The Story of the Bible

And the people of Nineveh believed the word of the Lord as spoken by Jonah. They turned away from their sins, and fasted, and sought the Lord, from the greatest of them even to the least. The king of Nineveh arose from his throne, and laid aside his royal robes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, as a sign of his sorrow And the king sent out a command to his people, that they should fast, and seek the Lord, and turn from sin.

And God saw that the people of Nineveh were sorry for their wickedness, and he forgave them, and did not destroy their city. But this made Jonah very angry. He did not wish to have Nineveh spared, because it was the enemy of his own land, and also he feared that men would call him a false prophet when his word did not come to pass. And Jonah said to the Lord:

"O Lord, I was sure that it would be thus, that thou wouldest spare the city; and for that reason I tried to flee away; for I knew that thou wast a gracious God, full of pity, slow to anger, and rich in mercy. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

And Jonah went out of the city, and built a little hut on the east side of it, and sat under its roof, to see whether God would keep the word that he had spoken. Then the Lord caused a plant with thick leaves called a gourd to grow up, and to shade Jonah from the sun; and Jonah was glad, and sat under its shadow. But a worm destroyed the plant; and the next day a hot wind blew, and Jonah suffered from the heat; and again Jonah wished that he might die. And the Lord said to Jonah, "You were sorry to see the plant die, though you did not make it grow, and though it came up in a night and died in a night. And should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city, where are more than a hundred thousand little children, and also many cattle, all helpless and knowing nothing?"

JONAH AND HIS GOURD

And Jonah learned that men, and women, ad little children, are all precious in the sight of the Lord, even though they know not God.

In most of the books of the Old Testament, we read of the Israelite people, and of God's care of them; but we do not find in the Old Testament much about God as the Father of all men of every nation and every land. The book of Jonah stands almost alone in the Old Testament, as showing that God loves people of other nations than Israel. Even the people of Nineveh, who worshipped images, were under God's love; God was ready to hear their prayer and to save them. So the book of Jonah shows us God as "our heavenly Father."

How the Ten Tribes Were Lost

II Kings xv: 8, to xvii: 41.

The power and peace that Judah enjoyed under Jeroboam the second did not last after his death His great kingdom fell apart, and his son Zechariah reigned only six months. He was slain in the sight of his people by Shallum, who made himself king. But after only a month of rule, Shallum himself was killed by Menahem, who reigned ten years of wickedness and of suffering in the land, for the Assyrians spoiled the land and took away the riches of Israel. Then came Pekahiah, who was slain by Pekah, and Hoshea, who in turn slew Pekah. So nearly all the latter kings of Israel won the throne by murder, and were themselves slain. The land was helpless, and its enemies, the Assyrians from Nineveh, won victories, and carried away many of the people, and robbed those who were left. All these evils came upon the Israelites, because they and their kings had forsaken the Lord god of their fathers and worshipped idols.

Hoshea was the last of the kings over the Ten Tribes; nineteen kings in all, from Jeroboam to Hoshea. In Hoea's time, the king of Assyria, whose name was Shlmanezer, came up with a great army against Samaria. He laid siege against the city; but it was in a strong place, and hard to take, for it stood on a high hill. The siege lasted three years, and before it was ended, Shalmanezer, the king of Assyria, died, and Sargon, a great warrior and conqueror, reigned in his place. Sargon took Samaria, and put to death Hoshea the last king of Israel. He carried away nearly all the people from the land, and led them into distant countries in eh east, to Mesopotamia, to Media, and the lands near the great Caspian Sea. This Sargon did, in order to keep the Israelites from again breaking away from his rule.

As in their own land the children of Israel had forsaken the Lord and had worshipped idols, so after they were taken to these distant lands they sought the gods of the people among whom they were living. They married the people of those lands, and ceased to be Israelites; and after a time they lost all knowledge of their own God, who had given them his words and sent them his prophets. So there came an end to the Ten Tribes of Israel, for they never again came back to their own land, and were lost among the people of the far east.