The Wonder Book of Bible Stories Part 1

The Wonder Book of Bible Stories.

Compiled by Logan Marshall.

INTRODUCTION

The Bible is one of the two or three oldest books in the world, but unlike most of the ancient books, it is found not only in great libraries, but in almost every home of the civilized world; and it is not only studied by learned scholars, but read by the common people; and its many stories grasp and hold the attention of little children. Happy is that child who has heard, over and over again, the Bible stories until they have become fixed in his mind and memory, to become the foundations of a n.o.ble life.

It is with the desire of aiding parents and teachers in telling these stories, and aiding children to understand them, also in the hope that they may be read in many schools, that a few among the many interesting stories in the Bible have been chosen, brought together and as far as necessary simplified to meet the minds of the young.

[Signature: Jesse Lyman Hurlbut]

THE STORY OF ADAM AND EVE

The first man's name was Adam and his wife he called Eve. They lived in a beautiful Garden away in the East Country which was called Eden, filled with beautiful trees and flowers of all kinds. But they did not live in Eden long for they did not obey G.o.d's command, but ate the fruit of a tree which had been forbidden them. They were driven forth by an angel and had to give up their beautiful home.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _They were driven forth by an angel_]

So Adam and his wife went out into the world to live and to work. For a time they were all alone, but after a while G.o.d gave them a little child of their own, the first baby that ever came into the world. Eve named him Cain; and after a time another baby came, whom she named Abel.

When the two boys grew up, they worked, as their father worked before them. Cain, the older brother, chose to work in the fields, and to raise grain and fruits. Abel, the younger brother, had a flock of sheep and became a shepherd.

While Adam and Eve were living in the Garden of Eden, they could talk with G.o.d and hear G.o.d's voice speaking to them. But now that they were out in the world, they could no longer talk with G.o.d freely, as before.

So when they came to G.o.d, they built an altar of stones heaped up, and upon it, they laid something as a gift to G.o.d, and burned it, to show that it was not their own, but was given to G.o.d, whom they could not see. Then before the altar they made their prayer to G.o.d, and asked G.o.d to forgive their sins, all that they had done was wrong; and prayed G.o.d to bless them and do good to them.

Each of these brothers, Cain and Abel, offered upon the altar to G.o.d his own gift. Cain brought the fruits and the grain which he had grown; and Abel brought a sheep from his flock, and killed it and burned it upon the altar. For some reason G.o.d was pleased with Abel and his offering, but was not pleased with Cain and his offering. Perhaps G.o.d wished Cain to offer something that had life, as Abel offered; perhaps Cain's heart was not right when he came before G.o.d.

And G.o.d showed that He was not pleased with Cain; and Cain, instead of being sorry for his sin, and asking G.o.d to forgive him, was very angry with G.o.d, and angry also toward his brother Abel. When they were out in the field together Cain struck his brother Abel and killed him. So the first baby in the world grew up to be the murderer of his own brother.

And the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Cain and Abel_]

And Cain answered, "I do not know; why should I take care of my brother?"

Then the Lord said to Cain, "What is this that you have done? Your brother's blood is like a voice crying to me from the ground. Do you see how the ground has opened, like a mouth, to drink your brother's blood?

As long as you live, you shall be under G.o.d's curse for the murder of your brother. You shall wander over the earth, and shall never find a home, because you have done this wicked deed."

And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Thou hast driven me out from among men; and thou hast hid thy face from me. If any man finds me he will kill me, because I shall be alone, and no one will be my friend."

And G.o.d said to Cain, "If any one harms Cain, he shall be punished for it." And the Lord G.o.d placed a mark on Cain, so that whoever met him should know him and should know also that G.o.d had forbidden any man to harm him. Then Cain and his wife went away from Adam's home to live in a place by themselves, and there they had children. And Cain's family built a city in that land; and Cain named the city after his first child, whom he had called Enoch.

THE STORY OF NOAH AND THE ARK

After Abel was slain, and his brother Cain had gone into another land, again G.o.d gave a child to Adam and Eve. This child they named Seth; and other sons and daughters were given to them; for Adam and Eve lived many years. But at last they died, as G.o.d had said they must die, because they had eaten of the tree that G.o.d had forbidden them to eat.

By the time that Adam died, there were many people on the earth; for the children of Adam and Eve had many other children; and when these grew up they had other children; and these had children also. These men and women and children lived in tents. They owned sheep and cattle, and they moved about with them, wherever they could find pasture. The children played around the tent doors, and sat beside the camp-fires in the evenings, where they all sang together, and the older people told them stories. And after a time this land where Adam's sons lived began to be full of people.

It is sad to tell that as time went on more and more of these people became wicked, and fewer and fewer of them grew up to become good men and women. All the people lived near together, and few went away to other lands; so it came to pa.s.s that even the children of good men and women learned to be bad, like the people around them, and no longer did what was right and good.

And as G.o.d looked down on the world that he had made, he saw how wicked the men in it had become, and that every thought and every act of man was evil and only evil continually.

But while most of the people in the world were very wicked, there were some good people also, though they were very few. The best of all the men who lived at that time was a man whose name was Enoch. He was not the son of Cain, but another Enoch, who came from the family of Seth, the son of Adam, who was born after the death of Abel. While so many around Enoch were doing evil, this man did only what was right. He walked with G.o.d and G.o.d walked with him, and talked with him. And at last, when Enoch was a very old man and weary with life, G.o.d took him away from earth to heaven. He did not die, as all the people have since Adam disobeyed G.o.d, but "he was not, for G.o.d took him." This means that Enoch was taken up from earth without dying.

All the people in the time of Enoch were not shepherds. Some of them had learned how to make rude bows and arrows and axes and plows. And after a long time they melted iron, and they made knives and swords and dishes to use in their homes. They sowed grain in the fields and reaped harvests, and they planted vines and fruit trees. But G.o.d looked down on the earth and said:

"I will take away all men from the earth that I have made; because the men of the world are evil, and do evil continually."

But even in those bad times G.o.d saw one good man. His name was Noah.

Noah tried to do right in the sight of G.o.d. As Enoch had walked with G.o.d, so Noah walked with G.o.d, and talked with him. And Noah had three sons; their names were Shem, and Ham, and j.a.pheth.

G.o.d said to Noah, "The time has come when all the men and women on the earth are to be destroyed. Every one must die, because they are all wicked. But you and your family shall be saved, because you alone are trying to do right."

Then G.o.d told Noah how he might save his life and the lives of his sons.

He was to build a very large boat, as large as the largest ships that are made in our time; very long, and very wide and very deep; with a roof over it; and made like a long, wide house in three stories; but so built that it would float on the water. Such a ship as this was called "an ark." G.o.d told Noah to build this ark, and to have it ready for the time when he would need it.

"For," said G.o.d to Noah, "I am going to bring a great flood of water on the earth to cover all the land and to drown all the people on the earth. And as the animals on the earth will be drowned with the people, you must make the ark large enough to hold a pair of each kind of animals and several pairs of some animals that are needed by men, like sheep and goats and oxen; so that there will be animals as well as men to live upon the earth after the flood has pa.s.sed away. And you must take in the ark food for yourself and your family, and for all the animals with you; enough food to last for a year, while the flood shall stay on the earth."

And Noah did what G.o.d told him to do, although it must have seemed very strange to all the people around, to build this great ark where there was no water for it to sail upon. And it was a long time, because this ship was so big, that Noah and his sons were at work building the ark, which G.o.d had told them to build, while the wicked people around wondered, and no doubt laughed at Noah for building a great ship where there was no sea.

At last the ark was finished, and stood like a great house on the land.

There was a door on one side, and a window on the roof, to let in the light. Then G.o.d said to Noah:

"Come into the ark, you and your wife, and your three sons, and their wives with them; for the flood of waters will come very soon. And take with you animals of all kinds, and birds, and things that creep; seven pairs of these that will be needed by men, and one pair of all the rest, so that all kinds of animals may be kept alive upon the earth."

So Noah and his wife, and his three sons, Shem, Ham and j.a.pheth, with their wives, went into the ark. And G.o.d brought to the door of the ark the animals, and the birds, and the creeping things of all kinds; and they went into the ark. And Noah and his sons put them in their places, and brought in food enough to feed them all for many days. And then the door of the ark was shut and no more people and no more animals could come in.

In a few days the rain began to fall, as it had never rained before. It seemed as though the heavens were opened to pour great floods upon the earth. The streams filled, and the rivers rose higher and higher, and the ark began to float on the water. The people left their houses and ran up to the hills; but soon the hills were covered, and all the people on them were drowned.

Some had climbed up to the tops of higher mountains, but the water rose higher and higher, until even the mountains were covered and all the people, wicked as they had been, were drowned in the great sea that now rolled over all the earth where man had lived. And all the animals, the tame animals, cattle, and sheep, and oxen, were drowned; and the wild animals, lions, and tigers, and all the rest were drowned also. Even the birds were drowned, for their nests in the trees were swept away, and there was no place where they could fly from the terrible storm. For forty days and nights the rain kept on, until there was no breath of life remaining outside of the ark.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The water rose higher and higher_]

After forty days the rain stopped, but the water stayed upon the earth for more than six months, and the ark with all that were in it floated over the great sea that covered the land. Then G.o.d sent a wind to blow over the waters, and to dry them up; so by degrees the waters grew less and less. First mountains rose above the waters, then the hills rose up, and finally the ark ceased to float and lay aground on a mountain which is called Mount Ararat.

But Noah could not see what had happened on the earth, because the door was shut, and the only window was up in the roof. But he felt that the ark was no longer moving, and he knew that the water must have gone down. So, after waiting for a time, Noah opened a window, and let loose a bird called a raven. Now the raven has strong wings; and this raven flew round and round until the waters had gone down, and it could find a place to rest, and it did not come back to the ark.

After Noah had waited for it awhile, he sent out a dove; but the dove could not find any place to rest, so it flew back to the ark, and Noah took it into the ark again. Then Noah waited a week longer, and afterward he sent out the dove again. And at the evening, the dove came back to the ark, which was its home; and in its bill was a fresh leaf which it had picked off from an olive tree.