is
the Star that shall come out of Jacob. (Numbers xxiv. 17.) When the
Lamb of the Passover was killed, and the people taught they could only
escape from death through the sprinkled blood, this was a type or
picture of Salvation through the Blood of Jesus.

When at last the Saviour came, the Jews rejected Him and would not
accept Him as the Messiah. Then He said to them: '_Had ye believed
Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me._' (John v. 46.)

[1] The Egyptians spelt 'Goshen' 'Kosem.' An old writing says, 'The
country is not cultivated, but left as a pasture for cattle because of
the stranger.'

[2] Some of these bricks are in the British Museum.

CHAPTER III

MOSES AND HIS WRITINGS

[Illustration: (drop cap W) Clay letter tablet of Moses' time.]

We now begin to understand a little of the very beginning of God's
Book--of the times in which it was written, the materials used by its
first author, and the different kinds of writing from which he had to
choose; but we must go a step farther.

How much did Moses know about the history of his forefathers, Abraham
and Jacob, and of all the old nations and kings mentioned in Genesis,
before God called him to the great work of writing his part of the
Bible?

We believe that he knew a great deal about them all.

Most thoughtful young people like to read right through their Bibles,
and perhaps you have been perplexed to find that many parts of the Old
Testament are both puzzling and dry. Of what use, then, can these
chapters be? you have perhaps asked yourself. Is it not all God's Book?

But you must not let this trouble you. Every passage, every verse has
its special place and object. Not a line of God's Book could be taken
away without serious loss to the whole.

'What, all those long lists of the queer names of people we never hear
of again?' asks some one. 'Why, I dread those chapters. I once had to
read Genesis x. aloud, and I shall never forget it!'

Those who feel like this will be surprised to know that many of the
most learned men of our own days are giving much time and thought to
the careful and patient study of this very list of names; and the more
carefully they study it, the fuller and wider does the subject become.

'_Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar._'
(Genesis x. 10.) The ruins of all these great cities and kingdoms have
now been found. They were old before Moses was born; indeed,