 Story 1 of Hurlbut's Story of the Bible, Part II. After the death of Moses, while the children of Israel were still in camp upon the east bank of the river Jordan, God spoke to Joshua and said, Now that Moses my servant is dead, you are to take his place and to rule this people. Do not delay, but lead them across the river Jordan, and conquer the land which I have given to them. Then God told Joshua how large would be the land which the Israelites were to have, if they should show themselves worthy of it. It was to reach from the great river Ephraedes, far in the north, down to the border of Egypt on the south, and from the desert on the east to the great sea on the west, and God said to Joshua, Be strong, and of good courage, I will be with you, as I was with Moses. Read constantly the book of the law which Moses gave you, and be careful to obey all that is written in it. Do this, and you will have good success. Then Joshua gave orders to his officers. He said, Go through the camp and tell the people to prepare food for a journey, for in three days we shall pass over the river Jordan, and shall go into the land which the Lord has promised us. To say this was very bold for at that time of the year, in the spring the Jordan was much larger than at other times. All its banks were overflowed, and it was running as a broad, deep, swift river, down to the dead sea, a few miles to the south. No one could possibly walk through it, only a strong man could swim in its powerful current, and the Israelites had no boats in which they could cross it. On the other side of the river, a few miles distant, the Israelites could see the high walls of the city of Jericho, standing at the foot of the mountains. Before the rest of the land could be won, this city must be taken, for it stood beside the road leading up to the mountain country. Joshua chose two careful, brave and wise men, and said to them, Go across the river and get into the city of Jericho, find out all you can about it, and come back in two days. The two men swam across the river, and walked over to Jericho, and went into the city. But they had been seen, and the king of Jericho sent men to take them prisoners. They came to a house which stood on the wall of the city, where was living a woman named Greyhub, and she hid the men. But these strange men had been seen going into her house, and the king sent his officers after them. The woman hid the men on the roof of her house, and heaped over them stocks of flax, which are like long reeds so that the officers could not find them. After the officers had gone away, thinking that the two spies had left the city, the woman Greyhub came to the two men and said to them, All of us in this city know that your God is mighty and terrible, and that He has given you this land. We have heard how your God dried up the Red Sea before you, and led you through the desert, and gave you victory over your enemies, and now all the people in this city are in fear of you, for they know that your God will give you this city, and all this land. Now, said Greyhub, promise me in the name of the Lord that you will spare my life and the lives of my father and mother, and of my brothers and sisters when you take this city. And the men said, We will pledge our lives for yours, that no harm shall come to you, for you have saved our lives. This woman's house stood on the wall of the city. From one of its windows, Greyhub, let down outside a rope upon which the men could slide down to the ground. It happened that this rope was of a bright scarlet color. The two spies said to Greyhub, When our men come to take this city, you shall have this scarlet rope hanging in the window. Bring your father and mother and family into the house, and keep them there while we are taking the city. We will tell all our men not to harm the people who are in the house where the scarlet cord hangs from the window. And thus all your family will be safe when the city is taken. Then the two men at night slid down the rope and found their way to the river, and swam over it again, and told their story to Joshua. They said, Truly the Lord has given to us all the land, for all the people in it are in terror before us, and will not dare to oppose us. One fact was a great help to the Israelites in their plans for taking the land of Canaan. It was not held by one people, or ruled over by one king, who could unite all his people against the Israelites. There were many small nations living in the land, and each little tribe in each city was ruled by its own king, so it would be easy for the Israelites to destroy them one by one, so long as they kept apart and did not band themselves together into one army. The Israelites were now a strong and united people, trained for war and willing to obey one leader, so that all the twelve tribes were ready to fight as one man. Story number two of Hurlbeth'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. Hurlbeth's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbeth, part two. How the River Jordan became dry and the walls of Jericho fell down. Joshua three, one, to six, twenty-seven. After the two spies had come back from Jericho to the camp of Israel, Joshua commanded the people to take down their tents and remove from their camping place to the bank of the River Jordan. Then the priests took apart the tabernacle and covered the ark and all the furniture in the holy place, and ran the poles through the rings for carrying the altar, and made ready for leaving the camp. At the same time the people took down their tents and rolled them up and brought together their flocks and cattle and stood ready to march. Then Joshua gave the word, and they marched down toward the river, which was rolling high and strong in front of them. Joshua said, Let the priests carry the ark of the covenant in front, and let there be a space between it and the rest of the people of three thousand feet. Do not come nearer than that space to the ark. And all the people stood, still, wondering, while the ark was brought on the shoulders of the priests far out in front of the ranks of men, until it came down to the very edge of the water. They could not see the ark, for it was covered, but they knew that it was under its coverings on the shoulders of the priests. Then Joshua said to the priests, Now walk into the water of the river. Then a most wonderful thing took place. As soon as the feet of the priests touched the water by the shore, the river above stopped flowing, and far away up the river they could see the water rising and piling up like a great heap. And below the place where they were standing the water ran on, until it left a great dry place, and the stones on the river's bed were uncovered. Then at Joshua's command the priests carried the ark down to the middle of the dry bed of the river, and stood there with it on their shoulders. And Joshua gave order to the people to march across the river. In front came the shoulders from Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who had already received their homes on the east of the river, but were with the other tribes to help in the war. See Story 33. After them came all the other tribes, each by itself, until they had all passed over the river, and all this time the priests stood on the river's dry bed holding the ark. Then Joshua called for twelve men, one from each tribe, and he said to them, Go down into the river and bring up from it twelve stones, as large stones as you can carry from the place where the priests are standing. They did so, and with these stones Joshua made a stone heap on the bank, and he said, Let this heap of stones stand here to keep in memory what has taken place today. When your children shall ask you, Why are these stones here? You shall say to them, Because here the Lord God made the river dry before the Ark of the Covenant, so that the people could cross over into the land that God had promised to their fathers. Then Joshua told these twelve men to take also twelve other stones, and heap them up in the bed of the river where the priests stood, with the ark, so that these stones might also stand to remind all who should see them of God's wonderful help to his people. When all this had been done, and the two heaps of stone had been piled up, one on the bank, the other in the bed of the river, Joshua said to the priests, Come now up from the river and bring the ark to the shore. They did so, and then the waters began to flow down from above, until soon the river Jordan was rolling by as it had rolled before. So now at last the children of Israel were safely in the land which God had promised to their fathers more than five hundred years before. They set up a new camp with the tabernacle in the middle, the altar before it, and the tents of the tribes around it in order. The place of the camp was near the river on the plain of Jordan, and was called Gilgal. There the main camp of the Israelites was kept all the time that they were carrying on the war to win the land of Canaan. When they came into the land it was the time of the early harvest, and in the fields they found grain and barley in abundance. They gathered it, and ground it, and made bread of it, and some of it they roasted in the ear, and on that day the manna which God had sent them from the sky through forty years ceased to fall, now that it was needed no more. THE STORY 24 There in full view of the new camp stood the strong walls of Jericho. Joshua went out to look at the city, and he saw a man all armed coming on toward him. Joshua walked boldly up to the man and said to him, Are you on our side, or are you one of our enemies? And he said, No, but as the captain of the Lord's host have I come. Then Joshua saw that he was the angel of the Lord, and as he bowed down before him, said, What word has my Lord to his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, Take off your shoes from your feet, for it is holy ground where you are standing. Joshua did so, for the one who was speaking to him was not merely an angel, but the Lord himself appearing as man. And the Lord said to Joshua, I have given you Jericho and its king and its mighty men of war, and I will destroy the city of Jericho before you. Then the Lord told Joshua the way in which the city should be taken, and Joshua went back to the camp at Gilgal, and made ready to march as God commanded. During the next seven days all that was done was according to the word spoken by the Lord to Joshua. They drew out the army as if to fight against the city. In front came the soldiers from the tribes of the east of the river. Then came a company of priests with trumpets made of rams' horns, which they blew long and loud. Then came the Ark of the Covenant, born on the shoulders of the priests. And last of all came the host of Israel, marching in order. No one shouted, nor was any noise heard except the sound of the rams' horns' trumpets. They marched around the walls of Jericho once on that day, and then all marched back to the camp. The next morning they all formed in the same order, and again marched around the walls of the city, and so they did again and again, marching once each day for six days. On the seventh day by God's command they rose very early in the morning, and did not stop when they had marched around the walls once, but kept on marching round and around until they had gone about the walls seven times. As they went by they saw at one window on the wall a scarlet cord hanging down, and they knew that this was the house of Rahab, who had saved the life of the two spies. When the seventh march was ended they all stood still. Even the trumpet ceased, and there was a great silence for a moment until the voice of Joshua rang out, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. Then a great shout went up from the host, and they looked at the wall and saw that it was trembling and shaking and falling. It fell down flat at every place but one. There was one part of the wall left standing where the scarlet cord was hanging from the window. When Joshua said to the two spies, go and bring out Rahab and her family and take them to a safe place. They went into Rahab's house on the wall and brought her out, and with her her father and mother and all their family. They cared for them and kept them safely in the camp of the Israelites until all the war against the people of the land was ended. While some soldiers were taking care of Rahab all the rest of the army was climbing up over the ruined wall. The people in the city were so filled with fear when they saw the walls falling down on every side that they did not try to defend it, but sank down helpless and were slain or taken prisoners by the Israelites. Thus the city was taken with all that was within it. But the Israelites were forbidden to use for themselves any of the treasures in the city. Joshua said to them, Nothing in this city belongs to you. It is the Lord's and is to be destroyed as an offering to the Lord. So they brought together all the gold and silver and precious things and all that was in the houses. They took nothing for themselves but kept the gold and silver and the things made of brass and iron for the tabernacle. All the rest of what they found in the city they burned and destroyed, leaving of the city of Jericho nothing but a waste and a desolation. And Joshua said, Let the Lord's curse rest on any man who shall ever build again the city of Jericho. With the lost of his oldest born shall he lay its foundation, and with the lost of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. After this Rahab, the woman who had saved the spies, was taken among the people of Israel just as though she had been in Israel like born. And one of the nobles of the tribe of Judah, whose name was Salman, took her for his wife. And from her line of descendants, of those who came from her, many years after this, was born David, the king. She was saved and blessed because she had faith in the God of Israel. The Story of a Wedge of Gold While the Israelites at God's word were destroying the city of Jericho, there was one man who disobeyed God's command. A man named Akhen, of the tribe of Judah, saw in one house a beautiful garment that had come from Babylon, and a wedge-shaped piece of gold and some silver. He looked at it, longed to have it for his own, took it secretly to his tent, and hid it. He thought that no one had seen him do this thing. But God saw it all, and Akhen's robbery of God, to whom everything belonged that was in Jericho, brought great trouble to Israel. From Jericho there was a road up the ravines and valleys leading to the mountain country. On one of the hills above the plains stood a little city called A. Joshua did not think it needful for all the army to go and take A because it was a small place. So he sent a small army of three thousand men. But the men of A came out against them, and killed a number of them, and drove them away, so that they failed to take the city. And when the rest of the people heard of this defeat, they were filled with fear. Joshua was alarmed, not because he was afraid of the Canaanites, but because he knew that God was not with the men who went against A. And Joshua fell on his face before the Lord, and said, O Lord God, why hast thou led us across Jordan, only to let us fall before our enemies? What shall I say, O Lord, now that the men of Israel have been beaten and driven away? And God said to Joshua, Israel has sinned. They have disobeyed my words and have broken their promise. They have taken the treasure that belongs to me and have kept it. And that is the reason why I have left them to suffer from their enemies. My curse shall rest on the people until they bring back that which is stolen, and punish the man who robbed me. And God told Joshua how to find the man who had done this evil thing. The next morning, very early, Joshua called all the tribes of Israel to come before him. When the tribe of Judah came near, God showed to Joshua that this was the tribe. Then as the divisions of Judah came by, God pointed out one division, and in that division one household, and in that household one family, and in that family one man. Achan was singled out as the man who had robbed God. Then Joshua said to Achan, My son, give honor to the Lord God and confess your sin to him, and tell me now what you have done. Do not try to hide it from me. And Achan said, I have sinned against the Lord. I saw in Jericho a garment from Babylon, and a wedge of gold, and some pieces of silver, and I hid them in my tent. Then Joshua sent messengers, who ran to the tent of Achan, and found the hidden things, and brought them out before all the people. Then because Achan's crime had harmed all the people, and because his children were with him in the crime, they took them all, Achan and his sons and his daughters, and the treasures that had been stolen, and even his sheep and his oxen and his tent and all that was in it. And the people threw stones upon them until all were dead, then they burned their bodies and all the things in the tent. And over the ashes they piled up a heap of stones, so that all who saw it would remember what came to Achan for his sin. Thus did God show to his people how careful they must be to obey his commands if they would have God with them. After this Joshua sent another army, larger than before, against Achan, and they took the city and destroyed it as they had destroyed Jericho, but God allowed the people to take for themselves what they found in the city of Achan. Then they marched on over the mountains until they came near to the city of Shechem, in the middle of the land of Canaan. The people of the land were so filled with fear that none of them resisted the march of the Israelites. Near Shechem are the two mountains, Ebel on the north and Gerizim on the south. Between them there is a great hollow place like a vast bowl. There Joshua gathered all the people of Israel with their wives and their children. In the midst of this place they built an altar of unhewn stones heaped up, for they had left the tabernacle and the brazen altar standing in the camp at Gilgal by Jordan. On this new altar they gave offerings to the Lord and worshiped. Then before all the people Joshua read the law which Moses had written, and all the people with their wives and even the little children listened to the law of the Lord. Half of the tribes stood on the slope of Mount Ebel on the north, and these as Joshua read the words of warning which God had given to those who should disobey, all answered with one voice, amen. And the other half of the tribes stood on the slope of Mount Gerizim on the south, and as Joshua read God's words of blessing to those who should obey the law, these answered, amen. When they had done all this, and thus given the land to the Lord and pledged themselves to serve God, they marched again down the mountains, past the smoldering ruins of A, past the heap of stones that covered Akan, and past the broken walls of Jericho, back to the camp at Gilgal beside the river. End of Story 3. Story number 4 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 2. How Joshua Conquered the Land of Canaan. Joshua Chapter 9, Verse 1, to Chapter 11, Verse 23. The news of all that Joshua and the men of Israel had done at Jericho and at I, how they had destroyed those cities and slain their people, went through all the land. Where the tribes of Canaan prepared to fight these strangers who had so suddenly and so boldly entered their country. Near the middle of the mountain region, between Jerusalem and Shechem, were four cities of a race called either the Hivites or the Gibeonites, from their chief city, Gibeon. These people felt that they could not resist the Israelites, so they undertook to make peace with them. Their cities were less than a day's journey from the camp at Gilgal and quite near to I, but they came to Joshua at the camp, looking as if they had made a long journey. They were wearing old and ragged garments and shoes worn out, and they brought dry and moldy bread and old bags of food and wineskins torn and mended. They met Joshua and the elders of Israel in the camp and said to them, We live in a country far away, but we have heard of the great things that you have done, the journey you have made, and the cities you have taken on the other side of the river Jordan, and now we have come to offer you our friendship and to make peace with you. And Joshua said to them, Who are you, and from what land do you come? We have come, they said, from a country far away. See this bread, we took it hot from the oven, and now it is moldy. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and you see they are old. Look at our garments and our shoes, all worn out and patched. Joshua and the elders did not ask the Lord what to do, but made an agreement with these men to have peace with them, not to destroy their cities and to spare the lives of their people, and a very few days after making peace with them they found that the four cities where they lived were very near. At first the Israelite rulers were very angry and were inclined to break their agreement, but afterward they said, We will keep our promise to these people, though they have deceived us. We will let them live, but they shall be made our servants, and shall do the hard work for the camp and for the tabernacle. From this was better than to be killed and to have their cities destroyed, and the Gibbianite people were glad to save their lives. So from that time the people of the four Gibbianite cities carried burdens and drew water and cut wood and served the camp of Israel. The largest city near to the camp at Gilgal was Jerusalem among the mountains, where its king Melchizedek in the days of Abraham five hundred years before had been a priest of the Lord and had blessed Abraham, as we read in story six. But now in the days of Joshua the people of that city worshipped idols and were very wicked. When the king of Jerusalem heard that the Gibbianites who lived near him had made peace with Israel, he sent to the kings of Hebron and Lakesh and several other cities, and said to them, Come, let us unite our armies into one great army and fight the Gibbianites and destroy them, for they have made peace with our enemies the people of Israel. As soon as the people of Gibbian heard this, they sent to Joshua saying, Come quickly and help us, for we are your servants and the king of Jerusalem is coming with a great army to kill us all and destroy our cities. The whole country is in arms against us. Come at once before it is too late. Joshua was a very prompt man, swift in all his acts. At once he called out his army and marched all night up the mountains. He came suddenly upon the five kings and their army at a place called Bethhoron. There a great battle was fought, Joshua leading his men against the Canaanites. He did not give his enemies time to form in line, but fell upon them so suddenly that they were driven into confusion and fled before the men of Israel. And the Lord helped his people by a storm which drove great hailstones down on the Canaanites, so that more were killed by the hailstones than by the sword. It is written in an old song that on that day Joshua said before all his men, Son, stand thou still over Gibbian, and thou moon in the valley of Agilon, and the sun stood still and the moon stayed until the people had taken vengeance upon their enemies. If ever in all the history of the world there was a battle when the sun might well stand still and the day be made longer to make the victory complete, it was that day more than any other, for on that day the land was won by the people of the Lord. If Israel had been defeated and destroyed instead of Canaan, then the Bible would never have been written, the worship of the true God would have been blotted out, and the whole world would have worshipped idols. The battle that day was for the salvation of the world as well as of Israel, so this was the greatest battle in its results that the world has ever seen. There have been many battles where more men fought and more soldiers were slain than at the battle of Beth Horan, but no battle in all the world had such an effect in the years and the ages after as this battle. After the victory Joshua followed his enemies as they fled and killed many of them until their armies were broken up and destroyed. The five kings who had led against Joshua were found hidden in a cave, were brought out and were slain, so that they might no more trouble the Israelites. By this one victory all the part of the land of Canaan on the south was won, though there were a few small fights afterward. Then Joshua turned to the north and led his army by a swift march against the kings who had united there to fight the Israelites. As suddenly as before he had fallen on the five kings at Beth Horan he fell upon these kings and their army near the little lake in the far north of Canaan called the Waters of Merem. There another great victory was won, and after this it was easy to conquer the land. Everywhere the tribes of Canaan were made to submit to the Israelites until all a mountain country was under Joshua's rule. In the conquest of Canaan there were six great marches and six battles, three in the lands on the east of the Jordan while Moses was still living, the victories over the Amorites, the Midianites, and the people of Bation on the northeast, and three on the west of the Jordan, the victories at Jericho, at Beth Horan, and Lake Merem under Joshua. But even after these marchings and victories it was a long time before all the land was taken by the Israelites. End of story number four, recording by Eric Ray, St. Louis, Missouri. Story five from Hurlebot'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. Hurlebot's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlebot. Part two, The Old Man Who Fault Against the Giants. Joshua chapter 14 verse 1 to chapter 19 verse 51. The great war for the conquest of Canaan was now ended, though in the land some cities were still held by the Canaanite people. Yet the Israelites were now the rulers over most of the country, and Joshua prepared to divide the land among the tribes of Israel. One day the rulers of the tribe of Judah came to Joshua's tent at Gilgal, and with them came an old man, Caleb, whom you remember as one of the twelve spies sent by Moses, from Kadesh Barnea, to go through the land of Canaan. See Story 30. This had been many years before, and Caleb was now, like Joshua, an old man, past eighty years of age. He said to Joshua, You remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, when we were in the desert at Kadesh Barnea, and you and I with the other spies brought back our report. I spoke to Moses the word that was in my heart, and I followed the Lord holy, when the other spies spoke out of their own fear and made the people afraid. On that day you remember that Moses said to me, the land where your feet have trodden and over which you have walked shall be yours, because you trusted in the Lord. That was forty-five years ago, Caleb went on to say, and God has kept me alive all those years. Today, at eighty-five years of age, I am as strong as I was in that day, and now I ask that the promise made by Moses be kept, and that I have my choice of the places in the land. Well, said Joshua, you can take your choice in the land. What part of it will you choose? And Caleb answered, The place that I will choose is the very mountain on which we saw the city with the high walls, where the giants were living then, and where other giants, their sons, are living now, the city of Hebron. I know that the walls are high, and the giants live there, but the Lord will help to take the cities, and to drive out the people who live in them. Let me have the city of Hebron. This was very bold and so old a man as Caleb, to choose the city which was not yet taken from the enemies, and one of the hardest cities to take, when he might have chosen some rich place already one, but Caleb at eighty-five showed the same spirit of courage and willingness to war, and faith in God that he had shown in his prime at forty years of age. Then Joshua said to Caleb, You shall have the city of Hebron, with all its giants, if you will gather together your men and take it. And the old soldier brought together his men, and led them against the strong city of Hebron, where was the tomb of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. See Stories 10, 11, and 19. By the help of the Lord, Caleb was able to drive out the giants, tall and mighty as they were. They fled from Caleb's men, and went down to the shore on the west of the land, and lived among the people of that region, who were called the Philistines, while Caleb and his children and his descendants long after him held the city of Hebron in the south of the land. After this, by the command of the Lord, Joshua divided the land among the tribes. Two tribes, and half of another tribe, had already received their land on the east of Jordan. So there were nine tribes, and a half tribe, to receive their shares. Judah, one of the largest, had the mountain country west of the Dead Sea, from Hebron to Jerusalem. Simeon was on the south toward the desert. Benjamin was north of Judah on the east toward the Jordan, and Dan north of Judah on the west toward the Great Sea. In the middle of the country, around the city of Shechem, and the two mountains, Ebel and Gerizim, where Joshua had read the law to the people, Seastory 38, was the land of the tribe of Ephraim. This was one of the best parts of all the country, for the soil was rich, and there were many springs and streams of water. And here, near Mount Ebel, they buried the body of their tribe-father, Joseph, which they had kept in its coffin of stone, unburied, ever since they left Egypt, more than forty years before. As Joshua himself belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, his home was also in this land. North of Ephraim, and reaching from the river Jordan to the Great Sea, was the land of the other half of the tribe of Manasseh. Both tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh had sprung from Joseph, so Joseph's descendants had two tribes, as had been promised by Jacob when he was about to die, Seastory 19. The northern part of the land was divided among four tribes. Issacur was in the south, Asher on the west beside the Great Sea, Sebulon was in the middle among the mountains, and Aftali was in the north, and by the lake afterward called the Sea of Galilee. At that time this lake was called the Sea of Canoroth, because the word Canor means a harp, and as they thought that this lake was shaped somewhat like a harp, they named it the harp-shaped sea. But although all the land had been divided, it had not all been completely conquered. Nearly all the Canaanite people were there, still living upon the land, though in the mountain-region they were under the rule of the Israelites. But on the plain beside the Great Sea, on the west of the land were the Philistines, a very strong people whom the Israelites had not yet met in war, though the time was coming when they would meet them, and suffer for them. And even among the mountains were many cities where the Canaanite people still lived, and in some of these cities they were strong. Years afterward, when Joshua the Great Warrior was no longer living, many of these people rose up to trouble the Israelites. The time came when the tribes of Israel wished often that their fathers had driven out or entirely destroyed the Canaanites, before they ceased the war and divided the land. But when Joshua divided the land and sent the tribes to their new homes, peace seemed to reign over all the country. Up to this time we have spoken of all this land as the land of Canaan, but now and henceforth it was to be called the land of Israel, or the land of the twelve tribes, for it was now their home. End of Story 5 Story 6 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 2. The Avenger of Blood and the Cities of Refuge There was among the Israelites one custom which seemed so strange and so different from our ways that it will be interesting to hear about it. It was their rule with regard to any man who by accident killed another man. With us, whenever a man has been killed, the man who killed him, if he can be found, is taken by an officer before the judge and he is tried. If he killed the man by accident, not wishing to do harm, he is set free. If he meant to kill him, he is punished. He may be sentenced to die for the other man's death, and when he is put to death it is by the officer of the law. But in the lands of the east where the Israelites lived, it was very different. There, when a man was killed, his nearest relative always took it upon himself to kill the man who had killed him. And he undertook to kill this man without trial, without a judge, and by his own hand, whether the man deserved to die or did not deserve it. Two men might be working in the forest together, and one man's ax might fly from his hand and kill the other, or one man hunting might kill another hunter by mistake. No matter whether the man was guilty or innocent, the nearest relative of the one who had lost his life must find the man who had killed him and kill him in return wherever he was. If he could not find him, sometimes he would kill any member of his family whom he could find. This man was called the Avenger of Blood, because he took vengeance for the blood of his relative, whether the one whom he'd slew deserved to die or not. When Moses gave laws to the children of Israel, he found this custom of having an Avenger of Blood rooted so deeply in the habits of the people that it could not be broken up. In fact, it still remains, even to this day, among the village people in the land where the Israelites lived. But Moses gave a law which was to take the place of the old custom, and to teach the people greater justice in their dealings with each other. And when they came into the land of Canaan, Joshua carried out the plan which Moses had commanded. Joshua chose in the land six cities, three on one side of the river Jordan, and three on the other. All of these were well-known places and easy to find. Most of them were on mountains, and could be seen far away. They were so chosen that from almost any part of the land a man could reach one of these cities in a day, or at the most in two days. These cities were called Cities of Refuge, because in them a man who killed another by mistake could find refuge from the Avenger of Blood. When a man killed another by accident wherever he was, he ran as quickly as possible to the nearest of these Cities of Refuge. The Avenger of Blood followed him, and might perhaps overtake him and kill him before he reached the city. But almost always the man, having some start before his enemy, would get to the City of Refuge first. There the elders of the city looked into the case. They learned all the facts, and if the man was really guilty and deserved to die, they gave him up to be killed by the Avenger. But if he was innocent, and did not mean to kill the man who was dead, they forbade the Avenger to touch him and kept him in safety. A line was drawn around the city, at a distance from the wall, within which line the Avenger could not come to do the man harm, and within this line were fields where the man could work and raise crops so that he could have food. And there at the City of Refuge the innocent man who had killed another without meaning to kill lived until the High Priest died. After the High Priest died and another High Priest took his place, the man could go back to his own home and live in peace. These were the cities of Refuge in the land of Israel, on the north Kadesh in the tribe of Naftali, in the center Shechem at the foot of Mount Gerizim, in the tribe of Ephraim, and on the south Hebron, Caleb City, in the tribe of Judah. These were among the mountains on the west of the River Jordan. On the east of the River Jordan the cities were Golan of Bashan and Manasseh, Ramath of Gilad in the tribe of Gad, and Bezer in the Highlands of the tribe of Rubin. This law taught the Israelites to be patient and to control themselves, to protect the innocent and seek for justice, and not yield to sudden anger. Among the tribes there was one which had no land given to it in one place. This was the tribe of Levi to which Moses and Aaron belonged. The men of this tribe were priests, who offered the sacrifices, and the Levites who cared for the tabernacle and his worship. Moses and Joshua did not think it well to have all the Levites living in one part of the country, so he gave them cities, and in some places the fields around the cities, in many parts of the land. From these places they went up to the tabernacle to serve, each for a certain part of the year, and the rest of the year stayed in their homes and cared for their fields. When the war was over and the land was divided, Joshua fixed the tabernacle at a place called Shiloh, not far from the center of the land, so that from all the tribes the people could come up at least once a year for worship. They were told to come from their homes three times each year to worship the Lord at Shiloh. These three times were for the feast of the Passover in the spring when the lamb was killed and roasted and eaten with unleavened bread, of which we read in Story Twenty-Eight. The feast of the tabernacles in the fall, when, for a week they slept out of doors in huts made of twigs and boughs, to keep in mind their life in the wilderness, and the feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover, when they laid on the altar the first ripe fruits from the fields. All these three great feasts were kept at the place of the altar in the tabernacle. And at Shiloh, before the tabernacle, they placed the altar on which the offerings were laid twice every day. See Stories Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight. God had kept his promise and had brought the Israelites into a land which was their own, and had given them rest from all their enemies. End of Story Six Chapter twenty-two verse one to chapter twenty-four verse thirty-three. When the war for the conquest of Canaan was ended and the tribes were about to leave for their places in the land, Joshua broke up the camp at Gilgal, which had been the meeting place of the Israelites through all the war. You remember that two of the tribes and half of another tribe had received their land on the east of Jordan, See Story Thirty-three. But their soldiers crossed the Jordan with the man of the other tribes. Joshua now called these soldiers and said to them, You have done all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you. You have stood faithfully by your brothers of the other tribes, and now the time has come for you to go back to your wives and your children in your own tribe lands on the other side of Jordan. Go to your homes where your wives and children are waiting for you. Only remember always to keep the commandments of the Lord, be true to the Lord, and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul. Then Joshua gave them the blessing of the Lord and sent them away. They left Shiloh where the tabernacle was standing and came to the river Jordan. There, on a great rock where it could be seen from far, they built a high altar of stone. Soon it was told among the tribes that the man of the two tribes and a half tribe had built for themselves an altar. God had commanded the people to have but one altar for all the tribes and one high priest and one offering for all the tribes upon the altar. This was for the purpose of keeping all the people together as one family with one worship. The people of Israel were greatly displaced when they found that these tribes had built an altar while there was already one altar for all the tribes at Shiloh. They were almost ready to go to war against the tribes on the east of the Jordan on account of this altar. But before going to war they sent one of the priests, Finhas, the son of Eliezer, and with him ten of the princes of Israel, one from each tribe, to ask the men of the tribes on the east for what purpose they had built this altar. These men came to the man of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh and said to them, What is this that you have done in building for yourselves an altar? Do you mean to turn away from the Lord and set up your own guards? Have you forgotten how God was made angry when Israel worshipped other guards? Do not show yourselves rebels against God by building an altar while God's altar is standing at Shiloh. Then the men of the two tribes and a half answered, The Lord, the only God. He knows that we have not built this altar for the offering of sacrifices. Let the Lord himself be our judge that we have done no wrong. We have built this altar so that our children may see it, standing as it stands on your side of the river and not on our side, and then we can say to them, Let that altar remind you that we are all one people, we and the tribes on the other side of Jordan. This altar stands as a witness between us that we are all one people and worship the one Lord God of Israel. Then the princes of the nine tribes and a half were satisfied. They were pleased when they knew that it was an altar for witness and not for offerings. They named the altar Ad, a word which means witness. For they said, It is a witness between us that the Lord is our God, the God of Israel. Joshua was now a very old man, more than a hundred years old. He knew that he must soon die, and he wished to give to the people his last words. So he called the elders and rulers and judges of the tribes to meet him at Shechem in the middle of the land and near his own home. When they were all together before him, Joshua reminded them of all that God had done for their fathers and for themselves. He told them the story of Abraham, how he left his home at God's call, the story of Jacob and his family going down to Egypt, and how after many years the Lord had brought them out of that land, how the Lord had led them through the wilderness and had given them the land where they were now living at peace. Joshua then said, You are living in cities that you did not build, and you are eating of vines and olive trees that you did not plant. It is the Lord who has given you all these things. Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him with all your hearts, and if any of you have any other gods, such as Abraham's father worshipped beyond the river, and as your fathers sometimes worshipped in Egypt, put them away and serve the Lord only. And if you are not willing to serve the Lord, then choose this day whatever God you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Then the people answered Joshua, We will not turn away from the Lord to serve other gods, for the Lord brought us out of Egypt where we were slaves, and the Lord drove out our enemies before us, and the Lord gave us this land. We will serve the Lord, for he is the God of Israel. But, said Joshua, you must remember that the Lord is very strict in his commands. He will be angry with you if you turn away from him after promising to serve him, and will punish you if you worship images as the people do around you. And the people said, We pledge ourselves to serve the Lord, and the Lord only. Then Joshua wrote down the people's promise in the book of the law, so that others might read it and remember it. And he set up a great stone under a oak tree at Shechem, and he said, Let this stone stand as a witness between you and the Lord, that you have pledged yourselves to be faithful to him. Then Joshua sent the people away to their triblans, telling them not to forget the promise that they had made. After this, Joshua died at the age of 110 years, and as long as the people lived who remembered Joshua, the people of Israel continued serving the Lord. End of Section 7. Story 8 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 2. The Present That Ehud Brought to King Eglon Judges 1.1.331 You would suppose that, after all that God had done for the Israelites, and after their own promises to serve him faithfully, they would never turn to the idols which could not save their own people the Canaanites. Yet when Joshua was no longer living, and the men who knew Joshua had also died, the people began to forget their own God and to worship images of wood and stone. Perhaps it was not so strange, after all. In all the world, so far as we know, at that time the Israelites were the only people who did not worship idols. All the nations around them, the Egyptians, from whose land they had come, the Edomites on the south, the Moabites on the east, the Philistines on the west, beside the Great Sea, all these bowed down to images, and many of them offered their own children upon the idol altars. Then too you remember that the Canaanites had not been driven out of their land. They were there still, in their own cities and villages everywhere, and their idols were standing under their trees on many high places. So the Israelites saw idols all around them, and people bowing down before them, while they themselves had no God that could be seen. The tabernacle was far away from some parts of the land, and the people were so busy with their fields and their houses that few of them went up to worship. And so it came to pass that the people began to neglect their own worship of the Lord, and then to begin the worship of the idols around them. And from idol worship they sank lower still into wicked deeds. For all this the Lord left them to suffer. Their enemies came upon them from the lands around and became their masters, for when God left them they were helpless. They were made poor for these rulers who had conquered them, robbed them of all their grain and grapes and olive oil. After a time of suffering the Israelites would think of what God had done for them in other times. Then they would turn away from the idols and would call upon God, and God would hear them and raise up some great man to lead them to freedom and to break the power of those who were ruling over them. This great man they called a judge, and under him they would serve God and be happy and successful once more. As long as the judge lived and ruled the people worshiped God. But when the judge died they forgot God again and worshipped idols and fell under the power of their enemies as before, until God sent another judge to deliver them. And this happened over and over again in the three hundred years after Joshua died. Seven nations in turn ruled over the Israelites, and after each oppression, as this rule was called, a deliverer arose to set the people free. The idols which the Israelites worshipped, most of all, were those named Baal and Asherah. Baal was an image looking somewhat like a man, and Asherah was the name given to the one that looked like a woman. These images were set up in groves and on hills by the Canaanite people, and to these the Israelites bowed down, falling on their faces before them. The first nation to come from another land against the Israelites was the people of Mesopotamia, between the Great Rivers Euphrates and Tigris on the north. Their king led his army into the land and made the Israelites serve him eight years. Then they cried to the Lord, and the Lord sent to them Othniel, who was a younger brother of Caleb, of whom we read in Story 40. He set the people free from the Mesopotamians and ruled them as long as he lived, and kept them faithful to the Lord. Othniel was the first of the judges of Israel. But after Othniel died the people again began to worship images, and again fell under the power of their enemies. This time it was the Moabites who came against them from the land east of the Dead Sea. Their king at this time was named Eglon, and he was very hard in his rule over the Israelites. Again they cried to the Lord, and God called a man named Ehood, who belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, to set the people free. Ehood came one day to visit King Eglon, who was ruling over the land. He said, I have a present from my people to the king. Let me go into his palace and see him. They let Ehood into the palace, and he gave to the king a present. Then he went out, but soon came back and said, I have a message to the king that no one else can hear. Let me see the king alone. As he had just brought a present, they supposed that he was a friend to the king. Then too he had no sword on the side where men carried their swords. But Ehood was left-handed, and he carried on the other side a short, sharp sword which he had made like a dagger. This sword was out of sight under his garment. He went into the room where King Eglon was sitting alone, and said, I have a message from the Lord to you, and this is the message. And then he drew out his sword and drove it up to the handle into the king's body so suddenly that the king died without giving a sound. Ehood left the sword in the dead body of the king, and went out quietly by the rear door. The servants of the king thought he was asleep in his room, and for a while did not go to see why he was so still, but when they found him dead Ehood was far away. Ehood blew a trumpet and called his people together, and led them against the Moabites. They were so helpless without their king that Ehood and his men easily drove them out of Israel and set the people free. Ehood became the second judge over the land, and after that it was many years before enemies again held rule over Israel. The next enemies to Israel were the Philistines, who lived on the shore of the great sea on the west. They came up from the plain against the Israelites, but Shamgar, the third judge, met them with a company of farmers who drove the Philistines back with their ox-goads, and so kept them from ruling over the land. End of Story 8. How a Woman Won a Great Victory Chapter 4, Verse 1 to Chapter 5, Verse 31 Again, many of the people of Israel were drawn away from the worship of the Lord, and began to live like the people around them, praying to idols and doing wickedly. And again the Lord left them to suffer for their sins. A Canaanite king in the north, whose name was Jabin, sent his army down to conquer them under the command of his general, Cicera. In Cicera's army were many chariots of iron drawn by horses, while soldiers in the chariots shot arrows and threw spears at the Israelites. The men of Israel were not used to horses and greatly feared these war chariots. All the northern tribes in the land of Israel fell under the power of King Jabin and his general Cicera, and their rule was very harsh and severe. This was the fourth of these oppressions, and it bore most heavily upon the people in the north. But it led those who suffered from it to turn from their idols and to call upon the Lord God of Israel. At that time a woman was ruling as judge over a large part of the land, the only woman among the fifteen judges who, one after another, ruled the Israelites. Her name was Deborah. She sat under a palm tree north of Jerusalem between the cities of Ramah and Bethel, and gave advice to all the people who sought her. So wise and good was Deborah that men came from all parts of the land with their difficulties and the questions that arose between them. She ruled over the land not by the force of any army or by any appointment, but because all men saw that God's spirit was upon her. Deborah heard of the troubles of the tribes in the north under the hard rule of the Canaanites. She knew that a brave man was living in the land of Naftali, a man named Barak, and to him she sent this message, Barak, call out the tribes of Israel who live near you, raise an army, and lead the men who gather about you to Mount Tabor. The Lord has told me that he will give Cicera and the host of the Canaanites into your hands. But Barak felt afraid to undertake alone this great work of setting his people free. He sent back to Deborah this answer. If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go. I will go with you, said Deborah, but because you did not trust God and did not go when God called you, the honor of this war will not be yours, for God will deliver Cicera into the hands of a woman. Deborah left her seat under the palm tree and went up to Kadesh, where Barak lived. Together, Deborah and Barak sent out a call from the men of the north, and 10,000 men met together with such arms as they could find. This little army, with a woman for its chief, encamped on Mount Tabor, which is one of three mountains standing in a row on the east of a great plane called the plane of Ezderlan, the plane of Jezreel, and the plane of Megiddo, for it bears all these three names. On this plane, both in Bible times and also in the time since the Bible, many great battles have been fought. Over this plane winds the Brook Kishon, which at some seasons after heavy rain becomes a foaming, rushing river. From their camp on the top of Mount Tabor, the little army of Israel could look down on the great host of the Canaanites with their many tents, their horses and chariots, and their general Cicera. But Deborah was not afraid. She said to Barak, march down the mountain with all your men and fight the Canaanites. The Lord will go before you, and he will give Cicera and his host into your hand. Barak blew a trumpet and called out his men. They ran down the side of Mount Tabor and rushed upon their enemies. The Canaanites were taken so suddenly that they had no time to dry out their chariots. They were frightened and ran away, trampling each other underfoot, chariots and horses and men in a wild flight. And the Lord helped the Israelites, for at that time the Brook Kishon was swollen into a river. And the Canaanites crowded after each other into it. While many were killed in the battle, many were also drowned in the river. Cicera, the general of the Canaanites, saw that the battle had gone against him and that all was lost. He leaped from his chariot and fled away on foot. On the edge of the plain he found a tent standing alone, and he ran to it for shelter and hiding. It was the tent of a man named Haber, and Haber's wife, Jail, was in front of it. She knew Cicera and said to him, come in, my Lord, come into the tent. Do not be afraid. Cicera entered the tent, and Jail covered him with a rug so that no enemy might find him. Cicera said to her, I am very thirsty. Can you give me a little water to drink? Instead of water, she brought out a bottle of milk and gave him some. And then Cicera lay down to sleep, for he was very tired from the battle and from running. While he was in a deep sleep, Jail crept into the tent quietly with a tent pin and a hammer in her hand. She placed the point of the pin upon the side of his head near his ear, and with the hammer gave blow after blow, driving it into his brain and through his head until it went into the ground underneath. After a moment's struggle, Cicera was dead, and she left his body upon the ground. In a little time, Jail saw Barak, the chief of the Israelite army, coming toward the tent. She went out to meet him and said, come with me, and I will show you the man whom you were seeking. She lifted the curtain of the tent and led Barak within, and there he saw, lying dead upon the ground, the mighty Cicera, who only the day before had led the army of the Canaanites. That was a terrible deed, which Jail did. We should call it treachery and murder, but such was the bitter hate between Israelite and Canaanite at that time that all the people gave great honor to Jail on account of it, for by that act she had set the people free from the king who had been oppressing Israel. After this, the land had rest for many years. Deborah the Judge wrote a great song about this victory. Here are some verses from it. Because the elders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly. Bless ye the Lord. Here, O ye kings, give ear, O ye princes. I, even I, will sing unto the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel. The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan. In Tanakh, by the water of Megiddo, they took no gain of money. They fought from heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Cicera. The river Kishon swept them away. That ancient river, the river Kishon, O my soul, march on with strength. Blessed among women shall jail be the wife of Haber the Canaanite. Blessed shall she be among women in the tent. He asked water, and she gave him milk. She brought him butter in a lordly dish. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay. At her feet he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. Through the window, a woman looked forth and cried. The mother of Cicera cried through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long and coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariot? So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. End of story number nine, recording by Kalinda in Raymond, New Hampshire on November 14, 2007. Story 10 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. Recording by Missy, Guangzhou, China. Herobot's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Herobot, part two, Gideon and his brave 300. Again the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord in worshiping bale, and the Lord left them again to suffer for their sin. This time it was the Midianite, living near the desert on the east of Israel, who came against the tribes in the middle of the country. The two tribes that suffered by the state were Ephraim and the part of Manasseh on the west of Jordan. For seven years the Midianites swept over their land every year, just at the time of harvest, and carried away all the crops of grain until the Israelites had no food for themselves and none for their sheep and cattle. The Midianites brought also their own flocks and camels without number, which ate all the grass of the field. These Midianites were the wild Arabs, living on the border of the desert, and from their land they made sudden and swift attacks upon the people of Israel. The people of Israel were driven away from their villages and their farms and were compelled to hide in the caves of the mountain. And if any Israelite could raise any grain, he buried it in pits covered with earth or in empty wine presses where the Midianites could not find it. One day a man named Gideon was threshing out wheat in a hidden place, when suddenly he saw an angel sitting under an oak tree. The angel said to him, "'You are a brave man, Gideon, and the Lord is with you. "'Go out boldly and save your people "'from the power of the Midianite.'" Gideon answered the angel, "'Oh Lord, how can I save Israel? "'Mine is a poor family in Manasseh "'and I am the least of my father's house.'" And the Lord said to him, "'Surely I will be with you "'and I will help you drive out the Midianites.'" Gideon felt that it was the Lord who was talking with him in the form of an angel. He brought an offering and laid it on a rock before the angel. Then the angel touched the offering with his staff. At once a fire leaped up and burned the offering and then the angel vanished from his sight. Gideon was afraid when he saw this, but the Lord said unto him, "'Peace be unto you, Gideon. "'Do not fear, for I am with you.'" On the spot where the Lord appeared to Gideon under an oak tree near the village of Ophrah in the tribe land of Manasseh, Gideon built an altar and called it by a name which means the Lord is peace. This altar was standing long afterward in that place. Then the Lord told Gideon that before setting his people free from the Midianites, he must first set them free from the service of Baal and Asherah, the two idols most worshiped among them. Near the house of Gideon's old father stood an altar to Baal and the image of Asherah. On that night, Gideon went out with 10 men and threw down the image of Baal and cut in pieces the wooden image of Asherah and destroyed the altar before these idols. And in place he built an altar to the God of Israel and on it laid the broken pieces of the idols for wood and with them offered a young ox as a burnt offering. On the next morning, when the people of the village went out to worship their idols, they found them cut in pieces, the altar taken away, in its place stood an altar of the Lord and on it the pieces of the Asherah were burning as wood under a sacrifice to the Lord. The people looked at the broken and burning idols and they said, who has done this? Someone said, Gideon, the son of Joash, did this last night. Then they came to Joash, Gideon's father and said, we are going to kill your son because he has destroyed the image of Baal, who is our God. And Joash, Gideon's father said, if Baal is a God, he can take care of himself and he will punish the man who has destroyed his image. Why should you help Baal? Let Baal help himself. And when they saw that Baal could not harm the man who had broken down his altar and his image, the people turned from Baal back to their own Lord God. Gideon sent men through all his own tribe of Manasseh and the other tribes in that part of the land to say, come and help us drive out the Midianites. The men came and gathered around Gideon. Very few of them had swords and spears, for the Israelites were not a fighting people and were not trained for war. They met beside a great spring on Mount Gilboa called the Fountain of Herod. Mount Gilboa is one of the three mountains on the east of the plain of Estralon or the plain of Jezreel, of which we read in the last story. On the plain, stretching up the side of another of these mountains, called the Hill of Moura, was the camp of a vast Midianite army. For as soon as the Midianites heard that Gideon had undertaken to set his people free, they came against him with a mighty host. Just as Deborah and her little army had looked down from Mount Tabor on the great army of the Canaanites, so now on Mount Gilboa, Gideon looked down on the host of the Midianites in their camp on the same plain. Gideon was a man of faith. He wished to be sure that God was leading him and he prayed to God and said, oh Lord God, give me some sign that thou wilt save Israel through me. Here is a fleece of wool on this threshing floor. If tomorrow morning the fleece is wet with dew while the grass around it is dry, then I shall know that thou art with me and that thou wilt give me victory over the Midianites. Very early the next morning, Gideon came to look at the fleece. He found it ringing wet with dew while all around the grass was dry, but Gideon was not yet satisfied. He said to the Lord, oh Lord, be not angry with me, but give me just one more sign. Tomorrow morning, let the fleece be dry and let the dew fall all around it and then I will doubt no more. The next morning, Gideon found the grass and the bushes and the trees wet with dew while the fleece of wool was dry and Gideon was now sure that God had called him and that God would give him victory over the enemies of Israel. The Lord said to Gideon, your army is too large. If Israel should win the victory, they would say we won it by our own might. Send home all those who are afraid to fight. For many of the people were frightened as they looked at the host of their enemies and the Lord knew that these men in the battle would only hinder the rest. So Gideon sent word through the camp. Whoever is afraid of the enemy may go home and 22,000 people went away, leaving only 10,000 in Gideon's army. But the army was stronger though it was smaller for the cowards had gone and only the brave men were left. But the Lord said to Gideon, the people are yet too many. You need only a few of the bravest and best men to fight in this battle. Bring the men down the mountain beside the water and I will show you there how to find the men whom you need. In the morning, Gideon by God's command called his 10,000 men out and made them march down the hill just as though they were going to attack the enemy. And when they were beside the water, he noticed how they drank and set them apart in two companies according to their way of drinking. As they came to the water, most of the men threw aside their shields and spears and knelt down and scooped up a draft of the water with both hands together like a cup. These men, Gideon commanded to stand in one company. There were a few men who did not stop to take a large draft of water. Holding spear and shield in the right hand to be ready for the enemy if one should suddenly appear, they merely caught up a handful of water in passing and marched on, lapping up the water from one hand. God said to Gideon, set by themselves these men who lapped up each a handful of water. These are the men who might have chosen to set Israel free. Gideon counted these men and found that there were only 300 of them. Will all the rest bow down on their faces to drink? The difference between them was that these 300 were earnest men of one purpose, not turning aside from their aim even to drink as the others did. Then too they were watchful men always ready to meet their enemies. Suppose that the Midianites had rushed out on that army while nearly all of them were on their faces drinking, their arms thrown to one side, how helpless they would have been. But no enemy could have surprised the 300 who held their spears and shields ready even while they were taking a drink. Some have thought that this test also showed who were worshipers of idols and who worship God. For men fell on their faces when they prayed to the idols, but men stood up while they worshiped the Lord. Perhaps this act showed that most of the army were used to worship kneeling down before idols and that only a few used to stand up before the Lord in their worship. But of this we are not certain. It did show that here were 300 brave watchful men obedient to orders and ready for the battle. Then Gideon at God's command sent back to the camp on Mount Gilboa all the rest of his army, nearly 10,000 men, keeping with himself only his little band of 300. But before the battle, God gave to Gideon one more sign that he might be the more encouraged. God said to Gideon, go down with your servant into the camp of the Midianite and hear what they say. It will cheer your heart for the fight. Then Gideon crept down the mountain with his servant and walked around the edge of the Midianite camp just as though he were one of their own men. He saw two men talking and stood near to listen. One man said to the other, I had a strange dream in the night. I dreamed that I saw a loaf of barley bread come rolling down the mountain and it struck the tent and threw it down in a heap on the ground. What do you suppose that dream means? That loaf of bread, said the other, means Gideon, a man of Israel who will come down and destroy this army for the Lord God has given us all into his hand. Gideon was glad when he heard this for it showed that the Midianite, for all their number, were in fear of him and his army even more than his men had feared the Midianite. He gave thanks to God and hastened back to his camp and made ready to lead his men against the Midianite. Gideon's plan did not need a large army but it needed a few careful bold men who should do exactly as their leader commanded them. He gave to each man a lamp, a pitcher and a trumpet and told the men just what was to be done with them. The lamp was lighted but was placed inside the pitcher so that it could not be seen. He divided his men into three companies and very quietly led them down the mountain in the middle of the night and arranged them all in order around the camp of the Midianite. Then at one moment a great shout rang out in the darkness, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon and after it came a crash of breaking pitchers then a flash of light in every direction. The 300 men had given the shout and broken their pitchers so that on every side lights were shining. Then men blew their trumpets with a mighty noise and the Midianites were roused from sleep to see enemies all around them, lights beaming and swords flashing in the darkness while everywhere the sharp sound of the trumpets was heard. They were filled with sudden terror and thought only of escape, not of fighting but wherever they turned, their enemies seemed to be standing with swords drawn. They trampled each other down to death flying from the Israelites. Their own land was in the east across the river Jordan and they fled in that direction down one of the valleys between the mountain. Gideon had thought that the Midianites would turn toward their own land if they should be beaten in the battle and he had already planned to cut off their flight. The 10,000 men in the camp he had placed on the sides of the valley leading to the Jordan. There they slew very many of the Midianites as they fled down the steep pass toward the river. And Gideon had also sent to the men of the tribe of Ephraim who had thus far taken no part in the war to hold the only place at the river where men could wade through the water. Those of the Midianites who had escaped from Gideon's men on either side of the valley were now met by the Ephraimites at the river and many more of them were slain. Among the slain were two of the princes of the Midianites named Aurob and Zeed. A part of the Midianite army was able to get across the river and to continue its flight toward the desert. But Gideon and his brave 300 men followed closely after them, fought another battle with them, destroyed them utterly and took their two kings, Zeba and Zalmuna whom he killed. After this great victory the Israelites were freed forever from the Midianite. They never again ventured to leave their home in the desert to make war on the tribes of Israel. The tribe of Ephraim in the middle of the land was one of the most powerful of the 12 tribes. Its leaders were quite displeased with Gideon because their part in the victory had been so small. They said to Gideon in an angry manner, why did you not send word to us when you were calling for men to fight the Midianite? But Gideon knew how to make a kind answer. He said to them, what have I done as compared with you? Did you not kill thousands of the Midianites at the crossing of the Jordan? Did you not take their two princes Aurob and Zeed? What could my men have done without the help of your men? By gentle words and words of praise Gideon made the men of Ephraim friendly. And after this as long as Gideon lived he ruled as judge in Israel. The people wished him to make himself a king. Rule over us as king they said and let your son be king after you and his son king after him. But Gideon said no, you have a king already for the Lord God is the king of Israel. No one but God shall be king over these tribes. Of all the 15 men who ruled as judges in Israel Gideon the fifth judge was the greatest in courage in wisdom and in faith in God. If all the people in Israel had been like him there would have been no worship of idols and no weakness before the enemy. Israel would have been strong and faithful before God. But as soon as Gideon died and even before his death his people began once more to turn away from the Lord and to seek the idol gods that could give them no help. End of story 10. Story 11 of Hurlbut's story of the Bible part two. 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 two. Jeff does rash promise and what came from it. Although Gideon had refused to become a king even when all the tribes desired him after his death one of his sons whose name was Abimelech tried to make himself king. He began by killing all his brothers except one who escaped. But his rule was only over Shechem and a few places near it and it lasted only a few years so that he was never named among the kings of Israel. Abimelech is sometimes called the sixth of the judges though he did not deserve the title. After him came Tola the seventh judge and Jer the eighth. Of these two judges very little is told. After this the Israelites again began to worship the idols of the Canaanites and again fell under the power of their enemies. The Ammonites came against them from the southeast and held rule over the tribes on the east of Jordan. This was the sixth of the oppressions and the man who set Israel free was Jephthah. He called together the men of the tribes on the east of the Jordan, Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh and fought against the Ammonites. Before Jephthah went to battle he said to the Lord, if thou wilt give me victory over the Ammonites then when I come back from the battle whatever comes out of the house to meet me shall be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt offering. This was not a wise promise nor a right one for God had told the Israelites long before what offerings were commanded as oxen and sheep and what were forbidden. But Jephthah had lived on the border near the desert far from the house of God at Shiloh and he knew very little about God's law. Jephthah fought the Ammonites and won a victory and drove the enemies out of the land. Then as he was going back to his home his daughter who was his only child came out to meet him leading the young girls her companions dancing and making music to welcome his return. When Jephthah saw her he cried out in sorrow, oh my daughter what trouble you bring with you I have given a promise to the Lord and now I must keep it. As soon as his daughter had learned what promise her father had made she met it bravely as a true daughter of Israel. She said, my father you have made a solemn promise to the Lord and you shall keep it for God has given to you victory over the enemies of your people. But let me live a little while and weep with my young friends over the death that I must suffer. For two months she stayed with the young girls upon the mountains for perhaps she feared that if she was at home with her father he would fail to keep his promise. Then she gave herself up to death and her father did with her as he had promised. In all the history of the Israelites this was the only time when a living man or woman was offered in sacrifice to the Lord. Among all the nations around Israel the people offered human lives even those of their own children to the idols which they worshiped. But the people of Israel remembered what God had taught Abraham when he was about to offer up Isaac and they never except this once laid a human offering on God's altar. See story 10. If Jephthah had lived near the Tabernacle at Shiloh and had been taught God's law he would not have given such a promise for God did not desire it and his daughter's life would have been saved. From all these stories it is easy to see how the Israelites lived during the 300 years while the judges ruled. There was no strong power to which all gave obedience but each family lived as it chose. Many people worshiped the Lord but many more turned from the Lord to the idols and then turned back to the Lord after they had fallen under the hand of their enemies. In one part of the land they were free and in another part they were ruled by the foreign peoples. End of story 11. Story 12 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 two. The strong man, how he lived and how he died. Judges 13.1 through 16.31. After Jephthah three judges ruled in turn named Ibsen, Elan and Abdon. None of these were men of war and in their days the land was quiet. But the people of Israel again began to worship idols and as a punishment got allowed them once more to pass under the power of their enemies. The seventh oppression which now fell upon Israel was by far the hardest, the longest and the most widely spread of any for it was over all the tribes. It came from the Philistines, a strong and warlike people, who lived on the west of Israel upon the plain beside the great sea. They worshiped an idol called Dagon which was made in the form of a fishes head on a man's body. These people, the Philistines, sent their armies up from the plain beside the sea to the mountains of Israel and overran all the land. They took away from the Israelites all their swords and spears so that they could not fight and they robbed their land of all the crops so that the people suffered for want of food. And as before the Israelites in their trouble cried to the Lord and the Lord heard their prayer. In the tribe land of Dan which was next to the country of the Philistines there was living a man named Minoa. One day an angel came to his wife and said, you shall have a son and when he grows up he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. But your son must never drink any wine or strong drink as long as he lives, and his hair must be allowed to grow long and must never be cut, for he shall be a Nazarite under the vow to the Lord. When a child was given especially to God or when a man gave himself to some work for God he was forbidden to drink wine and as a sign his hair was left to grow long while the vow or promise to God was upon him. Such a person as this was called a Nazarite or a word which means one who has a vow and Minoa's child was to be a Nazarite and under a vow as long as he lived. The child was born and was named Samson. He grew up to become the strongest man of whom the Bible tells. Samson was no general like Gideon or Japheth to call out his people and lead them in war. He did much to set his people free but all that he did was by his own strength without any help from other men. When Samson became a young man he went down to Timnath in the land of the Philistines. There he saw a young Philistine woman whom he loved and wished to have as his wife. His father and mother were not pleased that he should marry among the enemies of his own people. They did not know that God would make this marriage the means of bringing harm upon the Philistines and of helping the Israelites. As Samson was going down to Timnath to see this young woman a hungry young lion came out of the mountain growling and roaring. Samson seized the lion and tore him in pieces as easily as another man would have killed a little kid of the goats and then went on his way. He made his visit and came home but said nothing to anyone about the lion. After a time Samson went again to Timnath for his marriage with the Philistine woman. On his way he stopped to look at the dead lion and in its body he found a swarm of bees and honey which they had made. He took some of the honey and ate it as he walked but told no one of it. At the wedding feast which lasted a whole week there were many Philistine young men and they amused each other with questions and riddles. I will give you a riddle, said Samson. If you answer it during the feast I will give you 30 suits of clothing and if you cannot answer it then you must give me 30 suits of clothing. Let us hear your riddle, they said and this was Samson's riddle for the young men of the Philistines to answer. Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness. They could not find the answer though they tried to find it all that day and the two days that followed and at last they came to Samson's wife and said to her, coax your husband to tell you the answer. If you do not find it out we will set your house on fire and burn you and all your people. And Samson's wife urged him to tell her the answer. She cried and pleaded with him and said, if you really love me you will not keep this a secret from me. At last Samson yielded and told his wife how he had killed the lion and afterward found the honey in its body. She told her people and just before the end of the feast they came to Samson with the answer. They said, what is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion? And Samson said to them, if you had not plowed with my heifer you had not found out my riddle. By his heifer, which is a young cow of course Samson meant his wife then Samson was required to give them 30 suits of clothing. He went out among the Philistines killed the first 30 men whom he found took off their clothes and gave them to the guest at the feast. But all this made Samson very angry. He left his new wife and went home to his father's house. Then the parents of his wife gave her to another man. But after a time Samson's anger passed away and he went again to Timneth to see his wife. But her father said to him, you went away angry and I suppose that you cared nothing for her. I gave her to another man and now she is his wife. But here is her younger sister. You can take her for your wife instead. But Samson would not take his wife's sister. He went out very angry determined to do harm to the Philistines because they had cheated him. He caught all the wild foxes that he could find until he had 300 of them. Then he tied them together in pairs by their tails and between each pair of foxes he tied to their tails a piece of dry wood which he set on fire. These foxes with firebrands on their tails he turned loose among the fields of the Philistines when the grain was ripe. They ran wildly over the fields, set the grain on fire and burned it and with the grain the olive trees in the fields. When the Philistines saw their harvest destroyed they said, who has done this? And people said, Samson did this because his wife was given by her father to another man. The Philistines looked on Samson's father-in-law as the cause of their loss and they came and set his house on fire and burned the man and his daughter whom Samson had married. Then Samson came down again and alone fought a company of Philistines and killed them all as a punishment for burning his wife. After this Samson went to live in a hollow place in a split rock called the Rock of Edom. The Philistines came up in a great army and overran the fields in the triblend of Judah. Why do you come against us? Asked the men of Judah. What do you want from us? We have come, they said, to bind Samson and to deal with him as he has dealt with our people. The men of Judah said to Samson, do you not know that the Philistines are ruling over us? Why do you make them angry by killing their people? You see that we suffer through their pranks. Now we must bind you and give you to the Philistines or they will ruin us all. And Samson said, I will let you bind me if you will promise not to kill me yourselves but only to give me safely into the hands of the Philistines. They made the promise and Samson gave himself up to them and allowed them to tie him up fast with new ropes. The Philistines shouted for joy as they saw their enemy brought to them, led in bonds by his own people. Little did they know what was to happen. For as soon as Samson came among them he burst the bonds as though they had been light strings and picked up from the ground the jawbone of an ass and struck right and left with it as with a sword. He killed almost a thousand of the Philistines with his strange weapon. Afterward he sang a song about it thus. With the jawbone of an ass heaps upon heaps with the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men. After this Samson went down to the chief city of the Philistines which was named Gaza. It was a large city and like all large cities was surrounded with a high wall. When the men of Gaza found Samson in their city they shut the gates thinking that they could now hold him as a prisoner. But in the night Samson rose up, went to the gates, pulled their post out of the ground and put the gates with their post upon his shoulder. He carried them twenty miles away and left them on the top of the hill not far from the city of Hebron. After this Samson saw another woman among the Philistines and he loved her. The name of this woman was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines came to Delilah and said to her, Find out if you can what it is that makes Samson so strong and tell us. If you help us to get control of him so that we can have him in our power we will give you a great sum of money. And Delilah coaxed and pleaded with Samson to tell her what it was that made him so strong. Samson said to her, If they will tie me with seven green twigs from a tree then I shall not be strong any more. They brought her seven green twigs like those of a willow tree and she bound Samson with them while he was asleep. Then she called out to him, Wake up Samson, the Philistines are coming against you. And Samson rose up and broke the twigs as easily if they had been charred in the fire and went away with ease. And Delilah tried again to find his secret. She said, You are only making fun of me. Now tell me truly how you can be bound. And Samson said, Let them bind me with new ropes that have never been used before and then I cannot get away. While Samson was asleep again Delilah bound him with new ropes. Then she called out as before, Get up Samson, for the Philistines are coming. And when Samson rose up the ropes broke as if they were thread and Delilah again urged him to tell her and he said, You notice that my hair is in seven locks. Weave it together in the loom just as if it were the threads in a piece of cloth. Then while he was asleep she wove his hair in the loom and fastened it with a large pin to the weaving frame. When he awoke he rose up and carried away the pin and the beam of the weaving frame, for he was as strong as before. And Delilah said, Why do you tell me that you love me as long as you deceive me and keep me from your secret? And she pleaded with him day after day until at last he yielded to her and told her the real secret of his strength. He said, I am a Nazarite under a vow to the Lord not to drink wine and not to allow my hair to be cut. If I should let my hair be cut short then the Lord would forsake me and my strength would go for me and I would be like other men. Then Delilah knew that she had found the truth at last. She sent for the rulers of the Philistines saying, Come up this once and you shall have your enemy for I am sure now that he has told me all that is in his heart. Then while the Philistines were watching outside Delilah let Samson go to sleep with his head upon her knees. While he was sound asleep they took a razor and shaved off all his hair. Then she called out as at the other times, Rise up Samson, the Philistines are upon you. He awoke and rose up. Expecting to find himself strong as before. For he did not at first know that his long hair had been cut off, that he had broken his vow to the Lord and the Lord had left him. He was now as weak as other men and helpless in the hands of his enemies. The Philistines easily made him their prisoner and that he might never do them more harm they put out his eyes. Then they chained him with fetters and sent him to prison at Gaza. And in the prison they made Samson turn a heavy millstone to grind grain just as though he were a beast of burden. But while Samson was in prison his hair grew long again and with his hair his strength came back to him. For Samson renewed his vow to the Lord. One day a great feast was held by the Philistines in the temple of their fish god Dagen. For they said, our God has given Samson our enemy into our hands. Let us be glad together and praise Dagen. And the temple was thronged with people and the roof over it was also crowded with more than three thousand men and women. They sent for Samson to rejoice over him and Samson was led into the court of the temple before all the people to amuse them. After a time Samson said to the boy who was leading him, take me up to the front of the temple so that I may stand by one of the pillars and lean against it. And while Samson stood between two of the pillars he prayed to the Lord God of Israel and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and give me strength only this once, O God, and help me that I may obtain vengeance upon the Philistines for my two eyes. Then he placed one arm around the pillar on one side and the other arm around the pillar on the other side. And he said, let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed forward with all his might and pulled the pillars over with him, bringing down the roof and all upon it upon those who were under it. Samson himself was among the dead, but in his death he killed more of the Philistines than he had killed during his life. Then in the terror which came upon the Philistines the men of Samson's tribe came down and found his dead body and buried it in their own land, and that it was years before the Philistines tried again to rule over the Israelites. Samson did much to set his people free, but he might have done much more if he had led his people instead of trusting alone to his own strength, and if he had lived more earnestly and not done his deeds as though he was playing pranks and making jokes upon his enemies. There were deep faults in Samson, but at the end he sought God's help and found it, and God used Samson to begin to set his people free. The tribe to which Samson belonged was the tribe of Dan, a people who lived on the edge of the mountain country between the mountains and the plains of the sea coast, which was the home of the Philistines. The tribe land of Dan was northwest of Judah, southwest of Ephraim and west of Benjamin. Samson ruled over his own tribe, but not much over the other tribes. Yet his deeds of courage and strength kept the Philistines during his lifetime from getting control over the lands of Judah and Benjamin, so that Samson helped to save Israel from its enemies. End of Story 12. Story number 13 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 two, The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest. Judges chapter 17 verse one to chapter 18 verse 31. While the judges were ruling in Israel, at one time there was living in the mountains of Ephraim near the road which ran north and south, a man named Micah. His mother, who was dwelling with him, found that someone had stolen from her a large sum of money. Now the money had been taken by her son Micah, and after a time he said to her, those 1,100 pieces of silver which you lost and of which you spoke are with me, for I took them myself. And his mother answered, may the blessing of God rest upon you, my son, for bringing again to me my silver. This money shall be the Lord's. I will give it back to you to be used in the service of the Lord. But instead of taking the money to the tabernacle of the Lord at Shiloh, Micah used it to make two images of silver, one carved and the other cast in metal. These he set up in his house to be worshiped. He appointed one of his sons as a priest and thus made of his house an idol temple. One day a man on a journey was passing by Micah's house. Micah saw from his dress that he belonged to the tribe of Levi from which the priests came. He said to him, who are you from what place do you come? The young man said, I am a Levite from Bethlehem in the land of Judah, and I am trying to find a place where I can earn my living. Stay here with me, said Micah, and be a priest in my house. I will give you your food and a place to sleep and for each year a suit of clothes and 10 pieces of silver. The Levite was well pleased at this and stayed in Micah's house and became his priest. And Micah said to himself, I am sure that now the Lord will be pleased with me since I have a house with gods and a Levite as my priest. Already many in Israel had forgotten that God would not bless those who set up idols when they should worship the Lord God. The tribe of Dan was living at that time between the country of the Philistines and the tribe of Benjamin, having Judah on the south and Ephraim on the north. The Philistines pressed closely upon them and they sought some place where they could live with more room and at peace. They sent out from their tribe land five men as vies to go through the country and find some better place for the home of their tribe. These five men walked through the land and they came to the house of Micah. Micah took them into his house for it was the custom thus to care for people who were on a journey. These men from Dan, who were called Danites, had seen Micah's priest before in his earlier home. They knew him and asked him how he came to be there. The young Levite told them that Micah had hired him to become his priest. He took them into the temple room and showed them the images and the altar and he offered a sacrifice and a prayer for them. Then the five men left Micah's house and went on their way. They walked through all the tribes in the north and far up among the mountains near one of the great fountains where the river Jordan begins, they found a little city called Laish. The people of Laish were not Israelites but came from the country of Zidun. The Danites saw that their little city was far from Zidun and that its people were living alone with none of their own race to help them. The men of Dan walked back over the mountains to their own people near the Philistine country and they brought back an account of their journey through the land. They said, We have found a good place far up in the north where there is room for us and a rich soil and plenty of water. Come with us and let us take that place for our home. So a large part of the tribe of Dan with their wives and their children went up toward this place. Among them were 600 men with shields and swords and spears for war. As they came near to Micah's house, one of the five men who had been there before said to them, Do you know that in one of these houses there is an altar and a carved image and another image, both of silver? Now think what you would better do. Then the five men came again into Micah's temple while the 600 soldiers stood outside. They were just about to carry away the silver images when the Levites said to them, What are you doing? And the men said to him, Never mind what we are doing. Keep still and come with us. Is it not better for you to be a priest to a whole tribe than to one man? Then the young priest said no more. He took away all the priestly robes and the silver ornaments and the images and went away with the people of Dan. When Micah came home, he found that his temple had been robbed and his images and his priest were taken away. He gathered some of his neighbors and they hastened after the people of Dan. When they called up with them, Micah cried out aloud to them. The men of Dan turned and said to Micah, What is the matter with you that you come after us with a company and make such a noise? And Micah answered, You have taken away my gods which I made and my priest and now what is left to me? And you say to me what is the matter? Then the men of Dan said, Be careful what you say or you may make some of our men angry and they will fall on you and then you will lose your life. Micah saw that the men of Dan were too strong for him to fight them so he went back to his house without his priest and without his images. The Danites went up to the little city of Laish in the north. They took it and killed all the people who were living there. Then they built the city again and changed its name to Dan, the name of the father of their tribe. There at Dan they built a temple and in it they set up the images and this Levite became their priest. And the strangest part of all the story is that this Levite was a grandson of Moses, the man of God and the great prophet. So soon did the people of Israel fall into sin and so deeply that the grandson of Moses became the priest in a temple of idols. And at this time the house of God was at Shiloh. Yet at Dan during those years and for many years afterward was a temple of idols and within its walls a line of priests descended from Moses were worshiping and offering sacrifices to images. And as the temple of idols in Dan was much nearer to the people in the northern part of the land than was the house of the Lord, the tabernacle at Shiloh, very many of those who lived in the north went to this idol temple to worship. So the people of Israel were led away from God to serve idols. This was very displeasing to God. End of story number 13, recording by Eric Ray, St. Louis, Missouri. Story 14 from Harlebut's story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. While LibriVox recordings are in the public domain, for more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Harlebut's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Harlebut, part two. How Ruth Gleaned in the Field of Boaz, Ruth chapter one, verse one, to chapter four, verse 22. In the time of the judges in Israel, a man named Alemalek was living in the town of Bethlehem in the tribe of Judah, about six miles south of Jerusalem. His wife's name was Naomi, and his two sons were Milan and Chilean. For some years the crops were poor and food was scarce in Judah, and Alemalek and his family went to live in the land of Moab, which was on the east of the Dead Sea, as Judah was on the west. There they stayed 10 years, and in that time Alemalek died. His two sons married women of the country of Moab, one woman named Orpah, the other named Ruth. But the two young men also died in the land of Moab, so that Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were all left widows. Naomi heard that God had again given good harvest and bread to the land of Judah, and she rose up to go from Moab back to her own land and her own town of Bethlehem. Her two daughters-in-law loved her, and both would have gone with her. Though the land of Judah was a strange land to them, for they were of the Moabite people. Naomi said to them, go back, my daughters, to your own mother's homes. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have been kind to your husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you may yet find another husband in a happy home. Then Naomi kissed them in farewell, and the three women all wept together. The two young widows said to her, you have been a good mother to us, and we will go with you and live among your people. No, no, said Naomi, you are young, and I am old. Go back and be happy among your own people. Then Orpah kissed Naomi and went back to her people, but Ruth would not leave her. She said, do not ask me to leave you, for I never will. Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God. Where you die, I will die, and be buried. Nothing but death itself shall part you and me. When Naomi saw that Ruth was firm in her purpose, she ceased trying to persuade her. So the two women went on together. They walked around the Dead Sea and crossed the River Jordan, and climbed the mountains of Judah, and came to Bethlehem. Naomi had been absent from Bethlehem for 10 years, but her friends were all glad to see her again. They said, is this Naomi whom we knew years ago? Now the name Naomi means pleasant, and Naomi said, call me not Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Lord has made my life bitter. I went out full with my husband and two sons. Now I come home empty without them. Do not call me pleasant. Call me bitter. The name Mara, by which Naomi wished to be called, means bitter, but Naomi learned later that pleasant was the right name for her after all. There was living in Bethlehem at that time a very rich man named Boaz. He owned large fields that were abundant in their harvest, and he was related to the family of Olymolak, Naomi's husband, who had died. It was the custom in Israel when they reaped the grain not to gather all the stalks, but to leave some for the poor people who followed after the reapers with their sickles and gathered what was left. When Naomi and Ruth came to Bethlehem, it was the time of the barley harvest, and Ruth went out into the fields to glean the grain which the reapers had left. It so happened that she was gleaning in the field that belonged to Boaz, this rich man. Boaz came out from the town to see his men reaping, and he said to them, the Lord be with you, and they answered him, the Lord bless you. And Boaz said to his master of the reapers, who is the young woman that I see gleaning in the field? The man answered, it is the young woman from the land of Moab who came with Naomi. She asked to leave to glean after the reapers and has been here gathering grain since yesterday. Then Boaz said to Ruth, listen to me, my daughter, do not go to any other field, but stay here with my young women. No one shall harm you, and when you are thirsty, go and drink at our vessels of water. Then Ruth bowed to Boaz and thanked him for his kindness, all the more kind because she was a stranger in Israel. Boaz said, I have heard how true you have been to your mother-in-law Naomi in leaving your own land and coming with her to this land. May the Lord, under whose wings you have come, give you a reward. And at noon, when they sat down to rest and to eat, Boaz gave her some of the food, and he said to the reapers, when you are reaping, leave some of the sheaves for her and drop out some sheaves from the bundles where she may gather them. That evening Ruth showed Naomi how much she had gleaned and told her of the rich man Boaz who had been so kind to her. And Naomi said, this man is a near relation of ours. Stay in his fields as long as the harvest lasts. And so Ruth gleaned in the fields of Boaz until the harvest had been gathered. At the end of the harvest, Boaz held a feast on the threshing floor, and after the feast by the advice of Naomi, Ruth went to him and said to him, you are a near relation of my husband and of his father, Elimelech. Now will you not do good to us for his sake? And when Boaz saw Ruth, he loved her, and soon after this he took her as his wife. And Naomi and Ruth went to live in his home so that Naomi's life was no more bitter but pleasant. And Boaz and Ruth had a son whom they named Obed, and later Obed had a son named Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David, the shepherd boy who became king. So Ruth, the young woman of Moab.