Part 4

But the Prophet Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: "Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the King of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."

So Rabshakeh returned, and when he found fresh troubles in his own land, he sent a message by letter to Hezekiah, saying they were not to rejoice that they had escaped their enemy! For they would surely come and fight against them another time!

Then Hezekiah received the letter and read it, and carried it up into the House of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And he prayed to the Lord, and told Him it was quite true that other nations had been defeated by the cruel King of Assyria, but they had not the Lord God of Israel to trust in; and then he ended with these words: "O Lord our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that Thou art the Lord God, and Thou only!"

And then the Lord gave His long glorious answer: "Thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for Mine Own Sake, and for My servant David's sake."

"And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and eighty-five thousand men: and when they arose early in the morning they were all dead corpses."

So Sennacherib, King of Assyria, departed and returned to Nineveh; and as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, his two sons smote him and killed him.

God's words had come true.

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XIII. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

WHEN David grew old, one of his sons, named Adonijah, exalted himself, to make himself king instead of his father.

He conferred with Joab the captain and with Abiathar the priest, and it was arranged that all the sons of the king should be invited to a great feast; but when the invitations were given, it was found that he had not included his brother Solomon, nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah the soldier, nor Nathan the prophet, who were all devoted friends of King David.

So Nathan the prophet spoke to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, and begged her to go to King David and tell him that Adonijah had set himself up as king; and to remind David that he had promised her that he would give the kingdom to Solomon his son.

David was very much troubled with what Bathsheba and Nathan told him, and he solemnly assured them that God had promised the throne to Solomon, and to no one else; and he then sent for Zadok, and he told him and Nathan to anoint Solomon King over Israel at once, and to blow with the trumpet and say, "Solomon is King!"

And he told them that Solomon was to ride on the king's own mule, and sit on the king's throne.

So they took a horn of oil out of the Tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet, and all the people said: "God save King Solomon!" And the people came up after him, rejoicing with music and great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

Thus Solomon was established in his kingdom, and reigned over all Israel and Judah.

Now Solomon loved the Lord—and it says "the Lord loved Solomon."

One day he went up to the high place at Gibeon to sacrifice to the Lord there; and he offered a thousand burnt offerings upon the altar. And the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream; and God said:

"Ask what I shall give thee!"

Then Solomon thanked God for the great kindness which He had shown David his father, in giving him a son to sit on his throne; and acknowledged how David had walked before the Lord in uprightness of heart. And then he added: "O Lord my God . . . I am but a little child . . . give me therefore an understanding heart to judge Thy people; for who is able to judge so great a people?"

And the Lord was pleased with Solomon's request, and He told him that because he had asked this thing, and not asked for himself riches or honour or long life, God would grant his prayer for an understanding heart, and would add besides riches and honour, so that there should be no king like Solomon in all the world, nor ever would be again.

And then, after these gracious and wonderful assurances, the Lord God added this warning—and it seems to me that the warning comes home to every one of us now: "If thou wilt walk in My ways to keep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days."

Then Solomon awoke from his dream, and he came to Jerusalem and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord there.

He at once set about ruling his kingdom and exercising the wonderful wisdom which God had given him.

And this was why, when he had built cities and palaces, and gathered gold and silver and spices in abundance; when he had been permitted to build a magnificent Temple for the Lord, the Queen of Sheba heard of his fame, concerning the Name of the Lord, and travelled many hundreds of miles from the south below Egypt, to prove Solomon with hard questions and to see the glories of his kingdom.

[Illustration: She gave Solomon gold, and a very great store of spices.]

And Solomon answered all her questions, and showed her all his work and his riches. When she had seen the house he had built and the food daily spread on his table, and the number of his servants, and the ascent which he had built to go up to the House of the Lord, the queen seemed to have no more strength in her, and she exclaimed:

"It was a true report that I heard in mine own country, but the half was not told me!"

"Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom."

"Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighteth in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel . . . to do judgment and justice."

And she gave King Solomon gold, and a very great store of spices and precious stones, which she had brought on her camels from afar.

And Solomon gave her whatever she asked of him, besides the royal presents which, as a great king, he bestowed upon her unasked.

There is a verse in Isaiah and another in the Psalms which I love to read, which seem to remind us not only of the Queen of Sheba, but of that glorious day which is coming by and by for those who are the children of God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ:—

"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him."

"Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy: at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

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XIV. THREE COMMANDMENTS ABOUT EARTHLY THINGS

_V. "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee."_

OUR best and most beautiful example of this loving, dutiful obedience is given us in the early days of our Lord's life on earth.

We read of it in the second chapter of Luke.

Jesus was twelve years old, and He knew that His Heavenly Father had given Him a great work to do here in this world. One day in Jerusalem He had stayed in the Temple talking to the learned Doctors of the Law, and Joseph and His mother missed Him from among the company who were journeying homewards to Nazareth; and when they found Him in the Temple, His mother said, "Thy father and I have sought Thee, sorrowing!"

And His gentle answer is a pattern to all of us: "Wist ye not—" (Did you not know)—"that I must be about My Father's business?" He was reminding her then of God, Who had sent Him, His only begotten Son, into the world to save sinners.

But with all that in His heart, the Bible goes on to tell us, "Jesus went down with them to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." That means that He was perfectly obedient in His earthly home.

Then we have the sweet example of Ruth the Moabitess.

Her husband was dead. But Ruth was devoted to her mother-in-law, and when Naomi wished to return to the land of Israel, though all Ruth's friends lived in Moab, she entreated to be allowed to take that long journey with Naomi, and to stay with her always.

And as you can read for yourselves in the Book of Ruth, she was wonderfully blessed through her goodness to her mother-in-law. God watched her sweet and dutiful behaviour, and He gave her the great honour of being one of the ancestors of King David, and then, through him, of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born at David's city, Bethlehem, thirteen hundred years afterwards.

Thus the Commandment that contained a promise of blessing was fulfilled.

_VI. "Thou shalt do no murder."_

What is murder? It is hatred in the heart, cherished and unpardoned, unconfessed to God, which ends in a cruel deed.

If we find in our own hearts an unforgiving spirit—a grudge against any one—a wish, perhaps, to do them harm or pay them back—let us beware!

Our Lord says: "When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one!"

Now I am going to tell you about a murder, which was a very sad one.

David, as you know, loved God very much; but he had grown very rich and powerful, and he had begun to value earthly things more than God's Commandments.

[Illustration: Uriah, in the forefront of the battle.]

He wanted to get rid of one of his soldiers, who was at the war fighting for him. Why did he want to get rid of him? Because David had taken from him something which that soldier valued beyond all other things! I will tell you what that thing was afterwards.

So David told his great captain, Joab, to set this soldier, called Uriah, in the forefront of the battle, and then to retire from him, so that he should get killed. So Joab, who was an unscrupulous, untrustworthy man, did as the king commanded him. Then he sent back word to David at Jerusalem about the great battle, and mentioned that Uriah was killed.

"But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord."

The precious possession which David had taken for himself, while Uriah was at the war, was Uriah's dearly loved wife: and David had broken two of God's direct commands—one was, "Thou shalt do no murder," the other was:

_VII. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."_

—Which is taking another man's wife away from him.

Then there came another messenger to David. Not from the battlefield, where Uriah lay dead, but a message from God Himself, sent by the Prophet Nathan to the king.

And the Prophet told David this story: "There were two men in one city: one was rich, and the other poor."

"The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: the poor man had only one little ewe lamb, that he had brought up at home, and that played with his children and drank out of his own cup."

"And a traveller came to see that rich man; and the rich man grudged to take any out of his own flocks to feed the traveller, but took the poor man's ewe lamb!"

When David heard this story he was very angry with the rich man, and told Nathan he ought to be punished.

And then Nathan said to the king: "Thou art the man!"

"Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife."

"Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house."

Then David was dreadfully sorry. He saw his great sin in the sight of the Lord, and he earnestly asked to be forgiven.

If you read the fifty-first Psalm you will see how sorry he was.

And the Lord did forgive him; but David had to bear the effects of his sin the whole of his life afterwards.

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XV. THREE COMMANDMENTS ABOUT OUR HANDS—OUR TONGUES—AND OUR HEARTS

_VIII. "Thou shalt not steal."_

PERHAPS you draw back, and say, "Steal! Surely no one would think I would steal!"

But when we come to think it over, there are a good many ways of stealing; or being tempted to steal. There are little unfairnesses that many practise, without in the least realizing that they lead to dishonesty. A boy who cheats over his lessons goes very near the mark! A girl who borrows from her class-mate a sixpence to buy a hair ribbon, and does not return it, goes very near the mark too!

Satan is so wary, and we are so un-wary!

I heard of a dear, good woman the other day.

She had a very hard life to make both ends meet. And one day, the person who was lodging with her left her purse on the table.

The woman would never have thought of opening the purse and taking out her neighbour's money! Oh no!

Satan was too wary to suggest that!

The dear woman went to move the purse to a place of safety, and it was very full of money, and fell open, and the contents in a moment lay scattered on the floor: shillings, sixpences, half-crowns!

Then Satan saw his opportunity. As the dear woman stooped to gather the money, the thought crossed her heart: "She would never miss one of these coins! And I do need them so—"

And then the dreadfulness of the temptation came upon her, and she fell on her knees.

"Dear Lord, forgive me!" she murmured, and hurried to gather up the money, and to restore the purse to its owner. God had helped her to be brave!

What made Judas betray his Lord?

Was it not that he was a thief, and had the bag, and carried about with him what was in it?

He thought if the chief priests would give him those thirty pieces of silver, he would be a rich man all his days instead of a poor man!

Did he ever enjoy those thirty pieces of silver?

There was a boy I heard of lately, who was tempted: and he took an orange from a greengrocer's shop. But his heart smote him; and that evening he wrote this letter to the greengrocer's wife in a round, boyish hand:—

"Dear Madam,—I am very sorry for stealing an orange from you yesterday, while in your shop. I must apologize as I am a Christian, but was tempted."

Signed . . .

"I enclose a penny stamp for the cost of same."

That confession must have cost that boy a great deal to do! But he was "more than conqueror through Him who loved him!"

_IX. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."_

How did the wicked queen Jezebel manage to get Naboth's vineyard for her husband? It was by means of false witnesses!

She sent letters sealed with the king's seal to the nobles and elders who were in the city where Naboth lived, and ordered them to proclaim a fast, to set him up on high where all the people could see him, and to get two wicked men to give false witness against him, to accuse him of blaspheming God and the king. Then he was to be carried out of the city and stoned.

So the elders did as Jezebel told them, and poor Naboth, who had done no wrong, was cruelly killed.

And now I am going to tell you the story of the sin which brought this about.

God said in His Tenth Commandment—

_X. "Thou shall not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shall not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his."_

Covetousness is one of the sins that hides deep in a man's heart, and if given way to may spoil all his happiness.

King Ahab had a palace at Jezreel; and near to the palace was Naboth's vineyard, which was his family possession.

As the king passed to and fro, he began to covet the vineyard of Naboth in order to make himself a garden; and at length he asked Naboth to exchange his vineyard with him for another better one, or offered to buy it from Naboth for money.

This seemed at first sight a reasonable offer; but Ahab knew perfectly well that no Jew would sell his father's inheritance, and that he valued it almost like his own life.

So Naboth refused, and the king went back to his palace heavy and displeased, and went and lay upon his bed and would not eat.

When Jezebel found out what was the matter, she begged Ahab to get up and eat; and she promised that she would get the vineyard for him!

And this was how it came to pass that those false witnesses swore away Naboth's life!

When Ahab knew that Naboth was dead, he went down to take possession of the vineyard.

But the Lord sent this message to the king by Elijah, His Prophet—

"Thus saith the Lord: Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? Thus saith the Lord: In the Place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine."

It is a very solemn thing to break God's commands. Shall we not pray, as we think of them: "With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy Commandments!"

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XVI. TAKEN FROM THE BROOK

I SAMUEL 17.12-52

A GREAT Giant had come out of the land of the Philistines to fight against the Israelites.

He was about 11 feet high-that is higher than a tall doorway, and no ordinary man could attempt to fight with him, with any hope of victory, be he ever so brave.

This Giant, Goliath of Gath, appeared every day for forty days, defying the Armies of Israel, and challenging them to send out a man to fight with him.

The Giant struck terror into the hearts of the Armies of Israel.

Now there was a youth named David, ruddy and beautiful, who was on the Mountains of Palestine, tending his father's flocks.

As he sat watching the sheep, the Holy Spirit taught him many of the Psalms we all love, such as, "The Lord is my Shepherd."

One day a lion came out of his lair and took a lamb of the flock, and David, knowing that God was his strong Helper, went out after the lion, and smote him and got the lamb out of his mouth, and when the lion turned on him, David caught him by the beard and killed him. And a bear came in the same way, and he killed him too.

One day David's father, Jesse, sent him to see how his brothers, who were at the war, were getting on; and when he reached the Camp, the first thing that he heard was the news of this dreadful Giant, who was defying the Israelites every morning and every evening.

And David said, "Who is this heathen Philistine, that he should defy the Armies of the Living God?"

David's eldest brother was angry with him for what he said; but David's words were heard by the other soldiers, and they repeated them to King Saul.

And Saul sent for him, and when David came into his presence, he said to the King, "Let no man's heart fail him because of the Giant, I will go and fight with him!"

[Illustration: The giant struck terror into the hearts of the armies of Israel.]

But Saul looked at David and said, "You are not able to fight with the Giant."

Then David told the King about the lion and bear, and he said, "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine."

So Saul agreed to his going, and put some armour on him; but David told the King he could not go with these, for he was not used to armour.

Then David took his staff in his hand, and went to the brook and chose out five smooth stones, and he put them in his shepherd's bag that hung at his side.

Before we go on to what David did with those stones, there are two or three interesting things in this story which we shall do well to notice; for they will be, if we think of them, a great help to us in our own lives.

We all have, like David, a tremendous enemy to face. This is Satan; and he comes to us every day, like the Giant Goliath, and he tries to make us afraid. He wants us to live without thinking about God; he wants us to forget that there is a great Helper for us in every time of need.

But David truly loved God with his whole heart, and he was very brave; but it was in God's strength that he had determined to meet the Giant.

So he went to the brook, and chose some of the smooth stones that he was accustomed to use.

It was a very simple weapon; and doubtless he had often practised slinging stones, as he sat watching his sheep, and knew how to aim well.

And, if we want to conquer Satan when he tempts us to do wrong, we must take the weapon God has given us to use—which is His own word. Just say, "Lord, help me!" or "Lord, save me!" and Satan will be driven away.

I shall never forget being called to comfort a dear dying girl, who was much worried by Satan's suggestions. I stood by her bedside and quietly repeated these words of God to her, from Isaiah 59.19: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."

In a moment the cloud of sorrow and fear passed from her face; and God never let Satan worry her again!

So you will find God's words will be just like David's smooth stones, when he went up to meet the Giant!

[Illustration: DAVID GOES TO MEET GOLIATH.]

And Goliath said, "Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field!"