P. C. Headley

“ Whenever Haman, with his retinue, came from the palace, all paid him the
reverence due to the king's favorite but Mordecai, who sat like a
statue, not even turning his head to notice him. He acted like one tired
of life, and at length succeeded in arousing the deadly hostility of the
haughty minister. The latter, however, scorning to be revenged on one
man, and he a person of low birth, persuaded the king to decree the
slaughter of all the Jews in his realm. The news fell like a thunderbolt
on Mordecai. ”

“ David, whose undisputed authority, and admiration of the beautiful
Bathsheba, deceived him, blinding his moral vision, thought all was
safe. Death and royalty seemed to cover forever his sin.
But never was a man more mistaken. God sent Nathan, a fearless, faithful
prophet, to rebuke him. So the seer went to him, inquiring what should
be done with a man who had robbed a poor neighbor of his only and pet
lamb. The king, who was really loyal to God, and just in his aims,
indignantly said that the robber should die, and the lamb be restored. ”

“ It is remarkable that the King of Babylon made
no attempt to colonize the country he had depopulated, as was done by
the Assyrians in Israel; and thus, in the providence of God, the land
was left vacant, to be re-occupied by the Jews after seventy years of
captivity and punishment.
The grand and melancholy march into captivity is seen in the
illustration of the artist.
What a vast and sad procession! The conquerors ride proudly on the high
ground with the captive host in full view. The tower of Babel and the
walls of their magnificent city are visible in the distance. ”

“ The doom of Babylon, with that of the great invaders and conquerors of
Palestine, is equally wonderful and instructive.
Probably no nation of antiquity was more distinguished for luxury and
corrupt pleasures than this unrivalled city.
Its last king, Nabonnidus, reigned about one hundred years before Christ
appeared; and in less than that time afterward, the city walls enclosed
a hunting ground or park for the recreation of Persian monarchs. We
cannot well imagine a more complete destruction than has overtaken the
once rich and gay metropolis. ”

“ Vashti was divorced--and to provide for the emergency, his courtiers
suggested that he should collect in his harem all the beautiful virgins
of the land, and choose him a wife. Among these was Hadassah, the
adopted daughter of Mordecai. He urged her to enter her name among the
rivals for kingly favor. It was not ambition merely that moved Mordecai.
He had been meditating upon the unfolding providence of God toward his
scattered nation, and felt that there was deeper meaning in passing
events than the pleasures and anger of his sovereign. ”

“ Inclining, or holding out the sceptre was a mark of royal
favor; and kissing it by another, a sign of submission.
Jehovah's rule is mentioned frequently in the inspired record, under
this figure. "His sceptre is a right sceptre," in one of the
declarations, which even the wicked and most wretched on account of
transgression, dare not deny.
Under its wide dominion are Heaven, Earth, and Hell, not only, but a
universe whose boundaries neither man nor angel can ever reach.
"He is God over all, and blessed forever!"
How amazing the truth of such a king and kingdom! ”

“ Solomon, the second king of Israel, desired and sought, before riches
and honors, wisdom from God, to govern well the people, and it was
freely given.
Under his father's sceptre, Palestine was great in martial achievements,
national wealth, and the fine arts; for the king was a poet and a
musician. Solomon was a man of peace, and during his reign the kingdom
reached its highest glory in oriental splendor and luxury. The temple he
built was a monument of munificence, skill, and royal zeal for God's
honor. ”

“ But this rich and popular monarch was led into sin by his unbounded
prosperity, and indulging in forbidden pleasures. Afterwards he bitterly
mourned over his folly and shameful weakness, in departing from the
living God. This varied and, much of it, wasted life, led the king, in
his sober years of declining age, to write the Book of Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes, so full of the profoundest knowledge of mankind and wisest
counsel. It is said that the Scotch are preeminently discerning and
intelligent, because they are so familiar with the Scriptures,
especially the proverbs of Solomon. ”

“ From this moment the character of Esther unfolds itself. It was only a
passing weakness that prompted her to put in a word for her own life,
and she at once rose to the dignity of a martyr. The blood of the proud
and heroic Mordecai flowed in her veins, and she said: "Go, tell my
cousin to assemble all the Jews in Shushan, and fast three days and
three nights, neither eating nor drinking; I and my maidens will do the
same, and on the third day I will go before the king, and if I perish, I
perish!" Noble and brave heart! death--a violent death--is terrible ”

“ Whether in Egypt, or in his tent on the plains of Palestine, Abram, with
all the patriarchs, was a true gentleman. We may doubt whether any
modern school of refinement in manners could furnish any nobler examples
of dignity and civility in personal learning and manners, than were the
rich dwellers in ancient Palestine. Subjects fell prostrate before
sovereigns; equals, when they met, inclined the head toward the breast,
and placed the right hand on the left breast. Of the Great King it is
written, "Come, let us bow down; let us worship before the Lord our
Maker." ”

“ Solomon, was made king over Judah, and Jereboam, an Ephraimite, became
sovereign of the ten tribes, who were called Israel.
How interesting and instructive the history of the Hebrews, at this
period!
They got tired of the sovereignty of God, visible only in written rules
of conduct, family government, and the prophet-judges, and desired to
imitate their pagan neighbors in the pomp and power of royalty. Under
their second monarch they quarrelled among themselves, engaged in civil
strife, and became divided, rival kingdoms. ”

“ Egypt's monarch had wonderful dreams about a famine his astrologers
could not explain; and a released prisoner, who had forgotten Joseph's
kindness in explaining a dream of deliverance, advised the king to send
for the Hebrew. The young man was taken to the palace, and gave a true
interpretation of the dreams. Pharaoh was delighted; and from his
dungeon Joseph went to the secret place of authority second to the king.
Pharaoh said: "Only in the throne will I be greater than thou." ”

“ Dreadful was the carnage. The people, young
and old, were slaughtered wherever they appeared; and even the temple
was no refuge for them; the sacred courts streamed with blood. Zedekiah
himself, with his family and some friends, contrived to escape from the
city; but he was overtaken and captured in the plains of Jericho. He was
sent in chains to Nebuchadnezzar, who had left the conclusion of the war
to his generals, and was then at Riblah in Syria. ”

“ David wore a crown of gold set with jewels, he took from the king of the
Ammonites.
The more modern crowns of Asia, where all the kings reigned, of whom we
have read in these pages, are of different shapes, and some of them very
rich and expensive, ornamented with precious stones and plumes of the
rarest kind.
Crowns are also often mentioned in the Bible as an emblem of power; and
the Christian conqueror of his sins and the world, it is written, shall
have "a crown of life."
The sceptre was the third token of sovereignty. ”

“ A noble mind and body are wrecked, and many weep; yet how few think that
the blast of moral ruin which stranded the life-bark, was once the quiet
breath of a mother's unholy influence leading the boy astray.
So the splendid career of a hero and patriot, like Mordecai, Moses, or
Washington, is less glorious than the simple decision made amid the
conflicting emotions of youthful aspiration to honor God and serve a
struggling country.
Jehovah illustrates this principle in all his administration. ”

“ The little that is said of these people in
the Bible, is in connection with the Persians. Both seemed to have
become one nation; first the Medes gaining the ascendancy, and then the
Persians. But the darkness which rests upon the origin of the Asiatic
lands bewilders the most careful historian.
The conspicuous appearance of the Medes and Persians begins with Cyrus
the Great, the conqueror of Babylon, a remarkable monarch in power,
glory, and character. ”

“ Christ Blessing Little Children.
David stood among his brethren, a modest, bewildered shepherd boy,
uninjured by unholy gratification of passion and appetite--a
pure-minded, manly, and devout youth.
God told Samuel to anoint him, and he poured the consecrating oil upon
the fair brow of the astonished David. Then the Spirit of the Lord came
upon him, and departed from Saul altogether. The juvenile shepherd and
hero, who had slain a lion and a bear, in defence of his sheep, returned
to his flocks, a king in destiny. ”

“ Egypt was called. In them we learn that while the "chosen people of
God," the only nation whose annals of growth in the number of its
population and its civilization, has been handed down to us, was no more
than a tribe of wandering shepherds under Abraham, Egypt was the home of
art, and a garden of agricultural products. ”

“ The praises of the people lavished on David excited Saul's jealousy, and
he sought in various ways to kill David, who seemed to have a charmed
life; for God was with him, and no blow aimed at his life was
successful.
The king's son, Jonathan, loved David devotedly, and more than once
saved him from the wrath of Saul.
After hunting the son of Jesse, consulting witches in his desperation,
and fighting the Philistines in bloody conflicts, near Mount Gilboa,
defeated and wounded, he committed suicide by falling on his sword. Thus
ended the career of the first king of the Hebrew nation. ”

“ Their authority was gradually extended by the
union of households, whose retinue of servants was often large, and
their wealth very great. The founder and leader of the patriarchal line
chosen by God from the wealthy nomades, or wandering farmers of the
fruitful valleys, was Abram. A worshipper of the Infinite One, he
married Sarai, a maiden of elevated piety and personal beauty. And
doubtless they often walked forth together beneath the nightly sky,
whose transparent air in that latitude made the stars impressively--
"The burning blazonry of God!" ”

“ The king,
Alexander, attended by armed men, having ordered the crowd of the
townspeople to proceed in the rear of his infantry, entered the city in
a chariot and repaired to the palace. The next day he carefully surveyed
the household treasures of Darius, and all his money. For the rest, the
beauty of the city and its age turned the eyes not only of the king, but
of everyone in itself, and that with good reason."
The kings and conquerors of old had no canals for boats, no railways,
and not many good roads. ”

“ He was a noble,
dutiful and devout boy, and a faithful priest and magistrate in Israel.
Eli, whose sons were dissipated, and slain by God's revealed purpose on
account of their enemies, preceded him, so that Samuel saw the last of
the Theocracy, and inaugurated by the Lord's command a monarchy in
Palestine.
The Hebrews came to him begging for a king, and urging, as one reason
for the change, the unfitness of his sons to succeed him. They were
mercenary and open to bribery, and it is not strange that they were
disliked by the people. ”

“ Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were among the richest shepherds of
antiquity, and stand alone in moral grandeur of character, so far as we
have any records of the Hebrew husbandmen.
The great enemy of the sheep the world over, is the wolf--a cunning,
savage, and daring creature. A lamb of the flock seems to be a dainty
feast for him. He relishes even a child; the human delicacy is quite as
delicious as the other. ”

“ A comparatively unimportant prince, the "King of Sodom," whose small and
wicked realm Jehovah destroyed by fire and brimstone, is mentioned.
But the empire of the Pharaohs of Egypt, was large, rich, and
magnificent. And it is a singular thing, that of this nation, and all
others of antiquity, excepting what the Scriptures contain, the early
history is little known. A great German historian, Dr. Von Rotteck,
truly writes: "The principal trait that distinguishes the first period
of the ancient world is its obscurity." ”

“ Josiah took the throne.
During his reign, the King of Egypt marched into Palestine and conquered
it, killing Josiah, the king.
A few years later, Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch, besieged and
took Jerusalem, the "City of David."
The massive walls of the cities of old was their chief protection. Those
of Babylon, according to the old Roman historians, were marvelously
great. Think of them rising three hundred and fifty feet, eighty-seven
feet in thickness, and extending sixty miles around the city! One writer
says, that two four-horse chariots could pass each other on the top. ”

“ The high priest was the visible servant of God--his representative of
the Redeemer of his people.
Then came the judges, who were a kind of governors, having power to
declare war and make peace for the nation, but wearing no badges of
distinction. Jehovah revealed through them his will, and was still the
glorious king of Israel.
With the increase in numbers and general prosperity, there was a
decrease of the religious element and of harmony among the people. ”

“ The bible is still kept by an excellent man, as a relic of
prison-life. For Jacob was pardoned, went to the lovely town of C-,
N.Y., and became an eminent Christian. His monument is one of the
highest in the cemetery.
The Scriptures describe David as "a man after God's own heart." By this
we are not to understand that David always acted rightly, or that God
approved of all he did. Its meaning is, that, in his public capacity, as
king of Israel, he acted in accordance with the true theory of the
theocratical government; was always alive to his dependence on the
Supreme King ”