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EXODUS X-THE PLAGUE OF DARKNESS

that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.

15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

16¶Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.

17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.

18 And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD.

19 And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.

20 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.

21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:

23 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.

25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burntofferings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God.

26 Ŏur cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD until we come thither.

27 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.

28 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.

29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face

Abraham Climbs Mount Moriah

FROM THE SCHIRMER SERIES.

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"And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering."— Gen., 22, 2.

GR

OD MEANT evidently to test Abraham's obedience in every possible way. After compelling him to part with mael his first born, the Lord appeared to him with the command to slay Isaac, his younger son, as a sacrifice to prove his devotion to God. Moreover Abraham was given time to think of all that he was losing. The offering was to be made on Mount Moriah, at the end of a three days' journey from Abraham's southern home.

Mount Moriah is supposed to have been on the site of Jerusalem, the very spot where Solomon afterward built his temple, where Jesus preached, and where the Jews worship to this day-the chief altar of the world. In the picture, the artist endeavors to reconstruct the holy hillside as it may have appeared in those old days, before Jerusalem existed.

"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass." To Sarah, the lad's devoted mother, he apparently said nothing. What could he say? He set out almost secretly with Isaac and two attendants. When on the third day he reached the foot of Moriah, he dismissed the attendants, placed on young Isaac's shoulders the wood for the fire, and, accompanied only by the boy, began the slow ascent, despairing of heart but still obedient.