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was done to Jeroboam, when he set up the golden calf; how his hand withered, and how the prophet pronounced a curse upon the altar; so that even if Hiel knew nothing of the prophecy against Jericho, which is not very likely, it was wrong of him to be ignorant of God's will, especially in taking upon him so great a work as that of building a city. Nor could he even have been one of the poorer people in Israel, whose ignorance might have been more excusable on the contrary, he must have been both rich and great, or he would not have thought of such an undertaking. We should learn, then, to have the greatest reverence for God's prophecies, and to be sure that they will one day be fulfilled. We must also take care that we are not blameably ignorant of God's word and will. For such ignorance leads men into all manner of sin, and justly exposes them to punishment.

E. Did the curse, then, that you spoke of, fall upon Hiel?

M. It did; and as soon as he began to build the city, Abiram, his eldest son, died, and when he set up the gates of it, he lost his youngest child, who was called Segub.

Nearly six hundred years had passed since this sentence had been spoken by Joshua upon the builder of Jericho. So certain are the divine threatenings! So dangerous is it to despise them! E. Was the anger of God upon the city too, after it was built?

M. No; the curse had been pronounced upon the builder of Jericho, not upon the city itself, nor

upon the people who should live there afterward. It is a place which is often mentioned after this in Scripture, particularly in the New Testament. It was built in a very large plain, about nineteen miles from Jerusalem, and became famous for the schools of the prophets, which were kept there in the days of Elijah and Elisha. In our Saviour's time this city was next to Jerusalem for its size and magnifi

cence.

E. Now, mother, will you tell me about the miracle that Elisha worked there.

M. Yes, it is time to return to our story, from which we have wandered a great way; but I could not speak of Jericho without telling you something of its history.

There was one thing in the days of Elisha, which made Jericho a very unpleasant place to live in; this was a large unwholesome spring of water near the city, which poisoned the land around, and made it very barren; depriving the inhabitants of those delightful fruits and vegetables which in such a situation as that of Jericho they might have enjoyed in great abundance. And when the men of the city found that they had so great a prophet as Elisha within their walls, they determined to try whether he could not do something for them. Therefore they came to him, and said, “Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth; but the water is naught, and the ground barren. And he said, bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters and

cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land." So the waters were healed, and have been ever since exceedingly wholesome, and the country which they water, very fertile.

E. Was salt a good thing, mother, for sweetening the waters?

M. No, my son, not at all; for salt spoils water more than any thing. Therefore, when Elisha sweetened the water, and made the soil fruitful, he must have used salt only to make the miracle which was worked more clear and easy to be seen by the people.

After having thus delivered the people of Jericho from the sad evil under which they were suffering, the prophet left the city, and went up from thence unto Bethel. And as he approached that idolatrous city, some young people came out of it, and mocked the holy man, treating him very rudely, and saying, "Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head."

E. How shocking, mother! How could they treat one of God's holy prophets so!

M. No doubt, my child, they had been taught by their wicked parents to hate all the people of God, especially his prophets, who were so often sent by God to tell them of their sins, and of the punishment which God was going to bring upon them. But these unhappy parents soon learned the danger and misery of bringing up their children to scoff at all that is holy and good, and of teaching their young lips to move in rude insults against the ser

vants of the most high God. For as these young people ran after Elisha and mocked him, he turned back, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And while he declared the anger of the Almighty against them, there came two bears out of the wood, and tore them to pieces! Yes, Edward; I do not wonder that you look shocked; it is indeed a dreadful story; but let it be of use to you, my child; let it teach you to reverence every thing that belongs to God, especially his ministers, Has he not shown us, in this page of his holy Word, that he expects us to pay great respect to them, and looks upon any rudeness shown to them as an injury done to himself; and that he will not forgive such an insult even in the young? Oh! remember this, and never be tempted to join the thoughtless or the wicked in laughing at holy men, or holy things.

From Bethel the prophet Elisha went on to Mount Carmel, and then to Samaria. Jehoram, the son of Ahab, was now king of Israel. Jehoshaphat, one of the good kings I told you of, was reigning in Judah. Now it happened about this time, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. David had subdued the Moabites, and ever since his time their kings had been subject to the kings of Israel. Jehoram was therefore obliged to go and fight against the king of Moab, and as he did not feel strong enough to overcome him himself, he begged the king of Judah, with whom he was at peace, to go up with him against Moab,

Jehoshaphat was willing to oblige the king of Israel, and agreed to join with him in this war. The country of Moab lay beyond the river Jordan; and their nearest way to it would have been through that part of Canaan which belonged to the tribe of Reuben, which lay beyond Jordan, rather to the south but they determined to go round through the wilderness of Edom, and attack the kingdom of Moab on the side farthest from Israel, where the king would least expect them to come. If you get the map, we can trace their way, and see exactly how Edom and Moab were situated; and then you will understand this plan for taking the king of Moab by surprise. They had not gone far in the wilderness of Edom, before their armies and their cattle began to be in great distress for water, and the king of Israel felt afraid that the Lord meant to deliver them all into the hands of the king of Moab.

E. Was Jehoram a worshipper of God?

M. No; although he seems to have dreaded the anger of the true God, he was himself an idolater. Well was it for him that he was travelling in the company of the king of Judah; for as soon as this distress for water was felt, he asked if there was no prophet of the Lord among them.

E. I am afraid Elisha was not there, mother; for you know he went to Samaria; and I saw on the map just now that Samaria was a long, long way from the wilderness of Edom.

M. So it was; but the prophet had probably been directed to join the camp of the kings of Israel

VOL. III.-C

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