Catharine Shaw

“ But though Saul went, and gained a great victory over them, he disobeyed God in the end; for he saved alive the king and the best of the flocks and herds, and all that was good, he kept.
Then the Lord sent Samuel to Saul. And Saul hastened to meet him with the words: "Blessed be thou of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord!"
But Samuel answered: "What meaneth then the bleating of sheep in my ears?"
And Saul answered: "The people spared the best of the flocks to sacrifice to the Lord." ”

“ Aaron took a tool and moulded it, and the people said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!"
Then they offered sacrifices to the golden calf, and feasted, and rose up to dance.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for the people have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. Now, therefore . . . let Me alone, that I may consume them!"
But Moses besought the Lord most earnestly to turn from His anger, and asked Him to remember His servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and begged Him to forgive the sin of His people. ”

“ If we find in our own hearts an unforgiving spirit—a grudge against any one—a wish, perhaps, to do them harm or pay them back—let us beware!
Our Lord says: "When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one!"
Now I am going to tell you about a murder, which was a very sad one.
David, as you know, loved God very much; but he had grown very rich and powerful, and he had begun to value earthly things more than God's Commandments.
Uriah, in the forefront of the battle.
He wanted to get rid of one of his soldiers, who was at the war fighting for him. ”

“ NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S dream of the Great Image had been explained to him by Daniel and his three companions; but the king soon forgot the wonderful interpretation which God had sent him, containing such an unfolding of the future which, in due time, has come to pass.
One great dynasty after another—Babylon, the Medes and Persians, Greece, and Rome, have arisen and passed away, till at length, up to now, only the Feet of the Vision of the Great Image wait to be accomplished. ”

“ While God was telling Moses all these Commandments, on the top of the mountain, there were thunderings and lightnings, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord Jehovah descended upon it in fire; and even the mountain trembled at the Presence of the Holy God.
And this was the First Commandment—
"Thou shalt have no other gods before ME!"
Nothing else in the world nearer and dearer to us than God! ”

“ Moses was up on the mount with God for forty days and forty nights, and God gave Moses the two Tablets of stone, on which God Himself had written His Ten Commandments.
But forty days and forty nights seemed a long time to the thousands of people waiting below on the plains; and they "gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said, Up! make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!" ”

“ Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who hath sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God. ”

“ But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go; thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God!"
So Ruth chose the God of Israel to be her God. And that God Whom she had chosen, watched over her all her life long, and gave her great happiness and honour, as I shall tell you by and by.
When Naomi found that Ruth was determined that "naught but death" should part them she left off persuading her, and they two journeyed on till they came to Bethlehem.
So Boaz spoke kindly to Ruth. ”

“ And a fourth kingdom which shall be strong as iron; and the toes of the feet shall be part of iron and part of clay."
"And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed . . . and it shall stand for ever."
"The great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."
Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face before Daniel and said: "Your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a Revealer of secrets!" ”

“ But the Prophet Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: "Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the King of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."
So Rabshakeh returned, and when he found fresh troubles in his own land, he sent a message by letter to Hezekiah, saying they were not to rejoice that they had escaped their enemy! For they would surely come and fight against them another time! ”

“ Then Hiram sent abundance of cedar and fir trees, for as David had said, "The House that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical."
That is a long and a strange word, and it is only used that once in all the Bible! But it conveys this one lesson to us—that if we want God to dwell in our hearts, we must spare no pains to make them ready for His abode!
Jesus says: "If any man love Me, My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him!" ”

“ Then you can imagine Caleb and Joshua starting forward to still the people, and they cried: "Let us go up at once and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome it!"
But the ten spies persisted that they could not go up, and all the people mourned and wept, and told Moses that they had better return to Egypt, for they would die in the wilderness, and their wives and their children would be a prey for their enemies. ”

“ These wonderful "distinctions" were not given him by any earthly king, but by God Himself; and as we follow out the story of Elijah's life, we shall ourselves, perhaps, have a peep into that glory which Jesus is even now preparing for those who love and follow Him.
I have read that Elijah's name means "My God is Jehovah!" and it seems to me that this is a brave motto for each one of us, "My God is Jehovah!" "For in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength."
The first mention we have of the Prophet Elijah, who came from the land of Gilead, was in the reign of King Ahab. ”

“ And Elisha said: "I know it; but hold your peace."
And so it went on till they reached Jericho, and here again the sons of the prophets came to Elisha with their question: "Do you know that the Lord will take your master from your head to-day?"
And again Elisha sorrowfully answered: "Yes, I know it; hold ye your peace."
Then Elijah said to him: "Stay here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan."
But Elisha gave the same answer to him as he had given before, that he would not on any account leave him. So they went on together. ”

“ But Nebuchadnezzar had to confess, that though the dream troubled him, he could not recall what it was!
So the magicians were greatly alarmed; as they said, no king would ask his magicians to tell the dream, as well as the interpretation!
But the king was angry and furious; and at length sent out an order that all the magicians and soothsayers in Babylon were to be destroyed.
So the decree went out that all the "wise" men, meaning astrologers and soothsayers, were to be slain: and with them, Daniel and his companions would perish! ”

“ So Daniel was brought in before the King, and Belshazzar asked him if he were one of the Captives whom Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem? And the King hurried on to tell him of all the gifts which he should receive, if he could tell him the meaning of the writing.
Then Daniel answered before the King: "Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the King, and make known the interpretation." ”

“ When David heard this story he was very angry with the rich man, and told Nathan he ought to be punished.
And then Nathan said to the king: "Thou art the man!"
"Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife." ”

“ Then Daniel went on to explain to the King that the God who lived in heaven had given Nebuchadnezzar a Kingdom and majesty: but when his heart was lifted up with pride, he was deposed from his throne, and he had to live with the wild beasts, till he knew that the most high God ruled in the Kingdom of men, and gave it to whomsoever He willed. ”

“ Joseph was a kindly young fellow of seventeen, and he did not bear any grudge against his brothers, but talked to them and told them his dreams, as any boy would now-a-days.
But these dreams made his brothers even more angry than their father's love for him, and they hated him.
When people begin to cherish hatred in their hearts, it is not long before it comes out in their actions.
So when Jacob sent Joseph a long journey to see if all was well with his brothers and the flocks, they saw him coming from afar, and began to plan how they could get rid of him and his dreams. ”

“ And as you can read for yourselves in the Book of Ruth, she was wonderfully blessed through her goodness to her mother-in-law. God watched her sweet and dutiful behaviour, and He gave her the great honour of being one of the ancestors of King David, and then, through him, of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born at David's city, Bethlehem, thirteen hundred years afterwards.
Thus the Commandment that contained a promise of blessing was fulfilled.
VI. "Thou shalt do no murder."
What is murder? It is hatred in the heart, cherished and unpardoned, unconfessed to God, which ends in a cruel deed. ”

“ I am but a little child . . . give me therefore an understanding heart to judge Thy people; for who is able to judge so great a people?"
And the Lord was pleased with Solomon's request, and He told him that because he had asked this thing, and not asked for himself riches or honour or long life, God would grant his prayer for an understanding heart, and would add besides riches and honour, so that there should be no king like Solomon in all the world, nor ever would be again. ”

“ And Solomon answered all her questions, and showed her all his work and his riches. When she had seen the house he had built and the food daily spread on his table, and the number of his servants, and the ascent which he had built to go up to the House of the Lord, the queen seemed to have no more strength in her, and she exclaimed:
"It was a true report that I heard in mine own country, but the half was not told me!"
"Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom." ”

“ But that night the King could not sleep, and one of his servants fetched a roll of the Chronicles of the Kingdom, and he read to him how Mordecai had once saved the King's life.
And in the morning the King asked Haman what would be suitable to do to "the man that the King delighted to honour?"
But Haman little thought that when he proposed to set the man on the King's own horse, dressed in the King's Royal clothes, that it would be Mordecai who was to be honoured, and not himself! ”

“ God was watching over Moses all the time, and preparing him for the great and wonderful work he was to do.
Do we all sometimes feel it very hard to learn difficult tasks? Do we, as we grow older, sometimes wonder what work God is getting us ready to do for Him? ”

“ IX. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
How did the wicked queen Jezebel manage to get Naboth's vineyard for her husband? It was by means of false witnesses!
She sent letters sealed with the king's seal to the nobles and elders who were in the city where Naboth lived, and ordered them to proclaim a fast, to set him up on high where all the people could see him, and to get two wicked men to give false witness against him, to accuse him of blaspheming God and the king. Then he was to be carried out of the city and stoned. ”

“ It is an awful thing to risk God's punishment.
This is a very, very sad story; but it is written down in the Bible, to show that we must obey God's commands, and seek Him in the way He has provided.
In the Old Testament times, the way to approach God was by the Priests whom God had appointed to present the Offerings for sin, and to burn the Incense; but now, since God sent His dear Son, Jesus Christ, to make atonement for our sins, Jesus is the Way to God. ”

“ And when history shows us that all has been fulfilled except the Feet of iron and clay, we know that we must be very near to the coming of the Wonderful Stone, which by and by is to fill the whole earth. ”

“ It would take too long to tell you all the wonders that God had to do to set His people free from their bondage; but at length they escaped from Egypt—every one of them—they went through the Red Sea on dry land, because God kept back the water on each side of them ”

“ So Saul agreed to his going, and put some armour on him; but David told the King he could not go with these, for he was not used to armour.
Then David took his staff in his hand, and went to the brook and chose out five smooth stones, and he put them in his shepherd's bag that hung at his side.
Before we go on to what David did with those stones, there are two or three interesting things in this story which we shall do well to notice; for they will be, if we think of them, a great help to us in our own lives.
We all have, like David, a tremendous enemy to face. This is Satan ”

“ By and bye Pharaoh, King of Egypt, had a dream which he could not understand, and as they all knew in the prison, that Joseph could tell the meaning of dreams, Pharaoh was told about him, and the Great King sent for him, and explained his trouble to him.
Then God told Joseph the meaning of Pharaoh's dream, which was, that there would be seven years of rich harvests, and then seven years of very poor harvests.
So Joseph advised Pharaoh to look out a wise man to save up all the corn in the plentiful years, so that the people might have food in the scanty years. ”