David and Goliath
Have you ever heard of king David? Did you know that he was related to
Jesus Christ? This is the story of David and many things that happened in
his life. The people of Israel wanted a king, so even though God wasn't
very happy about it, because God is the only REAL king, he allowed Israel
to have one. The first king of Israel was named Saul, and Saul didn't obey
all that God told him to do, so God took the kingdom away from him and
sent the prophet Samuel to look for another king.
God sent Samuel to a man named Jesse, who lived in Bethlehem. God said,
I have chosen me a king from Jesse's sons. Samuel was sure he knew which
one of Jesse's many sons would be the next king when he first saw them,
but Samuel was wrong, because God doesn't care what people look like, He
cares what's in their heart. Seven of Jesse's sons met Samuel but none of
them were the one God wanted to be the next king.
Samuel asked Jesse if these were all of his sons. Jesse said,
No, there's also David, my youngest, out in the field. David was always
out in the field, taking care of the sheep, playing his harp and singing
to God. When Samuel met David, God told Samuel that this would be the next
king of Israel, so, Samuel told David and the Spirit of God was with him
from that day on. David wasn't old enough to rule Israel yet, so he stayed
at home and sang to God and played his harp in the fields and took care of
the sheep.
After a while, Saul was very sad all the time because he didn't have
the Spirit of God anymore. His servants told him that he should find
someone who could play the harp and that might make him feel better. One
of Saul's servants knew that David played the harp so David was brought to
Saul. Saul loved David and every time a bad spirit came to Saul and he was
sad, David would play his harp for him, and Saul would feel better again.
One day the Philistines got their army together again and lined up on
top of a mountain to fight against Israel. David's three oldest brothers
were there with Saul, because they were soldiers. So, David's dad sent
David to take food to his brothers and find out how they were doing.
When David got there, he saw a great big Philistine soldier shouting to
the men of Israel from the top of the mountain. He had a brass helmet on
and heavy metal clothes to protect him. He carried a big heavy spear in
one hand and a shield in the other. His name was Goliath and he was almost
10 feet tall! The Philistines thought Goliath was a hero. Goliath shouted,
Send a man to fight with me and if he kills me, the Philistines will be
your slaves, but if I kill him, the people of Israel will be our
slaves. Saul and the men of Israel were very much afraid, but David was
not.
David said, I'll fight this Philistine for the army of God! Saul told
David that he was just a boy and couldn't beat Goliath. But David told
Saul that one time, when he was tending the sheep, he killed a lion and a
bear that were after the sheep. David believed that God would keep him
safe, just as He kept him safe from the lion.
Saul put a helmet and heavy metal clothes on David, but they were so
big and clumsy that David took them off and said, I don't need these, God
will protect me. So David took his staff, and chose five smooth stones out
of the brook. He put the stones in his sack, and took his sling in his
hand and headed for the top of the mountain where Goliath stood. Goliath
made fun of David and asked, Am I a dog, that you are coming at me with
sticks? Come closer and I'll feed you to the birds and the animals to eat.
David said, You come at me with a sword, a spear and a shield, but I come
to you in the name of God! Today, the Lord will help me take off your head
and the rest of the Philistines will be eaten by the birds and the
animals. Then everyone on earth will know that God is in Israel!
When Goliath came toward David, David took a stone out of his sack, put
it in his sling and hurled it at the giant Goliath. The stone sank into
Goliath's forehead and he fell to the ground on his face. Then David
stepped up on top of Goliath and took Goliath's own sword and killed him
with it and then cut off Goliath's head. When the other Philistines saw
that their hero was dead, they were terrified. Many of them were killed
and the rest of them ran for their lives.
Saul put David in charge of the army and all the people of Israel grew
to love David. Saul's son Jonathan and David became best friends, and
Jonathan loved David very much. They made a promise that they would be
best friends forever.
But soon Saul became angry because he heard the people of Israel
singing that Saul had killed thousands but David had killed tens of
thousands! So Saul's bad spirit came back and he wanted to kill David!
Jonathan begged Saul not to kill him, because he had done great things for
Saul and for Israel, and Saul listened to Jonathan and changed his mind
about killing David ... for a little while.
Soon after, there was war again with the Philistines, so David went out
with the men of Israel and won again, killing many more of the
Philistines, and many more ran away. Saul became angry once again. He was
so jealous of David that his bad spirit came back again. David was playing
his harp for Saul one day and Saul threw his spear at David because he
wanted to kill him, but David got away. David told Jonathan all about it.
David was supposed to be at a special dinner at Saul's house the next
night, so David and Jonathan came up with a plan. David said, I'll hide in
the field and if your dad says good things about me, shoot an arrow a
short way and I'll know to stay. But if he wants to kill me still, shoot
the arrow very far, and I'll know to run for my life. They planned to meet
in a secret place to say good-bye if they had to. When David saw
Jonathan's arrow fly very far, he ran to the place to meet Jonathan. They
were both very sad to say good-bye to each other because they swore they
would be best friends forever.
David went from place to place, hiding from Saul. He took the sword
with him that belonged to Goliath and many people who liked David, decided
to help him fight against people who didn't believe in God, instead of
helping Saul. Saul and his people searched for David over and over again,
hoping they could find him and kill him. David and his people lived in a
cave, hiding from Saul. Jonathan found David and warned him that Saul was
still searching to kill him.
One day when Saul and his people were going home from another battle
with the Philistines, they rested in the very same cave that David was in,
but they didn't know David and his people were there. God told David that
He would bring Saul to him and that David could do whatever he thought was
best to Saul. David's people wanted him to kill Saul, but instead, David
snuck up on Saul and cut off a piece of his coat. When Saul and his people
left the cave, David called out. King Saul! David held up the piece of
Saul's coat in his hand and said, I could've got you! But you are God's
anointed king, so I cannot kill you.
Some time later, Saul and his men were searching for David once again.
David took one of his people with him down to the camp where Saul and his
army were sleeping on the ground. David snuck up on Saul again and this
time he took the spear that was next to Saul's pillow, and his jar of
water. They left and went to the top of a hill nearby and David called
out. King Saul! Holding up the spear and the jar of water, David yelled, I
could've got you! But you are God's anointed king, so I cannot kill you.
Saul cried and said, You are a better man than I am. You have been good to
me and I have been bad to you. Now I know that you will be a good king and
Israel will be safe in your care.
David was the apple of God's eye. That means that God loved him very,
very much. David always talked to God and God always told him what to do,
and when to go to battle. Even though Saul was jealous of David, David
always remembered that Saul was God's first anointed king of Israel. When
Saul died, people thought David would be glad, but David's heart was very,
very sad.
David took his army to Jerusalem and won over the city. He moved there
and it became known as the City of David. David brought the ark (God's
treasure box) to Jerusalem and he was so happy that he danced in the
street, and all the people were happy with him. David's wife Michal, was
embarrassed because David danced in front of the people. But David was
dancing because he was happy for God, he wasn't dancing to show off for
the people like Michal thought, so God never let Michal have children.
Solomon
David became the king of Israel when Saul died and he fought wars for
the Lord for many years. He wrote many Psalms to God. Do you know what a
psalm is? It's a song! There's even a book of Psalms in the Bible that
David wrote. David had a son named Solomon, and when David died, Solomon
became the king.
One night God appeared to Solomon in a dream and told Solomon to ask
for anything he wanted. Solomon told God that he wanted wisdom to tell the
difference between good and bad, so he could be a good leader for God's
people. God was so happy that Solomon asked for such an unselfish thing
instead of asking for a long life or money, that God made him the smartest
man ever to live, and he gave him riches too! He told Solomon that if he
would follow His Commandments, that he would also have a long life. Many
people asked King Solomon what to do when they had problems.
One day two women brought a baby boy to king Solomon. One of the women
told king Solomon, I had a baby and three days later this woman had a baby
too. Her baby died in the middle of the night, so she took my baby, and
put her baby in my baby's crib so that I would think my baby died. The
other woman said, No, my son is the one that is alive!
King Solomon said, Bring me a sword. We will cut this child in two and
each of you can keep half. The woman who was telling the truth, spoke up
and said, Oh please, No, don't kill the baby, give it to her! The other
woman said, Yes let's divide it! King Solomon said, The real mother is the
one who would rather give up her child than have it cut in half. All of
Israel heard about how king Solomon decided who was the baby's real
mother, and everyone saw that he had the wisdom of God inside of him.
Building the Temple
While David still alive, he wanted to build a house for God, but he
couldn't because he was a man of war and God wanted his house built when
there was peace in the land. Before David died, God told him that his son
would build him a house. When Soloman was king, there was finally peace in
the land of Israel, so Solomon built the house for God, called the Temple.
There were thousands and thousands of people that worked on building the
Temple. All of the wood and stone and other things that were used, were
made ready before they were brought to where the Temple was being built,
so that you couldn't hear the noise of a hammer or axe or any other tool,
while they built it. Isn't that neat!
The Temple was made with all the best wood and stone and it was all
covered in gold. The walls were carved with beautiful pictures of angels
and palm trees and flowers, inside the house and outside. A special room
was built to put the ark in. All of the lamps and candlesticks and bowls
that were in the house, were made of pure gold too. It took Solomon seven
years to build the Temple! God was happy with the Temple and He told
Solomon that if he kept His Commandments that Solomon and his children and
grandchildren would rule in Israel forever. But if he didn't keep the
Lord's Commandments, the children of Israel would be sent out of the
Promised Land and the Temple would be destroyed.
After the Temple was built, Solomon built palaces and many cities.
Solomon had the finest clothes and food and everything he had was the very
best. He didn't have slaves, but he had horsemen and sailors and captains
and many people who wanted to serve him. There wasn't a man on earth who
was smarter, or had more riches than king Solomon. He spoke 3000 proverbs
(wise sayings) and wrote 1005 songs called Psalms. You can read what
Solomon wrote in the Bible, in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
King Solomon had many wives, and a lot of them had different gods.
Solomon's wives talked him into praying to their gods and the Lord was
very upset with him because he didn't obey God like David did. God told
Solomon that because he didn't keep His Commandments, that the kingdom
would be taken from him and it would be given to one of his servants, but
because his dad was David, who God loved so much, God wouldn't take the
kingdom away until Solomon's son was king.
Remember Jacob, who's name was changed to Israel? Israel had twelve
sons. And those twelve sons had families, and over hundreds of years,
those families grew very large. Each family was called a tribe. When God
brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and they went to the Promised
Land, each tribe had a different part of the land where God wanted them to
live. One of God's prophets Solomon's servant Jeroboam, that he would
become king of ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel. This area was
called Israel.
Solomon heard this and wanted to kill Jeroboam. When Jeroboam found
out, he ran away to Egypt until Solomon died. Solomon's son Rehoboam
became the king of the other two tribes. This area was called Judah. There
were always problems between the two kings. When they died, there were
many other kings in the land of Israel and the land of Judah after that,
and most of them disobeyed God's Commandments. When God saw that the kings
didn't obey, he sent some people to urge the people to be good, and they
started to preach to God's people. These people who heard God's voice and
preached to the people are called Prophets of God.
The Prophet Elijah
Once there was a king in Israel named Ahab. Ahab was a bad man, worse
than any of the other kings before him. He married a woman named Jezebel
and built a place where she could pray to her fake god. Then Ahab prayed
to it, too. This made God very angry, so He sent his Prophet Elijah to
Ahab. Elijah told Ahab that because he made God so mad, there wouldn't be
any rain until Elijah said so. Then God sent Elijah to a brook where he
could drink, and God told the birds to bring food to him there. When the
brook dried up because there was no rain for so long, God told Elijah to
go to a certain city and there was a woman there who would take care of
him.
When Elijah got to the city, he asked a woman to get him a little water
in a jar, and while she was getting it, he asked for some bread, too. She
said, I only have enough to make a tiny bit of bread for me and my son,
and after that, we will starve. Elijah told her, Don't be afraid. Make a
little bread for me and then make some for you and your son. The Lord told
me that you will have enough until it rains again. And sure enough, as God
told Elijah, the woman and her son had enough.
While Elijah was staying with the woman, her son got so sick that he
wasn't breathing anymore. So Elijah took the boy upstairs and prayed to
God. The boy started breathing again and Elijah took him back downstairs
to his mother. The woman was so very happy and she said to Elijah, You are
a true Prophet of God.
After three long years God told Elijah to go see Ahab, and soon He
would send rain to the earth again. In the meantime, Jezebel had all of
the Prophets of God killed and Ahab and Jezebel sent people all over
Israel to find Elijah. When Ahab met Elijah he said, So you're the one who
has caused all this trouble for Israel by keeping it from raining! Elijah
said, It's not me who has caused the trouble, but you, because you don't
obey God.
Now, Jezebel had 450 fake prophets of her fake god. So, Elijah told
Jezebel and Ahab to get their prophets and all the people together at the
top of the mountain, and they could decide who is the REAL God. In the
morning, when they were all together, Elijah said, I am the only Prophet
of God left, but you have 450 prophets. Let us each have a bull to give as
a gift to our God and then each of us will call to our God. The one that
answers with fire is the TRUE God! Everyone agreed.
The 450 prophets of the fake god called and danced and shouted for
their god to answer, but nothing happened. At noon time, Elijah made fun
of them saying, Hmmm, maybe your god is sleeping, or ... maybe he's on
vacation! Maybe you should call louder! They called and danced and shouted
until night time, and still nothing happened. Then it was the Lord God's
turn.
Elijah told the people to come closer as he took twelve stones, one for
each of the tribes of Israel and put them in a circle. He put wood inside
of the circle and then he put the bull on top. After that, he dug a ditch
around the stones and filled it up with lots of water. Then Elijah said,
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let the people know that you
are God in Israel and that I am your Prophet, and I have done all these
things because you told me to, and that you want their hearts to believe
in you again. Just then a great fire from God came down from Heaven and
burned up the bull and the wood and the water and the dust and even the
stones! All the people fell on their faces and said, The Lord IS God, He
is the REAL God! The people took all the prophets of Jezebel's fake gods
and killed them, just as she had done to the Prophets of God.
Later, Elijah went to the top of the mountain and got down on his
knees. He sent his servant to go look toward the sea, but the servant saw
nothing. Elijah told him to go seven times, and at the seventh time, a
cloud in the shape of a hand came up out of the sea, and there was a great
rain! It was the hand of God. Elijah was in good hands!
Ahab went back and told Jezebel all that had happened and she was very
angry. She wanted to kill Elijah. Elijah ran and hid in the wilderness. He
was afraid because he was the only Prophet of God left and now they were
trying to kill him, too. He was hungry and tired. He laid down to sleep
and an angel of God woke him up and brought him bread and water which gave
Elijah strength for forty days and forty nights.
While Elijah was hiding in the wilderness, Ahab was still up to no
good. He wanted a vineyard that His neighbor Naboth owned, to use as a
garden. Ahab told Naboth that he would give him a better vineyard, or buy
it from him. But Naboth didn't want to trade or sell his vineyard because
it once belonged to his dad. When Jezebel saw that Ahab was sad about it,
she lied and told people that Naboth was saying bad things about God and
the king.
The people believed Jezebel's lie and they stoned Naboth until he died.
When Ahab was on his way to become owner of Naboth's vineyard, Elijah got
a message from God, telling him to go meet Ahab. When Ahab saw Elijah, he
said, My enemy has found me. Elijah said, I have found you because God
told me that you have sinned. You will die in the place where Naboth was
killed, and Jezebel will be eaten up by dogs, for all the bad things she
has done. All of these things happened, just as God told the Prophet
Elijah they would.
Remember when Elijah was in the wilderness, and he was afraid for his
life because he was the only Prophet of God left? Well, God told Elijah
that there was a man named Elisha that He had chosen to be the next
Prophet of God. Elijah went and found Elisha and they worked together for
God. Elisha followed Elijah everywhere he went. One day Elijah told Elisha
to stay where he was because God wanted him to go to Jordan. But Elisha
said, I will not leave you.
When they came to the river in Jordan, Elijah took off his cape and hit
the water with it. There were fifty people who stood and watched as the
water separated and Elijah and Elisha walked across on dry land. Elijah
asked Elisha, What can I do for you before I am taken from you? And Elisha
said, I pray, let twice as much of your spirit be with me. Elijah said,
You have asked a hard thing, but if you see me when I am taken from you,
you will have it. As they walked and talked, suddenly a chariot and horses
of fire appeared and God took Elijah up by a whirlwind into Heaven as
Elisha watched!
The Prophet Elisha
After Elijah was swept away by the whirlwind into Heaven, Elisha took
Elijah's cape and hit the water of the river in Jordan again. The water
separated and he crossed back over the river again on dry land. The people
who watched Elijah be taken, greeted Elisha and knew that he had Elijah's
spirit now. They greeted him, bowing to the ground. Then they said, Let us
go and look for Elijah. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has taken him and
thrown him on some mountain or into some valley. Elisha said, You
shouldn't go. They kept asking until Elisha couldn't listen any more, so
finally he said, Go! The people looked for three days but couldn't find
Elijah. Elisha said, Didn't I tell you that you shouldn't go?
The people in Jericho came to Elisha for help because there was no
clean water in the city and things didn't grow well. Elisha said, bring me
a new jar with salt in it. They brought it to him and he sprinkled the
salt into the water and said, The Lord says, I have healed the water. And
from that day forward, the water was clean.
When Elisha left there, some children saw that he didn't have any hair,
so they started making fun of him, saying, Baldy, Baldy! God didn't like
anybody making fun of His Prophets. Just then two bears came out of the
woods and clawed the forty two children! OH MY!
Elisha helped many people. Once a woman came to Elisha and said, Before
my husband died, he borrowed some money. Now the man who he borrowed it
from, wants me to pay it back or he will take my two sons for slaves.
Elisha asked what she had in her house. She said, Nothing but a pot of
oil. Elisha told her, Go and borrow some empty jars and when you come back
home, close your door and pour from your pot of oil into the jars. There
was enough oil to fill every jar and there was still more left. She went
and told Elisha, and he said, Go, sell the oil and pay the man who your
husband borrowed from and you and your sons will live on the rest.
There was a man named Naaman who was the captain of the army in the
country of Syria. He had sores all over his skin. Naaman's wife had a
little maid who was from Israel, and she told Naaman's wife that Elisha
could heal him. The king of Syria sent Naaman to the king of Israel with a
letter and some money. The king of Israel thought that the king of Syria
wanted him to heal Naaman. But, when Elisha heard about it, he
said, Send the man to me and he will know that there is a Prophet of God
in Israel. Elisha told Naaman to go and wash in the Jordan river seven
times and his skin would be healed.
Naaman was angry and went away telling his servants, I thought he would
just come out and call on the name of the Lord, then touch me and I would
be cured. And aren't the rivers in Syria better than all the water in
Israel? Naaman's servants said to him, if Elisha had told you to do
something very hard, wouldn't you have done it in order to get rid of the
sores? But this is very easy! So Naaman went and washed in the Jordan
river seven times and his skin became like a little child's. Naaman went
back and said to Elisha, Now I know there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel! Naaman wanted to give Elisha a gift, but Elisha wouldn't
take it. Elisha sent him home and said, Go in peace.
Now, Elisha's servant named Gehazi, followed Naaman and said to
himself, My master wouldn't take Naaman's gift so I will get it for
myself! When Naaman saw Gehazi coming near, he hopped down from his
chariot and said, Is everything okay? Gehazi said, Oh yes, but Elisha
remembered after you left, that two men who are the son's of Prophets will
be coming to stay with him, so he sent me after you to collect your gift.
Gehazi hid the gift. When Elisha saw Gehazi, he asked, Where have you
been? Nowhere, Gehazi answered. Elisha said to Gehazi, Did you think I
didn't know what you were doing? It is never the right time to take a gift
for miracles that come from God. Now the sores that Naaman had, will cover
your skin and your family, forever. And when Gehazi left Elisha, he had
sores all over him.
Later in Elisha's life, he sent a man to find a captain of the army
named Jehu. Elisha told the man to pour oil on Jehu's head and exactly
what say to him. The man found Jehu and said, The Lord has said, I have
made you king over Israel, and you will destroy all of Ahab's people to
pay for the lives of all of God's Prophets that Jezebel had killed. The
dogs shall eat Jezebel in the street and there won't be enough of her left
to bury. When the man was done telling Jehu what Elisha had told him to,
he left quickly.
When Jehu told the other captains, they told Jehu that the man must
have been crazy. Then Jehu told them that the man said that the message
was from the Lord. The captains hurried out and blew their trumpets
telling everyone, Jehu is king!
Jehu went to the city of Jezreel where Jezebel lived, and both the king
of Israel and the king of Judah were there. When Jehu got close to the
city, the two kings came out to fight and Jehu killed them both in one
day. Jezebel heard that Jehu was on his way so she painted her face and
fixed her hair and leaned out of the window, making fun of Jehu. Jehu
called up to Jezebel's servants, Whoever is on my side, throw her down.
So, they threw her down and she was trampled under the hoofs of Jehu's
horses. Dogs came and ate her flesh and there wasn't enough left of her to
bury, just as the Lord had told Elijah.
Job
Once upon a time, there was a man who loved God very much and always
turned away from doing bad. His name was Job. Job had seven sons and three
daughters. He owned 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 ox, 500 donkeys, lots of
servants and many other nice things. One day the angels stood in line,
waiting to talk to God, and satan was with them. When it was satan's turn
to talk, God asked him, Where have you been? And satan answered, I have
been walking back and forth in the earth.
God said, Have you seen Job? There is nobody like him on all the earth,
he loves God and turns away from bad. Then satan answered back, Why
shouldn't he love God? You have always protected him and blessed him with
everything, but if you took away all that he has, for sure he would say
bad things about you. God said, We will see. You can take all that Job
has, but do not touch him. So, satan left.
One day while Job's children were all eating dinner at their oldest
brother's house, a messenger ran to Job and said, The ox were plowing and
the donkeys were next to them and some bad people came and took them all
and have killed the servants in the field. I am the only one who got away
to tell you! Before he finished, another messenger ran up and said, Fire
has come from the sky and has burned up all the sheep and the servants
with them. I am the only one who got away to tell you! Before he finished,
another messenger ran up and said, some bad people just took all the
camels and the servants with them. I am the only one who got away to tell
you! Before he finished, one more messenger ran up and cried, Your sons
and daughters were eating dinner and a great wind came out of the
wilderness and hit the house and it fell on your children and the
servants, killing them all. I am the only one who got away to tell you!
Job was so sad. He tore his clothes and shaved his head and fell to the
ground and prayed, The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. After all that had happened, Job didn't
blame God.
Again there was a day the angels stood in line, waiting to talk to God,
and satan was with them. When it was satan's turn to talk, God asked him,
Where have you been? And satan answered, I have been walking back and
forth in the earth. God said, Have you seen Job? There is nobody like him
on all the earth, he loves God and turns away from bad. And satan said,
Yes, a man will give everything he has to save his life, but if you take
his health, for sure he would say bad things about you. And God said, he
is in your hands, but you may not kill him.
Then satan went and put sores all over Job, from the top of his head to
the bottom of his feet. Job's wife said to him, Do you still love God?
Curse God, and die. But Job said to her. Should we only receive good from
the hand of God? Job wouldn't blame God.
When three of Job's friends heard all that had happened, they came to
see Job, but when they saw how much pain he was in, none of them
spoke a word for seven days. Then Job began to talk, and he asked, Why
does God let me live in such pain? I have no peace and terrible things
keep happening.
Job's friends came to the conclusion that Job must have done
something wrong to have such bad things happening to him, but Job never
got mad at God, even though he didn't understand why such terribleness
had struck his life.
Then God spoke to Job out of a whirlwind. God reminded Job of all the
wonderful things He created and all the good things around him. He told
Job to forget about his pain and remember his faith in the goodness of
God, even though he couldn't understand everything that happens in life.
Job told God that he knew that nothing was impossible for God, and that he
was sorry if he ever doubted God's power. Job felt glad that he believed
in God, who has such greatness that no man can understand everything He
does.
God healed Job, and because he never blamed God for anything that
happened to him and would never say anything bad about Him, God gave him
seven more sons and three more daughters and twice as much of everything
that he had before. Job lived to be a very old man being faithful to God.
And satan, as always, was wrong.
The Prophet Daniel
There once was a king named Nebuchadnezzar, from Babylon, who took over
Israel. That's a silly name, now isn't it? Nebuchadnezzar had a fake god,
but the Lord let him take over Israel because the people there kept
disobeying Him. The king gave orders to bring smart children from Israel
to Babylon so they could be taught the king's customs and how to speak the
king's language so that when the children got older, they could be
servants in the king's palace. The king chose what they would eat and
drink so that after three years they might be big and strong enough to
serve the king. One of these children was named Daniel, and Daniel loved
God.
Daniel had three friends named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and the
man who was in charge of Daniel was named Melzar. Now, the food and drink
that the king wanted the children to eat, was not what God had told Moses
that the people of Israel should eat, so Daniel asked Melzar to let him
and his three friends eat beans and drink water. After ten days, Daniel
and his friends were healthier than all the children who were eating and
drinking what the king wanted. God blessed them in their learning and gave
Daniel a special way of understanding dreams. After the three years they
were ten times smarter than all the magicians.
One night, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. It bothered him very much
because he didn't know what it meant. So, he called all his magicians and
wise men and they said, Tell us your dream and we will tell you what it
means. Nebuchadnezzar answered, You tell me what my dream was, and what it
means, and I will give you great gifts, but if you can't tell me, you will
die. Nobody could tell the king his dream. Daniel and his friends prayed
that God would show him what the kings dream was and what it meant so that
they wouldn't die. God showed Daniel, and Daniel thanked God for showing
him, then Daniel said to the kings servant, Don't kill the wise men. Take
me to the king and I will show the king what his dream means.
Daniel began, No wise man can show you what your dream means, but there
is a God in Heaven who knows mysteries and God has shown you what will
happen someday. In your dream, you saw a big statue with a head made of
gold. His chest and arms were made of silver. His belly and thighs were
brass. His legs were iron and his feet were part iron and part clay. Then
you saw a stone that hit the feet and broke them all to pieces, and after
that, the rest of the statue crumbled all together and blew away in the
wind. Then the stone turned into a great big mountain and filled the whole
earth.
Now that Daniel had told the king exactly what his dream was, he went
ahead and told him what the dream meant. You are like the head of gold,
the strong king. After you, another kingdom will be built, not as strong,
like the silver. And after that, there will be a third kingdom, and that
is the brass. The fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron. The iron and
clay will be a kingdom that will split up into other kingdoms. Then God
will set up a kingdom that will never end. The king said to Daniel, Your
God is the true God, because He told you what my dream was and what it
meant. Then Nebuchadnezzar gave Daniel and his friends very special
important jobs in Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar quickly forgot about the Lord being the true God and he
made a huge gold statue in Babylon. Then he made a law that when the
people in his kingdom heard the sound of music, they must bow down and
pray to the statue or die in that same hour. Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednigo would not pray to the statue, because it wasn't God.
Nebuchadnezzar was vary mad and said, I will throw you into a burning
fiery furnace! The strongest men in the kings army tied Daniel's friends
up and turned the fire up seven times hotter than it usually was. It was
so hot, that the kings men were burned up when they threw Daniel's friends
into the fire. When the king looked into the fire, he was surprised to see
four people walking in the middle of the fire, with no burns at all!
Who do you think the fourth person was? God had sent an angel to save
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo from being burned. When the king told them
to come out of the fire, they didn't even smell like smoke. Nebuchadnezzar
made a law that if anyone said anything bad about God, that they would be
cut into pieces and their house would be destroyed.
When Nebuchadnezzar died, his son, Belshazzar became the king and he
had a great big party for his friends in his palace. He used the gold and
silver cups and bowls from the Temple in Jerusalem, so that his friends
could eat and drink out of them and pray to their fake gods. Of course,
this made God very angry.
That very same hour, Belshazzar saw a hand writing on the wall in the
palace. Belshazzar was scared, and called his smartest men in to tell him
what the writing meant, but nobody could read it. So the king's wife told
him, I have heard of a man named Daniel who can tell you what the writing
means. So the king had Daniel brought to him and asked him what the
writing meant.
Daniel said, You brought bowls and cups from the Temple of God, and you
ate and drank from them and prayed to fake gods. But you didn't pray to
God, who has given you life. The hand you saw was sent from God and this
is what he wrote. Your kingdom will come to an end. You have not done
good, and your kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians (two other
countries). That night, Belshazzar was killed and a Median named Darius
took over the kingdom.
When Darius became king, he chose Daniel to be the most important of
all of his princes. They all wanted to get rid of Daniel because he was
the kings favorite. They knew that Daniel loved God, so they asked the
king to make a new law saying that nobody could pray to anyone but the
king for a month or else they should be thrown into the lion's den. Then
they spied on Daniel and went to tell the king that Daniel prays to God,
three times a day.
The king had no choice, so he told the princes to take Daniel and throw
him into the lion's den. But because the king was fond of Daniel, he said
to him, God will save you. The king worried all night about Daniel, and
early the next morning he hurried to the lion's den and called Daniel's
name. Daniel said, God has sent his angel to shut the lion's mouths and I
am not hurt. God knows I have done nothing wrong. The king was very glad
and had Daniel taken out of the lion's den. Then the king had all the
princes that spied on Daniel, and their wives and children, thrown into
the lion's den, and the lions gobbled them all up. Darius made a law that
everyone in his kingdom, should pray only to God, because He saved Daniel
from the lions and He works miracles and He alone, is the true God,
forever.
The Prophet Jonah
Once there was a Prophet of God named Jonah. God told Jonah to go to a
place called Nineveh, and tell the people there to stop doing bad things.
Jonah didn't listen to God and he got on a ship, trying to run away from
God. So God sent a strong wind into the sea. The wind tossed the ship
around so much that it was almost broken to pieces. The people on the ship
figured out that somehow, the reason for the stormy sea, had something to
do with Jonah. He told them that he was trying to hide from God.
The people wondered what to do with Jonah. I know this is all my fault,
Jonah said, Throw me into the sea, so the storm will stop. The people
tried to row to land, but the wind and waves were too strong. They prayed
that the Lord wouldn't be mad, and they threw Jonah into the sea. Suddenly
the wind stopped and the sea was still. God sent a huge fish to swallow
Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three
nights!
Jonah was very scared, and prayed, telling God he was sorry and that he
would do what God told him to. So, God forgave Jonah and spoke to the
fish. He told the fish to spit Jonah out onto dry land. God told Jonah
again to go and tell the people of Nineveh that their country would be
destroyed in forty days because they were so bad. The king of Nineveh told
all the people to have faith in God and to do good. The people in Nineveh
were sorry for being bad, so they did what the king said. God forgave them
and decided not to destroy them.
Jonah was angry with the Lord. He knew that God would forgive the
people of Nineveh and it made Jonah mad that he went through all of this
trouble. That's why Jonah tried to run away from God in the first place.
Jonah asked God to take his life, because he thought it would be better
for him to die than to live. God asked Jonah if he thought it was right to
be so angry, but God did not take his life.
Jonah built a little shack outside of the city where he could watch and
see what would happen in Nineveh. It was very hot so God grew a big plant
called a gourd, and it covered the shack and Jonah with shade. Jonah was
very happy about the gourd.
But the next day, God sent a worm to eat up the gourd. Jonah felt sorry
for the gourd, and he was angry again because he wished that it had lived.
Then God sent a very hot dry wind. The sun was so hot that Jonah fainted
and wished again that he would die. God told Jonah, You felt sorry for the
gourd but you didn't give it life or help it grow. It grew in one day and
died in one night. The people of Nineveh didn't know right from wrong. I
gave them life and asked you to help them grow to be good. Shouldn't I
feel sorry for them? Shouldn't I let them live?
Jonah had done wrong, not to listen to God and when Jonah was sorry,
God forgave him and saved him from the big fish that swallowed him up.
Nineveh had done wrong by doing bad things, and when they were sorry, God
forgave them too and saved them from being destroyed.
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