Part 323 (2/2)

Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cl.u.s.ter to eat; my soul desireth the firstripe fig. The G.o.dly man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the mischief of his soul: thus they weave it together. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the G.o.d of my salvation: my G.o.d will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high G.o.d? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

{369}

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy G.o.d?

But in the latter days it shall come to pa.s.s, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it. And many nations shall go and say, ”Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the G.o.d of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

And he shall judge between many peoples, and shall reprove strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

For all the peoples will walk everyone in the name of his G.o.d, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our G.o.d for ever and ever.

But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

{370}

OBADIAH

(This is the shortest of the books of prophecy in the Old Testament.

It denounces the evil of the people of Edom, who, when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, took delight in its distresses and, pursuing the fugitives in the mountains, captured them and returned them to the Babylonian army. Nothing definite is known of the prophet.)

The vision of Obadiah.

Thus saith the Lord G.o.d concerning Edom: ”We have heard tidings from the Lord, and an amba.s.sador is sent among the nations, saying, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the nations: thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, 'Who shall bring me down to the ground?' Though thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thy nest be set among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, would they not steal till they had enough? if grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden treasures sought up! All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee on thy way, even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread lay a snare under thee: there is none understanding in him.

{371}{372}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

”THE PROPHETS”

From the frieze of ”The Prophets,” by Sargent, in the Boston Public Library.

The prophets here represented are Micah, Haggai, Malachi, and Zechariah.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{373}

Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter. For the violence done to thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

But look not thou on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress. Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. And stand thou not in the mountain pa.s.ses, to cut off those of his that escape; and deliver not up those of his that remain in the day of distress.

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head. But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall burn among them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.

<script>