 15. The Rich Man's Son, who was sold as a slave. Genesis 37 verses 1 to 36. 16. After Jacob came back to the land of Canaan with his eleven sons, another son was born to him, the second child of his wife Rachel, whom Jacob loved so well. You remember we told in story 13 how long Jacob worked for Laban, caring for his sheep and oxen in order that he might have Rachel for his wife. But now a great sorrow was to come to Jacob. For soon after the baby came, his mother Rachel died, and Jacob was filled with sorrow. Even to this day you can see the place where Rachel was buried, on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Jacob named the child whom Rachel left Benjamin, and now Jacob had twelve sons. Most of them were grown-up men, but Joseph was a boy, seventeen years old, and his brother Benjamin was almost a baby. Of all his children, Jacob loved Joseph the best, because he was Rachel's child, because he was so much younger than most of his brothers, and because he was good and faithful and thoughtful. Jacob gave to Joseph a robe or coat of bright color, made somewhat like a long cloak with wide sleeves. This was a special mark of Jacob's favor to Joseph, and it made his older brothers very envious of him. Then, too, Joseph did what was right, while his older brothers often did very wrong acts, of which Joseph sometimes told their father, and this made them very angry at Joseph, but they hated him still more because of two strange dreams that he had, and of which he told them. He said one day, Listen to this dream that I have dreamed. I have dreamed that we are out in the field binding sheaves, when suddenly my sheaves stood up, and all your sheaves came around it, and bowed down to my sheave, and they said scornfully, Do you suppose that the dream means that you will sometime rule over us and that we shall bow down to you? Then a few days after Joseph said, I have dreamed again. This time I saw in my dream the sun and the moon and eleven stars all come down and bow down to me. And his father said to him, I do not like that you dream such dreams. Shall I and your mother and your brothers come and bow down before you as if you are a king? His brothers hated Joseph and would not speak kindly to him, but his father thought much of what Joseph had said. At one time Joseph's ten older brothers were taking care of the flock in the fields near Shechem, which was nearly fifty miles from Hebron, where Jacob's tents were spread, and Jacob wished to send a message to his sons. And he called Joseph and said to him, Your brothers are near Shechem with the flock. I wish that you would go to them and take a message, and find if they are well, and if the flocks are doing well, and bring me word from them. That was quite an errand for a boy to go alone over the country and find his way for fifty miles and then walk home again. But Joseph was a boy that could take care of himself and could be trusted, so he went forth on his journey, walking northward over the mountains, past Bethlehem and Jerusalem and Bethel, though we are not sure that any of those cities were then built, except Jerusalem, which we know was already a strong city. When Joseph reached Shechem he could not find his brothers, for they had taken their flocks to another place. A man met Joseph wandering in the field and asked him, Whom are you seeking? Joseph said, I am looking for my brothers, the sons of Jacob. Can you tell me where I will find them? And the man said, They are at Dothan, for I heard them say that they were going there. Then Joseph walked over the hills to Dothan, which was fifteen miles further, and his brothers saw him a far off coming towards them. They knew him by his bright garment, and one said to another, Look, that dreamer is coming. Come, let us kill him, and throw his body into a pit, and tell his father that some wild beast has eaten him, and then we will see what becomes of his dreams. One of his brothers, whose name was Reuben, felt more kindly toward Joseph than the others, but he did not dare to oppose the others openly. Reuben said, Let us not kill him, but let us throw him into this pit, here in the wilderness, and leave him there to die. But Reuben intended, after they had gone away, to lift Joseph out of the pit and take him home to his father. The brothers did as Reuben told them. They drew Joseph into the pit which was empty. He cried and begged them to save him, but they would not. They calmly sat down to eat their dinner on the grass, while their brother was calling to them from the pit. After the dinner, Reuben chanced to go to another part of the field so that he was not at hand when a company of men passed by with their camels, going from Gilead on the east of the river Jordan to Egypt, to sell spices and fragrant gum from trees to the Egyptians. Then Judah, another of Joseph's brothers, said, What good will it do us to kill our brother? Would it not be better for us to sell him to these men and let them carry him away? After all, he is our brother, and we would better not kill him. His brothers agreed with him, so they stopped the men who were passing and drew up Joseph from the pit, and for twenty pieces of silver they sold Joseph to these men, and they took him away with them down to Egypt. After a while Reuben came to the pit where he had left Joseph and looked into it, but Joseph was not there. Then Reuben was in great trouble, and he came back to his brother saying, The boy is not there, what shall I do? Then his brothers told Reuben what they had done, and they all agreed together to deceive their father. They killed one of the goats and dipped Joseph's coat in its blood, and they brought it to their father and said to him, We found this coat out in the wilderness. Look at it, and see if you think it was your son's. And Jacob knew it at once. He said, It is my son's coat, some wild beast has eaten him. There is no doubt that Joseph has been torn in pieces. And Jacob's heart was broken over the loss of Joseph, all the more because he had sent Joseph alone on the journey through the wilderness. They tried to comfort him, but he would not be comforted. He said, I will go down to the grave mourning for my poor lost son. So the old man sorrowed for his son Joseph, and all the time his wicked brothers knew that Joseph was not dead, but they would not tell their father the dreadful deed that they had done to their brother in selling him as a slave. And of the rich man's son who was sold as a slave. Genesis chapter 40 verse 1 to chapter 41 verse 44 The Ishmaelites sold Joseph as a slave to a man named Potiphar who was an officer in the army of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Joseph was a beautiful boy and cheerful and willing in his spirit and able in all that he undertook so that his master Potiphar became very friendly to him, and after a time he placed Joseph in charge of his house and everything in it. For some years Joseph continued in the house of Potiphar, a slave in name, but in reality the master of all his affairs and ruler over his fellow servants. But Potiphar's wife, who at first was very friendly to Joseph, afterward became his enemy, because Joseph would not do wrong to please her. She told her husband falsely that Joseph had done a wicked deed. Her husband believed her and was very angry at Joseph and put him in the prison with those who had been sent to that place for breaking the laws of the land, how hard it was for Joseph to be charged with a crime when he had done no wrong, and to be thrust into a dark prison among wicked people. But Joseph had faith in God that at some time all would come out right, and in the prison he was cheerful and kind and helpful as he had always been. The keeper of the prison saw that Joseph was not like the other men around him and he was kind to Joseph. In a very little while Joseph was placed in charge of all his fellow prisoners and took care of them, just as he had taken care of everything in Potiphar's house. The keeper of the prison scarcely looked into the prison at all, for he had confidence in Joseph that he would be faithful and wise in doing the work given to him. Joseph did right and served God and God blessed Joseph in everything. While Joseph was in prison two men were sent there by the king of Egypt because he was displeased with them. One was the king's chief butler who served the king with wine, the other was the chief baker who served him with bread. These two men were under Joseph's care and Joseph waited on them for they were men of rank. One morning when Joseph came into the room, in the prison where the butler and the baker were kept, we found them looking quite sad. Joseph said to them, Why do you look so sad today? Joseph was cheerful and happy in his spirit and he wished others to be happy, even in prison. And one of the men said, Each one of us dreamed last night a very strange dream and there was no one to tell us what our dreams mean. For in those times before God gave the Bible to men he often spoke to men in dreams and there were wise men who could sometimes tell what the dreams meant. Tell me, said Joseph, what your dreams were. Perhaps my God will help me to understand them. Then the chief butler told his dream. He said, In my dream I saw a grapevine with three branches and as I looked the branches shot out buds and the buds became blossoms and the blossoms turned into clusters of ripe grapes. And I picked the grapes and squeezed their juice into the King Pharaoh's cup and it became wine and I gave it to King Pharaoh to drink just as I used to do when I was beside his table. Then Joseph said, This is what your dream means. The three branches mean three days. In three days King Pharaoh will call you out of prison and will put you back in your place and you shall stand at his table and shall give him his wine as you have given it before. But when you go out of prison please to remember me and try to find some way to get me too out of this prison for I was stolen out of the land of Canaan and sold as a slave and I have done nothing wrong to deserve being put in this prison. Do speak to the King for me that I may be set free. Of course the chief butler felt very happy to hear that his dream had so pleasant a meaning and then the chief baker spoke hoping to have an answer as good. In my dream said the baker, There were three baskets of white bread on my head one above the other and on the topmost basket were all kinds of roasted meat and food for Pharaoh and the birds came and ate the food from the baskets on my head. And Joseph said to the baker, This is the meaning of your dream and I am sorry to tell it to you. The three baskets are three days. In three days by order of the King you shall be lifted up and hanged upon a tree and the bird shall eat your flesh from your bones as you are hanging in the air. And it came to pass just as Joseph had said. Three days after that King Pharaoh sent his officers to the prison. They came and took out both the chief butler and the chief baker. The baker they hung up by his neck to die and left his body for the birds to pick in pieces. The chief butler they brought back to his old place where he waited at the king's table and handed him his wine to drink. You would have supposed that the butler would remember Joseph who had given him the promise of freedom and had shown such wisdom. But in his gladness he forgot all about Joseph and two full years passed by while Joseph was still in prison until he was a man thirty years old. But one night King Pharaoh himself dreamed a dream, in fact two dreams in one. And in the morning he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and told them his dreams. But there was not a man who could give the meaning of them. And the king was troubled, for he felt that the dreams had some meaning which it was important for him to know. Then suddenly the chief butler, who was by the king's table, remembered his own dream in the prison two years before and remembered too the young man who had told its meaning so exactly. And he said, I do remember my faults this day. Two years ago King Pharaoh was angry with his servants, with me and the chief baker. And he sent us to the prison. While we were in the prison one night each of us dreamed a dream and the next day a young man in the prison, a Hebrew from the land of Canaan, told us what our dreams meant. And in three days they came true just as the Hebrew had said. I think that if this young man is in the prison still he could tell the king the meaning of his dreams. You notice that the butler spoke of Joseph as a Hebrew, the people of Israel to whom Joseph belonged were called Hebrews as well as Israelites. The word Hebrew means one who crossed over. And it was given to the Israelites because Abraham their father had come from a land on the other side of the great river Euphrates and had crossed over the river on his way to Canaan. Then King Pharaoh sent in haste to the prison for Joseph and Joseph was taken out and he was dressed in new garments and was led into Pharaoh in the palace. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream and there was no one who can tell what it means and I have been told that you have power to understand dreams and what they mean. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, the power is not in me, but God will give Pharaoh a good answer. What is the dream that the king has dreamed? In my first dream, said Pharaoh, I was standing by the river and I saw seven fat and handsome cows come up from the river to feed in the grass. And while they were feeding, seven other cows followed them up from the river, very thin and poor and lean, such miserable creatures as I had never seen. And the seven lean cows ate up the seven fat cows and after they had eaten them they were as lean and miserable as before. Then I awoke. And I fell asleep again and I dreamed again. In my second dream I saw seven heads of grain growing upon one stock, large and strong and good. And then seven heads came up after them that were thin and poor and withered. And the seven thin heads swallowed up the seven good heads and afterward were as poor and withered as before. And I told these two dreams to all the wise men and there was no one who can tell me their meaning. Can you tell me what these dreams mean? And Joseph said to the king, the two dreams have the same meaning. God has been showing to King Pharaoh what he will do in this land. The seven good cows mean seven years and the seven good heads of grain mean the same seven years. The seven lean cows and the seven thin heads of grain also mean seven years. The good cows and the good grain mean seven years of plenty and the seven thin cows and thin heads of grain mean seven poor years. There are coming upon the land of Egypt seven years of such plenty as have never been seen when the field shall bring greater crops than ever before. And after those years shall come seven years where the field shall bring no crops at all. And then for seven years there shall be such need that the years of plenty will be forgotten for the people will have nothing to eat. Now let King Pharaoh find some man who is able and wise and let him set this man to rule over the land. And during the seven years of plenty let a part of the crops be put away for the years of need. If this shall be done then when the years of need come there will be plenty of food for all the people and no one will suffer and all will have enough. And King Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has shown you all this there is no other man as wise as you. I will appoint you to do this work and to rule over the land of Egypt. All the people shall be under you only on the throne of Egypt. I will be above you. And Pharaoh took from his own hand the ring which held his seal and put it on Joseph's hand so that he could sign for the king and seal in the king's place. And he dressed Joseph in robes of fine linen and put around his neck a gold chain. And he made Joseph ride in a chariot which was next in rank to his own. And they cried out before Joseph, bow the knee. And thus Joseph was ruler over all the land of Egypt. So the slave boy who was sent to prison without deserving it came out of prison to be a prince and master over all the land. You see that God had not forgotten Joseph even when he seemed to have left him to suffer. End of Story 16 Story number 17 of Hurlbut's Story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Tamara Hamilton Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut. Part 1 Story 17 How Joseph's Dream Came True Genesis chapter 41 verse 46 to chapter 42 verse 38 When Joseph was made ruler over the land of Egypt he did just as he had always done. It was not Joseph's way to sit down and rest and enjoy himself and make others wait on him. He found his work at once and began to do it faithfully and thoroughly. He went out over all the land of Egypt and saw how rich and abundant were the fields of grain giving much more than the people could use for their own needs. He told the people not to waste it but to save it for the coming time of need. And he called upon the people to give him for the king one bushel of grain out of every five to be stored up. The people brought their grain after taking for themselves as much as they needed and Joseph stored it up in great storehouses in the cities so much at last that no one could keep account of it. The king of Egypt gave a wife to Joseph from the noble young women of his kingdom. Her name was Asanath and to Joseph and his wife God gave two sons the oldest son he named Manasseh a word which means making to forget. Four said Joseph God has made me forget all my troubles and my toil as a slave. The second son he named Ephraim a word that means fruitful because said Joseph God has not only made the land fruitful but he has made me fruitful in the land of my troubles. The seven years of plenty soon passed by and then came the years of need. In all the lands around people were hungry and there was no food for them to eat but in the land of Egypt everybody had enough. Most of the people soon used up the grain that they had saved many had saved none at all and they all cried to the king to help them. Go to Joseph said King Pharaoh and do whatever he tells you to do. Then the people came to Joseph and Joseph opened the storehouses and sold to the people all the grain that they wished to buy. And not only the people of Egypt came to buy grain but people of all the lands around as well for there was great need and famine everywhere. And the need was as great in the land of Canaan where Jacob lived as in other lands. Jacob was rich in flocks and cattle and gold and silver but his fields gave no grain and there was danger that his family and his people would starve. And Jacob who is now called Israel also heard that there was food in Egypt and he said to his sons why do you look at each other asking what to do to find food. I have been told that there is grain in Egypt go down to that land and take money with you and buy grain so that we may have bread and may live. Then the ten older brothers of Joseph went down to the land of Egypt they rode upon asses for horses were not much used in those times and they brought money with them. But Jacob would not let Benjamin Joseph's younger brother go with them for he was all the more dear to his father now that Joseph was no longer with him and Jacob feared that harm might come to him. Then Joseph's brothers came to Joseph to buy food they did not know him grown up to be a man dressed as a prince and seated on a throne. Joseph was now nearly 40 years old and it had been almost 23 years since they had sold him but Joseph knew them all as soon as he saw them. He resolved to be sharp and stern with them not because he hated them but because he wished to see what their spirit was and whether they were as selfish and cruel and wicked as they had been in other days. They came before him and bowed and with their faces to the ground. Then no doubt Joseph thought of the dream that had come to him while he was a boy of his brother's sheaves bending down around his sheave. He spoke to them as a stranger as if he did not understand their language and he had their words explained to him in the language of Egypt. Who are you and from what place do you come? said Joseph in a harsh stern manner. They answered him very meekly. We have come from the land of Canaan to buy food. No, said Joseph, I know what you have come for. You have come as spies to see how helpless the land is so that you can bring an army against us and make war on us. No, no, said Joseph's ten brothers. We are no spies. We are the sons of one man who lives in the land of Canaan and we have come for food because we have none at home. You say you are the sons of one man. Who is your father? Is he living? Have you any more brothers? Tell me all about yourselves. And they said, Our father is an old man in Canaan. We did have a younger brother but he was lost and we have one brother still who is youngest of all but his father could not spare him to come with us. No, said Joseph, you are not good honest men. You are spies. I shall put you all in prison except one of you and he shall go and bring that youngest brother of yours and when I see him I will believe that you tell the truth. So Joseph put all the ten men in prison and kept them under guard for three days then he sent for them again. They did not know that he could understand their language and they said to each other while Joseph heard but pretended not to hear. This has come upon us because of the wrong that we did to our brother Joseph more than twenty years ago. We heard him cry and plead with us when we threw him into the pit and we would not have mercy on him. God is giving us only what we deserved. And Reuben who had tried to save Joseph said, Did I not tell you not to harm the boy and you would not listen to me. God is bringing our brother's blood upon us all. When Joseph heard this his heart was touched for he saw that his brothers were really sorry for the wrong they had done him. He turned away from them so that they could not see his face and he wept. Then he turned again to them and spoke roughly as before and said, This I will do for I serve God. I will let you all go home except one man. One of you I will shut up in prison but the rest of you can go home and take food for your people and you must come back and bring your youngest brother with you and I shall know then that you have spoken the truth. Then Joseph gave orders and his servants seized one of his brothers whose name was Simeon and bound him in their sight and took him away to prison. And he ordered his servants to fill the men's sacks with grain and to put every man's money back into the sack before it was tied up so that they would find the money as soon as they had opened the sack. The men loaded their asses with the sacks of grain and started to go home leaving their brother Simeon a prisoner. When they stopped on the way to feed their asses one of the brothers opened his sack and there he found his money lying on top of the grain. He called out to his brothers, See here is my money given again to me and they were frightened but they did not dare go back to Egypt and meet the stern ruler of the land. They went home and told their father all that had happened to them and how their brother Simeon was in prison and must stay there until they should return bringing Benjamin with them. When they opened their sacks of grain there in the mouth of each sack was the money that they had given and they were filled with fear. Then they spoke of going again to Egypt and taking Benjamin but Jacob said to them, You are taking my sons away from me. Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone and now you would take Benjamin away. All these things are against me. Rubin said, Here are my own two boys. You may kill them if you wish in case I do not bring Benjamin back to you. But Jacob said, My youngest son shall not go with you. His brother is dead and he alone is left to me. If harm should come to him it would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. End of Story 17 Story number 18 of Hurlbut's Story of the Bible This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Tamara Hamilton Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut Part 1 Story 18 A Lost Brother Found Genesis chapter 43 verse 1 to chapter 45 verse 24 The food which Jacob's sons had brought from Egypt did not last long for Jacob's family was large. Most of his sons were married and had children of their own so that the children and grandchildren were 66 besides the servants who waited on them and the men who cared for Jacob's flocks. So around the tent of Jacob was quite a camp of other tents and an army of people. When the food that had come from Egypt was nearly eaten up Jacob said to his sons go down to Egypt again and buy some more food for us. And Judah, Jacob's son, the man who years before had urged his brothers to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites said to his father, it is of no use for us to go to Egypt unless we take Benjamin with us. The man who rules in that land said to us, you shall not see my face unless your youngest brother be with you. Israel said, why did you tell the man that you had a brother? You did me great harm when you told him. Why, said Jacob's sons, we could not help telling him. The man asked us all about our family. Is your father yet living? Have you any more brothers? And we had to tell him his questions were so close. How should we know that he would say bring your brother here for me to see him? And Judah said, send Benjamin with me and I will take care of him. I promise you that I will bring him safely home. If he does not come back let me bear the blame forever. He must go or we shall die for one to food and we might have gone down to Egypt and come home again if we had not been kept back. And Jacob said, if he must go then he must, but take a present to the man, some of the choices fruits of the land, some spices and perfumes and nuts and almonds. And take twice as much money besides the money that was in your sacs. Perhaps that was a mistake when the money was given back to you. And take your brother Benjamin and may the Lord God make the man kind to you so that he will set Simeon free and let you bring Benjamin back. But if it is God's will that I lose my children, I cannot help it. So ten brothers of Joseph went down a second time to Egypt, Benjamin going in place of Simeon. They came to Joseph's office, the place where he sold grain to the people and they stood before their brother and bowed as before. Joseph saw that Benjamin was with them and he said to his steward, the man who was over his house, make ready a dinner for all these men shall die with me today. When Joseph's brothers found that they were taken into Joseph's house, they were filled with fear. They said to each other, we have been taken here on account of the money in our sacs. They will say that we have stolen it and then they will sell us all for slaves. But Joseph's steward, the man who was over his house, treated the man kindly. And when they spoke of the money in their sacs he would not take it again saying, never fear, your God must have sent you this as a gift, I had your money. The steward received the man into Joseph's house and washed their feet according to the custom of the land. And at noon Joseph came in to meet them. They brought him the present from their father and again they bowed before him with their faces on the ground. And Joseph asked them if they were well and said, is your father still living, the old man of whom you spoke, is he well? And they said, our father is well and he is living. And again they bowed to Joseph. And Joseph looked at his younger brother Benjamin, the child of his own mother Rachel, and he said, is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious unto you, my son. And Joseph's heart was so full that he could not keep back his tears. He went in haste to his own room and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out again and ordered the table to be set for dinner. They set Joseph's table for himself as the ruler and another table for his Egyptian officers and another for the eleven men from Canaan, for Joseph had brought Simeon out of the prison and had given him a place with his brothers. Joseph himself arranged the order of the seats for his brothers, the oldest at the head, and all in order of age down to the youngest. The men wondered at this and could not see how the ruler of Egypt should know the order of their ages. And Joseph sent dishes from his table to his brothers and he gave to Benjamin five times as much as to the others. Perhaps he wished to see whether they were jealous of Benjamin as in other days they had been towards him. After dinner Joseph said to his steward, Fill the men sacks with grains as much as they can carry and put each man's money in his sack and put my silver cup in the sack of the youngest with his money. The steward did as Joseph had said and early in the morning the brothers started to go home. A little while afterward Joseph said to his steward, Hason, follow after the men from Canaan and say, Why have you wronged me after I had treated you kindly? You have stolen my master's silver cup out of which he drinks. The steward followed the men and overtook them and charged them with stealing and they said to him, Why should you talk to us in this manner? We have stolen nothing. Why, we brought back to you the money that we found in our sacks and is it likely that we would steal from your lord his silver or gold? You may search us and if you find your master's cup on any of us let him die and the rest of us may be sold as slaves. Then they took down the sacks from the asses and opened them and in each man's sack was his money for the second time and when they came to Benjamin's sack there was the ruler's silver cup. Then in the greatest sorrow they tied up their bags again and laid them on the asses and came back to Joseph's palace and Joseph said to them, What wicked thing is this that you have done? Did you not know that I would surely find out your deeds? Then Judah said, Oh my lord what can we say? God has punished us for our sins and now we must all be slaves both us that are older and the youngest in whose sack the cup was found. No, said Joseph, only one of you is guilty, the one who has taken away my cup. I will hold him as a slave and the rest of you can go home to your father. Joseph wished to see whether his brothers were still selfish and were willing to let Benjamin suffer if they could escape. Then Judah, the very man who had urged his brothers to sell Joseph as a slave came forward and fell at Joseph's feet and pleaded with him to let Benjamin go. He told again the whole story how Benjamin was the one whom his father loved the most of all his children. Now that his brother was lost, he said, I promise to bear the blame if this boy was not brought home in safety. If he does not go back it will kill our poor old father who has seen much trouble. Now let my youngest brother go home to his father and I will stay here as a slave in his place. Joseph knew now what he had longed to know, that his brothers were no longer cruel nor selfish, but one of them was willing to suffer so that his brother might be spared. And Joseph could not any longer keep his secret for his heart longed after his brothers and he was ready to weep again with tears of love and joy. He sent all of his Egyptian servants out of the room so that he might be alone with his brothers and then said, come near to me, I wish to speak with you. And they came near wondering. Then Joseph said, I am Joseph, is my father really alive? How frightened his brothers were as they heard these words spoken in their own language by the ruler of Egypt and for the first time knew that this stern man who had their lives in his hand was their own brother whom they had wronged. Then Joseph said again, I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt but do not feel trouble because of what you did for God sent me before you to save your lives. There have been already two years of need and famine and there are to be five years more when there shall neither be plowing of the fields nor harvest. It was not you who sent me here but God and he sent me to save your lives. God has made me like a father to Pharaoh and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Now go home and bring down to me my father and all his family for that is the only way to save their lives. Then Joseph placed his arms around Benjamin's neck and kissed him and wept upon him and Benjamin wept on his neck and Joseph kissed all his brothers to show them that he had fully forgiven them. And after that his brothers began to lose their fear of Joseph and talked with him more freely. Afterward Joseph sent his brothers home with good news and rich gifts and abundant food. He sent also wagons in which Jacob and his wives and the little ones of his family might ride from Canaan down to Egypt. And Joseph's brothers went home happier than they had been for many years. End of Story 18 LibriVox.org Herobot's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Herobot Part 1 From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty Genesis 45-25 to 50-26 Oh, Joseph's eleven brothers went home to their old father with the glad news that Joseph was alive and was ruler over the land. It was such a joyful surprise to Jacob that he fainted. But after a time he revived, and when they showed him the wagons that Joseph had sent to bring him and his family to Egypt, old Jacob said, It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die. Then they went on their journey with their wives and children and servants and sheep and cattle a great company. They stopped to rest at Beersheba, which had been the home of Isaac and of Abraham, and made offerings to the Lord and worshipped. And that night the Lord appeared to Jacob and said to him, Jacob I am the Lord, the God of your Father, fear not to go down to Egypt, for I will go down with you and there you shall see your son Joseph, and in Egypt I will make of your descendants those that come from you a great people, and I will surely bring them back again to this land. They came down to Egypt 66 of Jacob's children and grandchildren. Joseph rode in his chariot to meet his father and fell on his neck and wept upon him. And Jacob said, Now I am ready to die since I know that you are still alive and I have seen your face. And Joseph brought his father in to see King Pharaoh and Jacob as an old man gave his blessing to the king. The part of the land of Egypt where Joseph found for his brothers a home was called Goshen. It was on the east between Egypt and the desert and it was a very rich land where the soil gave large harvests. But at that time and for five years after there were no crops because of the famine that was in the land. During those years the people of Israel and the land of Goshen were fed as were all the people of Egypt with the grain from the storehouses of Joseph. Jacob lived to be almost 150 years old. Before he died he blessed Joseph and all his sons and said to them, When I die do not bury me in the land of Egypt but take my body to the land of Canaan and bury me in the cave at Hebron with Abraham and Isaac my father. And Joseph brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to his father's bed. Jacob's eyes were dim with age as his father Isaac's had been, see story 12, and he would not see the two young men. And he said, Who are these? And Joseph said, They are my two sons whom God has given me in this land. Bring them to me, said Jacob, that I may bless them before I die. And Jacob kissed them and put his arms around them and he said, I had not thought that I should ever see your face my son and God has let me see both you and your children also. And Jacob placed his hand on Ephraim's head the younger and his left on Manasseh the older. Joseph tried to change his father's hands so that his right hand should be on the older son's head. But Jacob would not allow him and he said, I know what I am doing. God will bless the older son but the greater blessing shall be with the younger. For his descendants, those who spring from him, shall be greater and stronger than the descendants of his brother. And so it came to pass many years after this for the tribe of Ephraim, the younger son, became greater and more powerful than the tribe of Manasseh, the older son. When Jacob died a great funeral was held. They queried his body up out of Egypt to the land of Canaan and buried it as he had said to them in the cave of Macapela where Abraham and Isaac were buried already. When the sons of Jacob came back to Egypt after the burial of their father, they said to one another, it may be that Joseph will punish us now that his father is dead for the wrong that we did to him many years ago. And they sent a message asking Joseph to forgive them for his father's sake. And again they came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. They said, we are your servants, be merciful to us. And Jacob wept when his brother spoke to him and he said, fear not, am I in God's place to punish and to reward? It is true that you meant evil to me, but God turned it to good, so that all your families might be kept alive. Do not be afraid, I will care for you and for your children. After this Joseph lived to a good old age until he was a hundred and ten years old. Before he died he said to his children and to all the children of Israel who had now increased to a very many people, I am going to die, but God will come to you and will bring you up out of this land into your own land which he promised to your fathers, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. When I die do not bury me in Egypt, but keep my body until you go out of this land and take it with you. So when Joseph died they embalmed his body as the Egyptians embalmed the dead so that the body would not decay and they placed his body in a stone coffin and kept it in the land of Goshen among the people of Israel. Thus Joseph not only showed his faith in God's promise that he would bring his people back to the land of Canaan, but he also encouraged the faith of those who came after him. For, as often as the Israelites looked on the stone coffin that held the body of Joseph they said to one another, there is the token, the sign, that this land is not our home. This coffin will not be buried until we bury it in our own land, the land of Canaan where God will lead us in his own time. End of Story 19 Story 20 of Herobot's Story of the Bible This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Herobot's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Herobot Part 1 The beautiful baby who was found in a river. Exodus 1-1-2-22 The children of Israel stayed in the land of Egypt much longer than they had expected to stay. They were in that land about 400 years. And the going down to Egypt proved a great blessing to them. It saved their lives during the years of famine and need. After the years of need were over, they found the soil in the land of Goshen, that part of Egypt where they were living, very rich, so that they could gather three or four crops every year. Then too some of the sons of Israel before they came to Egypt had begun to marry the women in the land of Canaan who worshipped idols and not the Lord. If they had stayed there their children would have grown up like the people around them and soon would have lost all knowledge of God. But in Goshen they lived alone and apart from the people of Egypt. They worshipped the Lord God and were kept away from the idols of Egypt. And in that land as the years went on from being 70 people they grew in number until they became a great multitude. Each of the 12 sons of Jacob was the father of a tribe and Joseph was the father of two tribes which were named after his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. As long as Joseph lived and for some time after the people of Israel were treated kindly by the Egyptians out of their love for Joseph who had saved Egypt from suffering by famine. But after a long time another king began to rule over Egypt who cared nothing for Joseph or Joseph's people. He saw that the Israelites as the children of Israel were called were very many and he feared less they would soon become greater in number and in power than the Egyptians. He said to his people let us rule these Israelites more strictly. They are growing too strong. Then they set harsh rulers over the Israelites who laid heavy burdens on them. They made the Israelites work hard for the Egyptians and build cities for them and give to the Egyptians a large part of the crops from their fields. They set them at work in making brick and in building storehouses. They were so afraid that the Israelites would grow in number that they gave orders to kill all the little boys that were born to the Israelites though their little girls might be allowed to live. But in the face of all this hate and wrong and cruelty the people of Israel were growing in numbers and becoming greater and greater. At this time when the wrongs of the Israelites were of the greatest and when their little children were being killed one little boy was born. He was such a lovely child that his mother kept him hid so that the enemies did not find him. When she could no longer hide him she found a plan to save his life believing that God would help her and save her beautiful little boy. She made a little box like a boat and covered it with something that would not let the water into it. Such a boat as this covered over was called an ark. She knew that at certain times the daughter of King Pharaoh all the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh would come down to the river for a bath. She placed her baby boy in the ark and let it float down the river where the princess, Pharaoh's daughter would see it. And she sent her own daughter a little girl named Miriam, 12 years old to watch close at hand how anxious the mother and the sister were as they saw the little ark floating away from them on the river. Pharaoh's daughter with her maids came down to the river and they saw the ark floating on the water among the reeds. She sent one of her maids to bring it to her to see what was in the curious box. They opened it and there was a beautiful little baby who began to cry to be taken up. The princess felt kind toward the little one and loved it at once. She said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. You have heard how the children of Israel came to be called Hebrews. Sea Story 16 Pharaoh's daughter thought that it would be cruel to let such a lovely baby as this die out on the water. And just then a little girl came into the accident and she looked at the baby also and said, shall I go and find some woman of the Hebrews to be a nurse to the child for you and take care of it? Yes, said the princess, go and find a nurse for me. The little girl who was Miriam, the baby's sister, ran as quickly as she could and brought the baby's own mother to the princess. Miriam showed in this act that she was a wise and thoughtful little girl. The princess said to the little baby's mother, take her home and nurse it for me and I will pay you wages for it. How glad the Hebrew mother was to take her child home. No one could harm her boy now for he was protected by the princess of Egypt, the daughter of the king. When the child was large enough to leave his mother, Pharaoh's daughter took him into her own home in the palace. She named him Moses, a word that means drawn out because he was drawn out of the water. So Moses, the Hebrew boy, came to the land as the son of the princess. There he learned much more than he could have learned among his own people, for there were very wise teachers among the Egyptians. Moses gained all the knowledge that the Egyptians had to give. There, in the court of the cruel king who had made slaves of the Israelites, God's people, was growing up an Israelite boy who should at some time set his people free. Although Moses grew up among his own people, they were poor and were hated and were slaves, but he loved them because they were the people who served the Lord God while the Egyptians were chipped idols and animals. Strange it was that so wise of people as these should bow down and pray to an ox or to a cat or to a snake, as did the Egyptians. When Moses became a man, he went among his own people, leaving the riches and ease that he might have enjoyed free. But at that time he found that he could do nothing to help them. They would not let him lead them and as the king of Egypt had now become his enemy, Moses went away from Egypt into a country in Arabia called Midian. He was sitting by a well in that land, tired from his long journey when he saw some young women come to draw water for their flocks of sheep. But some rough men came and helped the women and drew the water for them. These young women were sisters, the daughters of a man named Jethro who was a priest in the land of Midian. He asked Moses to live with him and to help him in the care of his flocks. Moses stayed with Jethro and married one of his daughters. So from being a prince in the king's palace in Egypt Moses became a shepherd in the wilderness of Midian. End of Story 20 of Herobot's Story of the Bible This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Herobot's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Herobot Part 1 The Voice from the Burning Bush Exodus 3.1 to 4.31 It must have been a great change in the life of Moses after he had spent 40 years in the palace as a prince to go out into the wilderness of Midian and live there as a shepherd. He saw no more the crowded cities, the pyramids, the temples of Egypt and the Great River Nile. For 40 years Moses wandered about the land of Midian with his flocks, living alone often sleeping at night on the ground and looking up by day to the great mountains. He wore the rough skin mantle of a shepherd and in his hand was the long shepherd's staff. He wore sandals which he wore instead of shoes. But when he stood before an altar to worship God he took off his sandals. For when we take off our hats as in church or a place where God has worshiped the people of those lands take off their shoes as a sign of reverence in the sacred place. Moses was a great man, one of the greatest men that ever lived. But he did not think himself greater wise. He was contented with the work that Moses had to do and all through those years in the wilderness God was preparing him for that work. All through those years while Moses was feeding his flock in Midian the people of Israel were still bearing heavy burdens and working as slaves in Egypt making brick in building cities. The king who had begun the hard treatment of the Israelites died but another king took his place and was just as cruel. He was called by the same name Pharaoh for this was the name Pharaoh. One day Moses was feeding his flock on a mountain called Mount Horeb. This mountain was also called Mount Sinai and is spoken of by both names in the Bible. On the mountain Moses saw a bush which seemed to be on fire. He watched to see it burn up but it was not destroyed though it kept burning on and on and Moses said to himself I will go and look at this strange thing a bush on fire yet not burning up. As Moses was going toward the bush he heard a voice coming out of the bush calling him by name Moses, Moses he listened and said here I am. The voice said Moses do not come near but take off your shoes from your feet for you are standing on holy ground. So Moses took off his shoes and came near to the burning bush and the voice came from the bush saying I am the God of your father the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. I have seen the wrongs and the cruelty that my people have suffered in Egypt and I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters and I am coming to set them free from the land of the Egyptians and to bring them up to their own land the land of Canaan a good land and large. Come now and I will send you to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and you shall lead out my people from Egypt. Moses knew what a great work this would be to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to take up such a task and he said to the Lord oh Lord who am I a shepherd here in the wilderness to do this great work to go to Pharaoh and to bring the people out of Egypt it is too great a work for me and God said to Moses surely I will be with you and will help you to do this great work I will give you a sign of my presence with you when you have led my people out of Egypt you shall bring them to this mountain and they shall worship me here and God said to God when I go to the children of Israel and Egypt and tell them that the God of their fathers has sent me they will say to me who is this God what is his name for they have suffered so much and have sunk so low that I fear they have forgotten their God you remember that Moses had been out of Egypt and a far from his people for 40 years a long time and in that time he did not know whether they had continued the worship of God and God said to Moses who is always living do you go to your people and say to them I am have sent me to you do not be afraid go to your people and say to them what I have said to you and they will listen to you and believe and you shall take the elders of your tribes the leading men among them and shall go to King Pharaoh and shall say to him let my people go that they may worship me in the wilderness at first he will not let you go or in Egypt and then he will let you go out of the land but Moses wished some sign which he could give to his people and to the Egyptians to show them that God had sent him he asked God to give him some sign and God said to him what is that which you have in your hand Moses said it is a rod my shepherd staff which I use to guide the sheep and God said throw it on the ground then Moses threw it down and Moses was afraid of it and began to run from it and God said do not fear it but take hold of it by the tail Moses did so and at once it became again a rod in his hand and God said again to Moses put your hand into your bosom under your garment and take it out again then Moses put his hand under his garment and when he took it out it had changed and was now as white as snow and covered with a scaly crust and he said never ever but God said to him again put your hand into your bosom once more Moses did so and when he took it out his hand was like the other with a pure skin no longer like a leper's hand and God said to Moses when you go to speak my words if they will not believe you show them the first sign and let your rod become a snake and then a rod again and if they still refuse bring it back as it was before and if they still will not believe then take some water from the river and it shall turn to blood fear not go and speak my words to your own people and to the Egyptians but Moses was still unwilling to go not because he was afraid but because he did not feel himself to be fit for such a great task and he said to the Lord oh Lord thou knowest that I am not a good speaker I am slow of speech am I not the Lord who made man's mouth go and I will be with your lips and will teach you what to say but Moses still hesitated and he said oh Lord choose some other man for this great work I am not able to do it and God said you have a brother whose name is Aaron he can speak well even now he is coming to see you in the wilderness let him help you and speak for you you show the signs which I have given to you at last Moses yielded to God's call he went from Mount Sinai with his flocks and took them home to Jethro his father-in-law and then he went toward Egypt and on the way he met his brother coming to see him then the two brothers Moses and Aaron came to the elders of Israel in the land of Goshen they told the people what God had said and the people said God has seen all our troubles and at last he is coming to set us free and they were glad and gave thanks to God who had not forgotten them for God never forgets those who call upon him end of story 21 story 22 of Hurlbut's story of the Bible this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer Hurlbut's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut part one the river that ran blood Exodus 6 28 to 10 29 after Moses and Aaron had spoken to the people of Israel the words which God had given them they went to meet Pharaoh the king of Egypt you remember that all the kings of Egypt bore the name of Pharaoh Moses and Aaron did not at first ask Pharaoh to let the people go out of Egypt never to return for God the Lord God of Israel has bitten us to go out with all our people a journey of three days into the wilderness and there to worship him and God speaks to you through us saying let my people go that they may serve me but Pharaoh was very angry he said what are you doing you Moses and Aaron to call your people away from their work go back to your tasks and leave your people alone I know why the Israelites work enough to keep them busy I will give them more work to do the work of the Israelites at that time was mostly in making brick and in putting up the walls of buildings for the rulers of Egypt in mixing the clay for the brick they used straw chopped up fine to hold the clay together Pharaoh said let them make as many bricks as before but give them no straw let the Israelites find their own straw for the brick making of course this made their task to find the straw and the Israelites were scattered all through the land finding straw and stubble for use in making the brick and yet they were called upon to bring as many bricks each day as before and when they could not do all their tasks they were cruelly beaten by the Egyptians many of the Israelites now became angry with Moses and Aaron who they thought had brought more burden and trouble upon them they said may the Lord God judge you He made us out and set us free but you have only made our suffering the greater then Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord said to him take Aaron your brother and go again to Pharaoh and show him the signs that I gave you so they went into Pharaoh and again asked him in the Lord's name to let the people go and Pharaoh said who is the Lord why should I obey his commands what sign can you show that God has sent you then Aaron threw down his rod but there were wise men in Egypt who had heard of this and they made ready a trick they threw down their rods and their rods became snakes or seemed to they may have been tame snakes which they had hidden under their long garments then brought out as if they had been rods but Aaron's rod in the form of a snake ran after them and swallowed them all and then it became a rod again in Aaron's hand but King Pharaoh refused to obey God's voice then Moses spoke to Aaron take your rod and wave it over the waters of Egypt over the river Nile and the canals and the lakes then Aaron did so he lifted up the rod and struck the water in the side of Pharaoh and in a moment all the water turned to blood and the fish and the river all died and a terrible stench a foul smell arose over the land and the people were in danger of dying but in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were the water remained as it had been the blood so God made a difference between Israel and Egypt the people of Egypt dug wells to find water the wise men of Egypt brought some water to Pharaoh and made it look as though they had turned it to blood and Pharaoh would not listen nor let the people go after seven days Moses took away the plague of blood but he warned Pharaoh that another plague was coming if he refused to obey and as Pharaoh still would not obey Aaron stretched forth his rod again and then all the land was covered with frogs like a great army they ran over all the fields and they even filled the houses Pharaoh said pray to your God for me ask him to take the frogs away and I will let the people go then Moses prayed and God took away the frogs they died everywhere and the Egyptians heaped them up and buried them but Pharaoh broke his promise and would not let the people go and everywhere the dust became alive with lice and fleas but still Pharaoh would not hear and God sent great swarms and clouds of flies over the land so that their houses were filled with them and the sky was covered but where the Israelites lived there were no lice nor fleas nor flies then Pharaoh began to yield a little he said why must you go out of the land to worship God worship him here in this land but Moses said we would make an offering and our offerings are of animals which the people of Egypt worship oxen and sheep it would make the Egyptians angry to see us offering a sacrifice of animals which they call gods well said Pharaoh you may go but do not go far away and come back but when Moses and Aaron had taken away the plague Pharaoh broke his promise again and still held the people as slaves then another plague came a terrible disease struck all the animals in Egypt the camels the sheep and the oxen and they died by the thousand in a day all over the land but no plague came upon the flocks and herds of the Israelites but Pharaoh was still stubborn he would not obey God's voice then Moses and Aaron gathered up in their hands ashes from the furnace and threw it up like a cloud into the air and instantly boils began to break out on men and beasts all through the land still Pharaoh refused to obey and he stood toward the sky at once a terrible storm burst forth upon the land all the more terrible because in that land rain scarcely ever falls sometimes there will not even be a shower of rain for years at a time but now the black clouds rolled the thunder sounded the lightning flashed and the rain poured down and with the rain came hail something that the Egyptians had never seen before it struck all the crops growing in the fields and the fruits on the trees then again Pharaoh was frightened and promised to let the people go and again when God took away the hail at Moses' prayer he broke his word and would not let the Israelites leave the land then after the hail came great clouds of locusts which ate up every green thing that the hail had spared and after the locusts came the plague of darkness for three days there was thick darkness no sun shining nor moon nor stars but still Pharaoh would not let the people go Pharaoh said to Moses get out of my sight let me never see your face again if you come into my presence you shall be killed and Moses said it shall be as you say I will see your face no more and God said to Moses there shall be one plague more and then Pharaoh will be glad to let the people go he will drive you out of the land make your people ready to go out of Egypt your time here will soon be ended End of Story 22 Story 23 of Hurlbut's Story of the Bible This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut Part 1 The night when a nation was born Exodus 11-1 to 13-22 While all these terrible plays of which we read in the last story were falling upon the people of Egypt the Israelites in the land of Goshen were living in safety under God's care The waters there were not made blood nor did the flies or the locusts trouble them While all was dark in the rest of Egypt in the land of Goshen the sun was shining This made the Egyptians feel that the Lord God of the Israelites was watching over his own people They brought gifts to the Israelites of gold and silver and jewels and precious things of every kind to win their favor and to win the favor of their God So the Israelites from being very poor began suddenly to be very rich Now Moses said to the people In a few days you are to go out of Egypt So gather together get yourselves in order by your families and your twelve tribes and be ready to march out of Egypt And the people of Israel did as Moses sped them Then said Moses God will bring one more plague upon the Egyptians and then they will let you go And you must take care and obey God's command exactly or the last terrible plague will come upon your houses with the Egyptian houses At midnight the angel of the Lord will go through the land and the oldest child in every house shall die Pharaoh's son shall die and every rich man's son and every poor man's son shall be safe if you do exactly as I command you Then Moses told them what to do Every family was bitten to find a lamb and to kill it They were to take some of the blood of the lamb and sprinkle it at the entrance of the house on the door frame overhead and on each side Then they were to roast the lamb and with it to cook some vegetables and to eat it standing around the table with all their garments on ready to march away as soon as the meal should be ended and no one was to go out of the house that night for God's angel would be abroad and he might be killed if the angel should meet him The children of Israel did as Moses commanded them They killed the lamb and sprinkled the blood and ate the supper in the night as God had told them to do and this supper was called the Passover Supper because when the angel saw the door sprinkled with blood he passed over those houses and did not enter them and the Israelites were commanded to eat just such a supper on the same night every year This became a great feast of the Israelites and was called the Passover Does not that slain lamb and his blood sprinkled to save the people from death make you think of Jesus Christ who was the lamb of God slain to save us all and that night a great cry went up from all the land of Egypt in every house there was one and that one the oldest son who died and Pharaoh the king of Egypt died and knew that it was the hand of God and all the people of Egypt were filled with terror as they saw their children lying dead in their houses the king now sent a messenger to Moses and Aaron saying make haste, get out of the land and take everything that you have leave nothing and pray to your God to have mercy upon us and to do us no more harm so suddenly at the last early in the morning the Israelites after 400 years in Egypt went out of the land they went out in order like a great army family by family and tribe by tribe they went out in such haste that they had no time to bake bread to eat on the journey they left the dough in the pans already mixed for baking but not yet risen as bread is before it is baked and they set the bread pans on their heads as people do in that land when they carry loads and as a memory of the day when they took the bread without waiting for it to rise the rule was made that for one week in every year and that same time in the year when they went out of Egypt all the people of Israel should eat bread that is unleavened that is bread made without yeast and unrisen and this rule is kept to the stay by the Jews who belong to the Israelite family and the Lord God went before the host of Israel as they marched out of Egypt in the daytime there was a great cloud like a pillar in front and at night it became a pillar of fire both by day and night as they saw the cloudy and fiery pillar going before they could say our Lord the God of heaven and earth goes before us when the pillar of cloud stopped they knew that it was a sign that they were to pause in their journey and rest so they set up their tents and waited until the cloud should rise up and go forward when they looked and saw that the pillar of cloud was higher up in the air and as though moving forward they took down their tents thus the pillar was like a guide by day and a guard by night you remember that when Joseph died see the end of story 19 he commanded the Israelites not to bury his body in Egypt but to keep it in a stone coffin unburied as long as they should stay in the land when they were going out of Egypt the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who had sprung from Joseph his descendants as they are called took with them on their journey this stone coffin and thus the Israelites went out of Egypt 400 years after they had gone down to Egypt to live end of story 23 story 24 of Hurlbut's story of the Bible part 1 this is a LibriVox recording our LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Hurlbut's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut part 1 how the sea became dry land and the sky rained bread Exodus chapter 14 verse 1 to chapter 16 verse 36 when the children of Israel came out of Egypt it was their aim to go at once to the land of Canaan from which their fathers had come the shortest road was that following the shore of the great sea and entering Canaan on the southwest but in this region lived the Philistines a strong and war like people and the Israelites after ages of slavery were not fit to carry on war the other way was by the southeast through the desert of Mount Sinai where Moses knew the land for it was there that he had been a shepherd for many years so the Israelites led by the pillar of cloud and fire turned to the southeast directly toward the Red Sea which rolled between them and the desert in a very few days they came to the shore of the sea with the water before them and the high mountains on each side as soon as the Israelites had left their homes and were on the march King Pharaoh was sorry that he had let them go for now they would no more be his servants and do his work word came to Pharaoh that the Israelites were lost among the mountains and held fast by the sea in front of them Pharaoh called out his army his chariots and his horsemen and followed the Israelites intending either to kill them or to bring them back very soon the army of Egypt was close behind the host of Israel and the hearts of the people were filled with fear they cried to Moses saying why did you bring us into this terrible place shut in by the mountains in the sea and with our enemies close behind us it would be better to serve the Egyptians than to die here in the wilderness fear not answered Moses stand still and see how God will save you as for the Egyptians whom you now see following you you will see them no more forever the Lord will fight for you and you shall stand still and see your enemies slaying that night the pillar of fire which was before the host of Israel went behind them and stood between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of the Israelites to Israel it was bright and dazzling with the glory of the Lord but to the Egyptians it was dark and they dared not enter it and all that night there blew over the sea a mighty east wind so that the water was blown away and when the morning came there was a ridge of dry land between water on one side and water on the other making a road across the sea to the land beyond and on each side of the road the water lay in great lakes as if to keep their enemies away from them then Moses told the people to go forward and the pillar of cloud to the great army they walked across the red sea as on dry land and passed safely over into the wilderness on the other side so God brought his people out of Egypt into a land that they had never seen when the Egyptians saw them marching into the sea they followed with their chariots and their horses but the sand was no longer hard it had become soft and their chariot wheels were fastened in it and many of them broke off so that the army was in confusion and all were frightened the soldiers cried out let us fly from the face of the Israelites the Lord is fighting for them and against us by this time the Israelites had passed through the red sea and were standing on the high ground beyond it looking at their enemies slowly struggling through the sand all in one heaped up massive men and horses and chariots then Moses lifted up his hand and at once a great tide of water swept up from the sea on the south the road over which the Israelites had walked in safely was covered with water and the host of Pharaoh with all his chariots and his horses and their riders were drowned in the sea before the eyes of the people of Israel they saw the dead bodies of the Egyptians tossed up by the waves on the shore Moses wrote a great song and all the people sang it together a great victory which God had wrought for them it began thus I was singing to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea the Lord is my strength and song and he has become my salvation and now the people of Israel were no longer in a level land with fields of grain and abundance of food and streams of water they were in the great desert with a rocky path under them with only a few springs of water and these far apart such a host of men and women and children with their flocks would need much water and they found very little they saw in the distance some springs of water and ran to drink of it for they were very thirsty but when they tasted they found it bitter so that they could not drink it then the people cried to Moses and Moses cried to the Lord and the water Moses did so and then the water became fresh and pure and good so that the people could drink it this place they named Mara a word which means bitterness because of the water which they found there after passing Mara they came to another a more pleasant place where they saw twelve springs of fresh water and a grove of seventy palm trees around them and there they rested under the cool shade but soon they were in a hot desert of sand between the waters of Elam and Mount Sinai and again they were in great trouble for there was no food for such an army of people then Moses called upon God and the Lord said I will rain bread from heaven upon you and you shall go out and gather it every day the next morning when the people looked out of their tents they saw all around the camp on the sand little white flakes like snow or frost just as anybody would say what is it? in the language of the Israelites the Hebrew language what is it is the word manhah so the people said to one another manhah manhah and this gave a name afterward to what they saw the name Manah and Moses said to them this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat go out and gather it as much as you need but take only as much as you need for today do not keep and God will give you more tomorrow so the people went out and gathered the manhah they cooked it in various ways baking it and boiling it and the taste of it was like wafers flavored with honey some took more than they needed not trusting God's word that there would be more the next day but that which was left over after it was gathered spoiled and smelled badly so that it was useless they should trust God for their daily bread but the manhah which was left on the ground did not spoil when the sun came up it melted away just like frost or snowflakes before the sixth day of the week came Moses said to the people tomorrow on the sixth day of the week take twice as much manhah as usual for the next day is the Lord's Sabbath the day of rest and the manhah will not come on that day so the next morning the people went out as before to gather the manhah on that day they found that the manhah which was not used did not spoil that kept fresh until the next morning on the Sabbath day some of the people who had failed to hear Moses and had not gathered the manhah in advance for the Sabbath went out and they could find none so that day these people had nothing to eat and all Israel learned the lesson which we also should remember that one day in each week they had to be kept holy to the Lord all the time that the Israelites lived in the wilderness which was forty years they ate the manhah which God gave them day by day not until they entered the land of Canaan did the manhah cease to fall do you remember who it was long after this that said I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst end of how the seed became dry land and the sky rained bread story twenty five of Hurlbut's story of the Bible this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Hurlbut's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut part one the mountain that smoked the words that were spoken from it Exodus seventeen one to thirty one eighteen while the Israelites were journeying through the desert they had great trouble from want of water between the wells of Elim and Mount Sinai they found no streams nor springs their sheep and men suffered from thirst and the little children were crying for water the people came to Moses and said in great anger give us water why have you brought us up from Egypt to kill us here in the desert and Moses called on God and said Lord what shall I do to this people they are almost ready to stone me in their anger how can I give them water then God told Moses what to do and this was what Moses did he brought the people together before a great rock and with his rod he struck the rock then out of the rock came forth the stream of water and ran like a river through the camp and gave them plenty of water for themselves and for their flocks while they were in camp around this rock at Refidem the wild people who had their homes in the desert and were called the Amalekites made sudden war on the Israelites they came down upon them from the mountains while they were weary with marching and killed some of the Israelites then Moses called out to the river and made a young man named Joshua their leader and they fought a battle with the Amalekites while they were fighting Moses stood on a rock where all could see him and prayed the Lord God to help his people his hands were stretched out towards heaven and while Moses' hands were reaching up the Israelites were strong and drove back the enemy but when Moses' arms fell down then the enemy drove back the men of Israel so Aaron and Moses' brother and her who is thought to have been Moses' brother-in-law the husband of a sister Miriam stood beside Moses and held up his hands until the Israelites won the victory and overcame the men of Amalek in the third month after the Israelites had left the land of Egypt they came to a great mountain which rises straight up from the plain so straight that one can walk up to it and touch it with his hand this was Mount Sinai there was a group of mountains called Horeb where Moses saw the burning bush and heard God's voice as we read in Story 21 the Israelites made their camp in front of Mount Sinai and stayed there for many days and God said to Moses let none of the people go up on the mount or come near to touch it even if one of your cattle or sheep shall touch the mountain it must be killed this is a holy place days after this the people heard the voice as of many trumpets sounding on the top of the mountain they looked and saw that the mountain was covered with clouds and smoke and lightnings were flashing from it while the thunder rolled and crashed and the mountain shook and trembled as though an earthquake were tearing it in pieces the people were filled with alarm they came out of their tents and ran back from the foot of the mountain and stood far off trembling with fear in the hearing of all the people as with a voice of thunder and said I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage and then God spoke to all the people the words of the tent commandments to which you have listened many times the words are these one thou shalt have no other gods but me two thou shalt not make unto thee give an image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them for I, the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments three thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain four remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy manservant nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle nor thy gates for in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it five honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which thy Lord thy God giveth thee six thou shalt not kill seven adultery eight thou shalt not steal nine thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour ten thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife nor his manservant nor his maidservant nor his ox nor his ass nor anything that is thy neighbours the Lord's speaking by the Lord God and they saw the mountain smoking and the lightning flashing and they were frightened they said to Moses let God not speak to us any more for the sound of his voice will take away our lives let God speak to you Moses and do you speak to us God's words fear not said Moses for God has come to you to speak with you that you may fear him and do his will then Moses drew near to the mountain where darkness and lightnings were then God called Moses up to the top of the mountain and Moses went up and with him was his helper the young man Joshua Joshua stayed on the side of the mountain but Moses went up alone to the top among the clouds and there Moses stayed upon the mountain alone with God for forty days talking with God and listening to the words which God spoke to him the laws for the people of Israel and God gave to Moses two flat tablets of stone upon which God had written with his own hand the Ten Commandments End of Story 25 Story 26 of Herbert's Story of the Bible this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Herbert's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Herbert Part 1 How Aaron made a golden calf and what became of it While Moses was in the mountain alone with God a strange and wicked thing was done in the camp on the plane at first the people were alarmed when they saw the mountain smoking and heard the thunder but soon they grew accustomed to it and when day after day passed and Moses did not come down at last they said to Aaron come now make us a God that we may worship and that we may have to lead us as for Moses the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt we do not know what has become of him Aaron was not a man of strong will as Moses was when his brother Moses was not by his side Aaron was weak and ready to yield to the wishes of the people Aaron said if you must have a God that you can look at then break off the gold earrings that are in your ears and in the ears of your wives and children and bring them to me then the people brought their gold to Aaron and Aaron melted the gold rings into a mass and shaped it with a grieving tool into the form of a calf and this he brought out and stood up before the people then they all cried out this is your God or Israel that brought you out of the land of Egypt and Aaron built an altar before the image and he said to all the people tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord perhaps Aaron thought that if the people could have before them an image that they could see they might still be kept to the worship of the Lord God but in this he was greatly mistaken the people came to the feast and offered sacrifices and then they began to dance around the altar and to do wicked deeds together as they had seen the people of Egypt doing before their idols and all this time the mountain was smoking and flashing with fire almost over their heads and the Lord up in the mountain spoke to Moses and said hasten for your people have done very wickedly they have made for themselves an idol and they are worshiping it now I am angry with them and I am ready to destroy them all and to make of your children a great nation and Moses pleaded with the Lord for Israel and God did not destroy the people but he sent Moses down to them holding in his hands the two stone tables on which God had written the Ten Commandments as he went down the mountain Joshua joined him and said to him I can hear noise of war in the camp it is not the sound of men who are shouting for victory nor is it the cry of those who are beaten in battle it is the voice of singing that I hear and in a moment more as they stood where they could look down upon the camp there was standing the golden calf and around it were the people making offerings and feasting and dancing and singing and Moses was so angry when he saw all the wickedness and shame of his people that he threw down the two tables out of his hands and broke them in pieces upon the rocks what was the use of keeping the tables of stone he may have thought while the people were breaking the laws written upon them Moses came straight into the midst of the throng and at once all the dancing and merry making stopped he tore down the golden calf and broke it in pieces and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder and threw it into the water and he made the people drink the water filled with its dust he meant to teach the people that they would suffer punishment like bitter water for their wicked deed then Moses turned to Aaron what led you to such an act as this said Moses why did you let the people persuade you to make them an image for worship and Aaron said do not be angry with me you know how the hearts of these people are said to do evil they came to me and said make us a guard and I said to them what you have so they gave it to me and I threw the gold into the fire and this calf came out then Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and called out whoever is on the Lord's side let him come and stand by me then one whole tribe out of the twelve tribes of Israel the tribe of Levi all sprung from Levi one of Jacob's sons came and stood beside Moses and Moses said to them draw your swords and go through the camp and kill everyone whom you find bowing down to the idol spare no one slay your friends and your neighbors if they are worshiping the image and on that day three thousand of the worshipers of the idol were slain by the sons of Levi then Moses said to the people you have sinned a great sin but I will go to the Lord and I will make an offering to him and will ask him to forgive your sin and Moses went before the Lord and prayed for the people and said oh Lord these people have sinned a great sin yet now forgive their sin if thou art willing and if thou will not forgive their sin then let me suffer with them for they are my people and the Lord forgave the sin of the people and took them once again for his own and promised to go with them and to lead them into the land which he had promised to their fathers and God said to Moses cut out two tables of stone like those which I gave to you and which you broke and bring them up to me in the mountain and I will write on them again the words of the Lord so Moses went up a second time into the holy mount and there God talked with him again Moses stayed forty days on this second meeting with God as he had stayed in the mountain forty days before and all this time while God was talking with Moses the people waited in the camp and they did not again set up any idol for worship once more Moses came down the mountain bringing the two stone tables upon which God had written the words of his law the Ten Commandments and Moses had been so close to God's glory and had been so long in the blaze of God's light that when he came into the camp of Israel his face was shining though he did not know it the people could not look on Moses' face it was so dazzling and Moses found that when he talked with the people it was needful for him to wear a veil over his face when Moses went to talk with God he took off the veil but while he spoke with the people he kept his face covered for it shone as the sun end of story twenty-seven when Moses went to the camp end of story twenty-six recording by Ezwa in Belgium in September 2007 story twenty-seven of Hurlbert's story of the Bible this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Kirsten Ferreri Hurlbert's story of the Bible story twenty-seven of the tent where God lived among his people Exodus thirty-five one to forty thirty-eight it may seem strange that the Israelites after all that God had done for them and while Mount Sinai was still showing God's glory should fall away from the service of God to the worship of idols as we read in the last story story twenty-six but you must keep in mind that all the people whom the Israelites had ever met both in Canaan and in Egypt and from their neighbors the Israelites had also learned to bow down to idols in those times everywhere people felt that they must have a God that they could see God was very good to the Israelites after they had forsaken him to take them again as his own people and God gave to the Israelites a plan for worship which would allow them to have something that they could see to remind them of their God and yet at the same time God cannot be seen by the eyes of men the plan was this to have in the middle of the camp of Israel a house to be called the house of God which the people could see and to which they could come for worship every time that an Israelite looked at this house he might say to himself and might teach his children that is the house where God lives among his people even though no image stood in the house and as the Israelites in the house of God would need to be something like a tent so that it could be tinged down and moved as often as the camp was changed such a tent as this was called a tabernacle the tabernacle then was the tent where God was supposed to live among his people and where the people could meet God we do not know just how the tent looked but from the description given of it many have tried to draw it we give you one picture drawn in this way we know that God is a spirit and that he is everywhere yet it was right to say that God lived in the tabernacle of the Israelites because there God showed his presence in a special way by having the pillar of cloud over it all day and the pillar of fire all night and it was believed by the Israelites that in one room of this tabernacle the glory and brightness of God's presence might be seen this tabernacle stood exactly in the middle of the camp of the Israelites in the wilderness he stood the tent where Moses lived and from which he gave the laws and commands of God to the people around the tabernacle there was what we might call an open square though it was not exactly square for it was about 150 feet long by 75 feet wide that is its length was twice its width around it was a curtain of fine linen in bright colors hanging upon posts of brass the posts were held in place by cords fastened to the ground with brass but of copper for we are not sure that men knew how to make brass in those times this open square was called the court of the tabernacle the curtain around it was between seven and eight feet high a little higher than a man's head in the middle on the end toward the east it could be opened for the priests to enter into the court but no others except the priests and their helpers were ever allowed to enter it you remember that an altar was generally made of stone or by heaping up the earth and that it was a place on which a fire was kindled to burn the offering or sacrifice the offering or sacrifice you remember was the gift offered to God whenever a man worshiped and it was given to God by being burned upon his altar see story two but as a stone altar or an earth altar could not be carried from place to place God told the Israelites without bottom or top made of thin boards so that it would not be too heavy and then covered on the inside and outside with plates of brass or copper so that it would not take fire and burn inside a few inches below the top was a metal grating on which the fire was built and the ashes would fall through the grating to the ground inside this altar had four rings on the corners through which long poles were placed so that the priests could carry it on their shoulders when the camp was moved a little less than five feet high and a little more than seven feet wide on each side this was the great altar sometimes called the altar of burnt offering because a sacrifice was burned upon it every morning and every evening near the altar in the court of the tabernacle stood the laver this was a large tank or basin holding water which was used in washing the offerings for the worship of the tabernacle much water was needed and for this purpose the laver the tabernacle itself stood in the court it was a large tent not unlike the tents in which the people lived while they were journeying through the wilderness though larger its walls however were not made of skins or woven cloth as were most tents but of boards standing upright on silver bases and fastened together the boards were covered with gold the roof of the tabernacle was made of four curtains one laid above another the inner curtain being beautifully decorated and the outer curtain of ram's skins the board walls of the tabernacle were on the two sides and the rear end the front was open except when a curtain hung over it the tabernacle half tent and half house was about 45 feet long and 15 feet wide and 15 feet high its only floor was the sand of the desert this tabernacle was divided into two rooms by a veil which hung down from the roof the larger room the one on the eastern end was as large as the other room it was 30 feet long 15 feet wide and 15 feet high and was called the holy place in the holy place were three things on the right side as one entered a table covered with gold on which lay 12 loaves of bread as if each tribe gave its offering of feed to the Lord on the left side the golden lamp stand with seven branches each having its light this is sometimes called the golden candlestick but as it held lamps and not candles it should be called the lamp stand at the further end of the holy place close to the veil was the golden altar of incense a small altar on which fragrant gum was burned and from which a silvery cloud floated up the fire on this altar was always to be lighted from the great altar of brass or copper that was standing outside the tabernacle in the court everything in this room was made of gold or covered with gold even to the walls on each side the tabernacle was called the holy of holies and it was so sacred that no one except the high priest ever entered it and he on only one day in each year it was 15 feet wide 15 feet long and 15 feet high all that it held was a box or chest made of wood and covered with places of gold on both the outside and the inside and with a cover of solid gold on which stood two strange figures called cherubim this chest was called the Ark of the Covenant and in it were placed for safekeeping the two stone tables on which God wrote the Ten Commandments it was in this room the holy of holies that God was supposed to dwell and to show his glory but in it there was no image to tempt the Israelites to the worship of idols whenever the camp in the desert was to be changed the priests first carefully covered with curtains all the furniture in the tabernacle the table, the lamp stand and they passed rods through the rings which were on the corners of all these articles they took down the tabernacle and tied it's gold covered boards and it's great curtains it's posts and it's pillars in packages to be carried and then the men of the tribe of Levi who were the helpers of the priests took up their burdens and carried them out in front of the camp the twelve tribes were arranged in marching order behind them the Ark of the Covenant unseen under it's wrappings and thus the children of Israel removed their camp from place to place for forty years in the wilderness when they fixed their camping place after each journey the tabernacle was first set up with the court around it and the altar in front of it then the tribes placed their tents in order around it three tribes on each of its four sides and whenever an Israelite saw the altar with the smoke rising from it and the tabernacle with the silver white cloud of God the Lord of all the earth lives in that tent I need no image made by men's hands to remind me of God end of story twenty-seven story twenty-eight of Hurlbert's story of the Bible this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Kirsten Ferrari Hurlbert's story of the Bible story twenty-eight how they worshiped God in the tabernacle Leviticus one one through thirteen eight one to thirteen Exodus twenty-seven twenty and twenty-one now we will tell about some of the services that were held at the tabernacle the tent where God lived among his people every morning at sunrise the priests came to the great altar that was before the tabernacle and raked the fire and placed fresh wood upon it this fire was never allowed to go out God had kindled it himself and the priests watched it closely and kept wood at hand so that it was always burning even while the altar was being carried from one place to another the embers and live coals of the fire were kept in a covered pan and were taken to the new place for the altar without being allowed to die out and from the embers of the old fire a new fire was made on the altar inside the tabernacle the priests took every morning and every afternoon a fire shovel full of burning coals and placed them in a bowl hanging on chains so that with the fire in it the bowl could be carried by hand this bowl with the chains was called a sensor upon these burning coals the priest placed some fragrant gum called incense which when laid on the live coals made a bright silvery cloud and sent forth a strong pleasant odor to the only place and there laid it on the golden altar of incense which stood next to the veil this was to teach the Israelites that like a cloud of incense their prayers should go up to God about nine o'clock in the morning the priest brought a young ox or lamb and killed it and caught its blood in a basin then he laid the ox or the lamb on the wood which was burning in the altar in front of the tabernacle and on the fire he poured also the blood of the slain beast and the animal were burned to ashes this was the offering or sacrifice for all the people of Israel together and it was offered every morning and every afternoon it meant that as the lamb or the ox gave up his life so all the people were to give themselves to God to be his and only his and it meant also that as they gave themselves to God God would forgive and take away their sins there was another meaning in all this service it was to point to the time when just as the lamb died as an offering for the people Jesus the son of God should give his life on the cross the lamb of God dying to take away the sins of the world but this meaning of course the Israelites at that time could not understand because they lived long before Christ came sometimes a man came to the priest with a lamb or an ox as an offering for himself it must always be a perfect animal and the best God will only take from man his best the man who wished to worship God led his lamb to the entrance of the court by the altar and laid his hands on his head as if to say this animal stands in my place and when I give it to God I give myself then the priest killed it and laid it on the burning wood on the altar and poured the animal's blood upon it and the man stood at the entrance of the court of the tabernacle and watched it burn away by God and his prayer for the forgiveness of his sins and God heard and answered the prayer of the man who worshiped him with the offering at his altar every day the priest went into the holy place and filled the seven lamps on the lamp stand with fresh oil these lamps were never allowed to go out that is some of them must always be kept burning while the lamps on one side were put out in order to be refilled those on the other side were kept burning in order to be refilled and lighted once more so the lamps in the house of God never went out does this not make you think of one who long after this said I am the light of the world on the gold covered table in the holy place were always standing twelve loaves of unleavened bread that is bread made without any yeast one loaf stood for each tribe of Israel on every Sabbath morning the priests came in with twelve fresh loaves which they sprinkled with incense and laid on the table in place of the stale loaves then standing around the table they ate the twelve old loaves thus the bread on the table before the Lord was kept fresh at all times God chose Aaron and his sons to be the priests for all Israel and their children and the descendants who should come after them were to be priests as long as the worship of the tabernacle and of the temple that followed it should be continued Aaron as the high priest wore a splendid robe and a peculiar hat called a mitre was on his head it may seem strange to us that when Aaron and his sons were in the tabernacle they wore no shoes or stockings but stood barefooted this was because it was a holy place and as we have seen see story twenty one in those lands people take off their shoes as we take off our hats when they enter places sacred to God and his worship Aaron and his sons as Moses also were faithful to God when the other tribes bowed down to the golden calf this tribe was chosen to help the priests in the services of the tabernacle though only Aaron and his sons could enter the holy place and only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was and he could enter but on one day in each year end of story twenty eight story number twenty nine of Hurlbeth's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbeth part one what strong drink brought to Aaron's sons Leviticus 10 one to eleven soon after the tabernacle was set up in the middle of the camp of Israel and the priests began the daily service of worship a sad event took place which gave great sorrow to Aaron the priest and the priest and the priest to his family and to all the people the two older sons of Aaron whose names were Nadab and Abihu were one day in the holy place it was a part of their work to take in a censor some burning coals from the great altar of burnt offering in front of the tabernacle and with these coals to light the fire in the small golden altar of incense which stood inside the holy place near the veil Aaron had been drinking wine and their heads were not clear they did not think of what they were doing and instead of taking the fire from the altar of burnt offering they took some other fire and with this went into the holy place to burn the incense upon the golden altar God was angry with these young men for coming into his holy house in a drunken state and for doing what he had forbidden them to do for no fire except from the great altar was allowed in the holy place while they were standing by the golden altar fire came out from it and they both fell down dead in the holy place and when Moses heard of it he said this is the sign that God's house is holy and that God's worship is holy and God will make people to fear him because he is holy and Moses would not allow Aaron the father of these two men to touch their dead bodies he said you have on the robes of the high priest the service of worship God's work must go on and must not stop for your trouble great as it is then Aaron stood by the altar and offered the sacrifice though his heart was very sad and the cousins of Aaron by the command of Moses went into the holy place and carried out the dead bodies of the two young men dressed as they were in their priests robes and they buried these men outside the camp in the desert drinking wine or strong drink before he enters the tabernacle be sober when you are leading the worship of the people so that you will know the difference between the things that are holy and those that are common and so that you may teach the people all the laws which the Lord has given them the rule that Moses gave to the priests to be kept when they were leading the worship of the people not to drink strong wine or strong drink is a good rule for everyone to keep alive besides these two sons of Aaron who had died there were two other sons named Eleazar and Ithamar these young men took their older brothers places in the services of the tabernacle and they were very careful to do exactly as the Lord had bidden them end of story 29 story number 30 of Hurlbutt's story of the Bible this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are available in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Hurlbutt's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbutt part one the scapegoat in the wilderness Leviticus 16 1-34 you have read that only the high priest could enter into the inner room of the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies where was the Ark of the Covenant and where God was supposed to live in 27 and even the high priest could go into this room but one day in the year this day was called the Great Day of Atonement the service on that day was to show the people that all are sinners and that they must seek from God to have their sins taken away God teaches us these things by word in his book the Bible but in those times there was no Bible and very few could have read a written book which they could see as a beginning of the service on the day of atonement everybody was required to fast from sunset on the day before until three o'clock on that afternoon the hour when the offering was placed on the altar no person could eat anything in all that time even children except nursing babies were not allowed to have any food they were to show a sorrow for sin and were to appear before God as seeking for mercy early in the morning of that day the high priest offered on the altar before the tabernacle what was called a sin offering for himself and his family it was a young ox burned upon the altar he took some of the blood of this ox and carried it through the holy place lifted the veil entered into the holy of holies and sprinkled the blood on the golden lid to the ark of the covenant before the Lord this was to show the priest himself as a sinner before God the priest must have himself his own sins forgiven before asking forgiveness for others then the priest came again to the great altar before the tabernacle here two goats were brought to him lots were cast upon them and on the forehead of one goat was written for the Lord and on the other the words that meant to be sent away these goats were looked upon as bearing the sins of the people one was killed and burned on the altar and the priest with some of the blood of the slain goat again entered the holy of holies and sprinkled the blood on the ark of the covenant as before thus asking God to receive the blood in the offering and to forgive the sins of the people then the high priest came out of the tabernacle again and laid his hands on the head of the living goat the one whose forehead was marked to be sent away as if to place upon him then this goat which was called the scape goat was led away into the wilderness to some desolate place from which he would never find his way back to the camp and there he was left to wander as he chose this was to show the sins of the people as taken away never to come back to them when the service was over the people were looked upon as having their sins forgiven and forgotten by the Lord then the regular afternoon offering they came home happy and end their long fast with all the food that they wished to eat in all this God tried to make the people feel that sin is terrible it separates from God it brings death it must be taken away by blood thus so long before Christ came to take away our sins by his death God showed to men the way of forgiveness and peace