HEBREW BOYS 90

DANIEL AND THE LIONS 92

ESTHER BEFORE THE KING 94

DAVID AND JONATHAN 96

OLD TESTAMENT STORIES

ADAM AND EVE.

In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth He also made the
sun, moon, and stars; trees, flowers, and all vegetable life; and all
animals, birds, fishes, and insects. Then God made man. The name of
the first man was Adam, and the first woman was Eve. Both were placed
in a beautiful garden called the Garden of Eden, where they might have
been happy continually had they not sinned. But God forbade them to
eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan
tempted Eve to take the fruit of this tree. She ate, and gave to Adam,
and he ate also. Thus they sinned, and sin came into the world.

Then God called to Adam and said, "Where art thou?" Before this, Adam
and Eve had been happy when God was near, now they were afraid. Why?
Because they knew they had done wrong. So sin makes us afraid of God.

God rebuked them for the evil they had done; and then drove them out
of the Garden of Eden, placing an angel to keep watch over the gate so
that they could not return.

CAIN AND ABEL.

What a sad story the Bible tells us in the fourth chapter of Genesis!
Cain and Abel were brothers, the sons of Adam and Eve. How they should
have loved each other! Yet we find that Cain killed Abel. Why did he
do this?

Cain was a husbandman, who tilled the ground; Abel was a shepherd, who
kept sheep. One day each offered a sacrifice to God. Cain brought
fruit, and Abel brought a lamb. God accepted Abel's offering, but not
Cain's. Why? Well, I am not quite sure, but I think it was because
Abel offered his sacrifice according as God had commanded, and had
faith in a promised Saviour; but Cain simply acknowledged God's
goodness in giving him the fruits of the earth. God had probably told
them, too, that when they came to worship Him, they were to bring a
lamb or a kid as a sacrifice for their sins; this Abel had done, but
Cain had not. Cain was angry because God had accepted Abel's offering
and not his; and he hated his brother Abel.

God knew the evil thought Cain had towards his brother, and asked him,
"Why art thou wroth?" and said, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be
accepted?" But Cain did still more wickedly. When