The Bible Story Part 88

From a photograph taken by Mrs. Louise Seymour Houghton, and used by her kind permission.

This house is made of mud--that is, sun-dried clay, with a roof of thatch, and shows how houses were made and looked in Bible times.

The children of the village have come to have their eyes treated by the doctor. Many of the children in the hot countries of the East have trouble with their eyes, and blindness. The little village of mud houses where this was taken is on the site of the ancient Ashdod, one of the five powerful cities of the Philistines.

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But the famine kept on. They had nothing to eat and at last Jacob was forced to let them go. They promised to take the best of care of Benjamin and started on their journey.

When they reached Egypt Joseph was more kind. He asked them how they were and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spoke? Is he yet alive?"

And they answered, "Thy servant, our father, is yet alive. He is in good health."

Then he saw Benjamin and said, "Is this your younger brother of whom ye spoke unto me?"

And he said, "G.o.d be gracious unto thee, my son."

He gave them a feast, and told them to go home, but as soon as they were gone he sent an officer after them. The officer caught up with them and opened the bags of grain, and there was Joseph's own golden cup in the mouth of Benjamin's sack!

They were wild with fear. They said that their poor old father would die if anything happened to Benjamin. But the stern officer took them back to Joseph.

Then Joseph told them who he was, and forgave them for the evil they had once done him.

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He said to them, "Go home and say to Jacob, 'Thus saith thy son Joseph, G.o.d hath made me lord of all Egypt; come down unto me, tarry not; and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou and thy children's children, and thy flocks and thy herds, and all that thou hast.' And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that ye have seen, and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither."

The brothers went home and the old man Jacob and all his family came to Egypt to live. So Jacob saw Joseph again before he died.

And Joseph ruled wisely and well over Egypt all the days of his life.

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THE GREAT STATUES OF MEMNON

From a photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission.

These great statues, carved out of the solid rock, were erected to the honor of two of the Pharaohs of Egypt. You may realize something of the immense size of these monuments by noticing how small the camel standing at the base seems in comparison.

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THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Once upon a time there was a widow who lived, with her only son, in a city in the land of the Bible. She was very poor, and one year she found herself still poorer. Everybody was poor that year, for there was a famine in the land. How thin and hungry some of the children became! How glad they were to get even poor food! How carefully the poor widow watched her barrel of flour and her jar, or cruse, of oil, with which the flour was mixed for baking! How hard she worked to get more! At last she had only a little flour and a little oil left. She was almost starving. There was just enough left to make one more cake for herself and her boy, and after that was gone she did not know what they would do. Perhaps they must die. She went out to gather some sticks for a fire. While she was gathering them, a man came by. He was a prophet, named Elijah, but she did not know him. He called to {194} her, and said, "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink."

And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand."

And she said, "As the Lord thy G.o.d liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

And Elijah said to her, "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it to me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

"For thus saith the Lord G.o.d of Israel, 'The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.'"

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah.

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ON THE ROAD NEAR TIBERIAS, WITH THE LAKE OF GALILEE IN THE DISTANCE

From a photograph taken by Mrs. Fontaine Meriwether, and used by her kind permission.

This interesting picture, with laden camel and group of native people, shows very well the nature of the country about the lake of Galilee, the hill rising above the lake and the village nestling on its sh.o.r.e. In the distance can be seen the waters of the lake and the shadowy hills upon the farther sh.o.r.e. It is thus that the country must have looked in the old days when it was the center of so much active life.

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And it came to pa.s.s after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

And she said to Elijah, "What have I to do with thee, O thou man of G.o.d? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?"

And he said to her, "Give me thy son."

And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

And he cried to the Lord; and said, "O Lord my G.o.d, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?"

And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said, "O Lord my G.o.d, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again."

And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother: and Elijah said, "See, thy son liveth!"

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And the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this I know that thou art a man of G.o.d, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth."

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GOING TO THE DOCTOR

From a photograph taken by Mrs. Louise Seymour Houghton, and used by her kind permission.

These poor women of the East have brought their poor little sick children on the patient old donkey to the doctor. As the custom is in the East, the faces of the women are covered by veils. This is the way the Eastern mothers used to bring their sick little children to Jesus in the old days.