



Produced by Michael Gray, Diocese of San Jose




[Illustration: "Moses strikes the rock."]
MOSES STRIKES THE ROCK


  ALTEMUS'
  CHILDREN OF THE BIBLE SERIES


  THE ADOPTED SON

  BY

  J. H. WILLARD


  ILLUSTRATED


  PHILADELPHIA
  HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY



  Altemus' Illustrated
  Children of the Bible Series

The Boy who Obeyed
         The Story of Isaac
The Farmer Boy
         The Story of Jacob
The Favorite Son
         The Story of Joseph
The Adopted Son
         The Story of Moses
The Boy General
         The Story of Joshua
The Boy at School
         The Story of Samuel
The Shepherd Boy
         The Story of David
The Boy who would be King
         The Story of Absalom
The Captive Boy
         The Story of Daniel
The Boy Jesus

  Fifty Cents Each
  Copyright, 1905
  By Henry Altemus


[Illustration: Moses brings the Ten Commandments down from Mount
Sinai.]



  THE ADOPTED SON
  THE STORY OF MOSES


ABRAHAM, a descendant of Shem, one of the sons of Noah, was the
father and founder of the great Israelitish, or Hebrew, nation. God
chose him from all the people living on the earth at that time, for
this purpose, promising that He would make his name great and that
his descendants should have for their own the land of Canaan, a
country in Palestine lying west of the river Jordan and the Dead Sea.

Abraham had a son named Isaac, who became the father of Jacob, and
Jacob was the father of twelve sons, among whom was Joseph, who was
sold into slavery by his brothers when but a boy. Joseph was taken to
Egypt and in time rose from a slave to be the governor of that
country under Pharaoh, its king.

Jacob, with his eleven sons and their families, settled in Egypt at
the invitation of Pharaoh, and after the death of their father his
sons continued to live there, and became prosperous. After the death
of Joseph they increased rapidly in numbers, and from shepherds and
herders of flocks became masters of various crafts and occupations.
At this time they began to be called "The Children of Israel."

They lived in towns and villages in the land of Goshen, on the
eastern border of Egypt, industrious and contented. The king who had
been so friendly to Joseph was now dead, and another Pharaoh ruled
the land. He watched with much distrust the growing wealth and
greatness of the children of Israel and determined to prevent any
possible harm they might do him by making them work for him instead
of for themselves.

So Pharaoh began to treat the Israelites like slaves. Under the
direction of his officers he set them at work making bricks and then
had them build two cities to hold his treasures. From a prosperous
people they were now reduced to the condition of common laborers,
working without pay day after day in the burning heat of that
country.

[Illustration: "Working without pay day after day."]
"WORKING WITHOUT PAY DAY AFTER DAY."

But in spite of their hardships the Israelites increased in numbers,
and, to further crush them, Pharaoh ordered that all their boys
should be destroyed as soon as they were born. But the people would
not obey this order, and then Pharaoh commanded that all boys should
be flung into the Nile, the sacred river of Egypt, immediately after
their birth.

At this time a child was born among the Israelites whose life was to
be one of the most remarkable that history has recorded for us. His
father's name was Amram and his mother's Jochebed, and they belonged
to the tribe of Levi, the third son of Jacob. They had two older
children, a son named Aaron and a daughter named Miriam.

The mother of this little boy managed to keep him out of sight for
three months, and then she made a little boat of the water-reeds
called papyrus, fastening them together with clay and pitch. It was
not much more than a basket, but she put the baby into it and placed
it among the rushes at the edge of the river Nile, leaving her
daughter Miriam to see what became of her baby brother.

The Egyptians had many beliefs which appear very strange to us now.
One of them was that anything surrounded by papyrus would be safe
from the crocodiles which infested the river. Possibly Jochebed had
some faith in this superstition, for during the time when the
Israelites were living contentedly in the land of Goshen, many of
them had fallen into the customs of the Egyptians, worshipping Ra,
the sun-god, Apis, the sacred calf, and others of their national
deities.

While Miriam was watching the little boat and its precious burden,
the daughter of Pharaoh, with her attendants, came to the river to
bathe. She saw the little boat floating among the rushes and ordered
it to be brought to her. As she looked down at the baby it cried,
and, while she must have known that it was the child of Israelitish
parents, her heart went out to it in pity, and she declared that she
would bring it up as if it had been her own child.

[Illustration: "It was not much more than a basket."]
"IT WAS NOT MUCH MORE THAN A BASKET."

Miriam then came forward and asked if she might find a nurse for the
child. The princess sent her on this errand and the little girl
hastened to bring her mother. Then the princess gave the baby into
the charge of its own mother, and promised her that she should be
paid for taking good care of the child.

When the baby had grown to be quite a boy the princess took him to
her palace and treated him as if he had been a son of her own. She
named him Moses, which means "drawn out," because she had taken him
from the water.

Then the princess had him trained and taught as though he were really
to be a prince. He was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians
and became learned and powerful. All the pleasures and honors of
Pharaoh's court were open to him, and from them he could have
selected what pleased him most.

But the misery and degradation of his own people appealed to him