the Jews wrote in Hebrew.

But we must remember that languages alter as years pass on. The Hebrew
of Moses' time could only have been an ancient kind of Hebrew, very
different from the Hebrew of to-day. Does this surprise you? Why, you
and I could hardly read one word of the English written in England even
a thousand years ago!

About the middle of the last century a German missionary found a large
carved stone in that part of Palestine which used to be called Moab.
This wonderful stone, which is black and shaped something like a
tombstone, is covered with writing. It is called 'The Moabite Stone,'
and was set up by Mesha, king of Moab. (2 Kings iii. 4.) The writing
on it is neither Egyptian nor cuneiform, but a very ancient kind of
Hebrew.

[Illustration: First words of Kin Mesha's writing on the Moabite Stone.
Moses most likely used letters like these]

Of course, this does not take us back actually to the days of Moses,
but still it is so old that Moses may well have used the same kind of
writing.

We have seen that most nations in those old times had their books, and
we know that each nation had always one book that it valued more than
the rest. This was the book that told the people about their religion,
and the gods in whom they believed.

In most of these books some grains of truth were found. All the
nations of the world are but one great family, you know, and even the
most ignorant people were not without some knowledge.

The heathen nations of Moses' time therefore remembered dimly some of
God's dealings with the world; they were so blinded by their heathen
worship, that no atom of fresh light could reach them, and little by
little they drifted further into the darkness.

But, though tiny fragments of truth are to be found in their books, not
one word is to be traced in any book of the most precious truth of all
until God revealed it to His servant Moses.

This makes our Bible so wonderful and different from all other books:
it is a revelation--that is, something which comes to us from God and
which we could never have known without His help.

From first to last the Bible is written to teach us about Christ.
Throughout the whole of the Old Testament Christ is referred to as the
coming Saviour, or Messiah, which you know, is the Hebrew word for
Christ.

Christ is to bruise the serpent's head. (Genesis iii. 15.) In Him all
the nations of the earth are to be blessed. (Genesis xxii. 18.) He