years. From other books than the Bible we learn that they dwelt as servants to the kings of Persia for many years longer. Then Alexander the Great, a mighty general and king, who was at war with Persia, brought an army and 5 took Jerusalem, and the Jews served him. After his death, one of the Egyptian kings came to Jerusalem, and seeing how beautiful the temple was, he determined to go not only into its courts, but into the Holy of Holies, where the priests alone were allowed to go. 10 The priests begged him not to so disobey God, and the people cried out with fear and sorrow when they saw him; still he went on until he came to the holy place. But while he was there, so great a fear and weakness came upon him, that he was carried out like one dead; and, in his 15 anger, he treated the Jews most cruelly, making slaves of some and putting others to death. So cruel was he, that the Jews rebelled against Egypt and came to be servants of the kings of Syria; but one of these Syrian kings came with an army and took Jerusalem; and in three days, 20 forty thousand Jews were slain, and as many more sold to be captives. The Syrian king then went into the temple and took away the golden altar, the golden table, the golden candlesticks, and all the treasures that were there. Two years afterward he sent again one of his generals, 25 with twenty-two thousand men, against Jerusalem. This king came into the city; and waiting until the Sabbath day, when he knew the Jews would not fight against him, he set his soldiers upon the people, commanding them to kill the men, to take the women and children captive, to rob 30 the houses, and to throw down the city walls. The soldiers obeyed his commands, putting so many of the Jews to death that the streets of the city and the courts of the temple ran red with their blood. Not satisfied with this, the king of Syria afterward made 35 a decree forbidding the Jews to offer up sacrifices to God, or to obey God's laws, or to keep the Sabbath day. He sent an officer to Jerusalem to drive them away from the temple, and to make it a place to worship idols in. Heathen altars were set up in every city of the land, and the Jews who 5 would not sacrifice upon them were slain. At another time they became servants to the Romans, as they had been before to the Egyptians and to the Syrians. The Romans sent a general, named Herod, to be their king, who, though not one of the children of Israel, yet 10 pretended to believe their religion and to worship God as they did. He was, in truth, a fierce and cruel man, who cared only to rule over the people. Herod was king for eighteen years; and then, because the Jews hated him for his wickedness, he determined to 15 build up the temple anew. By this he hoped to please them, and so make them more willing to be ruled over. The temple was the one built by the Jews when they returned from Babylon. It was nearly five hundred years old, and much of it was broken and decayed. Herod built 20 this up again with great stones of white marble; and the stones lay covered, in some places, with plates of silver and gold. The building was very beautiful, and shone so brightly under the morning sun that it dazzled the eyes. The inside of the temple was divided, as it had been before, 25 by a curtain, into two rooms: one of them, the holy place where the golden altar, the golden table, and the golden candlesticks stood; and the other, the most holy place, where the ark used to stand. But the ark had been lost long before, when the Jews 30 were carried captive to Babylon. They had no ark now to bring into the most holy place; so it was empty, except that a stone lay on the spot where the ark should have been. Outside the temple was the court - the court of the priests where the altar of burnt-offering and the laver 35 stood. Outside of this court was another the court of Israel where the men of Israel might come. Beyond this was a third court, where the women of Israel might go. Still outside this, and around all the others, was a very large court the court of the Gentiles; for the Gentiles, 5 that is, the people of other nations besides the Jews, were allowed to go into this. Nine large and splendid gates opened into the courts; one more splendid than the rest, called the Beautiful Gate. It was seventy-five feet high, and covered with Corinthian brass. Around the different 10 courts walls were built. Inside this wall were wide porches with flat roofs, which rested on marble pillars so large that three men, their arms outstretched, could hardly reach round one of them. The floor of the porches was paved with different colored marble. One of the porches 15 was called Solomon's because it stood over a very high wall which Solomon had built up from the valley below. So ends this part of the story of the Israelitish people, as told in the Old Testament. HELPS FOR STUDY From what book in the Bible is this story taken? What great service did Mordecai render King Ahasuerus? What decree did Haman wish the king to make? Why did the king give Haman his ring? What did Mordecai do when he heard of the decree? What did Queen Esther do? What was the length of a cubit? Why could not the king change the decree he had made regarding the Jews? What did he do that the Jews might escape? Do you think Queen Esther was loved by the Jews? Who was Alexander the Great? Name some other rulers who persecuted the Jews. Who were the Gentiles? VOCABULARY Ahasuerus (a-haz-u-ē'rus) Haman (ha'man) Mordecai (mor'de-ki) 5 10 THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB LORD BYRON George Noel Gordon Byron was born in London, January 22, 1788. When ten years of age he became the sixth Lord Byron. His education was received at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge. His first published book, “Hours of Idleness," was ridiculed in the Edinburgh Review, and Byron retorted in a poem called, “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." The work which made him famous was Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." He left England in 1815, and spent most of the next seven years in Italy, where many of his poems were written, In the summer of 1823, he sailed for Greece, to aid the Greeks in their struggle with the Turks for independence. He died in Missolonghi, Greece, April 19, 1824. For the story of the incident upon which Byron has founded the following poem see II Kings, XIX. The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, For the angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, 15 20 And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And there lay the rider distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail; And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, HELPS FOR STUDY Who was the "Assyrian"? Upon whom did he come down "like a wolf in the fold"? Where is Galilee? Compare the second stanza with the first. How was Sennacherib destroyed? What do you think the Angel of Death might have been? Who were the "widows of Ashur"? Why were the "idols broke in the temple of Baal"? In line 23 Sennacherib is referred to as the Gentile." What does this mean? Explain the last two lines. NOTES 21 Ashur. The original name for Assyria, an ancient country of Asia. Sennacherib was one of its most powerful kings. 22 Baal. The supreme god of the Canaanites, worshiped as the sun-god. The worship of Baal was introduced into Israel under Ahab and his wife, who was a Phenician princess. VOCABULARY Baal (bā'al) Sennacherib (se-nak'e-rib) |