Mamma. Do you remember where we left off in the story of God's people?
Sophy. Oh, yes. It was at a very sorrowful part. God said He would give up Israel because they worshipped idols and did many wicked things. God said: They are not my people. And He let the king of Babylon come into their country; and he burnt down the House of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the fine houses of the people. And he took the king of Judah captive, and put out his eyes, and kept him a prisoner in Babylon till he died.
M. Why did God call Israel, "Not my people"?
S. Because of the sin of Manasseh the king, who killed a great many good people; and because they worshipped the calves of gold that Jeroboam made. For Jeroboam made Israel to sin, by making them worship these calves instead of God.
M. I am glad you remember so well. After this there were two kings reigning together. The one whose throne was in Jerusalem was called the king of Judah. He had only two tribes, and God called them the remnant of His people. And God sent prophets and good men among them, to warn the people not to forget Him. And God blessed Judah for His servant David's sake.
S. Was it the king's fault that the people were so wicked?
M. Yes. Because the kings ought to have taught their subjects the right way. God gave His people into their charge, and the king was God's servant to do judgment and justice on the earth. And when the king was good God blessed the people. God tried His people first by one thing, then by another. God tried Adam with everything delightful in the garden of Eden; and Adam fell by disobedience. Then God put man over every beast of the field, and gave Noah power over the animals. But Noah could not govern himself. Next, God called Abraham out from among the people who worshipped idols, and taught him how to walk by faith, and to trust God for everything. God blessed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and He separated them from all the nations of the world. And God called their children His chosen people. He brought them out of Egypt and led them through the wilderness. And there God gave them a law and commandments by the band of Moses. And what else did God give them?
S. A beautiful tabernacle, with the ark which was God's mercy seat, where God used to come in glory between the cherubim. And Aaron was God's high priest and he had beautiful clothes to wear, when he went into God's presence.
M. Yes. God tried His people by a law and by priesthood. They broke God's first commandment and made a calf of gold and worshipped it. God punished their sin, but forgave them when Moses prayed for them. And He brought them into the land that He had promised to Abraham.
S. That was the land of Canaan. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. And God helped them to drive out the Philistines and all the wicked nations.
M. God set up His people Israel in this land that the Lord God cared for, His eyes were upon it from one year's end unto the other. God gave every man his own possession in it, and He drove out all the wicked nations. But even in Canaan they were unfaithful, they forgot God, and they did not continue to drive out the wicked nations; but made peace with them and learned their ways and sometimes they even worshipped their idols.
S. Did not the priests always love God?
M. No, even the priesthood failed. You remember about Eli's sons; how wicked they were, and how sorrowful Eli was about them. In his time God allowed the Philistines to come and take away the ark; and the glory departed from Israel because the ark of God was taken.
S. Oh, yes; that was the time that Hannah prayed for Samuel.
M. Samuel was given in answer to his mother's prayer. He was the prophet of prayer, and he taught the people, that in the very worst state of things, the faithful one might always go direct to God, and get an answer straight from Him. Samuel never ceased to pray for the people.
S. But God gave them judges before Samuel?
M. Yes: When the wicked nations oppressed them, then they cried to God in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.
S. I remember about Gideon, how he took three hundred men with only pitchers in their hands, and lamps inside the pitchers; sand when they blew with their trumpets all the armies of the Midianites and of the Amalekites fled, and God gained a great victory for him that day.
M. Gideon, by faith in the God of Israel, drove the enemy out of the land. I should like you to remember that the Midianites were descended from Abraham, and his wife Keturah. And Amalek was the son of Esau's eldest son. So that both were related to the children of Israel.
S. Why, then, were they always at war with Israel?
M. Because they tried to hinder God's chosen people from possessing the place of blessing that God had prepared for them. Our nearest relations are often the greatest hindrance to us in the things of God, because they would like to keep us from going on. The first time that Amalek came against the children of Israel was in the wilderness, when they were going up to Canaan. They tried to hinder them from going on, to the promised land. God was so displeased with Amalek for this, that He said He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
S. But, Mamma, this book that we are going to read now, seems to be nearly all names?
M. It is a chronicle, which God Himself has kept, of His people; and precious to us in this way, that it shews how God keeps account of every man by name. Every name is written in His Book. And, as we read on, we shall find that the Spirit of God kept account, not only of their names, but of their works; and of the way God's mercy and goodness acted towards each one, for correction, and for blessing.
S. Does God write our names in His Book?
M. Assuredly He does. The name of every one who has been washed from his sins in the precious blood of Christ, is surely written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
S. Does God remember the names of people who do not believe in Jesus, too, Mamma?
M. Oh, yes; none is forgotten. When the great white throne is set, the dead, small and great, shall stand before God. Other books will then be opened, and the people will be judged according to the things that are written in the books, according to their works. On that day, every one whose name is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life, will be cast into the lake of fire.