The Story of the Bible

Then Nehemiah gave orders that before the sun set on the evening before the Sababth the gates of the city should be shut, and not opened until the morning after the Sabbath was over. The men came with their things to be sold, and waited outside for the gates to be opened. Nehemiah looked over the wall, and saw them, and said to them, "What are you doing here? If you come here again on the Sabbath, I will put you in prison!"

Then they went away, and came no more upon the holy day. By such strong acts as these Nehemiah led the people to a more faithful service of the Lord. And after this Jerusalem grew large and strong, and was full of people. And Jews from other lands began to come to live in the land, until it was once more filled with cities and towns; and the hills over all the land were covered with vineyards and oliveyards, and the plains were waving with fields of grain.

A little after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, Malachi arose as the last of the prophets of the Old Testament.

"Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. and the Lord shall suddenly come to his Temple; behold, he cometh, saith the Lord. Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the great day of the Lord shall come. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers."

And with these worlds the Old Testament ends.

The Angel by the Altar

Luke i: 1 to 80.

At the time when the story of the New Testament began, the land of Israel called also the land of Judea, was ruled by a king named Herod. He was the first of several Herods, who at different times ruled either the whole of the land or parts of it. But Herod was not the highest ruler. Many years before this time, the Romans, who came from the city of Rome in Italy, had won all the land around the Great Sea, the sea which we call the Mediterranean; and above King Herod of Judea was the great king at Rome, who was called "Emperor," ruling over all the lands, and over the land of Judea among them. So Herod, though king of Judea, obeyed his over-lord, the emperor At Rome. At the time when this story began, the emperor at Rome was named Augustus Caesar.

At this time the land where the Jews lived was full of people. Jerusalem was its largest city, and in Jerusalem was standing the Temple of the Lord, which King Herod had begun to build anew, taking the place of the old Temple built in the time of Zerubbabel (see Story Fourteen in Part Fifth), which had long needed repair. There were also many other large cities besides Jerusalem. In the south was Hebron, among the mountains; on the shore of the Great Sea were Gaza and Joppa and Caesarea. In the middle of the land were Shechem and Samaria; and in the north were Nazareth and Cana; down by the shore of the Sea of Galilee were Tiberias, and Capernum, and Bethsaida. Far up in the north, at the foot of snowy Mount Hebron, was another Caesarea; but so that it might not be confused with Caesarea upon the sea-coast, this city was called Caesarea-philippi, or "Philip's Caesarea," from the name of one of Herod's sons.

One day, an old priest named Zacharias was leading the service of worship in the Temple. He was standing in front of the golden altar of incense, in the Holy Place, and was holding in his hand a censer or cup full of burning coals and incense; while all the people were worshipping in the court of the Temple, outside the court of the priests, where the great altar of burnt-offering stood (see Stories Twenty-seven and Twenty-eight in part First).

Suddenly Zacharias saw an angel from the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. He felt a great fear when he saw this strange being, with shining face; but the angel said to him:

"Do not be afraid, Zacharias; for I have come from the Lord to bring you good news. Your wife Elizabeth shall have a son, and you shall name him John. You shall be made glad, for your son John shall bring joy and gladness to many. He shall be great in the sight of the Lord; and he shall never taste wine nor strong drink as long as he lives; but he shall be filled with God's Holy Spirit. He shall lead many of the people of Israel to the Lord, for he shall go before the Lord in the power of Elijah the prophet, as was promised by Malachi, the last of the old prophets (see the last Story). He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and those who are disobeying the Lord to do his will."

As Zacharias heard these words, he was filled with wonder, and could hardly believe them true. He was now an old man, and his wife Elizabeth was also old; so that they could not expect to have a child. He said to the angel: "How shall I know that your words are true, for I am an old man and my wife is old?"