Esca

“ Asa could not trust God and therefore made court to Benhadad.
3. That he acted against his interest. (1.) He had lost an opportunity of checking the growing greatness of the king of Syria, (v. 7) : His host has escaped out of thy hand, which otherwise would have joined with Baasha's and fallen with it. (2.) He had incurred God's displeasure and henceforth must expect no peace, but the constant alarms of war, v. 9. Those that cannot find in their hearts to trust God forfeit his protection and throw themselves out of it.
II. Asa's displeasure at this reproof. ”

“ On the contrary, all her faculties seemed preternaturally sharpened, while she writhed her slim body like a snake through tufted grass and broad dock leaves, and all the luxuriant vegetation of the adjoining meadow, to a hedge that fenced the orchard, where, parting the tangled branches in her noiseless hands, she peered through, with the eager, hopeless gaze of an outcast spirit looking on the paradise it has lost. Not a smile, not a glance, not an unwise gesture of that fond, foolish pair escaped the watcher. ”

“ Ask those who were forced down the narrow stair with pinioned arms and muffled faces, knowing that their feet would never ascend the slippery steps again! Ask those who were immured in narrow cells, hollowed like living sepulchres from the rock, and so built in that the soul, indeed, might, but the body never could, escape from its imprisonment! ”

“ ASA'S PRAYER 'And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee.'—2 CHRON. xiv. 11.
This King Asa, Rehoboam's grandson, had had a long reign of peace, which the writer of the Book of Chronicles traces to the fact that he had rooted out idolatry from Judah, 'The land had rest, and he no war ... ”

“ ISAAC. I may not do it, wife, I pray you be content:
The title of birthright, that cometh by descent,
Or the place of eldership coming by due course,
I may not change nor shift for better nor for worse.
Nature's law it is, the eldest son to knowledge,
And in no wise to bar him of his heritage:
And ye shall of Esau one day have comfort.
REBECCA. Set a good long day then, or else we shall come short.
ISAAC. I warrant you, he will do well enough at length.
REBECCA. You must needs commend him, being your might and strength.
ISAAC. Well, now go we hence; little Mido, where art thou? ”

“ ESAU. Seek no farther, Mido: already here he is.
ISAAC. Methinketh, I have Esau his voice perceived.
ESAU. Ye guess truly, father, ye are not deceived.
MIDO. Here he is come now invisible, by my soul:
For I saw him not, till he spake hard at my poll!
ISAAC. Now, go thou in, Mido, let us two here alone.
MIDO. Sir, if ye command me, full quickly I am gone.
ISAAC. Yet, and if I call thee, see thou be not slack.
MIDO. I come at the first call, good Master Isaac.
ISAAC. Son Esau.
ESAU. Here, father.
ISAAC. Is none here but we?
ESAU. None to harken our talk, father, that I do see. ”

“ My friend the muleteer, who knew the ways and means of Meshed, recommended me strongly to become a saka, or water-carrier. 'You are young, and strong,' said he: 'you have a good voice, and would entice people to drink by a harmonious cry. You have besides a great talent for cant and palaver, and for laughing at one's beard. The number of pilgrims who come to Meshed to perform their devotions at the tomb of the Imâm is great, and charity being one of the principal instruments which they use for the salvation of their souls, they give freely to those who promise them the best reward. ”

“ Nature, in fact, seemed to have intended me for a saka. The water which I had a moment before drawn from a filthy reservoir, I extolled as having flowed from a spring created by Ali in person equal to the sacred well of Zem Zem, and a branch of the river which flows through Paradise. ”

“ He fancied himself again getting a kid from amongst his flock; giving it to his mother to dress, so that his father would not know it from venison; stooping down, while she put on the back of his neck small pieces of the kid's skin, that it might feel, to the blind Isaac, like the hairy skin of his brother Esau; carrying in the smoking-hot dish; telling, one after another, gross falsehoods, in reply to the questions put by his puzzled father; repeating oft his assurances that he was indeed Isaac's very son Esau; and bowing his head to receive the blessing intended for his elder brother. ”

“ The manners of the Osage are different from those of any nation I ever saw except those before mentioned of the same origin, having their people divided into classes. All the bulk of the nation being warriors and hunters—with them these terms being almost synonymous—the remainder is divided into two classes, cooks and doctors; the latter of whom likewise exercise the functions of priests or magicians, and have great influence in the councils of the nation by their pretended divinations, interpretations of dreams, and magical performances. ”

“ Brihaspati lays down the rule that ‘an acrimonious or malicious man, and one who causes dissension or does violent acts, or who is inimically disposed towards the guild (śrenî) , association (pûga) , or the king shall be instantly expelled from the town or the assembly of the corporation.'
Asoka takes upon himself as Head of the Church to eliminate schismatics and maintain ecclesiastical unity among both monks and nuns. No definite indication of the date of this edict can be discerned, but it is certainly la.ter than the Pillar Edicts, as is proved by the Kauśâmbi replica. ”

“ And when Asa had heard these words, and prophecy, he was comforted, and did away all idols from all the land of Judah and of Benjamin, and from the cities which he had taken from Ephraim. And he gathered together all the people under him, and he entered into Jerusalem, to make strong the bond of peace, [358] that they should seek the Lord God of their fathers in all their heart and all their soul, and he said, "If any man does not seek the Lord God of Israel, let him die, [359] from the least to the most, from man to woman." ”

“ In this thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. [109] 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing . And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. [110] 11 And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was very grievous : yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. ”

“ My Agents, too, whether of high, low, or middle rank, themselves conform to my teaching and lead others in the right way—fickle people must be led in the right way—likewise also the Wardens of the Marches. For this is the rule: "protection by the Law of Piety, regulation by that Law, felicity by that Law, guarding by that Law."'
Comment
In the Pillar Scripture recorded at a late date in his reign Asoka continues, develops, and reviews the instructions which he had first recorded in his thirteenth regnal year. ”

“ Although Asoka probably had no clear faith in a living, personal God, his teaching certainly attained to a level of practical morality little inferior to that of the Church of England in many respects, and superior in one point, by the inclusion of animals within the circle of neighbours to whom duty is due. ”

“ When this king came up against him, Asa went and cried unto the Lord, and cast himself upon his God, trusting Him to deliver him, and God never disappointed any man, either before or since Asa's day, who did that. God delivered his enemies into his hand and made him a successful and happy king, over a prosperous and increasing people. ”

“ Besha. “Is the Great Medicine a chief—a wise man?”
Mahéga. “No: it is in the form of a woman; but its power is very great. It talks with the Great Spirit, and the Wahconda [64] listens to its speech!”
Besha. “Many are the medicine–men who talk with the Great Spirit; they see dreams, and give counsel to the warriors and chiefs; there is no new Medicine here.”
“My brother speaks truth,” said Osage, smiling scornfully. “But if the medicine–men of the Upsaroka call to the sun, will he come out of his path, or hide his face at their words?” ”

“ There is one other yet to pass through the shed, who has as it were a hundred eyes, and until he has come and gone, your life is still in peril." At that moment the master himself entered, and having had to complain that his oxen had not been properly fed, he went up to their racks, and cried out: "Why is there such a scarcity of fodder? There is not half enough straw for them to lie on. Those lazy fellows have not even swept the cobwebs away." ”

“ After this, Asa’s army returned to Jerusalem, laden with booty. The prophet Azariah met them, and said, “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, The Lord is with you while ye be with him, and if ye seek him he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.--Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded,” 2 Chron. xv, 2, 7. After this exhortation, Asa, being animated with new courage, destroyed the idols of Judah, Benjamin, and Mount Ephraim; repaired the altar of burnt-offerings ”

“ Though I had had two children, one by him and one by his son, the old man’s widow sent me to the auction-block. I was sold to the highest bidder. I was bought by Mr. Carberry Ratcliff.”
“Ah! by him? by him?” muttered Esha.
“I was handsome. He made me his favorite. I’ve been faithful to him. Even his wife, poor thing, blesses the day I came into the house. She would have died long ago but for my care. The slaves, too, come to me with their sorrows. I do what I can for their relief. I am not, by nature, a bad woman. I would continue to serve this man and his household.” ”

“ While he live he have a very good time, plenty to eat, plenty wives, fine house, much gold as he like, only nothing to spend it on, pretty necklace, nice paint for face. But Asika, little bit by little bit she eat up his spirit. He see too many ghosts. ”

“ To Loder's and Honer's gifts the highest Asa-god adds the best element in human nature, önd, spirit, that by which a human being becomes participator in the divine also in an inner sense, and not only as to form. ”

“ While Asa was saying this, God gave him a signal of victory, and joining battle cheerfully on account of what God had foretold about it, he slew a great many of the Ethiopians; and when he had put them to flight, he pursued them to the country of Gerar; and when they left off killing their enemies, they betook themselves to spoiling them, [for the city Gerar was already taken,] and to spoiling their camp, so that they carried off much gold, and much silver, and a great deal of [other] prey, and camels, and great cattle, and flocks of sheep. ”

“ In the legend of Buddha, when Mâyâ is conscious of having conceived the Bodhisattva, under the guise of an elephant, she retires to a wood of Asoka trees, and then sends for her husband. The Hindus entertain the superstition that a single touch of the foot of a pretty woman is sufficient to cause the Asoka to flourish. The word asoka signifies that which is deprived of grief, and Asoka, or the tree without grief, is also one of the names of the Bodhidruma, the sacred tree of Buddha. ”

“ Father, I pray thee bless me also. To whom he said: Thy brother germain is come fraudulently, and hath received thy blessing. Then said Esau: Certainly and justly may his name be called well Jacob, for on another time tofore this he supplanted me of my patrimony, and now secondly he hath undernome from me my blessing. And yet then he said to his father: Hast thou not reserved to me one blessing? Isaac answered: I have ordained him to be thy lord, I have subdued all his brethren to his servitude. I have stablished him in wheat, wine and oil. And after this what shall I do to thee, my son? ”

“ A Stag, grown old and mischievous, was, according to custom, stamping with his foot, making offers with his head, and bellowing so terribly that the whole herd quaked for fear of him; when one of the little Fawns, coming up, addressed him thus: "Pray, what is the reason that you, who are so formidable at all other times, if you do but hear the cry of the hounds, are ready to fly out of your skin for fear?" "What you observe is true," replied the Stag, "though I know not how to account for it. I am indeed vigorous and able, and often resolve that nothing shall ever dismay my courage ”

“ He does not say, Be not slaves, but Be not entangled with the yoke of bondage, for the yoke of bondage is heavier than the bondage itself.
4. Isaac also says to his son Esau, when he sought his blessing, Gen. xxvii. 39, 40. Behold thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother. But the time shall come when thou shalt have the dominion and shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. ”

“ One day, when five hundred of his ministers ventured to resist the royal will, Asoka, transported with rage, drew his sword, and with his own hand cut off the heads of all the offenders.
Another day, the Women of the palace, whom Asoka's rough features failed to please, mocked him by breaking off the leaves of an asoka tree in the garden. The king, when he heard of the incident, caused five hundred women to be burnt alive. ”

“ A modern Hindu writer, following the same line of thought, lays down the rule:
'Let every man, so far as in him lieth, help the reading of the scriptures, whether those of his own Church or those of another [55] .'
Asoka presumably did not believe in the Vedântist doctrine of Mâyâ, which forms a bond of union between so many Hindu sects, but, nevertheless, his theory of the relation which one sect or denomination should bear to another, as expressed in Rock Edict XII and Pillar Edict VI, agrees exactly with the principles formulated by Miss Noble and Pratâpa Siṁha [56] . ”