The Bible Story Part 326

The prophets here represented are Amos, Nahum, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

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Draw water for the siege, strengthen thy forts!

Get thee down to the mud, and tramp in the clay!

Grip fast the brick mould!

There fire consumes thee, the sword cuts thee off!

Asleep are thy shepherds, O king of a.s.syria, Thy n.o.bles do slumber; Thy people are strewn on the mountains, Without any to gather.

There is no healing of thy wreck, Fatal thy wound.

All who hear of thy fall shall clap their hands at thee, For upon whom hath not thy cruelty pa.s.sed without ceasing?

[Footnote: This translation is, in part, that of George Adam Smith.]

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HABAKKUK

(The little book of Habakkuk was written just before the fall of Jerusalem. This prophet is dealing with a problem new to Israel. It was, Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper? It came from the rapid rise of the great, cruel empire of Babylon. a.s.syria had fallen, but instead of Israel being free as the people had expected they would be when a.s.syria was out of the way, it found itself under the power of the New Babylonian government. Why did G.o.d allow this?

the people asked, in sad despair at the hopeless political situation.

The prophet Habakkuk attempted to answer the question. He called himself a watchman, set to see if G.o.d would not answer this question.

And the answer comes. It is in a sort of enigma: "Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him; but the just shall live by his faith." Then the rest of the book is the expansion of the thought of this enigma. And what is its meaning? It could be expressed somewhat in this way: "Be patient; hold faith in G.o.d. In faith in him is the promise of life. Wickedness contains the germs of its own destruction, and will inevitably fall, Wait and you will see that this is so.")

I

WARNINGS OF THE WATCHMAN

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint.

And the Lord answered me, and said, "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not {393} delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink.

What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and the teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, "Awake;" to the dumb stone, "Arise!" Shall this teach?

Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

II

A PRAYER OF THE PROPHET

O Lord, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, {394} In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.

G.o.d came from Teman, And the Holy One from mount Paran His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of his praise.

And his brightness was as the light; He had rays coming forth from his hand: And there was the hiding of his power.

Before him went the pestilence, And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.

He stood, and measured the earth; He beheld, and drove asunder the nations: And the eternal mountains were scattered, The everlasting hills did bow; His goings were as of old.

I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

Was the Lord displeased against the rivers?

Was thine anger against the rivers, Or thy wrath against the sea, That thou didst ride upon thine horses, Upon thy chariots of salvation?

Thy bow was made quite bare; The oaths to the tribes were a sure word.

Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw thee, and were afraid; The tempest of waters pa.s.sed by: {395} The deep uttered his voice, And lifted up his hands on high.

The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; At the light of thine arrows as they went, At the s.h.i.+ning of thy glittering spear.

Thou didst march through the land in indignation, Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, For the salvation of thine anointed; Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck.

Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors: They came as a whirlwind to scatter me: Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.

Thou didst tread the sea with thine horses, The heap of mighty waters.

I heard, and my belly trembled, My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my place: That I should rest in the day of trouble, When it cometh up against the people which invadeth him in troops.

For though the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat; {396} The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the G.o.d of my salvation.

Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength, And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon mine high places.

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HAGGAI

(In 538 B.C., while Israel was still captive in Babylon, the mighty Babylonian empire was overthrown by Cyrus the Great. What a rejoicing there was among the Israelites and all the other enforced colonists of Babylonia! Cyrus was a statesman. He saw how Babylon was made weak by the large number of discontented inhabitants who had been imported as captives of war. He wisely decided to allow all who wished, to go home again. Many Israelites, who now were often called Jews, accepted his offer and returned to Palestine, with high hopes of a brilliant future for the nation. But they found Jerusalem in ruins and their brother Jews discouraged. Then followed a long series of famine years. Most of the people who came back had been reared on the rich plains of Babylonia, and were not able easily to make a living on the barren, rocky ridges of Judea. They became poor and discouraged. Their plan had been to build the temple, and they had set up an altar soon after they came, but fifteen years had pa.s.sed, and the temple was not yet built. Part of the time the government had interfered with the building. The enemies of the Jews had persuaded the imperial officers that a temple would be only a fortress in disguise, and that the record of the Jews for insurrection and revolt was such that fortresses were not safe in their hands. But now a new king had come to the throne, and Haggai, who seems to have been a priest, came forward on a feast day with a proposal to build the temple. His little book has no grace of style, no great prophetic thought, no poetry or oratory, but is a plain proposition to get the temple built, with a promise that if they do, G.o.d will give them his blessing. It is good to know that the people responded to his appeal and the temple was built. This prophet with his plain style was more successful than almost any other prophet.)

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I

THE PROPHET URGES THE PEOPLE TO BUILD THE TEMPLE

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest, saying, "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, 'This people say, It is not the time for us to come, the time for the Lord's house to be built.'" Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, saying, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: 'Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.'"

Thus saith the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. 'Why?' saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore for your sake the heaven withholdeth the dew, and the earth withholdeth her fruit. And I called for a {399} drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands."

Then Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their G.o.d, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their G.o.d had sent him; and the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, "'I am with you,' saith the Lord."

And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked in the house of the Lord of hosts, their G.o.d.

A month later came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Speak now to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 'Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? and how do ye see it now?

is it not in your eyes as nothing?' 'Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel,'

saith the Lord; 'and be strong, O Joshua, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land,' saith the Lord, 'and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts, according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my spirit abode among you: fear ye not.' For thus saith the Lord of hosts: 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the {400} heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the treasures of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory,' saith the Lord of hosts. 'The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,' saith the Lord of hosts. 'The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former,' saith the Lord of hosts; and in this place will I give peace,' saith the Lord of hosts."