The Bible Story Part 144

"Thou shalt not kill.

VII.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII.

"Thou shalt not steal.

IX.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

X.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, not his manservant, not his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his a.s.s, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not G.o.d speak with us, lest we die."

And Moses said to the people, "Fear not: for G.o.d is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before you, that ye sin not."

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And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where G.o.d was.

THE GOLDEN CALF.

_Israel Sins Grievously and Is Severely Punished_.

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together about Aaron, and said to him, "Up, make us G.o.ds, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him."

And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me."

And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received the gold at their hand, and fas.h.i.+oned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, "These are thy G.o.ds, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, "To-morrow shall be a feast to the Lord."

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

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HILL OF THE GOLDEN CALF (JEBEL AARON) AND ITS MOSLEM TOWER BELOW THE RIDGE OF SINAI

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.

A traveler writes: "We started to descend by the gorge on the northeast side of the mountain (Jethro's Path), by which possibly Moses may have descended when he heard the sounds of the camp before he could see what was taking place there. We were completely shut in by the sides of the gorge until just as we emerged near the bottom.

There was no sound below for us to hear, but we could readily accept Mr. Palmeston's statement that he had distinctly heard the sounds of his own camp at the foot of the mountain which was entirely hidden from view. If the wors.h.i.+p of the golden calf be supposed to have taken place anywhere in the neighborhood of the hill of Aaron this circ.u.mstance would be in striking conformity with the several other facts which singularly adapt this place to be the scene of the lawgiving."

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And the Lord spoke unto Moses, "Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have wors.h.i.+ped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, 'These are thy G.o.ds, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'"

And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may grow hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation."

And Moses besought the Lord his G.o.d, and said, "Lord, why doth thy wrath grow hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, 'I will multiply your family as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your family, and they shall inherit it for ever.'"

And the Lord repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people.

And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both sides; on the one side and on {208} the other were they written. And the tables were the work of G.o.d, and the writing was the writing of G.o.d, graven upon the tables.

And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."

And he said, "It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear."

And it came to pa.s.s, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger grew hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.

And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought a great sin upon them?"

And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord grow hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, 'Make us G.o.ds, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.' And I said to them, 'Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off'; so they gave it me: and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf."

And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose; for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies: then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoso is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me."

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FAMOUS MONASTERY OF SAINT CATHERINE IN THE SHADOW OF MOUNT SINAI

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.

It was in this monastery that Prof. C. Tischendorf discovered one of the oldest and most valuable ma.n.u.scripts of the Bible in existence.

Tischendorf made three visits to the monastery, in 1844, 1853, and 1859. On the first visit he found forty-three leaves of the ma.n.u.script in a wastebasket. Later he found the entire ma.n.u.script with the exception of a few pages. It was published by Czar Alexander II in celebration of the first millennium of the Russian Empire. A traveler says, "When on a visit to Mount Sinai in March, 1877, I saw a copy of the magnificent four volume edition in the convent library and mentioned the name of Tischendorf, the sub-prior kindled up in indignation and called him a thief, who had stolen their greatest treasure on the pretext of a temporary loan; and when I reminded him of the large reward of the Emperor of Russia, who had furnished a new silver shrine for the coffin of Saint Catherine, he admitted it reluctantly, but remarked that they did not want the silver, but the ma.n.u.script--the ma.n.u.script which their monks could not read and were about to throw into the fire."

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And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, "Thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, 'Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'"

And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord, yea, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day."

And it came to pa.s.s on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, "Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make atonement for your sin."