with Silas and Timothy, at
the beginning of what is known as his second missionary
joumey. He had successfully established churches in
southern Galatia, and was planning to preach the Gospel
elsewhere. For some reason, it did not seem wise, at
that time, to go to Ephesus, the leading city of Asia
Minor, so with his companions he came down to Troas,
evidently with the idea of setting sail for some region
further west but not knowing just what province would
offer the greatest opportunities. Here he seems to have
been seized with an attack of his chronic illness, and
decided to send for a physician. His friends were directed
to a man named Luke. Few events in Paul's life led to
more important consequences than this seemingly trivial
incident. Doctor Luke proved to be a gentleman of
education and refinement. He was a Greek by race; in
reHgion, however, he was possibly already a beHever in
the God of Israel. Very Hkely it was at the synagogue
in Troas that Silas or Timothy heard about him. In
every Gentile city there were many Greeks who attended
the Jewish synagogue. At any rate we may suppose
that Luke came to see Paul and prescribed for his ailment,
while Paul no doubt told Luke about Jesus the great
Physician, who could heal the souls as well as the bodies
of men. Luke Ustened with eager ears. Never had he
41

42 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
heard a sweeter story. Nor did he hesitate long before
accepting for himself the new Gospel, and declaring him
self a believer in Jesus as his Master. Shortly afterward,
Paul's health began to improve and once more the Httle
party began to discuss the question, "Where shall we go?"
One day while talking about the matter in the presence of
their new friend Luke, the latter said to them, "Why
don't you go over to Macedonia? I myself used to live
there; in fact Philippi is my native city. I know many
who would listen to your message. If you wUl take up
your work in Macedonia, I wUl go with you as far as
Philippi, and do what I can to help you." Paul was
much impressed by this suggestion, and that night he
dreamed that a certain man from Macedonia, or in other
words, probably Luke himself, stood by his bed. "Come
over into Macedonia and help us," the dream messenger
said. When Paul awoke, he told his experience to his
friends. "I dreamed last night that I saw you, Luke.
You came and said to me. Come over into Macedonia
and help us." The friends all agreed that this dream
had been sent from God as a special call to them to begin
their mission in that province. So, with Luke in their
party, they sailed from Troas to Neapolis, on the coast
of Macedonia, and thence walked ten miles inland to
Philippi, where Paul began his great missionary campaign
on the continent of Europe.
Luke's Visit to Jerusalem. New Facts about Jesus
This acquaintance between Paul and Luke, led to
exceedingly important consequences for both of them;
and through Luke, as weU as through Paul, profoundly
influenced the history of the world. When Paul left
Philippi, Luke seems to have remained in that city.
No doubt he took up the practice of his profession, and
at the same time became a leader in the newly organized
chtirch. About seven years later, Paul came back to this
city, for a short visit. He was raising a collection injaU
the Gentile churches for the poor in the church at Jeru
salem. (See Chapter 4). He wanted the Philippians

A COMPASSIONATE PHYSICIAN 43
to make a contribution, and also to appoint one of their
number to go along with him to Jerusalem with other
delegates from aU the leading churches. The Philippians
responded generously and named Luke as their representa
tive. We can imagine Luke's joy. Not only would he
be able to renew his friendship with his beloved teacher,
Paul, but he would also see the land where Jesus had lived,
and would be able to talk with many who had actuaUy
known Jesus in the flesh. Luke himself tells us much
about this epoch-making joumey in chapters 20-28 of
the Book of Acts. From the moment when they
landed in Palestine, Luke found himself thrown in
with people who could tell him about the early days of
the church, and about the Hfe of Jesus. They stayed a
few days in Caesarea, and were entertained at the home
of Philip the Evangelist, who had been one of the seven
men appointed for special service, very early in the history
of the church at Jemsalem. (Acts 6:1-6, 21:8.) In
Jerusalem also, they were entertained at the home of a
certain "early disciple," named Mnason. How eagerly
Luke must have made use of these opportunities. "Did
you reaUy know Jesus when He was on earth? Tell
me about Him." This was the request which must have
been upon his lips. No doubt he went to aU the places
where Jesus had been; to the upper room in John Mark's
home, where Jesus had eaten the last supper with His
disciples; to the Mount of Olives, whence the Triumphal
Procession had set out with their hosannas, and up which
Judas had climbed with the priests and their band of
hirelings. Surely he went out to Bethany also, to see
Mary and Martha and their friends.
Through these conversations Luke found out much
about the Master's life which was not generally known
among the churches. In this we have another illustration
of the fact that every disciple remembered and passed
on to others that side of Jesus' life and character which
he himself could best appreciate. As a physician Luke
could appreciate especially weU the tendemess and com
passion of Jesus as shown in healing those who were sick

44 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
in body or soul. A doctor sees more than other men see,
of the sadness and sonow in the world. And the world
in which Luke lived was even sadder and more sonowful
than ours today. There were no hospitals for the sick,
no asylums for the insane. Nor did people in general
seem to feel much pity for those who were unfortunate,
or helpless, or stricken with pain. The rich and the happy,
for the most part, went on with their gayeties quite
indifferent to the anguish and the broken hearts on every
side. As a physician Luke had tried to do his part to
make the world less sad. But at best he could do com
paratively little. Medical science in those days was in
its infancy; they had only a few simple remedies. They
were almost entirely ignorant of proper methods of
sanitation. Great epidemics frequently swept over the
land leaving death and desolation in every city and
village and the doctors were absolutely helpless to check
their advance. Luke's experience as a physician, there
fore, made him particularly interested in Jesus as a
successful healer of the sick, and the friend and helper
of the unfortunate. This same medical experience also
helped Luke to appreciate the friendUness of Jesus to
people of all races. His power of sympathy had been
increased, and it is through sympathy that we realize
that black people and yellow people after all are human
beings like ourselves; "subject to the same diseases,
healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the
same summer and winter." No doubt Luke asked the
older disciples questions like these. "Was Jesus kind to
foreigners? Did he teach his disciples to be kind to
foreigners? Tell me more about his compassion for all
who were in trouble?" It was perhaps in response to
some such question as the above, that some disciple
related to him the story which Jesus had told about a
Samaritan who was kind to a poor traveller who had
fallen among robbers. When Ltdce heard this story and
others Hke it which at that time were not known among
the churches outside of Judea, he must have felt himself
to be the discoverer of a gold mine. Neither he nor

THE GOOD SAMARITAN: LUKE'S IDEAL OF HIMSELF
AS A PHYSICIAN.
From the model now in the hall of the Polyclinic Hospital.
Donated by Mrs. John Q. A. Ward

A COMPASSIONATE PHYSICIAN 45
his fellow Gentiles had begun to realize what a wonderful
Teacher and what a wonderful Personality Jesus had been.
The half had never been told them. For the sake of his
friends back in Philippi and elsewhere, very Hkely he
wrote down on scraps of papyrus, aU that he leamed.
The Gospel op Luke
It was probably a good many years after this joumey
to Jerusalem that Luke finally wrote the Gospel which
bears his name. He perhaps felt that there were others,
who had themselves known Jesus, or who had been in
close touch with the early disciples from the beginning,
who were therefore better qualified than he to write a
story of Jesus' life. In the course of time, as we have
seen, books about Jesus were indeed prepared by com
petent writers, the best of them being the Gospel of Mark
and Matthew's collection of sayings. Luke had a copy
of each of these, and appreciated their great value. Yet
he could not help feeling disappointed in them. Like
the author of the Gospel of Matthew, whose work he
had not seen, he felt the need of a more complete "Life
of Jesus," in which the sayings of Jesus would be fitted
into the framework of the events in His life, each saying
being connected with the original occasion which called
it forth. Even if He had known of Matthew's Gospel,
he would stiU have been disappointed; f®r he would
have searched through it in vain for just those deeds
and words of Jesus which he himself most loved. In
order to give to the churches this fuller information, he
finally wrote his Gospel. He dedicated it to a friend
and feUow-Christian named Theophilus. (Luke 1:1-4).
The framework of his Gospel, like that of the second
Matthew, was the nanative of Mark. Into this frame
work, the sayings are fitted, but not in the form of a few
long sermons as in Matthew, but scattered here and there,
in many different connections. In this arrangement
he was perhaps guided not only by his own judgment,
but by actual information, gained during that visit to
Jemsalem,. and later. Certainly the sayings are often

46 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
exceedingly appropriate in the connection which Luke
gives. He himself tells Theophilus that he has "traced
the course of all things accurately from the first." In
accordance with this phrase, "from the first," he places
at the beginning of his Gospel, an account of Jesus'
birth and childhood. This is quite different from the
account of Jesus' birth in the Gospel of Matthew, and
seems to contain a number of reminiscences of certain
facts; for example, Jesus' birth in a stable. His gradual
growth in body and mind; and His visit at the temple
in Jerusalem, when He was twelve years old. The
supreme service of Luke's Gospel, however, is in giving
us additional information regarding the deeds and say
ings of Jesus during His active career as a teacher. Had
it not been for Luke, the parables of the Good Samaritan
(Luke 10: 25-37), the Lost Piece of Silver (Luke 15: 8-10),
the Lost Son (Luke 15: 11-32), the Poor Widow and the
Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1-8), the Pharisee and the Publican
(Luke 18: 9-14), and many other sayings would have been
wholly lost ; likewise the story of the sinful woman weeping
at Jesus' feet, the story of Zaccheus entertaining Jesus
in Jericho, and the story of the penitent thief on the cross.
All these are just such stories as we should expect from
"Luke the beloved physician." They are all of them
stories of the compassionate Jesus. In short, the Gospel
which Luke has given us is, indeed, as Dr. WeUs has said,
" Luke the Physician's Gospel! — comforting.
Gracious and tender: lajong gentle touch
Upon the festering anguish of the world,
Pouring in oil and wine; its ministries
Halt at no bounds of nation or of race.
But offer healing to a world diseased, —
Kind Luke, the Gospel of the Heart of Christ!"
The Book of Acts
Theophilus must have been greatly pleased with this
beautiful Gospel of his friend Luke. In fact every one
was pleased with it. So cordial was the welcome which
it everywhere received, that the author was encouraged

A COMPASSIONATE PHYSICIAN 47
to write another book. There was a need for a history
of the church from the time of the death of Jesus. In
the first place such a book would help to conect mis
understanding regarding the Christians in the minds of
unbelieving Greeks and Romans. AU kinds of slanders
had been circulated about them. It was charged that
they were atheists, and that they were plotting against
the Roman govemment. Many Christians had been put
to death by Roman officials because of these misunder
standings. So Luke wrote the "Acts of the Apostles,"
telling the great story with his usual carefulness and skill.
He took special pains to show that in the early history of
the church, the Roman officials regarded it as an entirely
innocent organization, and protected its leaders from the
violence of ignorant and vicious mobs. In this book, as
in the Gospel, we see the physician's point of view coming
to the front. Luke is careful to show that the early
disciples continued the deeds of healing which had been
performed by Jesus. He tells how Peter and John
healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple ;
how PhiHp healed the lame and the palsied and the
demented in Samaria; how Paul healed the poor abused
slave-girl in Philippi, the boy Eutychus who fell
from the third story window in Troas, and the father of
Publius, who lay sick of a fever in the island of Melita.
In this book also as in the Gospel, we see the same sym
pathy with men of all nations and races. In fact the
main theme of the book is the spread of the Gospel from
Jerusalem to Samaria, and then "to the uttermost parts
of the earth." What a delight it must have been to
Luke, to record that noble address of Paul to the Athenians
on Mars' HUl, in which the apostle declares that "God
hath made of one, all nations of men!"
Influence op the Writings of Luke
To what extent Luke's history of the church modified
the opinions of inteUigent Roman officials regarding
Christianity, we do not know. But his two books have
each exerted an enormous influence on the world, from

48 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
that day to this. They have helped to make Christianity
a religion of sympathy and of healing. In many cities
we have a St. Luke's hospital dedicated to the beloved
physician who has told us more than anyone else about
Jesus as the compassionate Healer. It is Luke's influence
in considerable measure which has sent medical mis
sionaries into "the uttermost parts of the earth," to
minister to all nations of men. We are living today in
the midst of a wonderful revival of the spirit of sym
pathy. Hosts of men and women are devoting their
lives to help banish a little of the world's wretchedness,
and make it a happier world for us all. These men and
women received their inspiration chiefly from that portrait
of Jesus which we owe to the great and tender-hearted
Luke.

CHAPTER VIII
MESSAGES OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
I Peter (64 A.D.), Hebrews (about 80 A.D.), and Revelation (about
95 A.D.)
Christianity Forbidden by the Roman Government
In the preceding chapter we saw that one of Luke's
aims in writing the Book of Acts was to win the good
wiU of inteUigent Romans for the Christian religion.
In the early years of Christian history the disciples had
Httle to fear from the regular officials of the Roman
govemment. There was indeed much persecution:
Stephen was stoned; James was put to death by Eing
Herod Agrippa, "to please the Jews." Paul says of his
own career, "five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned."
These early persecutions, however, were usually caused
by hostile mobs, instigated by Jews, or by others who for
special reasons hated the Christians. Paul was frequently
protected from these attacks by Roman governors. He
always stoutly insisted that these rulers were ordained
of God for the punishment of evil doers. Under the
wicked emperor Nero, however, the govemment itself
turned against the Christians. This came about as
follows. In the Spring of 64 A.D., the city of Rome was
devastated by a terrible conflagration. A rumor was
circulated that Nero himself, had started the fire. The
rumor was probably false; nevertheless to placate the
fury of the people, Nero found it necessary to find some
one else on whom he could lay the blame. It was perhaps
his beautiful but unscrupulous queen Poppaea who
suggested the Christians. She was a Jewess and shared
the special prejudices of her people against the Christians.
49

50 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
From Nero's standpoint, it was a happy thought. The
Christians were already unpopular. To the average
Roman, the name Christian meant much the same thing
as the term "anarchist" does in these days. Hence
when Nero said, "the Christians did it," the people ac
cepted the suggestion, and clamored for vengeance.
The Roman historian Tacitus gives an account of
what followed. "First those who confessed were
anested; then on their information a great multitude
was convicted, not so much of the crime of incendiarism
as of hatred of the human race. In their death they
were made the subjects of sport, for they were covered
with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by
dogs, or nailed to crosses or set fire to, and after dark
were burned for evening lights. Nero had offered his
own gardens for this exhibition, and also exhibited a
game at the circus, sometimes mingling in the crowd in
the dress of a charioteer, sometimes standing in his
chariot. Consequently there arose a feeling of compas
sion towards the sufferers, although they were guilty;
for they seemed to be cut off not for the public good, but
rather as victims of the ferocity of one man." Tacitus
says nothing about any persecution of the Christians
outside the city of Rome itself; but the wave of persecu
tion, which was set in motion in Rome, must have spread
quickly to many provinces. From this time on, whenever
in any community the feeling against them became bitter,
their enemies had only to report their names to the Roman
oflficials and they would be anested and perhaps put to
death. Of course in some places, they were unmolested
for long periods of time. In rare cases, whole communities
might be so largely Christianized that the church officials
would be the leading men in the village. For the most
part, however, the lot of the Christians grew more and
more painful. The Emperor Domitian, who reigned
from 81 A.D. to 96 A.D., was particularly hostile to the
Christians. In his personal disposition, he was vain
and jealous, and he insisted that sacrifices should be offered
to his image in every province. This blasphemy shocked

THE LAST PRAYER— CHRISTIAN MARTYRS IN THE COLISEUM.
From a painting by J. L. Ger6me.

MESSAGES FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS 51
and horrified the Christians more than anything that had
previously happened.
Peter's Letter to Persecuted Christians in Asia
Minor
Two or three years before the persecution under
Nero began, the Apostle Peter had come to Rome.
Possibly he came at the request of Paul. Or he may have
come as the representative of the church in Jerusalem,
to assure the heroic old missionary of their sympathy
with him in his imprisonment. It is quite certain, at
any rate, that Peter and Paul were associated together
for a short time in the city of Rome. Of the two men,
Paul seems to have been put to death first, after which
Peter gathered Paul's helpers about him, and became the
leader of the Christians. There is an old tradition that
when the terrible days of persecution began, the Chris
tians begged Peter to flee to some safe retreat, and that
he finally yielded to their arguments. Just outside the
city, however, the Lord Jesus met him. FalHng on his
face, the old apostle cried out, "Quo vadis, Domine?"
(Whither goest thou. Master) and the Master replied,
"If thou desert my people, I am going to Rome to be
crucified a second time." So Peter returned to the city.
In this tradition there is at least this much of truth, that
Peter did remain in Rome, with his fellow disciples,
cheering and comforting them, amidst agony and death,
untU at last he himself, like his Master, was crucified. ,
These last months at Rome were surely the crown
of Peter's Hfe. How tenderly he must have comforted
those whose loved ones were being tortured and slain
because they would not deny Christ! At the secret
gatherings of the Christians how he thrilled their hearts,
as he charged them to be faithful, if need be, even unto
death! Fortunately it is not necessary for us to rely
entirely on our imaginations in this matter. We probably
have a letter which Peter wrote to the Christians in Asia
Minor, who were also suffering from persecution. In
the New Testament it is entitled the First Epistle of Peter.

52 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
This letter teaches the Christians that the persecutions
which they are suffering are opportunities for the develop
ment of character. Just as gold is refined in the fire, so
through persecution they may become more like Christ.
' ' Beloved, think it not strange conceming the fiery trial
among you which cometh upon you to prove you, as
though a strange thing happened unto you ; but inasmuch
as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice. . . . For
Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that
ye should follow in his steps; who did no sin, neither was
guile found in his mouth ; who when he was revUed, reviled
not again; when he suffered threatened not, but committed
himself unto him who judgeth righteously."
This letter was addressed to the provinces of Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. It was probably
delivered by Silvanus, Paul's old fellow-worker, who was
now with Peter. He no doubt sailed from Rome, to
some seaport on the coast of Pontus in the Black Sea.
Thence he made a circuit of the above named provinces,
carrying the letter with him everywhere and bringing
new courage and hope to the tempted, the fearful and
the heartbroken, in every Christian community.
Christianity Worth Suffering For
There is another letter in the New Testament which,
Hke I Peter, was intended to encourage Christians to
endure persecution bravely. This is the Epistle to the
Hebrews. Some ten or fifteen years have passed since
the persecution under Nero. The Christians in Rome and
elsewhere are not just now being called on to suffer
martyrdom. But day by day, they are enduring all
kinds of minor troubles on account of their religion. Old
friends wiU not speak to them. They are publicly insulted
in the street. Boys shout foul names at them in the
market place. They cannot find work to do, and thus
lose money, and come to poverty. In some ways these
daily annoyances and trials were more dangerous to the
cause of Christ than fierce and bloody outbreaks like that
under Nero. Human heroism always shines out most

MESSAGES FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS 53
nobly in a short and sudden crisis. But many who would
gladly have died for Christ gradually lost their zeal for
Him, as year after year brought them only these dis
heartening experiences.
At that time there were still living in various cities of
the Empire a number of Paul's old helpers. One of
them, perhaps Barnabas, perhaps ApoUos, or perhaps that
noble woman PriscUla, who helped Paul in Corinth and
Ephesus, wrote the letter which we call the Epistle to
the Hebrews. It is more like a sermon than an ordinary
epistle. The "Hebrews" to whom it is addressed were
probably a group of Jewish Christians living in the city
of Rome. The main idea of the letter is the glory of our
religion. Christianity, we are told, is the goal to which
all past history has been leading. "God, having of old
time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets, . . . hath
at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son."
Chapter after chapter shows how everything in the Old
Testament points forward to Christ and His Kingdom.
We are the heirs of all past ages; surely in such a cause
we can endure a little suffering. Only, to appreciate these
glories, we need faith ; that is, we need confidence in the
reality of the "things which are not seen, but are etemal."
It was through faith in these unseen glories that the
heroes of old endured their trials of "mockings and scourg-
ings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment: were
stoned, sawn asunder, slain with the sword." This
section on faith, chapters eleven and twelve, is the climax
of the whole letter. "By faith, Abraham went out, not
knowing whither he went. ... By faith, Moses forsook
Egj^t, . . . for he endured as seeing him who is invisible."
Thus the writer leads us down through Hebrew history,
to the final conclusion: "Let us also, seeing we are com
passed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race that is set before
us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,
who for the joy that was set before him, endured the

54 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God."
The Book of Revelation: Its Characteristics
The next period of especiaUy severe persecution,
occuned, as we have seen, some twenty or thirty years
after Nero, during the reign of Domitian. At a gathering
of the Christians in the city of Ephesus, during this
period, one of the members drew from his girdle a new
book, which a friend had sent to him from a neighboring
city. At this particular meeting there were no strangers
present, otherwise the book would never have been shown.
The messenger who had brought it to Ephesus, had given
this urgent injunction: Keep it safely hidden. Do not
let any one have it except those whom you can trust.
Above all, keep it out of the hands of the Romans. This
book is known in the New Testament, as Revelation.
It is a mysterious book. It belongs to a mysterious
class of books, called "apocalypses." In the story of
the Old Testament, we shall find another apocalypse;
the Book of Daniel. There were many others, both
Jewish and Christian, which were not finally included
in the Bible. They were all written in times of oppression,
and religious persecution, and express the indignation
of the sufferers and the hopes in which they found comfort.
They all predict the near approach of the Judgment Day,
when the persecutors of God's people will be condemned
to etemal punishment. They were aU written in mys
terious and symbolic language, partly no doubt, because
it would have been unsafe to express in plain language
the sentiments and expectations which they contained.
This explains why that Christian in Ephesus was
so careful to let no one see this new apocalypse, the Book
of Revelation, except his trusted fellow disciples.
Where did this strange book come from? We cannot
answer with certainty. The author gives his name as
John; but whether or not he was the Apostle John, we
do not know. We can only say that he lived somewhere
in Asia Minor, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian.

MESSAGES FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS 56
Letters from Jesus : Angels, Beasts, and Trumpets
The first three chapters of Revelation contain a series
of seven letters, one to the Christians in each of seven
cities in the province of Asia. Each letter represents
what the writer believed the living Jesus would have
said to each church. The main thought in aU these
letters is the same: The Lord Jesus Imows what per
secutions you are enduring. He knows your triumphs
and your sins. He bids you to repent, and henceforth
to be faithful, even unto death. "To him that over
cometh," Jesus wiU give "the crown of life."
Chapters 4-20 are filled with mystical visions of angels,
and trumpets, and beasts. The author describes himself
as taken up to heaven, and there beholding "the things
which must come to pass hereafter." Many of these
symbols it is impossible for us now to interpret. The
main point of this part of the book, however, is very
clear. The end of the world is at hand. Christ is coming
to overthrow the reign of Satan, and will mete out terrible
punishments to Satan's representatives on earth, that
is to the cruel Romans. After this will come the millen
nium, that is a period of a thousand years, during which
Christ Himself wiU reign over all mankind. ¦
The whole section breathes a spirit of burning indigna
tion against Rome. The city of Rome is regarded as
whoUy given over to every conceivable viUainy. The
word Rome, to be sure, does not occur anywhere in the
book. But the many allusions to "Babylon," are to be
understood as referring to Rome. In the Old Testament,
Babylon was a synonym for wickedness; and the early
Christians frequently spoke of Rome as the Babylon of
their own day. The following passages from Revelation
illustrate the writer's hatred of Rome. " I saw a woman
sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten homs." (The
woman and the beast both represent Rome. The ten
homs represent the ten emperors, from Julius Csesar to
Domitian.) "And the woman was anayed in purple and
scarlet and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls,

66 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations.
And upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT. And I saw the woman
drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood
of the martyrs of Jesus. . . . The seven heads are the
seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. " (17 : 3-9.)
In one of these passages, which describe the wickedness
of Rome, there seems to be a hidden reference to Nero
himself, the first persecutor and the most cruel persecutor
of all the emperors. "Here is wisdom. He that hath
understanding, let him count the number of the beast;
for it is the number of a man ; and his number is six hun
dred and sixty and six." (Rev. 13:18). The ancient
Greeks and Hebrews used the letters of their respective
alphabets, to stand for numbers. Now if the words
Nero Caesar, are written in Hebrew, and the letters are
read as numerals, they make the sum of 666.
It is easy to see why such a book was written in this
obscure and symbolic language; and why, even in its
symbolic form, a Christian might well have dreaded
being taken by the Roman authorities with a copy of it
in his possession.
A Vision of Heaven
The last two chapters in the book (21-22), are in the
form of a vision of the Christian's etemal home in Heaven.
The writer teUs of the beauty of this etemal city, the new
Jerusalem; of its pearly gates; and golden streets; of
the river of life; of the trees whose leaves are for the
healing of the nations; and in the midst of it all, the throne
of God. Of course, all these word-pictures are figures of
speech. No one knows what kind of a place Heaven
will be. But these figures stand for certain spiritual
truths. We do believe that in that future world, we
will know our friends, and that we will live in closer
fellowship with God. These beliefs are expressed more
beautifully in the poetical language of Revelation, than
anywhere else. When those early Christians lay in
prison awaiting the day of execution; when they thought

MESSAGES FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS 57
of the dear ones they must leave behind; when they
thought of the shame and the torture which would be
inflicted upon them amidst the cruel jeers of the multitude,
then they would remember this book. AU their copies
no doubt lay hidden in secret hiding places, but they
could repeat together such words as these: "And I heard
a voice out the throne, saying. Behold the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and
be their God; and he shall wipe away every tear from
their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall
there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more; the
first things are passed away. He that overcometh shall
inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall
be my son." It was in part through the inspiration of
these great and splendid promises that the Christians
were enabled to go so bravely and smilingly to meet the
sword, and the cross, and the flames.

CHAPTER IX
WHAT IS TRUE CHRISTIANITY?
The General Epistles
(Written about 80-100 A.D.)
What New Testament Books are Called General
Epistles ?
The term General Epistles is usually applied to the
foUowing New Testament books : James, I and II Peter,
I, II, and III John, and Jude. They are called "general
epistles," because they were not addressed to any particu
lar individual or church, but were intended for general
circulation among the Christians. I Peter we have
aheady discussed in Chapter 8. It is not strictly a
general epistle, as it was intended especially for the
Christians in one particular region, Asia Minor.
Misinterpretations of Paul's Letters
Most of these general epistles were written during the
last ten or twenty years of the flrst century, A.D. Nearly
all of the apostles had by this time passed away. At
such a time the Christians naturaUy turned for guidance,
to the writings which the apostles and earlier leaders
had left behind them. Every church tried to secure a
collection of Paul's letters, and if possible a copy of one
or more of the Gospels. These writings were eagerly
studied, and were sometimes misunderstood. New and
strange ideas thus sprang up regarding the nature of
the Christian life. It was especially easy to misinterpret
the teachings of Paul; for his sentences are sometimes
long and obscure, and hard to understand.
Mistaken Ideas about Faith
Paul had laid great stress upon faith as the essential
characteristic of a disciple of Christ. ' ' We walk by faith. ' '
68

WHAT IS TRUE CHRISTIANITY 59
"We are justified by faith, not by works of the law."
(See Chapter 2.) He meant that no one can be saved
from sin by a merely superficial reformation. The whole
disposition must be changed; the heart must be turned
toward Christ. If any person wUl thus keep his heart
turned toward Christ, or in other words, have faith in
the aims, the spirit, and the friendship of Jesus, he wiU
as a natural result become Christlike.
Rightly understood, this' idea of Paul is profoundly
true, and one of the most inspiring truths in all the Bible.
But at the time of which we are speaking, there were
certain shallow minded persons who claimed to be saved
by faith, but whose "works" were not at all of the sort
that faith ought to produce. They gossiped about their
neighbors ; they were jealous of the honors paid to others.
In the presence of important church officers, their
language would be exceedingly pious, but with children
or servants, or poor people, their angry passions were
unrestrained. 'They also showed partiality in their
church gatherings, toward rich people. If a man came
in with a gold ring, and wearing fine clothing, they said
to him, "Sit here in a good place." But they would say
to a poor man, "Stand over there, or sit here under my
footstool." Plain Words about Christian Conduct
The Epistle of James
About this time, there lived in some community of
Christians, a certain teacher named James, who saw
clearly the hypocrisy of this kind of faith. James was
a plain spoken, practical sort of a man, and gifted with
a certain homely eloquence. He finally expressed his
indignation, in the Epistle which bears his name.
Through this letter or tract, James sought to give his
feUow Christians some common sense advice regarding
everyday Hfe. He warns against sins of the tongue.
He rebukes partiality to the rich, and shows his deep
sympathy for the poor and oppressed. Above all, he
scornfully denounces those Christians who boasted of

60 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
having faith, but who did not manifest this faith in actual
deeds. "If a brother or a sister be in rags," says James,
"and in lack of daily food, and one of you say to them,
'Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled;' and yet ye give
them not the things needful for the body; what doth it
profit? Even so, faith, if it have not works, is dead."
Evidently, to James, the most essential thing in the
Christian life was "works." Nothing less substantial
would answer. "Pure religion, and undefiled, before
our God and Father," he says, "is this, to visit the father
less and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world."
False Teachings about Freedom; Opposed by Jude
AND II Peter
There were other so-called Christians at this time, who
misinterpreted Paul's idea of freedom. Paul had written,
"for freedom hath Christ set us free." That is, a Chris
tian does right, not because he is compelled, but because
he wants to do right. (Gal. 5 : 1.) But these men who
claimed to be followers of Paul, taught that when a person
has once become a Christian, he is free to follow any
impulse which may enter his mind, without the slightest
restraint. Their daily lives were even worse than the
lives of the hypocrites whom James rebuked; and they
actually quoted sayings of Paul, to justify their indulgence
in all sorts of intemperate and licentious acts.
We have in the New Testament two letters or tracts,
which were aimed at these false preachers of freedom.
One is the little tract known as the Epistle of Jude.
Who this Jude was, or where he Hved, we do not know.
But he had been deeply stined and shocked by these
wicked and dangerous teachings. "Woe unto them,"
he says, of these men, "for they went in the way of Cain.
They are clouds without water, carried along by winds;
autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by
the roots; wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own
shame ; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of dark
ness hath been reserved forever."

WHAT IS TRUE CHRISTIANITY 61
The other tract against these men is known as II Peter.
It is quite generally beUeved that this was not written
by Peter, but by some Christian leader who Hved many
years after Peter's death. It was common in those days
for writers to publish their compositions under the
name of some great man of old. They probably did this,
not with the intention of deceiving any one, but simply
to honor the memory of those in whose name they wrote
and to show what these great men of old probably would
have said, had they been alive in later times.
The purpose of the author of II Peter was the same as
that of Jude, namely to warn against these outrageous
misinterpreters of Paul. In Paul's letters, he says, are
"some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant
and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures,
unto their own destruction." "Wherefore, beloved,"
he says, "give diligence that ye may be found . . . with
out spot and blameless in the sight of God."
Loving Our Fellowmen
There was another type of false teaching which was
growing up at this period, very different from those
described above. There were certain persons who not
only abstained from intemperance and licentiousness,
but who also insisted that all physical pleasures were
sinful. They went about with long faces, and never
joined in the social festivities of their fellow Christians.
They frequently observed fasts, and never ate meat on
any occasion. Moreover they insisted that no one could
be a tme Christian, or have any true knowledge of God,
except by living as they lived. Because of this claim to
a special knowledge of God, the name "Gnostic" was
applied to them, which is derived from the Greek word
meaning "know."
Now these Gnostics were usually good men at heart;
indeed they often were unusually eamest and sincere.
Nevertheless their mistaken notions regarding the real
meaning of Christianity had a tendency to spoU their
characters. They grew proud and censorious. They

62 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
criticized harshly all who did not fast as often as they
did. They gradually won followers and produced many
church quarrels and much bitterness.
These Gnostics were perhaps most numerous in the
province of Asia, especially in the vicinity of Ephesus.
Now there Hved in Ephesus in the years between 80 and
100 A.D., the author of the New Testament writings
known as the Gospel and the Epistles of John. It has
generally been supposed that these were written by the
Apostle John. In none of these writings, however, is
the author's name stated. Whatever the name may
have been, the man himself was one of the greatest
leaders in the history of the Christian Church. Of the
three Epistles of John, the second and third are merely
short notes, on less important matters. But in the tract
known as the First Epistle, he opposes the doctrines of
the Gnostics, and seeks to remedy some of the mischief
which they had caused. The main point of the tract,
the point on which he insists again and again, is summed
up as follows: "Every one that loveth . . . knoweth
God." In other words, the true way to know God, is not
by observing fasts, but by loving our fellowmen. The
real source of moral evil, is not physical pleaure which, in
moderation, is usually harmless and innocent, but rather,
an unloving and selfish spirit. If these Gnostics, there
fore, wish to show themselves specially holy, let them
cease to stir up anger and hatred among their feUow
Christians. Let them be kind and charitable. In short,
the writer pleads with all his readers to cultivate the
spirit of love, as the essence of the Christian life. "Be
loved, let us love one another; for love is of God. Who
soever loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love."

CHAPTER X
A SPIRITUAL GOSPEL
John's Story of the Life of Jesus
(Written about 100 A. D.)
The Gospel of John: When, where, and by whom
written ?
In the previous chapter, we saw that the Gospel and
Epistles of John have generally been regarded as the
work of the Apostle John. According to an early church
tradition, this apostle spent the closing years of his long
Hfe in the city of Ephesus. A large number of eminent
scholars have confidence in the accuracy of this tradition
and beHeve that John, the son of Zebedee was the author
of these writings. Many other scholars, however, believe
that they were not written by John. In any case the
story of the experiences which led the author to write
the Gospel would be much the same. In this chapter,
for convenience sake, we shaU refer to the author as
John. Whoever he was, he lived in the city of Ephesus,
about 100 A.D.
The Passing of the Eye-Witnesses op Jesus
Let us go back to the time when there remained very
few who had actuaUy seen the Lord Jesus, while He was
on earth. Imagine that one of these men Hved in your
viUage. Perhaps he was not one of the Twelve Apostles.
Possibly he was only a child when Jesus Hved. Yet
when we ask him "Did you really see Jesus?" he can
answer, "Yes, I saw Him." Perhaps he can add, "I
felt His hand upon my head, when my mother lifted me
up for His blessing." How gladly we would have ques
tioned this old man about that experience so long ago.
He would have seemed to us Hke a Hnk connecting us
63

64 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
with Jesus. But the time came at last when this man
was seen no more. At this thought there settled down
upon many a loyal Christian heart a sense of desolation.
The stream of time seemed to be sweeping Jesus away
from them. Seemingly, their only comfort now, was to
look back to Him and dream about Him as we do in our
modem song:
" I think when I read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How lie took Uttle children like lambs to His fold
I should like to have been with Him then."
True they had been taught that Jesus had risen from the
dead, and that He had promised to be with them "always
even unto the end of the world." But there were many
to whom this teaching somehow did not mean very much.
The real Jesus for their minds, was the Jesus who had
walked with His disciples in bodily form, along the shores
of Galilee.
There was another reason why these later disciples
no longer felt that Jesus was near to them. We have
seen that the earliest disciples had beheved that Jesus
would quickly retum, to judge the wicked, and establish
His heavenly kingdom. This hope was one of their
sweetest joys. Anyone who has counted the days before
the home coming of some dear one, can understand how
the dreams of those Christian disciples were centered
on one thing, the coming of Jesus. "Jesus is coming
soon. Perhaps He will come tomonow. Come, Lord
Jesus." This expectation helped them to feel that Jesus
was near and real. But the years passed, and the decades,
and Jesus did not retum in visible form. GraduaUy
the disciples ceased to look for Hirn. There even arose
scoffers who ridiculed the idea that Jesus would ever
retum. "Where is the promise of His coming?" they
asked. Very few of the Christians expected Him to return
in their own life time. Thus, just as the earthly Jesus
seemed to them to be vanishing farther and farther in the
distant past, so the returning Jesus was now disappearing

A SPIRITUAL GOSPEL 65
in a vague and indefinite future. They were in danger
of losing Jesus altogether.
A Man who Discovered the Living Jesus
This sense of loss was being felt very keenly by many
Christians about 100 A.D., when John lived in Ephesus.
There was a time when he himself had felt it. To him,
as to others, at such times, Jesus was only a wonderful
historical character who lived long ago. Gradually,
however, there came to him a strange experience. He
somehow became aware of a Presence, walking with him
day by day. He could not see or hear this Presence
with his physical senses yet it was as real to him as the
solid earth beneath his feet. In times of trial and tempta
tion, he could tum to that Presence and receive coirtfort
and strength. In moods of sadness the thought of that
Presence would flash into his mind, like the sunshine
breaking through the clouds, and all the world would
again be bright. Every good impulse and true idea
seemed to him now to be a whisper of that Presence.
He had re-discovered the living Jesus. "Jesus is aUve."
At the thought his heart was filled with happiness. He
could not but proclaim the news to his fellow Christians;
"Jesus is alive." He was fiUed with a new enthusiasm
for preaching the Gospel to those outside the church.
He had a message for them which was worth proclaiming;
"Jesus is ahve." If people asked, "How do you know
He is alive," he did not merely answer, "The apostles
saw Him when He arose from the dead." He simply
said, "I myself hold fellowship with Him day by day."
The great fact of his life was this acquaintance, through
personal experience, with the ever-living Christ.
A Gospel of the Living Christ
In order to bring home to the men and women of his
own time, this message of the Hving Christ, John wrote
a new account of the life of Jesus. As a means of setting
forth this truth, the Gospel of John is one of the most
original and extraordinary books ever written. The

66 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Christians of that day were probably not expecting a
new record of Jesus' life. The flrst three Gospels con
tained all the most important facts. But the thought
came to John; "I have known Jesus personally, all these
years, just as truly as Peter knew Him of old. He has
taught me many new and wonderful truths. Why not
write a new story of His earthly Hfe, and write it in such
a way as to bring out these new truths which He has
revealed to me?"
So John wrote his new Gospel. He does not give
us many new facts regarding Jesus, beyond what we
find in the older Gospels. But he re-tells these facts
in a new form, bringing out more clearly what they
really meant in the light of his acquaintance with the
living Jesus. He brings out this new meaning partly
through allegorical nanatives. An allegory is a story
in winch every detail symbolizes some deeper spiritual
truth, as in Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress." Jolm finds
these deeper aUegorical meanings in the nanatives of
the miracles of Jesus. For example, in the story of the
feeding of the multitudes, the loaves represent Jesus
Himself, who is "the bread of God which cometh down out
of heaven and giveth life unto the world."
Another method which John used for bringing out new
meanings in the old, well-known facts, is that of conversa
tions put into the mouth of Jesus Himself. John did not
mean that Jesus actually uttered the very words of these
conversations, but that they represent the spirit of His
whole life, as the living Jesus had revealed it to him. For
example, the language of the following sentence is probably
that of John: "God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever beHeveth on him
should not perish, but have etemal life." (John 3: 16.)
But though Jesus Himself probably never uttered these
exact words, they are nevertheless a perfect summary of
the inner spirit of His life. There were a number of
great and vital religious truths, which John sought to
teach by means of these methods. We shall study some
of them in the next chapter. Chief among them, however,

A SPIRITUAL GOSPEL 67
is the message of the living Christ. This message is
indirectly impHed, as we have seen, in the very fact that
John ventured to express his convictions in the form of a
Gospel nanative. Prom the first chapter to the last,
we are constantly made to feel the influence of that Pres
ence, which had become the great fact of John's life.
"Blessed are they that have not Seen, and yet
have Believed "
This message about the living Christ is also set forth
not merely indirectly, but explicitly, in a large number of
passages. It is the meaning of the words in the story of
Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's
Well. "Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst
again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall
give him, shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give
^him shall become in him a well of water springing up
into etemal life." That is, fellowship with Jesus satisfies
our deepest needs; nor can this fellowship between Jesus
and His disciples ever be broken. It is a well of water
"springing up into eternal life." It continues through
the centuries. The same message is expressed in the
figure of bread, "I am the bfead of life. He that cometh
to me shaU not hunger, and he that believeth in me shall
never thirst." Again in the farewell discourse to His
disciples in the upper room (John 14-17), Jesus says, "I
will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a
little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but
ye behold me; because I live, ye shall live also." (John
14: 18, 19.)
The message is presented even more directly to the
Christians of later generations in the story of doubting
Thomas (John 20:24-39). This disciple had said
that he would not believe rti the Resurrection of Jesus,
uJnless he could "put his finger into the print of the
nails," with which Jesus had been cmcified. After
ward Jesus appeared to Thomas with the other disciples
and Thomas said to Him, "my Lord and my God."
Jesus answered, "Because thou has seen me, thou hast

68 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
believed; blessed are they who have not seen and yet
have believed." This is a direct and tender appeal to
the men and women of John's own time. They found it
hard to believe that the living Jesus was present with
them, because they could not see Him or touch Him,
as could the earlier disciples. "It is indeed harder to
believe in Me now," says the living Jesus who speaks
through the Gospel of John. ' ' But if you will only over
come your unbeHef, and will talk with Me in prayer just
as though you could see Me and hear Me, with your
physical eyes and ears, you will indeed come to know Me,
and will know Me even better than those who only saw
Me in the flesh."
Through this message of the Hving Christ, John also
solved the difficulty of the promised retum of Jesus.
To those who asked "when will this promise be fuUiUed,
when will Jesus return to judge the wicked, and reward
his disciples," John replied, "Jesus has returned. The
judgment is taking place all the time. Whenever a man
has the opportunity to believe in Jesus, but chooses dark
ness rather than light, he thereby judges himself. This
is the judgment, that the light is come unto the world, and
men loved the darkness rather than the Hght." Nor
will Jesus ever be any nearer to His disciples than He
is today, if they will only recognize His presence. "Some
of the disciples therefore said one to another. What is
this that He saith to us. A Httle whUe and ye behold
Me not; and again a Httle while and ye shaU see Me?
We know not what He saith." (John 16: 17-18). These
disciples in this passage represent those Christians in
John's own time who could not understand what Jesus
had meant by His promise to retum in a very short time
to His people. And the answer of the Hving Jesus, as
it had been revealed to John, is as follows: "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, ye shall be sonowful, but your
sonow shall be turned into joy . . . . Ye therefore now have
sonow; but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, and your
joy no one taketh away from you. ' ' In other words, when
Jesus was crucified, the disciples were sonowful. But in

Property of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
AMONG THE LOWLY.
From a painting by L'hermitte.

A SPIRITUAL GOSPEL 69
the joy of the Resunection moming, Jesus returned to
them never again to depart.
It is this message of the Hving Jesus which has given
John's Gospel its wonderful influence in all subsequent
ages. Its author understood perfectly the doubts and
perplexities of those who must "waUc by faith and not
by sight," and he has helped the Christians of each new
generation to discover Jesus for themselves, as their
personal Saviour and Friend.

CHAPTER XI
JESUS THE DIVINE SAVIOUR
The Gospel of John
(Written about 100 A. D.)
Arguments op the Jews against the Christians
In order to gain some further information regarding
the circumstances which led John to write his Gospel,
let us visit in imagination the Jewish synagogue in the
city of Ephesus, on a Sabbath moming in the year 100
A.D. The services are conducted in the Greek language
and in the rear seats there are a number of Gentiles who
have been drawn to the meeting by curiosity, or by a real
interest in this religion of one unseen God. On another
street, not far away, there is a house where the Christians
in that part of the city are accustomed to meet. Many
of these Greeks who are sitting here in this synagogue
this moming, have likewise attended the meetings of the
Christians. Some of the Jews also have secretly visited
the Christians. This explains the character of the
rabbi's sermon. After the reading of the Scriptures,
he begins his exposition. The whole address is an attack
on the Christians. "I hear that some of you have been
attending the meetings of the Christians," he says. "Do
not be deceived by their false teachings. They say that
Jesus was both God and man, and they worship him as
equal with God. That is blasphemy. What says the
Law? 'Hear O Israel, Jehovah our God is one,' and,
'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Moreover,
the facts show that Jesus was a mere man, and not at aU
what the Christians claim. At first he never pretended
to be anything but a disciple of John the Baptist; indeed
John was a much greater prophet than he. It was really
John who originated the custom of baptism, and the
70

JESUS THE DIVINE SAVIOUR 71
Christians have merely adopted it. As for the miracles
which they say he performed, how do we know these
stories are true? We aU know how easily ignorant people
are deluded ; and aU his disciples were uneducated laborers,
fishermen and the Hke. None of the educated men of
Jerusalem ever beheved in him. In fact he never came
to Jerusalem until the last week of his life. He spent
his time in the obscure out-of-the-way province of Gahlee.
If he was indeed the Messiah, and equal with God, why
did he not go to Jerusalem at the very outset, and present
his claims before the Sanhedrin, and the other leamed
rabbis there? Another thing; if Jesus was God, how is
it that he did not know that one of his own disciples was
a traitor? Finally, if he was God, why could he not save
himself from being put to death on the cross? You see
how preposterous these Christian teachings are. Do not
be deceived by them. The true reHgion, is the old religion
of Israel. Christianity is merely an imitation and a
counterfeit." How THIS Opposition Hurt the Christians
Such anti-Christian attacks as these seem to have been
very common in the Jewish synagogues of those days.
NaturaUy, the Christians heard about them. They
continually ran across these arguments, in talking with
non-Christians. Many a time they would be nearly
successful in winning some young Greek to belief in Jesus,
when suddenly they would find his respectful interest
changed to scom. "You should have heard the rabbi
yesterday," he would say to them. "He proves that
your Christianity is either a delusion or a fraud." Thus
they were constantly hindered in their missionary work.
Moreover, manv of the Christians themselves were be
wildered by the arguments of the Jews. They were
unable to answer all of them, and their minds were filled
with doubts, and their hearts with sadness. For the main
point of aU these arguments was that Jesus was not divine ;
but to these early Christians, the one great motive of
their religion, the motive which had given them new

72 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
power to conquer sin and Hve righteously, was love for
Jesus as their divine Saviour. It was the thought of this
divine man of Gahlee which had touched their hearts to
the very depths, and had lifted them out of degradation
into Hves of purity and love. Before they had heard of
Jesus, many of them indeed had believed in God. But
they had had only a very hazy idea as to the character
of God, and they had felt towards Him, only a vague fear
and awe. But this God in human form, who healed the
sick, and pitied the sinful, and blessed the children, and
died on the cross for the sins of others, . . . this God could
win their deepest love, and transform their whole char
acters. Now if Jesus after all, were only a man like other
men! At the thought the very sunlight seemed to fade
out of the sky! Life was no longer worth living if this
story of Jesus after all was only a sweet dream.
How John Answered the Arguments of the Jews
"These signs are written, that ye may believe that Jesus
is the Christ the Son of God; and that believing ye may have
life in his name." (John 20:30-31.) In these closing
words, John states clearly one of the main purposes of his
Gospel. He planned to answer the arguments of the
Jews, and to tell the story of Jesus' life in such a way
that no fair-minded reader could fail to believe in Him as
divine, and believing, "have life in his name." Thus in
answer to the argument that Jesus carried on his work
almost entirely in Galilee, John tells of many visits to
Jerusalem which are not mentioned in the earlier Gospels.
In answer to the statement that Jesus was at first only
a disciple of John the Baptist, this Gospel brings out
very emphatically that John regarded Jesus as "one
greater than I." "He must increase; I must decrease."
In answer to the charge that no educated men had believed
in Jesus, John tells about Nicodemus, "the ruler of the
Jews," who came to Jesus by night; and John declares
that there were many others among the rabbis who Uke
Nicodemus were secret disciples of Jesus. They were
afraid to let it be known, however, lest their associates

JESUS THE DIVINE SAVIOUR 73
might persecute them. The main argument of the Jews,
however, was that the Christians were ascribing to a
human being, honors which rightly belonged only to the
one true God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. They
were worshipping Jesus as equal with God, and this was
blasphemy. In answer to this, John tells very fully
just what Jesus taught regarding Himself. He shows
that Jesus never claimed to be equal with God, except
as a representative of a king is entitled to all the honors
which are due to the king who sent him. Jesus was
divine, in the sense that He was the one supreme Mediator
between God and man. All his powers however were
from God, who dwelt in Him, and spoke through Him.
"The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth
the Father doing." (5: 19.) "I can of myself do nothing;
as I hear, I judge." (5: 30.) "My teaching is not mine
but His that sent me. " (7:16.) " I do nothing of myself,
but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. And
He that sent me is with me; He hath not left me alone;
for I do always the things that are pleasing to Him."
(8:28-29.) In this sense of the word, indeed, all good men may be
said to be divine. That is, God dwells in them, and speaks
through them, and they are to some extent mediators
between God and men. This is suggested in John's
quotation from the eighty-second Psalm: "I said. Ye
are Gods." (John 10 : 34-35.) The Psalmist was speak
ing of the judges and rulers of his day, and he meant that
to the people they stood in the place of God, represented
God. But Jesus represented God as no other human
being ever had done, or ever can ; for His life was absolutely
sinless, inexpressibly perfect. Hence in Him we see a
perfect picture of the character of God. God is just like
Jesus Christ: a just judge, a tender Saviour, a loving
Friend. As the perfect representative of God, Jesus is
therefore the Light of the world. John believed that
He "was in the beginning with God." The tme way to
honor God, then, is to believe in Jesus, and worship Him.

74 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
For, "he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the
Father that sent Him."
Proofs of the Divinity of Jesus
Some might still object, how can you prove that Jesus
was in truth the supreme Mediator between God and man.
John brings forward in his Gospel a number of proofs.
He appeals to John the Baptist. "There came a man
sent from God whose name was John. He was not the
light (of the world), but he came to bear witness of the
light." The Gospel also appeals to the Old Testament
prophecies of Christ. "If ye believed Moses, ye would
believe me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his
writings how shall ye believe my words."
But there is one final argument which to John is worth
more than all the others, and that is the argument from
his own experience, and the experience of his fellow Chris
tians. "We know that Jesus is the divine Saviour,"
he says, in substance, "because through Him we have
been saved." It is this testimony from personal ex
perience which John puts in the mouth of Peter in his
account of the crisis at Capernaum. "Upon this many
of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Jesus said therefore unto the twelve. Would ye also go
away? Simon Peter answered him. Lord, to whom shaU
we go? thou hast the words of etemal life." Peter and
his fellow disciples had been lifted into a new life of faith
and love and self -forgetfulness through the inspiration of
the words of Jesus. This same experience had come to
the later disciples of John's time, through reading Jesus'
words, or hearing them repeated. Jesus had done for
them what no other man had done, or could do. They
knew from experience that in Him were "the words of
etemal life."
This argument is expressed with wonderful force and
persuasiveness in the story of the blind man whose eyes
were opened by Jesus. AUegorically, the blind man
represents any Christian who has been cured of the
blindness of sin through faith in Jesus. The Pharisees

JESUS THE DIVINE SAVIOUR 75
use all their arguments and threats to lead him to say
that he is a different person from the bHnd beggar of the
day before. But still he persists, "I am he." FinaUy
they say to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this
man is a sinner." The cured man answered, "Whether
he is a sinner, I know not ; one thing I know, that, whereas
I was bHnd, now I see."
" He stood before the Sanhedrin;
The scowHng Rabbis gazed at him;
He recked not of their praise or blame;
There was no fear, there was no shame.
" For one upon whose dazzled eyes
The whole world poured its vast surprise,
The open heaven was far too near
His first day's Hght too sweet and clear
To let him waste his new-gaiaed ken
On the hate-clouded face of men.
" But still they questioned. Who art thou.
What hast thou been? What art thou now?
Thou art not he who yesterday
Sat here and begged beside the way:
For he was blind: — And I am he;
For I was blind but now I see.

" They were all doctors of renown
The great men of a famous town
With deep brows wrinkled, broad and wise;
Beneath their wide phylacteries.
The wisdom of the East was theirs;
And honor crowned their silver hairs.
" The man they jeered and laughed to scom,
Was unlearned, poor, and humbly bom.
But he knew better far than they.
What came to him that Sabbath Day.
And what the Christ had done for hmi
He knew and not the Sanhedrin." . John Hay.

76 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
So the simple-hearted reader of John's Gospel, as he read
this story, was comforted. He might not always be able
to answer the arguments of the rabbis. He was not
trained in leamed arguments.
"But what the Christ had done for him,
He knew, and not the Sanhedrin."

CHAPTER XII
THE STORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Writings of the Early Christians
The twenty-seven books of the New Testament were
all written, for the most part, during a period of about
fifty years, that is, between 50 and 100 A.D. They may
be divided roughly into four groups, which represent in
a general way, four steps in the history.
First of all, we have a group of letters by the Apostle
Paul, written between 50 and 60 A.D., or thereabouts.
Next there appeared the first three Gospels called the
Synoptics, namely Mark, Matthew and Luke; and with
them we may class the Book of Acts. They were probably
written between the years 60 and 80 A.D. Next there
came another group of letters, many of them "general
epistles" or tracts. Most of them were written between
the years 80 and 100 A.D., although I Peter was probably
written much earlier (about 64 A.D.), and II Peter some
what later (perhaps about 110 A.D.). With this group
we may for convenience sake include the Book of Revela
tion, although only the first three chapters are in the
form of letters. Most of these writings are the work of
the successors of the apostles.
The latest book of importance, of those now in the New
Testament, was the Gospel of John. There were other
books by Christian leaders, written during this period,
and later; but in beauty of language and greatness of
thought, the writings of the New Testament tower far
above them all.
Differences Between the Various Books
The New Testament books were written in many
different places, as for example in Ephesus, Palestine,
77

78 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
and Rome. They were written by ten or twelve different
persons. These writers were very different from each
other in temperament and training. Paul was a leamed
Jewish rabbi. Luke, John and the author of Hebrews
were also men of education, and wrote in polished Greek.
The author of the Book of Revelation, on the other hand,
made mistakes in grammar, and many of the other writers,
as for example Matthew and Mark, had received little
training in literary composition. In temperament, Paul
was impetuous and quick-tempered. James was a man
of practical common sense. John was a quiet dreamer.
Most of these writers were by nationality Jews, but Luke
was a Greek. Finally, the various New Testament books
were called forth by the most diverse circumstances.
Paul's letters were simply letters; it never occuned to
him that any of them would be preserved after they had
served their immediate purpose. Matthew wrote his
Gospel for Jews: Mark was perhaps thinking especially
of the Romans; Luke, of Greeks. John was seeking to
help the Christians of the third generation after Jesus.
All these differences of authorship and circumstances of
origin, have left their mark upon the books.
The Unity of the New Testament
Nevertheless, in spite of these differences, these books
are bound together, in a very real unity. There runs
through them all a remarkable love for a remarkable
Person. The authors were all dominated by a passionate
loyalty to Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth, and by the
supreme desire to spread abroad among men. His ideas,
and His way of living. It was the influence of Jesus which
caused Paul to undertake those astonishing missionary
campaigns, in the midst of which he wrote his letters.
It was the intense desire to perpetuate the teachings and
the personal influence of Jesus, which led to the writing
of the Gospels. And of all these writings, none shows a
more unbounded devotion to Jesus, or a more intimate
appreciation of the divine greatness of His character, than
the latest of them, the Gospel of John. Thus the story of

STORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 79
the New Testament brings us face to face with "the fact
of Jesus Christ." Who was this Person, who suddenly,
in the short space of fifty years, cut into the stream of
human history with so resistless an influence? Who was
this Galilean carpenter who inspired the New Testament?
This is the one great message of the story of the religious
movement out of which these writings grew. Ecce homo!
Behold the Man!

80

THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE

Chart of the New Testament Books in Approximately
Chronological Order

Date

Booh

Author

1.

About 51 A.D.

I Thessalonians

Paul

2.

About 51 A.D.

Galatians

Paul

3.

About 51 A.D.

II Thessalonians

Paul

4.

About 65 A.D.

I Corinthians

Paul

5.

About 55 A.D.

II Corinthians

Paul

6.

About 56 A.D.

Romans

Paul

7.

About 59-61 A.D.

Ephesians

Paul

8.

About 59-61 A.D.

Colossians

Paul

9.

About 59-61 A.D.

Philemon

Paul

10.

About 59-61 A.D.

Philippians

Paul

11.

About 59-61 A.D.

I Timothy

Paul (in part)

12.

About 59-61 A.D.

II Timothy

Paul (in part)

13.

About 59-61 A.D.

Titus

Paul (in part)

14.

About 64 A.D.

I Peter

Peter (in part)

15.

About 70 A.D.

Mark

John Mark, using earlier
records

16.

About 80 A.D.

Matthew

Unknown author, using a
collection of the sayings
of Jesus by Matthew.

17.

About 80-90 A.D.

Luke

Luke, the physician'

18.

About 80-90 A.D.

Acts

Ltike, the physician

19.

About 80 A.D.

Hebrews

Unknown

20.

About 80-110 A.D.

James

Unknown

21.

About 80-110 A.D.

Jude

Unknown

22.

About 80-110 A.D.

II Peter

Unknown

23.

About 80-110 A.D.

Revelation

Perhaps the Apostle John

24.

About 80-110 A.D.

I John

Perhaps the Apostle John

25.

About 80-110 A.D.

II John

Perhaps the Apostle John

26.

About 80-110 A.D.

III John

Perhaps the Apostle John

27.

About 80-110 A.D.

The Gospel of John

Perhaps the Apostle John

CHAPTER XIII
BARDS AND BALLAD-SINGERS
Beginning the Story op the Old Testament
The only Bible which Jesus knew was the Old Testa
ment, for none of the New Testament -books were written
untU after His death. We know, however, from the
facts recorded in the Gospels that Jesus eagerly studied
in the synagogue, at the temple, and by Himself the
Jewish sacred writings found in our Old Testament.
In former chapters we have seen that the earliest
New Testament writings were not those which now come
first in our Bible. This is also true of the books of the
Old Testament. We have seen that behind the Gospels
of Matthew and Luke lay two earUer books — the Gospel
of Mark and another book now lost, Matthew's Col
lection of the Sayings of Jesus. In a simUar way, back
of the books of the Old Testament lay many earlier
books now lost, but it is possible for scholars to detect
quotations from them by studying the differences in
language and style. We will therefore begin the Old
Testament with the story of some of the earhest of these
lost books. The Early Hebrew Nomads
About fourteen hundred years before Christ, there
was a group of shepherd tribes, leading their flocks
from oasis to oasis, on the borders of the desert south
and east of Canaan. Under the leadership of a noble
sheik named Abraham, these nomads had come across
the desert from the northeast. The people who in
habited Canaan called Abraham and lus followers
Hebrews, that is, " the people from the other side."
81

82 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
The nomads called themselves " the sons of Israel."
After a time certain tribes belonging to this group
were driven by hunger to take refuge in Egypt. For
a time they were permitted by a friendly king to pasture
their flocks in the district of Goshen, the open range
on the northeastern comer of the land. But a later
king laid upon them the heavy hand of Egyptian power,
and compelled them to render forced service on his great
building enterprises. A leader was raised up for them,
however, who had had the advantage of education in
the Egyptian royal palace. His name, Moses, implied
that he was an Egyptian, but in birth, in spirit and in
heart, he was a true Hebrew. He appealed to his kins
men in the name of the God Jehovah, who was believed
to dwell in the sacred mountain Sinai, near which these
tribes had probably often fed their flocks. They endured
their troubles for many years but finaUy under the
leadership of Moses, and trusting in Jehovah's help,
they made a dash for freedom. Their trust was quickly
and surprisingly vindicated; for a providential east
wind swept dry for a few hours one night the shaUows
near the upper end of the Red Sea (Ht. Sea of Reeds,
probably Lake Timsah). Thus they were able to escape
from the Egyptian soldiers who were pursuing them, and
bade a long fareweU to Egypt and its rulers. Returning
to the semi-desert regions south and east of Canaan, they
took up again, for a time, nomadic Hfe.
This wonderful deliverance made a deep impression on
the Hebrews. Immediately after leaving Egypt, Moses
led them to Mount Sinai, where they offered sacrifices
of thanksgiving to Jehovah. They also made a covenant,
promising to worship no other gods except Jehovah.
The memory of these experiences and the sense of belong
ing as a people to so just and mighty a God, undoubtedly
lifted them above the tribes around them. They seemed
to have more of what we call now " civic spirit," and a
greater readiness to forget their selfish interests as in
dividuals for the sake of the common welfare.

BARDS AND BALLAD-SINGERS 83
Songs Around the Camppire
The earliest Old Testament literature was produced
by these Hebrew nomads. They had no books in those
days. They did not even know the art of writing,
yet they had begun to develop an oral literature, consist
ing of songs and ballads, that is, stories in poetic form.
As they sat around their campfires at night, one member
of the circle would often sing songs, and repeat ballads.
Sometimes they would have with them a professional
bard. These men went from tribe to tribe, and from
campfire to campfire, reciting their songs and stories,
in retum for food and lodging.
Scraps of these ancient poems are found in the Old
Testament. One of them may be caUed the Song of
the Well. The Hebrew maidens used to sing this song
when they went to draw water. We may perhaps
compare it with our modem song " The Old Oaken
Bucket." In many languages, there are similar songs
which express the gratitude of a thirsty man for a drink
of clear, cold water. As desert dwellers the Hebrews
deeply appreciated the value of water, so that this was
without doubt a very popular song. The stanza quoted
in the Old Testament is as foUows :
Spring up, O well.
Sing ye to it:
To the well which the chieftains dug,
Which the nobles of the people delved.
With the leader's wand, with their staves. (Num. 21 : 17-18.)
The majority of these ancient fragments are from
war songs. Nomadic life was far from being peaceful.
Pasturage was scarce, and every spring and well and
green meadow was the scene of many a bloody conflict.
There was no established govemment, and the only
law was the law of blood revenge; " Eye for eye, and
tooth for tooth." (Lev. 24:20.) There is a fragment
of poetry in Genesis, called the Song of Lamech, which
celebrates the vengeance of some desert warrior.

84 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Adah and Zillah, hearken to my voice.
Wives of Lamech, give ear to my saying.
A man I slay for wounding me.
Yea, a youth for bruising me.
If Cain shall be avenged seven fold,
Lamech shall be seventy and seven. (Gen. 4 : 23-24.)
Most of these war songs, however, reflect a nobler
spirit than that of mere personal revenge. We can trace
the influence of the experiences of the Hebrews in Egypt
in a strong feeling of loyalty to the nation as a whole.
This is the spirit of a song attributed to Moses, which
praises Jehovah on behalf of the nation for the great
deliverance at the Red Sea:
Sing ye to Jehovah, for he is greatly exalted.
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. (Ex. 15:1.)
Another ancient fragment with a simUar spirit is called
the Song of the Ark. This Ark was a sacred box or
chest which was supposed to represent in some special
sense the actual presence of Jehovah. It was customary
for the warriors to carry it with them into battle. When
they had the Ark, they felt that Jehovah was fighting
for them, by their side. And they sang a battle song,
as they advanced with the Ark against the enemy:
Rise, 0 Jehovah, let thine enemies be scattered:
Let those who hate thee, flee before thy face. (Num. 10 : 35.)
Songs of a Nation's Heroes
Like all the desert dwellers on the borders of Canaan,
the Hebrews looked with longing eyes on the fertile
valleys. One unsuccessful attempt was made to invade
the country from the south, while Moses, their great
leader, was alive. Shortly afterwards they established
themselves on the table lands east of the Jordan. After
Moses' death, they crossed the Jordan, and gained a
foothold in the settled territory. With that remarkable
national spirit growing out of their memories of their
nation's past, it is not surprising that they soon became

BARDS AND BALLAD-SINGERS 85
masters of the land. As for the earher inhabitants,
some were kiUed and others were reduced to serfdom.
With others the Hebrews made friendly aUiances, and
leamed from them how to tiU the soU and build houses.
But upon all the other tribes who were graduaUy absorbed
into the nation, the Hebrews stamped their own peculiar
characteristics and religion. They continued to be
the people of Jehovah, the God who had led them up
out of the land of Egypt.
We have one very old Hebrew poem, the Song of
Deborah, which comes to us from the period of the
settlement in Canaan. With the exception of the brief
fragments mentioned above, this is probably the oldest
piece of writing in the Bible. It celebrates a great
victory of the Hebrews over the earlier inhabitants
of Canaan. Previous to that victory the original Canaan
ites were stiU in control of the cities and the fertile
lowlands. In the northern part of the country there
was a strong Canaanite king named Sisera, who at one
time seemed on the point of reducing the Hebrews in
that region to slavery. But a brave woman named
Deborah went about among the different tribes, and
stined up the old Hebrew spirit. In substance, her
message was as follows: " Let us forget that we are
Ephraimites, or Reubenites, or Zebulonites, or whatever
our tribe may be, and remember only that we are Hebrews,
the people of Jehovah, who brought us up out of the
bondage of Egypt." 'The result was that most of the
tribes united against the common foe, and won a great
victory on the Plain of Esdraelon. After the battle,
some poetic genius celebrated the victory in a triumph
song which is one of the most perfect compositions of
its kind in literature. (Judges 5.)
A Nation Learning to Write
When the Hebrews entered Canaan, they leamed
the art of writing. Happily for the world, what they
leamed was the new alphabetical writing which had

86 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
been for the first time put into practical use by the
Phoenicians. The cumbrous systems of picture-writing,
which were used by the Egyptians and Babylonians,
were not favorable to the growth of literature but were
used chiefly for recording laws and business transactions.
An alphabet, however, consists of only a few letters of
different shapes, through which any spoken word can
be reduced to writing.
Along with the newly discovered alphabet there soon
came more convenient writing materials. Formerly
" to write " had meant to engrave on wood or stone.
That is the original meaning of the Hebrew and Greek
words translated " write." Men, however, leamed to
write with pen and ink on roUs of leather. The ability
to read and write became more common. Thus in time
it came to pass that some Hebrew bard, or ballad-singer,
wrote down his collection of songs, in order to aid his
memory. Two of these roUs or books of early Hebrew
songs were widely copied and became weU known.
One was called " The Book of Jashar " or the Book
of Righteous Israel, and the other " The Wars of
Jehovah." There are quotations from these two books
in the Old Testament (Num. 21: 14-15; Josh. 10: 12-13;
2 Sam. 1 : 18.) Possibly they contained the Song of
Deborah and other early poems now quoted in the
Old Testament books.
Religion and the Civic Spirit
The reHgion of such poems as the Song of Deborah
is essentially a civic religion. This was the unique
characteristic of the Hebrews after their common suffer
ings in Egypt and their wonderful deliverance. They
thought of Jehovah as the God of the whole nation,
and as a God who would frown on any act of selfishness,
whereby a single individual might be benefited at the
expense of the general weKare. The essential spirit
of this religion was on the side of justice and fair play.
Even in these early poems, therefore, we begin to see

Brick of Hammurabi, Recording
the Building of a Temple.

Cretan Pictographic Writing
from Phsestos.

Clay Tablet, with Linear Script.
Palace of Minos, Cnossos, Crete.

The Rosetta Stone.

ANCIENT SYSTEMS OF WRITING.
From Goodspeed's " Ancient World."

BARDS AND BALLAD-SINGERS 87
the secret of that extraordinary moral and religious
influence which the Hebrew people were destined to
exert upon mankind during aU the centuries to foUow.
In teaching men to deny themselves for the common
good, they were to lift the world toward God.

CHAPTER XIV
OLD STORIES TOLD IN A NEW WAY
The Earliest Histories of the Hebrews
Questions about the Origin of Things
There are certain questions which awaken the curiosity
of every one. How did this wonderful world come into
existence? How is it that you and I happen to be here?
How did things in general come to be as they are ? Some
of these difficult questions have been partiaUy answered
by scientists, such as Newton and Darwin. In ancient
times there was little or no science ; yet in every country,
there were certain answers to these questions, handed
down from generation to generation, and generally
accepted as true. Among the Hindus, it used to be
said that the world was hatched out of an enormous egg.
It is not difficult to see how ideas of this kind grew up.
First of all, some one suggested that the world might
have been created in this way or another. His idea was
accepted by others and passed on from lip to lip. Fathers
told it to their children. After a few generations it
acquired the authority of antiquity. " This is what
we have been taught by our ancestors," people said.
"It must be true."
The Nations who Taught the Hebrews
When the Hebrews entered Canaan they naturally
were inclined to adopt the ideas and beliefs of the earlier
inhabitants of the country, whose knowledge in regard
to most matters was far beyond theirs. They also
came in contact with other civilized nations, especially
the Babylonians. The two leading civilized nations
of that day were the Babylonians and the Egyptians.
88

OLD STORIES TOLD IN A NEW WAY '89

90 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
A glance at the map (page 89) will show that any
people Hving in Canaan would inevitably come into
close relationship with both these nations; for there
was only one convenient caravan route between them,
and that route passed through Canaan. There was
indeed a more direct route, but it led across the
banen desert of interior Arabia, which was hundreds of
miles wide. Hence the great caravans were accustomed
to go up the Euphrates river some htmdreds of miles,
cross the desert where it was nanowest to Damascus,
and then pass down through the nanow lane of arable
land, about seventy-five miles wide, which lay between
the desert and the southwestern shore of the Medi-
tenanean Sea. That nanow stretch of land was Canaan.
Visitors from Babylonia were therefore frequently seen
in Hebrew towns and villages. Apparently they exerted
a greater influence than the Egyptians, perhaps on account
of their closer kinship in race and language.
For more than two thousand years before the Hebrews
entered Canaan, the Babylonians had an elaborate system
of writing. They used clay tablets as writing material.
The characters were inscribed on the clay while it was
soft, and then the tablet was allowed to dry and harden
in the sun. The writing is described by modem scholars
as cuneiform, that is, wedge-shaped. If you will try the
experiment, you wUl find that the marks produced on clay
by a sharp-pointed cube are naturally wedge-shaped.
In recent years great numbers of these old clay tablets
covered with writing have been dug up in the ruins of
Babylonian cities and are now preserved in museums.
Scholars, after years of patient labor, have at last de
ciphered this language.
The Questions of the Hebrews and the Answers
of the Babylonians
As the Hebrews became acquainted with these rulers
of the east they leamed something of their answers to
those etemal questions which men have been asking

OLD STORIES TOLD IN A NEW WAY 91
since the beginning of time. We know that they were
influenced in this way because on the clay tablets, some
of which were inscribed long before the Hebrew nation
existed, we find stories which are strikingly simUar to
certain stories in the Bible.
For example, Babylonian traders in the inns of Pales
tinian towns used to teU a story of the creation of the
world and also about a great flood which the gods sent
upon the earth. It was told as the answer to the question
why we human beings die, instead of living on forever.
Scholars have found clay tablets containing practically
the whole Babylonian story of the flood. It runs as follows :
The gods had determined to destroy mankind, in order
to prevent men from attaining immortality, but one
of them, named Ea, sent a waming to a man named
Utnapishtim, waming him of the flood, and instructing
him to build a ship, and to take into it his family, and
a pair of each kind of animals. Then came the terrible
storm of rain, says Utnapishtim. The earth was covered
with water; for six days and nights the rain fell, until
all living things were destroyed, except those on the
ship. Even the gods were terrifled, and climbing to
the highest heaven, cowered like dogs as they looked
over the edge. But after six days and six nights the
storm ceased, and the ship rested on the top of the moun
tain Nisir. Then after seven days more,
" I sent forth a dove and let it loose.
The dove went forth, but came back,
Because it found no resting-place, it returned.
Then I sent forth a raven and let it loose.
The raven went forth and saw that the waters had decreased;
It ate, it waded, it croaked, but did not retum.
Then I sent forth everj^hing in aU directions and ofEered a
sacrifice.
The gods inhaled the odor.
The gods inhaled the sweet odor,
The gods gathered Uke flies above the sacrifice."

92 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Canaanite Traditions
Besides these stories which came from Babylonia,
there were many others which the Hebrews received
from the Canaanites. Some of them had to do with
the many shrines or temples, where the Canaanites
offered sacrifices to the gods. These temples were
usually built over certain rocks or near trees, which the
Canaanites regarded as sacred. Each temple was dedi
cated to some special god, who was the Baal or lord of
that part of the country. " Why do you regard that
tree as sacred?" the Hebrews would ask. "Because
Ashtarte (or some other deity) dwells in it," the
Canaanites would answer. " She appeared here once,
in visible form, to the man who first built this temple.
That is why we offer sacrifices here." Thus the Hebrews
were educated in the traditional beliefs of the leading
nations among whom they lived.
One God or Many Gods
Not all of this education was of a wholesome kind.
The moral atmosphere among the idlers in the public
square of such a town as old Canaanite Gibeon, in the
year 1000 B.C., was far from elevating. All of these
stories which the Hebrews heard in such places took for
granted that it is right to worship many gods; but the
Hebrews had promised to worship only Jehovah.
This worship of the one God of the whole nation was
essentially ennobling. It was a civic religion, and tended
toward righteousness. It led men to look at all questions
from the broad standpoint of the whole nation. On
the other hand, in each Canaanite viUage the Hebrews
found a shrine dedicated to some petty local deity, the
" Baal " or " lord " of that village and of the sunounding
farms. The religious spirit at these shrines was nanow
and selfish. The ceremonies were frequently impure,
cruel and revolting. The best men among the Hebrews
were therefore bitterly opposed to the worship of any
gods except Jehovah.

THE SUMERIAN ARMY IN ACTION.

BABYLONIAN CYLINDERS.
From Goodspeed's "Ancient World."

OLD STORIES TOLD IN A NEW WAY 93
Retelling the Old Stories
One of the hardest problems these men had to face
was how to counteract the influence of the stories about
the gods, which the Hebrews had leamed from the Baby
lonians and Canaanites. They might perhaps have
denounced them; but that would only have increased
the curiosity of people about them. Fortunately the
wisest men in those early days foUowed a better plan.
They retold these stories in their own way. Disregarding
those things which were false and base, they were on the
alert for illustrations of sublime truths. We have the
results of their work in the great stories of the book of
Genesis. In aU these stories, they struck out all reference to
" the gods," and left only Jehovah as the one majestic
creator and ruler of the world. In the story of the Garden
of Eden, and of the Flood, they explained that troubles
come upon men, not because of the " jealousy " of the
gods, as the Babylonians had said, but because men
disobey Jehovah. And what a contrast in the story
of the Flood, between the Babylonian description of
" the gods hovering Hke flies above the sacrifice " and
the Hebrew portrayal of the one just and holy God!
These men also saw something worth while in the
stories which originally came from the Canaanites. They
therefore retold these stories also, in a nobler form.
They explained the various sacred shrines in Canaan
not as abodes of heathen gods, but as places where Je
hovah at one time or another had appeared to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. The sacred stone at the temple of
Bethel, for example, was sacred not because a heathen
deity lived inside of it but because Jacob had used that
stone as a rest for his head as he slept there one night,
a fugitive. In his sleep he saw a ladder reaching to
heaven and Jehovah at the top of it. So when he awoke
he set up that stone as a sacred piUar, and poured oU
on it. That is why (so this author taught) the IsraeUtes

94 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
worship Jehovah by this piUar at Bethel, and pour
sacrificial oil upon it. (See Gen. 28: 10-22.)
So well did the wise story-teUers do their work that
these new stories almost completely supplanted the old,
and in their new form were a most powerful help to the
cause of righteousness and truth.

CHAPTER XV
STORIES OF A NATION'S HEROES
The Earliest Historical Writings of the Hebrews
After the deliverance from Egyptian oppression, the
next event which most powerfully bound the Hebrew
people together was the triumph over the PhUistines.
(About 1050 to 950 B.C.) This triumph is chiefly
connected with the name of David, and also with the
names of Samuel, Saul and Jonathan. The PhUistines
were a powerful nation on the west coast of Palestine.
The Hebrews had just succeeded in establishing them
selves in the central part of the country when they found
their existence as a people endangered by the crushing
attacks of these tyrants on the coast. But once again
the wonderful civic spirit of the Hebrews saved them
from destruction. Under the leadership of Samuel,
Saul and Jonathan, the scattered tribes forgot their
selflsh jealousies, and were united into a kingdom. Under
Saul and David, after a long and heroic struggle, the
Philistines were subdued; and finally the tact and military
genius of David made Israel a power among the nations.
Through all the generations since that time, the Hebrews
have looked back upon the reign of David as the golden
age in their history; and their supreme national hope
has been for a son of David to arise, who should re-
estabUsh a united and glorious Hebrew kingdom.
Biographies of Saul and David
In the years immediately following David's death,
all hearts were filled with glowing pride in their national
achievements. The universal happiness and enthusiasm
weUed up through the hearts and lips of poets into
95

96 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
songs, such as the one preserved in Gen. 49. It found
another outlet in the writing of beautiful prose stories,
telling of the great exploits of their national heroes.
In I Samuel, chapters 9-14, there is a series of quota
tions from a stirring narrative about Saul and Jonathan.
In the remaining chapters of I Samuel, and in II Samuel,
there is a group of stories about David. These two
biographies were probably written during the reign of
Solomon. These books, the one about Saul, and the other about
David, rank among the literary masterpieces of the world.
Their authors were men of genius like the Greek poet
Homer, who perhaps was living at about this same period.
From beginning to end they rivet the attention and stir
the deepest emotions of the heart. They also show the
ennobling influence of that loyalty to the nation as a
whole, which was so remarkable a characteristic of the
Hebrews. For example, as compared with the stories
told by the writers of other nations of that time, the
moral standards of these early Hebrew writers were very
high. This is illustrated in the history of David. In
the stories of other nations, we find only the most ex
travagant praises of their heroes. The Hebrew nanative
about David, on the contrary, does not cover up the
fact that this great man had his faults and shortcomings.
The Biblical writer tells the whole story of David's
murder of Uriah, and declares that David's action "dis
pleased Jehovah." The supreme object of this writer's
love and loyalty was not any single individual, not
even David, but Israel, and Israel's God.
The Disruption and its Consequences
David's son Solomon was a man of a different type.
He used his office as king to gratify his own selfish
ambitions. After the death of Solomon, he was succeeded
by his son Rehoboam, whose reputation for tyranny
resulted in the revolt of the northem tribes, who formed
a separate kingdom called Israel. Thus the nation was

STORIES OF A NATION'S HEROES 97
broken into two parts, and the sense of national unity
was greatly weakened. When there were two kingdoms,
Israel in the north, with its capital at Samaria, and
Judah in the south, with its capital at Jerusalem, the
people began to lose their loyalty to the nation as a
whole. NaturaUy, also, they became less loyal to the
God of the whole nation, and the degrading worship
of the petty local " Baals " began to increase. We
even find Ahab and Jezebel, in the northem kingdom,
introducing the worship of a foreign god, Baal Melkart,
a Phoenician idol. (About 875 B.C.)
The Prophetic History of Jehovah's People
This crisis brought to the front the fiery prophet EHjah,
who fearlessly rebuked King Ahab and his queen for
their worship of the heathen Baal, and for their injustice
to their subjects. Other prophets raUied to the support
of Elijah and his successor Elisha. Sometimes these
prophets organized themselves into bands, and Hved
together as religious communities. They would build
their own house, tiU their own fields, and eat together in
one common dining-room. One day, in one of these
communities, probably in Judah, a very wise suggestion
was made. We may imagine that the prophets were
talking together after dinner, about their work. " Why
not teach our countrymen to be loyal to Jehovah the
God of our nation, by writing for them our national
history? We will show them what a glorious past lies
behind us, and how wonderfully Jehovah has guided
and helped us from the very begumuig."
This suggestion was acted upon with enthusiasm, and
the prophets began to gather material which they could
use. Much of it was in the form of oral stories, handed
down from memory, from father to son, — stories of
the Creation and the Flood and other stories now found
in the book of Genesis. They also found written material,
such as the songs in the book of Jashar, and the Wars

98 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
of Jehovah, and the written biographies of Saul and
David. It appears that two such histories were prepared, one
in Judah, and then another at a somewhat later date,
in the northem part of the country, perhaps in the tribe
of Ephraim. These were finally woven together into a
single narrative, which is sometimes called the Judean-
Ephraimite history. Quotations from this history make
up the larger part of the present Old Testament books
from Genesis to I Kings. The original history is not
now in existence, but most scholars are in practical
agreement as to the passages in our Old Testament books
which were taken from it. Putting these selections
together, we probably have a considerable part of the
entire work in its original form.
Historical Value and Religious Aim of the
Prophetic History
The ruling purpose of the entire history was not merely
to give information regarding past events, but to teach
religious truth. It is, however, a priceless mine of his
torical information. Naturally, those parts appear to
be most accurate which tell of events which happened
not long before the time when the history was written, as
for example, the career of David, but even the stories
which came down to the writers from antiquity probably
contain memories of historical facts. We find that the
story of Joseph is supported in part by statements on
the Egyptian monuments, which refer to a foreigner
who rose to power in Egypt about the time when Joseph
is supposed to have lived. But the story of Joseph was
included in the history, not merely to satisfy curiosity
regarding that ancient period, but to hold up before the
people of Israel those splendid ideals of purity and un
selfishness and faithful devotion to the common good
which Joseph represented.
One great idea runs through the whole work; the idea
of the civic spirit in reHgion. Israel is the chosen people

STORIES OF A NATION'S HEROES 99
of Jehovah; every Israelite must therefore be loyal to
his nation and to his nation's God. The authors told
how Jehovah had made three beginnings, as it were, in
His effort to provide a race of men to love and worship
Him. He began with Adam, but Adam proved a failure.
He tried again with Noah, and even Noah's descendants
became corrupt. So at last, he chose the faithful Abra
ham to be the ancestor of a better people. AU kinds
of difficulties arose, which seemed about to thwart the
plan, as when Jacob and his sons were compelled to
leave Canaan and go down to Egypt. But through such
leaders as Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel and many
others, Jehovah helped them to triumph over all their
enemies. Thus at last came the glorious reign of David,
when Jehovah's promise to Abraham began to be fulfilled.
" I will make of thee a great nation, and I wiU surely
bless thee, and make thy name great." (Gen. 12: 2.)
The influence of this history upon those Hebrews among
whom it was first circulated must have been greater
than we can realize. People were held spellbound
by the stories of Adam and Eve, of Noah, of Abraham
and of Jacob. They wept over Joseph; they were thrilled
by the mighty deeds of Jehovah through Moses, and
Joshua and Gideon, and by the great victories of Saul
and David. Many of these old stories had been heard
before, in one form or another, but men had never realized
how much they meant. Now they saw that the whole
course of past history was one splendid call to them to
forget their selfish desires in loyalty to Israel and Israel's
God.

CHAPTER XVI
JUSTICE THROUGH LAWS
Old Testament Law-Books
In the first five books of the Old Testament, especiaUy
from Exodus to Deuteronomy, we find a large body of
laws. As in the case of the historical nanatives, some
of these laws came into existence at an early date in
Hebrew history, and others centuries later. The period
of time during which the earher laws were enacted and
put into written form is about the same as that which saw
the development of historical writing, from the earhest
songs and prose stories, down to the composition of the
connected prophetic histories. (1400 to 800 B.C.)
Early Ten-Finger Law-Codes among the Hebrews
The Hebrews at Mount Sinai received from Moses,
as Jehovah's representative, a decalogue or code of
ten commandments, which in their covenant with
Jehovah they promised to obey. Why were there just
ten of these commandments, rather than nine or twelve?
Probably for the simple reason that there are ten fingers
on the two hands. These nomad shepherds had as yet
no system of writing, and hence were compeUed to rely
on memory alone for keeping these laws in mind, and
the ten fingers have been used as an aid to memory in
all ages. As a Hebrew boy or girl repeated the ten
injunctions, he would count them off on his fingers. If
by chance he skipped one, the faithful fingers would
reveal the mistake, for there would still be one finger
left when he supposed he had finished the Ust. It was
an easier task for him than for our Sunday-school boys
and girls today, because in those days, all of the command-
100

JUSTICE THROUGH LAWS 101
ments were short, with none of the explanatory additions
which we find in their present form. The original ten
commandments were perhaps as foUows:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy
God in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
This decalogue was engraved on stone tablets at a
very early date and the tablets kept at some temple.
For a long time after that, however, there were no other
copies of it, save in the memories of the people.
This ten-finger, or decalogue anangement was followed
in all the earliest Hebrew laws. The original " Ten
Commandments " are not the only decalogue in the Old
Testament. It is possible to distinguish fourteen or
fifteen separate decalogues in the oldest sections of
Exodus and Leviticus. These were all prepared in that
early period before the art of writing had become common
among the Hebrews. In later times, of course, written
copies were circulated everywhere.
The Influence of Babylonian Laws on the Laws
OF THE Hebrews
At the beginning of their history, the Hebrews did not
need many laws. Most laws are made necessary by
disputes regarding property; and in their desert life, the
Hebrews did not possess much property. Moses, himself,
at one time used to settle all the questions which arose
among them. (See Exodus 18.) Later, however, he
appointed other judges to decide the less important of

102 THE STORY i OF OUR BIBLE
the many cases which arose and only the more difficult
questions were refened to him. After the Hebrews
settled in Canaan and began to own land and houses
and cattle as weU as tents and sheep, other laws were
necessary for their guidance in their new life. They
seem to have adopted many of the laws which they found
already in force among the Canaanites. The Canaanites
in turn had been influenced by the laws of the Baby
lonians, which on the whole were surprisingly just.
In the year 1901, a large block of stone was unearthed
by excavators, on which were inscribed in long columns
the laws of the Babylonian king, Hammurabi, who lived
about 2000 B.C., or nearly a thousand years before Moses.
We find certain resemblances between laws in the Old
Testament, and laws of the Code of Hammurabi, just as
we have found resemblances between the stories of the
Creation and the Flood in the Old Testament, and
similar stories on the Babylonian clay tablets.
In Hammurabi's code, we find the foUowing law:
" If a man has hired an ox, and has caused its death, by
carelessness or blows, he shaU restore ox for ox to the
owner of the ox."
In Ex. 22: 14, we find a law somewhat simUar:
" If a man borrow an animal from his neighbor, and it
be hurt or die while its owner is not with it, the man
must make restitution."
In Hammurabi's code we find this law:
"If a man has deposited com for safe keeping in
another's house, and it has suffered damage in the
granary, or if the owner of the house has opened the
store and taken the com, the owner of the house shall
retum him double."
WhUe Ex. 22: 7 requires:
" If a man deliver to his neighbor money or personal
property to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house,
if the thief be found, he shall make double restitution.
If the thief be not found, then the master of the house

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JUSTICE THROUGH LAWS 103
shah come before God (that is, before the priest), to
prove whether or not he hath his neighbor's goods."
These are certahUy striking shnilarities and seem to
show that the laws of the Babylonians were known to
the Hebrews of those days.
The Moral Standards of the Hebrew Laws
AU these early codes of the Hebrews, however, show
the unique moral spirit which was developed among them,
as a result of their experiences in Egypt and in the wilder
ness under their great leader Moses. They were rightly
called the laws of Moses, even though not aU of them
came directly from his lips. We find in them high ideals
of conduct, which were unknown among the other nations
of that time. The moral uniqueness of the early Hebrew
codes is especially clear when we compare them with
the Code of Hammurabi. WhUe that great ruler declared
that his purpose was to " make justice shine in the land,"
we find, nevertheless, that many of his penalties are
cruel. He makes distinctions between the nobles and
the common people, and punished far more severely
any injury to a noble. As for slaves, a master might
maim or kiU his own slave, with impunity. The Hebrew
laws on the contrary do not recognize any distinction
between nobles and common people, and more than that,
extend their protection even to slaves. (See Ex. 21 : 26.)
In short, the Hebrew laws, far more than the Babylonian,
recognize that "A man 's a man for a' that,"
no matter whether he is rich or poor, a noble or a peasant,
a free-man or a slave.
Later Revisions and Additions
In later centuries, these early laws were revised from
time to time and many additions were made. The
Book of Deuteronomy is one of the most important of
these revisions. It retains all the older provisions for

104 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
justice and kindness to the poor and oppressed, and
adds simUar ordinances in the same spirit. For example,
" When thou btdldest a new house, thou shalt make a parapet
for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, in case
any man should fall from it." (Deut. 22: 8.)
As time went on there was also a great increase in the
number of laws about religious ceremonies. There was
a natural tendency to make the ritual in the temple at
Jerusalem more and more elaborate. Written rules
were carefiUly worked out by the priests prescribing how
each minute detail should be performed.
But though many men, during many centuries, had
a hand in the making of these laws, they were always
caUed "the laws of Moses." Later Hebrew generations
believed that they were all given to the people by Moses,
either at Sinai or on the plains east of the Jordan, just
before his death. It was a natural thought, therefore,
to combine the law-codes and the nanatives of the early
history of Israel into a single document. The laws would
be more impressive in this historical setting. Editors
and scribes, therefore, took that part of the Judean-
Ephraimite history which covered the period from the
Creation to the settlement in Canaan, and also certain
historical nanatives by later priestly writers, and inserted,
at what they considered the proper places, the whole
body of these laws. It is this combination of laws and
historical nanatives which we find in the Old Testament,
as the Pentateuch, or the five books of Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Pentateuch
was known to the Jews as the Torah, or the Law.
In a true sense, this body of laws may very properly
be caUed by the name of Moses, for to a large extent it
carries out the aims and spirit of that great teacher of
reverence toward God, and champion of justice among
men.

CHAPTER XVII
A CENTURY OF GREAT REFORMERS
Amos and His Successors
We have traced the origin of the writings which were
finally combined in the Torah and which we caU the
Pentateuch. The larger part of the historical nanatives
in these writings was by prophets, foUowers of EHjah
and EHsha. We wUl now leam something of a whole
series of books by the Hebrew prophets, which are found
in other parts of the Old Testament. These writings
were gathered together by the later Jews in a second
coUection caUed " The Prophets " which they reverenced
very highly. The Earliest Prophets
The word prophet is applied to a number of important
BibHcal characters, such as Elijah and Isaiah. What
was the original meaning of the terms, " prophets " and
" prophesy," and how did it happen that these men caUed
prophets played so prominent a part in Hebrew history?
In the earliest times, there was little difference between
the Hebrew prophets and the same class of men in other
nations of that day, for we must not make the mistake
of supposing that there were no prophets in any nation
except among the Hebrews. We can best understand
what sort of men they were by thinking of the " whirling
dervishes" in Mohammedan countries today. These
dervishes work themselves into a state of extraordinary
excitement through music and dancing, and often throw
themselves into a kind of trance. In this condition,
it is beUeved by the people that they are possessed by
some spirit or deity. In I Kings 18 : 26-28, we read how
some of the earhest prophets leaped about the altar of
105

106 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
their god, uttering their cries, and gashing themselves
with loiives. These were prophets of Baal, rather than
of Jehovah, but in II Kings 3 : 15, we find that EHsha
also resorted to the influence of music to bring on a con
dition of excitement.
All of the early prophets in Israel and elsewhere earned
their living as professional soothsayers. People came to
them, just as men visited the oracles in Greece, for help
in finding lost articles and for advice regarding love
affairs, journeys, business adventures and military cam
paigns. No doubt Elijah and Elisha supported them
selves in this manner.
As time went on there came to be a vital difference
between certain prophets in Israel and the great mass of
the prophets in Israel and in other nations. These new
prophets, of whom Elijah was a forerunner, were not
mere fortune-tellers, but preachers. The true meaning
of the word prophet is "one who speaks for another";
that is, the true prophets were spokesmen for Jehovah.
They told the people that Jehovah was not pleased with
their manner of Hving. These men were to the nation
what the voice of conscience is to each individual. If
they were alive today we would call them reformers;
for they tried to do for the Hebrews what true reformers
today are trying to do ; that is, to make the world a better
place to live in and to hasten the triumph of love and
justice for all. The great epoch during which these
men Hved and worked began about a hundred years after
Elijah's time, or about 750 B.C.
The most important fact in the year 750 B.C., from
the standpoint of Hebrew history, was the new world-
empire Assyria, with its capital at Nineveh then rising
to the zenith of its power. It had already conquered
the old Babylonian kingdom and its emperors were
looking westward with covetous eyes to the rich countries
along the Mediterranean. Sooner or later, driven by
the lust of conquest, their armies would be knocking at

A CENTURY OF GREAT REFORMERS 107
the gates of Damascus, Tyre and perhaps Samaria and
Jerusalem also.
A New Epoch in Israel's History
Let us imagine ourselves visiting the city of Samaria
sometime about the year 750 B.C. It is a beautiful
'city, crowning a low hiU, and sunounded by fertile and
lovely valleys. We find many fine houses and beautiful
streets. Many of the nobles and wealthy merchants
have both summer and winter houses. The country
is prosperous. The reigning king, Jeroboam II, has
been on the throne for nearly fifty years, and has been
victorious over all the petty foes of the Israelites, such
as the Ammonites and the Philistines. As a result,
the upper classes have grown wealthy. Their homes
are filled with all the luxuries of Babylon, such as inlaid
ivory furniture, silken robes, rare and costly wines and
perfumes. At the same time, we notice that Samaria
has its poorer quarters, its slums. Here we find people
Hving in wretched hovels. The children's faces are pale
and gatmt with hunger. Clearly enough, a few unscrupu
lous nobles have been enriching themselves at the expense
of the great mass of the people. They have cheated in
business, and have oppressed the poor; they have bribed
the judges who might otherwise have restrained them.
Yet because they bring rich offerings as sacrifices to the
shrines, they feel confident that Jehovah wUl protect
them. But with such evils as these eating away the
strength of the nation, what will happen when the As
syrians lay siege to the gates of Samaria?
A New Book on the Library Table
Let us imagine ourselves guests at the home of one of
King Jeroboam's nobles. Let us call him Azariah. As
we are educated people, he shows us his coUection of
books, which are in the form of leather roUs. Here is
the book of Jashar, with its war-ballads. Here is the
History of Israel from Adam to David. And here is

108 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
a new book. At the beginning we find the following
title : The Words of Amos, Who was Among the Shepherds
of Tekoa, Which he saw Concerning Israel in the Days of
Jeroboam the Son of Joash, King of Israel. " What is this
book, my friend?" we ask. "Why, that is a collection of
the speeches of a new prophet who made a sensation
over at the royal temple at Bethel last year. You know
the king each year attends the Passover feast at Bethel
and all the fashionable folks go there to sacrifice. This old
prophet came up from Judah. He had been a shepherd
most of his life, and still wore the shepherd's costume.
He came stalking in among the richly dressed people
and made speeches there for several days. Finally he
spoke against King Jeroboam; and of course the chief
priest Amaziah drove him away. So he wrote out what
he had to say, and a great many of us have copies. I
was interested because I thought the man might be
starting a revolution. He kept saying that ' the sword
would devour in our cities.' Jeroboam hasn't treated
me properly, and I would like nothing better than to
see some prophet send him flying from his palace, as
Elisha overthrew the dynasty of Ahab. I am disap
pointed in the book, however. It is full of crazy nonsense
about the wrongs of the poor. He also seems to have
objections to our sacriflces. I cannot imagine what
can be lacking in them. I myseH send a hundred fat
rams to Bethel every year, and some of the other nobles
send many more."
It is quite plain that Azariah has no very clear appre
ciation of the aims of this new prophet. So let us read
the book for ourselves. Among the more prominent
ideas we find one which is not new, namely, that Jehovah
is displeased with injustice, especially injustice toward
the lowly. We are thrilled, however, by the eloquence
with which the idea is expressed, and we are astonished
by the boldness with which the prophet threatens the
wrongdoers, especially those of the wealthy and powerful

A CENTURY OF GREAT REFORMERS 109
class, with destruction for their sins. (See Amos 2:6;
5:11-12.)
A Revolutionary Idea
This idea that Jehovah wiU avenge injustice toward
the weak had already been proclaimed by the early
story-tellers and law-givers and by Moses himself. There
is another prominent idea in the book, however, which is
absolutely new, original and revolutionary. This idea
is as follows : Jehovah does not require ceremonial sacrifices,
but only justice and righteousness. " Thus saith
Jehovah," declares Amos, in sentences of surpassing
force and grandeur.
" I hate, I despise your feasts.
And I will not smeU the savor of your festivals.
And with your cereal-oflEerings I wiU not be pleased.
And the peace-ofiEerings of your fatlings I wUl not regard with
favor.
Banish from me the noise of your songs.
For to the melody of your lyres, I will not Ksten.
But let justice roll on as a flood of waters.
And righteousness, Uke an tmfaUing stream." (Amos 5: 21-24.)
Three Great Successors of Amos: Hosea,
Isaiah, Micah
This century in which Amos lived (800-700 B.C.)
was one of the great epochs in the history of God's revela
tion of Himself to mankind. It is illumined and glorified
by the names of four supremely great prophets, of whom
Amos was the first. The other three were Hosea, Isaiah
and Micah. Hosea, like Amos, delivered his message
in northem Israel. He was a native of the North, whereas
Amos came from Judah. Isaiah and Micah were also
natives of Judah and spent their Hves in the southern
kingdom, in the latter part of the century. All four
of them agreed with Amos that God requires, not sacri
fices, but righteousness. Hosea expressed it in memorable
words which were quoted by Jesus:

110 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
"It is love that I delight in (saith Jehovah), and not sacrifice.
And knowledge of God, and not burnt-offerings." (See Hosea
6:6, and Matt. 12:7.)
Isaiah takes up the message as follows :
" What care I for the vast number of your sacrifices, saith
Jehovah.
I am sated with bumt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed
beasts,
And in the blood of bullocks and lambs and he-goats I take
no pleasure." (Isa. 1 : 11.)
Perhaps the most perfect expression of this teaching
of these great religious pioneers is found in the sermons
of the prophet Micah:
" It hath been shown thee, O man, what is good.
And what Jehovah ever demands of thee :
Only to do justice and love mercy.
And to walk humbly with thy God. ' ' (Micah 6 : 6-8.)
Righteousness vs. Ritual in Later Centuries
The prophets apparently made little immediate im
pression on the ideas and habits of their fellow-men.
Religion still consisted largely in bumt-offerings at Bethel
and Gilgal, and elsewhere. The later Jerusalem priests
built up a more and more elaborate system of animal
sacrifices. It is the common fate of great and original
leaders that their followers modify their deepest and
noblest ideas in conformity with the commonly accepted
opinions of the time. They cherish the great master's
words but ignore his plain meaning. Nevertheless the
prophets did not speak in vain. The revised law-book,
Deuteronomy, which was written in the next century
after Amos, aboHshed all the temples outside of Jerusalem
and stipulated that no sacrifices should be offered except
in the temple at Jerasalem. The great Prophet of Naza
reth set His stamp of approval on the good Samaritan who
showed mercy on his wotmded fellow-traveller, rather
than on the priest and the Levite who offered bumt-
offerings every day, but who " passed by on the other

A CENTURY OF GREAT REFORMERS 111
side." In our own time, the writings of these prophets
are being studied as perhaps never before in the history
of the world. We are accepting for our own nation the
ideal which Amos held up before the nation of Israel.
" Let justice roU on as a flood of waters,
And righteousness as an unfaUing stream." (Amos 5 : 24.)

CHAPTER XVIII
A FORGIVING HUSBAND WHO TOLD OP GOD'S
MERCY
The Book of Hosea
A Village Love-Story
While the young man Amos was keeping sheep in Tekoa,
a lad named Hosea was growing up in a village in Northem
Israel, probably across the river Jordan in the land of
Gilead. He was affectionate, sweet-spirited, strong in
mind and body. Not far away, perhaps in a neighboring
village, there lived a maiden named Gomer. She also
was lovable in many ways. One day she met Hosea,
and they loved each other. We can imagine the happi
ness of their courtship. Near the probable site of Hosea's
village, there is a hill whose bold bluffs overlook the
broad valley of the Jordan. We can imagine Hosea
and Gomer walking together in the beautiful days of
spring or summer, along the brow of this hill, and looking
off across those broad, fertile fields and vineclad slopes
of Northem Israel, and promising to be true to each other
so long as life should last.
An Unhappy Marriage
After the wedding day Gomer began to reveal an un
suspected weakness of character. She had always been
allowed to have her own sweet will in everything, and
had never leamed the lesson of self-control. So now she
showed herself unfit for the serious responsibilities of
married Hfe. When children were bom, she no doubt
neglected them. No doubt she wasted her husband's
money, and bitterly reproached him because he could
not buy jewels for her, and fashionable garments such as
112

A FORGIVING HUSBAND 113
some of her former girl friends possessed. She had no
sympathy for Hosea's deeper purposes and ideals. Hosea
felt in his heart that he had a mission in life. He had
become a prophet, and Hke Amos was urging his country
men to forsake their evil ways and obey the righteous
commands of Jehovah. Gomer, however, cared for
none of these things. Her thoughts were all on the pleas
ures of the passing moment. By and by the evil shadow
of a tempter fell across her path. Luxuries were promised
her, if she would forsake this tiresome preacher and his
simple home. So it came to pass that they were separated.
A Love which Could Not be Conquered
Thus Hosea's home was wrecked, and his heart was
heavy. He had tried so faithfully to be kind to Gomer,
and how faithless she had proved! Many times he wished
with all his heart that he had never seen her. Years
passed, and he saw nothing of her. Then one day, per
haps as he was passing through another village on a
preaching tour, he found her. Poor woman! her life
had not been as she had planned. She had sought for
pleasure and had found pain. She was now a slave.
No doubt she tried to avoid Hosea when she saw him
approaching, but his quick eyes were too swift for her.
To his surprise, he felt in his heart a great wave of the
old love. She was stUl his Gomer, the maid whom he
had loved in GUead. " Come, Gomer," he said, as she
stood before him with downcast eyes. " Let us go home."
" I cannot," she answered, " I am a slave." Inquiring
for her master, Hosea ananged to buy her for about
the usual price of a slave, " fifteen pieces of silver, and
eight bushels of barley and a measure of barley." Then
he took her back with him, and she came once again
through their Httle cottage door. Did she stay? Was
she faithful to him, now? Had she leamed her lesson?
We can only say that after being so generously and nobly
forgiven, surely she must have proved faithful; we

114 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
have, however, no definite information to confirm us ia
this conclusion.
Hosea's Discovery: the Forgiving Love of God
Whether or not Gomer leamed her lesson, there was
also a lesson for Hosea in aU this, and he was great enough
to see it. As a result of the impulse to forgive this woman
who had been false to him, the thought flashed into his
mind that Jehovah would be no less ready to forgive
His people, in spite of the fact that they had worshipped
other gods, and had disobeyed His laws. A change now
showed itself in the tone of Hosea's addresses to the
people. He continued to denounce imsparingly the sins
of his countrymen, yet he grew more tender toward them.
(See Hosea 4: 1-2.)
Again and again Hosea declared that Jehovah would
surely punish the nation for these dreadful wrongs. Like
Amos, he foresaw that the armies of the great empire
Assyria were likely to invade Palestine, bringing with
them aU the horrible atrocities of ancient warfare. This,
he beUeved, would be Jehovah's way of punishing guUty
Israel. (See Hosea 13: 16.)
This punishment, however, according to Hosea, would
not mean that Jehovah had ceased to love His people.
On the contrary he taught that Jehovah sends punishment
with a breaking heart.
" How can I give thee up, O Ephraim! " (saith Jehovah.)
" How can I give thee over, 0 Israel! " (Hosea 11 : 8.)
Hosea also declared that through punishment Jehovah
was seeking to cure His people of their sin. Led away
as exiles by the King of Assyria, their hearts might
perhaps be won back at last to their God. In short,
Hosea's sad experience with Gomer made him the great
prophet who flrst proclaimed God's infinite love even for
sinners, and His readiness to forgive the penitent.

A FORGIVING HUSBAND 115
The Great Need of the People of Israel: True
Worship
There was another lesson which grew out of Hosea's
own bitter personal experience. Since God loved Israel
with so marvelous a love, then faUure to love Him and
worship Him in return is the greatest of all sins. In
this matter Hosea supplemented the teachings of his
great contemporary, Amos. The attention of the latter
prophet had been chiefly fixed on the wrongs of men
against other men. His heart had burned with indigna
tion and pity, in view of the glaring acts of injustice
which were constantly practiced by the rich and powerful
at the expense of the poor and lowly. Hosea also
preached against the lies, the thefts and the murders
of his countrymen, but he saw more clearly than Amos
that the root-sin from which all these others sprang was
that they had turned their hearts away from God. They
were lacking in true worship. " There is none among
them who caUs to me " (saith Jehovah). (Hosea 7:7.)
" They do not retum to Jehovah their God. " (Bosea 7 : 10.)
"They have never cried to me with their heart." (Hosea
7:14.) There was an abundance of so-caUed worship, but it
was carried on merely for the sake of the material blessings
which they thought would follow. It was like the " cup
board love " of kittens purring for cream.
" They have never cried to me with their heart;
But they are ever howling beside their altars for com and
new wine." (Hosea 7: 14.)
When they thought they could secure these material
blessings by idolatrous worship, then they worshipped
other gods. (Hosea 2: 5.)
Even as Gomer had cared only for pleasures, and had
abandoned Hosea because he could not lavish money
upon her, so the people of Israel thought only of material
enjoyments. Just as Gomer had failed to appreciate
the higher blessing of a life-long comradeship with a

116 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
noble soul Uke Hosea, so the Israelites cared nothing
for the one supreme blessing of life, loving companionship
with God. Hosea saw that the deepest and most urgent
need of the people was a renewal of true spiritual worship ;
not outward forms and ceremonies, but a genuine " crying
unto Jehovah," a genuine seeking after God in prayer.
From this would follow, as a natural result, right conduct
between man and man. In his dreams of a better future,
when Israel should have been chastened through suffer
ing, the sweetest thought to Hosea is that Israel and
her God would then be reconciled.
The Influence of Hosea
In order to gain a wider hearing for his message, Hosea
wrote down in a book a series of extracts from his oral
addresses. Many copies of this book doubtless found
their way to the library tables of the time, along with
the " Words of Amos." If the prophetical books of
the Old Testament were ananged in chronological order,
Amos and Hosea would stand side by side at the head
of the list. Of the two, Amos was probably written several
years earher.
Hosea no doubt hoped, as did Amos, that his book
would help to bring his countrymen to their senses in
time to ward off the approaching disaster. He certainly
succeeded in making a deep impression upon a few in
dividuals. But the nation as a whole went rapidly
from bad to worse. The powerful Jeroboam II died in
740 B.C. A period of anarchy immediately set in; many
of Hosea's addresses were written during this period of
anarchy; assassinations followed each other in quick
succession, and the nation feU an easy prey to the As
syrian conquerors. In 725 B.C. the Assjman emperor
Shalmaneser laid siege to the city of Samaria, and after
three years in 722 B.C. it was captured by Sargon, his
successor. The sword did indeed " whirl in Samaria,"
as Hosea had foretold. Over twenty thousand of its

A FORGIVING HUSBAND 117
inhabitants were led away as captives, never to retum.
In the words of Amos,
" The virgin Israel had faUen, no more to rise."
Had it not been for the Httle kingdom of Judah, which
stiU remained intact, the religion of Jehovah might at
this time have perished from the earth. Fortunately,
however, a few refugees, believers in the message of Amos
and Hosea, brought with them into Judah as their most
cherished possessions, whatever writings by the prophets
they may have had, including " the Words of Amos,"
and " the Words of Hosea." These writings played a
great part in the future history of Judah. Other prophets,
such as Isaiah and Micah, were inspired by them, took
up their message, and carried on in Judah the work
which had been begun in Northem Israel. The book
of Hosea was especiaUy influential. Jesus himself quoted
from it, and the glad tidings of the Father's love for His
sinful children, which was the heart of Jesus' message,
was but the crown and completion of Hosea's great
discovery of Jehovah's love for sinful Israel.

CHAPTER XIX
THE COUNSELS OF A STATESMAN-PROPHET
The Writings of Isaiah
Amos and Hosea spoke their messages of waming in
the northem kingdom, whUe that nation was hastening
toward its tragic fall. Meanwhile, simUar dangers were
threatening her sister kingdom, Judah, in the south.
The same Assyrian armies that besieged and captured
Samaria in 722 B.C. might easily have gone on and
captured Jerusalem. The native strength of Judah,
as of Northem Israel, was being eaten away by vice and
injustice. In the early part of the century (from 782
to about 737 B.C.), Judah was fortimate in having an
able and upright king, whose name was Uzziah. We
read in II Kings 15:3, that he "did that which was
right in the sight of Jehovah." No doubt he restrained
to some extent the evil tendencies of his corrupt nobles.
The years passed, however, and Uzziah grew old and
feeble, whUe Assyria became more and more aggressive.
What would become of the nation after Uzziah's death?
Would the crown prince Jotham prove to be a wise king
like his father? No one knew.
During these closing years of Uzziah's reign, a young
lad named Isaiah was growing to manhood in Jerusalem.
He was probably a member of a prominent family,
perhaps even related to the king. He may have listened
to addresses by Amos and Hosea, while visiting in the
North. At any rate, he had copies of their writings,
and was deeply influenced by them. For a long time he
brooded over the dangers which were threatening his
beloved Judah. Then came the year of King Uzziah's
death. One day, during that year of anxiety and sus-
118

COUNSELS OF A STATESMAN-PROPHET 119
pense, Isaiah went to the temple to worship. As he
stood praying, there came to him the great experience
of his life. (Isa. 6.)
In the dim Hght of the temple interior, he seemed to
see Jehovah himself sitting on a lofty throne. At first
the vision brought to him only a deep sense of his own
sin and imworthiness. He cried out, " Woe is me, for
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dweU in the midst
of a people of unclean lips." Soon, however, the vision
seemed to purge away his sins, as flre purges away what
ever is foul and unclean. With this new sense of God's
forgiveness came an impulse to go and tell his country
men of the Holy One of Israel, whom he himself had seen
with the eyes of his soul. He felt like shouting from the
housetop, " Jehovah can save us if we wiU but tum to
Him and trust in Him." In aU this he was hearing the
voice of Jehovah in his heart, saying " Whom shall I
send, and who wiU go for us?" And he answered, " Here
am I; send me." Thus Isaiah became a prophet, and
came to the help of his people in their hour of need.
Isaiah's Message as a Preacher
In many ways Isaiah's work was a continuation of the
work of his predecessors. Like Amos, he denounced
the deeds of injustice wherewith the rich nobles oppressed
the poor, and foretold the inevitable punishment unless
they should repent. Like Amos, he declared that what
Jehovah desires is not bumt offerings but right conduct
toward all men. Although these ideas were not original
with Isaiah, he expressed them in his own way, and in
language unsurpassed for beauty and force. As a splen
did example of his eloquence, we may take his Song of
the Vineyard. This was probably delivered at some
pubhc festival, when the people were being entertained
by professional singers and story-teUers. (See Isa.
5:1-24.) Isaiah also took up Hosea's message of the loving
forgiveness of God. He had himself experienced that

120 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
forgiveness in the vision of God which made him a
prophet. So he caUs to his people in tender accents:
" Come now, let us reason together, saith Jehovah;
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall become white as snow;
Though they be as red as crimson they shaU become as wool."
(Isa. 1:18.)
Like Hosea, he believed that the nation would be
chastened by Jehovah's punishment, and that a " right
eous remnant " would come forth from the flres of war
and exile, to be in very truth Jehovah's holy nation.
(See Isa. 1 : 25-26.)
Isaiah himself did what he could to organize the nucleus
of this " righteous remnant," by gathering a group of
disciples, and carefully instructing them in the true
reHgion of Jehovah. (See Isa. 8: 16-17.) No doubt they
used to gather in his house in groups to Hsten to his
teaching, and to ask him questions.
Isaiah as a Statesman
In these ideas, Isaiah was merely carrying on the work
of his predecessors. One important service which he
rendered to his countrymen was, however, original with
him and that was the wise and statesmanlike counsel
which he gave to those in authority when outside enemies
threatened to attack the nation. At such times most of
the leading men in Judah were eager to make aUiances
with other nations against the enemy. Judah was
frequently involved in the long series of conspiracies
against Assyria, which at that time was the chief enemy
of all of the smaller nations. Messengers came again
and again to Jerusalem from the PhUistines, from 'Tyre
and Sidon, from Egypt and from far distant Babylon,
which at that time was a subject state under Assyria.
Egypt was at the bottom of most of these plots, for she
was jealous of the Assyrian power. She would have
prefened to send her own tribute-coUectors among these
small principalities. The king of Judah, during most
of this period, was Hezekiah (from 715 to 686 B.C.)

An Assyrian Relief. Battle Scene, the Storming of a City.
TYPICAL ASSYRIAN SCENES.
From Goodspeed's " Ancient World."

COUNSELS OF A STATESMAN-PROPHET 121
He was on the whole a good ruler, but he was fooHsh
enough to listen to many of these delegations of envoys.
It must be remembered, however, that these were years
which tried men's souls. No one could be sure but
that within a few months the Assyrian army might be
laying siege to Jemsalem. Before the eyes of every
one there hovered the dreadful spectre of the city in
flam.es, blood flowing Hke rivers in the streets, and the
soldiers of the enemy, more like wUd beasts than men,
ravaging, without mercy, in every home. We can easily
tmderstand why Hezekiah and his subjects frequently
became panic-stricken, and were tempted to believe the
fair-sounding promises of the envoys, especiaUy those
from rich and powerful Egypt. All the more, however,
must we admire the calmness, and the deep-rooted faith
in God, with which Isaiah through all these troubled
years gave his nation the foUowing wise counsel: "Trust
in God, and keep out of these alHances."
Isaiah reasoned that most of these nations were broken
reeds on which to lean; and that anyway their promises
were worthless. Judah would be thrown to the wolves,
the moment her professed alHes could gain any advantage
by it. Furthermore, these alliances wotdd involve the
nation in wars which might otherwise be avoided. It was
a smaU country situated back in the hills, away from the
main highways of trade, and did not possess great wealth
to attract the invader. Let the people remain quiet in
their mountain fastnesses, minding their own business
and trusting in God, and the storms of war might pass
to one side. (See Isa. 30: 1-7; 31: 1-3.)
To some extent Isaiah's advice seems to have been
heeded. At any rate, during these years, Jerusalem
escaped piUage, although in 701 B.C. many of the smaller
towns in Judah were captured and ravaged by the
Assyrian emperor, Sennacherib.

122 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Isaiah's Statesmanship Vindicated
The most dramatic incident in Isaiah's career as a
statesman occuned in the year that Sennacherib set
out on a campaign agauist Egjrpt. WhUe passing down
the seacoast west of Judah, he sent messengers to Jera
salem, demanding the sunender of the city. Probably
he did not like the idea of leaving so strong a fortress
as Jerusalem in his rear, and hence determined to frighten
the city into a sunender, if possible, and then break down
its wails. In dismay, Hezekiah turned to Isaiah. Once
again the prophet was calm when everyone else was
in a panic. AU these years, he had been saying that
if Judah would keep out of alHances with other nations,
and trast Jehovah, they would be kept in peace and safety.
Now came the test of his faith. At this time Judah had
been following Isaiah's advice and was not entangled
in any coalition. Would Jehovah do His part? Isaiah's
faith did not fHnch from the test. He advised Hezekiah
to play no attention to Sennacherib's insolent demands.
" He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an anow
therein." Jehovah, he said, had indeed used Assyria
in times past as an instrument to punish sinful Israel.
But now Jehovah would punish Assyria herself, for her
arrogant pride. (Isa. 10:15.)
Isaiah's predictions were fulfiUed. Sennacherib quickly
returned to Nineveh, partly because he found that the
Egyptian forces were stronger than he had supposed;
and also because a terrible pestilence attacked his own
army as they were encamped near the low marshes on
the Egyptian border. The Book op Isaiah
Like Amos and Hosea, Isaiah from time to time put
some of his addresses into written form. In his later
years he also wrote a brief account of some of his earher
experiences as a prophet. These writings were carefully
cherished by his foUowers, especially after his death,
and many copies were made. Sometimes there would

COUNSELS OF A STATESMAN-PROPHET 123
be a little space left at the end of a book-roU. It is
probable that the owner of the roll, to save expense,
would frequently use this space for copying some sermon
or address by another prophet than Isaiah. Thus as
time went on, the book grew; and in its present form it
seems to be in reality a collection of prophetical writings
by a number of different authors. It was still known,
however, as the book of Isaiah, although the words of
the original Isaiah are probably found only in the first
thirty-nine chapters, and, chiefly, in chapters 1-13, and
28-32. In later chapters we shall leam more of the
other writings which were eventuaUy included in the book.

CHAPTER XX
A GREAT PROPHET AND HIS FAITHFUL
SECRETARY
Baruch's Record of Jeremiah's Life
After the four great prophets, Amos, Hosea, Micah,
and Isaiah, there foUowed a time when the people went
back to their old ways. This was when the wicked king
Manasseh was on the throne of Judah. (686-641 B.C.)
Micah and Isaiah had been fortunate in seeing many
of their teachings accepted and obeyed, especially during
the reign of Hezekiah. But Manasseh was a bad son
of a good father. Under his leadership, the people even
persecuted those, who foUowed the teaching of the proph
ets. Most of those who were persecuted remained
steadfast. But it was not until the latter half of the
century (after about 640 B.C.), that the voice of the
prophets again became a power in the land. In 639
B.C., a new king named Josiah came to the throne. He
was at that time only eight years old; but the queen-
mother was a friend of the prophets and encouraged them
in their work, and Josiah was trained in the same attitude
from the beginning. At this time, new dangers were
threatening the nation from outside her borders. Al
though the Assyrian empire had passed the zenith of
its glory and was destined within a few decades to
disappear from the stage of history, there were other
strong and aggressive nations whose ambitions meant
trouble for Httle Judah. Egypt was becoming more
dangerous, for after centuries of misrule and anarchy
a strong dynasty had come into power. Most important
of all, the old kingdom of Babylon was coming to the
front. This new Babylonian empire conquered Assyria,
124

A GREAT PROPHET 125
and Babylon, instead of Nineveh, became the world's
chief city. Its pomp and glory made it one of the wonders
of the world. The danger of foreign invasion helped to
anest the attention of the people of Judah, and won a
hearing for the prophets as the spokesmen of Jehovah.
There were four prophets during this period, whose
writings are preserved under their names in the Old
Testament. These are Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk
and Jeremiah. Of these four, only Jeremiah belongs in
the same class with the great names of the preceding
century. He alone was a genius of the first rank. His
career extended over forty years, from about 625 to 580
B.C.
Jeremiah's Prophetic Call and His Early Addresses
Jeremiah was bom in Anathoth, a little village about
an hour's walk north of Jerasalem, within the borders
of the tribes of Benjamin. Undoubtedly he possessed
copies of the writings of the earher prophets and studied
them diUgently. He seems to have been influenced most
deeply by Hosea. As he read these books, and then
observed the life and conduct of the people of his own
time, he saw that the same evils stUl flourished against
which those great men had fought. GraduaUy he came
to feel it laid upon him as a sacred duty that he should
take up their work and proclaim anew their message.
So he went up from his home in Anathoth and in the
pubhc squares of Jerusalem began his career as a preacher.
Two of the addresses which he delivered in these years
have been preserved in the early part of the book which
bears his name. In the first few lines of quotation below,
the prophet puts into words the better impulses of the
nation, which he hopes to be able to arouse, and then he
gives the answer of Jehovah.
The prayer of ihe Israelites:
"A voice is heard on the bare heights, the suppUcations of the
weeping IsraeUtes:
Behold we come to thee, for thou art Jehovah our God.

126 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
We would He down in shame and let confusion cover us.
For we and our fathers have sinned against our God, from
our youth even to this day.
And we have not heeded the voice of Jehovah our God."
The answer of Jehovah:
" If thou wilt retum, 0 Israel, thou mayest retum to me.
And if thou wilt put away thy vileness, thou shalt not be
banished from my presence." (Jer. 3:21-4: 1.)
Partly as a result of Jeremiah's splendid appeals a great
reformation was carried out in Judah. At the command
of the good king Josiah, all idols and idolatrous altars
were destroyed in conformity with the revised law book,
Deuteronomy (see II Kings 23). Jeremiah evidently
was not entirely satisfied with this reformation, for it is
not mentioned in any of his writings.
Probably it seemed to him too extemal and too much
a matter of outward form rather than of inward thoughts
and motives. Yet for king Josiah himseH, Jeremiah felt
a warm regard as one " who executed law and justice,
and judged the cause of the poor and needy." (Jer.
22: 15-16.)
Another Relapse in Judah. The Final Harvest
OF Folly
In 608 B.C., Josiah's noble reign was ended. He was
killed in a battle with the Egyptians near Megiddo, in
central Palestine. His son Jehoiakim was placed on
the throne by the Egyptians as their vassal. He was
just like his grandfather Manasseh, selfish, dishonest,
and vain. AU the evil elements in the nation were now
set free, to do their worst. The new king was chiefly
interested in his new and costly palace on which he
compelled his subjects to labor without pay. He was
utterly without wisdom in his foreign policy, and at that
time wisdom was sorely needed. The Egyptian rule in
Palestine came to an end in 605 B.C., through the great
battle of Carchemish, on the Euphrates. Here Necho,
the Egyptian king, was defeated by Nebuchadrezzar

A GREAT PROPHET 127
of _ Babylon, and for the next half century Babylon was
mistress of southwestern Asia. On the whole, the
Babylonians ruled justly. Nebuchadrezzar ranks with
the leading monarchs of history. Had the leaders of
Judah been wilHng to submit to his authority, Jerusalem
might have survived for an indefinite period. But
Egypt began again to stir up rebellion among the minor
nations in Palestine. Jeremiah warned the king and
people against listening to the promises of the Egyptians.
Nevertheless, in 600 B.C., Jehoiakim rebelled. In 598,
Nebuchadrezzar was besieging Jerasalem with a powerful
army. Jehoiakim died during the siege, and his brother,
Jehoiachin, sunendered. He was taken away to Babylon
as a captive along with about thirty thousand others,
men, women and children. Nebuchadrezzar did not
destroy the city itself. Another brother of Jehoiakim,
named Zedekiah, was left as a vassal ruler.
One would think that Judah would now have leamed
her lesson, but there was a group of selfish, unprincipled
nobles who seemed bent on tiieir country's complete
ruin. The king, Zedekiah, was a well-meaning man,
and a friend of Jeremiah, but he was weak. In 588
B.C., encouraged by fine-sounding promises from Egypt,
the nation joined with the Ammonites, the Moabites, and
the Phoenicians in another coalition against Babylon.
Jeremiah protested against such an aUiance, but in vain.
In 586 B.C., Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians
and burned. The temple was destroyed and the walls
of the city were levelled to the ground. Zedeldah's
eyes were put out, and again many thousands of the
inhabitants were led away as exiles. It was nearly a
century before hope and prosperity began to retum to
the discouraged, poverty-stricken land.
These two decades were as a Hving death to Jeremiah.
He was an ardent patriot, but he was compeUed to witness
his nation's ruin. As he was not carried away into exile
by the Babylonians, he saw everything from the first
siege of Jerusalem, in 697, vmtil the end. He was natur-

128 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
ally a lover of peace, and craved the sympathy and good-
wUl of his fellow-men, yet his conscience compeUed him
to continue his stem denunciations. (Jer. 20: 8-10.)
Even his own people in Anathoth turned against him,
and joined in a plot to kUl him. During the last siege
of Jerusalem, he was hated and despised as a traitor.
Once he was thrown into a dungeon to perish, and was
saved only by the friendliness of a negro servant. His
closing years were spent among the Jews in Egypt,
and according to tradition he was killed by his fellow-
exiles, whose idolatrous practices he had rebuked. Thus
he spent his life in an apparently fruitless effort to save
his people from their sins. To the very end, his life
was one long story of hardship and suffering.
Jeremiah's Valuable Helper. Baruch, the
Prophet Scribe
That Jeremiah was able to keep up the fight so long and
so faithfully, was due in large part to the fact that during
at least the last twenty years of his life he had a remark
able partner in his work. In the latter part of Jehoiakim's
reign, about 600 B. C, Jeremiah was positively forbidden
to speak any more to the people, but he was not the man
to retire from the fight when he could stiU speak through
the written page. Like the apostle Paul, he was not
skilful with the pen, but he had a friend named Baruch,
who had been trained as a scribe, and who was himself
a prophet and a good public speaker. So Jeremiah
dictated to Baruch a number of his addresses. Then on
a certain fast day, when a large gathering had assembled
in the temple court, Baruch took the written roll, and
read it before the people. He made a deep impression
on his hearers, aU the deeper because of the reverence
with which all writings were then regarded. Some of
the better class of nobles who were in the gathering
bonowed the roll and read it before the king. It was
a chilly day in winter, and a charcoal fire was burning
in an open brazier near the king's chair. From time to

A GREAT PROPHET 129
time, as the reader finished a column of the writing,
Jehoiakim reached forward and cut off that portion of
the roU, and in spite of the protests of some who were
present, threw it on the fire. Thus the entire roU was
burned. Jeremiah, however, dictated a second and
longer manuscript, containing the addresses that had
been burned and a number of others. No doubt Baruch
was able to read these addresses to many groups of
listeners. This was the beginning of a long partnership.
It was surely fortunate that these two men were thus
brought together. To a large extent, Baruch became
Jeremiah's mouthpiece. The Book of Baruch
Although Jeremiah's work seemed comparatively fruit
less while he was alive, yet few if any of the prophets
wielded a greater influence on subsequent generations.
This was due to a book which Baruch prepared about his
great friend and teacher. The nucleus of this book was
the second collection of addresses which he had made
after Jehoiakim burned the first one. To these addresses,
Baruch added others including probably some extracts
from a diary which Jeremiah had kept. Furthermore,
he wrote a brief biography of the man, telling of the most
important events in his career. He told of the confiict
with the false prophets, who kept saying to the people,
" Peace, peace, when there is no peace." (Jer. 6: 14.)
He told of a sensational speech which Jeremiah once
made in the temple court, when he actually likened the
temple itself to a den of robbers, because of the rich and
wicked nobles who were frequently seen offering sacrifices
there and who thought the city was safe from Jehovah's
punishment, because " the temple of Jehovah is here."
Jeremiah, on the contrary, declared that the temple itself
would be destroyed, along with the rest of the city, if
its leaders continued to steal and lie, and murder and
commit adultery. Baruch tells us that Jeremiah was
anested and put on trial for his life as a result of this

130 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
speech, and only escaped because he had one influential
friend among the nobles. (See Jer. 26: 1-24.) This
remarkable biography also tells of the dramatic object
lessons with which Jeremiah sought to compel the at
tention of the people and to impress the trath upon
their minds. It teUs how he had smashed an earthen
ware jug before them, as a symbol of the total destraction
which their sins were bringing upon Jerasalem; how he
made a wooden yoke and wore it publicly, as a symbol
of the inevitable rule of Nebuchadrezzar, against which
it would be madness to rebel; and how when a false
prophet took the wooden yoke and broke it, Jeremiah
returned the next day with an iron one. (See Jer.
27: 1 — ^28: 17.) Finally the book contained an account of
some of the many hardships and persecutions which the
prophet suffered during those last years in the besieged
city, in the desolated land, and among the exiles in Egypt.
This biographical sketch, with the addresses by Jere
miah, Baruch put together in a book of considerable
length, which (with some additions from later scribes)
is known to us today as the book of Jeremiah in the
Old Testament. It could be called, quite as truly, the
book of Baruch. Judging from the sections which
were written by Baruch, he was a man of great inteUectual
ability, as well as nobility of character. His anecdotes
about Jeremiah are skilfully told, and bring clearly before
us the prophet's personality. The book was a priceless
contribution to the great cause which they both had
served so long and faithfully.

CHAPTER XXI
LESSONS FROM A NATION'S MISFORTUNES
The Historical Books from Joshua to II Kings
The great historical narratives of the Hebrews were
for the most part the product of groups of writers, working
in co-operation. The first of these was a group of proph
ets, in the period after Elijah, who wrote the Judean-
Ephraimite history. (See chapter XV.) The next im
portant group lived about two centuries later, about
650 B.C. It is to this group that we are chiefly indebted
for the books of Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, and I
and II Kings in their present form. These men were
closely associated and played an important part as re
ligious leaders in the history of Judah. They probably
lived as a little community, in some large house, or group
of houses, in Jerusalem. They began their Hfe as a com
munity during the wicked reign of Manasseh. They helped
in the reforms of Josiah. They were at work during the
evil days of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah must have known them,
and may sometimes have been a guest at their house,
although he did not entirely sympathize with their
ideas. FinaUy, when Jerasalem was destroyed, some
of the members of their organization were carried away
to Babylon, where for a time they were able to continue
their writing. As a group, they are generally called
the Deuteronomists.
This word is applied to them, because their chief
purpose in writing history was to persuade their country
men to obey the laws in the revised book, now caUed
Deuteronomy. They were probably among the leaders
who persuaded King Josiah to adopt it.
Tlus explains why they began their history with
131

132 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Joshua. According to their ideas, the substance of the
law had been given to the nation just before the death of
Moses, and the settlement in Canaan, under Joshua.
Hence they were not interested in the history before
that time.
They sought to show, through history, that aU the
troubles of the nation were the consequences of dis
obedience to God's commands as these had been revealed
in that law-book. The whole course of their national
history seemed to them a proof of their belief. " When
we obeyed this law," so they argued, " we were prosperous
and happy." " When we were disobedient, especially
when we worshipped idols, calamities came."
Their Methods of Work
We may imagine that these co-operative historians had
a common room in which to do their work. They would
have writing-tables, blank rolls of leather for writing,
and pens and ink. To this headquarters each one
brought every scrap of writing which he could find which
would throw light upon the history of the nation. Thus
they had a copy of the old Judean-Ephraimite history,
and made large use of it. Their chief desire, of course,
was to find Ulustrations in the history for the ideas they
were trying to teach. There was undoubtedly joy among
them when some member brought in a history of the
prophet Samuel. He had picked up the manuscript
while on a trip to the northem part of the country. In
the house of some friendly prophet, not far perhaps from
Samuel's old home, Shiloh, our traveller had discovered
this written roll, and had hastened back to Jerusalem to
make a copy of it. It told among other things how Saul
had been deposed from his kingship, because he had
disobeyed Jehovah's command by offering sacrifices
in an unlawful manner. " Good!" said all the workers
when it was read to them. " We can use every word of
that in our history! If Saul had obeyed this law

LESSONS PROM A NATION'S MISFORTUNES 133
(Deuteronomy), his descendants might have been kings
of Israel today."
These Deuteronomic writers were not experts in judging
of the accuracy of the records they found. They were
not trained in such matters. They would sometimes
copy into their own book two different accounts of the
same event without even noticing the contradictions
between them. It is fortunate for us, therefore, that
they did not write the nanatives in their own words,
except when they could find nothing from an earlier writer
which brought out the reUgious doctrines they were
trying to teach. As far as possible, they copied word
for word the older records, many of which were very
accurate. This was their most important service for
posterity. What a discovery it would be, if someone
should uncover, some day, the rains of this old literary
work-shop under the streets of modem Jerusalem, and
should find, amidst the mold, the original manuscripts
which were gathered from aU parts of the land. Many
a disputed question would be answered.
The Books of Joshua and Judges
We first meet with the work of the Deuteronomists
in the book of Joshua. This was the point at which their
interest in the history began. The Judean-Ephraimite
history had given a very accurate account of the settle
ment of the Hebrews in Canaan (see chapter XVI),
and the Deuteronomists copied long passages from it.
This older history told how under Joshua's leadership
the Hebrews had gained a foothold in the land; but it
was made clear that for many decades, they had a hard
straggle with the earlier Canaanites, so that it was not
until the time of David that all the old Canaanite cities
were conquered. But to the Deuteronomists it was
simply inconceivable that an upright leader Hke Joshua,
the trusted servant of Moses, should not have been
rewarded by Jehovah with an immediate victory over
aU the Canaanites.

134 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
So we find passages in the book of Joshua, evidently
from their hand, which contain statements such as these :
" So Jehovah gave to Israel all the land which he promised
with an oath to give to their fathers, and they took pos
session of it, and dwelt in it. . . '. Not a man of all
their enemies stood before them; Jehovah deUvered aU
their enemies into their power." (Josh. 21 : 43-45.)
But how could they explain those earlier statements
regarding the hard straggles with the original Canaanites
which continued for a century or two. " Those," they
answered, " were the result of the disobedience of the
people after the death of Joshua, which made it necessary
for Jehovah again and again to give them back into the
power of their old enemies, to punish them." So the
Deuteronomists wrote a second book, the book of Judges,
in which they continued the story in accordance with
this theory. Into this book they inserted the earlier
narratives about the champions who lived after Joshua's
time, using for each story the same introductory form of
words. (See Judges 4 : 2 ; 6 : 1 ; 10 : 7 ; 15 : 1.)
The Books of Samuel
The two books known as First and Second Samuel
are really a single composition and are so printed in the
Hebrew Bible. They take their name from the prophet
Samuel, who is one of the leading characters in the early
part of the nanatives. There is no reason to suppose
that anything in either of the books was written by
Samuel himself. The two books together cover a period
of about seventy-five years, from the birth of Samuel
to the closing years of David. They are made up largely
of quotations, from the biography of Samuel, mentioned
above, and from the early biographies of Saul and David,
mentioned in chapter XV.
In these books of Samuel the Deuteronomists did not
find it necessary to add many supplementary statements
of their own. The older manuscripts from which they
quoted all brought out clearly and forcibly the truth

LESSONS FROM A NATION'S MISFORTUNES 135
which they were seeking to teach. Saul was rejected
as king, by Jehovah, because he disobeyed Jehovah's
commands. David's lapses into sin brought upon him
a long train of disasters. If even; David was thus
punished, who, notwithstanding his grave faults, was on
the whole a good man, how much more would the sins of
the people of Judah lead to a stem retribution!
The Books of Kings
The first and second books of Kings, like the books of
Samuel, are really a single work, continuing the thread of
the history from the death of David to the destruction
of Jerasalem by Nebuchadrezzar. For this period the
Deuteronomists were not able to find so many good
historical records. Solomon, however, had established
the office of the royal scribe, and from the court records
left by these officials, the dates of the most important
events could be leamed. The priests in the temple at
Jerusalem kept similar records of events of special interest
to them. There was also a short book of stories about
the prophet Elijah, and another about his successor,
EHsha. In this part of their history the Deuteronomists con
tinued to emphasize the certainty of Jehovah's rewards
and retributions. Those kings who " did evil in the
sight of Jehovah" were represented as speedily punished,
while those who did right were described as prosperous.
They were especially severe on those kings who neglected
the temple at Jerasalem, and patronized the local shrines
elsewhere. They explained the early downfall of the
northem kingdom as due to the fact that Jeroboam I
had set up shrines at Bethel and Dan, thus keeping the
people from worshipping at Jerasalem. In this they
were not altogether just. Por while the influence of
these local shrines had been on the side of idolatry, yet
no one, until the prophets Amos and Hosea, had realized
this fact; nor had the worship at these shrines been for
bidden, untU the Deuteronomic revision was adopted;

136 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
but they supposed that this prohibition had been in force
from the beginning.
As religious teachers, the Deuteronomists were more
nearly right than as historians, and we are stined by the
earnestness of their moral and religious purposes. For
tunately, we are able to get our knowledge of the historical
facts from the earher sources which they quoted.

CHAPTER XXII
COMFORTERS AND GUIDES IN DARK DAYS
Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and Others
Before the destraction of Jerasalem in 586 B.C., the
message of the prophets had been largely a stem one.
The people had needed to be rebuked for their sins, and
warned regarding the consequences which were sure to
follow. When Jerusalem finally lay in total rain, how
ever, the time had come for a different note to be sounded.
In place of denunciation, the survivors of the catastrophe
were now in need of hope and comfort. The land was
exhausted from the long siege. Many had been slain
in battle. Some thirty thousand others, men, women
and children, had been compelled to tread the long and
bitter pathway of exile, from Judah to Babylonia — a
thousand mUe joumey on foot. Multitudes of others
fled to Egypt for safety, and many remained there per
manently. Those who remained in Judah probably
suffered most of aU. For more than a century the land
was in disorder. Bands of robbers preyed at wUl upon
the helpless farmers and shepherds. Starvation, blood
shed and torture were everyday experiences. In their
despair, the people were saying that Jehovah had for
gotten His people or had whoUy forsaken them. Those
who were scattered in foreign lands were tempted to
give up entirely the reHgion of Jehovah, and become like
the heathen among whom they lived. So it is not sur
prising that the prophetical writings from the period
after the fall of Judah are very different in tone and
purpose from those of the earlier time; and that messages
of comfort and promises of a return from exile take
the place of denunciation. 137

138 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Among the first to strike the new note was Jeremiah.
In one of his later sayings he declared that a better day
was surely coming, when Jehovah would write His law,
not on stone tablets, but on the hearts of His people.
He also made clear his belief that the sunlight of peace
and prosperity would again shine upon the land.
A Jewish Prophet "by the Rivers of Babylon"
Among the exiles who were taken to Babylonia by
Nebuchadrezzar, after the first siege of Jerusalem (597
B.C.), was a young priest named Ezekiel. He began
his work as a prophet soon after reaching the new country.
The Jews were not prisoners, but were aUowed to live
together in a group of small viUages, supporting them
selves by farming and commerce. Near their settlement
ran the Kabaru canal (" the river Chebar, in Ezekiel ").
The waters of these canals were used in the irrigation
of the wonderfully fertile soil. No doubt boats also
passed up and down the canal, laden with merchandise.
There was no reason, therefore, why the Jewish exiles
should not take up the thread of their life, and continue
their national customs and religion much as before they
were taken captives. At first they were slow in adapting
themselves cheerfully to the new conditions. Jerasalem
was not finally destroyed until 586 B.C., and previous
to this date, these exiles kept hoping that almost any
day they would be able to retum to the home-land. In
his earlier addresses, Ezekiel tried to combat these
false hopes. But when the news finally came that Nebu
chadrezzar had captured and destroyed Jerasalem, even
burning the temple of Jehovah, their spirit seemed utterly
broken. From this time on, therefore, Ezekiel set him
self to the task of encouraging these disheartened men
and women. They needed something to Uve for, some
thing to look forward to; and the prophet now insisted
with all earnestness that the time would surely come
when Jehovah would bring back to Judah her exiled
sons and daughters and restore their nation to its former

COMFORTERS AND GUIDES 139
glory, leading them in victory against all their enemies.
He drew up an elaborate program of the future restora
tion of the nation, as he hoped that it would come to
pass. In this program, EzeMel shows his priestly train
ing. The center of everything in the new age was to
be the temple of Jehovah in Jerasalem. For the con
struction of this temple he actually gives a full set of
plans and specifications. (Ezek. 40-43.)
Ezekiel also had felt the infiuence of the earlier proph
ets, and in many sayings dwelt on the necessity of right
conduct toward other men. To us, these latter sayings
are the most valuable, such as his promise of Jehovah's
blessing upon the man who will " wrong no one, restore
the debtor his pledge, take nought by robbery, give his
bread to the hungry, and clothe the naked." (Ezek.
18:5-9.)
Ezekiel's Predictions Fulfilled. The Rebuilding
of the Temple
In the years 520-516 B.C., the temple at Jerasalem
was actuaUy rebuilt. At that time, Persia instead of
Babylonia was the imperial nation in Asia. Cyrus the
Great had conquered Babylon in 538 B.C., and had given
permission to the exiles in that land to retum to their
homes. Some of the more patriotic Jews took advantage
of this edict, and coming back to Judah, helped to bring new
life and hope to the discouraged people there. Finally in
520 B.C., a movement was started to rebuUd the temple.
The leaders in this movement were two prophets, Zech
ariah and Haggai. Zechariah was probably one of the
exiles who had returned from Babylon. Haggai's ad
dresses are preserved in the two chapters of his short
book. He was not especially profound or original in
his ideas, but as a practical leader, he served his people
well. " Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts (says Haggai) ;
This people say, the time is not come for Jehovah's
house to be buUt ... Is it a time for you to dweU in

140 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
your ceiled houses, whUe this house lieth waste? . . .
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts. Consider your ways. Go
up to the hill-country, and bring wood, and buUd the
house, and I will take pleasure in it, . . . saith Jehovah."
(Hag. 1:2-8.)
So they organized the first church building society
on record. Wood was brought in from the surrounding
forests; the carpenters went to work with a will, and
after about four years the new temple was finished. It
was a long, hard struggle for the poverty-stricken people
of Judah; and they never could have carried it through
to completion had not Haggai and Zechariah kept cheer
ing them on.
"Are We to Have our Own King Again?"
There was another matter in which these two prophets
were deeply interested, and that was the re-establishment
of Judah as an independent kingdom, with a descendant
of David on the throne. The year 520 B.C., and the
two or three years immediately thereafter, seemed op
portune for such a step. The Persian empire was ap
parently falling to pieces. Cambyses, the son of Cyras,
had proved a weak ruler, and had finally committed
suicide. A certain Darius had been nominated for the
throne by the nobles, but nearly every province was
in revolt against him, and it seemed unlikely that he
could ever become the master of the situation. In Judah
the Persian authorities had already appointed as governor
a certain Zerubbabel, who was related to the Davidic
family. To the proud Jews, King Zerubbabel sounded
far better than Governor Zerubbabel. Both Haggai
and Zechariah were enthusiastic leaders in this movement.
They promised Jehovah's blessing upon the undertaking,
and painted bright pictures of the future, under Zerub-
babel's rule.
All these hopes were doomed to disappointment.
Months and years passed, and Zerabbabel could never
claim any title higher than govemor. Judah remained

COMFORTERS AND GUIDES 141
a Persian province. But Zechariah, at any rate, was
great enough to rise above this disappointment, and
continued to cheer and encourage his people. He was
careful also to emphasize the conditions which must
be fulfilled, to make it possible for Jehovah to bless them.
" These are the things that ye shall do. Speak ye
every man the truth with his neighbor; render peaceful
decisions in your gates; and let none of you devise evil
in his heart against his neighbor; and love no false oath;
for all these are things which I hate, saith Jehovah."
(Zech. 8: 16-17.) Evidently Zechariah also had caught
the spirit of the great prophets who had preceded him,
from Amos to Jeremiah. What he chiefly hoped for was
not the outward splendor of a king, but the more real
and lasting glory of truth and kindness and justice in
their national life.
Predictions of Happier Days, by Unnamed
Authors
One way in which the Jews of this period sought com
fort and inspiration was in the reading of the earlier
prophetic writings. While these earlier writings were
deeply reverenced, it was often felt that the stem
rebukes and warnings with which these were filled
were not entirely applicable to the poor and oppressed
people of the later time. OccasionaUy a scribe would
feel moved to add a few words in a more hopeful and
comforting tone at the bottom of a column or at the
end of a roU, to bring the manuscript, as it were, down
to date. We find such short passages in many places,
sprinkled through the writings of these prophets who
wrote before the destraction of Jerasalem. One such
passage is found at the end of the book of Amos.
The author probably lived in the rained city of Jeru
salem, perhaps about the year 500 B.C. Reading his
copy of the " words of Amos," he came to the closing
sentence:

142 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
"Behold the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful
kingdom.
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth. "
His soul had been thrilled by the splendid earnestness
of the book; but this closing sentence left him with a
heavy heart. " Have we not been punished enough?"
he said to himself, as he thought of the battered-down
walls of the city, and the wretched collection of hovels
where once beautiful mansions had stood. Surely the
day is coming when Jehovah wUl bless, not punish. He
took his pen and wrote a few more hopeful words as
foUows: " In that day wiU I raise up the tabernacle of David
that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I
wiU raise up its rains, and I wUl build it as in the days of
old. Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that the
plowman shaU overtake the reaper, and the treader of
grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall
drop sweet wine, and aU the hiUs shaU melt. And I
will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and
they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them;
and they shaU plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof ;
they shall also make gardens, and eat the frait of them.
And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall
not more be plucked up out of their land which I have
given them, saith Jehovah thy God." (Amos 9: 12-15.)
Among the best-known of these later passages which
were probably added in this way, are Isaiah 9:1-17,
and 11:1-10, which seem to come from the same author.
These sections portray an ideal ruler. Perhaps they
were written by someone in the time of Haggai and
Zechariah, who hoped for great things from Zerabbabel.
In former times these two passages were generally in
terpreted as predictions of the coming of Jesus. Jesus,
however, chose to be a teacher, rather than an earthly
ruler. Yet if a judge, or mayor, or govemor, to-day,
should wish to fulfil the duties of his office in the spirit

COMFORTERS AND GUIDES 143
of Jesus, he might weU take the foUowing passage for
his daily reading :
" The spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him,
A spirit of wisdom and insight,
A spirit of counsel and might,
A spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah."
(Isa. 11:2.)

CHAPTER XXIII
A NEW MESSAGE POR THE OPPRESSED
The Second Part of Isaiah
The Servants of Jehovah
In times of general disorder and misfortune, there are
always a few men who are unscrupulous enough to make
capital out of the troubles of their feUow-men, and thus
become prosperous. This was the case in the dark cen
turies following the destruction of Jerasalem. A little
clique of Jewish nobles acquired power and influence
by cunying favor with their Babylonian and Persian
rulers. Thus they were able to oppress without mercy
their fellow-citizens whose lot was already hard enough.
The poor were robbed of their Uttle fields and houses,
and many were sold into slavery.
These down-trodden ones, on the other hand, remem
bered the bitter denunciations of Amos and the other
prophets against the oppressors of an earlier day. They
remembered, also, the just laws which had been handed
down from the olden time; and the books containing
these laws, and the addresses of the prophets, were widely
read. It is probable that Httle groups of people began
to meet together in each other's homes to read these
books, and to express their indignation against the rich
nobles who were wronging them. The people who thus
formed the habit of meeting together were called by
various names. Sometimes they were called "the poor."
Another name which they seem to have applied to them
selves was " the servants of Jehovah."
Of course they were persecuted. It is always more
politic, at least for the time being, to submit tamely to
extortion and injustice. Because these men would not
144

Copyright by the Curtis Publishing Co.
" I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES '

A NEW MESSAGE FOR THE OPPRESSED 145
submit, insults were hurled at them as they passed down
the street. Slanders were circulated about them. And
whenever any special misfortune came upon them,
there were many to cry, " Aha! Aha! Where is their
God?" Why do Innocent Persons Suffer?
These things were all the harder to hear because they
had been trained in the doctrines of the Deuteronomists.
They had been taught to believe that God always punishes
the wicked, and rewards the upright. Yet, in their case,
special devotion to Jehovah had apparently brought
special suffering; while wickedness, on the other hand,
seemed the sure pathway to fortune. They could find
no answer to the question of their persecutors: " Where
is thy God." . . . In their meetings there were even some
who declared:
" Every one that doeth evil
Is good in the sight of Jehovah,
And he delighteth in them;
Or where is the God of justice." (Mal. 2: 17.)
A partial solution for these perplexities was offered
by the man who wrote the Book of Malachi. This
book was probably written within a few decades after
the rebuilding of the temple (about 475 B.C.). The
name of the author we do not know. The word Malachi
means " my messenger," and was placed on the title
page by some scribe, who took it from the third chapter,
the first verse. One of the chief purposes of this writer
was to help these eamest men among " the poor " to
hold fast to their faith in God's justice. He told them
that their sufferings were only temporary. There would
be a future day of recompense, when the wicked should
be punished, and the righteous rewarded.
The Second Isaiah
Sometime during this same period, probably within
a few decades after the rebuilding of the temple, there

146 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
lived one of the greatest of the prophets of Israel. Great
as he was, we do not even know his name. He is generaUy
refened to as the " second Isaiah," because his writings
are found in the latter part of the book which bears
Isaiah's name (chapters 40-66). Scholars are not even
agreed as to whether he lived in Jerasalem or among
the exiles in Babylon. Certainly lus heart was always
in Jerasalem, and like the author of Malachi, he was
probably a leader among the " servants of Jehovah."
But though the world knows so little about his personal
history, it can never forget his message. Like Amos and
Hosea, he was one of the great prophets. His deep
spiritual insight enabled him to understand in part, at
least, the true reason why a just God sometimes permits
innocent persons to suffer.
Like the author of Malachi, he believed with aU his
heart in a coming judgment, when God would bring to
an end all oppression. Nothing in the Old Testament
breathes a fiercer indignation against injustice.
" Jehovah hath seen it, and is displeased.
And He is angry because there is no justice.
He saw that there was no man
And was astonished that there was none to interpose.
According to deserts wUl he recompense
Wrath to his adversaries, disgrace to his foes;
They shall see the name of Jehovah from the west.
And his glory from the rising sun.
And so as a Redeemer he shall shortly come to Zion
To tum away rebelHon from Jacob." (Isa. 59: 15-20.)
But in the meantime, these promises of future deUver-
ance were of Httle comfort to those who were the chief
sufferers from present wrongs. For such sufferers he
had a great message, namely, that their sufferings, if
patiently borne, might benefit others; and that by sharing
in such unselfish suffering, we ourselves attain the greatest
happiness and the highest glory of life. Scattered through

A NEW MESSAGE FOR THE OPPRESSED 147
the latter part of Isaiah are a series of passages in which
the author describes " the servant of Jehovah." They
are generally called " the servant passages." In aU
these passages, the author is holding up before his people
his ideal for them as individuals, and as a religious
body. The trae servant of Jehovah, he says, is a teacher
who leads men to the knowledge of God.
" Behold my servant whom I uphold.
My chosen, in whom I take deHght;
I have put my spirit upon him.
That he may set forth law to the nations." (Isa. 42: 1).
As a teacher, he wiU be quiet, unassuming, and patient;
he will have sympathy for the weakness of his Hsteners.
" He will not cry aloud nor roar.
Nor let his voice be heard in the street.
A crushed reed he will not break.
And a dimly burning wick he will not quench." (Isa. 42:2-3.)
As a result of his teaching, the servant of Jehovah will
inevitably be persecuted.
" My back I gave to smiters.
And my cheek to those who plucked the beard.
My face I hid not from insult and spitting." (Isa. 50: 6.)
But this persecution will not be endured in vain.
In the sublime fifty-third chapter of the book, the author
shows that this patient, heroic endurance of persecution
may atone for the sins of others and win to lives of
righteousness even the men who were wronging them.
The author of this matchless poem nowhere explains
just how it is that the sufferings of the righteous may
atone for the sins of the wicked. Perhaps he means
that when a good man forgives an injury his forgiveness
becomes as it were, a fiower of good growing out of the
evil, and thus turns all into good at last. At any rate,
the faithful " servants of Jehovah " to whom this chapter
was first addressed, must have been strangely comforted.
They could now see that their sufferings were not in

148 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
vain. By patiently enduring the evils which were heaped
upon them, they were helping Jehovah to conquer evil.
Christians have always loved this chapter, more per
haps than any other in the Old Testament. For although
the author had in mind primarily those of his own day,
yet it is only in Jesus Christ that we see the perfect
servant of Jehovah, and the perfect fulfilment of this
great ideal of unselfish suffering for the good even of the
least deserving.

CHAPTER XXIV
A NEW KIND OF PATRIOTISM
The Hopes of the Second Isaiah
We have seen in earlier chapters that patriotism was
an essential element in the reHgion of the Hebrews.
They looked upon Jehovah as the God of the nation, and
of individuals only as they belonged to the nation. They
believed that as the God of the nation Jehovah required
each man to forget his selfish interests and work for the
general welfare. In the early days, this belief was as
sociated with crude and imperfect ideas. They thought
that each nation had its own god and that Chemosh, the
god of the Moabites, or Nebo and Marduk, gods of the
Babylonians, were just as traly existent as Jehovah the
God of Israel. They believed that each god was the special
guardian of his own people, and would show them special
favors. This idea is even found in some of the prophetical
writings of the Old Testament. The great prophets from
Amos onward began to break away from this idea.
Amos declared that Jehovah had guided the history of
other nations beside the Israelites. (Amos 9 : 7.) All of
these prophets maintained that Jehovah was using the
great empire of Assyria, and other foreign nations, to
punish his people Israel for their sins. This impHed that
Jehovah was reaUy the one trae God of aU mankind.
After the fall of Jerasalem, however, the old nanow
type of religious patriotism received a fresh impulse.
Many Jews regarded aU foreign nations as enemies of
Jehovah. There was a special bitterness against the
nations immediately sunounding Judah, such as the
Moabites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and worst
of all, the Edomites. These nations had taken advantage
149

150 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
of the helpless condition of the people of Judah, after the
capture of Jerusalem, and had crueUy plundered and
ravaged them. In the Book of Ezekiel, we find a series
of chapters, declaring Jehovah's wrath against foreign
nations. (Chapters 25-32.) The Book of Obadiah
(with its single chapter, the shortest book in the Old
"Testament) expresses the most passionate hatred of
the Edomites. The book of Joel is a description of Je
hovah's day of Judgment, which, according to this writer,
was to bring a terrible punishment upon aU the enemies
of Israel. The Second Isaiah as a Patriot
Nowhere in the Old Testament do we find a more
passionate love of country than in the second part of
the Book of Isaiah. In this respect, the author of these
chapters was a typical Hebrew. Like most of the other
prophets of this period, his favorite theme is the coming
restoration of his country's prosperity. " Comfort ye,
comfort ye, my people, saith your God." He begins
his book:
" Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and declare to her
That her hard service is accompUshed, her guilt is expiated.
That she hath received from Jehovah's hand double for
aU her sins." (Isa. 40: 1-2.)
He is full of the thought that the exiled sons and daughters
of Judah are shortly to retum to the home land, from
all the countries to which they have been scattered.
(Isa. 49:12-13.) In his descriptions of the coming
glory, he is more tender, and more rapturous than any
other prophet. (Isa. 55 : 12-13.) Through aU these
glowing promises there breathes the faith that Jehovah
is the God of Israel, and that Israel is Jehovah's chosen
people. (Isa. 41:8-10.)
Israel Chosen by Jehovah to Bless Mankind
Although this prophet held fast to his faith that his
beloved nation was in a special sense the people of Jehovah,

A NEW KIND OF PATRIOTISM 151
yet the experiences of those days inevitably broadened
his ideas. After aU, Judea was only a little province
in a great empire. Very likely he had traveUed, and
had seen with his own eyes the glories of Egypt, or Baby
lon, or Persia. At any rate, he frequently came into
contact with such foreigners as the govemor of the prov
ince, or his officers, and realized their abUity and their
many virtues. Nevertheless when he compared the
religion of Israel, as taught by the prophets, with the
religion of these foreigners, the contrast was striking.
He saw these people actuaUy worshipping images of
wood and stone; bowing down to them as to real deities.
It seemed to him actually funny; and he brings out the
humor of it, in such passages as the following, in which
he addresses the foreigners:
" To whom then wiU ye liken God,
And what likeness place beside him?
An image! a craftsman cast it.
And a smelter overlays it with gold! " (Isa. 40: 18-19.)
" One cuts down cedar trees for his use
And chooses a cypress or oak,
Half of it, he bums in the fire
And upon its coals, roasts flesh.
He eats the roast and is satisfied!
He warms himself, and says Aha!
The rest of it he makes into a god.
He bows down to his image and worships it.
And prays to it and says:
DeHver me, for thou art my god." (Isa. 44: 14-17.)
In contrast with these dead idols the prophet never tires
of dwelling on the infinite greatness and majesty of
Jehovah, Ruler of the universe.
But how did it happen that this supreme God of heaven
and earth had singled out one small nation, the Jews,
to be in a special sense His own ? Here the prophet made
another great spiritual discovery. " Israel is indeed
chosen by Jehovah, the infinite God," he said in substance.

152 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
"but chosen for what? For special favors? For special
protection against the sonows and misfortunes which
are the common lot of aU?" " No," he answered, " but
rather chosen for a special service for mankind ; namely,
to bring to all other nations the knowledge of this trae
God, Jehovah." This thought comes out clearly in
the " servant ideal," which he held up before his fellow-
worshippers in the synagogues. The servant of Jehovah,
he taught, is to bring not only Israel but the world to
God.
" It is too Uttle a thing to be my servant " (saith Jehovah).
" And to restore the survivors of Israel;
Therefore I wUl make thee the light of the nations.
That my Salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
(Isa. 49: 6.)
In other passages, the author speaks of the entire nation
as Jehovah's servant.
Not only did the second Isaiah hold this ideal before
the eyes of his countrymen as something to be realized
in the future, but he also contended for it as a principle
of everyday life. There were many foreigners Hving in
Jerusalem at this time. Some of them would gladly
have become worshippers of Jehovah, but many of the
Jews were bitter in their hatred of all foreigners, and
wished to exclude them from the temple worship. The
second Isaiah, on the other hand, was eager to welcome
them, and took their part in words like the foUowing :
" Let not the foreigner who hath joined himself to Jehovah say,
Jehovah will surely separate me from his people.
For my house shaU be caUed a house of prayer for aU peoples."
(Isa. 56: 1-8.)
Other Prophets with a World-wide Vision
In this broad and liberal attitude, the prophet unfortu
nately found few followers. During the next few cen
turies, the Jews as a people grew more and more nanow
and prejudiced. Considering what they suffered, we
can hardly blame them. Yet there were some who

A NEW KIND OF PATRIOTISM 153
leamed from this great unknown prophet a better attitude
toward other nations and races, and a nobler ideal for
their own nation, Israel. A short passage from one of
these spiritual disciples of the second Isaiah is found
in the second chapter of the book of Isaiah. (Isa. 2 : 1-7.)
It expresses the noble and inspiring hope that a time will
come when the whole world will leam through Israel
to worship Jehovah, and when as a result, all war shall
be done away, and a universal reign of peace be ushered
in. " And many peoples shaU go and say.
Come let us go up to Jehovah's motmt.
To the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may instruct us in his ways
And that we may walk in his paths.
For from Zion proceeds instruction.
And Jehovah's word from Jerusalem.
" He will arbitrate between many peoples.
And render decisions for numerous nations.
They shaU beat their swords into plowshares.
And their spears into pruning-hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shaU they leam war any more."
(Isa. 2:1-4) (Micah 4:1-3.)
An equally remarkable passage is found in the nine
teenth chapter of Isaiah (19:18-25). The writer of
these verses was perhaps a descendant of one of those
Jewish exiles who had taken refuge in Egypt after 586
B.C. He had found good friends among the Egyptians.
They had treated him kindly, in spite of the fact that
he was a foreigner and a Jew. Thus he came to reahze
the fooUshness and injustice of race prejudice. He
rose to the noble thought that there were good men in
all races, and that Jehovah had chosen for some special
service in the world, not merely the Jews, but each and
every race and nation. He believed that the Eg5rptians
would some day become worshippers of Jehovah, and
the Assyrians also. By the Assyrians he meant aU

154 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
the inhabitants of the Tigris-Euphrates vaUey, which
at that time was probably under the rule of Persia. He
believed that in the good time to come, these great nations
would no longer spend their energies in wasteful wars,
but rather in building good roads, and in bringing manifold
blessings to the world.
" In that day shaU there be a highway out of Egypt
to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and
the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall
worship with the Assyrians."
" In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and
with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; for
that Jehovah of hosts hath blessed them, saying. Blessed
be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands,
and Israel, mine inheritance." (Isa. 19; 23-25.)

CHAPTER XXV
PRAYERS POR HELP IN TIME OP OPPRESSION
The Book of Lamentations and the
Early Psalms
One of the most essential parts of the equipment of
a modern church is a supply of hymnals. We use them
for various purposes. They contain the words and music
for congregational singing; and most of them have at
the end " responsive readings " and sometimes printed
prayers. Some churches have a special prayer-book in
addition to the hymn-book.
The Hebrews also had their hymn and prayer-books
for use in their temple services, and other services of
worship. Had we gone into one of these gatherings,
however, we would by no means have found one of these
books ready for use as in our church pews today. The
art of printing was then unknown and hymnals and
prayer-books could not be purchased by the hundred.
It was necessary for those who wished to join in the wor
ship to memorize the hymns and prayers. Probably the
only copy in the room would be in the possession of
the leader of the worship. He would read the service to the
people every week, line by Hne, untU it was thoroughly
leamed. To make this task of memorization easier,
many of these hymns and prayers were written in acrostic
form — that is, the successive lines or stanzas began with
successive letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
The Book of Lamentations
Two of these ancient collections of hymns and prayers
are preserved in the Old Testament; the largest and most
famUiar is the book of Psalms. 'There is another and
165

156 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
older collection, however, called the book of Lamenta
tions. It consists of a series of five elegies, or dirges,
lamenting the woes which befell Jerusalem when it was
captured by Nebuchadrezzar and during the discouraging
years that foUowed. The siege of a city in ancient times
was horrible beyond expression, and that of Jerusalem
by the Babylonians was no exception. In the pitUess
famine of the last months,
" Little chUdren and suckUngs swooned in the streets.
They said to their mothers. Where is grain ?" (Lam. 2 : 1 1-12.)
When the end came with its blood and flame, the city
was left a smoking ruin with only a handful of broken
hearted inhabitants.
The months passed and a new springtime came, bring
ing with it the anniversary of the capture of the city.
The survivors could not but recaU with fresh vividness the
sufferings of those last weeks of the siege, and the final
agony when nearly aU that they held dear had been lost for
ever. On the day of the first anniversary it is probable
that many of those who were left in Jerusalem gathered
near the rains of the temple, to offer sacrifices and to pray
to Jehovah to have mercy on their land. Thereafter
this anniversary and certain other days each year were
observed as fast-days by many of the Jews.
For these fast-day services the five dirges which we
have as the five chapters of the book of Lamentations
were probably written. In our Enghsh Bible this book
is headed, " The Lamentations of Jeremiah." In the
original Hebrew, however, there is nothing to indicate
that Jeremiah wrote them. The author, or authors,
certainly had in mind the needs of the pubhc worship,
for at least four of the poems are composed as acrostics,
to aid the memory.
The Prayers op David
After the destruction of Jerasalem those who were
especiaUy poor and oppressed gathered in groups and not

PRAYERS POR HELP IN OPPRESSION 157
only studied the law and the prophets, but also sang and
prayed together. We can imagine the second Isaiah
leading their worship. (See Chapter XXIIL) Of course
they needed hymn and prayer-books for their meetings.
Early in the history of their movement these " servants
of Jehovah " had a collection of hymns and prayers,
called the Prayers of David. This does not mean
that King David, who lived five centuries earlier, had
written them, but rather that the collection as a whole
was dedicated to that famous poet-king of Israel. Some
of the hymns may have been written in the earlier days
of the kingdom, but many more were added by the
" servants of Jehovah " themselves. About one-half of
the Old Testament book of Psalms is taken from this
collection. These Psalms in our English versions are
marked by the heading a " Psalm of David." The
Hebrew means literally "to David" — that is, belonging
to the David coUection.
There was a remarkable variety of hymns and prayers
in this great " David " coUection. There were nature-
songs, like Psalm 19, which expresses a deep appreciation
of the glory of God as revealed in the sun and stars:
" The heavens declare the glory of God,
And the firmament showeth his handiwork." (Psahn 19: 1.)
There were prayers of repentance, as Psalm 51:
" Create in me a clean heart, 0 God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence
And take not thy Holy Spirit from me." (Psahn 51 : 10-11.)
Finally there were hymns of splendid moral aspiration,
such as Psalms 15 and 24:
" Jehovah, who shaU sojourn in thy tabernacle.
Who shaU dweU in thy holy hiU?
He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness
And speaketh tmth in his heart." (Psakn 15: 1.)

158 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
Prayers for Deliverance
The majority of these " David " Psalms reflect plainly
the experiences of those days when these early worshippers
were persecuted by the rich and anogant nobles of Judah,
and their supporters. There are frequent references to the
enemies of Jehovah's trae servants. The authors generaUy
use the first person ; but the words "I," " me " or " mine "
usually stand for the whole group of the trae followers
of Jehovah, rather than for the individual speaker. Such
passages as the foUowing, therefore, are not merely vivid
pictures of some one man's experience, but of the suffer
ings of these faithful men and women as a class:
" Whoever sees me derideth me;
They sneer as they toss the head.
' He depended upon Jehovah,' (they say) ' Let him deUver
him,
' Let him save him since he deUghteth in him.' " (Psalm 22:
7-8.)
" DeHver me not over unto the wiU of my adversaries.
For false witnesses are risen up against me.
And such as breathe out cruelty." (Psahn 27: 12.)
In addition to such prayers for protection, which con
tinue through page after page, many psahns of this group
are jubUant in thanksgiving for past deliverances and
fuU of trast for the future.
" Jehovah is my Ught and my salvation.
Whom shaU I fear?
Jehovah is the strength of my Ufe.
Of whom shaU I be afraid?" (Psalm 27 : 1.)
The Shepherd Psalm
Perhaps the noblest product of these experiences of
persecution is the twenty-third psalm. TMs exquisite
little poem is so calm and peaceful with its green pastures
and still waters, that one might be tempted to suppose
that the author had never known troubles; that his life
had always been as placid as the Hmpid pools of a meadow

If 1, ¦^

^^.

Copyright by the Curtis Publishing Co,
" THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD ^

PRAYERS FOR HELP IN OPPRESSION 159
stream on a summpr day. But this would be a mistaken
inference. Such a heartfelt appreciation of the peace
and security and safe guidance which the divine Shepherd
alone can give is the product only of many a time of
hardship and danger and distress. Moreover, he speaks
of '' mine enemies," in the famUiar phraseology of this
period. The author was, perhaps, a Judean shepherd,
living near Hebron, or Tekoa, or Bethlehem, and pasturing
his Httle flock of sheep and goats on the hillside near the
village. He was a leader of the " poor " who met in
the vUlage from week to week to pray, and to keep aUve
the ideals and the aspirations of the great prophets of
their nation. The unjust oppressors who lived in that
district determined to teach this brave man a lesson.
He was harassed in aU possible ways. He was threatened.
He was kept in poverty and in debt and on the verge of
slavery by constant extortion. He saw his wife and Httle
ones hungry and cold. Robbers were permitted to
attack him and plunder his small possessions with im
punity, and he nanowly escaped death at their hands.
Yet through aU these years of anxiety and heart-break
he clung to his faith in Jehovah, and to his surprise he
discovered that in the very darkest hours there came to
him a great reward which outweighed aU the hardship.
For it was in just these dark hours that the sweetest
sense of God's presence and feUowship weUed up in his
heart Uke a song, and it dawned upon him that this
great feUowship was a supreme prize which no outward
mishap could take away. It was Hke a table spread
before him in the very presence of his enemies. He was
indeed under the care of a divine Shepherd who would
never faU him.
" Yea, though I walk through the vaUey of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23 : 4.)

CHAPTER XXVI
HYMN-BOOKS WITHIN HYMN-BOOKS
The Story of the Book of Psalms
About seventy years after the rebuilding of the temple
(516 B.C.) a committee of Jews from Jerasalem went to
seek aid for their distressed country from their more
prosperous kinsfolk who lived in Persia. They had par
ticularly in mind a certain man named Nehemiah, who
ofccupied an important position as cup-bearer and personal
adviser to Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. When they
found Nehemiah in the Persian capital, Susa, they told
him how the city of his ancestors still lay for the most
part in rains, with no walls to protect its inhabitants and
open to the attacks of aU its enemies. Like most of the
Jews who at this time were Uving in foreign lands, he had
not realized that the fatherland had as yet recovered
only in a slight degree from the crashing blow which had
been struck by Nebuchadrezzar a century and a half
before. Responding to the appeal of the committee
with aU the ardor of a noble soul, Nehemiah secured a
leave of absence from the Persian king and permission
to join with his countrymen in rebuilding the waUs of
Jerusalem. A few weeks later he arrived in Jerusalem,
and within a few months in the face of extraordinary
difficulties the great task was finished. The waUs were
restored and the city was safe. The committee had come
to the right man.
In addition to the building of the walls, Nehemiah
introduced important intemal reforms. He restrained the
powerful and unscrupulous nobles who had been in secret
alliance with the extemal enemies and had been grinding
into slavery the poor among their fellow-citizens. Nehe-
160

HYMN-BOOKS WITHIN HYMN-BOOKS 161
miah's achievements ushered in a new era of prosperity
for Judah. Pilgrimages and Pilgrim Songs
One result was a new enthusiasm in the hearts of the
people for the worship of God. The gatherings formerly
known as " the poor " were still kept up, special buUd
ings were erected for their use and came to be known as
synagogues. There was also a new interest in the services
of the temple. Worshippers came not only from Jerasalem
but from aU parts of Judah. According to the law in
Deuteronomy all Jews were to come to Jerasalem three
times a year to join in the great religious festivals such as
the Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Before Nehemiah's time these pilgrimages were unsafe,
as the whole country was in disorder, and a crowd of
pilgrims in Jerasalem would only have been the signal
for robbers. But now the number of visitors increased
each year.
These festivals were joyful occasions. People from the
same vUlage would come up together, and take lodgings
together in Jerasalem. All the way thither the joumey
was enlivened by songs and jokes and laughter. During
their stay in the city, when they were not " seeing the
sights," the boys and girls would play together while
their fathers and mothers gossiped. The culminating
event of these festivals was of course the service of wor
ship in the temple. Some, no doubt, entered into the
spirit of the worship more deeply than others, but all
were intensely proud of their beautiful city, with its
newly built walls.
" Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth.
Is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north.
The city of the great King." (Psahn 48: 2.)
Such occasions as these inevitably inspired songs.
There is an exquisite group of songs in our book of Psalms,
each of which bears the title, " A Song of the Pilgrimages."

162 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
(Psalms 120-134.) They are closely similar to each other
in literary form and poetical spirit and probably most
of them are by the same author. Very likely the pUgrims
used to sing these songs on the moonlight nights on their
joumey toward Jerasalem and in the streets and squares
of the city itself during the festivals. They reflect the
delight of the author in all the innocent social joys of
those days. We can almost hear the laughter of children
at the family reunions.
" Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah."
" As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the chUdren
of youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them." (Psalm
127:4-5.)
We can feel the patriotic longing with which every
loyal Jew looked forward to these journeys and their
pride in the splendid city which was the center of so much
love. " I am glad when they say to me.
Let us go to the house of Jehovah;
When our feet are standing
Within thy gates, O Jemsalem." (Psakn 122: 1-2.)
Perhaps the most noteworthy characteristic of these
poems is the beautiful trust which the author feels in
God's care. We look off with him from the city gate
across the Kidron valley to the Mount of Olives on the
east or to the hills on the south or west and we hear him
say: " They that trust in Jehovah,
Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth
forever.
" As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
So Jehovah is round about his people.
From this time forth and forevermore." (Psahn 125: 1-2.)

"OUR FEET ARE STANDING WITHIN THY GATES,
0 JERUSALEM."

HYMN-BOOKS WITHIN HYMN-BOOKS 163
Church Choirs and Their Anthems
This new interest in the temple worship led to a great
improvement in the services. Instramental music on
harps and flutes was provided to accompany the hymns.
A regular temple choir was established and was given
the entire control of the services of prayer and singing.
Different famUies or guilds were appointed from time to
time as choir leaders, as, for example, the " sons of Korah,"
and the " sons of Asaph."
These choir leaders were continuaUy on the watch for
new hymns in order to give variety to the services. No
doubt they used the " Prayers of David " and perhaps
also the " Songs of the PUgrimages." They also made new
coUections of their own. There was a collection by the
sons of Korah, from which Psalms 42-49 and 84-87 in our
Old Testament are taken, and another coUection by the
sons of Asaph. (Psalms 50 and 73-83.)
The Psalms of the sons of Korah are especially note
worthy and include some of the most beautiful in the
Old 'Testament. They express an intense devotion to
the services of worship in the temple as the place where
men may find new strength for the burdens and duties of
Hfe. Unlike some modem church choirs, these sons of
Korah were evidently not merely good musicians, but
also were fiUed with a deep and genuine love for God.
" How amiable are thy tabernacles
O Jehovah of hosts I
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Jehovah.
My heart and. my flesh cry out unto the living God.
Yea, the spanow hath found her a house.
And the swaUow a nest for herself, where she may lay her
young.
Even thine altars, 0 Jehovah of hosts.
My King and my God." (Psahn 84.)
Like the Songs of the PUgrimages, these songs of the
sons of Korah are aglow with gratitude to God for the
new peace and prosperity which he has sent upon their
beloved land. (See Psalm 85.)

164 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
A Committee on a New Hymn-Book
Each of these collections of hymns had its admirers
just as today some people are fond of the Moody and
Sankey " Gospel Hymns," whUe others prefer the old
Church Hymns. Each synagogue had its own preference.
In those days this state of things was inconvenient.
Visitors at a synagogue service were frequently imable
to join in the hymns because in their own home synagogue
they had used and memorized a different coUection.
They felt as we feel today when we visit a strange church
and cannot find a hymn-book in the pew. At the time
of the great rehgious festivals in the temple there were
very few hymns in which everybody could join, so it is
possible that a regular committee was appointed by the
temple authorities to prepare a new hymn-book.
These men included in their new book the best of aU
the preceding collections and they added a considerable
number of other hymns and prayers which they found in
circulation. Among these were the well-known :
" Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in aU generations."
(Psahn 90.)
and " He that dweUeth in the secret place of the Most High,
Shall abide under the shadow of the Aknighty." (Psahn 91.)
Among the best of the new hymns was a long one, which
in our Old Testament is divided into a number of short
Psalms. (Psalms 95-100). The most familiar of these
is Psalm 100, beginning
" Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands."
AU these hymns, from all these various sources, were
copied into a new and much larger hymn and prayer-
book, which was divided into five sections. This book
came into universal use among all Jews, and is preserved
to us as our Old Testament book of Psalms. The spirit
in which this committee worked is indicated by the hymn

HYMN-BOOKS WITHIN HYMN-BOOKS 165
which they placed at the beginning of their new book, as
a kind of introductory meditation :
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the
ungodly.
Nor standeth in the way of sinners.
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scoffers.
But his delight is in the law of Jehovah,
And on his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shaU be like a tree, planted by the streams of water,
That bringeth forth its fruit in due season.
Whose leaf also doth not wither;
And whatsoever he doeth shaU prosper." (Psahn 1: 1-3.)
These great poems have been on the Hps of more men
and women throughout the centuries than any other
words ever written, except the sayings of Jesus. " They
have furnished the bridal hymns, the battle songs, the
pilgrim marches, the penitential prayers, and the public
praises of every nation in Christendom since Christendom
was bom." The book of Psalms has been called " the
minor of the soul," because there is no noble emotion, no
depth of longing which does not find expression in it.
Hence it is that as St. Augustine said, " the Psalms are
read in aU the world, and there is nothing hid from the
heat thereof."

CHAPTER XXVII
APPEALING TO HISTORY IN A CHURCH
QUARREL
I AND II Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah
" The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans,"
says the Gospel of John (John 4: 9), in its account of the
conversation between Jesus and the woman of Samaria.
When did this bitter feud begin? For the earliest begin
nings we must go back to the settlement in Canaan, when
the tribe of Judah and certain minor clans settled in the
south, and the other tribes settled in the north. The two
sections of the nation were kept apart for many years by
a strip of Canaanite territory. Under Saul, David and
Solomon they were drawn together into a united kingdom;
but after Solomon's death the northem tribes revolted
and set up a kingdom of their own, of which the city of
Samaria soon became the capital.
Then came the hostUe armies of Assyria and Babylonia
and first Samaria (722 B.C.) and then Jerusalem (586 B.C.)
were besieged, captured, and in large part destroyed.
This common misfortune drew the two sections together
for a time. When the temple at Jerusalem was rebuilt
the Samaritans came there to worship. As the cere
monial law was graduaUy developed by the Jerasalem
priests into the form now found in the Pentateuch (see
Chapter XVI) , the Samaritans accepted it without ques
tion and tried to obey it.
Previous to Nehemiah's visit Samaria seems to have
become the political and commercial center of the land,
and was perhaps the headquarters of the tyrannical nobles
who oppressed the poorer people. They and their allies
among the Ammonites, Edomites, Moabites and also
166

RUINS OF A GR.^CO-ROMAN TEMPLE AT SAMARIA.
From a photograph by Underwood and Underwood.

HISTORY IN A CHURCH QUARREL 167
among the nobles of the Jews themselves, were therefore
bitterly opposed to the rebuildmg of the waUs of Jerasalem.
The Samaritan govemor, whose name was SanbaUat, was
the leader m the opposition agamst Nehemiah. Thus
the old jealousy was revived. About a century after
Nehemiah, or just before Alexander the Great conquered
the Persian empire, there was another quanel between
the two sections of Palestine which led to a rehgious
separation. The Samaritan Temple
The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, " Our fathers
worshipped in this mountain [that is. Mount Gerizim,
near Samaria] but ye say that in Jerasalem is the place
where men ought to worship " (John 4: 20). This was
the bone of contention between the Jews and the Samari
tans, and it came about as follows :
A certain prominent priest, named Manasseh, married
Nicaso, the daughter of SanbaUat, govemor of Samaria.
This was perhaps the grandson of the SanbaUat who
opposed Nehemiah. At once there was a protest in
Jerasalem. Many demanded that Manasseh either di
vorce his wife or else resign his office. They would not
have a son-in-law of a SanbaUat occupying a prominent
position in their temple. SanbaUat accordingly said to
Manasseh, " What do we carfe for those people! Have we
not a sacred mountain in Samaria, whose traditions are
far older than Jerasalem? Come, I wUl build a new
temple for you on Mount Gerizim. You shaU be high
priest. Some of your fellow-priests will leave Jerusalem
and come with you. We also have priestly famUies here
in Samaria. The result wiU be that most of the people,
not only of Samaria but of Judah also wiU come and
worship at our temple and that wUl leave the Jerasalem
temple without worshippers and without any support."
The Claims op the Opposing Parties
Thus it came about that there were two rival temples
and that their respective adherents hated each other.

168 THE, STORY OF OUR BIBLE
In every village gate where Jews and Samaritans came in
contact the debate was carried on with hot words and
angry gestures. The Jews, of course, appealed to the law
of Deuteronomy, which forbade sacrifices outside of
Jerasalem. Unfortunately for them that law-book no
where explicitly mentioned Jerusalem by name. It had
been written as though by Moses before the settlement
in Canaan, and hence instead of saying " Jerasalem,"
the writers had said, " the place which Jehovah shaU
choose." (See Deut. 12:5.) The Samaritans now de
clared: "That means Mount Gerizim, not Jerasalem.
Instead of our going to Jerusalem, you should come to
Mount Gerizim to sacrifice." Of course this greatly
incensed the Jerasalemites. They retorted by saying
that the priests at the Samaritan temple were not pure-
blooded members of the tribe of Levi; that in fact they
were not even pure-blooded Israelites. They asserted:
" When the Assyrians conquered Samaria they brought in
thousands of heathen colonists; in fact, you Samaritans
are little better than heathen." (See II Kings 17: 24-41,
which was probably added to II Kings at this time.)
But the Samaritans were able to answer that their claims
to a pure Hebrew ancestry were at least as good as those
of the Jews. Did not the book of Kings clearly say that
when Nebuchadrezzar conquered Jerusalem he carried to
Babylon all but the very poorest and the meanest of the
people? (See II Kings 25: 12.) And it was well known
that these people who had been left in the land had
freely intermarried with foreigners.
So the quanel went on with aU its unfortunate conse
quences. It inevitably strengthened the tendency to
regard religion as a mere matter of priestly ceremonies.
It also increased the nanowness and prejudice of the
Jews in their attitude toward foreigners. The mechanical,
Ufeless religion of the scribes in Jesus' time may have
been in no smaU measure the product of this church
quanel.

HISTORY IN A CHURCH QUARREL 169
The Chronicler
Both the Jews and the Samaritans appealed to history
to prove that their temple alone was properly authorized
by Jehovah. Unfortunately for the contestants the his
tory as it stood did not seem to favor one side more
than another. Hence at least one other history was
written which was not so impartial.
About seventy-five or a hundred years after the build
ing of the Samaritan temple there Hved in Jerasalem a
certain Levite who was called " the Chronicler," because
he wrote the Old Testament books I and II Chronicles.
He seems to have been a member of the temple choir,
perhaps one of the " sons of Asaph." Of course he was
a supporter of the Jerasalem temple as against the
Samaritans, and it vexed him that his fellow- Jews were
so often beaten in argument. " I will write a history,"
said our friend, " out of which no Samaritan can get
comfort and which wiU forever settle this question in
favor of the Jews." So he wrote a history which, in our
Bibles, is divided into four books, I and II Chronicles,
Ezra and Nehemiah. The first two of these books carry
the narrative down to the time of the destruction of
Jerasalem by Nebuchadrezzar (586 B.C.). The remain
ing two, Ezra and Nehemiah, give the writer's ideas re
garding the restoration of prosperity to the land during
the succeeding centuries.
The history reveals the author's purpose on almost every
page. There are many long genealogies extending from
Adam down to the Chronicler's own time to show that
the Jews, rather than the Samaritans, were of pure Hebrew
blood. David and Solomon, who founded the Jerusalem
temple, are painted as saints. Nothing is said about their
faults. The northem kingdom, on the other hand, is put
in a bad Hght.
In the latter part of the history (our books of Ezra and
Nehemiah) the Chronicler was chiefly mterested to show
that the temple at Jerasalem had been rebuilt, not by
the people who had been left ki the land (who had married

170 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
foreigners), but by returned exiles from Babylon who
were supposed to have been pure-blooded Israehtes.
According to the Chronicler's representation of the
matter the testimony of history was aU on the side of
the Jews. Clearly we should not regard such a history
as altogether reliable. Not that the Chronicler delib
erately falsified the history, but he Hved in a biased
atmosphere. Nevertheless, his writings are of value.
They throw a flood of light on the history of his own
time. Moreover, he was sincerely and enthusiasticaUy
devoted to the worship of Jehovah.
The Memoirs of Nehemiah
The Chronicler copied much of his material from older
sources of information. Large parts of I and II Chronicles
are taken word for word from the books of Samuel and
Kings. Of the book of Nehemiah also a considerable
section (chapters 1-2 and 4-6) were taken from a book
of memoirs written by Nehemiah himself, teUing of his
experiences in rebuUding the waUs of Jerasalem. The
Hterary style of these chapters is very different from that
of the Chronicler. They express the energetic, unselflsh
spirit of Nehemiah and give us a vivid picture of his
heroic straggles on behalf of his city. They must be
reckoned among the best historical records that have
come down to us from antiquity.
The foUowing is a good example of Nehemiah's clear,
vigorous style:
" When ottr enemies heard that their plan was known to us,
and that God had brought it to nought, we aU of us returned to
the wall each to his own work. And from that time on, whUe
half of my servants were engaged in the work, half of them
held the lances, the shields, the bows and the coats of maU. . . .
Those who built the waU and those who bore burdens were
also armed, each with one of his hands engaged in the work,
while the other was ready to grasp the spear; and each of the
builders had his sword girded by his side, and so builded.
And he who sounded the trumpet was by me.'" And I said to

HISTORY IN A CHURCH QUARREL 171
the nobles and the rulers, and to the rest of the people, ' The
work is great and extensive, and we are separated upon the
waU far from each other. In whatever place you hear the
sound of the trumpet, gather to us, our God wiU fight for us.'
So we were active in the work, whUe half of them held the
lances, from the gray of moming until the stars came out."
(Neh. 4: 15-21.)
The Chronicler was probably chiefly interested in these
memoirs because they told of Nehemiah's successful
opposition to the Samaritan govemor, SanbaUat. They
are of surpassing interest to us today because they are
almost our only source of information regarding one of
the noblest leaders in Hebrew history: a man of humble
faith, a loyal patriot, a champion of the weak and in aU
things a Imightly gentleman.

CHAPTER XXVIII
TWO KINDS OF PATRIOTISM
The Stories of Esther and Jonah
Among the later writings of the Old Testament are
two stories which breathe a typically Jewish spirit of
intense patriotism. They represent, however, very dif
ferent lands of patriotism, and different ideas regarding
the true place of Israel among the nations.
We will look first at the book of Esther. The
heroine of this story, after whom the book is named,
was a beautiful Jewess, living in Persia among the Jewish
exiles, in the home of her uncle Mordecai. By a strange
tum of fortune, this maiden, Esther, became the queen-
consort of Ahasuerus, the Persian king. Now at that
time the king had a wicked prime minister named
Haman, who in his anogance required aU common men
to do obeisance before him whenever they were in his
presence. There was one man, however, among the
king's subjects, who refused to do homage before him,
and that was Mordecai, the Jew, Esther's uncle. Haman
was greatly enraged, and secured from the weak and
cruel despot Ahasuerus, an infamous decree to put to
death on a certain day, not only Mordecai, but all the
Jews in all the empire of Persia. Of course, neither the
king nor Haman were aware that Esther was related
to Mordecai, or even that she was a Jewess. Haman
further planned a special vengeance on Mordecai, and
erected a special scaffold about ninety feet high on which
to hang him.
In the meantime, however, Mordecai had told Esther
of the dastardly plot against their people, and urged
her to intercede with the king. " Who knowest," he said,
172

TWO KINDS OF PATRIOTISM 173
" but that thou art come to the kingdom for such a time
as this." Esther replied that to go into the king's
presence uninvited might mean death; nevertheless
she promised to take the risk, and " if I perish, I perish."
Her adventure proved a success.
Through her skiU and tact she won the king over to
her side and against Haman. The latter was hanged
on the very scaffold he had buUt for Mordecai, and
Mordecai was made prime minister in his place. As
for the Jews they were given permission to defend them
selves and kUl their enemies. So when the day came
on which they were to be massacred, they were the
slayers and not the slain.
"The germ of this story was probably derived originaUy
from the Babylonians, who told it at their New Year's
celebration. In its Babylonian form, it was a story about
the gods Marduk and Ishtar. The Jews during their
exile in Babylonia adopted the Babylonian New Year's
feast, caUing it the feast of Purim. 'They also continued
to tell the old Babylonian, story only changing the god
Marduk and the goddess Ishtar into human beings
Mordecai and Esther.
In its present form, however, the story is not a mere
popular tale but a fascinating patriotic romance, told
with a purpose, by a man of remarkable Hterary talent.
He lived in a time when the Jews were suffering an
unusual degree of persecution from the Greek authorities.
This aroused in him, in tum, a passionate hatred for the
enemies of his people. There is much in the story, as
he teUs it, which falls below our Christian ideals. It is
not pleasant to read his account of how many thousands
were slain by the Jews. On the other hand, we can con
done such feelings to some extent, when we consider
the cruel tyranny which provoked them. The unselfish
courage of Esther is nobly portrayed and there is some
thing manly too in Mordecai's steadfast refusal to be a
servile, fawning courtier before Haman. We may imagine

174 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
that the author of our story was very much such a man
as Mordecai. The Book of Jonah
The author of the story of Jonah was a prophet. He
had remarkable gifts as a teacher and preacher. Like
the author of Esther, he had travelled in foreign lands.
It is probable that he had lived in Egypt. There was
a large colony of Jews at that time in Alexandria, the
new capital of Egypt which had been buUt by Alexander
the Great and named for himself. At any rate, this
man had come into contact with foreigners. He had
seen their vices and sins. He knew their selfishness,
deceitfulness, and injustice. But he was a believer
in the teachings of the second Isaiah and instead of hold
ing aloof from these people he made friends with them
and told them in their own language about the religion
of the one God, Jehovah, and about his holy and righteous
laws. Most of his feUow Jews, however, criticized him
sharply for these things. " Why do you associate with
these Gentile dogs? " they said to him. " Do you not
know their vile and wicked deeds? Have they not
persecuted the people of Israel? Has not Jehovah
pronounced the sentence of death upon them all, through
the prophet Ezekiel? " (See Ezek. 38-39.) To this
he would answer, " Yes, I know their evil deeds; but
perchance they wUl repent, if we tell them of Jehovah
and His commands. Then it wiU not be necessary for
Him to destroy them." This brought forth a reply
which deeply shocked our prophet. " We do not want
them to repent. We do not want Jehovah to forgive ihem."
It was this attitude of his fellow Jews which led him to
write the story of the prophet Jonah.
The Story of Jonah, and Its Message
The word of Jehovah, he says, came to the prophet
Jonah, bidding him to go to the city Nineveh, and preach
to the people there. But Jonah disobeyed Jehovah.

TWO KINDS OF PATRIOTISM 175
Going down to Joppa on the coast of Palestine, he took
passage in a ship which was setting sail for Tarshish,
an ancient Phoenician colony in Spain. In other words,
instead of going to Nineveh, he was trying to go as far
in the opposite direction as possible. But Jehovah
sent a storm upon the sea, and the ship was in danger of
being destroyed. The sailors were therefore obliged
to throw Jonah overboard, as being the cause of the storm.
Now Jehovah had prepared a great fish, so the story
goes, which swallowed Jonah, and after three days
threw him out again on the shore. Thus Jonah had
another chance to obey Jehovah's command, and this
time he went to Nineveh, and cried in the streets of the
city: " Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed."
The result was a great revival in the city of Nineveh.
The people there, both small and great, repented of their
wicked deeds, and besought God's mercy. The king
himself joined in, and " put on sackcloth" and pro
claimed a fast. So when Jehovah saw that the Nine-
vites had truly and sincerely repented, he forgave them,
and did not destroy the city. But strange to say, this
displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. " Then
Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of
the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it
in the shade, till he might see what would become of
the city."
While Jonah was thus suUdng in his booth, or hut,
like a spoiled child, Jehovah caused a certain plant called
a kikayon, or castor-oil tree, to grow up near by. In our
English version it is called a gourd. And Jonah became
fond of the graceful plant with its welcome shade. It
seemed like a friend to him in his bitterness. But on
another day Jehovah sent a worm to gnaw at the roots
of the plant and it withered away. And now Jonah
was even more angry at Jehovah than before. Then
God said to Jonah, in substance. You were fond of the
gourd, which was but a wild plant, growing up and
perishing in a day, and you were sorry to see it die.

176 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Can it be that you are wUling without a moment's hesita
tion to condemn to destruction this great city of Nineveh?
You had bestowed no care or labor on this plant; yet
you felt an affection for it. Do not forget that I created
these people of Nineveh; and should I not love them?
And remember, also, that in this great city there are
more than a hundred and twenty thousand Httle children,
besides many dumb beasts. Can they be expected to
know the difference between right and wrong that I
should pour out fire and brimstone upon them and
destroy them?
Through this great and beautiful story the author
wished to teach his fellow Jews that aU men are by nature
God's children, whatever their race or nationality; that
Israel is not to hold aloof from other races, still less to
hate them ; but to share with them her knowledge of the
trae God, and to feel towards them something of the same
love and compassion which God feels toward aU his
children.

CHAPTER XXIX
HEBREW LOVE SONGS AND A HEBREW
LOVE STORY
The Song op Songs and the Book op Ruth
What strikes us as strangest in the marriage customs
of the Old Testament is the fact that marriages were
supposed to be ananged entirely by the parents of the
bride and groom. It would seem that there could not
have been much of what we caU courtship or wooing.
Often the two persons to be married never saw each
other prior to the wedding. This seems to us most
unnatural. What if the young man did not care for
the girl his parents had selected for him? What if the
girl were to find herself yoked up for life with an ugly
tempered, domineering tyrant, old enough to be her
father? As time went on, many young people rebelled
against these customs. This was especially the case
after the Jews began to come in closer contact with the
Persians and the Greeks. Human nature is much the
same in every age. Hebrew lads and lassies feU in love
with each other, just as our lads and lassies do; nor did
their love always foUow the lines marked out by their
parents. Father and mother may say: " Daughter,
we have ananged for your betrothal. You are to be
married to otr old neighbor Bildad." But daughter
is strangely lacking in gratitude and entirely lacking in
enthusiasm for Bildad. In fact she is decidedly rebel
lious. An angry tear steals into her eye. Before the
betrothal takes place there is a scene in the family council.
" I will not marry that old man," says daughter, and
stamps her foot. To her mother she says: "Father
should be ashamed. Why is he so cruel? " " Very
177

178 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
well," says father; " if this daughter of folly will not
marry our neighbor, she shall not marry at aU. Mother,
let not that idle scapegrace of an Isaac come any more
to this house."
After such quanels, father and mother would sigh
for the " good old days," when sons and daughters did
as they were told and asked no questions.
The Song op Songs
There is one book in the Old Testament which seems
to prove conclusively that human nature was the same
in ancient Palestine as now. Love and passion were
just as powerful and romance was just as sweet. Even
though the customs were unfavorable, Hebrew youths
knew how to woo, and Hebrew maids knew how to
give their hearts. This book is the Song of Songs.
The author probably Hved between 300 and 200 B.C.
The book does not profess to be religious. It was
included in the Old Testament only because of the
tradition that Solomon wrote it. It is reaUy a collection
of love and marriage songs. Some of these poems,
perhaps aU of them, were intended to be sung at weddings.
In Syria, today, there are usually several days of feasting
after a wedding, during which time the groom is called
the king, and the bride the queen. There are songs
and dances in their honor. This perhaps explains the
references to " Solomon," and " the Shulamite," in
the Song of Songs. " Solomon " was the groom, and
the " Shulamite " was the bride;
The meaning and beauty of these love-lyrics is partiaUy
obsctu-ed because they are joined together as though
they were a single poem. There is nothing to indicate
where one poem ends and another begins. They may
be disentangled to some extent, however, by studying
the changes in theme and setting. For example, here is
a quotation from one of the most beautiful, which may
be entitled

LOVE SONGS AND A LOVE STORY 179
Love in Springtime
" My lover spoke, and said to me.
Arise, my sweet-heart, my beauty, and come away
For lo, the winter is past;
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
And the time of the singing is come.
And the turtledove's voice is heard in our land.
* The fig tree ripens her figs.
And the vines are in blossom;
They give forth their fragrance.
Arise, my sweetheart, my beauty, and come away."
(Song of Songs 2: 8-13.)
If used at wedding festivities, the above song would
naturaUy be sung by the bride. The book as a whole
seems to contain other songs for the groom and the
wedding attendants. Some of these songs are among the
most beautiful love poems of all literature.
The Book of Ruth
The author of the story of Ruth probably lived in
an earlier age than the poet who wrote the Song of Songs.
Even in his time the " good old days " were already
past. Love and custom were frequently in sharp con
flict. This man was one of the truest and noblest souls
in aU the history of Israel. He had a wonderful insight
into the secrets of the human heart and the deepest
needs of human Hfe. He knew perfectly well that
young Hves crave love, and that love resents the
cold restraints of pradence and tradition. He knew
that love is of infinitely greater worth than material
prosperity. On the other hand, he had lived long enough
to realize that people are sometimes led into sad mis
takes by foUowing a temporary infatuation. ,He also
realized that more is at stake in a marriage than the
individual happiness of two persons. The weal or
woe of the whole community is involved. He was a

180 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
great believer, therefore, in family loyalty and wished
young people to be guided by this motive more than
by their self -centered impulses, in the selection of a wife
or husband.
With these convictions in his heart, he came upon
the tradition of Ruth. It had been cherished for cen
turies in Bethlehem, the birthplace of David, as an
interesting chapter in that great man's, family history.
Out of that tradition this writer created a story which
is immortal. The substance of it is as foUows:
On account of a famine in Judah, a certain Bethlehemite
named Elimelech was compeUed to migrate to the land
of Moab, with his wife Naomi, and his two sons. Thus
it came about that these two sons married Moabitish
women, named Orpah and Ruth. Soon, however, a
new trouble befell the family, for Elimelech died, and his
sons also.
For a time the three women lived together in their
common sonow, but soon it seemed best for Naomi
to retum to Bethlehem where she owned a Httle property.
So the three set out together on the long walk of more
than thirty miles around the northem end of the Dead
Sea. Before they had gone far, Naomi besought the
two girls to retum to their own people. She explained
to them that by so doing they would have a better chance
to get for themselves desirable husbands. And Orpah
did finally bid her mother-in-law farewell. Ruth, how
ever, would not go back. She felt herself bound to
Naomi by too many sacred memories. " Entreat me
not to leave thee," she said, " and to retum from follow
ing after thee; for whither thou goest, I wiU go, and
where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shaU be my
people, and thy God, my God; where thou diest, I wUl
die, and there will I be buried. Jehovah do so to me
and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."
So the author goes on to tell how the two women came
to Bethlehem; how they were in great poverty; and

RUTH THE MOABITESS.
From " Dramatic Stories from the Bible," by Emma
Florence Eaton, by permission of the author.

LOVE SONGS AND A LOVE STORY 181
how Ruth, to obtain food for the two of them, went out
to glean behind the reapers in the barley-harvest.
Now it happened that the fair young gleaner came to
the field of a certain man named Boaz, a wealthy relative
of Naomi through her former husband Elimelech. About
noon, Boaz himself came out from the village to the yeUow
barley field to see how the work was going. As he
talked with the foreman of the reapers he noticed the
young woman standing with his own harvest girls
and gathering the scattered handfuls of grain. " Whose
maiden is this ?" said Boaz. " It is Ruth the Moabitess,"
the man replied, " who came back with Naomi from
the country of Moab." Now Boaz had already heard
from the neighbors about Ruth's splendid fidelity to
her mother-in-law and as he saw her grace and beauty,
his heart was drawn to her. So in a few moments, Ruth
looked up and saw him standing near her, tall and
handsome, and with eyes full of kindness. " Do not
go to glean in another field, my daughter," he said,
"but stay here by my maidens." Then he added:
" It hath been fully showed me all that thou hast done
unto thy mother-in-law, since the death of thy husband.
Jehovah recompense thee, and a full reward be given
thee of Jehovah the God of Israel under whose wings
thou art come to take refuge."
Soon after that it was dinner time and a table was
set for the young men and maidens in a shady comer
of the field. Boaz sat down with the others in the good
old simple manner, and he beckoned Ruth to sit beside
him in the merry company. He saw to it that she had
all that she needed, and more beside, to take home to her
mother. That night when she went home and told Naomi of
her experiences, she was full of talk about the kind
gentleman with the handsome bronzed face. She now
leamed that this man was a near kinsman of the family.
According to the law of those days when a man died
childless it was the duty of the nearest kinsman to marry

182 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
the widow. The children would bear the first husband's
name. Now there was living in Bethlehem a man who was
even more closely related than Boaz to the family of Naomi.
But that good lady, shrewd and kind old matchmaker that
she was, soon laid her plans. Ruth was to marry Boaz.
They were in love with each other, that was plain. In such
cases, according to the Hebrew custom, it was proper to
send Ruth to make the first advances. So the girl, follow
ing Naomi's instructions, went trembling on her sweet
errand. And Boaz said to her: " Blessed be thou of
Jehovah, my daughter, thou hast shown more kindness
in this last instance than at the beginning, since thou
hast not gone after yOung men, whether poor or rich."
Boaz meant that she might have been expected to prefer
a younger man than he; but that by foUowing the old
custom, and choosing a near relative of her first husband,
she had shown a beautiful, loyalty to her family, just as
when she had come with Naomi aU the way from Moab.
So Ruth and Boaz were married. It was in accord
ance with the accepted customs, yet it was a love-
match too. And from this ideal marriage came a son,
who in tum became the grandfather of David. FoUow
the path of duty — this is the author's message. Be
unselfishly loyal to those family ties which are already
upon you; and you may be sure that love and romance
and happiness will all come to you in their own good time.

CHAPTER XXX
WISE MEN WHO TAUGHT IN THE GATE
The Story of the Book of Proverbs
It seems strange to us to speak of a " city gate " as
a place in which to teach. 'The difficulty is explained
by the fact that the Hebrews appUed the word " gate "
to the broad area in front of the actual opening in the
city wall. The " city gate " conesponds, therefore, to
the public square in a modem town.
Suppose we visit one of these " gates " in imagination.
It is early moming. Everything is noise and confusion.
Here are merchants peddling their wares: wheat, dates,
honey, wine and other things to eat or drink ; or perchance
wool and flax and other materials for the manufacture
of clothing. Customers, men and women, are haggling
with the traders in trae Oriental style; each one is pro
claiming in a loud, shrill voice and with many gestures
that the price he is asked to pay or take is a robbery
and an outrage. Besides the merchants, there are
judges. Here sits one of the city elders with a long
white beard. Before him are two farmers who are dis
puting about the boundary Hne between their flelds.
Each has brought his witnesses. There is a fringe of
curious spectators looking on.
In fact everything is happening here which may be
expected to happen when a crowd of people get together.
Out in the middle of the area some children are playing
a noisy game, perhaps something like our " duck on the
rock." Every now and then a mangy yellow dog noses
his way through the crowd looking for scraps of food.
On the whole, it is not what we would call an attractive
place. The ground is littered with all kinds of dirt.
183

184 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
Our nose is assaulted by a variety of odors. But the
ancients did not seem to object to these things as much
as we do. At any rate they loved to be where they
could see their neighbors and hear the news.
The Wise Man
In one comer of the city gate, we notice a dignified
figure ; an old man with a circle of friends. He is watching
the varied scenes before him and occasionally talking
with those about him. "Who is that old man?" we
ask. " That is one of the wise men," we are told. These
wise men in ancient Israel were students, and artists,
and teachers. As students their business was to study
human life. They loved to " sit in the gate " and watch
the merchants, and the judges, and the boys and girls.
As artists they sought to describe what they saw in
proverbs; that is, in short sentences, pithy and unfor
gettable. This was a form of literary art much admired
by all Oriental nations and not altogether neglected even
among us today. Benjamin Franklin's " Poor Richard's
Almanac " is our best-known example. i
As teachers, the mission of the wise men was to give
to younger and less experienced people the benefit
of their practical good sense, and their tried and tested
conclusions. A large number of their sayings are pre
served in certain Old Testament books, especially the
book of Proverbs.
Let us sit for a little while beside the wise man in this
city gate and look at the human kaleidoscope through his
eyes. We shall be surprised to see how interesting it is.
Here, for example, comes young Mr. Khow-it-all.
He wears stylish clothes, and throws out his chest, and
walks with a swagger. His father and mother and all
his aunts and uncles have always told him that he was
the most clever person in the world; and of course he
agrees with them. He will listen to no advice. In fact
he is offended if any one ventures to offer it.

WISE MEN WHO TAUGHT IN THE GATE 185
" Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? " says our friend.
" There is more hope for a fool than for him." (Prov. 26: 12.)
We also see that the wise man has a keen sense of humor.
He loves to smile at the little foibles of human nature.
For example, he has been listening to one of those shout
ing, wrangling groups of traders and bargain-hunters,
and this is his dry comment:
" Bad, bad, says the buyer.
But when he is gone his way, then he boasts." (Prov. 20: 14.)
The wise man is also much amused at the great reputation
some people acquire, just by keeping stiU and looking
wise: " Even a fool, if he holds his peace, is considered wise.
When he keeps his mouth shut, he is called prudent." (Prov.
17:28.)
But though he is so keen to puncture conceit with his
wit, and so ready to laugh men out of their petty follies,
we find nevertheless that the wise man has a tender heart.
He sympathizes with the mother who has waited so
long for news from her boy, who went away from home.
He knows that
" Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." (Prov. 13 : 12.)
And he is almost as happy as she is when a letter comes
from him at last :
" As cold water to a thirsty soul.
So is good news from a far cotmtry." (Prov. 25: 25.)
He has a ready sympathy for those who are anxious
and troubled and discouraged:
" The spirit of a man wiU endure misfortune.
But a broken spirit who can bear? " (Prov. 18: 17.)
Best of all he knows the value of friendly encouragement:
" Care in the heart of a man, maketh it stoop.
But a kind word maketh it glad." (Prov. 12: 25.)

186 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
He himself has spoken many such kind words to those
who are broken in spirit and has given them new heart
for the battle of Hfe.

The Wise Man as a Teacher
With this keen insight into human nature, it was natural
that many should come to the wise man for advice.
There were tricksters in those days, just as now, and
there were " greenhorns " to be cheated. One favorite
method of separating simpletons from their money was
to persuade them to act as surety for a loan. " Just
shake hands with me before witnesses," the smooth
tongued stranger would say, " and I wiU guarantee not
only to repay the money, but to make us both rich beside.
A friend of mine is coming with a caravan of wonderful
silks from Damascus, which he wUl seU me for a mere
song. All I need is a hundred shekels, and I can seU
the silks for a thousand." So the poor fool would shake
hands with the stranger, which conesponded to our
modem custom"of putting one's name on a note; and the
man would immediately take the money and disappear,
leaving his victim to repay the loan. "Be on your
guard against these sharpers," the wise men were con
stantly saying. (See Prov. 22:26-27.)
In addition to this practical shrewdness in money-mat
ters, the wise men were often able to set the feet of their
young hearers on the paths of uprightness, and lead them
to the highest happiness and peace. Their eyes were
open to the dangers of intoxicating Hquor.
" Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler.
And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise." (Prov. 20: 1.
See also 23: 29-35.)
They were not blind to the temptation to greed, nor
to the wrongs which were inflicted upon the poor by the
rich. They therefore lifted up their voice in a plea
for justice and mercy:

WISE MEN WHO TAUGHT IN THE GATE 187
" He that oppresses the poor, revUes his Maker,
But he who has mercy on the needy honors Him." (Prov.
14: 31. See also 21: 13, and 23: 10-11.)
What seems to have distressed the wise men most of
all, as they looked out upon life, was the heart-breaking
estrangements which they saw between men who should
have been friends. One of the most notable characteristics
of the book of Proverbs is the large number of exhorta
tions to self-control, and charity, and forgiveness, which
it contains. " A fool utters aU his anger.
But a wise man keeps it back." (Prov. 29: 11.)
" He who covers up transgression seeks love;
But he who harps on a matter, alienates his friend." (Prov.
17:9.)
Since the' wise men felt so strongly on this point,
we are not surprised to flnd that they kept their most
scathing condemnations for tale-bearers and trouble
makers. Too often they had seen men who had been
dear friends, passing each other with averted faces.
Some lying scandal-monger had been sowing his evil
seed! If you have anything to say against a man, say
it to his face, the wise men urged. Don't talk about
him behind his back!
" He who winks with the eye, causes trouble:
But he who reproves openly makes peace." (Prov. 10: 10.
See also 25: 23, and 26: 20.)
The Later Wise Men: The Book of Proverbs
As regards the date when the earliest of the sayings
of the wise men were written, it is quite impossible to
come to any conclusion. The collection of sayings
which has come down to us as the book of Proverbs
was probably completed after the Greeks entered Pales
tine, that is, after 333 B.C. Like the book of Psalms,
it was made up of several earlier and smaUer coUections.

188 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Later tradition called Solomon the author, on account
of his reputation for wisdom. The wise men were at
the zenith of their popularity and influence during this
Greek period in Jewish history. The people had lost
faith in the prophets, excepting those of former times,
whose writings had come down to them. Hence no one
tried to speak as a prophet. So it came about that the
wise men became for a time the chief moral and religious
leaders of the people. They reaUy were prophets under
another name. They no longer confined themselves
to the coining of short proverbs but composed longer
discourses more Hke the addresses of the prophets, calHng
upon men to seek wisdom, and to walk in the path of
righteousness. The first nine chapters of the book
of Proverbs are largely made up of these more extended
discourses. These later wise men were also like the prophets in
claiming that God had inspired their words. They
grasped the sublime thought that all human wisdom is
from God, and that God sends to every man just as
much of the light of his truth as the man is able and wUl
ing to receive. Hence,
" The path of the righteous is as a dawning light.
That shineth more and more unto the perfect day." (Prov.
4: 18.)

CHAPTER XXXI
A MAN UNJUSTLY CONDEMNED
The Author op the Book of Job
When San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake,
in the year 1906, many people explained the catastrophe
as a punishment sent on the city by the Almighty,
because of its wickedness. In aU ages and to some extent
even today, men have been inclined to interpret any
unusual calamity as the result of wrong-doing. In our
every-day life also, we are easily biased against the
poor, the ragged and the " down and out." " It is
probably their own faiUt," we say, while on the other
hand, it is hard for us to believe that a rich, successful
and prosperous citizen can possibly be a scoundrel.
Half unconsciously we assume that aU pain and sonow
must be the direct consequence of sin and that good
fortune is always the reward of virtue.
Among the ancient Jews this assumption was the
generally accepted belief. When Jesus and his disciples
came one day upon a wayside beggar, who had been
blind from his birth, the disciples asked the Master,
" Rabbi, who hath sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was bom blind? " A more heartless doctrine
never existed. Jesus did not accept it. To be sure,
like many such mistaken beliefs it contained a half
truth. Much of the world's sonow is no doubt caused
by wrong-doing. But as a result of this extreme and
one-sided idea, men are led to stifle their natural sym
pathies, and to become the more cold and suspicious
toward a feUow-creature, the greater and more pitiable
his distress. 189

190 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
A Great-Souled Man
The author of the book of Job was a victim of this
cruel belief. He probably lived within a century of
Nehemiah's time, either before or after. We can infer
something about the facts of his life from his book. In a
general way, although not in detail, his own experiences
are probably reflected in the main character of the book.
He belonged to the class of " wise men." No doubt
he had many pupils and occupied a position of honor
in the community. Few teachers ever inspired their
hearers with nobler ideals, for he was fUled with a great
love for justice and mercy and truth. The thirty -flrst
chapter of his book is one of the greatest descriptions
of a righteous man to be found in aU literature. It is
too little known and appreciated. It has been said that
its sentences " prick the conscience Hke needles." The
man who wrote it was one of God's noblemen. He was
pure in heart, a friend of the fatherless and the widow,
a champion of the oppressed. He reverenced aU human
beings, even slaves, as created in the image of God.
He was just and honorable in all things. He walked with
God, and was conscious of God's presence with him from
day to day. The Coming of Adversity
Into this quiet, happy life as a respected friend and
neighbor and a revered moral counseUor, came misfortune.
Perhaps it was an epidemic of disease sweeping away his
children. Perhaps it was the loss of his property.
Perhaps it was some bodily infirmity. We can only
infer from his book that it was very painful and that
the facts regarding it were known by aU.
Such a misfortune would have been hard enough to
bear at any time and under any circumstances. But far
worse than the misfortune itself, to this man's sensitive
nature, was the social ostracism and unfeeling con
demnation, to which in those days such a sufferer found
himself subjected. His neighbors whispered among them-

A MAN UNJUSTLY CONDEMNED 191
selves as he passed them. His old friends became cold
to him. When wistfuUy he stretched out his hands
towards them, they rebuffed him. Formerly he had
been a leader.
" When I went forth to the gate unto the city.
When I prepared my seat in the broad place.
The young men saw me and hid themselves;
The aged rose up and stood;
The princes refrained from talking
And laid their hand on their mouth." (Job 29 : 7-8.)
Now, however, he is treated with disrespect and even
contempt. " But now, I am become their song.
Yea, I am a byword unto them;
They abhor me, they stand aloof from me.
And spare not to spit at the sight of me." (Job 30:9-10.)
Those who had gradges against him invented Ues about
him, which were widely believed. Like the Jewish
officer Dreyfus in the French army, or the apostle
Paul among his own people, he was reduced to the posi
tion of an outcast and a pariah.

The Need of God's Sympathy
Such men as Paul could stUl tum to God, when for
saken by their feUowmen, and find comfort in the
assurance that God understood all. But the author of
Job was denied that supreme solace, for he himself had
been trained in the beliefs of his time, and supposed
that God was punishing him. To be sure, God was
supposed to know aU things, and it would seem that
He must know that this man was not what his neighbors
said. But why then was God sending this suffering?
So the man could only keep saying to himself, " Even
God does not understand! Why does He think that I
am wicked? What have I done? Why does He not
love me any more? "

192 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
He was haunted by the desire to meet God somehow
face to face, so that he could explain to Him his side of
the case.
" O that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come even to His throne.
" I would order my cause before him.
And fill my mouth with arguments.
I would know the words which. he would answer me.
And understand what he would say to me.
Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
Nay but he would give heed unto me." (Job 23: 2-6.)
Sometimes he dreamed of a future Hfe beyond the grave
when he would see and talk with God, and the clouds
of misunderstanding between them would all be rolled
away. " If a man die shaU he live again?
All the days of my warfare wotdd I wait;
Thou wouldst caU, and I would answer thee.
Thou wouldst yearn for me, the work of thy hands." (Job
14: 14-15.)
Thus he became one of those who first taught the world
the value of the hope of immortality.
Finding God by a New Path
He did not need to wait for a future life, however,
before his longings were satisfied. In the midst of his
despair the thought came to him, perhaps the old doctrine
was not wholly true. Perhaps we should not suppose
that aU human sonow is the result of sin and is to be
interpreted as punishment from God. God is infinitely
greater and wiser than we; surely He may have a purpose
in sending pain, which we cannot map out in our little
human creeds. Who are we to think that we can under
stand the plans and purposes of God?
" Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare, if thou hast understanding.

Copyright by the Curtis Publishtnt^ Co
" VV^HEN I CONSIDER THY HEAVENS "

A MAN UNJUSTLY CONDEMNED 193
Whereupon were the foundations of the earth fastened
Or who laid the cornerstone thereof:
When the moming stars sang together.
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
" Or who shut up the sea with doors
When it brake forth and issued out of the womb:
When I made clouds the garment thereof.
And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it?
"And marked out for it my bound.
And set bars and doors.
And said. Hitherto shalt thou come but no further.
And here shaU thy proud waves be stayed." (Job 38 : 6-11.)
As he reflected, other facts came to mind which bore
out this new idea. He had known others who had
suffered much and had been called sinners, but he now
began to believe that they too had been innocent. He
knew that some of those upon whom fortune seemed to
smile were really scoundrels. The more he thought
about it, the more certain he became that that old and
universally accepted belief was a mistaken one.
" But then, it follows," he thought, " that my own
troubles are not necessarily a sign of God's displeasure.
I may believe that God after all does understand; He
is not punishing me; He loves me stUl." So like some
sobbing chUd who has mistakenly supposed that his
father has rebuked him, this troubled heart found peace
in the Divine Father's arms: " My child," God seemed
to say, " it was you who did not understand."
The existence of evU in the world is one of the problems
which mankind has not yet solved. This great man,
through his own experience and his own longings, was
led to take one important step towards its solution.
He was at least able to refute the old theory that good
fortune is always a reward for right conduct and that
evil fortune is always retribution for wrong-doing. Did
he ever ask the further question, " What then is the trae
explanation of sonow and pain? " Probably not. In

194 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
all likelihood he was content to have demolished that
old doctrine which had led him to suppose that God
did not understand him. No matter what misfortune
might come, or how he might be accused by men, he
could never again be estranged from God; for now he
could say, " My Father knows that I am guUtless."

CHAPTER XXXII
A MAN WHO THOUGHT FOR HIMSELF
The Story of the Book of Job
Into the hands of the man whose life-story is told
in the preceding chapter, there feU one day a smaU
book which greatly stined him. It was a story about
a certain righteous man named Job who lived in the
land of Uz, east of Canaan. At the beginning of the
story Job was very prosperous. He had great posses
sions, such as lands, houses, sheep and cattle. He was
also happy in his family Ufe, having many sons and
daughters. Nor did this prosperity make him proud,
but he continued to Hve as an humble and upright servant
of Jehovah.
One day, however, there was a councU in heaven
and all the angels came to report to Jehovah what they
had been doing. Among them was one called " the
Satan." In those days this word "Satan" was not used
as meaning the EvU One, but rather as the designation
of a heavenly official whose special duty, as people sup
posed, was to report to Jehovah any evU that needed
to be investigated. On this occasion, the Satan brought
an accusation against Job, declaring that his seeming
goodness was prompted by selfish motives. " Doth
Job serve God for naught? " he asked. " Take away
his prosperity and he wUl curse thee to thy face." So,
in order to give Job a chance to prove these charges
false, Jehovah gave permission to the Satan to bring
trouble upon him.
It came to pass, therefore, that all his flocks and herds
were destroyed and all his property swept away. His
sons and daughters were slain; and at last, Job himself
195

196 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
was stricken down with leprosy, the most dreaded of aU
diseases. His wife besought him to curse God and die.
Three friends came to comfort him, Eliphaz the Temanite,
Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they
were so horrified by his condition that they sat in silence
for seven days. But through it all Job remained patient
and loyal to Jehovah. " Jehovah gave," he said, " and
Jehovah hath taken away. Blessed be the name of
Jehovah." The Origin of a Great Literary Masterpiece
With the teachings of this story, the wise man of
whom we are speaking found himself in agreement.
It showed that God sometimes allows even innocent
persons to suffer. He also, like Job in the story, had
leamed to cling to his faith in God no matter what
troubles may come. He did not believe, however,
that such trast ought to consist in submission to the
mistaken ideas of other men about God and God's
dealings. As he pondered over the story he felt within him the
stirrings of a great idea. He determined to add to it
a series of dialogues between Job and those three friends
who came to comfort him. Possibly he got the idea
of the dialogues from the Greek dramas, or from the
famous dialogues of Plato, the great Athenian phUosopher.
At any rate, he produced a masterpiece of the imagination
which is more like a drama than anything else in the
literature of the ancient Hebrews, and which in literary
greatness has only three or four equals in the literature
of the world. His purpose was to help other troubled
and disconsolate souls who had lost their sense of God's
presence and sympathy because of their misfortunes.
He would show through the mouth of Job how he himself
had struggled and agonized and how only by rejecting
the usual belief about rewards and punishments had he
found peace at last. He was filled with a passionate

A MAN WHO THOUGHT POR HIMSELF 197
desire to refute forever that old doctrine which had
craelly tortured so many.
Job, the Three Friends,! and God
The author represents the three friends as accepting
the orthodox belief. Hence, Hke the author's old neigh
bors, they cannot give Job any real sympathy. In
stead, they keep trying to make him confess that he has
been a sinner. (See Job 4:17-19, and 22:5-7.) Job
at last cries out against them. " Miserable comforters
are ye all." (Job 16:2.) In answer to the charges of
his friends, Job insists that he knows of no great crimes
to confess.
" TUl I die I will not put away mine integrity from me.
My righteousness I hold fast and wUl not let it go." (Job
27:4-6.)
The most remarkable passages in these dialogues are
those which express Job's varying attitudes toward
God. They reveal to us the tortured writhings of those
dreadful days in the author's own experience when he
thought God was angry with him. Job is represented
sometimes as feeling that God is a kind of revengeful
Giant, or an omnipresent Spy, whose eye was constantly
upon him with a hostile stare.
" Am I a demon of the abyss, or a sea-monster.
That thou settest a watch over me?
How long wilt thou not look away from me
Nor let me alone tiU I swaUow down my spittle?" (Job
7: 12-19.)
Again and again Job points out the wrongs of human
society, and even charges God with being responsible.
" Wherefore do the wicked live.
Become old, wax mighty in power? " Qob 21 : 7.)
" The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
He covereth the faces of the judges thereof.
If it be not He [that is, God] then who is it ?" Qob 9 : 24.)

198 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
At the same time, along with these feelings of resent
ment at a God who seemed so unjust, are mingled ex
pressions of longing for reconciliation with the divine
Companion. Sometimes he dreams of a vindication in
the eyes of future generations, or better stiU in an in
dividual life after death. From beginning to end his
chief cry is for a hearing before God, that he might
defend himself and prove his innocence. In a thrilling
climax he declares that the very charges brought against
him will prove a wreath of honor.
" O that I had one to hear me.
Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me!
Oh that I had the indictment, which mine enemy hath
written.
Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;
I would bind it to me as a crown.
I would account for aU my steps.
As a prince would I go near unto him." Qob 31 : 35-37.)
This great challenge is represented as bringing its
response: "Then Jehovah answered Job out of the
whirlwind." In the speech which is placed in the mouth
of Jehovah the greatness and mystery of the universe
are emphasized with unparalleled beauty and literary
grandeur. (See Job 38-40.) In this way Job is invited
to raise his eyes to the infinite horizon of God's universe
and in its exhaustless mystery to find room for faith. God
is not tied down in His actions to the fine-spun theories
of the three friends. He may not be angry even though
He does send pain. On the other hand, those who charge
God with injustice in His govemment of the world are
hasty and presumptuous. Good men do suffer and wicked
men do prosper; in this Job was right; but God may have
reasons for permitting these things which we cannot
fathom. The author closed his book with the last part of the
old prose story in which Jehovah condemns the three
friends, and praises Job. The latter had at least been

A MAN WHO THOUGHT POR HIMSELF 199
honest, even though presumptuous, and he thus found
the vindication for which he longed.
Later Additions to the Book of Job
A book so bold and radical as this one naturally made
a sensation wherever it was circulated. Many of the
utterances which the author had placed in the mouth
of Job were regarded as blasphemous. No doubt the
neighbors looked with even greater honor than ever
upon him. " We were sure he was a wicked man; now
he has proved it," they said. ChUdren went around
by another street to avoid passing his house. In the
market place, men pointed after him when he passed,
and said, " There goes the infidel."
There is reason to believe that some parts of the book,
which were most shocking to orthodox readers, were
cut out of the copies from which our present version is
descended. We would give much to have them restored
to us. Additions were also made. Our present book of Job
seems indeed like a kind of symposium, in which a number
of different voices are heard. It is generally agreed
that chapters 32-37, in which a new character, Elihu,
is introduced, were added by a later writer, who was
offended by some of the charges made by Job against
the Almighty, but who did not seem to tmderstand
the original author's meaning.
We, today, are perhaps better able to understand and
appreciate the meaning of these great dialogues than
any previous generation. The world is just awakening
to the value of independent thought on the part of each
individual. It is just leaming that the first duty of
every man is to be honest with himself. " Ye are forgers
of Ues," says Job, in disgust with the argtunents of his
friends. " WiU ye speak what is wrong for God,
And utter falsehoods for his sake?
Will ye be partisans for God,

200 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Be special pleaders in his cause?
Would it be weU, should he search you out?
Could ye deceive him, as you would deceive a man?
Verily he would punish you.
If dishonestly you favored him." Qob 13: 4-10.)
Such a book as this is just what we need today, to help
us to stand on our own feet, to see with our eyes, to
think our own thoughts and to follow the trath, wherever
it may lead.

CHAPTER XXXIII
A PESSIMIST AND AN OPTIMIST
Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiasticus
Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiasticus: what a curious pair
of book titles! So closely similar that one needs to
look twice to distinguish them. These two books are
also closely related in other ways than the similarity
of names. They were written about the same time
(200 B.C.), and probably in the same city, Jerasalem,
and quite possibly by men who were personally ac
quainted. Yet in general character no two books could
be more different. One of them, Ecclesiastes, was
written by a pessimist. The other, Ecclesiasticus, was
written by an optimist.
The Author of Ecclesiastes
The pessimist was probably a priest in the temple
at Jerasalem who wrote in his old age. He is frequently
refened to as Koheleth, although this was his assumed
title rather than his proper name. The word Ecclesiastes
is the Greek translation and it is translated " the
Preacher " in our English Bible. He was a professional
" wise man." We know nothing of his life except what
we can infer from his writings, and from the general
conditions of his times.
In those days, Palestine was ruled from Egypt by
the Greek dynasty known as the Ptolemies. Most of
these monarchs as individuals were good-natured and
well-meaning enough, but weak. Their Jewish subjects
had much of which to complain. The subordinate
officials who were placed over the Jews were a set of
201

202 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
petty grafters. " The man higher up," is not a modem
invention. Both the man, and name for him, existed
in Koheleth's time. " If thou seest the oppression of '
the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and
righteousness in a province, do not wonder at it, for one
high officer is watcMng above another, and there are those
who are stiU higher up." (Eccl. 6: 8.) This means that
the minor officials were practically compelled by their
superiors to extort money from their subjects. The
larger share of this money was paid over^to these higher
officers, and to those " stiU higher up."
Under such a govemment as this the Jews naturaUy did
not find life very inspiring. Its prizes seemed to go, not to
the most worthy, but to those with a " puU " ; while for the
lack of a " puU " one was constantly in danger of suffering
some cruel injustice. Many indeed found inspiration
for worthy effort, in the hope that Israel would some
day be restored to her former glory as an independent
nation. But as the years and centuries dragged by,
this hope grew more and more shadowy. Under these
conditions, men had few incentives to progress, and Ufe
lost its interest and zest.
Now our " preacher " Koheleth seems to have been
personally very prosperous. He probably had plenty of
money ; he had been given the advantages of an education,
and occupied a high social position; and yet, he was a
pessimist. He asked himself the question, " Is life worth
living? " — and answered, " No. It is mere emptiness."
" Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
(Eccl. 1 : 2.) He could not see that the bitter experiences
of life led to any good. Men can endure bravely almost
any amount of suffering, if only it leads to something
worth while, but to him existence seemed to be a tire
some treadmill, going round and round, without accom
plishing anything. " The wind goeth toward the south,
and turneth about unto the north. AU the rivers run
into the sea, yet the sea is not full. All things are full
of weariness ; man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied

A PESSIMIST AND AN OPTIMIST 203
with seeing, nor the ear fUled with hearing. That which
has been is that which wUl be; and that which has been
done is that which shaU be done; and there is no new
thing under the sun." (Eccl. 1:6-9.)
There were indeed some in those days who were be
ginning to look forward to a life after death, thinking
that the wrongs of this life might be set right in the
next. (See Chapter XXVII.) But Koheleth could
only say. What proof have you that man does not die
as the beasts die? (Eccl. 3: 11-21.)
Koheleth's Book — Ecclesiastes
The message which Koheleth seems to convey in writing
his book is, enjoy Hfe as best you can from day to day.
He assumed the point of view of King Solomon. With
vast wealth and power, Solomon, who was reputed to
be exceedingly wise, surely must have been able to enjoy
all that the world had to offer of pleasure and happiness.
So Koheleth speaks in the character of Solomon, and tells
how he put aU things to the test; how he surrounded
himself with aU conceivable pleasures : vineyards, gardens
and parks; men-servants and maid-servants; musical
instruments ; men-singers and women-singers ; gold, silver
and precious stones; and his conclusion is, that "all
is vanity and a striving after wind." (Eccl. 1:14,
2:11.) What then is his advice to his feUowmen? Simply
this, that " there is nothing better for a man, than that
he should eat and drink and make his soul enjoy good
in his labor." In other words, do not sacrifice the
pleasure of today for some fancied goal to be attained
tomonow. Do not spend your strength in toilsome
striving. " Be not righteous overmuch; neither make
thyself overwise." (Eccl. 7:16.) On the other hand,
he does not counsel extreme dissipation, for that in
tum brings pain. " Be not wicked overmuch; why
shouldest thou die before thy time? " (Eccl. 7: 17.)
The kernel of his whole philosophy is in the closing

204 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
section, where he bids the young to enjoy themselves
in their youth and to snatch a few fleeting pleasures
while they may. For quickly the evil days will draw
nigh, and " the years when thou shalt say I have no
pleasure in them." A queer book for a " preacher "
to write! one might well exclaim. Some have declared
it entirely out of place in the Bible. On behalf of Kohe
leth, however, it should be said that he was evidently
sincere; that he himself was not sensual or degraded;
and that he was saddened by the wrongs which he saw
inflicted on the helpless and the poor, among his fellow
men. Had he lived in a different age, he might have
seen life differently and might have written a different
kind of a book. The Author of Ecclesiasticus
The optimist who wrote not Ecclesiastes but Ecclesias
ticus was another Jewish wise man, named Joshua ben
Sira. This book is not included in the regular collection
of Old Testament books, but was preserved in a later
collection known as the " Apocrypha." You may per
haps find these " Apocryphal books " in your old family
Bible or in the big pulpit Bible of your church, between
the Old and the New Testaments; and among them you
will find Ecclesiasticus.
Like Koheleth, Joshua ben Sira probably lived in
Jerusalem, and he also may have been a priest. We
may reasonably suppose that the two men were ac
quainted. Perhaps they were accustomed to discuss
together in the temple courts the deep questions of life.
It is certain at any rate that Ben Sira was weU acquainted
with Koheleth's pessimistic ideas, for he plainly alludes
to them in his own writings. In case the two men did
occasionally argue together the conversation might have
run somewhat as follows:
" Ben Sira," Koheleth would say, " you are mistaken.
All things are vanity and a striving after wind. For
what hath a man of all his labor, and of the striving

A PESSIMIST AND AN OPTIMIST 205
of his heart, wherein he laboreth under the sun? For
aU his days are sonows, and his task vexation; yea,
even in the night his heart taketh no rest." (Eccl.
2:22-23.) Then ben Sira would reply, "My friend, I
know that
" Great travaU is created for every man.
And a heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam;
From him that sitteth on a throne of glory
Even unto him that is humbled in earth and ashes;
From him that weareth purple and a crown.
Even unto him that is clothed with a hempen frock. ' ' (Ecclus.
40: 1-4.)
"At the same time there are many other good things which
make life sweet.
" The Hfe of one that laboreth, and is contented, shall be made
sweet.
A friend and a companion never meet amiss.
And a wife with her husband is above both." (Ecclus. 40: 18-
23.)
" Seek not things that are too hard for thee
And search not out things that are above thy strength.
For the conceit of many hath led them astray;
And evU surmising hath caused their judgment to slip."
(Ecclus. 3:21-24.)
The Book of Ecclesiasticus
Ben Sira's book is probably a collection of the best
of his addresses to his pupils. Its spirit is absolutely
different from that of Koheleth, as expressed in Ec
clesiastes. They are both " Wisdom " books but Ben
Sira's book is cheerful and optimistic in its outlook on
Hfe. In many ways it is like the book of Proverbs,
being full of pithy, practical good sense. For example,
it praises good health.
" Better is a poor man who has a sound and strong constitution,
Than a rich man who is infirm in body." (Ecclus. 29 : 14-15.)
It also gives homely advice regarding table manners.

206 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
" Eat, as becometh a man, those things which are set before
thee;
And eat not greedily, lest thou be hated." (Ecclus. 31 : 16-28.)
The chief difference between Koheleth and Ben Sira
is that the latter counsels an eamest and purposeful
life. He sees clearly that there are certain goals for
which it is well worth while to strive. One of these is
true wisdom:
" My son, gather Instruction from thy youth up;
And even unto hoar hairs thou shalt find wisdom." (Ecclus.
6: 18-28.)
Another is justice and kindness to one's feUowmen:
" Be as a father unto the fatherless.
And instead of a husband unto their mother.
So shalt thou be as a son of the Most High,
And he shaU love thee more than thy mother doth." (Ecclus.
4: 10.)
Above all other satisfactions in life is the reverent
worship of God.
" Riches and strength wUl lift up the heart.
And the fear of the Lord is above both.
The fear of the Lord is as a garden of blessing.
And covereth a man above all glory." (Ecclus. 40:26-27.)

CHAPTER XXXIV
GREEK-SPEAKING JEWS WHO WERE TRUE
TO THEIR FAITH
The Greek Old Testament and the
Wisdom of Solomon
When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian
Empire, the Greeks and the Jews, the two leading races
of the ancient world, came for the first time in close
contact with each other. Each race had much to be
proud of in its history and civilization, but the differences
between them were striking. The Greeks had beautiful
works of art, a beautiful Hterature, and a remarkable
phUosophy. The Jews had little art, and must have
seemed to the Greeks scarcely civilized. Yet in their
laws and in the moral and rehgious teachings of their
prophets they had something far greater than all the
glories of Athens.
It was natural that two races so intensely proud should
clash. Among the Jews, some indeed became admirers
of the Greeks and the new Greek ways. They gave
their children Greek names, Jason instead of Joshua,
and James instead of Jacob. Worse stiU, they were
sometimes even ashamed of their own people and tried
to hide the fact that they were Jews. They ceased to
keep the Sabbath, and went no more to the synagogue.
Others, on the contrary, could see nothing but evil in
the Greeks, and hated their whole civilization.
The Greek Translation of the Old Testament
Within a century after the conquests of Alexander the
Great, it is probable that Greek was almost universally
spoken and understood in all the countries around the
207

208 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
eastem part of the Meditenanean Sea. It became
the language of commerce, like English in some parts of
the world today. As a result, the Jews who were engaged
in business in these countries forgot within a few genera
tions their own language and spoke only Greek. There
were large colonies of Greek-speaking Jews in many
parts of Egypt, especially in the city of Alexandria.
There were Jews also in Antioch, the beautiful city
which was built by Antiochus, one of Alexander's generals.
There were Jews in Asia Minor and in Greece. In fact
the Jews were scattered throughout all these countries
which Alexander's armies had conquered, and for the
most part they spoke only Greek.
This made it necessary that the books of the Jewish
religion should be translated into Greek, if these Jews
in foreign lands were not to forget Jehovah, the God
of their fathers. Therefore, about the year 250 B.C.,
the five books of the Law were translated into Greek,
by certain Jewish scholars in Egypt. According to
tradition they were encouraged in this work by Ptolemy,
the Greek ruler of Egypt, who was said to be desirous
of learning more about the Jewish religion. It was said
that not only the law but also all the other books were
translated at the same time, by seventy-two men, six
elders from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, sent
down to Alexandria from Jerusalem at the request of
Ptolemy. For this reason the Greek Old Testament
has commonly been called the Septuagint, or the book
of the Seventy. As a matter of fact, however, the work
was done by different men, at different times, extending
over a period of at least a hundred years.
In spite of the inevitable imperfections of the transla
tion, this Greek Old Testament exerted a great influence.
It became for a time the Bible of the majority of the
Jews. The New Testament writers in quoting from the
Old Testament, in nearly all cases, used the Greek
version. As a result, we notice in our English Bible,
certain differences between the quotations as they appear

GREEK-SPEAKING JEWS 209
in the New Testament and the original Old Testament
form. Proper names, for example (in the Authorized
Version), are spelled differently; Noe, for Noah, and
Esaias and Jeremias, for Isaiah and Jeremiah. Through
this translation many GentUes became interested in the
religion of the one God, Jehovah. Thus, not only were
the Jews in foreign lands kept loyal to the faith of their
fathers, but more than that Judaism was transformed
into a missionary religion. When the first Christian
missionaries began to preach to Gentiles, they found
many who were already interested in their message,
through reading this translation of the Old Testament.
It was, therefore, an important step in the preparation of
the world for Christianity.
Religious Truths among the Greeks
With the Greek language there came to the Jews the
possibility of reading books by Greek writers. Many of
these writings were masterpieces. While some of the
Jews were captivated by them, others felt nothing but
contempt for all things Greek. They would have scorned
as heathen the great thinkers of Athens, and even to
touch one of their books would have seemed to them a
poUution. We may imagine one of these men passing through the
pubHc square of a Greek city, perhaps Alexandria, and
stopping for a few moments to rest in the shade of a
fountain. A man was speaking near by, and a group
of listeners was gathered about him, just as in Jewish
cities a wise man gathered his pupUs around him in the
" city gate." These people appeared to be Greeks, or
" heathen," as the Jew considered them. He could
not help overhearing some of the words of the speaker,
and they appealed to him as reasonable and true, and
indeed strangely like some things in the writings of the
prophets and wise men of his own people. The speaker
proclaimed the existence of one God, and ridiculed
idol-worship. " There is one God," he said, " supreme

210 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
among gods and men, resembling mortals neither in
form nor in mind."
" That man has been reading our book of Isaiah,"
thought the Jew, " where the prophet says, 'My ways are
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts.' " So he drew nearer to the circle, and the
speaker greeted him with a friendly smile. After the
address was finished, the Jew lingered. He discovered
that the speaker, though a Greek, was a lover of wisdom,
or a " philosopher." He had never heard of the prophet
Isaiah, nor of any of the Jewish books, but was anxious
to know more of them. So they agreed to meet again,
and exchange books. " You bring me your Isaiah,"
said the Greek, " and I will give you a copy of my Plato."
Thus was begun an acquaintance which opened the eyes
of the Jew to a number of astonishing facts. He found
that the more intelligent Greeks believed in one God,
as did the Jews. He found many other noble teachings in
the writings of such men as Plato, nor were these teach
ings borrowed from the Jews, for some of these ideas
had seldom been thought of as yet, even in Israel. For
example, he came upon the idea of a life after death.
The author of Job had suggested this idea, and some of
the Psalm-writers also, but others like Koheleth had
ridiculed it. It was generally believed among the Jews
of his day that death ends all, or at any rate aU that is
worth while in life. But Socrates, the greatest teacher
among the Greeks, who was put to death for his loyalty
to the truth, had looked forward with eagerness to a
future life.
This thought made a deep impression on the Jew.
If we are not mere creatures of a moment, then that
explains our strange sense of the infinite importance of
righteousness. The humblest human life is thus lifted
to a new glory and dignity. " God has spoken through
these great men of Greece," thought the Jew. " And
we Jews may leam from them. Clearly God's spirit

GREEK-SPEAKING JEWS 211
is not confined to Israel, but speaks to the hearts of
men of all nations, or to as many as are willing to listen."
A Religious Book by a Greek-Speaking Jew
This new message of a future life was much needed
just at that time. The popular book among the younger
Jews was Koheleth, with his advice to " enjoy Ufe while
it lasts, for there is nothing beyond." These young
men invariably went further than Koheleth had intended,
and indulged in aU kinds of dissolute vices. The whole
atmosphere of a Greek city like Alexandria or Antioch
seemed to encourage such a life. Most men were seeking
only to get money, in order to gratify their selfish desires.
Many even of the strict Jews were thoroughly selfish.
They were careful to keep the law of Moses, to be sure,
and prided themselves on being better than the heathen,
but their lives were taken up with mere money-making.
Such a religion did not command the respect of the
younger men, who openly threw off aU restraints. They
justified themselves in their wicked deeds by quoting
not only from the Jew, Koheleth, but also from certain
Greek writers, who argued that there is no God, and that
all things happen by chance.
Now this Jew of whom we are speaking felt that he
was specially qualified to combat these enors, for he
was acquainted with the writings of the Greeks;. _, He
himself had leamed from them to believe in immortality.
He, therefore, entered upon an heroic life as a moral
reformer. In the face of taunts and persecution both
from bigoted Jews who reproached him for his friendship
with Greeks, and from the renegade Jews who ridiculed
all religion, he continued to stand for the highest ideals
of justice and love. He told his fellow- Jews that the
greatest of the Greeks had by no means approved of
selfishness and injustice, but that their teachings were
in harmony with the noblest teachings of the prophets
and wise men of Israel; that indeed they had wonderfully

212 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
supplemented the prophets by showing that this life
on earth is but the preparation for a life everlasting.
Finally, he wrote a remarkable book, in which he set
down those ideas for which he had so long been con
tending. In some respects, it was a reply to the book
by Koheleth, Ecclesiastes. Like Koheleth, he wrote
in the name of Solomon. Hence the title of the book
is the Wisdom of Solomon. He made Solomon tell a
very different story, however, from that in Ecclesiastes;
not that, " the same event happeneth to the good and
bad, the wise and the foolish," but that a noble and
upright life is immortal; while the wages of sin is death.
" For God made not death
Neither deUghteth he when the living perish.
For righteousness is immortal.
But unrighteousness is the obtaining of death." (Wis. Sol.
1:3-15.)
This book, like that by Ben Sira, was not finaUy in
cluded in the Old Testament, and is found only among
the Apocryphal books. It was probably a part of Paul's
Bible, however, and it probably wielded a great influence
on Paul and other early Christian leaders, and thus in
directly it has been one of the great forces which have
helped mankind to believe in the life etemal.

THE OLD CODEX AT SHECHEM.
From a photograph by Dwight L. Elmendorf.

CHAPTER XXXV
A STORY OP MARTYRDOM AND TRIUMPH
Daniel and I Maccabees
During the period when the Jews were ruled by the
Ptolemies (between 300 and 200 B.C.), the conflict
between the Greeks and Jews had been for the most
part in the field of ideas. Good had come to the Jews
as weU as evU. Though some were led into wrong-doing
by the lower elements in Greek life, others received new
and valuable ideas regarding religious truth.
Soon after 200 B.C., however, Palestine was taken from
the Ptolemies by the Greek rulers of Antioch. In the
year 168 B .C, a young prince named Antiochus Epiphanes
came to the throne, and to the Jews his reign brought
nothing but trouble and sonow. In the first place, he
was an enthusiast for Greek ideas, including the old
Greek reHgion with its worship of many gods; such as
Zeus, Hermes, and Athena; and it irritated him that
the Jews alone of aU his subjects refused to offer sacrifices
to Zeus. In the second place, he was in constant need of
money, and coveted the treasures in the Jerusalem
temple. When the Jews violently resisted his attempt
to enter and plunder the sacred place, he resolved to
crash out entirely this outlandish religion, which made
its devotees so stubborn and rebellious. Imagine the
honor of the Jews, when with his soldiers he placed
an altar to Zeus within the temple of Jehovah, and
sacrificed swine's flesh upon it. More than that, he sent
companies of soldiers throughout Judah, requiring aU
the inhabitants to sacriflce to Zeus, and to eat swine's
flesh. Those who refused were put to death. It was also
made a crime to keep the Sabbath, or to have in one's
213

214 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
possession a copy of the Law. There followed six years
or more of suffering and martyrdom, very similar to
the persecutions inflicted on the early Christians in the
Roman Empire. It is perhaps to these Jewish martyrs,
slain by Antiochus, that one verse in the eleventh chapter
of Hebrews refers: " They were stoned, they were sawn
a-sunder; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins,
being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world
was not worthy) wandering in deserts and mountains
and caves, and the holes of the earth." (Heb. 11 : 37-38.)
God's Help for the Faithful. The Book of Daniel
In the story of the New Testament we found that the
Christians, in their times of persecution, were comforted
by a secret book, the book of Revelation. These Jewish
martyrs also had their secret book. It is preserved to
us as the latter half of the book of Daniel.
It was written in the darkest period of the persecution.
The author had seen his friends tortured before his eyes
because they would not permit swine's flesh to be choked
down their throats. He had seen mothers strack down
with their babes because they insisted on bringing them
up in the Jewish manner. Very likely the book itself
was written in some one of the many caves, scattered
through the Judean hills.
In the early part of the book, the author tells a number
of old stories which had been handed down, about a
certain Daniel and his three friends, Jewish captives
in Babylon, in the time of Nebuchadrezzar and his
successors. These men, we read, refused to eat the food
which the Babylonian king set before them, and refused
also to worship the Babylonian idols. They were thrown
into fiery furnaces and dens of Hons; but God was with
them, and saved their lives; and eventually they rose
to positions of honor in Babylon itself. The writer's
aim in telling these stories is plain. They were weU
calculated to inspire the Jews of his own time to be

MARTYRDOM AND TRIUMPH 215
trae to their religion in the face of aU the terrible suffer
ings which awaited them.
The latter half of the book consists of a series of visions,
in which the course of future history seems to be revealed
to Daniel by angels. The vision in the seventh chapter
is typical of them all. The author speaks of seeing
four beasts coming up out of the sea one after another,
and each devouring its predecessor. (Dan. 7: 1-8.)
This vision may be interpreted as foUows: The four
beasts represent four great world-empires; the lion
represents the Babylonian empire; the bear, the Medes;
the leopard, the Persians; and the fourth, with " iron
teeth," represents the Greeks under Alexander the Great.
The ten homs of the fourth beast represent the successors
of Alexander. The little hom, " speaking great things,"
represents Antiochus Epiphanes, with his proud boasts.
In this part of the vision the author has thus given a
bird's-eye view of history down to his own time. In
the remaining verses, he portrays his hope for the future.
" I beheld till thrones were placed, and one that was
ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was
fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning flre. The
judgment was set and the books were opened. I beheld
even till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed,
and it was given to be burned with fire. I saw in the
night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds
of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even
to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before
him. And there was given him dominion, and glory,
and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and lan
guages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed." t
In other words, the author believes that the Last
Judgrnent is close at hand. Antiochus is to be slain
by angels, and his body given to be bumed with fire.
After the Judgment, a new kingdom is to be established.

216 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
better than the kingdoms of the beasts : namely the king
dom of God. It is to include all nations and will last
forever. The Revolt of the Maccabeans
The author of Daniel hoped for deliverance from the
oppressor through the direct intervention of Jehovah.
His hopes were fulfilled, but not exactly as he had ex
pected. In this case, as so often, God worked through
human instruments.
The agents of Antiochus came one day to a town in
western Judah, called Modin. Here lived an old priest,
named Mattathias, with five grown sons. At the sum
mons of the Greek officer the people had assembled.
Mattathias as the leading priest in the village was called
upon to officiate in a sacrifice to Zeus. He refused.
One of his neighbors, no doubt fearing a massacre,
stepped up to take his place. At this the old man's
anger exploded, and he hewed the Jew to pieces in front
of the altar, and also killed the Greek officer himself.
The bold deed was the signal for a widespread revolt
against Antiochus the tyrant. For some months a
kind of guerrilla warfare was waged under the leadership
of Mattathias. When the old priest died, his place was
taken by his son Judas, one of the noblest as well as the
most brilliant of all the characters in the history of
ancient Israel. Army after army was sent against the
little band of warriors with Judas, only to be driven
back thoroughly beaten. Finally an overwhelming force
invaded the land, and in the battle which followed
Judas was killed. Fortunately Antiochus was already
dead, and there were a number of candidates seeking
his throne. A brother of Judas, named Jonathan, was
able to play these rivals against each other, throwing
his support first on one side and then on the other.
Thus Jonathan was able to gain by skillful diplomacy
even more than Judas had gained through the sword.
So finaUy it came to pass that under still another brother.

.MARTYRDOM AND TRIUMPH 217
Simon, the Jews had another opportunity to enjoy their
old-time independence and freedom, wMch lasted until
the Romans came. In these brothers, who were called
the Maccabees, the spirit and genius of David lived
again. The Book of Maccabees
Among the Apocryphal books are two entitled First
and Second Maccabees. The second of these is not of
great value. First Maccabees, however, is a fine example
of a Hebrew historical nanative, comparing favorably
with the books of Samuel and Kings. It was written in
the Hebrew language but the original Hebrew text has
been lost and our English version is from the later Greek
translation. The author was probably an eye-witness
of many of the events which he relates. He wished his
fellow-Jews to realize that God's hand was as traly to
be seen in the thrilling triumphs and deliverances through
which they had just passed as in those events of their
nation's history, which were recorded in the older books.
Some indeed might say that Judas and his brothers had
worked no miracles, such as had taken place in the days
of Moses and Elijah. This was trae, nor did this author
try to conceal it. He was exceedingly careful and ac
curate in his statements. He believed that his story
was thrilling enough, without any exaggerations, and
that the power and goodness of God were just as truly
revealed in the unselfishness, modesty and faith of Judas,
and in the generous, loyal co-operation of aU the brothers
and their helpers, as through any miracle.
The following passage is a good example of the spirit
and style of the entire book:
" And he [that is, Seron, the commander of the Greek
army] came near unto the pass of Bethhoron, and
Judas went forth to meet him with a small company.
But when they saw the army coming to meet them they
said unto Judas. What ! — shall we be able, few as we are,
to fight against so great and strong a multitude? And

218 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
we for our part are faint, having tasted no food this
day. And Judas said. It is an easy thing for many
to be shut up in the hands of a few; and with heaven
it is aU one, to save by many or by few. For victory
in battle does not depend upon the large size of the
army; but strength is from heaven. Now when he had
ceased speaking he sprang suddenly upon them, and
Seron and his army were discomfited before him. And
the fear of Judas and his brothers, and the dread of them,
began to faU upon the nations round about them; and
his name came even unto the king; and every nation
told of the battles of Judas." (I Mace. 3: 16-26.)
In recent times there has been an awakening of interest
in this great Jewish hero, Judas Maccabeus, and in
this superb history of his victories. Such a book cer
tainly deserves to be well known. Possibly the time
wiU come when it will again be printed in our ordinary
copies of the Bible, so that all may read it who wish,
and gain from it a fresh inspiration to trust God in the
ordinary affairs of life.

CHAPTER XXXVI
THE CANON OF THE OLD AND NEW
TESTAMENTS The Torah
The earliest Bible of the Hebrews, that is, the earliest
writings which were regarded as divinely inspired and
sacred, were the written laws and legal decisions of the
priests. Half-civilized nations always put their laws
under the direct sanction of the gods, in order that evil
doers may be restrained by fear of supernatural ven
geance. When the revised law book Deuteronomy was
adopted by King Josiah and his people, in 622 B.C., it
was regarded with special reverence on account of the
wonderful impressiveness with which the laws were
therein explained and enjoined upon the nation. In
the course of the next two centuries, Deuteronomy was
combined with earlier laws and also with an elaborate
system of later priestly regulations. These with the
historical nanatives leading up to the time of Moses
were finaUy adopted, perhaps not long after Nehemiah's
time, as the accepted Torah or Law of the nation. This
Torah, which includes the first five books of the Old
Testament, we caU the Pentateuch. To this day the
orthodox Jews look upon the Torah as more sacred
than any other part of the Bible.
The Prophets
From the first also, the utterances and writings
of the prophets were regarded by their foUowers as
divinely inspired. But the prophets did not always
agree among themselves. For example, when Ahab
wanted advice about going to war he found four hundred
219

220 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
prophets who promised him success, while there was
one prophet, Micaiah, who foretold disaster, and accord
ing to Micaiah, the four hundred had been inspired by
a lying spirit. (I Kings 22: 1-23.) A later prophet
is bitter against " the prophets that make my people
to en — ¦ and whoso putteth not into their mouths
[that is, whoever does not give them food or money]
they even prepare war against him." (Mic. 3:5.) AU
the great prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and
Jeremiah had to contend with these opposing prophets
whose utterances they denounced. Who was to decide
which of two prophets contradicting each other was in
the right? Who, for example, was to say whether
Jeremiah or his opponent Hananiah, was truly inspired
of Jehovah? (Jer. 28: 1-11.) On account of these
frequent contradictions the people gradually became
skeptical toward the claims of the prophets. It became
more difficult for a new prophet to get a hearing, and
by the beginning of the Greek period (333 B.C.) there
were no more prophets. During that period, those
who felt that God had given them something to say
generally came before their fellowmen not as prophets
but as wise men.
Everybody believed, however, that in former times
God had spoken through prophets; and these earlier
prophetic writings, including the historical nanatives
written by prophets, they preserved with increasing
reverence. They thus had two collections in their
Holy Scriptures, namely, the Law, and the Prophets. To
these Jesus refers, when he says, " Think not that I came
to destroy the Law and the Prophets." (Matt. 5: 17.)
The Writings
When it was no longer possible for a man to get a
hearing as a prophet, that did not mean that God had ceased
to speak in the hearts of men, but only that a man with
a message now had to find a new way to win attention
and the hearts of the people. One of these new ways.

THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 221
as we have seen, was through " wisdom writings."
Another was through hymns, or psalms. Another was
through stories, such as Ruth and Jonah. Thus there
was gradually gathered in the synagogues of Palestine
and elsewhere a collection of later writings, which
were regarded as inspired, but not so sacred as the Law
and the Prophets. These were known simply as " the
Writings." The Greek translators called them the
Hagiographa, or sacred writings.
As to just what books should be included in this
group, there was a difference of opinion. The Greek-
speaking synagogues had a larger collection than those
in Palestine. For example, they included the Wisdom
of Solomon. In Palestine, on the other hand, there
were certain scribes who objected even to Esther, Ec
clesiastes and the Song of Songs. About 100 A.D.,
a council of Jewish rabbis was held in the Httle town of
Jamnia, on the borders of Judah, to decide just what
books should be included in this third collection, or
in other words, just what books should be canonical.
The word " canon " means literally a rule or measure.
AppUed to the Bible, it means the list of books which
are accepted as inspired. They were guided in their
decisions by the belief that all inspiration had ceased
after the time of Nehemiah and Ezra. Thus they
included the book of Psalms, because they supposed
that it was written by David. On the same principle.
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs were
included because they were supposed to have been
written by Solomon. The rejected books were called
" genuzim," or hidden books, and the rabbis seem to have
proceeded as far as possible to make them hidden in fact
as well as in name by destroying all the copies they
could lay their hands on.
The Apocrypha of the Old Testament
Before this council of Jamnia Christianity had already
come into existence and had gained a strong foothold

222 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
in the Roman Empire. The early Christians used the
Greek translation of the Old Testament, with its larger
collection of " Writings," and of course they were not
influenced by the decision of the rabbis. They continued
to use these " hidden " books. Indeed they were
particularly fond of some of them, such as Ben Sira,
and the Wisdom of Solomon. In time, however, the
Christians discovered the difference between their Old
Testament and that of the Jews. At the suggestion
of the church father, Jerome (about 400 A. D.), the
extra books not included in the Jewish Bible were put
in a group by themselves, and called the Apocrypha,
that is, " the hidden books." The Roman Catholic
Church stUl accepts the Apocrypha as canonical. Luther
wished that First Maccabees were in the canon, and
Esther out of it, but the Protestant churches have
almost entirely ceased to read the Apocrypha. Certain
of these books, such as Tobit and Judith, are of little
value, but most Bible students agree that First Mac
cabees, Ecclesiasticus, and the Wisdom of Solomon,
seem on a far higher level of religious value than the
canonical books of Esther, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.
Surely if the early Christians cherished these books, we
may well do the same. The New Testament
Por many years the early Christians had no other
Bible than the Greek Old Testament. After Paul's
death a collection of his letters was made, and many
churches procured copies, but those letters were not at
that time regarded as " Scripture." Not even the
Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John were at
first regarded as " Scripture." They were read in the
church services, but only as a sermon by Brooks or
Beecher might be read in one of our modem churches.
But little by little, it became clear that these letters
of Paul, and these Gospels, had a value for Christians
which even the Old Testament books did not possess.

THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 223
and that if the Old Testament books were inspired,
surely these new books were even more truly so. Thus
it came about that these Christian writings were read
in the churches as " Scripture."
As in the case of the Old Testament " Writings,"
there was for a long time a difference of opinion as to
what books should be included in the New Testament.
Of the present books, the inspiration of Hebrews, Second
Peter, and Revelation was for a time disputed, while on
the other hand, there were a number of books in the
New Testament of some of the early Christian churches,
whose very names are unfamiliar to most Christians
today: for example, "The Teaching of the Twelve
Apostles," "The Shepherd of Hernias," and "The
Epistle of Barnabas." Gradually, however, these latter
books came to be regarded as on a lower plane of inspira
tion than the books which are now in the New Testa
ment. It was believed that the age of special divine
inspiration ended with the death of the apostles, and
only those books which were supposed to be written by
the apostles, or under their direction, were accepted
as inspired. In the year 397 A.D. a church council
was held at Carthage which decided what books were
to be included in the New Testament. This list con
tained only the twenty-seven books in our modem New
Testament, and in the same order. It is interesting to
note, however, that even today in the orthodox Greek
church the list of regular Bible lessons for public worship
contains no readings from Revelation.
The Inspiration of the Bible
It Is clear from the foregoing facts that the present
list of BibHcal books is not the result of an infallible
divine selection, but in part at least is the product of
fallible human judgment. Many of our present New
Testament books, including some of the greatest of
them, were written not by apostles but by later Christian
leaders. There is no sharp dividing line between the

224 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Old Testament Apocrypha and the so-called canonical
books. It is quite clear that the spirit of God speaks
through human lips and pens in aU ages. Yet just as
" one star differeth from another star in glory," so one
book is of greater value than another, as a revelation
of God. The inspiration of the Bible is not a doctrine
to be proved by argument, but a spiritual fact to be
recognized by the heart. The books in the Old and
New Testaments were originally cared for, copied, and
handed down to subsequent ages, because of the tremen
dous impression they made on the men of their own
time; and the unique greatness of the Bible was never
more universally recognized than today.

CHAPTER XXXVII
" THE BOOKS " IN A SECOND CENTURY CHURCH
The Bible among the Early Christians
The early Christians were eager Bible readers. A
passage from the Bible was read at each of their religious
meetings, just as in church services today. Conespond-
ing to the large pulpit Bible of a modem church, they
had a chest containing copies of the Old Testament
books, and in the course of time, copies of the New
Testament writings also. These at first were in the
form of written roUs. They were called Ta Biblia,
that is, " the books," and from this expression our
word Bible descended.
There had to be " books " rather than one single
book, because one roU could not have contained the whole
of either the Old Testament or of the New, without
becoming inconveniently bulky. Possibly three or four
Gospels could be written on one roU, and a number of
Paul's letters on another. Of the Old Testament, the
Pentateuch was usuaUy on a single roll, while the other
writings were grouped in various ways. Luke tells us
that when Jesus went to the synagogue at Nazareth,
the attendant handed him " a book of the prophet
Isaiah." It would seem that Isaiah was usually written
on a roll by itself.
Sometime in the early Christian centuries the present
form of book originated, with leaves and pages, and
graduaUy displaced the older form. This was made
possible by a new kind of writing material called perga-
mentum (or parchment), from the city of Pergamos
where much of it was made. This new material would
lie fiat instead of curling up like leather, and it had no
fibers to break like papyrus, and hence was well suited
225

226 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
for book-leaves of the new kind. It was made of the
skins of animals, treated by a special process.
A book of this new kind was called a codex (plural
codices). It had space for a much larger amount of
written matter than the old-fashioned roUs; and this
made it possible to put into a single volume all the books
of the New Testament and even of the entire Bible. At
first there was no universally accepted order. What
we call the " General Epistles " were sometimes placed
before instead of after the letters of Paul.
The Latin Translations of the Bible
In the earliest Christian churches, aU the books in
the chest were in the Greek language, but in the course
of the first three or four centuries of our era, transla
tions were made into Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian,
Coptic and Gothic. The most important of these was
the Latin. If we could have visited a church in some
city of the western part of the Roman empire, such
as Lyons or Carthage, as early as 175 A.D., we would
probably have found Latin translations of some of
the Biblical books. By the year 250 A.D., it is probable
that aU the books in both the Old and New Testaments
had been translated into Latin.
These early Latin translations were not the work
of leamed men, but rather of persons with little schooling.
They did not know Hebrew, and not even Greek very well.
This fact has left its mark on one of our common Bible
terms. In the Greek version of the old Testament, they
found the word Psalmos, which means a song with stringed
instruments, but they did not know what the word meant,
so simply spelled it out in the Latin form Psalmus,
from which comes our word Psalm. We see that when
this Latin translation was made, Christianity was a
reHgion of the common people. The humble translators
had no desire to make a show of their leaming or rhetoric,
although they did their work as well as they could. Their
sole object was to help the lives of their fellowmen.

.>^^w

IN A SECOND CENTURY CHURCH 227
In the fourth century a revised Latin version was
prepared by the Christian scholar Jerome, and a very
notable piece of work it was. Into it he put all the
wealth of his leaming, his passionate love and veneration
for the Scriptures, and his burning zeal to make the
thoughts of the biblical writers clear and luminous to
the men of his day. After he had finished the New
Testament, and had begun work on the Old, he realized
that he ought to know Hebrew, and thus be able to
translate direct from the original language. So he
went to Palestine, to a convent in Bethlehem, engaged
a Jewish rabbi as his teacher, and leamed the language.
Twelve years later (394) he finished his Latin version of
the Old Testament.
At first the new version was bitterly attacked. People
were accustomed to the words and phrasing of the earlier
versions, and resented any changes. Jerome was ac
cused of tampering with the Word of God. He replied
rather tartly and said that his critics " thought that
ignorance was holiness." As a matter of fact, his final
revision of the Psalms never did come into general use.
Most Latin Bibles, although following Jerome's transla
tion everywhere else, used an older version in the book
of Psalms.
In later centuries, however, with this exception,
Jerome's work was universally adopted. His transla
tion (called the Vulgate) became the standard Bible
of the church throughout the Middle Ages and was used
in the great missionary campaigns which resulted in the
Christianizing of the countries of central and western
Europe. Bible Reading among the Early Christians
It is clear that the Bible played a large part in the
lives of the early Christians. Not only was it read
publicly at the weekly services; there was also a great
amount of private reading by individual Christians.
It seems probable that nearly every Christian owned

228 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
a copy of some or all of the biblical books. This is
implied by a sentence in a letter to a young Christian
from the great church leader Cyprian (250 A.D.):
" Your life," he says, " should be one of eamest prayer
or reading [of the Bible]; now you speaking to God,
now God to you."
This shows that young Christians were expected to
form the habit of daily Bible reading. " In fact," says
a modem scholar, " the Bible pervaded the whole life
of a Christian. It was the Bible, its history, its com
mandments, that he was taught as a child in his parents'
home. When the girls gathered in the women's hall
to spin, they would taUc and sing about God's revelations.
The prayers, in private as well as in church, were full
of echoes from the Bible."
In the time of the terrible persecution under the
emperor Diocletian, there was a young Christian, named
Marinus, who was an officer in the Roman army, and
stationed at Csesarea in Palestine. He had performed
his duties faithfully, and was about to be promoted
to the rank of captain. Then out of jealousy, one of his
fellow officers denounced him as a Christian. Sum
moned before his colonel, he was asked if this was trae, and
when he confessed that it was, he was given three hours'
time in which to give up his faith. So he went to the small
Christian church, where he found the venerable bishop.
The bishop hearing his story took the Bible in one hand,
and the soldier's sword in the other. " This is your
choice," he said. And the soldier, without hesitating,
grasped the Bible, went back and declared himself to
be, and to remain, a Christian. Instead of receiving
promotion and honor, he became a martyr.
Stories like this show us what the Bible meant to
the early Christians. They found in it something more
precious than this earthly life; the good news of a God
of love, and of an incarnate Saviour, and the promise
of a life everlasting.

CHAPTER XXXVIII
MAKING BIBLES BY HAND
The Work of the Scribes and Monks
Suppose that you or I had been a member of a Christian
church in the year 200 A.D. How might we have secured
a copy of the Bible? Today we can go to a bookstore
and buy one; but it was not so in those days. There
were bookstores, to be sure. In every large Roman
city there were stalls where one could buy copies of
Homer, or Plato, or Virgil, laboriously written out by
slaves. In large cities, it is possible that the books of
Moses or Isaiah could be thus obtained. But one would
have sought in vain at these stalls for a copy of Luke, or
John, or the letters of Paul. Sometimes reliable scribes
could be hired; but often copies of these writings had
to be made by each Christian for himself, or made for
him by his better educated friends, not for pay, but
for pure love of the cause.
Changes in the Copies
The men who made these written New Testament
books were not thinking so much of future generations,
as of the needs of their own generation. Their chief
object was to help their feUowmen, then living, to be
come better Christians. Hence they sometimes intro
duced changes from the original wording of the books
they were copying, in order to make them more helpful.
If a sentence did not seem clear, an explanatory clause
might be added.
In the case of the Gospel nanatives we may well be
glad that the earliest Christian scribes felt free to make
additions to the original text. Long after the four
Gospels were written, people were stiU aUve who cher
ished original sayings of Jesus, and true stories about
Him, which had not found a place in any of the four
229

230 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Gospels, but which had been handed down by oral tradi
tion. A few of these floating traditions or sayings were
added to the manuscripts of the Gospels by copyists,
as late as the second century A.D.
We find one of these additions in our Revised Version,
in the marginal note to Luke 9 : 55. In the verses just
preceding we read how the Samaritans in a certain
vUlage refused their hospitality to Jesus and His disciples,
which led James and John in anger to ask Jesus to send
down fire from heaven upon them and destroy them,
but " Jesus turned and rebuked them." This was
the end of the story as Luke wrote it. But later, prob
ably in the second century, a Christian who was making
a copy of Luke's Gospel, came to this incident in the nar
rative, and said to himself something like the foUowing :
" Why Luke has left out what Jesus said to the disciples.
Many a time I have heard my grandfather tell this story,
and he got it direct from John himself. ' ' So this Christian
added on his copy two sentences said to have been
spoken by Jesus to James and John on this occasion:
" Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; for the
Son of Man came not to destroy men's lives but to
save them." These additional sentences, in the Revised
Version, are found in a marginal note below the regular
text, because they were not written by Luke. Never
theless they were probably spoken by Jesus.
Another possible saying of Jesus, which has not even
found its way into the margin of our English Bible, is
found in some Greek manuscripts after Luke 6:4. "On
the same day, seeing one working on the Sabbath, he
said to him, Man, if thou knowest what thou doest,
blessed art thou; but if thou knowest not, thou art
accursed and a transgressor of the law."
Still another of these later additions is the story of
the woman taken in adultery to whom Jesus said, "Neither
do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more." (John 7: 53 —
8: 11.) In the Revised Version it is printed in brackets.
Without a doubt this is an authentic incident from the

CONTAINER FOR BOOK-ROLLS.

THE EARLY TYPE OF BOOK,
WITH LEAVES.

MAKING BIBLES BY HAND 231
life of Jesus. Yet it certainly was not an original part
of the Gospel of John, nor of the other three Gospels.
In many manuscripts it stands after the end of John,
as an extra section all by itself. We owe a great debt
of gratitude to the unknown scribe who had the insight
to appreciate the value of this priceless story, and who
therefore rescued it from oblivion.
Scribal Errors
Besides these additions, some mistakes were inevitably
made in the work of copying. The human hand and the
human eye are almost certain to fall into enors. Try
it and see. Copy a page of this book, and conect it,
then give what you have written to a friend and ask
him to make a copy of it, in tum, as a part of the experi
ment; have him make all the conections he wishes,
comparing his work with your copy. Then compare
his final draft with the original page.
Just so, mistakes crept into those old written Bibles.
In most cases they were unconscious variations from
the original. Words were omitted, or wrongly written.
Sometimes the eye would overlook a whole sentence.
Sometimes words similar in sound were mistaken for
each other. When we consider that there was almost
no punctuation, and no spacing between the words, we
may well be surprised that there were not more such
errors. It was sometimes impossible to be certain how
the letters were to be read. Suppose we should write
the English words " is now here" without spacing, Hke
this: ISNOWHERE. This might easily be read: "is
nowhere." It was especiaUy difficult to copy the Hebrew
script conectly, because certain of the characters were
similar in form and it was hard to distinguish between
them. The Hebrew words were also written with almost
no vowels, and this added to the difficulty. It was like
spelling TABLE as TBL, or BOAT as BT, which might
also mean " bat," or " boot," or " bit."

232 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
The Accuracy of the Jewish Copyists
In time, therefore, the necessity for greater care in
copying was recognized. On the one hand, the biblical
books were regarded with ever-increasing reverence,
while on the other hand, as the number of copies in
creased, the differences between them grew more and
more confusing and troublesome. The Jewish scribes
were remarkably successful in overcoming this danger.
Sometime in the early centuries of the Christian era
they agreed among themselves to take a certain copy
of the Old Testament as the standard, and aU others were
lost or destroyed. From this one manuscript all sub
sequent copies were made, and with the most scrupulous
care. The scribes who did this work were called Mas-
soretes. These men counted the words and even the
letters in the Old Testament, and found the middle
word and the middle letter. In this way, when any
manuscript was finished, they could tell whether or not
there had been the slightest change from the original.
Marks were introduced in the margin calling attention
to any peculiarity and waming the copyist not to make
a mistake. But the manuscript which they selected to
copy from was itself faulty, and some of its mistakes
were obvious to any reader. Even these, however,
they did not venture to conect, but merely put the
suggested alteration in the margin. As a result the
Hebrew Bible has actually been handed down through
the centuries since that time, with practically no enors
or changes. In all the written Hebrew manuscripts now
in existence, we search in vain for variations. To aU
intents and purposes it is as though they had all been
struck off by a printer from the same plates.
The Bibles Made by the Monks
As time went on, the Christians also saw the necessity
for greater care in copying the New Testament books.
Among the Christians this work came to be carried

MAKING BIBLES BY HAND 233
on by monks. Aside from the Jews and the Arabs,
the monasteries were the only centers of leaming in the
early centuries of the Middle Ages. There were prac
tically no laymen who could read, and few clergymen.
Books were scarce. To own a book was a distinction.
There were even some monasteries which did not own a
complete copy of the Bible. Had it not been for the
monks, the New Testament might have been lost forever.
We, therefore, owe them a great debt of gratitude.
Some of these monks showed wonderful skiU as copyists
and loving devotion to their task. Many of their
manuscripts, as we examine them today, look just like
printed books. We can imagine what it must have
meant to write each letter, one by one, through hundreds
of thousands of words, without a single careless stroke.
Some manuscripts were beautifully illuminated. The
initial letters were decorated and the margins covered
with paintings. One of the most beautiful of those
now in existence is a portion of the translation into
Gothic by Ulfilas, now preserved in Upsala, Sweden.
It is written with silver letters on a purple ground.
The monks also were careful to be accurate, and made
few serious mistakes, although they never worked out
an elaborate system for checking mistakes as did the
Massoretes, and never attained such an almost in
credible degree of perfection. This was partly because
they had not the requisite leaming; and partly because
Christianity has never been quite so much a book-religion
as mediseval Judaism. The Church has kept aUve
her faith in the living voice of the Spirit, and hence has
never been wholly dependent upon the written Word.
Yet in the loving care with which they beautified their
Bibles, the Christian monks showed no less devotion
than did the Jews to this Book which had been their
greatest inspiration.

CHAPTER XXXIX
THE BEGINNINGS OF OUR ENGLISH BIBLE
Translations by Bede, Alfred, Wyclif and
Others
Not untU many centuries after the latest book of the
Bible was written, was there any such language as Eng
lish. When Christianity was brought into England
by Augustine about 600 A.D., the language spoken
by the inhabitants was a Germanic dialect called Anglo-
Saxon. After the establishment of Christianity in the
island, a number of translations of portions of the Bible
into Anglo-Saxon were made; and as modem English is
descended in part from this language, we may regard
these translations as forerunners of the English Bible
of later centuries.
The first attempt to provide a Bible for the people of
England was by a monk named Caedmon, who prepared
a poetical paraphrase of the Bible story (about 700 A.D.).
While this was not strictly a translation, yet to a certain
extent it met the need of the people for a Bible in their
native tongue. There was perhaps no one in the country
at that time, who was weU enough educated to make an
exact translation.
In the course of the next hundred years after Caedmon,
there lived another monk, named Bede, generaUy called
the Venerable Bede. This man was really a great
scholar for those days. He wrote an Ecclesiastical
History of England of which copies are still in existence,
and to which we owe most of our knowledge of early
England. Before his last Ulness, this man undertook
to translate the Gospel of John. His disciple Cuthbert
in a letter to a feUow-student has left an account of
how the work was finished. " On the Tuesday before
Ascension Day, though suffering greatly, he con-
234

GOTHIC BIBLE: SILVER LETTERS ON
PURPLE GROUND.
From " Deutsche Kulturgeschichte,'' by O. Henne am Rhyn.
Grote, Berlin, Germany.

BEGINNINGS OF OUR ENGLISH BIBLE 235
tinned to dictate cheerfully to his scribes, saying now
and again, ' Go on quickly, I know not how long I
shall hold out, and whether my Maker may not soon take
me away.' On the monow he resumed his task. One
of the scholars said to him, ' Most dear master, there is
StUl one chapter wanting; do you think it troublesome
to be asked any more questions?' But he answered,
'It is no trouble; take up your pen and write quickly.'
Soon afterwards the student said, 'It is written now.'
The dying man answered, 'It is weU, you have said the
trath. It is finished.' " And so, shortly afterward,
" he breathed his last and departed to the heavenly
kingdom." Another important translator was King Alfred, who
died about 900 A.D. As a part of the preface to his
code of laws, he translated the Ten Commandments,
and the greater part of Exodus 21-23. It is also said
that at the time of his death he was engaged on a trans
lation of the book of Psalms.
There stiU exist manuscripts of the Psalms and
the Gospels in Anglo-Saxon, by different translators.
No doubt each one of them represents scores, or even
hundreds, of similar copies which were in circulation
when Anglo-Saxon was stUl a Hving tongue. We thus
see that more than a thousand years ago the Bible already
exercised a real and mighty influence in England.
The Birth of a New Bible Language
In the year 1066 England was conquered by WUUam
of Normandy and his nobles, and the old Anglo-Saxon
population was reduced to serfdom. For the next
century or more, there were two languages spoken in
England. The rich and powerful nobles spoke Norman-
French, and the peasants spoke Anglo-Saxon.
Two or three centuries later, or about 1300, there began
an era of wonderful opportunity for the lower classes in
England. One cause for this was a war between England
and France. In this war the English foot soldiers, who

236 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
were recruited from the serfs, were armed with cross
bows, and proved themselves more than a match for
the French knights on horseback. This increased their
power and importance and compelled the English nobles
to make common cause with them. There was also
much general discontent in England, during this period,
on account of the extortionate demands of the church
dignitaries who at that time were luxury-loving and
conupt. Nobles and common people were at one in
resisting this ecclesiastical oppression.
Finally, in the course of this century, there was a
series of dreadful epidemics which swept away nearly
half the population. The result was that labor was
scarce, and wages high. The working classes developed
a higher standard of living, and a larger degree of self-
respect. In this they were bitterly opposed by the
nobles, who tried in vain to keep down wages by law.
The working classes in tum went on strikes, just Hke
the strikes of today. In the year 1381 there was a
great uprising of the peasants, and an army of more
than a hundred thousand, under the leadership of a
certain Wat Tyler, marched into London to present
their demands to the king. It was at this time that
the expression was coined:
When Adam delved, and Eve span.
Who was then the gentleman?
Unfortunately, many acts of violence were committed
by the peasants, such as the burning of the archbishop's
palace in London. This turned public sentiment against
them. Wat Tyler's revolution was put down with great
craelty. Nevertheless, the general level of the entire
working population had been raised by these various
causes, and there was less difference between living
conditions of the lower and upper classes. Gradually,
the nobles and the peasants, the rich and the poor,
were welded into a single nation. The two languages,
Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon, were gradually blended

BEGINNINGS OF OUR ENGLISH BIBLE 237
into a new language, English, which, in its grace and
homely strength, is a characteristic product of this
great movement toward equahty, democracy and brother
hood. Such a language was particularly well adapted
to become a vehicle of the message of the Bible, the
people's Book. A New Interest in the Bible
During the years immediately after the Norman
conquest there was little Bible reading in England, and
no further progress in translating the Bible. The Anglo-
Saxon peasants were kept in ignorance, and few of them
could read even those translations which had already
been made for them. As for the nobles, they used the
Latin translation in so far as they read the Bible at all.
When a better day began to dawn for the common people,
however, we can trace a new interest in the Bible, and
the Bible in tum, inspired a greater devotion to the
people's cause, for it is the great Magna Charta of democ
racy. About 1325 the Psalms were translated into the
English of that day by a certain Richard RoUe. But
the great Bible translator of the age was John Wyclif.
John Wyclif as a Religious Leader
Wyclif was bom about 1320 in the north of England.
He became a minister, and a professor in the University
of Oxford. He flrst rose to prominence in a contest
over the question of ecclesiastical taxes between the
English parliament and the Pope, who had presented
a bUl for back taxes for thirty-three years. Parhament
refused to pay, and Wyclif wrote a tract defending its
action. In this contest Wyclif's eyes were opened to the im
moral practices and superstitious teachings of the Roman
Catholic Church of that day, and he began to expose
them. When summoned to a trial for heresy, however,
he had the protection of the great nobles whom he had

238 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
encouraged to resist the demands for money made by
the Roman CathoHc Church.
But Wyclif was not only opposed to extortionate
church officials; he hated extortion and oppression of
every kind. He saw that, although many of the church
leaders were conupt and selfish, yet the Bible reaUy taught
justice and love and brotherhood. So he boldly cham
pioned the peasants in their struggle for higher wages.
More than that, he organized a band of disciples, who
were called " Poor Priests," who went about from village
to village, teaching these doctrines wherever the people
could be gathered together to Hsten. These men brought
a new moral impulse into the life of the English people,
which became the foundation for England's future
greatness. In order to help them in their work, Wyclif,
in his old age, decided to translate the entire Bible into
Enghsh. Wyclif's Translation of the Bible
Although Wyclif was the leader in this work of trans
lation he did not do all of it himself. Nearly all of the
Old Testament was translated by one of his friends,
Nicholas of Hereford. The original manuscript of this
scholar is still in existence, and it is interesting to note
that it breaks off abruptly in the middle of a verse in
one of the apocryphal books (Baruch). It is almost
certain that just when Nicholas was writing this verse,
officers came to anest him on charges of heresy. After
Wyclif's death (1384) the entire work was carefully
and skillfully revised by another friend and comrade,
John Purvey.
The translation as a whole was a remarkable achieve
ment. It was based on the Latin version, not on the
original Greek and Hebrew, for in those days these two
languages were practically unknown in Europe. Wyclif
and his friends were good Latin scholars, however, and
they made a faithful translation from the Latin version.
The EngUsh wording is clear and forcible. Although

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WYCLIF'S BIBLE.
From " Fac-similes of Biblical Manuscripts."
By permission of the Trustees of the
British Museum.

BEGINNINGS OF OUR ENGLISH BIBLE 239
five centuries have passed away, much of it can stUl
be read and understood. Its quaint phrases often bring
home the meaning of a Bible sentence with fresh and
appealing force. As an example we may quote the
opening verses of the Beatitudes in this version.
" And Jhesus, seyinge the puple, wente up in to an
hil, and whanne he was set, hise disciples camen to hym.
And he openyde his mouth and tauzte hem and saide.
Blessed ben pore men in spirit, for the kyngdom of
heuenes is heme." Many of the fine expressions in
Wyclif's version were copied by later translators, and
some of them are embedded in the Authorized Version,
for example, " a well of water springing up into etemal
life; compass sea and land; the beam and the mote;
the deep things of God; enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord." The spirit in which this group of men carried on their
work is well expressed in John Purvey's preface to his
revision. The translator, he says, " hath need to live
a clene Hfe, and be full devout in prayers, and have
not his wit occupied about worldly things, that the Holy
Spirit, author of wisdom and knowledge and trath,
dress him in his work, and suffer him not for to en.
By this manner, with good living and great travail men
may come to trae and clear translating and true under
standing of Holy Writ, seem it never so hard at the
beginning. God grant to us all, grace to ken weU and
keep weU, and suffer joyfuUy some pain for it at the last."
Wyclif's translation aroused a storm of criticism among
the church leaders of that day. The authorities passed
a law that no one should read it either in public or in
private " under pain of excommunication." Wyclif
himself wrote, before his death: " Many think it amiss
that men should know Christ's life, for then priests
should be shamed of their lives, and specially these high
priests, for they contradict Christ both in word and
deed." Both Hereford and Purvey were imprisoned and
Hereford was tortured. Wyclif was too influential to

240 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
be molested, but some forty years after his death, his
bones were dug up and bumed, and the ashes thrown
into the brook called the Swift, which flows by his home
town Lutterworth.
Despite all this opposition, however, the new English
Bible exerted a great influence. Copies could only be
made by hand, as the printing-press had not yet been
invented. There are stUl in existence one hundred
and seventy partial or complete copies of this translation.
People used to gather at night to hear it read. One
historian tells us that as much as a load of hay was at
times given for a few chapters of an epistle of Paul.
Through the reading of the Bible thus made possible
the people were prepared for the great Protestant Reforma
tion, a century and a half later.

CHAPTER XL
A NEW ERA OP TRIUMPH POR THE BIBLE
The Printing-Press and the Reformation
About fifty years after Wyclif's death there lived in
Strassburg, in Germany, a silversmith, named Johann
Gutenberg, who takes high rank among the benefactors
of mankind. He it was who invented the art of printing.
Even before Gutenberg's time men had been feeling
their way toward this invention. Small picture books
had been made, called block-books, each page having been
printed from a single block of wood. Among these
" block-books " were some called " Bibles of the poor,"
with a Scripture text on each page, and a picture to
iUustrate it. Gutenberg improved on this device by
introducing small movable engravings of single letters,
caUed types. In making them, he experimented first
with wood; but these were soon broken or split, and metal
ones were substituted. The first printing-press in the
world was set up by Gutenberg, in his native city May-
ence, about the year 1450.
It is an eloquent testimony to the general interest
in the Bible in those days that the first book of any
length which the inventor undertook to publish was a
Latin Bible. The work was begun in 1453 and was
finished four years later. About one hundred copies
were printed of which thirty-one are stUl known to be
in existence. It was a very beautiful and costly piece
of work.
The new invention aroused great interest. Presses
were quickly set up in many cities, not only in Germany,
but in other countries. Venice became famous for its
printers. Before 1500, or within fifty years after Guten
berg's first Bible was published, ninety-two other edi
tions of the Bible were printed, including both the Latin
and other versions. 241

242 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
Linen Paper
The earliest printed books were very expensive. Only
princes or rich merchants could afford to buy them.
The chief expense was the material out of which the
books were made. But there was a remedy for this
difficulty, for some centuries earlier the Arabs had
leamed from the Chinese the art of making paper by
soaking linen rags in water and acid. When Gutenberg
set up his press, the only paper available was a kind
of imitation parchment, very costly. Part of his first
edition of the Bible was printed on paper, and the rest
on parchment, and the paper copies were quite as beauti
ful as the others. But with printing-presses now spring
ing up in every important city, there was a demand for
less expensive paper, which was quickly met, and within
a few decades printed books could be sold almost as
cheaply as today.
The Influence of the Printing-Press
With a supply of inexpensive paper at hand, there
was thus perfected a mighty engine for the dissemination
of knowledge and ideas. The importance of this new
factor in civilization was almost inconceivably great.
It was as though there had been placed at the disposal
of any man with a message for his fellowmen a megaphone
which would carry his voice to the very ends of the
earth ; and it was not long before the thinkers and leaders
of those days awoke to their opportunity. There was
a sudden outpouring of pamphlets on various subjects
of public interest. For example, in the year 1518 there
were published 150 books and pamphlets in the German
language. Six years later, in 1524, there were pubUshed
990 German works of various kinds. The special cause
for aU these new books at just this time was the out
break of the Protestant Reformation. No doubt in other
countries also, there was a similar rapid increase at this
time in the number of printed publications.

a GUTENBERG PRESS.

A NEW ERA OP TRIUMPH 243
Since those days there has been a steady and at times
almost magical improvement in the process of printing.
Great presses driven by steam or electricity have taken
the place of the old hand-power machines. The total
volume of printed matter which is now turned out an
nually is beyond computation. It is the Bible, however,
whose circulation has been most increased by the in
vention of printing. Not only was the Bible the first
printed book but it has always been the most frequently
printed book, and remains today the one " best seller."
The British and Foreign Bible Society alone issues a
million Bibles yearly.
The Resurrection of the Greek Testament
In pictures of the famous statue of Moses by Michel
angelo, one notices that the great lawgiver is represented
as having homs springing from above his forehead.
This strange fact is due to a mistaken translation of Ex.
34 : 35, in the Latin version by Jerome. Instead of
" Moses' face shone," Jerome understood the Hebrew
to mean, " Moses' face was homed." There were
many such enors in the Latin version, both in the Old
Testament and in the New, and these enors were of course
perpetuated in translations made from the Latin, such
as Wyclif's. Now Wyclif and his colleagues knew well
enough that the Latin version from which they translated
was itself a translation from the original languages in
which the Bible was written. No doubt they would
have given much for a manuscript of the Greek New
Testament. But there probably was not a single copy
in England. Moreover, no one understood the Greek
language, nor was there such a thing as a Greek grammar
or lexicon, in aU western Europe.
But in this department of human leaming too, a new era
was at hand. In 1453, or the very year that Gutenberg
began to set the type for the first printed edition of the
Latin Bible, the Turks captured the city of Constantinople.
In this city the knowledge of Greek had been cherished

244 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
through the centuries, although neglected in other parts of
Europe. With the coming of the Turks, the leamed
monks hastily gathered up their manuscripts, including
copies of the New Testament in Greek, and fled to Italy.
Here they awakened a new interest in Greek literature,
which rapidly spread to other countries. This movement
is called " the new leaming," or the Renaissance.
Among the centers of the new leaming was Oxford
University, in England. A little group of scholars
gathered there who were especially interested in the
Greek New Testament. As they read the story of Jesus
and the letters of Paul in the freshness and force of the
original language, the meaning came home to them Hke
a new revelation, which they longed to impart to others.
One of these men, a young German named Erasmus,
published in his own country in the year 1516, a printed
edition of the Greek New Testament, with a new and
more accurate Latin translation in parallel columns.
Thousands of copies of this book were quickly sold,
and a new interest in the Bible was awakened among
educated men. There were indeed many who resented
any suggestion that the Latin version was not perfect.
Some in their ignorance even went so far as to say that
the Greek and Hebrew languages were inventions of
heretics! When an edition of the Old Testament was
published with the Hebrew in one column, the Greek in
another and the Latin in the middle, it was said that the
true version of the Bible had been crucifled, like our
Lord, between two thieves.
In spite of all opposition there was an increasing
number of men who studied Greek and Hebrew, and
the way was thus prepared for new and more accurate
translations of the Bible into the modem languages of
Europe, including English.
The Protestant Reformation
Throughout the Middle Ages, the people of Europe
had been under a rigid ecclesiastical tyranny. Freedom

A NEW ERA OF TRIUMPH 245
of religious opinion was unknown. To be a " Wycliffite "
or any other kind of a so-caUed heretic meant severe
persecution, if not death. Not only were men forbidden
to think for themselves, they were not even allowed
to read the Bible for themselves. Pope Innocent was
asked by a bishop what to do with associations of Bible
readers in his diocese. He repHed (1199) that of course
the study of the Bible was to be encouraged among the
clergy but that all laymen were to be kept from it, the
Bible being so profound in its mysteries that even scholars
sometimes get beyond their depth and are drowned.
He compares the Bible to the sacred mountain, Sinai,
and quotes the words of Moses (Exodus 19:12-13),
" Take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the
mount, or touch the border of it. Whosoever toucheth
the mount shall be stoned or shot through." Likewise,
the Pope said, " If a layman touches the Bible he is
guilty of sacrilege and should be stoned or shot through."
As time went on, however, thinking men grew restive
under these restrictions. Such men also became dis
gusted with some of the superstitious doctrines which
were taught. But what set the great mass of the common
people against the Roman Church was the corraption
and immorality of the ecclesiastical officials. The priests
and prelates, great and smaU, seemed to care for nothing
but money. One of the worst scandals was the selling
of indulgences for money, that is, pardons for sins not
yet committed, or in other words, permission to commit
these sins. Discontent with such practices grew more
and more widespread and intense. AU that was needed
was a leader around which a reform movement could
crystallize. The leader appeared on the scene in 1517, when a
monk named Martin Luther, a professor in the little Uni
versity of Wittenberg, denounced the sale of indulgences.
Much to Luther's own astonishment, the news of his
action spread like wUdfire all over Europe. Within a
few years nearly all the independent kingdoms of northem

246 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
Germany had revolted from Rome, and had set up an
independent church organization. Other countries, in
cluding England, soon foUowed Germany's example and
were known as Protestant countries.
One important result of this great religious revolution
was a gradual increase in personal religious liberty.
Entire religious liberty did not come all at once. Here
tics were still bumed by Protestants as well as by the
Catholics; yet northem Germany, Switzerland, and
the Netherlands, did become a haven of refuge to many
a fearless and outspoken reformer from other countries of
Europe. In all Protestant countries and eventually in
Roman Catholic lands also, permission was granted to
the common people to read translations of the Bible.
Thus the Bible was set free by the Protestant Reforma
tion, and itself became one of the most powerful forces
working for a higher degree of human Uberty and equaUty.

CHAPTER XLI
THE BIBLE FOR THE GERMAN PEOPLE
Luther's Translation of the Bible
The period of the Reformation not only set the common.
people free to read the Bible, but it also aroused every
where a new and intense interest in the Bible. The air
was fuU of questions about reHgion, and all thinking
persons were eager to find out for themselves what the
Bible taught in regard to the disputed points. When
we consider this general interest, and also the revival of
Greek and Hebrew scholai-ship which had already begun,
we are not surprised that this period of history was
remarkable, among other things, for its translations of
the Bible into the various languages of Europe, as for
example, Enghsh, French, Italian, German and Swedish.
Early Continental Translations
Long before the period of the Reformation, the Bible was
translated somewhat imperfectly into certain languages
of continental Europe, as weU as into English. Among
the leaders in this work were those groups of Christians
known as the Waldenses. In the year 1176 there was
living in the city of Lyons, Prance, a rich merchant
known as Peter Waldo. One Sunday he heard a minstrel
in the street singing a poem about a certain Saint Alexis,
who had given up his property and had thus found peace.
The song struck a responsive chord within him, for he
himself was longing for peace of heart; and he sought
out two priests who agreed to translate the Gospels for
him into the language of the south of France. Reading
these Gospels, he came to the story of the rich young
ruler to whom Jesus said, " Go, sell all that thou hast
and come foUow me." As he read, he thought about the
247

248 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
rich and powerful church officials of his day, who lived
in luxury, and who were supposed to be Christ's repre
sentatives. Were they Christians in any true sense of
the word ? It seemed to him that the so-called Christian
church had almost whoUy forgotten the trae meaning
of Christianity, and he determined that he himself
would take Christ's words literally. So he distributed
all his property among the poor, and henceforth sup
ported himself by his labor from day to day, at the same
time preaching his ideas to all who would listen. In a
very short time, he was joined by others in this new way
of life. They were known as the Poor Men of Lyons.
" They are orderly and modest in their manners," says
a writer of that .time "and their dress is neither expensive
nor mean. They use no oaths, falsehoods, or frauds.
They live on what they can earn by the labor of their
hands from day to day. Even shoemakers are teachers
among them. They are contented with the bare neces
sities of Hfe. They are also chaste. They are never
found hanging about wineshops."
Many of these people traveled from town to town,
and although forbidden by the church authorities,
gathered groups of hearers together and explained the
Scriptures. The movement spread very rapidly, although
it was condemned as heretical, and was persecuted.
Organizations of similar " poor men " sprang into exist
ence in various parts of France, and also in Italy and
Germany. Everywhere, they urged people to read the
Bible for themselves. To encourage such reading, they
translated the Gospels and other biblical books into a
number of languages, including Bohemian and German.
In time, translations were made of the entire Bible.
Soon after the invention of printing, a number of editions
of the Bible in German were published. These early
translations were -very faulty. The translators were
like those early Christians who first translated the New
Testament into Latin, not learned scholars, but humble,
consecrated men with little education. They did not

THE BIBLE POR THE GERMAN PEOPLE 249
know Latin very weU. For example, they did not
recognize Tertius as a proper name, and translated it
" the third." Nor were they skiUful in expressing the
ideas of the, Bible in their own language. Their sen
tences were often awkward, and sometimes did not make
sense. Such translations were not easy to read. Never
theless they exerted an important influence, preparing
the way for the Reformation.
An Enforced Vacation Put to Good Use
The first and in some respects the greatest of the Bible
translations of the Reformation era, was that by Luther
himself into the German language. It is of special
interest to us, as it was one of the forerunners of our
English Bible. That Luther was led to give his attention
to this matter was due in part to a tum in his fortunes
which compelled him to retire for a time from his busy
life as a teacher and a public leader. He had been
summoned from his home in Wittenberg (in the year
1521) to appear before the Imperial Diet in the city of
Wurms, to answer the charge of heresy. All the world
knows how this peasant-bom monk stood up before the
Emperor and aU his princes, and refused to take back
a single syUable: " Here I stand. God helping me I
cannot do otherwise."
^ He had been granted a safe-conduct by the Emperor,
and so was aUowed to set out for home. He was now a
condemned heretic, however, and his Hfe was in dire
peril. By the edict of the Diet, no one was to receive
him or feed him. Wherever he might be found, he was
to be seized and handed over to the Emperor. Hitherto,
he had been protected by his friend the Elector Frederick,
in whose province Wittenberg was situated. Now,
however, even the good Elector dared not defy openly
the Imperial decree. So by a plan which had been ex
plained to Luther beforehand, the carriage in which he
was traveUng homeward was stopped by armed horse
men in a lonely forest, and Luther himself was taken

250 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
to one of Frederick's castles, the Wartburg. Here he
remained safely hidden for nearly a year, only a few of
his intimate friends knowing of his whereabouts. It
was widely believed that he had been made away with
by his enemies.
Although he was in the hands of friends and sunounded
by every comfort, this was not an agreeable experience
for Luther. He was an exceedingly active man, and
sitting around aU day with nothing to do was not at aU
to his taste. Indeed his health suffered from the lack
of exercise, along with much rich food. Only one oc
cupation was left to him, namely the study of the Scrip
tures; and in the autumn of 1521 it occuned to him that
a new translation of the Bible into German was greatly
needed. Immediately he set about the task, and with
such impetuous energy did he work, that within three
months he finished the New Testament. This was pub
lished in September, 1622, after his retum to Wittenberg.
At Work on the Old Testament
Immediately after finishing the New Testament,
Luther continued with the Old, but this of course even
with the help of associates, required more time, especially
as he was now back in active life again. In certain of
his letters Luther tells of the difficulties which he and
his friends encountered in translating from the Hebrew.
" It has often happened," he says in one letter, " that
we have sought a fortnight, or three or four weeks, for
a single word."
And again he writes, " I am now at work translating
the prophets. Good Heavens! How hard it is to make
the Hebrew writers speak German! They withstand our
efforts, not wishing to give up their native tongue for a
barbarous idiom, just as a nightingale would not change
her sweet song to imitate the cuckoo."
In still another letter, he speaks of his work on the
book of Job. " We have so much trouble translating
Job, on account of the grandeur of his style, that he seems

THE BIBLE FOR THE GERMAN PEOPLE 251
to be much more impatient of our efforts to tum him
into German, than he was of the consolations of his
friends." FinaUy the work was finished, and the whole
German Bible in the new translation was published in
1534. The Influence of Luther's Translation
Within fifty years after the first edition of Luther's
version of the entire Bible, more than 100,000 copies
were sold, Luther himself never taking a penny for this
work. The following remark by one of Luther's op
ponents, Cochlseus, soon after the publication of the
New Testament, shows what an enormous influence
it immediately wielded: " Luther's New Testament was
multiplied by the printers in a most wonderful way, so
that even shoemakers and women, and every and any
lay person acquainted with the German type read it
greedily as the fountain of all trath, and by repeatedly
reading it impressed it on their memory. By this means
they acquired in a few months so much knowledge that
they ventured to dispute not only with Catholic laymen,
but even with masters and doctors of theology about
faith and the Gospel."
Luther was weU qualified for this task of translation.
He had received a thorough education at the University
of Erfurt, and after his graduation he had gone on with
his study, taking up both Hebrew and Greek. NaturaUy
he translated the Bible from the original languages
instead of from the Latin with its many enors.
Besides being accurate, Luther's translation was a
fine example of forcible and beautiful German. He
did not merely transpose the original words into German
words, but he sought rather to express the thought of
each sentence, as it would naturally be expressed by
Germans themselves. One secret of his success in the
use of the German language, is revealed by his own state
ment, as foUows: "You must get your German," he
declares, " not from the Latin, but from the mother in

252 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
the home, the chUd in the street, and the common man
in the market-place."
Luther's greatest qualification as a translator was his
inner sympathy with the biblical writers, and his deep
spiritual understanding of the great ideas of Christianity.
As he himself says, " Translating is not everybody's
gift. It demands a genuinely pious, true industrious,
reverent heart."
Luther's Bible became at once the Bible of the German
people, and has continued so to the present day. Indeed
the present German language is in part the product of
Luther's translation. Before his time there were a great
number of dialects, so that sometimes even persons from
districts only a few miles apart, could scarcely understand
one another. But when the new translation was scat
tered into every German household, its language became
the standard, and the dialects gradually disappeared.
To what extent Luther's Bible has inspired the spiritual
greatness of the German people, as revealed in the past
four centuries by such men as Schiller and Goethe, of
course no one can measure.

CHAPTER XLII
THE FATHER OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE
The Work of William Tyndale
It has been weU said that the father of the Enghsh
Bible, as we now have it, was WUUam Tyndale. Our
Authorized and Revised Versions bear the mark of his
genius, more than of any other single man. Few other
names in history are so closely identified with the Bible.
His whole life-work was the translation of the Bible.
About Tyndale's early life we know Uttle. He was
bom about 1490. As a young man he studied in the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and gained a good
reputation as a scholar. While he was still in Cambridge
there fell into his hands a copy of the new Greek Testa
ment by Erasmus. This was the turning-point of his
life. As he read this volume the conviction was bumed
deeply into his heart that the religion of the church of
those days had fallen very far from the religion of Jesus
and His apostles. Soon afterwards came the news of
Luther's revolt against Rome. Tyndale's heart was
with Luther, and he longed to help the cause of a purer
Christianity in his own country. In the preface to the
New Testament of Erasmus he found a suggestion as to
what he might do. " I wish," said Erasmus, " that
even the weakest woman should read the Gospels —
should read the Epistles of Paul: and I wish that they
were translated into all languages, so that they might
be read and understood not only by Scots and Irishmen,
but also by Turks and Saracens. I long that the husband
man should sing portions of them to himself as he follows
the plow, that the weaver should hum them to the tune
of his shuttle, that the traveler should beguile with their
stories the tedium of his joumey." It is probable also
that Luther's translation into German stirred Tyndale
with a desire to render the same service to his own people.
253

254 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
At any rate, he determined to translate the Bible into
English, and to circulate printed copies in every palace
and cottage in England. There was already in existence
the English translation by Wyclif, but the language had
greatly changed since Wyclif's time; and besides that,
the time had come for a new and more accurate transla
tion not from the Latin but from the original languages.
Tyndale felt himself the man to do the work. It was
probably about this time that there occurred his famous
dispute with a so-called " leamed man " in his native
county, about the authority of the Pope; in which he
said: " If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause
a boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scripture
than thou dost." We shall see how well he made good
his promise. The First Printed English New Testament
While still a young man of about thirty, Tyndale went
to London, in the hope of interesting Bishop Tunstall
of that city in his undertaking. He needed some means
of support while he worked. The Bishop was a friend
of Erasmus ; but he had been greatly disturbed by Luther's
agitation, and he was instinctively hostile to any project
which might stir up a similar revolt in England. So
he told Tyndale that " his house was full "; that is, he
could not pay him a salary. The young scholar never
theless found friends in London, including a certain Hum
phrey Munmouth, and other weU-to-do merchants who
backed him with funds. After about six months in
London, however, Tyndale realized that if he should ever
succeed in giving the Bible to the English people, it
would only be in the teeth of the fiercest opposition on
the part of the authorities. He perceived that "not
only was there no rowme in my Lord of London's palace
to translate the New Testament, but also that there
was no place to do it in all Englonde." So in 1524 he
went from England to Germany, where he found pro-

THE FATHER OP THE ENGLISH BIBLE 255
tection among the Lutherans. He perhaps visited
Luther himself at Wittenberg. Prom this time on he
lived an exUe's life, nor did he ever again set foot upon
his native soU.
For a time he found a home in Hamburg, where he
finished the New Testament. The next year he went
to Cologne and made anangements with a printer in
that city, named Peter Quentel, for the publication of his
manuscript. When the work was about half finished,
Luther's opponent Cochlseus discovered what was going
on. He had overheard some of the workmen from the
printing estabhshment boasting of the revolution which
would soon be accomplished in England through a book
which they were printing. Inviting the men to his
house he plied them with wine, and finally drew from
them the information he wanted. Fortunately, before
the authorities could do anything Tyndale was warned,
and taking the unbound sheets which had already been
printed he fled to Wurms which at that time was one of
the leading centers of the Reformation. Here, where
six years before Luther had defled both Pope and Em
peror, Tyndale brought out two editions of his English
New Testament (1625). One was a large quarto book,
the other smaUer. About 3000 copies of each were
printed. These were quickly smuggled into England
hidden, it is said, in bales of cloth, and many of them
were at once bought up and distributed.
The English authorities had been on the lookout for
these books. Cochlseus and others had written to
King Henry the Eighth waming him of the awful danger
to which his realm was exposed, and urged him " to
prevent the importation of the pernicious merchandise."
When it was discovered that a large number of copies
had been smuggled in, a great outcry was made. Bishop
Tunstall preached against the new translation, saying
that it contained no less than 3000 enors; and copies of it
were pubUcly bumed. Of the two editions, or 6000 books
in aU, only one copy of each remains, and these are imper-

256 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
feet, so determined and fierce was the campaign of
destruction directed against them.
All this furious opposition however was like an at
tempt to hold back the tide or to keep the sun from
rising. The futUity of it is shown by an amusing incident.
A certain London merchant named Packyngton went
to Bishop Tunstall and offered to buy for him aU the
unsold copies of the new translation. The Bishop eagerly
accepted the offer, and Packyngton did indeed secure a
large number of the books and charged the Bishop a
good round sum for them. This money he immediately
turned over to Tyndale to be used for printing a new
edition. " And so," declares the old chronicler who teUs
the story, " the Bishop had the bokes, Packyngton had
the thankes and Tyndale had the money." Of course
new editions were immediately published. Within three
or four years, as many as fifteen thousand copies were
sent to England. At Work on the Old Testament
Immediately after finishing the New Testament lyn-
dale set to work to translate the Old Testament. In
1530 he published an English version of the Pentateuch,
and the following year the book of Jonah. By this time,
however, the clouds of persecution were gathering deeply
about him. He had made many enemies especiaUy
among the church leaders, not only by translating the
Bible, but also by his own keen and forcible comments
on Bible passages. Many of these comments were
directed against the Roman Catholic Church of that
day. As examples of his skill as a reform writer we
may quote the following marginal notes from his transla
tion of the Pentateuch.
Opposite Ex. 34:20, which reads, "None shall come
before me empty," Tyndale wrote, " that is a good text
for the Pope." He meant that the Pope and the other
church leaders were always asking the people for money,
and cared for nothing else. He makes the same point,

THE FATHER OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE 257
in his comment opposite Ex. 36 : 6, where it reads that
the people brought too many gifts for the new tabernacle,
and were told not to bring anything more. " When,"
asks Tyndale, " wiU the Pope say, Hoo [that is, hold,
or stop]. When MdU our spiritualitie [that is, church
leaders] say, Hoo? Never, verily, untU they have all."
Such thrusts as these made many a selfish Bishop
wince. The authorities in England left no stone unturned
to get him back into their power. In Germany, also,
the enemies of the Reformation joined in the hunt.
Attempts were made to seize him at Wurms. Por a time
he found protection under another Lutheran prince,
Philip of Hesse, at Marburg. Later we find him at
Antwerp in Belgium. Thus he was driven like a wUd
beast from one hiding place to another. To use his own
words, he suffered " poverty, exile, bitter absence from
friends, hunger and thirst and cold, great dangers, and
other hard and sharp fightings." Finally in May, 1535,
he was betrayed by one in whom he had trasted and was
thrown into prison at Vilvorde near Brussels. A touching
letter has been preserved which he wrote in the prison
to the govemor of the city sometime during the winter
after his anest. He begs the governor to procure from
his goods " a warmer cap, for I suffer extremely from
cold in the head, being afflicted with a perpetual catanh
which is considerably increased in this cell; a warmer
coat also, for that which I have is very thin; also a piece
of cloth to patch my leggins. My overcoat is wom out.
My shirts are also wom out. ... I wish also permission
to have a lamp in the evening, for it is wearisome to sit
alone in the dark. But above aU I entreat and beseech
your clemency ... to permit me to have my Hebrew
Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, that
I may spend my time with that study."
It is probable that this request for his books was
granted, and let us hope that warmer clothes were pro
vided for him also. At any rate, he seems to have finished
while in prison his translation of the historical books

258 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
from Joshua through II Chronicles. Before he could
carry the Old Testament to completion, however, he
was tried and condemned as a heretic, and on October
6, 1536, he was put to death by strangling. His last
words were, " Lord, open the King of England's eyes."
The Influence of Tyndale's Version
Although Tyndale himself thus died a martyr and in
exile, few men have ever been more gloriously victorious
in life's battle. Tyndale's translation has been the
dominating influence in all the leading English versions
from that day to this. "It is substantially the Bible,"
says the historian Froude, " with which we are aU famihar.
The peculiar genius — if such a word be permitted ¦ — the
mingled tendemess and majesty — the preternatural
grandeur — unequalled, unapproached in the attempted
improvements of modem scholars — aU are here and
bear the impress of the mind of one man — WUUam
Tyndale." The foUowing selection from Tyndale's translation
(of Matthew 6 : 24-25) shows how little it has been
changed in later versions:
" No man can serve two masters. For either he shall
hate the one and love the other, or else he shaU lean to
the one and despise that other. Ye cannot serve God
and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, be not careful
for your life, what ye shaU eat, nor what ye shaU drink,
nor yet for your body what raiment ye shaU wear. Is
not the life more worth than meat, and the body more
of value than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air.
For they sow not, neither reap, nor yet carry into the
bames; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are
not ye better than they? "
A striking evidence of the value of Tyndale's transla
tion is the fact that the English and American revisions
have in many cases gone back to it in preference to the
Kuig James Version. One example is in the thirteenth
chapter of First Corinthians, where both Tyndale and

THE FATHER OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE 259
the Revised Versions read " love," rather than " charity "
as in the King James Version.
The honesty and unselfish humility which Tyndale
showed in aU his work is well expressed in the foUowing
quotation from his letters: " I call God to record,"
he writes to his dear friend John Frith, " against the
day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, to give a
reckoning of our doings, that I never altered one syllable
of God's word against my conscience, nor would this
day, if all that is in the earth, whether it be pleasure, honor
or riches might be given me."

CHAPTER XLIII
A MASTERPIECE OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
The Origin of the King James Version
About a hundred years after Tyndale, there was pub
lished an English version of the Bible which for nearly
three centuries was destined to be in a pecuHar way
" the Bible," and the only Bible, of the vast majority
of EngHsh-spealdng Christians. This was the King
James Version or the so-called Authorized Version. The
period between the first appearance of Tyndale's New
Testament, and the publication of the King James
Version (that is, 1525 to 1611), was marked by great
activity in Bible translation. Many different versions
appeared. As most of these exerted an influence on the
translators of the King James Version it is of interest
to take note of the most important of them.
Coverdale's Bible and its Successors
Even before Tyndale's death conditions had begun
to be more favorable for the publication of an English
Bible. The Reformation movement was making headway
aU the time. King Henry, from selfish motives, had
broken with the Pope and this led him to favor the
reformers. His prime minister, Thomas CromweU, see
ing in what direction the wind was blowing, had quietly
engaged a prominent scholar named Miles Coverdale
to prepare a translation of the Bible. This scholar was
a man of about the same age as Tyndale. He had been
a monk, but Hke Tyndale had gone over to the Reforma
tion movement, and had been compeUed to flee from Eng
land for safety. He had a rare gift for musical English,
although he was not a thorough student of Greek and
Hebrew, Hke Tyndale. He was well aware of his limita-
260

A MASTERPIECE OF LITERATURE 261
tions, but there seemed no chance that Tyndale's version
would ever receive legal sanction, for King Henry stiU
regarded Tyndale as a dangerous heretic. Moreover
Tyndale had not yet been able to publish a complete
Old Testament in English. So Coverdale modestly
accepted the task. " It was neither my labor nor my
desire," he says, "to have this work put in my hand."
Yet " though I could not do so well as I would, I thought
it yet my duty to do my best, and that with a good wiU."
Thus there appeared in England in 1535, whUe Tyndale
was in prison, the first complete printed English Bible,
namely Coverdale's translation. In the course of the
next thirty years, three versions appeared which may
be classed together as the Coverdale-Tyndale group. They
were combinations of Tyndale's work and Coverdale's, with
minor changes. The first of these (1537) is known as Mat
thew's Bible. This was nothing else than Tyndale's ver
sion of the New Testament, and of the Old Testament
as far as he had completed it, namely to II Chronicles,
together with Coverdale's translation of the remainder
of the Old Testament. It was edited by John Rogers,
a close friend of Tyndale, with whom the latter had
left his unfinished manuscript of the Old Testament.
It bore the name of Thomas Matthew on the title-page,
but this was probably an assumed name adopted by
Rogers himself. There was a preface dedicating the
book to King Henry, and a Hcense was secured from
him permitting copies of it " to be bought and read
within this realm." How great a vindication this was
for T3mdale is shown by the fact that the book not only
contained aU of his translation, so far as he had com
pleted it, but also many of his marginal notes, expressing
ideas to which Henry had been hostile.
It is probable that the King did not examine these
notes very closely when he gave the permit to seU it,
and possibly his Protestant advisers were a bit nervous
on this account; for the next year the chancellor called
MUes Coverdale again into service and asked him to

262 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
prepare a new edition without notes. Coverdale took
as the basis of the work, not his translation of 1535,
but Matthew's Bible, of which only the latter part of
the Old Testament was his own work, while the rest
was Tyndale's.
This second Tyndale-Coverdale version was known
as the Great Bible, because of the large size of the
volumes. By royal edict, a copy of this edition was
set up in every church throughout the kingdom. We
read that six copies were set up in convenient places
in St. Paul's Church in London, and so great was the
enthusiasm for reading them that it was necessary to
admonish the people not to come in crowds nor to be
disorderly. In spite of this, the bishop of the cathedral
complained that " divers wiUful and unlearned persons
read the same at the time of divine service, yea in the
time of the sermon." Evidently many persons found
the Bible more interesting than the sermon. Thus at
last had Tyndale with Coverdale's help brought the entire
Bible even to the boy who foUowed the plow.
The Psalms in the Episcopal Prayerbook as used today
are taken from the Great Bible, and are from Coverdale's
translation as Tyndale's work had stopped with II
Chronicles. They were retained by the church authori
ties, in spite of many enors, because the people had
come to love so much the tendemess and poetic beauty
of Coverdale's wording. It was Coverdale who intro
duced into our Bible the expressions " loving-kindness,"
and " tender mercy."
A revision of the Great Bible, the third in this Tyndale-
Coverdale group, was pubUshed about thirty years later,
and was known as the Bishop's Bible, because a number
of prominent bishops had contributed to it. This
revision did not vary from the " Great Bible " in many
places, and unfortunately some of the changes were not
improvements. It is of interest to us chiefly because
the scholars who prepared the King James Version
used it as the basis of their work. It may, therefore.

A MASTERPIECE OF LITERATURE 263
be called the lineal ancestor of that version. Through
it the work of Tyndale and Coverdale was handed on
to future generations.
The Puritan and Roman Catholic Bibles
There were two other English versions which the King
James translators frequently consulted. One of these
was the Geneva Bible, the work of Puritan exiles who
fled to Geneva, during the reign of the Roman Catholic
queen Mary (1553-1558). The other was the so-called
Rheims-Douay Bible, prepared in tum by Roman Catholic
exiles in France, after Mary had been succeeded by the
Protestant Elizabeth.
The leading spirit in the preparation of the Geneva
Bible was WiUiam Whittingham. He and his associates
were thorough students and conected many enors in
the earlier versions. Many of their expressions, especially
in the prophetical books, are retained in the Authorized
Version. Puritan ideas were expressed in marginal
notes. This was the flrst English version in which
the Bible text was divided into chapters and verses, as
at present. The Hebrew text had been so divided for
many centuries. As for the Greek text of the New
Testament, it is said that the verses were made by
Stephen, a French scholar, associated with these English
Puritans at Geneva, and inserted in his Greek Testament
while he was on a joumey on horseback about the year
1551. The Geneva Bible was published in 1660, in a
small convenient size, and in clear Roman type rather
than the old Gothic or black-letter. It became very
poptUar with the mass of the English people. It was
the Bible used by Shakespeare. Copies of it were
probably brought to America by the Pilgrim Fathers,
on the Mayflower.
The great influence of these various translations by
Protestants finally made it necessary for the Roman
CathoHc leaders to prepare an Enghsh version for use
among their people. The task was undertaken by

264 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
professors in the Roman Catholic Seminary for English
students located at Rheims and later moved to Douay.
The New Testament was issued at Rheims in 1582, and
the Old Testament at Douay in 1609. Notes were added
giving the Roman Catholic interpretation of disputed
texts. This translation was made not from the original Greek
and Hebrew, but from the Vulgate and therefore per
petuates the enors of the Latin. However, it brought
over into English much of the stateliness and dignity
of the Latin, and many noble renderings in the King
James Version were taken from it.
The Making of the King James Version
In January, 1604, soon after the death of Queen Eliza
beth, and the accession of James I, a conference of church
leaders was called by the king, to discuss certain ques
tions of ecclesiastical policy. Among other things it was
suggested that a new translation of the Bible should
be made. King James at once favored the idea, partly
because he was himself something of a scholar, and Hked
to display his attainments. He was also greatly dis
satisfied with the marginal notes of the Genevan Bible
which had already gained a wide circulation. The
Puritan translators of this version were strongly demo
cratic in their sentiments, and did not beHeve in the divine
right of kings. King James pointed out two marginal
notes in particular which offended him. In a note on the
first chapter of Exodus, the Hebrew women were praised
for resisting the tyranny of Pharaoh. In I Chron.
15:16, the narrative tells how Asa deposed his mother
from being queen. The translators added in the margin
that Asa ought not only to have deposed her, but should
also have killed her. These notes, said King James,
" savored too much of traitorous and dangerous
conceits." With the king's approval and support, the plans for a
new translation were carried out. About fifty of the

A MASTERPIECE OF LITERATURE 265
leading scholars in the kingdom were selected and divided
hato six groups, two m. Cambridge, two in Oxford, and
two in London. A certain section of the Bible was
given to each group, and a small committee representing
all the groups went over the entire work and prepared
it for the press. It was pubhshed in 1611, with a preface
giving some account of the purpose of the work, and the
manner in which it was done: " Truly, good Christian
reader, we never thought from the beginning that we
should need to make a new translation, nor yet to make
of a bad one a good one — but to make a good one
better, or out of many good ones one principal good
one, not justly to be excepted against; that hath been
our endeavor, that our mark. Neither did we disdain
to revise that which we had done and to bring back to
the anvU that which we had hammered. But having
and using as great helps as were needful and fearing no
reproach for slowness, nor coveting praise for expedition
we have at length through the good hand of the Lord
upon us, brought the work to that pass that you see."
This version has taken its place as one of the master
pieces of English Uterature. Its greatness is largely
due to the eagerness and good judgment with which
its authors adopted for their own all that was best in
earlier versions. Like the original books of the Bible
this translation is therefore the product of no single
individual, but rather of an epoch, and that epoch one
of the greatest and noblest in English history.
To appreciate the beauty of the King James Version,
we may weU tum for a contrast to a selection from an
attempted improvement which was published in 1768.
" A gentleman of a splendid family and opulent fortune
had two sons. One day the younger approached his
father and begged him in the most importunate and
soothing terms to make a partition of his effects betwixt
himself and his elder brother. The indulgent father
overcome by his blandishments immediately divided
all his fortunes betwixt them." Compare this with:

266 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
" A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them
said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods
that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his
living." Perhaps the best description of this great version is
that of Faber. " It lives on the ear Hke music that
can never be forgotten, Hke the sound of church beUs
which the convert hardly knows how he can forego.
It is part of the national mind and the anchor of the
national seriousness. The memory of the dead passes
into it. The potent traditions of childhood are stereo
typed in its verses. The power of aU the griefs and trials
of a man is hidden beneath its words. It is the repre
sentative of his best moments, and all that has been
about him of soft and gentle and pure and penitent and
good speaks to him forever out of his English Bible. It
is his sacred thing which doubt has never dimmed and
controversy never soUed."

CHAPTER XLIV
A QUEST POR PERFECT ACCURACY
¦The English and American Revisions
Great as were the merits of the King James Version
of the Bible it was inevitable that after three centuries
a revision would be necessary. One reason for this was
of course the gradual modification of the English lan
guage. Many words in common use in 1611 are entirely
obsolete today; for example, leasing, for lying (Psalm
4:2), and daysman for umpire (Job 9: 33). Other words
have changed in meaning; let is no longer used in the
sense of hinder (II Thess. 2 : 7.) Grammatical con
structions have also changed; as the use of " its," where
the King James Version always uses " his."
An even more important reason for a new revision
was the fact that the version of 1611 was made from
comparatively late and imperfect manuscripts. In chap
ter thirty-eight we saw that enors quickly crept into
the written manuscripts of the biblical books, and that
these enors gradually multiplied as time went on. The
Greek manuscripts used by the King James translators
aU dated from as late as 800 A.D., and contained many
enors. The Oldest Greek New Testaments
There were in existence, however, although inaccessible
to those scholars of 1611, many copies of the Greek New
Testament which were centuries older. It is fortunate
for us that the parchment of which these old books were
made has proved so durable. Our modem paper is
perishable. Experts are in doubt whether any books of
the twentieth century, even those printed on linen paper,
wUl survive two hundred years of time. On the other
267

268 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
hand, the papyrus of ancient times, although its fibers
were easily broken, was far more durable than the paper
of today; whUe some of the parchment books have
survived very rough treatment.
Very soon after the publication of the King James
Version, some of these older and more reliable manu
scripts were made available for English scholars. Since
that time others have come to light. AU these manu
scripts, both recent and early, are now listed under
certain letters or numbers, as Codex A, or Codex B,
and the location of each is known to all scholars. Photo
graphic fac-similes of the most important ones have
been distributed among all the leading libraries of the
world. We may mention four of them, namely codices
A, B, C and Aleph. As Professor Gregory says, these
stand forth among the rest, like David's four mighty
men. Codex A was given to Charles I of England by the
Patriarch of Constantinople in 1628. It is now in the
British Museum. It was probably written about 425
A.D. Codex B has been in the Vatican library at Rome at
least since 1475, but it is only within the last century
that scholars have been permitted to see it. It was
written at least as early as 350 A.D.
Codex C has been for many centuries in Paris. It
belongs to a class of manuscripts known as PaUmpsests.
This means that sometime during the middle ages,
when writing material was scarce, the monks in charge
of the library, where it was kept, seeing that the ink
had faded and was almost illegible, tore the leaves apart,
and used them for copying other things, of little or no
interest to us. Modem scholars, however, by applying
chemicals, have caused the original letters to stand out
more distinctly, so that with patient study most of the
words may be deciphered. Only about three-fifths of
the New Testament, however, is preserved. The leaves
containing the remainder were doubtless thrown away.

MANUSCRIPT DISCOVERED BY TISCHENDORF ON MOUNT SINAI.
Reduced one-fifth from the fac-simile edited by Professor Lake and published by the Clarendon Press
(Oxford and London).

A QUEST POR PERFECT ACCURACY 269
But though it comes to us maimed and disfigured, Hke a
traveler from a long and dangerous voyage, this manu
script bears a priceless testimony regarding the conect
wording of the New Testament books. The original
writing dates from about 450 A.D.
Codex Aleph, the fourth of the " mighty men," has
also had a somewhat exciting history. In the year 1844 a
young scholar named Tischendorf, from the University
of Leipsig, visited the monastery of St. Catherine at
Mount Sinai. While there he found in a wastebasket
forty-three leaves of an old manuscript, and the monks
let him have them. He also saw other leaves which they
refused to give him. These forty-three leaves proved to
be from an old copy of the Greek translation of the Old
Testament, and Tischendorf determined to get the rest of
the manuscript some day if possible. Nine years later he
returned to the monastery, and again fifteen years later,
in 1859, he made a third visit and spent some days there
without success. But the night before he was to leave,
the steward of the monastery invited him to his room, and
showed him a great pile of leaves of parchment, wrapped
in cloth on a shelf. The steward allowed him to take the
pUe to his room, and he sat up all night looking at it, in
an ecstasy of joy, for it proved to contain not merely the
Greek Old Testament but also the New Testament
complete; and to his practiced eye, it was clear that the
writing was very old. The next moming he tried to get
the monks to let him have it, but they refused. Ten
years later (in 1869), however, it was secured from them
by the Russian govemment, and it may now be seen in
the Imperial Library at Petrograd.
This manuscript and Codex B, at the Vatican, are
probably the two best Greek manuscripts so far dis
covered. It is believed that they both belonged to a
collection of fifty Bibles prepared for the Emperor
Constantine at Csesarea, in 331, under the direction of
Eusebius, the church historian. Indeed to judge from

270 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
peculiarities of the handwriting, the same scribe wrote
parts of both.
In addition to these Greek manuscripts, there have
recently been discovered a number of copies of very
ancient translations of the New Testament. A very
valuable Syriac New Testament was discovered in 1892,
by two English ladies, Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson,
in the same monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai
where Tischendorf found Codex Aleph. These ancient
translations are invaluable witnesses to the conect
Greek wording. The Science of Textual Criticism
Not only have we found these older and more accurate
copies of the New Testament, but modem scholars
have also leamed to use to better advantage whatever
manuscripts they may have. A new science has grown
up called textual criticism, which is the science of dis
covering, in accordance with certain laws, the most
accurate wording of ancient writings. One of the most
important laws of this science is that of genealogy.
When a copy is made from any manuscript, the new copy
is a child, as it were, of the older one, and inherits its
mistakes. Now there are about three thousand known
manuscripts of the Greek New Testament, including
incomplete copies. Scholars have discovered that these
all belong to two or three great families, according to
their differences in wording, and the value of a manu
script depends in no small degree on its family. Even
though it may not be very ancient, yet if it belongs to
a good family, it is more likely to be accurate than one
which is older, but which comes from a less accurate
ancestry. As the frait of an enormous amount of labor, in which
these principles have been followed, revised Greek texts
have been published in recent years, which probably are
nearly identical with the original autograph copies of
the New Testament books.

A QUEST POR PERFECT ACCURACY 271
The English and American Revisions
All these new manuscripts, and the scientific prog
ress of _ modem scholars finally have made possible
translations of the Bible which represent far more ac
curately the original meaning of the writers, than the
King James Version. In 1870, aU the leading scholars
in England were invited to join in the preparation of
a Revised Version. There was a committee of thirty-
seven for the Old Testament, and twenty-seven for the
New Testament. Meetings were held in Westminster
Abbey for more than ten years. There was a similar
committee in the United States, and the suggestions of
these American scholars were carefully considered by
the EngUsh committee. Finally in 1881, the New
Testament was pubUshed. So great was the general
interest that the entire New Testament in its new
form was actually sent by telegraph from New York
to Chicago and published in one of the newspapers.
The revised Old Testament was published in 1885.
These editions constitute what is known as the EngUsh
Revision. There was, however, room for further improvement,
and the American committee decided to continue its
organization. In 1901 they published an American
Revised Version, which embodied a large number of
alterations which the Enghsh committee had rejected,
and also other changes.
These revised versions retain the beautiful language
and wording of the King James Version so far as possible,
and introduce changes only in the interests of accuracy
or when they are made necessary by changes in Enghsh
usage. The Revised Version of the New Testament is much
more satisfactory than that of the Old Testament. It
is generally believed that much work remains to be
done on the latter. This is because it is so difficult to
conect the Hebrew text. We saw that all the copies of

272 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
the Old Testament books in Hebrew, except the one which
the Rabbis chose for a standard, were lost or destroyed.
This standard text is on the whole a very good one, but
it is not perfect. There are not a few passages which
really do not make sense at aU, as they stand. In some
places the Greek translation gives a better sense, and
in many such cases it is evident that the Greek translators
had a more accurate Hebrew text before them, than
the one which has come down to us. Yet scholars have
hesitated to use the Greek translation in conecting the
Old Testament, because it also is full of enors. In
recent years, however, scholars have leamed how to use
the Greek in spite of its enors. Several exceUent transla
tions of the Old, as well as of the New Testament, have
been made by individual Biblical scholars and are already
being widely and profitably used, for they are based on
the established results of recent scholarship and express
the thoughts of the biblical writers in clear, vigorous
English idioms. We shall perhaps see in the not distant
future a complete English translation of the Old Testa
ment which will be the greatest forward step in the
whole history of English Old Testament revisions.
In the meantime, the American Standard Version is
widely recognized as the most accurate complete trans
lation now cunent among English-speaking peoples.

CHAPTER XLV
THE BIBLE IN NON-CHRISTIAN LANDS
The Story of the Missionary Translations
The story of the missionary translations of the Bible
goes back almost to the time of the apostles. Within
a century after the New Testament was completed, it
had been rendered into Latin, Syriac and Coptic. Before
the close of the first six Christian centuries, the Bible
was known in eight languages. During the period of
the Reformation this number grew to twenty-four.
Then with the beginning of the nineteenth century
came a wonderful development of foreign missions in
almost all parts of the globe which has now continued
for more than a hundred years with steadily increasing
momentum. As a result, the Bible has now been trans
lated in whole or in part into more than four hundred
and fifty languages. Some of these are now obsolete;
and the total number of living tongues in which the Bible
is used and circulated is 432. Of these, 56 are in Europe,
50 in North and South America, 58 m Australia and
the South Sea Islands, 117 in Africa, and 175 in Asia.
It is estimated that seven out of every ten of the world's
inhabitants have had the Gospel story provided for them
in their own tongue. There are stiU a large number
of minor languages or dialects, spoken by a Hmited
number of people, into which the Bible has not been
translated. Most of these, however, are rapidly dis
appearing and the people who spoke them are adopting
one of the great civiUzed tongues. Thus the ideal set
forth in the story of Pentecost has been reahzed. The
nations of the world have heard the Gospel proclaimed,
aU " in their own language wherein they were bom."
Even from the scientific point of view this is a remark
able achievement. The science of language, or com-
273

274 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
parative phUology has been made possible by the labors
of these devoted missionary translators. Some of them
were really geniuses in this field. WiUiam Carey, the
great missionary to India, was one of the greatest lin
guists known to history. It is said that he supervised
the publication of the Bible in no less than forty different
languages. Many of these translations were his own
work. EUas Riggs, the American missionary to Turkey,
was another genius. He had a working knowledge of
twenty languages, was master of twelve, and gave the
Bible to four nations. These men are only two of scores
of others who might be mentioned with honor.
Nearly all of the great missionary translators were
aided in their labors by a most noteworthy agency,
the British and Foreign Bible Society, with its branches
or allied organizations in America and elsewhere. This
movement began in 1802. The attention of the Christian
leaders of England had been called to the need for a
wider distribution of a Welsh translation of the Bible
in Wales. " Surely a society might be formed for this
purpose. But if for Wales, why not for the kingdom?
Why not for the world? " So spoke Rev. Joseph Hughes,
a Baptist minister. And his suggestion led to the organ
ization of the British and Foreign Bible Society, with
the purpose of encouraging the wider circulation of
the Bible without note or comment. This society and
its sister societies have helped to support missionary
translators, and have undertaken the printing of large
numbers of these missionary versions. They have also
kept large numbers of colporteurs or Bible salesmen in
the field who in the course of the century have distributed
literally hundreds of millions of Bibles, in every continent,
from the frozen north, to the burning tropics.
The Romance of Missionary Translation
The difficulties involved in the work of translating the
Bible into these many languages, and the skiU, per
sistence and heroism with which they have been over-

THE BIBLE IN NON-CHRISTIAN LANDS 275
come, form a most fascinating story. In many cases,
the missionaries were the first visitors from western civUi-
zation to the regions in which they worked, and they
had to solve the mysteries of the language single handed,
and unaided by interpreters. Sometimes many years
passed before they succeeded in discovering all the
words which were necessary for expressing the Christian
message. Rev. WiUis R. Hotchkiss, a missionary to
Africa, says that he spent two and a half years looking
for a single word. How he finaUy discovered it, he
teUs as foUows: " One night my people were seated
around the campfire. I Hstened to their stories, and
finaUy my head-man, Kikuni, told a story from which
I hoped much, a story of a man who was kUled by a
Hon. But he never said a word which I could construe
to be the one I wanted. I was about to tum away when
he said ' Bwana nukuthaniwa ne Kiktmi.' (The master
was saved by Kikuni.) I immediately said to him
' Uku thani Bwana? ' (You saved the master?) 'Yes,'
said he. ' Why ' said I, ' this is the word I've been wanting
you to teU me all these days, because I wanted to tell
you that Jesus died to  ' ' Master, I understand now !'
he shouted, his black face lighting up in the lurid blaze
of the campfire. ' This is what you have been trying
to tell us aU these moons. Jesus died to save us from

Reducing Languages to Writing
Hundreds of languages have been reduced to writing
for the first time, by missionary translators. In most
cases our English (i.e. Roman) letters have been found
sufficient to express all the sounds. In one case, however,
a most ingenious system of characters, somewhat like
our shorthand, was devised. The inventor was Rev.
James Evans, missionary to the Cree Indians in north
west Canada. These Indians were obliged to live by
hunting and fishing, and hence could not stay long in
one place. If they were to leam to read, therefore.

276 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
they needed a very simple system of letters, which, if
possible, would do away with the necessity of leaming
to spell. The plan worked out by Mr. Evans was a
great success. He made his own type out of the sheets
of lead which lined the tea-chests brought in by the fur
traders. For ink, he used a mixture of soot and stur
geon's oil. For paper, he used white birch-bark. In
a very short time, nearly every Indian in the tribe was
eagerly reading these pieces of " talking bark." Later
on, a fine set of type was made, and real paper books
were printed, using the new characters. These were
adopted by other Indian tribes, and are said to be still
in use. The Lack of Words for Bible Ideas
To express the rich and varied ideas of the Bible in
a crude dialect containing perhaps only a few hundred
words, is found to be a most perplexing task. Suppose
we are trying to give the Bible to a tropical island in
the South Seas, where the temperature never falls below
the freezing point; how shaU we translate into their
language. Job 38:29?
Out of whose womb came the ice?
And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
StiU more perplexing is the problem of finding words to
express the lofty moral and spiritual truths of the Bible.
For example there was no word for God in the Chinese
language. The nearest approaches to it were words
meaning ghosts, or the sun. The languages of heathen
tribes are generaUy very deficient in words for righteous
ness or moral goodness. In the languages of Tahiti
there was no word for faith. How could there be, when
the whole atmosphere of their life was suspicion! In
Maori there was no word for hope; they had no use for
such a word ; their Hves were too full of hopelessness.
To meet these difficulties the translators sometimes
coined new words, or imported words from more civilized

THE BIBLE IN NON-CHRISTIAN LANDS 277
languages. More often, however, they took the best
words they could find in the native tongue, and sought
to read into them new meaning. For example, in Malag
asy, the native language of Madagascar, there was no
word for purity; so the translators used the word " white
ness"; and this word thus became freighted with a
wealth of new meaning. In many languages there was
originaUy no word for conscience; so the missionaries
had to take some word like " meditation " and explain
as best they could the new sense in which they used
it. This method has proved very successful. When
the Bible has been rendered into a heathen language,
it has had the same result as when the trath of the Bible
has entered into the heart of a human being. It has
been a purifying, transforming, ennobling influence.
The Power of the Bible as a Missionary Agency
John G. Paton, in his autobiography, tells of the welcome
which was given to his first translation of Bible books
in the language of Aniwa, in the New Hebrides Islands.
" ' Missi, is it done? ' said the old chief Nomakei.
' Can it speak? '
" ' Yes.'
" ' Does it speak my words? '
" ' It does.'
" ' Make it speak to me, Missi. Let me hear it speak.'
I read to him a part of the book, and the old man shouted
in an ecstasy of joy."
Then the missionary taught the old man his alphabet,
first fitting his eyes with glasses, for he was nearsighted.
And from that time on, whenever people came around
him he would get out his little book. " Come," he
would say, " I wiU let you hear how the book speaks
our own Aniwan words. You say it is hard to leam to
read, and make it speak. But be strong and try. If an
old man like me has done it, it ought to be much easier
for you."
In the Hindu province of ^Dacca missionary explorers

278 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
once discovered several villages of Hindu peasants, who
had given up idol-worship, were renowned for their
truthfulness, and were searching for a trae teacher come
from God. They called themselves Satya-Gooroos. When
the missionaries inquired how they had come by this
religion, they brought out a much wom book kept in
a wooden box in one of their vUlages. No one could
say whence it came. They only knew that they had
possessed it many years. It was a copy of the BengaH
New Testament, translated by WiUiam Carey.
The annals of the Bible societies contain many such
incidents, showing the power of the Bible message over
the human heart, even when carried by lifeless ink and
paper. The Bible is a book of life. It is forever demand
ing to be translated and the translation into spoken
or written words is but the first step. The next step,
and the next, and the next, is the endless process of
translation into living deeds.

CHAPTER XLVI
THE BIBLE AND THE SPADE
The Discoveries of Modern Archeology
In many ways the century in which we are living is
the greatest century of Bible study that the world has
yet seen. Not only do we have an accurate and beautiful
translation of the Bible in English; not only have similar
translations been made into nearly all modem languages;
but a flood of new light has been shed on the meaning
of the Bible, especially by the wonderful discoveries of
those patient investigators who with pick and spade
have gradually been uncovering the buried ruins of the
civiUzations of Bible times. The story of their labors
is a romance in itself.
Deciphering the Hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt
AU through the Middle Ages, travelers from Europe
stood in amazement before the pyramids, temples and
monuments of Egypt, and looked in puzzled wonder at
the many strange inscriptions upon them. These were
evidently a kind of picture-writing, but the meaning was
an absolute mystery.
A clue to the solution of the problem was not found
untU 1799. In that year some engineers connected with
Napoleon's army discovered a large slab of black granite
on which an inscription was carved in three languages,
in parallel Unes, one of which was Greek; the other
two appeared to be different forms of Egyptian. This
famous fragment of rock is caUed the Rosetta stone.
(Now in the British Museum.) Of course the Greek
was quickly spelled out and translated; it proved to be a
decree by Egyptian priests in honor of Ptolemy V and
his queen Cleopatra. But even with the Greek as a
key, it was no easy matter to decipher the Egyptian
279

280 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
words in the paraUel lines. Where did the words begin
and end? Were they spelled out alphabetically, or
was there a special sign for each word as in Chinese?
The answers to all these questions were finally found by
a French scholar, ChampoUion. He heard about the
Rosetta stone in 1802, when he was a boy of 11, and
even from this early age, his chief ambition in Hfe was
the decipherment of that wonderful unknown language.
He first succeeded in identifying certain proper names,
such as Alexander, Ptolemy and Cleopatra and then
used these to work out the other words. When he died
in 1832, he had translated many Egyptian texts, and
had gathered the necessary facts for an Egyptian gram
mar and lexicon.
Since then, the scholars of the world have graduaUy
laid before us the whole story of the ancient Egyptian
life, which influenced Hebrew history at so many points.
We have found inscriptions of old Ramses II, the king
who " knew not Joseph," and have read his own account
of the great buildings on which his serfs were compelled
to labor. We have unearthed his store-city Pithom,
built by the Hebrews, and we find that the upper layers
of bricks are in part " without straw." We even have
his body preserved as a mummy.
We are also given a much fuller knowledge of the
concrete life out of which all the events grew, of which
we read in the books of Genesis and Exodus. Thus
the Bible nanatives are not only confirmed and verified,
but are made more real to our imagination, and more
full of human interest.
The Story of the Cuneiform Inscriptions
There was another unknown script, by which European
travelers in the Orient were long puzzled. The Arabs
call it mismari, or nail-writing. The usual term for it
is cuneiform or wedge-shaped writing. The illustration
facing page 92, will show the appropriateness of these
names. Inscriptions in these wedge-shaped characters

THE MOABITE STONE.

THE BIBLE AND THE SPADE 281
were observed in Persia as early as 1472 by Josaphat Bar-
baro, a Venetian traveler, and by others, but until modem
times this writing was as uninteUigible as the Egyptian.
The scholars who undertook to decipher it were not
fortunate enough to find a key like the Rosetta stone,
with sentences in Greek running paraUel with the un
known writing. It was rightly surmised, however, that
the majority of these Persian inscriptions must represent
the Persian language, which was already known in
another form. Early in the nineteenth century, the great
German scholar Grotefend, by patient effort distin
guished certain recurring groups of characters, which
he thought were records of Persian kings. This group
of characters he surmised might conespond to the Persian
words meaning ' ' great king, king of kings. ' ' It turned out
that he had found the clue to the labyrinth, and soon
many of these Persian inscriptions were deciphered and
translated. There were other cuneiform inscriptions, however,
in which the same characters were used, but out of which
no Persian words could be made, and which were evi
dently in another language. This, as we now know,
was Babylonian or Assyrian, a language which the
human race had whoUy forgotten for more than a thou
sand years. Already, however, inscriptions had been
found which were written both in Persian and in Baby
lonian, and now that the sounds of many of the cuneiform
characters had been discovered, these paraUel inscriptions
soon gave up their secrets to a number of brilliant scholars
working independently. One of the most famous of
them was an English army officer. Sir Henry RawUnson.
In the Zagros mountains in Persia, near where Rawlinson
was at one time stationed, there is an enormous Persian-
Babylonian inscription carved on the face of the Behistun
precipice, 600 feet above the level of the plain, with
characters from eleven to twelve feet high. Rawlinson
copied part of this inscription with the aid of a field-
glass, in 1836, and later risked his life chmbing the face

282 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
of the cliff and finishing his copy. In 1846 he pubUshed
a translation of the Persian text, and in 1851 a translation
of 112 hues of the Babylonian text. He also made a
transliteration of the Babylonian words into Enghsh
letters showing how they should be pronounced. "Thus
the ancient speech of the Tigris-Euphrates vaUey had
now come to life again, on the lips of these tireless scholars.
At about the same period, excavations were undertaken
on the great mounds near the Tigris river, in the territory
of ancient Assyria, by the French consul, Botta, an
Englishman named A. H. Layard, and others. The
earth had scarcely been scratched, before wonderful
sculptured images and monuments began to come to Hght,
covered with cuneiform inscriptions. Ere long, the ex
plorers found themselves standing amidst the uncovered
ruins of palaces which had been the pride of the con
querors of the world. It was hard to beHeve that the
original inhabitants had been dead three thousand years :
so striking were the traces of their every-day life; e.g.,
bake-shops, wine-cellars, and agricultural implements.
Some of the iron tools were so well preserved that they
could still be used, and were used, in the excavations.
The excitement of these discoveries stined the world.
Even the ignorant Arab workmen caught the spirit.
One day when the Enghsh explorer Layard was visiting
a neighboring sheUdi, some distance from the excavations,
he observed two Arabs approaching on horseback at
top speed. " Hasten, O Bey," they exclaimed, " hasten
to the diggers, for they have found Nimrod himself.
Wallah it is wonderful, but it is trae! We have seen
him with our eyes. There is no God, but God." Re
turning with them, Layard found that they had indeed
unearthed an enormous winged lion with a human head,
which they thought must be an image of Nimrod himself.
It is now in the British Museum.
Among the greatest of these discoveries, in its relation
to our knowledge of the Bible, was an entire library
of inscribed clay tablets, the library of the Assyrian

THE BIBLE AND THE SPADE 283
ruler, Asshur-banipal. (Discovered about 1850.) Since
that time, in the face of danger from disease, and from
hostUe Arab tribes, simUar excavations have been made
in many places in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. An
enormous quantity, UteraUy ship-loads, of carvings and
clay tablets and other material, has been found.
Something of what this has meant to Bible students,
we have already seen in the preceding chapters of
this book. As a result of these discoveries, we have
the Babylonian Deluge story, which throws much light
on the origin of the story of Noah in the Bible. We
have the law-code of Hammurabi, similar in many ways
to the early Hebrew law-codes. We have the personal
memoirs of Shahnanezar, Tiglath-Pilezer, Sargon, Sen
nacherib, Nebuchadrezzar, and other Assyrian and
Babylonian kings mentioned in the Bible, giving their
own versions of their relations with the people of Israel,
and mentioning by name, many of the Hebrew kings,
such as Omri, Jehu and Hezekiah. In short, it was not
merely dead languages which came to Ufe when the
cuneiform and the Egyptian scripts were deciphered;
rather has a dead world come to life, the larger world
of that ancient civihzation of which the little nation of
Israel was in some ways a very smaU but exceedingly
important part. Explorations in Palestine
One might suppose that it would be the sacred soil of
Palestine itself to which the explorer would tum most
eagerly with his spade, and from which the most precious
relics of the past would be recovered. Unfortunately
the climate of Palestine, with its annual rainy season,
is not favorable to the preservation of written records,
or even of buUdings. Yet many interesting finds have
been made, among them being the conduit or water
tunnel, built by King Hezekiah to bring water to the
Pool of Siloam, inside the city waUs. (II Kings 20: 20.)
In the year 1880 some boys were swimming in this ancient

284 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
pool, and venturing up into the conduit a Httle distance,
they discovered a Hebrew inscription. This gives an
account of the buUding of the tunnel. It tells how the
two parties of workmen worked toward each other from
either end, and how when they were about three cubits
apart, they could hear each other's voices through the
rock. Another famous discovery in Palestine is the so-caUed
Moabite stone. (See illustration facing page 280.) This
large piece of basalt was found in 1868, in Moab, by a
German missionary named Klein. When he tried to
secure it for the British Museum, the native Arabs broke
it in pieces, thinking there must be treasure inside.
Most of the pieces were recovered and patched together,
and it is now in the Louvre, in Paris. The inscription
is from Mesha, king of Moab, who is mentioned in II
Kings 4:4-27. It gives Mesha's own story of his wars
against Omri and Ahab, kings of Israel. He conoborates
the nanative in the book of Kings.
Much has also been done in Palestine to identify the
exact sites where the events of Bible history took place.
Explorers in Galilee have rediscovered many of the
villages in which Jesus worked, as Chorazin, Bethsaida,
and Capernaum. The rains of an ancient synagogue have
been excavated on the site of Capernaum; and some
of the foundation stones may have been a part of the very
building in which Jesus preached.
Egyptian Papyri
Of all the countries in the world, the special paradise
of the archaeologist with his spade, is Egypt, for not
only was this country the home of one of the most ancient
of human civilizations, but it is a country where rain is
almost unknown, and where the atmosphere, from one
year's end to another, is as dry as the desert-sands by
which the land is sunounded. This has made possible
the discovery of an almost inexhaustible mine of buried
papyri, which we have just begun to appreciate. These

THE BIBLE AND THE SPADE 286
come from old heaps of waste paper. It seems to have
been the custom in Egypt not to bum waste papers,
but to dump them outside the town limits, and let the
sand sweep over them and bury them. As time went on,
more rubbish of this kind would accumulate and in tum
be buried. Near the site of every ancient Egyptian
vUlage, therefore, we can dig down today, through layer
after layer of these rubbish heaps, sometimes hundreds
of feet deep.
The most important discoveries thus far come from
early Christian times. There is one precious sheet, very
badly tom, which must have given its discoverers a thrill
of delight, when they read thereon the two words: " Jesus
saith." (See illustration facing page 286.) Among the
sayings of Jesus recorded on this papyrus are some
already included in the New Testament. There are
also new ones, and a few which are so full of deep
meaning that many believe them to be genuine utter
ances of the Great 'Teacher. Thus, " Jesus saith: Where-
ever there are two, they are not without God, and where
there is one only, I say I am with him. Raise the stone
and thou shalt find me; cleave the wood and there am I."
The large majority of the documents in this enormous
mass are of the. sort that one would expect to find in
a sack of waste paper nowadays, and at first sight are
utterly uninteresting. Among them are bills, receipts
and other business forms, official notes from lawyers'
offices, almanacs, and private letters from people of all
degrees of culture. Yet the explorers at work at this task
have carefully pieced together every tom and tattered
scrap, and have published many volumes containing photo
graphic copies of them. Surely a monumental waste of
labor, one might say. Why should you and I care to know,
for example, that some obscure person named Marcellus,
in some obscure Egyptian village, paid his landlord six
shiUings rent, on such and such a date? And yet, out
of this great mass of seemingly useless bits of writing
we have leamed one fact of the greatest importance

286 THE STORY OP OUR BIBLE
regarding the language of the New Testament, a fact
which is worth all the labor that has been expended.
Scholars have long been puzzled by the great difference
between the Greek of the New Testament, and all other
Greek books. Not only does it differ from the earlier
classical authors, such as Plato and Xenophon, but it
differs almost as greatly from Greek authors such as
Plutarch and Josephus, who wrote at about the same
general period as the New Testament. The older
explanation of these differences was that the apostles
wrote in the language of the Holy Ghost: that is, a
language which was never in common use, but was set
apart as it were, for the sacred Book.
We now know, however, from our study of these papyri
from Egyptian waste-baskets, that the language of the
apostles was nothing else than the tongue of the common
people ; the language which they used in their homes and
in the market-places. The other writers of that day,
Josephus for example, tried to imitate the so-caUed
classical authors, and their style is stilted and unnatural.
But the New Testament writers had the good sense to
avoid any such archaic, out-of-date language, and use
the every-day speech of the people. Thus once again
we see that the Bible has been from the very beginning
the book of the common people, adapted to their under
standing and needs.

RECENTLY DISCOVERED PAPYRUS:
SAYINGS OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XLVII
THE BIBLE, SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Rediscovering Human Elements in the Bible Books
Within the last generation the ideas of most persons
about the Bible have greatly changed. Formerly it was
regarded as an infallible authority on all subjects. The
final and conclusive argument in all questions, was " the
Bible says so." Questions of science and politics, as
well as of morals and religion, were decided by " proofs
of Holy Writ." Pro-slavery preachers in the United
States quoted the story of Noah and Canaan, and the
words, " Cursed be Canaan." Many books have been
written by temperance advocates to prove that Jesus
did not use wine, but unfermented grape juice. It
was supposed, of course, that whatever the Bible taught
on any subject, was absolutely binding on us today.
This attitude toward the Bible, however, has always
been beset with difficulties. The early Greek and Roman
opponents of Christianity were quick to point out in
consistencies in the various Bible nanatives, and called
attention to certain passages in the Old Testament which
reflect crude and undeveloped moral ideas, and which
impute to the Almighty human passions and weaknesses
such as the command to destroy aU the Canaanites with
out mercy, both men, women and children. The early
Christian leaders met these objections by interpreting
the Bible allegoricaUy . For example, the list of Canaanite
kings in Joshua was explained as a list of sins. This
method of explanation served its purpose very weU in
those days, and helped many a Christian to keep his
faith in the trath of the Bible. Unfortunately " if you
once begm such a system," as old St. Agobard of Lyons
remarked, " who can measure the absurdity which wiU
follow? " There are no Hmits except the powers of the
287

288 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
human imagination. The ass on which the Saviour
rode into Jerusalem on his triumphal entry, was explained
as the Old Testament, and the ass's colt as the New
Testament. The Shunamite maiden who was selected
to cherish David in his old age, was made to represent
divine wisdom. The condemnation of the serpent to
eat dust was explained as typifying the sin of curiosity,
since in eating dust he " penetrates the obscure and
shadowy." The drunkenness of Noah was even made
to typify the sufferings and death of Christ.
In the time of the Reformation, the greatest leaders,
such as Luther and Calvin, turned away from aU such
vagaries, and insisted that the Bible must be interpreted
in its plain, literal sense. This, however, brought back
the old difficulties arising from the inconsistencies and
the primitive ideas in some of the Bible nanatives.
The old tendency to regard the Bible as an absolutely
infallible book has been gradually modified in modem
times through the development of science and a more
careful study of the Bible itself. As long ago as the
Reformation, Galileo and Copernicus laid the foundations
of modem astronomy, showing that the earth is round,
and that it revolves around the sun, not the sun around
the earth. This new theory aroused a storm of criticism.
Luther called Copernicus a fool. GaHleo was tried for
heresy by the Roman Church, and was forced to renounce
his belief that the earth moves, although under his
breath he kept saying, " Yet it does move." Even
down to recent times many persons have refused to accept
these teachings of astronomy, because the Bible speaks
of " the comers of the earth."
After astronomy came geology. The first chapter of
Genesis tells us that the earth was created in six days;
but the pioneers in geology, such as LyeU, found in the
rocks themselves unmistakable traces of a history
extending over millions of years. And then came Darwin
and his theory of evolution, according to which man
himself was not created outright from a lump of clay,

THE BIBLE, SCIENCE AND RELIGION 289
through the vitalizing breath of God, as described in
Genesis, but was evolved from a form simUar to the
lower animals of today, the process extending over
hundreds of thousands of years. Again there was a
great outcry against these new ideas, which were said
to be contrary to the Bible. It was indeed a painful
position in which Christians found themselves. Some
closed their eyes to the facts of science, and clung to the
Bible. Others accepted science, and felt compelled to
give up altogether their faith in the Bible and in Chris
tianity. '
Then there began a quiet movement on the part of a
few scholars, here and there, who neither denounced
the Bible as false, nor defended it as infallible, but simply
asked. What are these books which are grouped together
as the Bible ? Judging from the evidence of the language
in the books themselves, and the testimony of other
writers, when were they written, by whom, and in what
circumstances ? As long ago as the days of Louis XIV, in
France (about 1700), a physician named Astruc, a Roman
Catholic, wrote a book showing from the varying use
of the words Jehovah and God, that two documents were
used in the Pentateuch. In the nineteenth century,
this kind of investigation grew to be an independent
science. Among the pioneers was a German professor
named DeWette, who was driven out of Germany for
his writings, and compelled to take refuge in Switzerland.
This new science seems to show that the Bible is a very
human book. The laws of Moses are now seen to be
the product of centuries of experience on the part of
the Hebrew people, and were impressed on the minds
and hearts of the Hebrew people rather than written on
tables of stone. The prophets were great reformers,
preachers of righteousness, pointing out to the people
of their own generation their injustice to the weak,
and their disloyalty to Jehovah. They were not primarily
concemed with the prediction of future events although
they often warned their hearers of the future conse-

290 THE STORY OF OUR BIBLE
quences of their sins, and promised future rewards for
right conduct.
We cannot wonder that some were disturbed by this
new interpretation of the Bible. " If the Bible is not
true from cover to cover," they said, " then who knows
whether or not any of it is trae ? Let us have nothing to
do with it."
On the other hand, many more accepted these new
ideas, and suddenly discovered that to them the value
of the Bible had been extraordinarily increased. Though
they no longer expected to find it a textbook in natural
science, nor in all its parts equally authoritative even in
matters of morals and religion, yet they have found it their
chief source of inspiration for right living. They have seen
that it is no less a divine book for being so thoroughly
human. Just as God's spirit has found expression
through certain great souls, in all ages, and supremely
in Jesus Christ, so in the Bible writings, we see God's
trath becoming more and more perfectly expressed in
human words, and supremely in the great passages of
the prophets, psalmists, evangelists and apostles. We
see that the authors of the Bible were men and women
of " like passions with ourselves," subject to the same
temptations, sharing the same weaknesses, in need of
the same divine help, and we see more clearly than
before how near God is to each of us. Though he is
infinite Goodness, he is yet wilHng to dwell in the hearts
of imperfect and faulty human beings, in order to make
them Hke himself. He is eager to seek even a broken
and stammering expression of his truth in the utterances
of weak and erring human lips, in order that this utter
ance may grow ever clearer, and more splendid, as the
dim light of early dawn gradually grows into the glory
of perfect day.
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