Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-03-12
SAUL, A GIANT At
HIS GREATEST HEIGHT
Occasions Reveal Heroes; Saul
Rose NobIy and Took Definite
Relief Measures
ISSUED BLOODY SUMMONS
International S. S. Lesson For
March ID Is Saul Gains His
Kingdom" Sam. Ch. |
(By William II. Ellis)

(By William II. ElliS)
Every day the cables are bringing
,us news from the Holy Ii nd of the
military activities there. The best
war maps of the most interesting
field of conflict to-day are found in
the backs of our Bibles. The day
by-day tidings turn our thoughts
back to the earlier stories of the bat
Ties over this same war-torn soil, and
we are freshly reminded, in the
light of the daily news. that cruelty
and slaughter still are concomitants
of war, as ever in the remotest past.
The present Sunday School Lesson is
A war story that gains new interest
when read alongside of the latest
cablegrams
1t is a story of a great outrage,
great strategem, a great battle and
great hero. Like the recent dispatches
from Suez and Sinai, it depends upon
an understanding of the local geog-
raphy for an intelligent interest. Most
of the Children of Israel, 1t will be
remembered. lived between the Medi-
terranean on the west and the Jor-
dan River on the east, in what we now
technically call Palestine. Three
tribes, however, had been given ter
ritory east of the Jordan toward the
Arabian Desert, on the fertile high
lands which are to this day the best
soil in the Holy Land. The region
has always been turbulent, however,
and when l passed through it the
Turkish army was encamped there,
subduing an uprising of the Druses.
Here in the territory of Cad was the
city of Jabesh-Gilead.
Atrocities Are Old Fashioned
Ever lowering on the edge of the
Israeiitish communities east of the
Jordan were the Ammonites, a great
and war-like people, of whom we
learn from both the Old Testament
and from the Babylonian monu-
ments. At this time they had pow
erful ruler named Nahash, who had
besieged Jabesh- -Gilead. and had
forced 1t to seek terms of surrender.
The hunger, wounds and disease of
the besieged were not greatly differ
ent from what usually accompany
successful siege.
The answer that was returned by
Nahash. when the Israelites sued for
peace, was truly oriental, displaying
that cruelty which usually camps
with armies. A blood lust seems TO
thrive in war. The fiendish proposal
of Nahash was that he would spare
the city, provided every man would
come forward and have his right eye
put out. This scheme would mean
a perpetual jibe at the Israelites. In
addition to being cruel and inhu-
man punishment, it was a constant
humiliation to the pride of the people.
The tyranny of it becomes greater
when we consider the helplessness of
the people. They were at the end of
their fighting. They could do no
more. The mercy of their conquer
ors was their only hope. When the
for ten days respite, and this the
conquerors readily granted, for it
merely prolonged the sufferings of
their victim. They were sure of their
prey, and they could watch the agon-
lied waiting as a cruel boy en-
joys the squirming of an impaled
worm. Can you not hear the hys-
terical lamentations of the weak
lings over their impending fate, and
see the grim faces of the strong who
were determined to undergo the
worst like men? The wailing of the
women and the nervous agony of the
waiting, remind us of the Belgians
who walt for the succor of the
world; and of the besieged at Luck
now.
a Chance For Hero
The tale is almost contemporary.
When messengers came from Jabesh-
Gilead to Israel. the greater part of
the people received the news with
weeping and with wringing of hands.
They substituted sorrow for service.
Most of us probably are to be classi-
fled with the futile folk who stand
on river bank and wave our hands
foolishly while a man browns before
our eyes. The record says, "All the
people lifted up their voice, and
wept.''
There was one man who spent no
time in idle weeping. Occasions re-
veal heroes. When the great hour
strikes, the man comes to his own.
Commonplace and beyond notice on
the day before their great deeds was
the man who rode on horseback be-
Tore the Johnstown flood warning
the people to flee to the hills: and
the girl who staid by her telephone
when the building was on fire; and
the fisherman who rescued the ship
wrecked in the storm. These oppor-
tunities did not make heroes, they
merely released heroism that had all
along been latent. Instant reaction
10 present need is the one sign of a
hero.
Such was Saul, who quickly took
definite measures for the help of the
imperiled Israelites in Jabesh- -Gilead.
Here we find Saul at his greatest
height.
Hot and Holy Anger
Amid the helpless weeping of the
do. And the spirit of God came
nightly upon Saul when he heard
these words and his anger was kim
died greatly"
Does that sound strange? Is not
the Spirit of God a consoler, the One
who helps us to endure lifes ills?
Not 50: THE Comforter" which is
His title in the New Testament.
means Strengthener. The Spirit of
God is power for striving, as well as
solace In suffering. For some churches
the surest sign of a baptism of the