S.

7.

"She knew that he was stricken, then'; and rush'd Again into his arms'; and, with a flood

Of tears she could not stay', she sobb'd a prayer
That he would breathe his agony in words.
He told her', and a momentary flush

Shot o'er her countenance; and then the soul
Of Jephthah's daughter waken'd'; and she stood
Calmly and nobly up, and said, 'twas well-
And she would die.

"The sun had well-nigh set.
The fire was on the altar; and the priest

Of the high God was there. A pallid man

Was stretching out his trembling hands to heaven,
As if he would have prayed, but had no words-
And she who was to die, the calmest one

And she was dead-but not by violence."-N. P. WILLIS. 8. Although the Bible tells us that Jephthah did with his daughter "according to his vow which he had vowed," yet some commentators,5 making the closing paragraph of his vow read, “or I will offer it up for a burnt-offering," suppose that he did not slay his daughter, but dedicated her to the Lord, and set her apart for the service of the tabernacle. The poet has made the supposition that before the appointed time of sacrifice she died, "but not by violence."

1 RE-LAPS'ED, fell back.

2 SHEK'-EL, here used for weight.

3 TAS'-SEL, cluster of the tassel-like leaves

of some species of pine.

14 WROTH (rαwth), very angry.

5 COM'-MENT-A-TORS, those who write comments or explanations.

LESSON V.

RUTH AND NAOMI.

1. Ir was during a severe famine, while the Judges ruled Israel, that Elimelech, of the tribe of Judah, with his wife Naomi and his two sons, removed into the land of Moab, where the young men married. Death soon deprived Naomi of her husband and her sons: she then resolved to return to her native country, and her daughters-in-law generously offered to accompany her.

2. On representing the difficulties they would have to encounter, one of them was disheartened, and turned back; but the other, named Ruth, persevered. And Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."

3. When Naomi saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left speaking to her. So Naomi returned, taking her daughter-in-law with her; and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley-harvest. The story of Ruth pleading with Naomi has been very beautifully told in the following lines:

4. "Entreat me not to leave thee, but convert me to the truth;'
So spake in sorrow and in tears the gently-chiding Ruth.
'Entreat me not to leave thee, nor unclasp thy loosening hand;
I'll follow thee, my mother, to the far Judean land.'
But, turning still in grief away from her young, pleading face,
And sadly putting back the arms so fondly that embrace—
'My daughter,' thus Naomi said, in measured tones and deep,
'We have our Sabbaths in that land, and holy days to keep,
And there's a bound we can not pass upon that day, you know;'
But Ruth said, 'Only where thou goest, mother, will I go.'

5. "Still spake Naomi, Turn again-thy home is not with me;
For Judah's children must not with the outcast Gentile be.'
Ruth answered, 'In that stranger-land with thee, oh, let me stay,
And where thou lodgest I will lodge-I can not go away.'
And then again Naomi, 'We have precepts to observe,
And from our fathers' worship are commanded not to swerve.'
Ruth answered with religious zeal, 'I bow to Judah's Lord:
Thy people shall my people be-thy God shall be my God.'

6. "And now the mother's love burst forth, and rose in accents wild;
"Turn back, beloved, oh! turn back, for think you, Ruth, my child,
Your fainting heart could ever bear the woes I number now?
They must not dim those gentle eyes, nor darken o'er that brow;
For though thy mother yields to them, yet, dearest daughter mine,
It were not meet that they should fall on such a head as thine.'
7. "Then Ruth, with sudden brightness in her mild and loving eye,
'However hard thy death may be, thus only will I die.'
But yet once more Naomi spoke, 'My daughter, for the dead
We have a house of burial;' but Ruth, still answering, said,
'And there will I be buried; and the Lord deal thus by me,
If aught, my mother, on the earth, but death, part thee and me.'
MRS. E. H. J. CLEAVELAND.

8. On their arrival in Canaan Naomi found herself forgotten by her kinsfolk, and was obliged to depend for support on the labor of her affectionate daughter-in-law. While Ruth was gleaning in the lands of a wealthy man of that country, named Boaz, her beauty and modesty arrested his attention;

he spoke to her kindly, and ordered his reapers to drop some of the barley in her way, so as to afford her relief in the most delicate manner.

9. Not long after this the virtuous Ruth became the wife of the wealthy Boaz; and from this union sprang Obed, the father of Jesse, who was the father of David, the royal progenitor of the Messiah. The story of Ruth conveys one of the most beautiful pictures ever drawn of fidelity and affection, while its allusions to the customs of the people of Israel present a lively view of pastoral and rural life as exhibited at that early period of history.

LESSON VI.

THE REIGN OF DAVID.

1. THE reign of David, like that of Saul, was filled with wars carried on against the surrounding heathen nations. In one of his wars David gained possession of Jebus, or Jerusalem, the strong-hold of the Jebusites; and so pleased was he with the strength and beauty of the place, that he made it the capital of his kingdom.

2. The latter part of the reign of David was clouded by domestic calamities. The child of his wife Bathsheba died; Amnon, the eldest of the royal princes, was slain by his brother Absalom; and the ambitious Absalom himself plotted against his father, and soon became the head of a formidable conspiracy. The surpassing beauty of Absalom seemed to win the hearts of the people; and it is said of him that "in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty; from the sole of his foot even unto the crown of his head there was no blemish in him."

3. No sooner was the standard of revolt raised by his misguided and unnatural son, than King David, with a few faithful followers, was compelled to flee from Jerusalem. He "went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot; and all the people that were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went."

4. Notwithstanding the prospects of success which at first encouraged Absalom, a numerous army soon assembled around King David, and the contest was to be decided by a battle. The field of struggle was the wood of Ephraim, in the great plain of Jordan. The fond father gave the strongest injunctions to his soldiers to spare his beloved son; but as Absalom fled from the field, his long and beautiful hair became entangled in an oak, and in this condition Joab, the king's captain, slew him.

:

5. When word was brought to David at Jerusalem that Absalom was slain, the aged king lamented the loss of his disobedient child with the most passionate sorrow; and we are told that "he went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept and as he went, thus he said: 'O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom! my son, my son." The scene in which David is supposed to have taken his last look of his erring but loved son, lying cold in death, and the lamentation which he there uttered, have been thus described:

6.

7.

8.

DAVID'S LAMENT FOR ABSALOM.
The pall' was settled. He who slept beneath
Was straighten'd for the grave; and, as the folds
Sunk to the still proportions, they betray'd
The matchless symmetry of Absalom.
His hair was yet unshorn, and silken curls
Were floating round the tassels as they sway'd
To the admitted air, as glossy now

3

As when, in hours of gentle dalliance, bathing
The snowy fingers of Judæa's daughters.
His helm was at his feet; his banner, soil'd
With trailing through Jerusalem, was laid,
Reversed, beside him; and the jewel'd hilt,
Whose diamonds lit the passage of his blade,
Rested, like mockery, on his cover'd brow.
The soldiers of the king trod to and fro,
Clad in the garb of battle; and their chief,
The mighty Joab, stood beside the bier,
And gazed upon the dark pall steadfastly,
As if he fear'd the slumberer might stir.
A slow step startled him. He grasp'd his blade
As if a trumpet rang; but the bent form