George Hodges

“ At last, one day, she sent for a man named Barak. “Barak,” she said, as he came under the palm tree, “you know how the Canaanites are treating our people, day by day, and year by year, and how since Joshua died we have no leader. We must stop it. You must take the lead. God has spoken in my soul, and has told me that you are the man, and that this is the time. Go now, and get an army.”
But Barak said, “Deborah, we are all afraid, and we have no shields or spears, nothing but sticks out of the woods, and Sisera has nine hundred chariots of iron. ”

“ When I blow my trumpet, you all blow yours, and shout with all your might, ‘The sword of the Lord and of Gideon! The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!’ ”
So they all crept softly toward the enemy, every man with his lamp and pitcher in his left hand and his trumpet in his right. And the Midianites were fast asleep, for it was almost midnight. And suddenly Gideon gave the signal; he blew a great blast upon his trumpet, then with the trumpet he broke the pitcher, and the torch he waved about his head, shouting, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” ”

“ Saul had five times as many men as David, so nobody was afraid. They did not take even the common precaution of a guard to keep awake and watch. Saul slept, and his uncle Abner the captain slept, and all the soldiers slept, in the shelter of the rocks and under the thick bushes. And the moon came out and looked upon Saul’s camp, and there they lay, all the three thousand, sound asleep, while a single spark of light reflected from the sky shone on the tip of the spear which showed where the king lay beneath. ”

“ One day, while David was out in the hill pasture, there came to the village an old man, driving a cow, and having in his hand a horn of precious oil. When the men of Bethlehem saw him they were as frightened as if the cow had been a red lion and the horn had been attached to a unicorn. For the old man was Samuel, the prophet, who, they thought, could call down thunder and lightning out of the clear sky. ”

“ And as the night came on, Joshua cried, “O Lord God, why hast thou brought us into this land to give us into the hands of our enemies to destroy us? O Lord, what shall I say when the men of Israel turn their backs before their enemies?”
And God said, “Get up, Joshua. Why do you lie upon the ground? There is a thief in the camp. One of your soldiers has disobeyed your orders. Find him, and punish him; then shall you have victory instead of defeat.”
So the first thing the next morning, Joshua made the army pass before him in a long procession, tribe after tribe, and he chose the tribe of Judah. ”

“ And one day, there was a grinding noise as if the Ark had touched the ground, and Noah looked, and, behold, the Ark had landed on the top of a mountain, which was like a little island in the deep sea. By and by, Noah sent out a dove, and the dove flew here and there and found no rest for the sole of her foot, and so came back. And again, after a week, Noah sent the dove a second time, and now she brought back a leaf plucked from an olive tree. Thus Noah knew that the water had gone down below the treetops. ”

“ Then the soul of David was stirred within him. He spoke to the first man whom he met. “Tell me,” he said, “what does this mean?”
And the man answered, “Yonder is Goliath, the giant of Gath. Every day he comes out at this hour and defies our army. King Saul has promised that whosoever shall face him and overcome him shall have a great reward in gold, and the hand of the princess, as well. But nobody is bold enough to try it.” ”

“ And God planted the Garden of Eden for the man to live in, with great shady trees, and a river singing as it flowed between its flowery banks. Then God brought to the man all the beasts and birds, and the man gave each a name, and they played together in the sunny fields. ”

“ So off they went, along the green road, and Isaac was very happy, but Abraham was very sad, and Sarah in her tent was crying as if her heart would break. At last they came to a hill, and Abraham cut a bundle of wood, and let Isaac carry it on his back; but Abraham carried a knife. Now Isaac had often seen the sacrifice of lambs, so as they climbed the hill he said, “Father, here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?”
And Abraham answered, “God will provide himself a lamb.” ”

“ King Zebah and King Zalmunna, and Oreb the Raven and Zeeb the Wolf, with thousands of fierce men on camels, were on the march. On they came across the Jordan, and like locusts they began to spread over the Great Plain.
And Gideon said to himself, “Did I dream about the angel, or was it true? Did he sit beneath the oak, and tell me that God wished me to fight the Midianites? did he strike fire out of the rock and go up in the smoke?” And Gideon said, “I will make sure. To-night I will spread out a fleece of wool and ask God for a sign. ”

“ And Saul frowned upon him, and said, “Why have you conspired against me with the son of Jesse, and have given him a sword to slay me?”
And the chief priest answered, “Who is so faithful among all your servants as David, your son-in-law, and honorable in your house? I knew nothing of any trouble between you and him.”
Then the king’s old madness came upon him, and he called for men to kill not only the chief priest, but all the other priests. And at first, nobody would do it. Not a man would lift his sword to strike those unarmed, innocent men. ”

“ Thus they climbed the hill, the servants and the mistress, and there at the bottom was a cloud of flying dust, and under the cloud was David with his men, hastening with all speed to punish Nabal.
And when Abigail saw David she alighted and bowed down to the ground before him. “Let not my lord,” she said, “regard my husband, who is a foolish person. See, here is a present, all that you can wish. Do not shed blood without a cause. I know that the Lord will certainly make my lord victorious over all the land, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord and does no evil. ”

“ For children are the best gift which God gives to man, and all the cornfields and vineyards and sheep and oxen in the world are not to be compared with them.
One day, Hannah went in to town, to Shiloh; and as she passed the church she stopped and knelt down on the steps and prayed with all her heart that God would give her a son. And Eli, the minister, was sitting on a bench by the church door. Eli was an old man, and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who had become ministers in his place, were not only bad ministers, but bad men, so that many people had stopped going to church. ”

“ For in those days men did not understand, as we do, how wrong it is to tell a lie. And Achish believed this false report, and said to himself, “David is making war on his own people. He will never dare to desert us now and go back to his own land.”
At last, the time came for another war between the Philistines and the Israelites. In all the towns of the Philistines men were busy shaping bows and arrows; the blacksmiths at their flaming forges were sharpening swords and spears; soldiers were drilling on every village green, captains were making plans, and the army was assembling. ”

“ Oh, for a single word with Samuel!” But Samuel was dead.
At last, Saul said to his servants, “Go, seek me out a witch, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants said: “The witches have been driven out, but there is still one remaining, in a hiding place, at Endor.” And Saul disguised himself, and took two men with him, and went to Endor. And they came to the witch’s house by night.
“Who is there?” said the witch.
“One in distress,” said Saul, “who wishes a moment’s speech with a departed spirit.”
And the witch said, “I cannot help you. The king has banished all the witches. ”

“ And the brothers stopped, and said, “We are no thieves. We have taken neither gold nor silver from your master’s palace. Search us, and the man with whom you find the cup shall die.”
“Very well,” he said, “the man with whom the cup is found shall be my slave.” So he searched the sacks, beginning with the oldest brother and ending with the youngest, and in Benjamin’s sack, there was the cup!
And they all cried out in great grief, and tore their clothes, for that was the custom, and back they went to Joseph’s palace. And Judah, one of the brothers, spoke to Joseph. ”

“ We have protected thy shepherds in the fields, as they will tell thee. We have driven off the Amalekites who came to steal the sheep. Remember us, now, and send a gift to David the son of Jesse.”
And Nabal was very angry. “Who,” he said, “is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be?” ”

“ At last, one day, news came of the Challenge of the Right Eyes. The king was plowing when the messengers arrived, and as he came home in the afternoon, driving the oxen before him, he heard a great commotion among the people. “What is the matter?” he asked. “What ails the people that they weep?” So they told Saul the news.
The men of Ammon, whom Jephthah had fought and chased away, had come back and laid siege to a town in Gilead called Jabesh. They had encamped around it, so that nobody could go out or come in, and the citizens could get no food. ”

“ But, indeed, David and his band were very good to us shepherds. We were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we were in the fields. They were a wall to us, both by night and by day. What shall we do? You know the might of David; he will come and destroy us all. And not one of us dares say a word to Nabal.”
Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves of bread, and two skin bottles of wine, and five sheep dressed for roasting, and five baskets of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. ”

“ Men came one day from a place called Ziph, and said to Saul, “O king, David has hid himself in the hill of Hachilah. Come quick, and catch him.”
For the men of Ziph, like a great many other quiet people, were much afraid of David. Indeed, we may well believe that while lion-killers and giant-slayers are very pleasant persons to meet in the pages of books, a band of five or six hundred of them might be objectionable neighbors. Nabal was not the only sheepmaster who wished that they were all in Jericho, or in some other remote place on the other side of the river Jordan. ”

“ Then Gideon blew a trumpet and called the people together, and sent messengers all about the country to call the fighting men, and there was a great army. But when Gideon came to see the army he did not like the soldiers’ looks: it seemed to him that they were frightened. He was afraid that when they saw the Midianites they would run away. And he made a speech. “To-morrow,” he said, “there will be a hard battle. The Midianites are many in number and very fierce. Perhaps you would like to go home. If you are afraid, if your knees are trembling, that is the best thing to do. ”

“ Of these they chose the second, like brave men. They said one to another, “Be strong, O ye Philistines, and quit yourselves like men, that ye be not servants to the Hebrews as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men and fight.”
So the battle came on again, and the Philistines fought like heroes, and the Israelites were beaten worse than ever. They ran like sheep when the wolves are after them. And the Ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. ”

“ Out of this damp earth, God made a man, body and legs and arms and head; and when the man was made, God breathed upon him, and, behold, the man lived. The body of earth was changed to flesh and blood, and the man opened his eyes, and rose up and began to walk and speak. ”

“ So the mad king made a plot. “Very well,” he said, “you shall have Michal, but first you must bring me as a dowry the heads of a hundred Philistines.” For he thought that in the battle, David would be killed. But David went out into the enemy’s country, and when he came back he brought two hundred Philistine heads. So he married the princess, amidst great rejoicing.
But hardly had the wedding guests gone home when the king made another plot. He determined to send men to seize his son-in-law and kill him. But Michal heard of it. ”

“ While the others were fighting he was in the distant pastures tending his sheep, and his wife was at home alone. So Sisera came breathless and weary with running, and Barak was following him far behind. And Jael came out to meet Sisera, and she asked him to come in and hide. “Turn in, my lord,” she said, “turn in to me: fear not.” So he went in. And he said, “Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” And she opened a bottle and gave him milk to drink. And he lay down in the tent, and she covered him with a mantle, so that he was hid. ”