Part 8

Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said: "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who hath sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God."

So Nebuchadnezzar made another decree, that if any one said anything against the God of these three young men, he should be cut in pieces and his house destroyed—"because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort."

And the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

This is a glorious chapter of one of the greatest deliverances of the Bible; and there are plenty more!

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XXIX. QUEEN ESTHER'S REQUEST

ESTHER 8.3-6

ESTHER was a very beautiful girl, and Ahasuerus the great King of the Medes and Persians chose her to be his Queen, and he loved her very much.

Esther was not only beautiful in face, but she had a very beautiful character.

She belonged to the people of God, called the Jews, who had been carried away captives from Palestine, and were now living in Persia.

Among these Jews was a man called Mordecai, who was much respected for his goodness, and he sat in the King's Gate.

When Esther's father and mother died, Mordecai took the little girl and brought her up as his own daughter. He taught her about God, and Esther was very obedient, and loved Mordecai very dearly.

[Illustration: Mordecai took the little girl and brought her up.]

Then Esther was made Queen, and things went on peacefully; until one day Mordecai heard that there was a plot forming to kill King Ahasuerus. He at once secretly told Esther, and she told the King; and the two conspirators were both hanged. But the King forgot to thank Mordecai, though it was written down in the Chronicles of the Kingdom.

About that time the King took a great fancy to a man called Haman, who hated the Jews, and especially Mordecai, because he did not bow down to him when he passed.

So Haman obtained leave from the King to fix a day when all the Jews should be killed in the whole Kingdom.

But the City Shushan was much perplexed; for they knew, though the King did not, that his beloved Queen was a Jewess!

When Mordecai found out all that was happening, he was bitterly grieved, and sent an urgent message to Esther, and implored her to go in and tell the King, and beg him to spare her people.

But Queen Esther sent back a message to Mordecai, to remind him that if anyone ventured to go in to the King's inner Court, that person would certainly be put to death unless the King should hold out his Golden Sceptre.

So Mordecai sent another urgent message to tell Esther that perhaps she had come to be Queen, to do this very thing. But if she did nothing, then she and all the Jews would perish!

Then Queen Esther begged Mordecai to gather all the Jews together who were in Shushan, and to bid them fast and pray for three days; and she and her maidens would fast too; and at the end of that time, she said, "I will go in to the King, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish."

Esther was brave because she knew that she had God on her side; and she believed that He would answer the prayers they were all offering up.

[Illustration: QUEEN ESTHER BEFORE AHASUERUS.]

So on the third day Queen Esther put on her Royal robes, and went into the Inner Court and stood before the King.

When King Ahasuerus saw his beautiful young Queen standing there so meekly, he held out the Golden Sceptre which was in his hand. And she drew near and touched the top of the sceptre.

And when he asked her what request she had to make, the King must have been astonished at her reply, for she only asked that the King and Haman should come to a banquet which she had prepared for them. So when they came to the Banquet, the King asked the Queen again what her petition was? And she said if the King and Haman would come to a Banquet with her, again to-morrow, she would then tell the King what her request was.

So Haman went out from Queen Esther's Banquet very proud; and he told his wife and his friends of his second invitation, but he said that nothing was any pleasure to him, so long as Mordecai, the Jew, sat in the King's Gate.

Then his wife and his friends advised him to make a gallows fifty feet high, and to get the King to let him hang Mordecai on it.

But that night the King could not sleep, and one of his servants fetched a roll of the Chronicles of the Kingdom, and he read to him how Mordecai had once saved the King's life.

And in the morning the King asked Haman what would be suitable to do to "the man that the King delighted to honour?"

But Haman little thought that when he proposed to set the man on the King's own horse, dressed in the King's Royal clothes, that it would be Mordecai who was to be honoured, and not himself!

But the King told Haman to lead Mordecai round the town, and to proclaim: "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour."

After this Haman went to the Banquet that Esther had prepared. He little knew what the Queen's request was going to be! For Esther told the King that a great plot had been made to destroy her and all her people, and that this wicked Haman was the one who had planned it all!

Then Haman was afraid before the King and Queen.

You can picture the anger of the King, and when he was told of the gallows which Haman had prepared for Mordecai, he ordered that Haman should be hanged there at once.

Then the Queen begged that letters might be sent to stop all the Jews being killed, and Ahasuerus sent urgent posts on mules and horses and swift dromedaries to tell the Jews that they might stand up for their lives, and destroy any enemies who rose up against them.

Thus God answered the prayers of that young Queen and her maidens, and of the Jews who joined with her in fasting and praying, and sent them a great deliverance, the remembrance of which has been handed down from generation to generation ever since.

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XXX. A GREAT RAIN, AND A TIRED PROPHET

So Ahab ate and drank—but Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and cast himself upon the earth with his face between his knees, and he said to his servant: "Go up now and look towards the sea."

And the servant returned, saying he could not see anything.

Then Elijah said: "Go—" seven times. And when he came back the seventh time, he said he could see a little cloud in the sky, no bigger than a man's hand.

So Elijah hurriedly sent a message to the king, to prepare his chariot, and get to his home quickly, or the rain which was coming would stop him!

And as he spoke, the heavens became black with clouds, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he ran before Ahab's chariot, right to the entrance of Jezreel.

But when Ahab told his wife, the wicked queen, Jezebel, that all her prophets were dead, Jezebel sent a message to Elijah that she would kill him, as he had done the prophets of Baal, by that time the next day!

And now, Elijah, who had been so wonderfully strong and full of faith for this great scene, fled for his life when he heard the threat of Queen Jezebel!

Hungry, thirsty, tired-out, he fled till he had passed Beersheba, and had gone a whole day's journey into the desert, before he felt he might be safe from Jezebel! Here he cast himself under a juniper tree, and asked the Lord to let him die!

Poor Elijah! For one brief moment his faith failed him! If God had answered his prayer, Elijah would have missed the great honour of going up to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire without death at all!

And let us pause here, just to think for a moment about our own prayers.

It seems to me that we are encouraged to tell God everything; and then we are wise to leave the choice with Him: asking Him to do that which, in His wisdom and love, He knows to be best for us.

So the poor wearied Prophet prayed that he might die; and then overpowered with fatigue, he fell asleep. And meanwhile God was preparing for him, while he slept—as He does so often for His faithful, and sometimes faithless, children—and behold! An angel touched him, and said to him: "Arise and eat!"

And when he looked up, there was a little cake of bread, freshly baked, and a cruse of water standing ready by his pillow!

And he ate and drank; and then, still so weary that he could hardly hold up his head, he slept again!

Then the angel of the Lord came the second time and touched him, and said: "Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee!"

Oh, the compassion of God, Who knows just how we feel! So Elijah obeyed; and he went in the strength of that food, for forty days and forty nights, till he reached Horeb, the Mount of God, where he found a cave and lodged there.

By and by he heard a Voice from the Lord speaking to him, and it said: "What doest thou here, Elijah?"

Then Elijah said: "I have been very jealous for the Lord, but now the Children of Israel have forsaken my God, and I, even I, am the only one left, and they are going to kill me!"

And the Lord said: "Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord."

Then the Lord passed by, and a great wind tore the rocks and the mountains, and there was a great earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake nor in the fire that came afterwards; and then there was a still, low voice. And when Elijah heard that voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood by the mouth of the cave.

Then the voice spoke to him again: "What doest thou here, Elijah?" And again Elijah said that he was the only Prophet left!

But the Lord told him that He had seven thousand Israelites who had served Him faithfully, and had never bowed down to Baal!

Then the Lord told him to go and anoint two kings; and also to anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, as a Prophet instead of himself.

So Elijah went to Abelmeholah, and found Elisha ploughing in the fields; and as he passed by him, he cast his mantle upon him.

Then Elisha left his oxen and ran after him, and said: "Let me go and kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee!"

Elijah said: "What have I done to thee?"

But I think Elisha knew what the Prophet had meant by casting his mantle upon him!

So Elisha took a yoke of oxen, and with the ploughing instruments for his fire, he boiled their flesh, and gave to the famine-stricken people to eat, and then he went after Elijah and became his devoted servant.

Then many years passed on, and there were great wars between Ahab and the King of Syria.

But Ahab did not leave off his wicked ways, and at length God sent Elijah to Samaria to warn him that God's judgment would come upon him in the very spot in which he and Jezebel had sinned against Him.

I have not space to tell you here about Ahab coveting Naboth's vineyard, nor how Jezebel had Naboth killed in order that Ahab might possess it.

But God's judgments always come true, and though Ahab was killed by a chance bow-shot in a great battle, yet, as God had said by Elijah, "dogs licked up his blood" in Naboth's vineyard, which was close by the king's palace in Samaria, where the men were washing out his chariot after the battle!

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XXXI. SOLOMON'S WISDOM AND SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

SOLOMON, the son of David, was anointed King, as the Lord had promised David.

Solomon loved the Lord; and when he was made king, the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and told him he might ask for anything he wanted.

And the Lord was very pleased with Solomon's choice; for he asked that God would give him an understanding heart, that he might have wisdom to rule the people over whom he reigned.

So God abundantly answered his prayer, as he was the wisest king who had ever reigned; but God gave him besides, riches and honour and everything that could make him happy. At the same time the Lord warned him to walk in His ways, and keep His commandments that it might be well with him all his days.

Then Solomon awoke from his dream; and he hastened to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord, Whom he loved and worshipped.

Very soon the young king had to use the wisdom which God had so freely given him.

As he sat with his servants and soldiers round him, ready to judge anything that was brought to him, there came two women before him to plead their cause.

"And the one woman said, 'O my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it.'"

"'And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while I slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I arose in the morning to feed my child, behold it was dead; but when I had considered it in the morning, behold it was not my son!'"

"And the other woman said, 'Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son.' And this said, 'No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son!' Thus they spoke before the king."

[Illustration: He was the author of three thousand proverbs.]

"Then said the king: 'The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is dead; and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.'"

"And the king said, 'Bring me a sword.' And they brought a sword before the king."

"And the king said, 'Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.'"

Then the woman, who was really the mother of the living baby, said to the king, for she was heart-broken to think that her child should be killed, "O my Lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it!"

"'But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.'"

Then the king turned to the first woman, and gave his verdict: "Give her the living child," he said, "and in nowise slay it: she is the mother thereof!"

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they saw that the wisdom of God was with him to do justice among them.

And it was not only in the affairs of the State that Solomon was so wise.

His fame spread to all the nations round about; and his wisdom exceeded all the wisdom of the East. He was the author of three thousand proverbs and many songs. He was learned in trees—from the great cedars of Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall.

He understood all about beasts and birds and insects and fishes. He knew what those words in the hundred and eleventh Psalm meant: "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."

By and by Hiram, King of Tyre, who had always loved David, on hearing that David's son was king, sent his servants to convey his greetings to Solomon.

Then Solomon sent back a message to Hiram, asking him to allow his servants to help him in hewing cedar trees from Lebanon, as he was purposing to build a beautiful Temple for the Lord.

He explained to Hiram that it had been in David's heart to build the Lord's House; but he had been a man of war; and though the Lord accepted the desire of David's heart, He told him that his son Solomon should be a man of peace, and should build Him a House.

But the Lord had allowed David before his death to collect a vast number of materials of all sorts, as we read in the 22nd chapter of the First Book of Chronicles.

David had employed clever masons to hew wrought and polished stones; he had prepared iron in abundance for the gates and hinges, and brass without weight.

Then Hiram sent abundance of cedar and fir trees, for as David had said, "The House that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical."

That is a long and a strange word, and it is only used that once in all the Bible! But it conveys this one lesson to us—that if we want God to dwell in our hearts, we must spare no pains to make them ready for His abode!

Jesus says: "If any man love Me, My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him!"

So Solomon began to build with all his heart, and such a Temple as he raised to the Lord was a glory and a joy to all beholders.

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XXXII. JEHU—THE ELEVENTH KING OF ISRAEL

WE read of Jehu first in the time of Elijah, when God commissioned the Prophet to anoint Jehu as a future King of Israel, and announced that he would be used to punish Ahab and the Children of Israel for their idolatry and departure from the Lord.

For some reason which is not told us in the Bible, it was not Elijah, but Elisha, who was in the end sent to anoint Jehu. We read the story of this in the 9th chapter of the Second Book of Kings.

Elisha was now the Lord's Prophet in Israel.

One day he said to one of the younger prophets with whom he lived: "Prepare yourself for a journey, and take this box of oil in your hand, and go to Ramothgilead."

"When you get there, find Jehu, the son of Nimshi, and ask him to come with you into an inner chamber away from the rest of the company, and when you are there, take the box of oil and pour it on his head, and say: 'Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel.' Then open the door and flee, and do not wait a moment."

So the young man went to Ramothgilead, and when he got there he found all the captains of the host sitting round Jehu.

So he said: "I have an errand to thee, O Captain!"

And when Jehu understood that the secret message was to him, he went into a private room.

So the young prophet did as Elisha bade him, and anointed Jehu king of Israel, telling him that God had appointed him to execute His judgments against the house of Ahab, and that the dogs should eat Jezebel in Jezreel, as the Prophet Elijah had told Ahab years before.

Then the young man opened the door and fled.

So Jehu came back amongst the other captains, and they inquired: "Why did this mad fellow come to you?"

So Jehu said he expected that they knew the errand. But they assured him they did not, and asked what the news was.

Then Jehu told them the young man's solemn message, and that he ended by saying: "Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel."

Then the soldiers and those around him spread their garments for him to step on, in token that they accepted him as king, and they blew a special blast of the trumpets, saying "Jehu is King!"

So Jehu charged the soldiers that no news should be carried to Jezreel, where King Joram was lying to be healed of his wounds received in battle against Hazael, King of Syria.

[Illustration: Then the soldiers spread their garments for him to step on.]

Then Jehu rode in a chariot, and hastened to Jezreel, and there he found Ahaziah, King of Judah, who had come to visit the wounded king.

Now on the Tower of Jezreel there stood a watchman who told Joram: and as Jehu came fast in his chariot, Joram sent a messenger to meet him with these words: "Is it peace?"

But the watchman said: "The messenger has not returned; he came to them but has not come again. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he driveth furiously."

Then Joram got into his chariot, and Ahaziah got into his, and they started to meet Jehu. But they only got as far as the vineyard of Naboth when they met Jehu face to face.

And Joram said: "Is it peace, Jehu?"

And Jehu answered: "What peace can there be so long as thy mother Jezebel and her wickedness remain?"

Then Joram turned and fled, crying out: "There is treachery, O Ahaziah!"

And Jehu took an arrow and drew the bow to its full strength, and aimed it at Joram's heart. So Joram sank down in his chariot.

Then Jehu told Bidkar his captain to throw the king's body into the field of Naboth, "for remember that when I and thou rode with Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him."

Then Jehu followed after Ahaziah and smote him, and he was carried in his chariot to Jerusalem and died there, and was buried in his own sepulchre.

So Jehu came into Jezreel, where Jezebel lived; and when she heard all that had happened, she painted her face and put ornaments on her head, and came and looked out of a window.

And as Jehu entered in at a gate she tauntingly said: "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?"

Then Jehu looked up to the window and said: "Who is on my side? Who?"

And two or three of the queen's chamberlains looked out at him.

So he said: "Throw her down!"

And they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses, and he trode her underfoot.

Then Jehu came in, and he ate and drank; and when he rose up from table he said: "Go, and see now this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king's daughter."

And they went to bury her, but found nothing left of her body but the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.

So they returned to Jehu and told him.

And he answered in these solemn words—