Part 5

By and by God gave Adam and Eve two sons. The eldest was named Cain, who helped Adam till the ground; and the younger was named Abel, who was a keeper of sheep.

After a time, both these young men brought an offering to the Lord; and the Lord accepted the offering of Abel, which was a lamb from the flock, but He could not accept the offering of fruit which Cain brought.

Perhaps you wonder at that, dear children? But I will try to explain it to you. God looks on the heart, and Abel's heart was obedient. He brought that which God had appointed as the way to come to Him. But Cain was not obedient; he thought that the fruit of the ground which he had taken such trouble to grow, would do just as well!

So when he found that God did not accept his offering, he was very angry, and his countenance fell.

And the Lord said to him, "Why are you angry, Cain? If you do well, shall it not be accepted? And if you do not do well, a Sin-offering lies at the door."

I think that GOD meant Cain to understand that it was only by a Sacrifice that we can come near to Him. And when, all through the Old Testament, we read of the sacrifice of a lamb as an offering for sin, God accepted the lamb, because He looked on to the time when the Lord Jesus would be "The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

But Cain did not heed God's gentle persuasion, that he too could bring a sin-offering; and presently, when he was alone with his brother, he got more and more angry, and at last rushed at him and struck him and killed him!

Oh, the misery of poor Cain! No one can tell how he longed to undo that cruel deed. No one knows the sorrow and punishment of his whole life.

Children, let it be a warning to us not to let anger and jealousy live in our hearts, but let us pray every day, "Deliver me from Satan, the Evil one, who would tempt me to sin against Thee, and accept me, for Jesus' sake!"

XXX. The Escape from Sodom

Then the two angels rose up and went towards Sodom, and the Lord remained talking with Abraham.

He told Abraham that He intended to destroy Sodom, because the city was so very wicked!

Now Abraham knew that his nephew Lot was living there, and he begged God to spare Sodom if there were fifty good people there. And the Lord promised to spare it if there were!

But Abraham began to fear there were not so many; and he kept on asking the Lord, till at last he got down to ten! and the Lord said He would spare it for ten's sake.

And then the Lord went on His way, and Abraham went back to his home.

But when the angels got to Sodom, they could not even find ten who loved God!

They found Lot and his family, and urged them to escape for their lives across the plain, and not once to look behind them, for Sodom was going to be burned all up!

So Lot escaped with his wife and two daughters and fled for his life. But his wife was disobedient to God's message, and turned to look back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

And so the great and wicked city was destroyed by a terrible judgment from the Lord, but Lot was saved!

Dear children! God has sent Jesus to be our Saviour, let us fly to Him from our sins, and so be safe for ever in His happy, happy land.

XXXI. The Tower of Babel

"What a great tower!" says someone. "And how high it is! Look; the houses are so small down there on that great sort of field, and the tower is going to be built higher still, because, you see, it is not finished!"

You are quite right! That beautiful tower never was finished, though it was begun four thousand years ago!

I told you about the Flood; and this is the next story after the Flood.

You remember that when the rain stopped, and God allowed the waters to go down, the tops of the mountains began to be seen, and then the green fields were uncovered, and Noah and his children and all the animals were able to come out of the Ark, and to begin to live on the earth again.

But, alas, as men began to increase on the earth, they began to forget God, and the way He had saved them in the Ark. But they remembered the flood, and they thought in their pride, that they would build a very high tower whose top should reach to Heaven, so that no flood could overwhelm them any more.

But there was another thing they forgot; and that was God's promise to them, that He never would send a flood to destroy the world again.

Then God came down from Heaven to see all that the men on the earth were doing. And when He saw their pride and their forgetfulness of Him, the Lord said, Let us go down and prevent the men from understanding each other's speech.

[Illustration: THEY WOULD BUILD A VERY HIGH TOWER.]

And when God had done this, the men could not speak to each other about their work as they used. It was just as if someone were to speak German or Italian or Spanish to you and expect you to understand.

So the men could not build any more, for no one could understand what the others said. So they left off building and were scattered to all parts of the earth; and the city they had tried to build was called Babel—which means Confusion.

But God did not forget His servant Noah, nor Noah's good son Shem. He took care of Shem and of his children after him, and by and by of Shem's grandchildren and great-grandchildren, till at length Abraham was born.

And Abraham had the great honour of being called The Friend of God!

Perhaps you think how much you would like to be called such a name as that?

Then let all of us who would like to be called God's friends set out to be obedient.

God has put in the Bible rules which are to guide us every day. If we follow them, that is being obedient.

Do you remember what the Lord Jesus said about that, when He was on earth?

Here are the words,—

"Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."

"For whosoever shall do the Will of My Father which is in Heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother."

XXXII. The Friend of God

"Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy father's house, unto a land which I will shew thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee . . . and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

So Abram obeyed, and went out from Ur of the Chaldees, and came into the land of Canaan.

God had given Abram most wonderful promises, as well as frequent assurances of His love. He was also very rich, for God had given him a great deal of money, and many sheep and oxen and camels.

But there was one thing which God had not given Abram, which he longed for very much; and this was a little child of his very own.

God loved Abram, and He would not have denied him his desire without some wise and loving reason.

God promised Abram that he should have a son, but He wished to prove to all the world, and to the angels who are looking on at what happens on this earth, that Abram could trust Him, and trust His promise even though he should have to wait twenty years for it.

Abram had brought his wife Sarah, and his nephew Lot with him, when he left his own country; but after a time he and Lot had so many sheep and oxen that there was not grass enough for them all; so Lot chose the land towards Sodom, and Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan.

One day the word of God came to Abram in a vision or dream, saying, "Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward!"

Then Abram told the Lord how he wanted a son of his own, for he had no one to take all his riches by and by, except the servant who managed his property.

And God promised Abram that he should have a son of his very own.

And God led him out in the night when all the beautiful stars were shining in the deep blue sky, and God said, "Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to count them"; and God said, "So shall the number of your children be!"

And Abram believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness.

Do you not think, children, that as Abram walked on those lonely mountains in Palestine, that he must often have thought "God has promised all this land to me and my children!" And then, when he looked up at the stars at night in the clear atmosphere, that he must have been lost in wonder at the thousands and thousands of stars which he saw, and have said to himself, "God promised so shall my seed be!"

The Lord Jesus, in the New Testament, tells us something about Abraham which we do not read in Genesis.

He said "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he saw it and was glad!"

How wonderful it is that God notices and remembers when we try to please Him, and sees our hearts when nobody else can!

At length Abram was ninety years old, and the Lord appeared to him again, and told him that his name should not be called Abram any more, but Abraham, because he was to be a father of many nations. And then God told Abraham that very soon he and Sarah were to have a little son, and that his name was to be called Isaac.

So one day Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day, when he looked up and saw three men standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them and bowed himself to the ground.

Perhaps Abraham guessed that one of the three men was the Lord; for afterwards he did not seem at all surprised when the Lord spoke to him, and promised to give Sarah a little son very soon.

At any rate he begged the three men to rest beneath the tree while he hastened away to prepare food to refresh them.

Then he took butter and milk and a young calf which he had cooked, and set it before them and he stood by under the tree, and they did eat.

Then they asked him where Sarah was, and Abraham answered that she was in the tent.

And the Lord said, "I will certainly return and Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son."

Now Sarah was just inside the tent, and when she heard the words, she laughed within herself.

And the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I of a surety have a child?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, and Sarah shall have a son."

And Sarah was ashamed that she had doubted God's promise, and she denied, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid.

But the Lord said, "Nay, but thou didst laugh."

XXXIII. In a Thirsty Land

This is a nice story for children, because it tells us that God listens when children pray, and sympathizes with all that happens to children.

The boy you see in the picture is almost dying for want of water. Perhaps none of you children know how dreadful it is to be really very thirsty, and have nothing to drink, however thirsty you may be.

Hagar, the mother of the boy, is very sad. She knows that the bottle is empty, and she cannot see any sign of a well, or of a spring of water, in the great sandy desert which stretches in every direction as far as the eye can see.

Ishmael is her one child, and God has allowed them to be sent out into the wilderness, with only a bottle of water and as much bread as they can carry; for Hagar had been turned out of her home, and had been obliged to take that long and dangerous journey, because of the unkindness of her mistress Sarah.

But God was watching over her and Ishmael. He would not allow anything to really hurt them, and in His great pity, He sent to save them when all other help had failed.

By and by there was not one drop of water left in the bottle, and Ishmael had no strength to walk any further.

Hagar knew that all hope was over, now that Ishmael could not walk another step! So she laid him down under a little shrub that grew there, and went some little distance off, for she said in her grief, "I cannot bear to see him die."

So she sat down in her misery and cried bitterly.

But God heard the voice of the lad, and He sent His angel to call to Hagar from heaven. "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the lad, where he is. Arise, lift up the lad and hold him in thine hand; for I will make of him a great nation."

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink, and he revived, and presently got quite well.

And this is the lesson which we may learn from Ishmael's cry, children.

God knows our difficulties; God hears us when we speak to Him; God is nearer than we think; God is more loving than the most loving of earthly friends. He tells us to call upon Him in trouble.

Let us think of Ishmael dying for want of water, and crying to God in his distress, and let us do the same in our troubles!

No matter how small they may seem, God says He cares.

Let us take courage, then; and if God whispers to us when we are sorrowful (like He did to Hagar), "What aileth thee—what is the matter?" Let us listen for another whisper, for He will surely finish the sentence to us, as He did to Hagar, with the cheering words, "Fear not!"

XXXIV. The Offering of Isaac

So Abraham was given his dear little son Isaac, and he was the delight of Abraham's life, and of Sarah's too.

But by and by, God wished to try Abraham's faith more than even in that long waiting time for Isaac. God was going to ask him to do about the hardest thing that a man could be asked to do.

God told Abraham that he was to take his dear son whom he so fondly loved, and to go to a mountain a long way off, in the land of Moriah, and to offer him up to God as a sacrifice.

This was to try Abraham's obedience and faith.

Was he to take Isaac! On whom all his hopes rested, who was the joy of his life, and through whom all the world was to be blessed; was he to lay him upon the altar, and offer him up to God, as he did the lambs from his flock?

But Abraham did not hesitate. If God told him to do a thing, he obeyed. He knew that God could even raise Isaac from the dead, if He thought good. At any rate he had nothing to do, but to obey!

So he got up very early in the morning and saddled his ass, and took two young men with him, and his son, and the wood for the burnt offering, and set out on his journey to the place God had told him of.

The most precious thing Abraham had was that son who was walking beside him. And besides his love for his boy, God had promised that Isaac should live to have a son, and that by and by the Saviour should come into the world as one of Isaac's great-great-great-great-grandchildren!

Isaac was now grown into a strong young man, but he went with his father; and though he asked him on the way, Where was the lamb for the burnt offering? He was satisfied with his father's answer, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

When they reached the place which God had told him of, Abraham bound Isaac his son, and laid him upon the altar; and then he stretched out his hand with the knife in it, to offer up his son as God had told him.

But as quickly as the knife was raised, so quickly an angel of God called out of heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!"

Oh, how glad Abraham was to draw back that dreadful knife and answer, "Here am I!"

And God said, "Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from ME."

And when Abraham looked up, he saw a ram caught by his horns in a bush; and he took him and offered him up instead of his son.

So Isaac was given back to his loving father, and God was very pleased with Abraham's obedience, and He told him that in Isaac's children, by and by, all the nations of the world should be blessed.

For in about eighteen hundred years after this, the Lord Jesus Christ was coming to this earth to be "The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world"; and I think that when Abraham said, "God Himself will provide a lamb," he was thinking, not only of the saving of Isaac's life, but of that far-off day when Jesus should bear our sins, instead of us, on the Cross of Calvary, that we may go free!

XXXV. A Bargain Between Two Brothers

By and by Isaac grew up to be a man.

Abraham and Sarah heard that in Abraham's old home in Mesopotamia, his brother Nahor had a family of sons and daughters, and they thought it would be very nice if Isaac could have one of these daughters for his wife. So Abraham called Eliezer, his chief servant, and told him to prepare for a long journey, as he wished him to bring back a wife for his son Isaac.

Eliezer was afraid that the maiden would not come so far, but Abraham told him that God would send His angel with him to prosper him on his way.

So Eliezer took some valuable presents, and set out with camels and servants to seek for a wife for his master's son.

He at length reached the city of Nahor, where Abraham used to live. It seems that Eliezer used to pray about everything! If he could not kneel down to pray, he prayed in his heart; and to those who tell God everything, God sends very quick answers.

In those hot countries, the caravans stop outside the city at the well, so that the thirsty men as well as the camels may drink.

Then Eliezer prayed, and asked God to send out the maiden to draw water, who was to be the wife of Isaac, and to point her out to him by her offering to draw water for the camels; and it all happened just as he had prayed.

Rebecca came out of the city with a pitcher upon her shoulder, which she carried to the well and filled with water.

When Eliezer ran to meet her, and asked her for a drink, she hastened to give him some, and offered at once to fill the trough and water all the thirsty camels. Then Eliezer asked her whose daughter she was, and when she told him, he knew at once that God had guided him to the very maiden whom Abraham wanted his son to marry!

Was not this a quick answer? And Eliezer not only asked, but he thanked God for the answer. "And the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord."

Then he gave Rebecca some beautiful presents; as well as many precious things for her mother and her brother.

And so Rebecca consented to go back with Eliezer and became Isaac's wife; and Isaac was very glad his father had sent for her all that long way, for he loved her very much.

By and by God sent Isaac and Rebecca two little twin sons, who grew up to be men.

Esau was the elder, and Jacob was the younger.

Esau was a very clever hunter, and lived an adventurous life among the mountains, and was often away for days in his hunting excursions.

Jacob, however, preferred staying quietly at home, living in the tents, and looking after the flocks and herds.

Isaac was now getting old, and he loved Esau the best of his two sons, because Esau often brought him a wild animal from his hunting, and would cook it for his father and make it into a savoury dish.

But Rebecca loved Jacob the best; and in after years, through her making him such a favourite, she had the greatest sorrow of her life.

One day Esau came in from a long journey, and though he had succeeded in catching and bringing home an animal, he had had nothing to eat for a long time and as he got near to the tents where they all lived, he saw his brother Jacob sitting eating a bowlful of red pottage, which he had just made for himself.

Esau was very faint and hungry, with such hunger as you and I, dear children, have probably never felt. Very likely he had tasted no food that day, and perhaps not the day before. The sight of the steaming bowl of pottage made him feel as if he would give anything he possessed for some of it to stop the pangs of hunger.

Now I am sorry to tell you that Jacob had a very mean character. Though he truly loved God and wished to please Him, his natural character was very shifty.

So when his brother Esau asked him eagerly to give him his bowl of pottage, Jacob did not jump up and press it upon his hungry brother, but he thought it was a good opportunity to make a bargain!

"If I do give it to you, sell me your birthright!" he exclaimed.

Now among the Jews, the birthright of being the eldest son, God had made a great honour. It was most jealously guarded and taken care of; and God gave great blessings with it.

But Esau did not love God truly in his heart, as Jacob did; he was busy with other things, and had never given it a thought that to love and serve God was more important than anything else.