the other nations around them and have a king whom they
could see, and who could go before their army when it went to war.
INTRODUCTION
3
The first king was not a good raler; but after he died a young
man named David came to the throne, and David was a good
king. He tried to do as well as he could himself, and tried to
teach the people to obey the laws of their God.
David belonged to the tribe of Judah, and was born in Beth¬
lehem. He was only a shepherd boy when he was chosen to be
king, and for that reason he is often called the Shepherd King.
Although he left his country home and went to Jerusalem to live
when he was quite a young man, he never forgot the lessons he
learned in the fields of Bethlehem. He wrote beautiful songs that
show that while he stayed with the sheep, hour after hour, his
thoughts were about God and his goodness. It was thousands of
years ago that David lived, yet ever since that time people have
read and sung these songs, and we can read them now in that
part of the Bible called the Psalms. One of them begins, u The
Lord is my shepherd.» Perhaps you know it.
After David died, his son Solomon became king. He was very
rich, and knew so much that he has been called the wisest man
that ever lived. He built for the people a beautiful temple where
they could meet to worship God. When this temple was built
the people promised to always love and obey the God who had
been so good to them and to their fathers. If they had remem¬
bered this promise, and kept it, they would have been a strong
nation even now; but very soon they began to break God’s laws.
Some of them even began to pray to idols.
After King Solomon died things grew worse and worse, until
at last the Jews were conquered by other nations, their cities de¬
stroyed, and the people carried away to other countries. After a
time some were allowed to go back to Palestine to live, but there
has never been a real Jewish nation since that time, and that was
a great many years ago.
But the Jews kept up their courage; for their prophets had
4
INTRODUCTION
told them that they should have a king who should rule the
whole world, and who should reign for ever and ever. Prophets
are men who tell what is going to happen long before it does
come; they foretell things. We have men whom we call
weather-prophets. By studying the sky, the clouds, and the
winds, they can tell what sort of weather we are likely to have.
But these Jewish prophets talked with God, and he told them
what to foretell, so they never made any mistakes.
These prophets did not all live at one time; nor did they all
tell the same things about the king. One said he was to be born
in Bethlehem, and was to belong to David’s family. Another
said when he should be born; and others told something else
about his life. Still another said that before he came God would
send a great prophet, who would teach the people how to get
ready for the Christ, their king.
At the time of our story there had been no prophet for four
hundred years; but the Jews, remembering and believing what
the prophets had promised so long ago, were looking for their king.
For, if the prophets had spoken truly, it was almost time for him
to come. They had forgotten that some of the prophets had said
that the king was to be poor, and a man of sorrows. They ex¬
pected him to come in great power, and make them a strong free
nation again.
Although many Jews were now living in Palestine, they were
under the rule of the Homan Emperor. The Emperor had so
large a country that he could not look after it all himself; but
divided it into what were called provinces and appointed rulers
to take charge of them for him. The Jews did not like to obey
the Roman Emperor, they did not like the rulers who were sent
to them, and they did so long for their own strong king.
Herod, one of the Roman rulers, who was called a king, was
very much disliked, and he began to be afraid that he would lose
INTRODUCTION
5
his throne. So to please the Jews he built them a temple, even
more beautiful than the one which Solomon had built for them.
That one had been destroyed when the’ Jews were driven out of
their country, and the one which had been built when they had
returned was now so old that it was falling to pieces.
The temple was not much like our churches, nor was the ser¬
vice
