Trading Part 27

"Then how should he be all _that?_" And the boy's frame shook, as if a nervous shudder had taken him.

"Don't you remember the 110th Psalm?" said Matilda after a little more study. "'The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.' Look at it."

David did so, in his own Scriptures, and pondered the words a second time.

"And this is what the Lord Jesus said about those very words, David.

'While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?'"

"What did they say?" asked David eagerly.

"Who?"

"Those Pharisees. What did they answer?"

"It says 'no man was able to answer him a word.'"

Poor David was in the same condition. "Well, go on," he said, between puzzle and despondency.

Matilda consulted her references to see with what she should go on; and then read the three first verses of the epistle to the Hebrews.

"'G.o.d, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.'"

"But--but,--" said David looking up, "Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of Judah, for so said the prophet Micah."

"Jesus was born in Bethlehem," Matilda replied.

"But--he was called the Nazarene," said David with a kind of s.h.i.+ver.

The boy was terribly excited, though he controlled the outward expression of his excitement as much as possible.

"He lived in Nazareth," said Matilda eagerly; "that was his home."

"Then how could he be born in Bethlehem? it's near a hundred miles off, I think."

"But don't you know?" said Matilda. "Caesar Augustus ordered everybody to be--what is it you call it? I forget;--to have their names put down, in a list of all the families and tribes, so that they might be taxed--"

"Taking the census?"

"I don't know; maybe it's that. And so, Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem to have their names put down there, because it was David's city, you know, and they were of the house of David. And while they were there, Jesus was born. But after a while they went back and lived in Nazareth."

David looked dark, and eager; he made no answer.

"And it says in the first chapter of Matthew, David, that the prophet said, 'they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, G.o.d with us.'"

"It is true," said David. "So spoke the prophet Isaiah. But how then did he speak also of Messiah's sufferings? how could that be?"

"Where, David? and how?"

The boy turned over gloomily the leaves of the book which he held, and began to read at the fifty-third chapter.

"'Who hath given credence to that which we heard? and the arm of Jehovah, on whom hath it been revealed?'"

"What chapter is that?" Matilda asked; and he told her. She turned to the place.

"'_Who hath believed our report?_' that is it exactly, David. Don't you see? You do not believe it, and all the Jews do not believe it, when it is told to them."

"What?" said David.

"Why, that Jesus is the Messiah; and all about him. 'He is despised and rejected of men'--see how it goes on."

"What does this mean, I wonder," said David as he looked over the chapter--"'He is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastis.e.m.e.nt of our peace is on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us'?"

"This is what it means, David; 'the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.' That is in Matthew. And here in Romans--'G.o.d commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.' And in Corinthians--'He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of G.o.d in him.' Don't you see?"

"O hus.h.!.+ stop!" said David; "you bewilder me. Here Isaiah goes on

"'Each to his own way we have turned, 'And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him 'The punishment of us all.

'It hath been exacted, and he hath answered.

'And he openeth not his mouth, 'As a lamb to the slaughter he is brought--'"

David stopped again, and Matilda searched for words to answer him, and presently read,

"'So Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.'"

"The second time?" said David.

"Yes; when he comes to take the kingdom, you know."

David sighed deeply.

"David," said Matilda hesitatingly, she had been watching for a chance to say it, "don't you know what Zechariah says about him?"

"Zechariah?"

"Yes; the prophet Zechariah. Mr. Wharncliffe says that is a time coming to your people;--in the twelfth chapter. You can read it best for yourself in your own book. It begins at the ninth verse--what I mean."

"This?" said David.

"'And I have poured on the house of David, 'And on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 'A spirit of grace and supplications, 'And they have looked unto me whom they pierced, 'And they have mourned over it, 'Like a mourning over the only one, 'And they have been in bitterness for it, 'Like a bitterness over the first-born.

'In that day great is the mourning in Jerusalem, 'As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon; 'And mourned hath the land--every family apart; 'The family of the house of David apart, 'And their women apart; 'The family of the house of Nathan apart, 'And their women apart; 'The family of the house of Levi apart, 'And their women apart; 'The family of s.h.i.+mei apart, 'And their women apart, 'All the families that are left, 'Every family apart, and their women apart!'"

The boy's face grew darker and darker as he read, and he remained gloomily looking at the page after he had finished. "It looks like it!"

he said at last.

"Looks like what, David?" Matilda asked timidly. His face was very cloudy as he lifted it to speak to her, and he spoke with difficulty.