Into her
synagogues, into her schools, went Israel. She read the letters which
her God had written, and believed in the holy promises which they
contained. God will in time redeem her; and when he says: "How could you
alone be faithful of all the mocking nations?" she will point to the law
and answer: "Had not thy law been my delight, I should long since have
perished in my affliction."[93]
[93] Psalm cxix, 92.--By the way, it is probably known to
most readers that the twenty-two sections into which
this grand poem is divided are named after the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet; but from the translation given
in our English Bible no one could infer that in the
original every one of the eight verses in each section
begins with the letter after which it is named, thus
forming a very long acrostic.
* * * * *
In the account of the Call of Abraham given in the Book of Genesis, xii,
1-3, we are not told that his people were all idolaters; but in the Book
of Joshua, xxiv, 1-2, it is said that the great successor of Moses, when
he had "waxed old and was stricken with age," assembled the tribes of
Israel, at Shechem, and said to the people: "Your fathers dwelt on the
other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham
and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods.
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