>>> YOU ARE VIEWING A 200 LINE SAMPLE OF EBOOK# E06869 <<< TITLE: STORIES OF THE PROPHETS AUTHOR: ISAAC LANDMAN EBOOK: E06869 (O'Briens Book Cellar) LANGUAGE: ENGLISH STORIES OF THE PROPHETS COMMISSION ON JEWISH EDUCATION of the UNION OF AMERICAN HEBREW CONGREGATIONS and the CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS DAVID PHILIPSON, Chairman JOSEPH L. BARON DAVID MARX EDWARD N. CALISCH S. FELIX MENDELSOHN H. G. ENELOW JULIAN MORGENSTERN HARRY W. ETTELSON JOSEPH RAUCH MAX HELLER WILLIAM ROSENAU SAMUEL KOCH SAMUEL SCHULMAN GERSON B. LEVI ABBA H. SILVER HARRY LEVI ABRAM SIMON LOUIS L. MANN LOUIS WITT LOUIS WOLSEY GEORGE ZEPIN, Secretary STORIES OF THE PROPHETS (Before the Exile) BY ISAAC LANDMAN To My Parents Who first introduced me to the Prophets, this book is dedicated with love and devotion. CONTENTS. I. THE SHEPHERD OF TEKOAH. 1. An End to War 2. In the Days of Prosperity 3. The Man Who Dared 4. Treason and a Fight 5. Priest Against Prophet 6. The Prophet in Tekoah II. THE MAN WHO LEARNED HIS LESSON. 1. An Eventful Night 2. The Tragedy with a Purpose 3. The Repentant Returns III. THE STATESMAN PROPHET. 1. The Vision in the Temple 2. The Parable of the Vineyard 3. A Coward on the Throne 4. On Deaf Ears 5. The Survival of the Fittest 6. Working with the Remnant 7. Like Father, Like Son 8. The Prophet Triumphs 9. The Fruit of His Labor IV. THE COMMONER. 1. His Awakening 2. The Cause of the Common People 3. When Samaria Fell 4. Judah Learns Its Lesson V. THE PROPHET OF WOE AND HOPE. 1. The Escape 2. The Boy King 3. Jeremiah's Call 4. The Seething Caldron 5. The Great Discovery 6. A New Covenant 7. To the Fore Again 8. The Shadow of a King 9. The Temple of the Lord 10. A Narrow Escape 11. A Taste of Martyrdom 12. The Woe of the Prophet 13. Teacher and Pupil 14. Baruch's First Venture 15. The King Hears and Acts 16. Beginning of the End 17. The First Deportation 18. In Exile and in the Homeland 19. A Friend in Need 20. In the Midst of Despair 21. Lamentations and a Vain Hope 22. Cowardice and Treachery 23. Jeremiah, the Martyred LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "_The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz._"--Isaiah I, 1 "_Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel._"--Amos IV, 12 "_Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercy._"--Hosea II, 21 "_Here am I, send me._"--Isaiah VI, 8 "_And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks._"--Isaiah II, 4 "_For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel._"--Micah I, 5 "_I sat alone because of Thy hand._"--Jeremiah XV, 17 "_And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go into captivity._"--Jeremiah XX, 6 FOREWORD The company of inspired men, commonly known as the prophets of Israel, were the unique product of the Jewish religious genius. They were pre-eminently preachers of righteousness. Fearless and undaunted, they told the house of Israel their sins and the house of Jacob their transgressions. They contemplated the facts of life from the highest point of view. For them religion and morality were blended, ethics and politics were one. Theirs was peculiarly a social message; the demand for justice underlies all their thinking and speaking. They had a veritable passion for righteousness; through all the ages their words have been torches lighting the way of men struggling upward towards the truth. Though living over twenty-six hundred years ago, these men are very modern. As a great thinker has well said, "The spirit of the prophets of Israel is in the modern soul." The foremost workers for the welfare of their fellowmen to-day posit social justice as the first article of their program. The world to-day, as never before, is filled with cries for social righteousness as the indispensable foundation for the structure of society. What is this but harking back to the eternal message of the ancient prophets? "Let justice flow as water" passionately and unreservedly demanded Amos of old; for him and his brother prophets this was the sine qua non for society's welfare; the same may be said of the thousands and tens of thousands to-day of every creed and every nation who are toiling for the social salvation of their fellowmen the world over. Ages meet; the words of the ancient preachers of righteousness are still the inspiration for the seekers after justice everywhere. The story of the life work of these giants of the spirit has often been told, but it can be told none too often, particularly if the telling is well done, as is the case in the present volume. Each one of these men delivered the same message in his own individual and inimitable way. Yet their work was continuous and forms a consecutive tale. In the speeches and experiences of each one of them the eternal truths they present appears in differing light. The author of the present volume approaches his subject, one might say, from the dramatic standpoint, for, with fine insight, he has culled from the lives of the prophets those striking and intense experiences which illustrate most powerfully the indomitable spirit of these men who followed right in scorn of consequence, for were they not the messengers of the God of right whose demand upon men is, as told by one of them in imperishable words, to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God? The author has succeeded well in his characterization of the various prophets. His pages glow with the vital spark of each prophet's flaming figure. He has named his book fittingly "Stories of the Prophets," and interesting stories has he told. He has brought to his task not only a sympathetic appreciation of his subject, but an imaginative faculty that has enabled him to supply links in the narrative suggested if not actually given in the incidents preserved in the recorded annals. From the words of the prophets themselves he has, therefore, occasionally built up situations which if not strictly indicated in the original text may, at any rate, be imagined. Not as predictors of events in the far future, for this the prophets were not, despite frequent interpretations of their words along this line, but as bold speakers of the truth, as fiery preachers of the right, as intrepid champions of the poor and oppressed, as fearless denouncers of corruption and wrong in high places does our author present the leading figures in his book. As such, their words are as significant for us to-day as they were for the men of their generation, and their impassioned accents sound as forcefully now as they did then. This is brought out clearly and strikingly in the sketches of this volume, which without doubt will succeed in giving a vivid picture to the reader of these towering spirtual heroes who belong to the ages, speakers of the everlasting nays and yeas of the Everlasting God. DAVID PHILIPSON. CINCINNATI, SEPTEMBER, 1912. THE SHEPHERD OF TEKOA <<< END OF SAMPLE... (THE FULL EBOOK HAS 393939 TOTAL CHARACTERS) >>>