Logan Marshall - The Wonder Book of Bible Stories

The Bible is one of the two or three oldest books in the world, butunlike most of the ancient books, it is found not only in greatlibraries, but in almost every home of the civilized world; and it isnot only studied by learned scholars, but read by the common people; andits many stories grasp and hold the attention of little children. Happyis that child who has heard, over and over again, the Bible storiesuntil they have become fixed in his mind and memory, to become thefoundations of a noble life.

It is with the desire of aiding parents and teachers in telling thesestories, and aiding children to understand them, also in the hope thatthey may be read in many schools, that a few among the many interestingstories in the Bible have been chosen, brought together and as far asnecessary simplified to meet the minds of the young.

Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

The first man's name was Adam and his wife he called Eve. They lived ina beautiful Garden away in the East Country which was called Eden,filled with beautiful trees and flowers of all kinds. But they did notlive in Eden long for they did not obey God's command, but ate the fruitof a tree which had been forbidden them. They were driven forth by anangel and had to give up their beautiful home.

So Adam and his wife went out into the world to live and to work. For atime they were all alone, but after a while God gave them a little childof their own, the first baby that ever came into the world. Eve namedhim Cain; and after a time another baby came, whom she named Abel.

When the two boys grew up, they worked, as their father worked beforethem. Cain, the older brother, chose to work in the fields, and to raisegrain and fruits. Abel, the younger brother, had a flock of sheep andbecame a shepherd.

While Adam and Eve were living in the Garden of Eden, they could talkwith God and hear God's voice speaking to them. But now that they wereout in the world, they could no longer talk with God freely, as before.So when they came to God, they built an altar of stones heaped up, andupon it, they laid something as a gift to God, and burned it, to showthat it was not their own, but was given to God, whom they could notsee. Then before the altar they made their prayer to God, and asked Godto forgive their sins, all that they had done was wrong; and prayed Godto bless them and do good to them.

Each of these brothers, Cain and Abel, offered upon the altar to God hisown gift. Cain brought the fruits and the grain which he had grown; andAbel brought a sheep from his flock, and killed it and burned it uponthe altar. For some reason God was pleased with Abel and his offering,but was not pleased with Cain and his offering. Perhaps God wished Cainto offer something that had life, as Abel offered; perhaps Cain's heartwas not right when he came before God.

And God showed that He was not pleased with Cain; and Cain, instead ofbeing sorry for his sin, and asking God to forgive him, was very angrywith God, and angry also toward his brother Abel. When they were out inthe field together Cain struck his brother Abel and killed him. So thefirst baby in the world grew up to be the murderer of his own brother.

And the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?"

And Cain answered, "I do not know; why should I take care of mybrother?"

Then the Lord said to Cain, "What is this that you have done? Yourbrother's blood is like a voice crying to me from the ground. Do you seehow the ground has opened, like a mouth, to drink your brother's blood?As long as you live, you shall be under God's curse for the murder ofyour brother. You shall wander over the earth, and shall never find ahome, because you have done this wicked deed."

And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.Thou hast driven me out from among men; and thou hast hid thy face fromme. If any man finds me he will kill me, because I shall be alone, andno one will be my friend."

And God said to Cain, "If any one harms Cain, he shall be punished forit." And the Lord God placed a mark on Cain, so that whoever met himshould know him and should know also that God had forbidden any man toharm him. Then Cain and his wife went away from Adam's home to live in aplace by themselves, and there they had children. And Cain's familybuilt a city in that land; and Cain named the city after his firstchild, whom he had called Enoch.

After Abel was slain, and his brother Cain had gone into another land,again God gave a child to Adam and Eve. This child they named Seth; andother sons and daughters were given to them; for Adam and Eve lived manyyears. But at last they died, as God had said they must die, becausethey had eaten of the tree that God had forbidden them to eat.

By the time that Adam died, there were many people on the earth; for thechildren of Adam and Eve had many other children; and when these grew upthey had other children; and these had children also. These men andwomen and children lived in tents. They owned sheep and cattle, and theymoved about with them, wherever they could find pasture. The childrenplayed around the tent doors, and sat beside the camp-fires in theevenings, where they all sang together, and the older people told themstories. And after a time this land where Adam's sons lived began to befull of people.

It is sad to tell that as time went on more and more of these peoplebecame wicked, and fewer and fewer of them grew up to become good menand women. All the people lived near together, and few went away toother lands; so it came to pass that even the children of good men andwomen learned to be bad, like the people around them, and no longer didwhat was right and good.

And as God looked down on the world that he had made, he saw how wickedthe men in it had become, and that every thought and every act of manwas evil and only evil continually.

But while most of the people in the world were very wicked, there weresome good people also, though they were very few. The best of all themen who lived at that time was a man whose name was Enoch. He was notthe son of Cain, but another Enoch, who came from the family of Seth,the son of Adam, who was born after the death of Abel. While so manyaround Enoch were doing evil, this man did only what was right. Hewalked with God and God walked with him, and talked with him. And atlast, when Enoch was a very old man and weary with life, God took himaway from earth to heaven. He did not die, as all the people have sinceAdam disobeyed God, but "he was not, for God took him." This means thatEnoch was taken up from earth without dying.

All the people in the time of Enoch were not shepherds. Some of them hadlearned how to make rude bows and arrows and axes and plows. And after along time they melted iron, and they made knives and swords and dishesto use in their homes. They sowed grain in the fields and reapedharvests, and they planted vines and fruit trees. But God looked down onthe earth and said: