Captivating Bible Stories for Young People, Written in Simple Language

Twelfth Sunday.

ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS.

FIRST READING.

"Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God."—Deut. 6:16.

I TOLD you what sort of place a desert is, and how full it is of stones, and rocks, and sand, and with no water in it. Do you remember how thirsty Ishmael was in the desert, and how God heard the voice of the lad, and sent an angel to lead his mother to a well of water?

When the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, they were in a terrible wilderness. Mount Sinai stood up in the midst, and all round were great rocks of red and black marble, all dry and parched with the hot sun shining on them.

The Israelites grew very hot and sadly thirsty, but they did not pray as Ishmael had done. They grew angry, and said, "Is the Lord among us or no?" Do you not think they deserved that God should show whether He was among them by punishing them for grumbling? That was the way they tempted God. But He was so good and merciful that He pitied them; and He bade Moses to take his rod, and go to the bare, dry rock, and strike it. And when Moses struck the rock, God made a beautiful, fresh, clear spring of water come pouring out of it, so that all the people, and all their cows, and sheep, and goats, and camels, could drink and be refreshed.

Was not that a great wonder? and was not God very kind to them, though they were not good? But you see God was near to help them all the time, and it was very sad that they grumbled instead of praying. Do not be like them. If a thing is hard to bear, don't murmur and grumble about it, but pray, and then you will get help. Either the vexing thing will go away, or you will leave off minding it.

MOSES BRINGING WATER FROM THE ROCK.—Ex. 17:6.

QUESTIONS.

1. Where had the Israelites come from? 2. Who was leading them? 3. What kind of place did they get into? 4. What is a desert like? 5. What was the mountain in the midst of the desert? 6. What cannot be found in the desert? 7. Who was the lad that was thirsty there before? 8. What did Ishmael do when he was thirsty? 9. But what did the Israelites do? 10. What did they say? 11. What would have served them right? 12. But did God punish them? 13. What did he tell Moses to take? 14. What did Moses strike? 15. What came out of the rock? 16. What made the water come out of the rock? 17. Was it not very good of God to give them water? 18. What ought they to have done? 19. What should you do when a thing is hard? 20. Is it not very naughty to grumble?

SECOND READING.

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up."—John 3:14.

ONE great fault of the Israelites was that they had no patience. The moment they saw anything troublesome or difficult, they began to cry out, and say they could not get on, and it was very hard on them. Now it is very wrong ever to say God is very hard upon us, for we may be sure He is doing what is best for us. There was one stony, hot, steep part of the journey still to come, and when the Israelites saw it they forgot how often God had helped them, and cried out, and lamented, and complained of Him and of Moses.

So again they were punished, for the little shining snakes that live there came in numbers, darting at them and biting them, so that the bite burnt like fire, and they died. Then they cried out to God and were sorry, and He told Moses of a wonderful way to cure them. Moses was to melt up some brass and make a great serpent, like the little ones that bit them, and set it up on a pole. Then if anyone who was bitten would come at once and look up at the brazen serpent, his bite would get well, and he would not die of it.

THE BRAZEN SERPENT.—Num. 21:31.

This was a miracle—a wonder. And it was to teach the Israelites something, and us too. For you know our Blessed Lord hung on the cross, as the serpent hung on the pole; and when our souls are in danger of dying of sin, we must think of Him, and look to Him in faith, and He will save us from being punished for our sin, and keep our souls from dying.

QUESTIONS.

1. What sort of place had the Israelites to go over? 2. How did they like it? 3. What did they do? 4. Why ought they not to have cried out? 5. Who had been taking care of them? 6. So how did God punish them? 7. What happened when the serpents bit them? 8. What were they sorry for? 9. So what was Moses to make? 10. Where did he put the brazen serpent? 11. What were they to do if they were bit? 12. What cured them? 13. Who hung upon the cross? 14. What does He cure our souls of?

THIRD READING.

"He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not."—Deut. 8:3.

THIS morning you heard how God gave the children of Israel water to drink in the wilderness. Now you shall hear what He gave them to eat. The ground was all hard stones. There was grass which the cows and sheep could eat, and there were a few trees with long sharp thorns, but no fruit on them, and no corn to make bread; and soon the people were very hungry, and began to cry out that they did not know what would become of them.

But God was not going to forget them. When they rose up in the morning, the fresh dew lay on the grass, and all about in the dew were little white things that tasted like wafers made with honey. This was called manna, and God had sent it from heaven for them to eat.

Every morning on week days there it was, and they had all to come out and pick it up. But they must get up early to gather it, for when the sun was hot it would melt away. And they could not keep it—it grew bad and was not fit to use the next day; but there was always just enough for everybody to have all they wanted. There was only one day in each week that more came down, and that was the day before the Sabbath-day, which they had instead of Sunday. Then each one could get twice as much as could be eaten in one day, and it did not spoil so fast. For on the Sabbath-day God would have them rest, and so no manna was to be found anywhere, so that they might learn to keep the Fourth Commandment—Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.

PRIESTHIGH-PRIESTLEVITE

All the time they stayed in the wilderness, the sweet white manna lay on the grass in the morning for them to pick it up—twice as much on the sixth day of the week, and on the Sabbath-day none at all. Was not that very good of God?

QUESTIONS.

1. Where were the Israelites? 2. What had they to drink in the wilderness? 3. What else did they want? 4. Why could they not get bread? 5. What did God give them instead? 6. What was the manna like? 7. Where did it lie? 8. When was the manna on the grass? 9. Who were to eat it? 10. Who sent it? 11. What became of it in hot sunshine? 12. Would it keep? 13. What was the day when it could be kept? 14. How much came down the day before the Sabbath? 15. What might not be done on the Sabbath? 16. What is the Fourth Commandment? 17. So why did they get twice as much manna the day before? 18. When did no manna come? 19. What day have we instead of the Sabbath?

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