The Story of the Bible
- Автор: Hurlbut Jesse Lyman
- Год: 1904
- Язык: английский
- Год: Heritage History
- Жанр: Культурология
Электронная книга - «The Story of the Bible». Краткое содержание книги:
A part of the Midianite army was able to get across the river, and to continue its flight toward the desert; but Gideon and his brave three hundred men followed closely after them; fought another battle with them, destroyed them utterly, and took their two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, whom he killed. After this great victory the Israelites were freed forever from the Midianites. They never again ventured to leave their home in the desert to make war on the tribes of Israel.
The tribe of Ephraim, in the middle of the land, was one of the most powerful of the twelve tribes. Its leaders were quite displeased with Gideon, because their part in the victory had been so small. They said to Gideon, in an angry manner, "Why did you not send word to us, when you were calling for men to fight the Midianites?"
But Gideon knew how to make a kind answer. He said to them, "What have I done as compared with you? Did you not kill thousands of the Midianites at the crossing of the Jordan? Did you not take their two princes, Oreb and Zeeb? What could my men have done without the help of your men?" By gentle words and words of praise Gideon made the men of Ephraim friendly.
And after this, as long as Gideon lived, he ruled as judge in Israel. The people wished him to make himself a king. "Rule over us as king," they said, "and let your son be king after you, and his son king after him." But Gideon said, "No; you have a king already; for the Lord God is the King of Israel. No one but God shall be king over these tribes."
Of all the fifteen men who ruled as judges in Israel, Gideon, the fifth judge, was the greatest, in courage, in wisdom, and in faith in God.
If all the people of Israel had been like him, there would have been no worship of idols, and no weakness before the enemies, Israel would have been strong and faithful before God. But as soon as Gideon died, and even before his death, his people began once more to turn away from the Lord and to seek the idol-gods that could give them no help.
Jephthah's Rash Promise, and What Came from It
Judges viii: 33, to xi: 40.
Although Gideon has refused to become a king, even when all the tribes desired after him, after his death, one of his sons, whose name was Abimelech, tried to make himself a king. He began by killing all his brothers, except one who escaped. But his rule was only over Shechem and a few places near it, and lasted only a few years; so that he was never named among the kings of Israel. Abimelech is sometimes called the sixth of the judges, though he did not deserve the title. After him came Tola, the seventh judge, and Jair, the eighth. Of these two judges very little is told.
After this the Israelites again began to worship the idols of the Canaanites, and again fell under the power of their enemies. The Ammonites came against them from the southeast and held rule over the tribes on the east of Jordan. This was the sixth of "the oppressions;" and the man who set Israel free was Jephthah. He called together the men of the tribes on the east of Jordan—Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—and fought against the Ammonites.
Before Jephthah went to battle he said to the Lord: "If thou wilt give me victory over the Ammonites, then when I come back from the battle, whatever comes out of the house to meet me shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt-offering.:
This was not a wise promise, nor a right one; for God had told the Israelites long before what offerings were commanded, as oxen and sheep, and what were forbidden. But Jephthah had lived on the border near the desert, far from the house of God at Shiloh, and he knew very little about God's law.
Jephthah fought the Ammonites and won a victory, and drove the enemies out of the land. Then, as he was going back to his home, his daughter, who was his only child, came out to meet him, leading the young girls, her companions, dancing and making music, to welcome his return. When Jephthah saw her he cried out in sorrow, "Oh, my daughter, what trouble you bring with you! I have given a promise to the Lord, and now I must keep it!"
JEPHTHAH MOURNING FOR HIS DAUGHTER
As soon as his daughter had learned what promise her father had made she met it bravely, as a true daughter of Israel. She said:
"My father, you have made a solemn promise to the Lord, and you shall keep it, for God has given to you victory over the enemies of your people. But let me live a little while and weep with my young friends over the death that I must suffer."
JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER AND HER YOUNG FRIENDS
For two months she stayed with the young girls upon the mountains, for perhaps she feared that if she was at home with her father he would fail to keep his promise. Then she gave herself up to death, and her father did with her as he had promised.
JEPHTHAH OFFERS UP HIS DAUGHTER
In all the history of the Israelites this was the only time when a living man or woman was offered in sacrifice to the Lord. Among all the nations around Israel the people offered human lives, even those of their own children, to the idols which they worshipped.
But the people of Israel remembered what God had taught Abraham when he was about to offer up Isaac; and they never, except this once, laid a human offering upon God's altar. (See Story Ten, Part First.) If Jephthah had lived near the Tabernacle at Shiloh, and had been taught God's law, he would not have given such a promise, for God did not desire it, and his daughter's life would have been saved. From all these stories it is easy to see how the Israelites lived during the three hundred years while the judges ruled. There was no strong power to which all gave obedience; but each family lived as it chose. Many people worshipped the Lord; but many more turned from the Lord to the idols, and then turned back to the Lord, after they had fallen under the hand of their enemies. In one part of the land they were free; in another part they were ruled by the foreign peoples.
The Strong Man: How He Lived and How He Died
Judges xiii: 1, to xvi: 31.
After Jephthah three judges ruled in turn, named Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. None of these were men of ear, and in their days the land was quiet.
But the people of Israel again began to worship idols; and as a punishment God allowed them once more to pass under the power of their enemies. The seventh oppression, which now fell upon Israel, was by far the hardest, the longest, and the most widely spread of any, for it was over all the tribes. It came from the Philistines, a strong and warlike people, who lived on the west of Israel upon the plain beside the Great Sea. They worshipped an idol called Dagon, which was made in the form of a fish's head on a man's body.
Three people, the Philistines, send their armies up from the plain beside the sea to the mountains of Israel, and overran all the land.
They took away from the Israelites all their swords and spears, so that they could not fight; and they robbed their land of all the crops, so that the people suffered for want of food. And as before, the Israelites in their trouble cried to the Lord, and the Lord heard their prayer.
In the tribe land of Dan, which was next to the country of the Philistines, there was living a man named Manoah. One day an angel came to his wife, and said, "You shall have a son; and when he grows up he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. But your son must never drink any wine or strong drink as long as he lives. And his hair must be allowed to grow long, and must never be cut, for he shall be a Nazarite under a vow to the Lord."
When a child was given especially to God, or when a man gave himself to some work for God, he was forbidden to drink wine, and as a sign, his hair was left to grow long while the vow or promise to God was upon him. Such a person as this was called a Nazarite, a work which means "one who has a vow," and Manoah's child was to be a Nazarite, and under a vow, as long as he lived.