MAKING
THE BIBLE
REAL

EM©!!!

FREDERICK B. OXTOBY

Making the Bible Real
Introductory Studies in the
Book of Books

Making the Bible Real
Introductory Studies in the
Book of Books

By
FREDERIC BREADING OXTOBY, M.A., D. D.
Professor of Biblical Literature and Religious
Education, Huron College, Huron,
South Dakota

New York Chicago
Fleming H. Revell Company
London and Edinburgh

Copyright, 1921, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.
London : 2 1 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street

To My Wife
FRIEDA BOYNTON OXTOBY

Preface
THE material in this book has been
used successfully in making the Bible
interesting and helpful to young peo
ple; to College and Theological Seminary
classes; and to audiences in different
churches and Sunday School conventions. It
is now published with the desire that it may
have a wider field.
F. B. O.
Huron, S. D.

Contents
I. The Holy Land i i
II. Old Testament History 20
III. The Prophets 31
IV. The Old Testament as Liter
ature 50
V. The Old Testament and Arche
ology 59
VI. Christ and the Pharisees 69
VII. Paul the Man 79
VIII. Our English Bible 90

THE HOLY LAND
VERY often the Holy Land or Pales
tine is associated only with Bible
times, and there is little realization
that there is such a country to-day which one
can actually visit, and where the life of its
people is much the same now as when the Bible
was written. Jaffa, the seaport of Jerusalem,
on the west coast of Palestine, where the
steamers anchor a little distance out in the
Mediterranean Sea and rowboats land the
passengers, is the same Jaffa or Joppa where
the cedars from Lebanon were landed to be
taken overland to Jerusalem for the construc
tion of Solomon's Temple, and where the
Apostle Peter had his wonderful vision on the
flat housetop. A journey of about fifty miles
by railroad to-day takes one from there to
Jerusalem. The city itself as in Bible times
is " compact together," with narrow, crooked
it

12 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
streets, and a wall with several gates leading
into the city.
From Jerusalem one goes east to Jericho,
the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea. This
sea is in size about ten miles by fifty, and con
tains more than four times as much salt as
ordinary ocean water, so that no fish can live
in it. There is no outlet to the lake and the
water flowing in evaporates — more than six
million tons of water rise in vapour each day.
Its shore, a quarter of a mile below the level
of the ocean, is the lowest spot uncovered by
water on the surface of the earth. South of
Jerusalem is Bethlehem, where we see the
Church of the Nativity, in which is shown the
traditional birthplace of Christ; Hebron, the
city of Abraham, " the friend of God," with
the Mohammedan mosque built over the cave
of Machpelah mentioned in the Book of Gene
sis; and Beersheba where Bedouin still bring
their flocks and herds to be watered at the
wells over four thousand years old. Their
great age is shown by the deep grooves worn
in the stone sides by the ropes that for cen
turies have drawn up so many jars of
water. Travelling north one comes to Jacob's Well

THE HOLY LAND 13
near Shechem, where Christ talked with the
woman of Samaria; and to Nazareth, where
women to-day draw water from the same
spring to which Mary the mother of Jesus
went. East of Nazareth is the Sea of Galilee,
a lake thirteen miles long, with its greatest
width eight miles. It is a fresh water lake,
nearly seven hundred feet below sea level.
On its clear, blue waters fishermen are casting
nets from their boats to-day as they did in the
time of One who called to His work " fishers
of men." From the Lake of Galilee south to
the Dead Sea the distance is sixty-five miles
in a straight line, though the Jordan winds for
nearly two hundred miles. The river has a
rapid current and this has given it its name;
" Jordan " means " Descender." In its course
from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea this
rapid flowing stream goes down over six hun
dred feet, or an average of nearly ten feet a
mile. There were no bridges across it in Bible
times, and people crossed it at the fords.
We, in America, think in terms of large dis
tances and areas. It is difficult for us to be
lieve that the entire German Empire before the
Great War could be placed in the State of
Texas, and there would remain nearly fifty-

14 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
five thousand square miles of territory. The
Bible story is better understood when one
holds clearly in mind the size of the Holy
Land. Palestine is a little land — its length
from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the
south is only one hundred and fifty miles. Its
area is about the size of the State of Vermont.
Twenty-six Palestines could be placed in
Texas. Three-fourths of the Holy Land can
be seen from Mount Ebal, thirty miles north
of Jerusalem. From this mountain, only three
thousand feet high, one can see on the west
the Mediterranean Sea, less than thirty miles
away; on the east, the country on the farther
side of the Jordan; on the northeast, snow-
crowned Mount Hermon, seventy-five miles
away, and on the south, a point within five
miles of Jerusalem. From the Mount of
Olives, east of Jerusalem, one can see the Dead
Sea, four thousand feet below, and fifteen
miles away. Ruth in the fields of Boaz at
Bethlehem could see her own land of Moab
east of the Jordan. Christ from a hill north
west of Nazareth could see thirty miles in
three directions.
From Jerusalem, Bethlehem is only five
miles south, Hebron twenty miles south,

fTHE HOLT LAND 15
Beersheba fifty miles south, Shechem thirty
miles north, and Nazareth sixty-five miles
north. How short the distances are ! Bethel,
one of the two royal sanctuaries of the
Northern Kingdom, was only ten miles from
Jerusalem of the Southern Kingdom with
Solomon's Temple. Samaria, the capital of
the Northern Kingdom, was only thirty-five
miles from Jerusalem, the capital of Judah.
However, the size of a country does not deter
mine its importance. Greece has done more
for the world than Siberia, England than
Texas. Palestine is a great land because of
its history and religion — above all because it is
the land of Christ Jesus.
Although it is a small country in area,
Palestine has remarkable differences in tem
perature, due to the exposure of the land on
the west to the sea and on the east to the
desert, and also to the unusual variation of
altitude — from thirteen hundred feet below
the level of the Mediterranean — the shore of
the Dead Sea — to the summit of Mount
Hermon in the north, over nine thousand feet
above sea level. A traveller crossing the coun
try from west to east first traverses the coast
plain, the level of the Mediterranean, then

16 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
goes up into the hill country, then rapidly de
scends below sea level to the deep depression
of the Jordan Valley, and finally goes up again
to the range of hills east of the Jordan.
Palestine has all climates from the hot
climate at the southern end of the Jordan Val
ley to the cold at the northern end. There are
palms near the Dead Sea and pine forests
north in Lebanon. On the same day in sum
mer the thermometer may be one hundred and
twenty degrees above Fahrenheit, at the Dead
Sea, and there be snow on Mount Hermon.
The feat of one of David's mighty men who
slew a lion in time of snow is used by Dr.
George Adam Smith as an illustration of the
great variation of climate in the Holy Land.
He points out that the lion had strayed up the
Judean hills from the Jordan Valley and had
been caught in a sudden snow-storm. " Where
else than in Palestine could lions and snow
thus come together? "
The Bible speaks of " seedtime and harvest,
and cold and heat, and summer and winter."
There are but two seasons in Palestine, sum
mer, beginning in May with five rainless
months, a dry, hot period with a cloudless sky,
and winter, or the rainy season, which begins

THE HOLY LAND 17
in October. But winter is not a season of
continuous rain. The weather is compara
tively warm, and there are more days of sun
shine than of rain in these seven months. The
climate makes it therefore a land of outdoor
life. The prophets spoke outdoors. Christ
generally addressed His audiences in the open
air, from the hillside or lakeside or plain, or
even from a little boat near the shore of the
Lake of Galilee. The climate made it pos
sible for millions of Jews to assemble at Jeru
salem at the times of the great festivals, and
for the multitudes that followed Jesus to be
away from their homes for several days at a
time. The chief article of food in Bible times was
bread made of wheat or barley. It was round,
the size of a plate, about an inch thick, and
was never cut with a knife as our bread to
day, but was torn or broken by hand. So the
Master " took bread, and blessed, and brake it ;
and he gave to the disciples." It was common
to eat with the fingers, and instead of a spoon,
a piece of bread was used as a scoop to dip
into the dish. Other food was milk, curdled
milk, butter, cheese, olives, green or ripe, and
olive oil, figs, dates, pomegranates, grapes,

18 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
eaten ripe or dried in the sun into raisins,
honey, and the vegetables — beans, lentils,
melons, cucumbers, onions, and others.
Meat was seldom eaten in the ordinary
home except on special occasions, when it was
taken from cattle, and sheep or goats. Fish
from the Lake of Galilee, the Jordan, or the
Mediterranean was eaten both in a fresh state
and cured or salted and so preserved until
wanted. The father of the Prodigal Son has
the " fatted calf " killed for the feast in hon
our of the returned child. Abraham provides
bread, curdled milk, sweet milk, and a calf
" tender and good " for his three visitors, and
though he speaks modestly of the meal as a
" morsel of bread " it was a hearty repast.
The traveller on a journey or pilgrimage took
in his wallet or leather bag for holding provi
sions such food as bread, olives, dried fish,
grapes and figs. We can think of Paul on his
journeys with such simple but sufficient fare.
How much light the language and customs
to-day in Palestine throw upon the pages of
the Bible. One who has heard the "take it
for nothing " from the shopkeepers in the ba
zaars of Jerusalem will understand the
Oriental courtesy of Ephron the Hittite

THE HOLY LAND 19
when he offered to Abraham the field and cave
at Hebron. Ephron expected to receive money
from Abraham, and Abraham intended to give
it. If Jesus spoke at the present time in Pal
estine, His language would take practically the
same form as in our Gospels. A disciple said
to Jesus, " Suffer me first to go and bury my
father," and when a missionary in Syria urged
one of his students to complete his education
by travelling in Europe, he replied, " I must
first of all bury my father." When ques
tioned he explained that while his father was
in excellent health, domestic duties had a first
claim, and he wished to be with his father dur
ing his old age. The words of Christ to the
Seventy, " Salute no man on the way," are
best understood by the customs of salutation
in the East. The Gospel messengers might
be delayed on this special mission if they took
time for the elaborate formalities of the road
side. The Bible is a universal Book with a re
ligion for all people. But it comes from Pal
estine, an Oriental country, and its contents
are given in Eastern modes of thought. Be
cause of this, a knowledge of the Holy Land
and of its life and customs makes more clear
and real to us the Bible message.

II
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY
THE story of the Hebrews from Abra
ham's time to Nehemiah's is found
in the Old Testament. Abraham, a
Hebrew, leaves Babylonia and comes into
southern Palestine. Later his great-grand
child Joseph is sold by his brothers as a
slave and taken to Egypt. There he becomes
Governor, next in authority to the Pharaoh.
Joseph's brothers, because of famine, come
from Palestine into Egypt to buy grain, and
finally with Jacob, their father, settle in
Goshen, a pastoral district in Lower Egypt.
Some centuries later Ramses II, the Pharaoh
of Egypt, in the thirteenth century b. c, prac
tically enslaves the Israelites, the descendants
of Jacob, compelling them to make bricks.
With Moses as their leader they make their
" exodus " from Egypt in the reign of Mer-
neptah, the son and successor of Ramses II.
They receive laws from Moses and for about
forty years live a nomadic life in the wilder-
20

OLD TESTAMENT HISTOEY 21
ness, the peninsula of Sinai, the headquarters
for the greater part of the time being at
Kadesh-barnea, an oasis with a good water
supply about one hundred miles south of Jeru
salem. Their sanctuary like their dwelling places is
a tent. Later, under Joshua, the land of Ca
naan or Palestine is partially conquered, and
from this time the Israelites gradually pass
from the nomadic to the agricultural stage of
society, and begin to live in houses in villages
and cities, owning land and learning the art of
agriculture from the Canaanites. The period
of the Judges follows. They were deliverers
and military leaders, among whom we find
Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. There is no
central authority or organized society, and
every man does that which is " right in his
own eyes."
With the help of Samuel. the monarchy is
established, and Saul of the tribe of Benjamin
becomes the first king. David of the tribe of
Judah, his successor, extends the borders of
the United Kingdom, and conquers Jerusalem,
a city strongly fortified, from the Canaanites,
making it the national capital. In the reign
of Solomon, David's son, a Temple, Palace,

22 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
and other buildings are constructed by the
Israelites with the aid of Phoenician skilled
workmen. In 933 b. c, the close of Solo
mon's reign, the United Kingdom comes to an
end, Jeroboam I, of the tribe of Ephraim, be
coming the king of the Northern Kingdom or
Israel, and Rehoboam, son of Solomon, the
king of the Southern Kingdom or Judah.
Three-fourths of Palestine, the more fertile
and populous part, falls to the north. The
Northern Kingdom, with its capital from the
time of King Omri at Samaria, continues over
two hundred years, until 721 b. c, having
nineteen kings and nine changes of family.
The Southern Kingdom, with its capital at
Jerusalem, exists nearly one hundred and fifty
years longer than the Northern Kingdom,
coming to an end in 586 b. c. It has nine
teen kings and one queen and only one dy
nasty, the Davidic, which is on the throne of
Judah for over four hundred years. Then
comes a period of exile in Babylonia, and in
537 b. c. the return of some of the Jews to
Palestine, Jerusalem becoming the principal
city and center of their life. The second
Temple, Zerubbabel's, is finished in 516 b. c,
exactly seventy years after the fall of Jeru-

OLD TESTAMENT HISTOEY 23
salem. The Jews form no longer a nation or
kingdom but a religious community, and are
governed in turn by the Persian, Greek and
Roman Empires, with a brief period of inde
pendence in the second and first centuries b. c
The latest history in the Old Testament is
from the Persian period, the story of Nehe-
miah, who made his last visit from Persia to
Jerusalem in 432 b. c Although some of the
Old Testament is written after this date, there
is no further history of the Hebrews or Jews
in the Bible until the birth of Jesus in 5 or 4
b. c. recorded in the New Testament. Other
sources than the Bible must be used for history
between these dates.
Palestine's location as a country was among
the nations. Southwest was Egypt, west the
Philistines (from whom Palestine takes its
name), northwest Phoenicia, and north and
east Syria, Assyria, and Babylonia. More
over, Palestine lay on one of the main routes
of travel in the ancient world. It was the
road between Africa and Asia, between Egypt
of the Nile Valley and Babylonia of the Eu
phrates and Tigris Valleys, and hence was an
international highway, the control of which
was eagerly desired by the surrounding coun-

24 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
tries. This fact explains the repeated story in
the Old Testament of alliances of the He
brews with other nations for defensive or of
fensive purposes, of attacks upon the two He
brew Kingdoms, of vassalage, the payment of
tribute and subjection.
For instance, the Southern Kingdom in
duces Syria to attack the Northern Kingdom
but later we find the two Hebrew Kingdoms
united against Syria. At one time the North
ern Kingdom is an ally of Syria in an attempt
to repel an Assyrian invasion. Later Israel
and Syria ask Judah to join them against As
syria, but the Southern Kingdom refuses and
appeals for help to the Assyrian king, who in
vades both Syria and the Northern Kingdom.
The Northern Kingdom, because of its geo
graphical location, acts as a buffer state be
tween the northern powers and Judah, so that
the Syrian and Assyrian attacks fall much
more heavily on Israel than upon Judah. Is
rael is paying tribute to Assyria a century be
fore Judah, and Assyria conquers the North
ern Kingdom nearly one hundred and fifty
years before Babylonia conquers the Southern
Kingdom. t At times the Northern Kingdom is subject

OLD TESTAMENT HISTOEY 25
to Syria and to Assyria. In 734 b. c. Assyria
takes various districts in the north and east
of Israel, carrying away large numbers of the
inhabitants into captivity. When the last
king of the Northern Kingdom intrigues with
Egypt and withholds the annual tribute to
Assyria, it conquers Israel in 721 b. a, deport
ing to Assyria many of the inhabitants, and
the Northern Kingdom becomes a province of
the Assyrian Empire. Judah in the eighth
century pays tribute to Assyria, which in that
same century ravages the cities of Judah,
blockades Jerusalem, and imposes on the coun
try a heavy tribute but fails to take Jerusalem.
For four years in the seventh century Judah
is a province of the Egyptian Empire, but
after that the king of Judah submits to the
king of the New Babylonian Empire. In 597
b. c. the king of Judah surrenders to the Baby
lonian army besieging Jerusalem, and is taken
captive to Babylonia with ten thousand men
and their families and slaves. A few years
later, when the last king of Judah, relying
upon Egyptian help, revolts from Babylonia,
Jerusalem is besieged by the Babylonians, and
in 586 taken, its buildings plundered and
burned, the walls of the city broken down, and

26 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
thousands of Jews are taken to Babylonia. In
538 Cyrus takes the city of Babylon, the
Babylonian Empire comes to an end and is fol
lowed by the Persian Empire. Cyrus gives
permission to the Jewish exiles to return from
Babylonia to Palestine and for two centuries
the Jewish community in Palestine forms a
Persian province. With this the history in
the Old Testament ends. After the Persian
period comes the Greek period, then the Mac-
cabean period, and in 63 b. c. Palestine be
comes part of the Roman province of Syria.
In 70 a. d. Jerusalem is destroyed by the
Romans. What is the greatness of the Hebrew peo
ple? From the history in the Old Testament
we see that the great majority of the kings in
both of the Hebrew Kingdoms were selfish
and oppressive — men not interested in good
government, in justice and righteousness. The
greatest characters in the Old Testament are
not as a rule the kings but the prophets and
those who are inspired by prophetic ideals.
We think especially of Moses, David, Samuel,
Elijah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah,
Hezekiah, Josiah, Daniel, and Nehemiah.
The Greeks gave to us painting, sculpture,

OLD TESTAMENT HISTOEY

27

and architecture, philosophy and literature.
The Romans contributed centralized govern
ment with law and political institutions. The
service of the Hebrews was the bestowal upon
mankind of a marvellous monotheistic re
ligion, and a religious literature, the most re
markable the world knows to-day.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IMPORTANT
DATES IN BIBLICAL HISTORY

B. C.
S2nd-21st centuries.

1292-1225.

1225-1215.

About 1220.
About 1200-1190.
About 1190-1050.
About 1050-1010.
About 1010-970.
About 970-933.
About 933.

Hammurabi of the first dynasty
of Babylon. Oldest known
code of laws.
Ramses II, Pharaoh of the Op
pression.
Merneptah, Pharaoh of the
Exodus. The " Israel " In
scription of Merneptah, the
earliest mention of Israel
outside the Bible.
The exodus of the Israelites
from Egypt.
Conquest of Canaan or Pales
tine by the Israelites.
The Judges or Deliverers.
Samuel and Saul.
David, king of Judah, and of
the United Kingdom.
Solomon, king of the United
Kingdom.
Division of the United King
dom. Rehoboam of Judah
or the Southern Kingdom.
Jeroboam I of Israel or the
Northern Kingdom.

28 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
Ninth century. The Inscription of Mesha, or
the Moabite Stone. Mesha,
king of Moab, mentions
" Omri, king of Israel."
854. Ahab of the Northern King
dom mentioned by Shalma-
neser III, king of Assyria.
842. Jehu of the Northern Kingdom
pays tribute to Shalmaneser
III. Black Obelisk of Shal
maneser III.
738. Menahem of the Northern
Kingdom pays tribute to
Tiglath-pileser IV, king of
Assyria, 2 Kings 15I8f.
735. Syro-Ephraimitic War (Inva
sion of Judah by the armies
of Northern Kingdom and
Syria), 2 Kings 16 , Isa. 7.
734. North and east tribes of the
Northern Kingdom deported
by Tiglath-pileser IV, 2
Kings 15!".
732. Damascus taken by Tiglath-
pileser IV, 2 Kings 16°.
722-721. Fall of Samaria and end of the
Northern Kingdom, 2 Kings
17, Northern Kingdom be
comes a province of the
Assyrian Empire.
701. Invasion of Judah by Sen
nacherib, king of Assyria, 2
Kings 18-19.
625. Nabopolassar founds the New
Babylonian Empire.
621. Reformation of Josiah, king of
Judah, 2 Kings 23.

OLD TESTAMENT HISTOEY 29
608. Defeat at Megiddo in Palestine
of Josiah, king of Judah, by
Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, 2
Kings 2329. Judah becomes
a vassal state of Egypt.
607. Fall of Nineveh. End of the
Assyrian Empire.
604. Victory of Nebuchadrezzar
over Pharaoh Necho, Jer.
462. Palestine becomes a
Babylonian dependency.
Babylonia the world power.

597.

First deportation of captives
from Judah, including Jehoi-
achin, king of Judah, and
the prophet Ezekiel, to
Babylonia, 2 Kings 24Bff.
586. Fall of Jerusalem. Second de
portation of Jews to Baby
lonia, 2 Kings 254ff.
538. Conquest of Babylon by Cyrus.
End of the Babylonian
Empire and establishment of
the Persian Empire. Persia
the world power.
537. Return of the Jews from Baby
lonia to Palestine under
Zerubbabel, Ezra 1-2.
520-516. The building of the Second
Temple at Jerusalem, Ezra 6.
458. Return of the Jews with Ezra,
Ezra 7.
445. Nehemiah's first visit to Je
rusalem, Neh. I1, 2^.
444. Reading of the Book of the
Law at Jerusalem, Neh. 8.
432. Nehemiah's second visit to Je
rusalem, Neh. 13°f.

30 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
333. Conquest of the Persian Empire
by Alexander the Great. The
Greek period, 333-175 B. C.
175-63. The Maccabean period.
63. Palestine becomes a part of the
Roman province of Syria.
5 or 4 Birth of Jesus Christ.
A. D.
30 Crucifixion of Christ.
35 Conversion of Paul.
64 Death of Paul.
66-70 War of Jews against Rome.
70 Destruction of Jerusalem by
the Romans.

Ill
THE PROPHETS
PREEMINENT in the history of the
Hebrews are the prophets. They were
noble, heroic characters, practical men
of affairs, statesmen, religious leaders, re
formers, great preachers of individual and so
cial righteousness. They spoke for God.
Their work concerned past, present and fu
ture. They interpreted the events of history
and God's providence. They called men to
repentance. They proclaimed His mind and
purpose and prepared the way for their real
ization. We may read their wonderful and
powerful addresses in the Old Testament.
They spoke their message not in solitude, but
to groups of people, to audiences for the most
part interested in their words, however hostile
they might be to their message. Their voices
were heard in the great cities, at Bethel, at Sa
maria, at Jerusalem, before the crowds assem-
3*

32 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
bled on public occasions of fast or festival, in
the public squares, at the city gates, in the
temple courts. Practical men they were,
speaking to die need of Israel, knowing its sin
and also its possibilities for good. Fearless
souls they were, " full of power by the Spirit
of Jehovah, and of judgment, and of might,
to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to
Israel his sin." The Spirit gave them enthu
siasm for their mission, courage for their task,
a message for their age and principles of liv
ing for all time.
Each prophet used his own vocabulary, and
spoke in his own individual manner. Amos is
a shepherd and we expect him to draw many
of his illustrations from that life which he
knows so well. So he uses the comparison,
"As the shepherd rescueth out of the mouth
of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear."
There is not much left of a sheep when a lion
gets through with it, and only a very few of
those rich people of the Northern Kingdom
who are living in luxury will be saved from
the enemy when the Assyrian finishes his at
tack. Hosea, well acquainted with country
life, takes his illustrations from outdoor
scenes. He says that the idolatrous people of

THE PEOPHETS 33
the Northern Kingdom shall become nothing,
" as the morning cloud, and as the dew that
passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven
with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor,
and as the smoke out of the chimney."
Their methods are very interesting. Often
they desired to get if possible the assent of
their hearers to the principle that sin ought to
be punished. After David had taken Bath-
sheba from her husband Uriah, Nathan the
prophet comes to David, pretending to bring a
case to the king for judgment. He tells David
the story of the poor man who had nothing
except a little pet lamb. In the same city
there lived a rich man who, although he had
exceeding many flocks and herds, when a trav
eller came, did not take of his own sheep and
cattle for food for the wayfaring man but
took the poor man's lamb and prepared it.
David's anger is greatly kindled against the
rich man, and he says, " He is worthy to die:
and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because
he did this thing, and because he had no pity."
Then Nathan says to David, "Thou art the
man. You, too, like the rich man, hay^stoka^. ,
You have smitten Uriah with th£ sj^rdv/ah<R'}
have taken his wife to be your/wife." ~DSvid;

34 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
as Nathan desires, is convicted of sin and pro
fesses repentance. In the same manner Isaiah
in his parable of the vineyard tells his audience
about a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. The
owner dug about it, and cleared out its stones,
and planted it with the choicest vines. He
took the best care of it, and expected it to
yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless
ones. " O, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men
of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and
my vineyard. What could have been done
snore to my vineyard ? " Then comes the ap
plication. Isaiah interprets the parable.
" You are the vineyard of Jehovah. For the
vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of
Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant
plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold,
oppression: for righteousness, but, behold, a
cry." The vineyard will no longer be cared
for. Judah must be destroyed. This is Isa
iah's logical conclusion. Amos, at Bethel, in.
the Northern Kingdom, speaks first of the
judgment that will come upon the surround
ing nations. Syria, Philistia, Phoenicia,
Edom, Ammon, Moab, even their neighboui
on the south, Judah, will be punished for their
sins. Then he brings the accusation home.

THE PEOPHETS 35
If other countries are to be punished for the
wrong they have done, the Northern Kingdom
also will not be spared.
Sometimes the prophets taught through
symbolical actions. Ahijah lays hold of the
new garment upon him and tears it into twelve
pieces, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel,
and indicating that Jehovah is going to divide
the Kingdom of Solomon. Isaiah, in order to
announce the coming defeat of Egypt and
Ethiopia, walks half clothed and barefoot, like
a captive. Jeremiah wears on his neck a yoke,
symbolic of the Babylonian power.
The prophets often met ridicule, opposition
and persecution. Micaiah, because of his
prophecy, is put into prison by King Ahab.
Jezebel, Ahab's wife, threatens vengeance
upon Elijah and swears to take his life. The
chief priest at the temple of Bethel interrupts
the address of Amos and accuses him of being
a conspirator, saying that the Northern King
dom is not able to endure all his words. He
claims that the work of Amos is hostile as he
predicts that the nation will come to an end,
and the people go into captivity as punishment
for unrighteousness. He calls Amos in a
sneering tone a visionary, a dreamer, and tells

36 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
him to go to his own country, Judah, and there
prophesy, but not to speak any more at Bethel,
for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal resi
dence. But that is the very reason Amos is
there — to address the leaders of the nation at
the great national sanctuary, the principal re
ligious center of the Kingdom. Amos in a
fearless reply says, " I am not a prophet by
profession, nor a member of a prophetic guild.
Jehovah took me from following the flock,
and said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my peo
ple Israel. This Amaziah, a mere man, tells
me not to prophesy. But thus saith Jehovah,
Israel shall surely be led away captive out of
his land." Amos had indeed heard the divine
voice. " The Lord Jehovah hath spoken: who
can but prophesy? Unto His servants the
prophets, He reveals His secret purpose." At
Jerusalem some of Isaiah's hearers ask, "Why
does this man talk to us in this way ? Does he
think that we are children ? " And they mock
his teaching.
Jeremiah, when he had spoken of the ap
proaching fall of Jerusalem by the Babylo
nians and foretold disaster and judgment to
come upon Judah, is hated and despised as a
traitor, although he loves his country as an

THE PEOPHETS 37
ardent patriot. His enemies say that he is
working against the welfare of the people.
Jehoiakim, the king, throws the roll of his
prophecies into the fire, and burns it. Highly
sensitive, Jeremiah suffers deeply through per
secution, and on many occasions is in danger
of his life. At times he returns to his home
after prophesying and resolves in the future to
refrain from speaking in public. He thinks,
What is the use? The people do not believe
me. They do not want to hear about their
sins. They do not change their ways. But
the call of God comes with such power that I
have to prophesy. " If I say, I will not make
mention of him, nor speak any more in his
name, then there is in my heart as it were a
burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am
weary with forbearing." Naturally timid and
reluctant to speak, he became heroic because
of the strength which God gave him for his
difficult task.
The prophets encountered opposition also
from those who, acting from their own per
sonal advantage, proclaimed an easy religion
to please their hearers. Probably the indiffer
ence of the great majority of their audience
brought the greatest disappointment to the

38 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
prophets. Only a few responded to the words
of truth, and desired to live in the right way.
To many the words of the prophets, as in
Ezekiel's time, were " as a very lovely song of
one that hath a pleasant voice." They were
hearers and not doers of the word.
What are the things which the Christian
Church to-day speaks against? The oppres
sion of the poor by the rich, of the weak by
the strong, dishonesty, drunkenness^ immoral
ity, thoughtlessness, heartlessness, selfishness,
against every form of injustice and unright
eousness. These same things the prophets de
nounced. They recognized clearly and felt
deeply the sinfulness of sin and in their con
demnation of it were unsparing. They re
buked wrong in no uncertain language.
Amos speaks against the self-indulgent
women of the Northern Kingdom, calling
them " kine of Bashan," or well-fed cattle,
just as Isaiah denounces the frivolous and ex
travagant women of the capital city of Judah,
Jerusalem, with their luxurious dress. Amos
says to the women, "You oppress the poor,
crush the needy, and ask your husbands to
make money that you may enjoy yourselves."
It is as if he said, " You are responsible for

THE PEOPHETS 39
the misery of the poor even though you never
see them, do not know where they live, and
have nothing to do with them. You do not
ask at what cost your desires are gratified.
You ought to know how the money you spend
is made, and how the poor live, and what they
need from you. You must not enjoy the lux
uries secured by your husbands at the expense
of social injustice." He continues, " God is
surely going to punish you for your sins. He
will also punish the rich men, your husbands,
who are greedy and corrupt. Bribes are
taken and injustice prevails in the courts. The
holy name of God has been profaned by your
impurity. You men of the upper classes in
your palaces of hewn stone and inlaid ivory
have stored up money and possessions ac
quired through violence and robbery. The
many in the nation are ground down by pov
erty while the few have for their end in life
luxurious living and ease. You lie upon beds
of ivory, sprawl upon divans, eat the best of
food, drink to excess, anoint yourselves with
the choicest kinds of oil, but you do not con
cern yourselves with the condition of your
country and the approaching calamity which
threatens your nation. You are men who

40 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
have lost all sense of right and wrong. You
merchants sell adulterated goods, use short
weights and measures, and the Sabbath is an
unwelcome day because trade is suspended.
You are anxious that it be over that you may
be in your shops again to cheat your custom
ers. Religion, you think, has little or nothing
to do with business. My great ideal is that
there shall be justice in the land. Let jus
tice " — a great word in our century as in the
eighth century before Christ — " roll down as
waters, and righteousness as an ever-flowing
stream." Micah, prophesying in Jerusalem, says,
" You rich lie awake nights thinking up ways
of robbing the poor, and when the morning is
light, you carry out your plans because it is in
the power of your hands. Your excuse is,
Might makes right. You covet fields, and
seize them, and houses, and take them away,
and oppress a man and his home. The rich
devour the poor." In such vivid and scathing
language he portrays the treatment in his time
of the poor by the rich.
Isaiah speaks against those who are respon
sible for the welfare of the nation Judah.
"The spoil of the poor is in your houses:

THE PEOPHETS 41
What mean ye that ye crush my people, and
grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord,
Jehovah of hosts. Woe unto the wealthy
landowners who join house to house, and lay
field to field. Woe unto them that call evil
good, and good evil. Woe unto them that are
wise in their own eyes. Woe unto the
drunkards who do not care for spiritual
things, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and
condemn the innocent. Woe unto those who
do not believe that sin will be punished. The
princes of Jerusalem are companions of
thieves, every one loveth bribes, the fatherless
and widow do not receive justice in the
courts." Much of the religion in the time of the
prophets as in our own age was formal.
Amos tells his hearers that their sacrificial
ceremonialism is useless, and the religion of
the great majority mere outward, empty form.
He says, " Your religion leads you away from
God rather than to Him. Your sanctuaries
are crowded but your hearts are not sur
rendered. All kinds of offerings are brought
in abundance, but God despises your feasts
and does not accept your sacrifices. You pro
claim upon the housetop your gifts to religion,

42 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
but this pleases you, not Him. You hate the
prophets who reprove you for your sins, and
even command them to refrain from prophe
sying. You have no understanding of God's
workings through providence, no realization
of His voice in natural events. You do not
know the all-powerful, everywhere-present,
all-knowing ruler of the whole earth, who is
in all history, bringing not only the Israelites
out of Egypt, but also the Philistines from
Crete and the Syrians from Kir." Isaiah tells
the people of Jerusalem that their abundant
sacrifices at the Temple, their many festivals
and great crowds in the Temple courts, even
their many prayers do not please God while
their hearts are evil, and their conduct wrong.
They honoured God with their words, but
their heart was far from Him. Jeremiah de
nounces those in Judah who trust in the forms
of religion, who think that the mere presence
of the Temple in Jerusalem will save the city
and its people from disaster. " Will you steal
and murder, commit adultery, swear falsely,
and then stand before God in the Holy Tem
ple and say, We are delivered? Is this house,
God's Temple, become a den of robbers in
your eyes, a mere refuge from danger?"

THE PEOPHETS 43
Zechariah says that the fasts that had
arisen in the period of exile to commemorate
the calamities of Judah were mere ex
ternal observances and no part of true re
ligion. The need of sincere repentance was empha
sized by the prophets who told of God's love
and willingness to forgive. With their knowl
edge of God's nature and character they asked
for a right attitude toward Him and right re
lations between man and man. Amos asks his
hearers to hate the evil, love the good, and
establish justice, above all to seek Jehovah.
Isaiah pleads with his audience to cease to do
evil, and learn to do well, seek justice, relieve
the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for
the widow. " Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow ; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Micah answers in a wonderful way the ques
tion, Does God want primarily large and
costly gifts to religion? " He hath showed
thee, O man, what is good; and what doth
Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and
to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy
God? " These are the essentials, the very es
sence of religion. The demands are simple,

44 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
but as difficult to-day as in Micah's time, over
twenty-five centuries ago.
Jeremiah emphasized the necessity for a
thorough reformation in the life of the people
of Judah. They should execute justice be
tween a man and his neighbour, and not op
press the stranger, the fatherless, and the
widow, and not shed innocent blood. In his
great message of the New Covenant he speaks
of inwardness of religion, personal, direct,
universal knowledge of God, and forgiveness
of sin, three characteristics which will mark
the New Covenant. " I will put my law in
their inward parts, and in their heart I will
write it — they shall all know me, from the
least of them unto the greatest of them, saith
Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and
their sin will I remember no more." Christ is
thinking especially of the third characteristic,
forgiveness of sin, which makes possible the
other two, as He institutes the Lord's Supper:
" This cup is 'the new covenant in my blood."
The Saviour's life and death made possible in
wardness of religion, universal knowledge of
God, and forgiveness of sin, and religion be
came through Him spiritual, principles gov
erning life. God is spirit, and they that wor-

THE PEOPHETS 45
ship Him must worship Him in spirit, sin
cerely, and in truth, with the right conception
of His nature.
Hosea shows that the nature of Jehovah as
revealed through Israel's history is love, and
he employs three figures to suggest how great
is this love, the love of husband and wife, the
love of parent and child, and the regard of the
humane driver for his animals. The husband
loves his wife even when unfaithful, and for
gives her. The father teaches his son to walk,
taking him up in his arms, and caring for his
bruises when he falls and hurts himself. The
driver out of kindness lifts up the yoke on the
jaws of the oxen to ease the strain, and puts
food before them. God's love is the love of
the father for the lost son, the Prodigal, that
Christ tells us about, a love for sinners and
willingness to forgive, love that will not let
the sinner go, infinite love. A woman may
forget the child at her breast, she may not
have compassion on her own son, yet God will
not forget Israel, is the word of one of the
prophets. His love is an all-embracing love
which includes all men, not only Israel, but
Israel's enemies. In the Book of Jonah we
have a broad view of this love. God cares for

46 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, even for the
innocent children, and the animals there.
Hosea says that there is no truth nor goodness
in the Northern Kingdom because there is no
knowledge of God. God desires goodness
and kindness, not sacrifice, and a knowledge
of Himself more than burnt-offerings. This
is not a theoretical knowledge but practical
knowledge, expressing itself in right living, a
knowing and doing of the will of God. Jo-
siah, the king of Judah, Jeremiah said, truly
knew God, for he judged the cause of the poor
and needy. " Was not this to know me? saith
Jehovah." God delights in love, love for
Himself, and love of man for his fellow-man.
The prophets' visions were of a new Israel
in a new age when there would be no more sin.
Looking forward they sought to usher in an
era of righteousness and justice and holiness,
of brotherly love and lasting peace and happi
ness when each individual would love Jehovah
with all his heart and soul and might, and Je
hovah would be Israel's God and Israel His
people. Many prophecies are filled with the
hope of the establishment of God's kingdom
upon earth, an ideal society ruled by a perfect
king. " The earth shall be full of the knowl-

THE PEOPHETS 47
edge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. —
The work of righteousness shall be peace ; and
the effect of righteousness quietness and con
fidence forever: — The Spirit of Jehovah shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under
standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah."
The prophets were evangelists, bearers of
good news, as they declared from age to age
God's purpose and announced the glad tidings
of His power to save. Their evangelism was
a preparation for the Good News of a later
time when God sent His Son to reveal more
fully His character. Jesus was the Christ,
the Messiah, the anointed one, the ideal king
establishing a spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom
of God, " the rule of God in human hearts and
lives," a universal kingdom for all people
united to serve. Christ was the suffering
servant, wounded and bruised for the trans
gressions and iniquities of mankind. He was
the greatest of the prophets as He preached
good tidings to the poor, proclaimed release
to the captives, recovering of sight to the
blind, and the setting at liberty them that are
bruised. He came not to destroy the law or
the prophets but to fulfil. Through Him the

48 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
prophecies of the Old Testament were filled
with new and deeper significance and larger
and more wonderful meaning.
THE PROPHETS
A. The Pre-Exilic Period, Before 586 B. c.
The Fall of Jerusalem.
Ewjah and Eusha. Prophesied in the Northern King
dom in the ninth century b. c.
Jonah. Prophesied in the Northern Kingdom in the
eighth century.
Amos. Prophesied in the Northern Kingdom in the
eighth century. Home in the Southern Kingdom.
Hosea. Prophesied in the Northern Kingdom in the
eighth century. Home in the Northern Kingdom.
Isaiah. Prophesied in the Southern Kingdom from
740 b. c. to 701 or possibly a little later.
Micah. Prophesied in the Southern Kingdom from
about 724 b. c.
Zephaniah. Prophesied in the Southern Kingdom
before the reformation of Josiah, king of Judah, 621
b. c.
Nahum. Prophesied in the Southern Kingdom before
the fall of Nineveh, 607 B. C, and end of the Assyrian
Empire.
Habakkuk. Prophesied in the Southern Kingdom
shortly before 600 b. C.
Jeremiah. Prophesied in the Southern Kingdom from
626 b. c. until after the fall of Jerusalem.
B. The Exilic, 586-537 e. c. and Post-Exilic
Period, After 537 B. c.
Daniei,. Prophesied in Babylon in the time of the exile.
Obadiah. Prophesied in the time of the exile or about
500 b. c.

THE PEOPHETS 49
Ezekiei,. Prophesied in Babylonia from 592 to 570 b. c
Haggai. Prophesied in Jerusalem in 520 b. c.
Zechariah. Prophesied in Jerusalem from 520 to 518
b. C.
Malachi. Prophesied in Jerusalem about 460 b. c.
JoEi* Prophesied in Jerusalem, probably about 400 b. c

IV
THE OLD TESTAMENT AS LITERA
TURE
RANKING with the other great litera
tures of the world is the Hebrew
literature found in the Old Testa
ment. Its beauty of form is no less wonder
ful than its religious truth.
In it we find exquisite love stories. Abra
ham sends his chief servant from Palestine to
Mesopotamia to get a wife for his son Isaac,
and the servant starts off with ten camels
loaded with presents for the prospective bride,
and the " purchase-money " to be paid to her
relatives. Rebekah appears at the time of
evening with a pitcher upon her shoulder to
draw water at the well outside her city. She
generously gives a drink not only to the trav
eller, but also draws water for all his camels,
and is rewarded with valuable gifts. The
servant accompanies her to her home, where
before partaking of food he tells his errand,
So

OLD TESTAMENT AS LITEEATUEE 51
and then brings forward jewels of silver and
gold and raiment and gives them to Rebekah,
and gives also to her brother and mother
" precious things " or the purchase-money of
the bride. Rebekah accompanies him to Pal
estine and becomes Isaac's wife. " He loved
her": and "was comforted after his mother's
death." Jacob serves seven years for his wife
Rachel, and the time " seemed unto him but a
few days, for the love he had to her." The
story of Ruth the Moabitess, who leaves her
land to follow her mother-in-law Naomi back
to Bethlehem in Judah, is, in the words of Dr.
J. E. McFadyen, " a wonderful prose poem,
sweet, artless, and persuasive — fresh with the
scent of the harvest fields. The love —
stronger than country — of Ruth for Naomi,
the gracious figure of Boaz as he moves about
the fields with a word of blessing for the
reapers, the innocent scheming of Naomi to
secure him as a husband for Ruth — these and
a score of similar touches establish the book
forever in the heart of all who love nobility
and romance." Ruth is loyal to Naomi, and
says, " Whither thou goest, I will go ; and
where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my God."

52 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
There is also humour, sarcasm, and irony.
Elijah taunts the followers of Baal at Mount
Carmel who have been praying all morning to
their god. " You must cry aloud if you want
Baal to hear you. Either he is meditating or
he has gone off on a journey, or peradventure
he is asleep and needs to be awakened." Job
says to his three friends who are " miserable
comforters " and " physicians of no value,"
" No doubt but ye are the people,
And wisdom shall die with you,
But I have understanding as well
as you."
Abimelech, Gideon's son, after having mur
dered all his brothers but one, Jotham, who
escaped by hiding, has been made king of
Shechem, a city north of Jerusalem. Jotham
tells a fable to show what a worthless fellow
his brother is. "The trees went forth on a
time to anoint a king over them ; and they said
unto the olive-tree, Reign thou over us. But
the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave
my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God
and man and go to wave to and fro over the
trees? And the trees said to the fig-tree,
Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig-

OLD TESTAMENT AS LITEEATUEE 53
tree said, Should I leave my sweetness, and
my good fruit? — And the trees said unto the
vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the
vine said, Should I leave my new wine which
cheereth God and man? — Then said all the
trees unto the bramble, the useless thorn:
Come thou, and reign over us. And the
bramble consents to be their king." Jehoash,
king of the Northern Kingdom, sends a fable
to Amaziah, king of Judah. " The thistle
that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was
in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my
son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast
that was in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle.
You have indeed defeated Edom, and are
elated over it. Glory over that, and stay at
home. Why should you provoke calamity, that
you should fall, even you, and Judah with
you?" In the Book of Proverbs there are
numerous humorous sayings.
" It is bad, it is bad, saith the buyer ;
But when he is gone his way, then he boasteth."
"It is better to dwell in the corner of the
housetop,
Than with a contentious woman in a wide
house."

54 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
" As the door turneth upon its hinges,
So doth the sluggard upon his bed,
The sluggard burieth his hand in the dish ;
It wearieth him to bring it again to his mouth.
The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit
Than seven men that can render a reason."
" Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep :
So shall thy poverty come, as a robber,
And thy want as an armed man."
There are wonderful prose stories, too.
One thinks of the majestic story of Creation.
" In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth, — and God said, Let there be
light; and there was light." How dramatic
are the stories of Joseph and his brethren, and
of Queen Esther, of Jephthah's vow and sac
rifice of the daughter whom he loved, of Sen
nacherib's siege of Jerusalem and the destruc
tion of the Assyrian army by pestilence. How
beautiful is the story of David and the well of
Bethlehem. The Philistines are in that city,
and David near by. He longs for a drink from
the well of Bethlehem with which he has been
so familiar from his boyhood days. Three of
his heroes, loyal to him, break through the
Philistine host and bring him some water.

OLD TESTAMENT AS LITEEATUEE 55
But he will not drink it. The men have risked
their lives to get it, and so he pours the pre
cious liquid out to Jehovah as an offering.
There is much wonderful poetry. Poems
are found in many of the Old Testament
Books, and the Book of Job (except the be
ginning and end), Psalms, Proverbs, The
Song of Solomon, and Lamentations are en
tirely poetical. One of the great poems is
Deborah's Song. In this battle-ode there is a
detailed description of the muster of the He
brew tribes, six uniting against their enemy,
the Canaanites.
" For that the leaders took the lead in Israel,
For that the people offered themselves will
ingly,
Bless ye Jehovah."
The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Dan, and Asher
failed to come, and are reproached for their
absence from the battle, but
" Zebulon was a people that jeoparded their
lives unto the death,
And Naphtali, upon the high places of the
field."
The Canaanite kings fought but made no
gain of money.

56 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
" From heaven fought the stars,
From their courses they fought against
Sisera."
Jael has slain Sisera, but his mother does not
know of it yet.
" Through the window she looked forth, and
cried,
The mother of Sisera cried through the
lattice,
Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the wheels of his chariot?
Her wise ladies answered her,
Yea, she returned answer to herself."
She does not wait for an answer for she
thinks that the dividing of the booty is the
cause of the delay. The poem ends:
" So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah ;
But let them that love him be as the sun
when he goeth forth in his might."
David in the exquisite poem, the lament over
Saul his enemy in the past and Jonathan his
friend speaks of the great loss Israel has suf
fered in the death of these two men.
" Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high
places !
How are the mighty fallen ! "

OLD TESTAMENT AS LITEEATUEE 67
He tells of his personal grief in the loss of the
one he loved so much.
"I am distressed for thee, my brother
Jonathan :
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me :
Thy love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women."
The Book of Job is one of the great master
pieces of the world. Carlyle said, " There is
nothing written, I think, in the Bible or out
of it, of equal literary merit." Tennyson
pronounces it " the greatest poem whether of
ancient or modern times." The theme of the
Book is, Why do the righteous suffer, and
this broadens into a discussion of the problem
of suffering. Both in thought and language
the poetry of the Book is wonderful. There is
humour and pathos, abundant figurative lan
guage, superb descriptions, an extraordinary
combination of beauty of form with depth of
thought. The Old Testament is a library in poetry
and prose. It has love stories and humour,
narrative and addresses, songs and psalms,
prophecies and proverbs and wisdom, history
and law. It is far more than literature. But

58 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
it is a great Book of marvellous literature and
contains literary treasures that will never per
ish.

CLASSIFICATION OF OLD TESTAMENT
LITERATURE. THIRTY-NINE BOOKS.
A. Historical Books. Seventeen.
I. The Pentateuch. The first five Books, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Four
of these Books, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy, contain laws.
2. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I and II Samuel, I and
II Kings, I and II Chronicles, Ez.-a, Nehemiah,
Esther. Twelve Books.
B. Poetical Books. Six.
i. Job (The dialogue is poetical, not the intro
duction nor conclusion of Book), Psalms, Prov
erbs, Ecclesiastes (partly poetical), Song of
Solomon, and Lamentations.
Of these, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, belong to
the Wisdom Literature.
Psalms, Song of Solomon, and Lamentations are
lyrical.
C. Prophetical Books. Sixteen.
i. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Four Books.
2. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zech
ariah, Malachi. Twelve Books. Called the
" Minor Prophets," because of their brevity in
comparison with the larger Books of Isaiah, Jere
miah, and Ezekiel.

V
THE OLD TESTAMENT AND
ARCHAEOLOGY
THE life of many centuries ago is
made very real and full of interest
by the excavations and discoveries
made in Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria, and
Palestine, and a great light is thrown upon the
Old Testament.
At the beginning of the last century, the
nineteenth, no word of the inscriptions of
Egypt or of Assyria-Babylonia could be read.
Practically all that was known then of these
countries was found in classical writers and
in the Old Testament. To-day the discoveries
constantly being made give such a wealth of
material that book after book is written on
this subject. The story of the decipherment
of the hieroglyphics or picture-writing of the
ancient Egyptians and of the cuneiform or
wedge-shaped writing of Assyria-Babylonia is
a wonderful romance in itself. The Rosetta
Stone found in Egypt in 1799 a. d. was the
59

60 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
key to the Egyptian language. On it was an
inscription in three languages, one being in
Greek which could be easily read, and the
other two proving to be different forms of the
Egyptian. Jean Francois Champollion, a
French scholar, when only eleven years old de
cided to 'devote his energies to decipher the
unknown language. He studied extensively
history and languages, and succeeded in read
ing the long-forgotten writing, publishing in
1822 when thirty-two years old his reading of
the Stone. Before his death ten years later he
had translated many Egyptian texts. The key
to the Assyrian-Babylonian language was a
great inscription in three languages, about
twelve feet high, carved on the face of the rock
some five hundred feet above the plain at
Behistun in Persia. An English army officer,
Henry C. Rawlinson, in 1835 first climbed
with great difficulty and at the risk of his life
the cliff and copied and deciphered the inscrip
tion. One of the most remarkable discoveries of
archaeology is the Code of Hammurabi who
reigned in Babylonia in the twenty-second cen
tury E. c, about nine hundred years before the
time of Moses. This, the oldest code of laws

OLD TESTAMENT AND AECH^OLOGY 61
known to us to-day, was discovered in 1901-02
a. d. at the site of the ancient Persian capital,
Susa. Two hundred and forty-eight separate
laws are preserved, all civil or criminal. In
some instances the laws are similar to or prac
tically identical with the laws in the Book of
Exodus, Chapters 20-23, and elsewhere in the
Pentateuch. This is to be expected, for the
Hebrews like the Babylonians were a Semitic
people. The Code shows a highly developed
civilization in Babylonia four thousand years
ago. Two interesting laws have to do with
the physician and the builder. Fees are fixed
for certain operations by the physician and
penalties for unskilful treatment. If the pa
tient dies or loses his eyesight, the doctor's
hand is cut off. If a slave dies as the result
of the doctor's treatment, the physician must
give another slave to the owner. Builders
were responsible for good work. If a house
falls and kills the owner, the builder is put to
death. If the son of the owner is killed, then
the son of the builder is put to death. If a
slave is killed, the builder shall give another
to the owner. Any damage by defective work
is to be made good by the builder.
The mummy of Ramses II, the Pharaoh

62 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
who oppressed the Israelites in Egypt in the
thirteenth century b. c, and the mummy of his
son and successor, Merneptah, the Pharaoh of
the Exodus, are to-day in a museum in Cairo,
Egypt. Excavation of the city of Pithom in
the northeast of the Egyptian Delta, built by
the Israelites in the time of Moses, showed
that it was founded in the reign of Ramses II.
The rooms of some of the buildings were rec
tangular, with walls from six to nine feet
thick made of two kinds of brick, with and
without straw. The rooms did not communi
cate with one another, but were open only at
the top, and were filled from above with grain.
These buildings were used as granaries to sup
ply provisions to Egyptian armies on the way
to Asia, and as a fortress to protect the ex
posed eastern frontier of Egypt. Merneptah's
inscription of the thirteenth century b. c,
found in 1896 a. d., contains the earliest men
tion of Israel occurring on any inscription
found thus far. Nearly four hundred years
later, in the ninth century b. c, Shalmaneser
III, king of Assyria, mentions Ahab, king of
the Northern Kingdom. The Assyrian in
scriptions tell us much about the end of the
Northern Kingdom and about the invasion of

OLD TESTAMENT AND AECH^EOLOGY 63
Judah by Sennacherib, both in the eighth cen
tury b. c, but the Babylonian inscriptions do
not mention the events that led to the fall of
the Southern Kingdom in the sixth century
B. c, nor do they tell us about the life of the
Jews during the period of exile in Babylonia
in that same century. Certain kings are men
tioned in the Assyrian inscriptions, Omri,
Ahab, Jehu, Menahem, Pekah and Hoshea of
the Northern Kingdom, and Ahaz, Hezekiah,
and Manasseh of Judah. Sennacherib, king
of Assyria, tells us that he shut up King
Hezekiah " like a caged bird in Jerusalem, his
capital city." Papyri found in Egypt tell us
of a Jewish community there in the fifth cen
tury b. c.
The remains of the palaces of Omri and
Ahab at their capital city Samaria in the
Northern Kingdom were discovered a few
years ago, in 1909-10. In Ahab's palace the
excavators found an alabaster vase inscribed
with the name of the king of Egypt who was a
contemporary of King Ahab. An interesting
discovery at Jerusalem in 1880 A. d. was the
Siloam Inscription inscribed on a rock in the
entrance of a tunnel which King Hezekiah of
Judah in the eighth century B. c. had cut

64 MAKING THE BD3LE EEAL
through the solid rock. The tunnel is nearly ia
third of a mile in length, and about six feet in
height, and goes from the Virgin's Spring
which lies outside the eastern wall of Jeru
salem to the Pool of Siloam. This brought the
water in Hezekiah's time within the city walls,
depriving the enemy invader of its use, and se
curing the water supply for the inhabitants
during a siege. The inscription tells how the
workmen began boring at each end, and met in
the middle. Just before meeting and while still
about five feet distant from each other, the
rock broke into a fissure so they could hear
each other's voices. How delighted they must
have been to know that their work was prac
tically completed !
Some of the cities which have been exca
vated in Palestine are Jerusalem, Jericho,
Gezer, Samaria, Bethshemesh, Lachish, Taa-
nach, and Megiddo. Two of the most inter
esting places are Lachish and Gezer. Lachish,
southwest of Jerusalem, has been called a
" Mound of Many Cities," because the mound
contained in its sixty-five feet of accumulated
debris the remains of eight different cities,
one above the other, ranging from about 1700
B. c, the lowest city, to about 350 b. c, the

OLD TESTAMENT AND AECH^OLOGY 65
city at the top, after which the site was de
serted. The age of each city was determined
by pottery, lamps, objects of stone, bronze,
iron, and in one city a small Assyrian cunei
form tablet. The Canaanites were the first in
habitants of Lachish. They entered Palestine
about 2500 B. c. and like the Hebrews were
immigrants into Palestine. One city was the
one taken by Joshua about 1200 b. c, while
another city, nearer the top of the mound, was
the one besieged and captured by Sennacherib,
king of Assyria, in 701 b. c.
The buildings of Lachish were constructed
of sun-dried bricks, blocks of clay or mud held
together by chopped straw. The first city
stood on a natural hill fifty to sixty feet above
the bed of a neighbouring stream. This city
was abandoned — perhaps the water supply
failed, or there was war, pillage, fire, famine
or pestilence. The mud houses then fell into
ruins and as the streets and open spaces were
filled with the remains of the fallen walls and
roofs, the debris raised the level of the ground
several feet higher than the old level. A sec
ond city was then built on the site of the for
mer city, in most cases without rock founda
tions, and it naturally stood some feet above

66 MAKING THE BLBLE EEAL
the original city. As refuse from the houses
was thrown out into the streets, this also
gradually raised the level. The objects left
in the ruins of one city were thus completely
buried by the buildings of another city. This
happened again and again until eight cities
were found.
As one city is uncovered by the excavators,
and before the next is excavated, the
remains of houses and other buildings are
measured, plans are drawn, photographs
taken, and the various objects in it are tabu
lated. Every basket of debris is carefully ex
amined before the dirt is carried away, to see
if there are any objects worth preserving.
Sometimes a small gratuity is given to the
native workers for all objects found and
worth preserving. This " bakhshish " is di
vided equally among the gangs (a group of
about fourteen people, consisting in some cases
of two pickmen, three hoemen, and nine with
baskets) in whose pit the object is found, so
that each member watches the other, and this
prevents pilfering of objects for private trad
ing. To increase mutual vigilance those asso
ciated in one gang are sometimes taken from
different villages.

OLD TESTAMENT AND AECH^OLOGY 67
The oldest city at Gezer, northwest of Jeru
salem, belonged to the pre-Semitic period,
3000-2500 b. c. and was occupied by a non-
Semitic people who dwelt usually in caves,
were short-statured, about five feet and a half,
and whose implements were of stone. About
2500 b. c. a Semitic race took possession of
the city. The inhabitants of the last city at
the top of the mound probably deserted it in
the second century b. c. A palace of the Mac-
cabean period, second century b. c, was dis
covered. Here was found a fragment of
building stone upon which in Greek characters
was a curse by some Syrian, " May fire pursue
Simon's palace." This was a reference to
Simon the Maccabee.
Many sites in Palestine and elsewhere re
main to be excavated. Some of them are
mounds which to the eyes of many travellers
seem to be only natural hills. A trial pit by
the excavator tells whether there is a city un
derneath to be dug out. In the future won
derful discoveries will be made by the archae
ologist and new light will thus be thrown
upon the Bible.

VI
CHRIST AND THE PHARISEES
WHEN we contrast the religion of
Christ, the religion of the spirit,
with the religion of the Pharisees,
the religion of the letter, we realize how won
derful Christianity is. The former is an inner,
spiritual religion, the latter an outward, for
mal religion.
The Pharisees were legalists, who believed
not only that the written law of the Old Testa
ment was binding, but also the oral law, " the
tradition of the elders," a mass of minute de
cisions about the Old Testament law, devel
oped and handed down by the scribes. The
scribe was generally a highly educated Phari
see, called in the New Testament a lawyer, a
doctor of the law, a teacher of the law, and
addressed as Rabbi, or "my master." The
scribes and Pharisees gave to themselves the
name " associates " and formed an inner circle
of some six thousand Jews who sought to ob-
69

70 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
serve strictly the written and unwritten law.
The other Jews looked up to them, considering
them the religious leaders and model Israel
ites, but they, on the other hand, avoided as
far as possible association with the uneducated
masses, the common people, and despised
them, showing their contempt by saying that
the multitude ignorant of the written law and
oral tradition were accursed. Against this
class, the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus spoke
His severest message of condemnation.
A lawyer asked Christ, " What shall I do
to inherit eternal life? " Jesus said unto him,
" What is written in the law? " He in answer
said, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and
thy neighbour as thyself." Jesus said unto
him, " Thou hast answered right: This do,
and thou shalt live." Love to God the Father
and love to fellow-man who is a brother — this
to Jesus was the essence of religion. But the
lawyer said to Jesus, " And who is my neigh
bour ? " Neighbour to a scribe and Pharisee
meant theoretically a fellow-Jew — practically
it meant one of their own set — another scribe
or Pharisee. Christ gave a far wider mean-

CHEIST AND THE PHARISEES 71
ing to the word "neighbour." He told the
parable of the Good Samaritan to make clear
what it is to be a neighbour — to give help
wherever and whenever needed. A neighbour
is one whom we can help.
Because of the exclusiveness of the scribes
and Pharisees they found fault with the Mas
ter when He associated with publicans or tax-
gatherers, and sinners, entering into their
houses and dining with them. When Jesus
ate with Matthew the publican, and many pub
licans and sinners sat down with Jesus and
His disciples, the Pharisees criticized Him,
saying to His disciples, " Why eateth your
Teacher with the publicans and sinners ? "
Jesus said, " They that are whole have no need
of a physician, but they that are sick. But go
ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire
mercy, and not sacrifice: for I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners." He meant, If
I am a spiritual physician, I must go to those
who need me. But Christ spoke in irony of
the scribes and Pharisees as " righteous."
In many cases they were more sinful than
those outside their number whom they classed
as " sinners."
One of the best examples of the oral law is

72 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
the Sabbath. In the Old Testament law there
is only a brief prohibition of work on the Sab
bath Day. The rabbis therefore defined what
work was forbidden, enumerating thirty-nine
kinds of work that were prohibited. When
the hungry disciples gathered a few ears of
grain on the Sabbath, the Pharisees said that
they were breaking the Sabbath. The taking
of grain in this way was not a theft but was
permitted according to a law in the Book of
Deuteronomy, but two of the thirty-nine laws
forbade on the Sabbath reaping, taking the
ears in the hand, and threshing, rubbing out
the grain. Jesus in answer said, " The sab
bath was made for man, and not man for the
sabbath." In this great principle He implied
that every institution, Sabbath, Church,
School, Government, was for man's benefit.
He came to bring abundant life, and every in
stitution, should be a means to that full, com
plete life in which the highest possibilities of
the socialized individual can be realized. The
enmity of the Pharisees showed itself against
the healing of Christ on the Sabbath. Medical
assistance on that day was allowed only if life
were in danger. Christ healed a man with a
withered hand on the Sabbath, and the Phari-

CHEIST AND THE PHAEISEES 73
sees thought that He could have waited till
another day. In reply Jesus said, " Is it law
ful on the sabbath day to do good, or to do
harm? To save a life, or to kill? But they
held their peace." They could not say it was
lawful to do harm, and they did not wish to
say that it was lawful to do good. " Jesus
looked round about on them with anger, being
grieved at the hardening of their heart."
Legalism led to casuistry. For example the
letter of the Sabbath law was kept, and its
spirit violated. The rabbis decreed that if a
beast fell into a pit on the Sabbath, the owner
could determine whether it had suffered in
jury. If not, he could supply it with bedding
and food and let it remain till the Sabbath was
over. If it had, it must be taken out and
killed. So they took out the beast, saying that
they intended to kill it, but they did not do so.
" What man shall there be of you, that shall
have one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on
the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it,
and lift it out? How much then is a man of
more value than a sheep! Wherefore it is
lawful to do good on the sabbath day."
Carrying an object from one dwelling to an
other on the Sabbath was forbidden. But peo-

74 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
pie would deposit food in a certain place the
day before the Sabbath, and a whole area with
all the dwellings in it would be called one
house. Then the inhabitants would carry in
and out within this " one dwelling," pretend
ing to keep the law. On the Sabbath a jour
ney of more than two thousand cubits or
nearly a mile from one's dwelling or the place
where one happened to be when the Sabbath
began was forbidden. But if one was on the
road when the Sabbath began and saw at the
distance of a mile a tree or wall, he might de
clare that to be his Sabbath abode, and then
go not only a mile to the tree or wall but also
a mile farther than it.
The scribes and Pharisees broke their
promises and justified themselves. Some
oaths were considered binding and some not
binding. If one swears by the Temple at
Jerusalem, it is not binding, but if by the gold
of the Temple it is binding. If by the altar it
is not binding but if by the offering upon the
altar, it is binding. If by Jerusalem the oath
is not binding unless one looks toward that
city as the oath is taken. Jesus said, " Let
your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay." One's
word should be as good as his bond.

CHEIST AND THE PHAEISEES 75
Christ said of the scribes and Pharisees that
" all their works they do to be seen of men."
Glorification was their motive. They were
hypocrites, insincere, and religion a pretense
and a mask. When they gave alms, they
sounded a trumpet before them in the syna
gogues and in the streets, that they might have
glory of men. " Verily I say unto you, They
have received their reward." They wanted
the praise of men and received it. When they
fasted, they desired to be seen of men. When
they prayed, they loved to stand in the syna
gogues, and in the corners of the streets, that
others might observe them. They devoured
widow's houses, and for a pretense made long
prayers. Jesus told the parable of the Phari
see and the Publican to show what true prayer
was. " Two men went up into the temple to
pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a pub
lican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus
with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am
not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast
twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I
get. But the publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be

76 MAKING THE BD3LE EEAL
thou merciful to me a sinner. I say unto you,
This man went down to his house justified
rather than the other: for every one that ex-
alteth himself shall be humbled; but he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted."
The scribes and Pharisees neglected the es
sential things of true religion. " Ye tithe
mint and anise and cummin, and have left un
done the weightier matters of the law, justice,
and mercy, and faith. — Ye blind guides, that
strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel."
We understand why the Master called them
" whited sepulchres " — outwardly appearing
righteous unto men, but inwardly full of hy
pocrisy and iniquity, with the same spirit of
those who in the past put to death the proph
ets. "Ye cleanse the outside of the cup and
of the platter, but within they are full from
extortion and excess."
The righteousness of those who enter into
the Kingdom of God must be a different kind
from the legal righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. It must be a real inward
righteousness of heart and motive, expressing
itself in right conduct. It consists of helpful
service to mankind, of justice, of compassion,
of the forgiving spirit, of love for all, even

CHEIST AND THE PHAEISEES 77
one's enemies. The ideal of the child of God
is to be perfect, complete in love, even as the
heavenly Father is perfect. " If any man
would be first, he shall be last of all, and serv
ant of all. — For I was hungry, and ye gave me
to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink;
I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked,
and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited
me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. —
Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my
brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me."
The righteousness of the Christian consists of
a character and life that is Christlike. " This
is my commandment, that ye love one another,
even as I have loved you."

VII
PAUL THE MAN
THE Apostle Paul was born in Asia
Minor at Tarsus in Cilicia, at the
eastern end of the Mediterranean
Sea, and some five hundred miles northwest of
Jerusalem. He was of the tribe of Benja
min, and was given the name of Saul, the
name of the first king of Israel who was also
of that same tribe. His Roman name was
Paul, so that he was Saul to his fellow-Jews
and Paul to the Romans and Greeks. An
other Hebrew-Roman name similar to Saul-
Paul is the name of John-Mark, the author
of the second Gospel. From his father Paul
inherited the rights of Roman citizenship
which few Jews possessed. This gave him the
privilege of trial by Roman courts, freedom
from the punishments of scourging and cruci
fixion, and the right of appeal to the emperor
at Rome. 79

80 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
Tarsus was a busy commercial city on a nav
igable river twelve miles from the Mediterra
nean, and Paul was proud to be a native of it,
" a citizen of no mean city." Unlike Jesus who
drew His illustrations largely from outdoor
life, Paul's figurative language is taken espe
cially from the life of a large city, illustrations
drawn from athletics, army, slavery, and law
courts: " Every man that striveth in the games
exerciseth self-control in all things. — Put on
the whole armour of God." " Redemption "
is the slave obtaining freedom — " Justifica
tion " is the accused person being acquitted.
Like every Jewish boy in his time Paul went
when about six years old to the synagogue
school at Tarsus, where with the Old Testa
ment as the text-book, he learned reading,
some writing and arithmetic. A Pharisee by
birth, " a son of Pharisees," and by belief, he
went when about fifteen years old to Jeru
salem, and began his studies to be a rabbi or
teacher of the law. He may have been there
ten or more years. Gamaliel was his teacher
and we can think of Paul in the Temple
courts, sitting with other students on the floor
in a half circle facing the teacher who sat on
a slightly elevated seat. Tarsus was an im-

PAUL THE MAN 81
portant University city, one of three in the
Mediterranean world, the other two being at
Athens in Greece and Alexandria in Egypt.
While Paul probably did not attend this Uni
versity, its presence in his home town must
have given him a greater knowledge of Greek
culture and thought than the average Jew in
his day had. A few quotations from Greek
authors are found in his addresses.
It was the duty of a Jewish father to teach
his son a trade, and Paul learned how to make
cloth from goats' hair for the black tents of
the Orient. This trade that needed but simple
apparatus and few tools helped him very much
after his conversion to Christianity to earn his
own living and maintain his independence
when engaged in missionary work. To the
Thessalonians he writes that he has worked
night and day that he may not burden any of
them, and he tells the elders of the church at
Ephesus that they themselves know that his
hands have ministered unto his necessities,
and to those that were with him.
Before his conversion, Paul as a learned
Pharisee was the leader of those opposed to
Christianity, and was a persecutor of the
Christians. In his work of persecution he

82 MAKING THE BD3LE EEAL
went even outside of Palestine, and because of
his efforts many persons were imprisoned, and
many were put to death. Even as far as
Damascus it was known how much evil he did
to the Christians at Jerusalem. Paul was pres
ent at the stoning to death of the martyr
Stephen at Jerusalem and approved of the act.
Witnesses laid down their garments at his feet
that they might have greater ease in hurling
the first stones at Stephen.
In 35 a. d., five years after the crucifixion
and resurrection of Christ, Paul, then about
thirty years old, was commissioned by the high
priest, president of the Sanhedrin or chief
court of the Jews at Jerusalem, to go to the
Jewish synagogues at Damascus and bring
back as prisoners to Jerusalem any Jews, men
or women, that he should find of the Way of
Jesus. Near Damascus Christ, whom Paul
had never seen in person, appeared to him.
From this experience he became a new Paul.
" If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature:
the old things are passed away; behold, they
are become new. — It is no longer I that live,
but Christ liveth in me." Intensely religious
before his conversion, though with " a zeal for
God, but not according to knowledge," his

PAUL THE MAN 83
tireless energies and thorough efforts that had
been used against the Christians were now di
rected toward preaching the Gospel. " Ne
cessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if
I preach not the gospel."
From his conversion to his death in 64 a. d.,
a period of about thirty years, he travelled ex
tensively in the Roman Empire, carrying on
his work of evangelization to bring the world
to Christ. He was the first to carry Chris
tianity from Asia to Europe, and he spoke in
the great cities of that time, Jerusalem,
Damascus, Tarsus, Antioch in Syria, Ephesus,
Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, and
Rome. Sometimes for a long period of time '
he remained in one place, making Corinth in
Greece his headquarters for a year and a half,
and Ephesus in Asia Minor for over two
years. He went over sea and land, now tak
ing a boat on the Mediterranean, now walk
ing or riding on the excellent Roman
roads. When we think of his physical handicaps,
and the poor health that was his lot, we are
amazed at the extraordinary things he accom
plished. Whatever the " thorn in the flesh "
was, whether weak eyes, or deafness, fever or

84 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
dizziness, he did well his work in spite of it.
" My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power
is made perfect in weakness." Five times
from the Jews at the hand of the synagogue
authorities he receives thirty-nine lashes, three
times by Roman officials he is beaten with
rods, he is stoned, many times suffers ship
wreck, and is twenty-four hours in the sea
on some piece of wreckage. He is in journey-
ings often, in perils of rivers, in perils from
robbers, from the Gentiles, and from his own
countrymen, in perils in the city and in the
wilderness and in the sea, in perils among
false brethren, in labour and travail, in watch-
ings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings
often, in cold and nakedness. He is in prison
and yet prays and sings hymns unto God. Dis
satisfied with what he has accomplished, he
has the " peace of God, which passeth all un
derstanding," and has learned in whatsoever
condition he is, therein to be content. " I can
do all things in him that strengthened! me. —
Not that I have already obtained, or am al
ready made perfect: but I press on — I count
not myself yet to have laid hold ; but one thing
I do, forgetting the things which are behind,
and stretching forward to the things which

PAUL THE MAN 85
are before, I press on toward the goal unto the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus." As he thinks of his Pharisaic career
before his conversion as a persecutor of the
Christian Church, he feels humble. " For I
am the least of the apostles, that am not
worthy to be called an apostle, because I per
secuted the church of God. But by the grace
of God I am what I am." He thinks at times
of how much more he has accomplished than
the apostles, than even Peter and John. " But
I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet
not I, but the grace of God which was with
me. Paul was master of himself under all kinds
of circumstances, and possessed adaptability
and tact and sympathy to a remarkable degree.
To the superstitious heathen crowd at Lystra
he states the truths of natural religion : " And
yet he left not himself without witness, in that
he did good and gave you from heaven rains
and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with
food and gladness." To the cultured Greeks
at Athens he opens his address by saying: " In
all things I perceive that ye are very religious.
For as I passed along, and observed the ob
jects of your worship, I found also an altar

86 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
with this inscription, To an Unknown God.
What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this
I set forth unto you." Although complimen
tary to begin with and tactful throughout,
Paul does not trim his message to please his
audience. He addresses at Jerusalem the
angry mob of Jews who are anxious to kill
him, securing their attention by beckoning
with his hand and speaking " when there was
made a great silence." In the terrible storm
and shipwreck off the island of Malta in the
Mediterranean Sea Paul self-possessed advises
the crew and passengers of the grain boat to
take some food for strength and he himself
takes bread, gives thanks to God in the pres
ence of all; breaks it, and begins to eat.
" Then were they all of good cheer, and them
selves also took food."
What wonderful love Paul had for his fel
low-workers ! Although he had many enemies,
he had also many friends whom he loved and
who loved him in return. One thinks of
Timothy, his " beloved child," his " true child
in faith," of Tychicus, " the beloved brother
and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the
Lord," of Titus, his " partner " and " fellow-
worker," his " true child after a common

PAUL THE MAN 87
faith," of Luke, "the beloved physician," of
Epaphras, " beloved fellow-servant, a faithful
minister of Christ," and of Epaphroditus, "my
brother and fellow-worker and fellow-sol
dier." In the last chapter of Paul's letter to
the Romans, he greets some twenty-six per
sons by name. Among them are Prisca and
Aquila who risked their lives for him, Epsene-
tus, " my beloved," an early convert, Androni-
cus and Junias, " my kinsmen, and my fellow-
prisoners." While in prison at Rome Paul
converts Onesimus a runaway slave and sends
him back to Colossse to his master Philemon,
another one of his converts, to whom he takes
time to write with his own hand a letter, tell
ing the master to be kind to the slave, and for
give him, and treat him " no longer as a
servant, but more than a servant, a brother
beloved." Paul died a martyr, near Rome, being be
headed in the reign of the emperor Nero. In
his last letter Paul writes, " For I am already
being offered, and the time of my departure is
come. I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the right-

88 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
eous judge, shall give me at that day; and not
to me only, but also to all them that have
loved his appearing."
One of the greatest characters in the world's
history is the Apostle Paul. He was a pro
found thinker, and religious statesman, a most
successful missionary of the Gospel of Christ,
a pastor, a teacher, an author, a friend, and
a true man. The influence of the life and mes
sage of this faithful servant of Christ is still
a powerful force in the life of the Christian
Church and will continue to be so for all time.

PAUL'S LETTERS
In probable order of their writing.
I and II Thessalonians. (About 50 a. d.),
Galatians.I and II Corinthians.
Romans.Philippians.Philemon. Colossians.
Ephesians.I Timothy.
Titus. II Timothy.
A. To Churches in Asia. Three.
I. Galatians — Probably to Churches at Derbe,
Lystra, Iconium, and northern Antioch.
2. Colossians — Colossa?.
3. Ephesians — Ephesus.

PAUL THE MAN 89
B. To Churches in Europe. Six.
i. I and II Thessalonians — Thessalonica.
2. I and II Corinthians — Corinth.
3. Romans — Rome.
4. Philippians — Philippi.
A. To Individuals. Four.
1. Philemon.
2. I and II Timothy.
3. Titus.

VIII
OUR ENGLISH BIBLE
THERE are sixty-six Books in the
English Bible, thirty-nine in the Old
Testament and twenty-seven in the
New Testament. The thirty-nine Books in the
English Old Testament were counted in the
Hebrew Bible as twenty-four Books, and
were put into a threefold division, The Law,
The Prophets, and The Writings, the order of
the Books being quite different from the order
in the English Old Testament. The grouping
according to contents or subject matter fol
lowed in the English Old Testament — narra
tive or historical, poetical, prophetical — comes
from the oldest translation of the Hebrew Old
Testament, the Septuagint in the Greek lan
guage made in Egypt before the time of
Christ. In the time of Christ the only part of the
Bible written was the Old Testament, gener
ally called in the New Testament, " The Scrip-
90

OUE ENGLISH BIBLE 91
tures," which was in the form of leather rolls,
one roll containing the first five Books, The
Law, and other rolls containing the remaining
Books. By the end of the second century a. d.
the names " Old " and " New Covenant " or
" Testament " were in common use. A collect
ive name for the whole Bible, Old and New
Testament, was " The Divine Library," used
by Jerome in the fourth century a. d. In the
second century a. d. Greek writers came to use
the term " The Books " for the Bible and later
the writings of the sacred volume were called
" The Book," Biblia, from which we get the
name " Bible."
The history in the Old Testament from the
time of Moses to the days of Nehemiah covers
a period of eight centuries. The New Testa
ment contains the history of seventy years,
from the birth of Jesus in 5 or 4 b. c. to the
death of Paul in 64 a. d. The earliest part of
the Old Testament was written in the thir
teenth century b. c, and there may be portions
as late as the second century b. c. The New
Testament was written in about fifty years,
Paul's letters to the Church at Thessalonica,
I and II Thessalonians, being the first Books
written. We know the names of more than

92 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
twenty writers of the Old Testament, the work
for the most part of prophets, priests, and
"wise men." Of the New Testament we
know the names of eight authors.
The authors of the Books of the Bible used
for writing material prepared animal skins or
papyrus and either wrote themselves or more
probably dictated to professional writers.
Thus Jeremiah after preaching for twenty-
three years dictated his prophetic addresses to
Baruch his secretary. Tertius writes the let
ter to the Romans for Paul — " I Tertius, who
write the epistle." While Paul usually dic
tated his letters, he often added the conclusion
with his own hand.
The original manuscripts of both Old and
New Testament have all perished. They were
copied and recopied again and again. Our
earliest manuscript of the Old Testament in
Hebrew is from the ninth century a. d. (a
fragment is of the second century a. d.), while
the oldest manuscripts containing the New
Testament in Greek are of the fourth and fifth
centuries a. d. (fragments are of the third cen
tury a. d.). One of the most valuable manu
scripts of the New Testament is in the Vatican
Library at Rome, Italy, one is in the Imperial

OUE ENGLISH BD3LE 93
Library at Petrograd, Russia, another is in
the British Museum at London, England, and
another is in Washington, D. C, being ob
tained in Egypt in 1906 by Mr. Charles L.
Freer of Detroit, Michigan; it is known as the
" Washington Codex."
The Bible is a translation, the Old Testa
ment from Hebrew (a very small part from
Aramaic) and the New Testament from
Greek. There is a constant need for new
translations, for as time goes by, words be
come obsolete or change their meaning, older
manuscripts are discovered which may be
more true to the original, and' there is a better
knowledge of the ancient languages themselves
in the progress of scholarship. The King
James Version of the Bible was made in 1611
a. d. and is the best known English transla
tion. To-day the use of the American Stand
ard Edition of the Revised Bible is rapidly in
creasing. It was made in 1900-01 a. d. and is
the most accurate English Bible we have at
present. Bible students will also find much
help in the new Jewish translation of the Old
Testament. There are also excellent transla
tions of the New Testament into modern Eng
lish.

94 MAKING THE BIBLE EEAL
No one is liberally educated who does not
know the Bible. For this reason Biblical his
tory and literature ought to be studied thor
oughly and thoughtfully. But we should real
ize that the Bible is a means to true living and
the formation and development of Christian
character. The spirit of Christ, the spirit of
good will and love and sacrifice and joyful
service is to be in the home, in the church, in
the school, in the community, in national and
international life. Personal and social prob
lems are to be solved from the Christian point
of view. " He that would be great among
you, let him be your servant." This is the
standard of true greatness. That the King
dom of God may come upon earth, that ideals
of true democracy and Christian citizenship
may be realized, each one shall love God with
all his heart and soul and mind and strength,
and his neighbour as himself. He shall look to
Christ as Saviour and Redeemer, and find in
Him and in His Cross the life that is eternal.

Index

Bibus:
Hebrew and English, 90
Name, 91
Oldest manuscripts, 92k
Translations of, 93
Writing material, 92
Cuneiform, 60
David: And lament over Saul and
Jonathan (2 Samuel
1 : 19-27), 56f.
And Nathan (2 Samuel
12:1-15), 33
And the well of Bethlehem
(2 Samuel 23:13-17),
54*
Dead Sea, 12
Deborah, Song of (Judges
5), 55f-
Gaulee, Sea of, 13
Gezer, 67
Hammurabi, Code of, 6of.
Hieroglyphics, 5gf.
Humour, 52f.
Isaiah and the parable
of the vineyard (Isaiah
5:i-7), 34
Jehoash, Fable of (2 Kings
14: 9f.), 53
Jordan River, 13
Jotham, Fable of (Judges
9:8-15), 52f.
Lachish, 64ff.
Love stories, 5of.

Palestine :
Among the nations, 23ff.
Climate, i5ff.
Customs, i8f.
Food, I7f.
Size, I3ff.
Views, 14
Paul: Characteristics, 83ff.
Conversion, 82L
Education, 8of.
Figurative language, 80
Tarsus, 79
Trade, 81
Pharisees :
And religion, 76
Neighbour, 7of.
Oaths, 74
Prayer, 75f.
Scribes, 69
Sabbath, 7lff.
Pithom, 62
Poetry, 55ff.
Prophets :
And religion, 4lff.
As evangelists, 47
Individuality, 32L
Methods, 33S.
Opposition to, 35ff.
Sins denounced by, 38ff.
Prose stories, 54f.
Rebekah and Isaac (Gene
sis 24), 5of.
Rosetta Stone, 59f.
Ruth, 51
Shoam Inscription, 63f.

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