id, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive,
that this man doth send unto me to heal a man of his leprosy?
wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel
against me."

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God {207} had heard that the
king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying,
"Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he
shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."

So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the
door of the house of Elisha.

And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan
seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be
clean."

Then Naaman was angry, and turned to go away in a rage.

And his servants came near, and spoke unto him, and said, "My father,
if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not
have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, 'Wash, and
be clean'?"

Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according
to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto
the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

{208}

HOW THE PEOPLE TRAVELED IN THE LANDS OF THE BIBLE

Did they have railroads? Oh, no. Railroads were first built less than
a hundred years ago, and the Bible times were many hundreds of years
ago.

Then they must have traveled in wagons? Not often.

There were few roads, and wagons were not very common.

Then they went on horseback? Sometimes, but not often. In the earliest
Bible times horses were only used in war, and only the kings of great
countries kept a few, for their most honored soldiers to ride on.

How did they travel, then? Very often they rode on the backs of
donkeys and asses. These are smaller than horses, but can go almost as
fast. Do you remember how Jesus rode into Jerusalem on an ass, with
the children shouting and waving palm branches before him? For short
journeys, or in the land of Palestine itself, the ass was the animal
most used.

But on many sides of the land of Palestine the roads that go out pass
over country that is more and more bare, until finally the green grass
is seen no more and only here and there is a small tree, and there are
no flocks of white sheep, for there is nothing on which they can feed,
and it is a long way, sometimes a whole day's journey, from one spring
of water to another. Nothing but yellow sand and bare rocks!