Newspaper Page Text
CLIPPINGS FROM THE ANCIENT PRESS
The Story of the Brazen Serpent.
As it might habe been told by a country editor
in ancient days.
CAMPED AMONG DEADLY REPTILES—EX
CITING TIMES IN THE WILDERNESS
(From The Hebron Weekly.)
Last week, just before the Weekly went to press,
a rumor reached us that the army of the
Israelites was within twenty miles of Hebron. We
made an investigation and learned that this was
true, but it is with a feeling of relief that we can
chronicle their departure toward the south. Two
travelers came upon the camp of the Israelites last
week upon the borders of the land of Edom. They
have just conquered the Canaanites and destroyed
all of their cities and are preparing for other con
quests. Moses, the leader sent to them by the
Great God of the heavens, has had much trouble
with his people of late. We learn from the two
travelers that, after the victory over the Canaan
ites they were forced to march around the land of
Edom or to fight with these people. This they
had been forbidden to do. The road was very
rough and seemed to be leading them back toward
Egypt instead of toward their destination. They
encountered two severe sand storms like those which
often sweep with so much fury across that section
of country. Then they had become tired of the
wonderful manna or the bread like stuff on which
they have been feeding and of which we have be
fore informed our readers. Much discontent has
prevailed and the people have been almost in a
state of rebellion against Moses. For this God
sent a punishment upon them. It came while the
travelers were present and they will never forget
the awful experience they had last Monday night.
Just as the two men were entering into the camp
they came across two large snakes of a bright fiery
color. They are to be found in great numbers
through this section of country and are known to
be very poisonous. The bite from one of them is
considered to be fatal.
Soon after the men had entered the camp a cry
was raised that a little boy had been bitten by a
snake. The reptile was killed and proved to be the
same kind as those killed by the travelers. The
child had left the tent of his father and was play
ing among the stones, piling them up, when the
snake, coiled up beneath one of them, sunk his
fangs into his hand. Hearing the cry of the boy
his father ran out and killed the snake. It proved
to be the same species as those killed by the trav
elers. The wounded hand swelled rapidly, became
as red as fire and caused intense suffering. The
medical men were called in and applied all the
known remedies, but the child died in great agony.
A Woman Stepped on a Snake.
A woman with a jar of water on her head stepped
on one of the reptiles and she, too, died in convul
sions in a few hours. Three other children were
bitten and then an old man in moving a kneading
trough was struck by a snake that was coiled up
beneath it. He received his death wound in his
hand. It soon became apparent that the camp was
infested with snakes and men turned out to kill
them, but many were bitten. A panic ensued as
death followed every nite. The camp was soon in
an uproar as snakes were to be found everywhere.
They raced in between the tents, crawled among
the people and lid themselves everywhere. The
cries of frightened children, the moans of dying
men, the wails of bereaved women and the shouts
of hundreds who were hunting the venomous rep
tiles made a pandemonium that was awful and
heartrending in the extreme. To add to the horror
of the situation night came on and the serpents
could not be seen. Camp fires were lighted and
thousands of people spent the night in the open aii,
nodding about fires, afraid to go to sleep and yet
struggling against the weariness that was upon
them following the long and toilsome march of the
day. Now and then the shrill scream of a woman
could be heard as she felt the poisonous fangs sink
The Golden Age for January 17, 1907.
By ALEX W. BEALER
into her flesh or as her child was stricken unto
death.
When the awful night came to an end the snakes
seemed to have multiplied rather than to have
decreased. They had crawled in perfect hordes
from their holes in the hillsides and were to be
found everywhere, coiled up under the kneading
troughs, hiding in the sandals, behind the water
jars, in the folds of the tents, in the bedding, be
neath the stones, and not a soul was safe. It was
estimated when the day dawned that no less than
five hundred people were dead or dying from the
bites of these deadly reptiles. It was a terror, the
like of which the people had never encountered, one
that wrappd a raven mantle over the whole army
of Israel, chilled the hearts of the women and un
nerved the arms of even the stoutest man among
them.
It began to be whispered that the snakes had
been sent among them from God because of their
murmurings against Moses on account of the hard
ships of the way, for which he was in no wise re
sponsible. A deputation was appointed to confer
with him asking him to pray to God for deliverance
from the awful peril that was upon them. Six
members of the party were bitten as they were go
ing on this mission. They fell by the wayside
groaning and writhing in their agony. On reach
ing the tent of the leader the spokesman said:
“We have sinned for we have spoken against the
Lord and against thee; pray unto the Lord that he
take away the serpents from us.”
Because They Grumbled.
After felling them that God had indeed sent the
serpents among them for their grumbling when they
should have been thankful to Him for all Ids mer
cies, Moses retired to his tent to make the prayer
to God for deliverance. When he came out he told
them that God had given a remedy. He proceeded
to make from brass a serpent resembling those in
the camp and fastening it upon a tall pole, he
lifted it up in a conspicuous place and proclaimed
in a loud voice that whosoever looked upon the
brazen serpent, like unto the others but free from
poison, should live. Runners were sent throughout
the camp to proclaim the message to those who
were too far away to hear it.
They Looked at the Brazen Serpent and Lived.
Instantly there was a rush for that part of the
camp. Those who were weak and feeble from the
poison in their systems climbed to the top of rocks
and crawled upon elevated places and there they
looked long and earnestly upon the lifted serpent.
On every side hoarse shouts of men could be heard
calling for others to stand out of the way so that
some poor, dying man could look and live; and
while the great beads of sweat stood upon their
faces, they supported the stricken man as best they
could, while those near and dear to him, lifted his
head and in a voice of agonized entreaty cried, as
they pointed to the brazen serpent. “Look at the
lifted serpent, look, oh, why don’t you look and
live! ”
Frantic mothers bearing stricken babes in their
arms pushed with mad haste through the crowd
and cried out as they pointed upward with one
hand and tried to lift the bahy’s drooping head
with the other: “Look, darling, look at the beau
tiful serpent up there upon the pole!” and when
the little one. forgetting its agony for a moment,
looked and a light of peace began to dawn on its
face, the joyful mother, overcome with emotion,
would sink limp and helpless to the earth as she
bathed her child in her tears of thanksgiving.
Many were so far gone that they could not he
prevailed upon to look and died in great agony al
most in touch of the salvation they needed. Not
less than two hundred and fifty deaths occurred
and most of the day was spent in burying the dead
and caring for the convalescents who, in many cases,
suffered greatly after they had been saved by look
ing.
It will be a matter of interest for the people of
Hebron to know that all these people are descend
ants of Jacob who was a grandson of Abraham, who
lived many years ago in Hebron and to whom God
promised a progeny as numerous as the sands of
the seashore. Jacob went down into Egypt to
join his son Joseph who had risen to great promi
nence there although he went there as a, slave,
through the hatred of his brethren. They are now
on their way to take possession of all this country,
they say, as it was promised to them forever.
The two travelers received a most interesting
interpretation of the happenings of that awful day.
They were informed by some of the older men
that the sufferings of that day and night were but
a faint representation of the sufferings that were
to come upon the world on account of the bite of
the serpent of sin, and that the brazen serpent, like
the others but free from, poison, was but a picture
of the great Messiah, the Christ, who was to come
from the seed of Abraham, who was to be a man,
and yet free from sin, and who was to be lifted
on a cross so that all who looked to him might bo
cured of the poison of sin.
The tragic incident has made a deep impression
upon all who have heard the story and from what
we can learn these people will ere long be coming
this way to take our country, The wisest thing
to do, since they are invincible, is to make peace
with them upon their own terms and thus come
under the protection of such a wonder working
God as the one they worship.
Hitting the Mark.
Ry Walter M. Lee.
A fargot practice is this life,
For prizes here we try;
Then let the bore be dear of lead,
And keep your powder dry.
With nice precision draw the sight,
With keen and single eye,
A random shot will miss the spot;
Afar the ball will fly.
0 let your purpose, then, be true,
And let your mark be high;
A golden crown and great renown
Will follow bye and bye.
New Orleans, La. —The Baptist Chronicle.
Remenyi’s Route.
On one of his early concert tours of the West,
before the famous violinist, Eduard Remenyi, was
thoroughly familiar with the railway routes of the
United States, he inquired in Chicago concerning
the best way to reach a town in Illinois.
“C. B. and Q.,” replied the hotel clerk without
looking up.
Remenyi was quite dazed. But, says the contrib
utor of the sitory to the memoir of the violinist,
his sense of fun carried him through.
“Ah”! he said gravely. “Then I will go I).
A. T.”
It was the clerk’s turn to be puzzled.
“What does that mean?” he said, looking up
this time.
“Well, what did you moan?” demanded Rem
enyi.
“Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, of course.”
“Ah! I meant day after tomorrow.”
He Was It.
One afternoon the proprietor of an animal-store
said to his young clerk:
“Tom, I’m going upstairs to work on the books.
If any one comes in for a live animal let me know.
You can attend to selling the stuffed animals your
self.”
About half an hour later in came a gentleman
with his son and asked Tom if he could show him
a live monkey. To the customer’s amazement the
clerk ran to the foot of the stairs and yelled:
“Como down, come down, sir; you’re wanted!”
—Judge’s Library,
7
