The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-05-20
INSPIRING LESSONS.
Moses Defense of the Daughters Of
Jethro, the Midianite.
Rev. Or. TaImage Points Out Gods Uncr-
ring Wisdom In Choosing the
Men to Do His Work
Gods Long Memory.

In the following sermon Rev. I. De-
Witt Talmage points out practical and
inspiring lessons for all conditions of
people. The text is:
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his IA
| ther-in-law, the priest of Midian.-Exodus
| fiji. l.
In the southeastern part of Arabia a
man is sitting by well. 1t is an arid
country, and water is scarce. so that a
well is of great value, and fioclIs and
herds are driven vast distances to have
! their thirst slaked. Jethro, a Midi
| ante sheik and priest, was so fortu-
nate as to have seven daughters; and
they are practical girls, and yonder
they come, driving the sheep and cattle
and camels of their father to the water
ing. They lower the buckets and then
| pull them up, the water splashing on
the stones and chilling their feet, and
| the troughs are filled. Who is that
man out there sitting uncOncerned and
looking on? Why does he not come
| and help the women in this
hard work of drawing water?
| But no sooner have the dry lips
and painting nOstrils of the fOcks
begun to cool little in the trimming
trough of the well than some rough
BedOuin shepherds break in upon the
scene, and with clubs and shouts drive
| back the animals that were drinking,
and alright these girls until they fly
| in retreat, and the fiocls of these i'll
hammered shepherds are driven to the
troughs, taking the place of the other
| 1ochS. Now that man sitting by the
well begins to color up, and his eye
flashes with Indignation, and all the
| gallantry of his nature is aroused. 1t
is Moses, who naturally had quick
temper anyhow, as he demonstrated on
occasion when he saw an Egyptian
expressing an Israelite and gave the
| Egyptian sudden clip and buried him
in the sand, and as nc showed after
ward when he broke all the ten com
mandmentS at once by SCATTERING
the two granite slabs on which the
law was written. But the injustice of
this treatment OF the seven girls sets
him on fire with wrath, and he takes
this shepherd by the throat, and pushes
back another shepherd till he fails
over the trough, and aims a stunning
blow between the eyes of another, as
he cries: "BrgOne, you villains." And
he boots and rodrs at the sheep and
cattle and camels of these invaders
and drives them back; and having
cleared the place o. the dcsperadoes,
he told the seven girls of this Alidianite
sheik to gather their hocks together
and bring them again to the watering.
Oh, you ought to see 4 fight between
the shepherds at we'll III the orient
I
were here a group of rough men who
had driven the cattle many miles, and
here another group who had driven
their cattle as many miles. Who
should have precedence? Such clash
ing of buckets! Such hooking of horns.
Such kicking of hoofs, Such vehe-
mence in a language | fortunately
could not understand! Now the sheep
with a peculiar mark across their
woolly backs were at the trough, and
now the sheep of another mark. 1t
was one of the most exciting scenes l
ever witnessed. An Old book describes
one of these contentious at an eastern
well when it says: ''One day the poor
men, the widows and the orphans met
together and were driving their camels
and their nOcks to drink, and were all
standing by the water side. Dali came
up and stopped them all and took pos
session Of the water for his masters
cattle. just then an old woman be-
longing to the tribe of Abs came up
and accosted him in a suppliant man
ner, saying: BE 50 good, Master DIji,
as to let my cattle drink. They are all
the property L posses, and 1 live
by their milk. Pity my flock,
have compassion on me- Grant my
request and let them drink Then
came another old woman and adj
dressed him: 90, Master Dali, l am a
poor, weak old woman as you see
Time has dealt hardly with me. 1t
has aimed its arrows at me, and its
daily calamities have destroyed all my
men. | have lost my children and my
husband, and since then have been in
great distress. These sheep are all
that L possess. Let them drink, for l
live on the milk that they produce
Pity my forlorn state. L have no one
to tend them. Therefore grant my
supplication and of thy kindness let
them drink But in this case the
brutal slave, SO far from granting this
humble request, smote the woman to
the ground
a like scrimmage has taken place at
the well in the triangle of Arabia be-
tween the Beduoin shepherds and
Moses championing the cause of the
seven daughters who had driven their
fathers fiocks to the watering. One
of these girls, Zipporah, her name
meaning little bird" was fascinated
by this heroic behavior of Moses; for
however timid woman herself may be,
she always admires courage in man.
Zipporah became the bride of Moses. !
one of the mightiest men of all
the centuries. Zipporah little thought
that that morning as she helped
drive her fathers hoclls to the well
she was splendidly deciding her own
destiny. Had she stayed in the tent
or house while the other six daughters
her life would have been a tame and |
uneventful life in the solitude, but her |
industry, her fidelity to her fathers |
interest, her spirit of helpfulness |
brought her into league with one of |
the grandest characters of all history |
They met at that famous well, and |
while she admired the courage of |
Moses, he admired the flial behavior |
of Zipporah.
The fact that it took the seven daugh- |
tiers to drive the focks to the well inn |
plies that they were immense f1ocks |
and that her father was a man of !
wealth. What was the use of Zip |
porah's bemeanlng herself with work |
when she might have reclined on the |
hillside near her fathers tent, and |
plucked buttereups and dreamed out
romances and sighed idlY 10 the winds |