Phoenix of Alpha Sigma Alpha: Volume 1: Number 15

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TRF.

PHOEYIX

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • VOLUIIE I 16. 191& • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • l'ebranry • • • • • • • • •

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!bent 11YecJ a king in anaient times.

His 118!00 wa.s !... S A Be ruled in old ;re:'!"'llsalel!l For me.ny a {)J.orious da;y.

His f'orbenrs 't101r G X :i.ne; David And g-ld Ki.ng S.t);lumcn too, J'rtm'l them lte t;ot ~lis goodness · And the w:u:;d~trl f ound in :fm.

Cho~'l.:=t

Oh, rr1ng Ass., /i.F!S. ·tre. lc la la, Oh; Xing Ase, Asn tra ln la la l a la lc la la, Tho i'ar and wlde the Jewish r aoo Is ncatterod a'er the earth, Th~ it . ~as naught to onll its own, No land, n• home, no hearth,

!'ho· Da.,1d's heart has orumble " to duat And .Solomon ia no moro, !hy x-.1gn~ Xing Asn, croeo risht on.

Morf gloriouo than betorel

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II Of all the mighty , ot ent ates, With which

~7elve t r ibeo u&re blest, to Habakkuk , · Jehoahaphat and tha r os t, Dot ane ia left or all t he throng , !hey all have pasged away, Sa•e htm whose praises now we sing,

7rom Moses

aor~n

!'he gl•ri tfl1a A S A.

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III

Chorus •

ta all tba ages s ino& the Pa l l,

, !here's been one ques t, fors • 6tb, Per eagea and see:rs haves s eught t o fine! !be fcant of perpetual yeuth, Bat only two o! the wiseacres all Ba•c over found tha \"lay.

One was the Phoenix •1' world-wide fame, !'he ather, !~ins A s }••

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NUilB:m 15 • • • • • • • • • • •

Oherus.

Oh, w.uldet thou drin),t of the wonderful spring,

Aftd dost thou lone tc· live

l!'ar more then the y()ars allotted to man,

Far more than the wozld can give?

There are only tcre \7ho have found the path.

I:f you 'I.'Onlcl learn the i78"'./, The Phoen i : mnst euid.e, nne.. :;ot'I.X nrmor The shield of Kint; f:... S A •.

rnu ~1t

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Asn vms ... ono of the beDt kings that the Chos-en Peoplo evnr hc.d.

Liko

biB gree..t. 8l'9&t ~t David, and his great erond.father Solomon ho ~ 'ftlll :rort,o years, bn'C_ not ave-r SJ VTid.G an extent of o~,. no;

many tribes of the IWa.elltes. Solomon did that which vas not acot t~e Lord, and,thongh for love ef his father DBvid God did not dispess61!1l Solomon, during his lifotime of· any of his terri'' tory or any of his vast wenlth, still the L'rd deciaed and d~Gr&ed that o~~s san should pay the penalty of his father's transgrosaions so it - ~ to p&8B aoen after the ~ing of that sr~e son that all tho tribes sav<» Judah, and Ben.Jam1n.'hansforred ·their allagiance to another ruler. ' Likeuiso all the acoumulated wealth Gf King Solomon was dissipated or carried away by force.

It was Asa who re:Jt()red te Jerusalem much fJf her ancient prestige·.

Xing Aea was wiso and good,'perf~Gt with the Lord all his dayo' says the old ohron1olo, but he was more than wise end good. Ra kne~ not':rear, and his strength was as the st~ngth ·o f ten, because he had the Lord as his ally. His valor, thus aided, made him victorious over all enemies thnt laid aieco to Jerusalem. one o:t his greatest victories 'l7as over a ·vasi; army of Ethiopians that~ber~1ting Asa '~ men tuo to one, tlhile it was superior in many other nays because o:r its a·p lendid equipment. · Just bo1"or the battle, King Asa oried aloud unto the Lord God and said, "It is r.o ·G"I:l:i''. \71th Thee to help, whethe~ with many or vri th them that havo no pone::; h~l ... us, oh Lord, our God; for ne ~3t on · Thee nnc1 in Thy nama tie BO forth a ·sainst this multitude."

On another occasion uhen all tho other trib es of Israel tried to seize Jerusalem under the aomoand of their Kins, ~~asna Asn not only :prnailed against his enemieo, but he destrl4yed the ci ta'el of Ramah, which Baasha had built, 11 to the intent that he might let :ao:n0 g out or eome in to Aaa, King of Judah", nnd r1ith the atone·s therao f hu built the mighty fortress of M1zpnh~ giving it a name which s1gnif i~s, 1 G:d be with us till wo meet again'. ·· All this and muoh moro you may road in the chr niclea of the Kings, for Asa 1 s might7 aots arc all reooreed theroin with groat f8ithf~l~e8n· LLd wore p:t'OSened with the utmost oore in the nrahives of tho TemJ?le ~ :3ut there i"s much of de&p intorost about Xing Jtsa that YC·".l vrill :r:ot fi:uc1 i ·'J · those r&.oords. Aooording to these ohroniclos · he was suprJosed to ha-ve (l1fjd and <k> havo been buried · in his own. sepulchres, which he hnd made for him.,.. self tn the eity of David • Indeed these same ch~oni~los go on to say that the people ~1d him in the bed which was filled witb swoet odours nnd divers ktnds cf spioes praparnd by t·ne ap .:;·Ciheoe..ries nrt: and thoy mnao n. ver·y groat burning for him". s a mattor of f&ot Xing Asa didn't die nt nll. That was just his long~ hended plan for~tng the pe ple think that he did. for hewn~ weary of riQing evon 1n s• wendcrful o. plnco· as J''O.rusalem aLJ.d he was anxious for · ttms to aont1nu~ his studies ef lifo from differe~~ ~gles than thoso p~ssj bia to n· king wh se mina w.as taken up entirely 'rli th the pr blema of go·vor:n ~v~t. ·Yes, Xtng As~ was a very wisa man, wiser far than his great B~a~i­ fathor St')lomoil even for ·selomon never lmaw holr to go right on living ~'.lloe initely, whereas Aea did. Htw ho disoove.re e that secret is a most int e ~- · natin~ story and to toll it properly wa must go baok t the ~ery beginn~nG ~f h1s . l1fe, to the dayB when he waa only a little boy in the palace of his fsthar, Xtns Abijab. · It te said that the child is f&ther of the man. Never was this truer 1n any case tban in that of Little Ass. He learned wisdom and c ire ~~~sp~ct ion from the very oiroums~ces i nto whioh he was born) f~r in ar.dit ion to ha :tng a warlike father who did not caro particulnrl~ about h:'..m and a mother who ran a ft e r strange godn n!ld · v/oJ:·shi~)pe d ido~ s. thc:r.o 17c:r-o in the pala.o.a thirteen s t epmother s vrh:-- made t t ur..<'omfo:-:-taoJe fC'r .As a, tTV'6l" so

~abla in the eyes

r;o

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not to ~ontion tvtenty-one ste"f)brothers c.nd sixteen ste:_)sistcrs. certainly h1g_m~~ngr,.11o.aahah:hnd prcv~oation enough to warrant her in trying to gGt sotdWj,l~ortt other gocts- ror though S1lo \laS queen by rit;ht :_,f :priority I and thaugh her aon vas in line for tho purvlo ucouuso he was thn first born, still she eould never bo absolutely sure that her boy would oom0 into his orm and thoro WCIJlPo ~ of nourae ~ co~:&~ess things happening nll the time that out ller t the quick.

Poor Queent ia it ttt be wondered at that aha set up nn ido-l 1n n grove., that she pr:>atrat-ed herself before it. that she offered da11~ saorii'1oosy in hope that thia god might grant her prayers ana make })Q.ssible the realization of her hopes for herself nnd her ohild?

Little AaaF quitn naturally, eeuld not undcrstnni why she spent so much time before the wooden imaee. He ~anted her to play with him beside the sparkling ftmntain, · to rc·mp wit'h him under the wcncle-rful palm treoa in tho grcvo, to toll him stories whon tho "ttrl.l'it;ht hush fell over nll the land ..

Is it strange that he greVI in tme t) hute the wooden 1mae;o, s·inoe it del'rived~'M hia motherts oanpani">nahip·, since aho seemed ulways sna ... eycc1 in ' its presonae?

The cnti-pathy that Li ttlc\Asc;. :rel t "to'i;o.rcl thnt 1maae stnye'd ui th him al,;ays, even 1m til he had gro't-."11 'u~ nnt!. hn<l ·become king. One o:r his first nets after he had assumed tho oror;n rras to g J out ihto the grovo, cut do'rm. the imat:;o, sto.mp on it and CJrdcr it burned bosiC:c the brook Kidron. It was tho only unGraaious sot over rooordad about ~ing Asa, and it was really a very childish thine to do, but then \7o mnst remember that Asa had to be n child nt least once. You sco Aan never heel nny real chil~hood, for there was nover any time ~hen ho uns ~roc from the tasks set htm by the rabbis,. his tutors, free fron1 the interferenoe o:r thirteen stopmo.thora, ~fonty-obo stepbrothers and sixteen stepsistora, free to bo elnd in tho sueet out-doors under the pnlm trees in the ti-iilight hush. f~ even in tho beautiful grove there v;ns &l\7&ys the sad-e~red mother kneeling before a

\7ooden ima.ce.

It usa only nntnrnl that he ahould 1·; ant to kno.ck that image do\m . and stamp on it., :Lor it s·poilt :ro.r hiD tho only ps.rt o:r tho day he had for recreation.

But. being only a little boy, there was s.imply nothing tho.t ho crould do but wander o:rr by himself and try to find a•mcthing interesting to do. One day he went :farther awo.y tho.n usual, quito to the limits of the grove, to where 1 t \7&s surrO'lmdcd by a hiGh stone wall.. o:goo.urse, he lmm-:: th..:t beyona that wall vms tho nide., v:ide ·a•rld, for he had soon n 11 ttle b 1 t of 1 t from the baolt of a eame 1 once., when he ho.d gom~ rri th the royal train •n a pilgrimage into the desort, but it had been only a lit~lo bit, :ror be had been obliged to keox> his oyes olosod amost tho \;·hole t1mo, because i;he stronr; wind ~d kept blowing the hot sand r1ght into his fncc.

However·, he had studied a lot about c. Red S'en end about strnn~e peoples uho livea beyo·n d it or fur te the East.

Ho\1 he did VTish that ho might s~mchow see s~e of the marvellous places he hud s~udicd about in the old Je~lsh histor,.,.~.

Of ~urso, Jerusalem \-:·no probo.bly quite the most wonderful plane in the whole world, and the Tosl_)le ,-..as aaRnrcdly mo,st ~ngnificon·~, but then there went along 'With ~ese the solemn-vi:::;ngcd rnbbut, tho :fo:chor

who soo~led the mother uho wept, not to mention tho thirteen stopmothc~s, tho tucnty-~ne stepbrothers nnd tho sixteen steps isters, nnd that exa& nerating wooden image!

If ho only om1ld get nuny from it all~ He didn~t need to worry about h1mger, for wasn't thoro manna in tho Llc·a ort, no:c about thirst :Cor V'loron't thnre springs in the desert too, ncr abont any ci~nts or utld bGnsts. !or h~dn't his groat, crcat erandfatho~r ~hen only n mora lnd killea thcmn r.ll very easily \7i th pebbles from a al·J.ng?

Yo3, he r;ueszctl he would run away !rom 1t all somo time,.

Well, why wni t? Why uasntt tocla) as good as nny etho,r day? i7hy not climb that fig tree ovor by the well jump from it to t~& top of tho rampart, then cet dotm on tho other sine by menaa ef somo convenient troo?

The very thing! Tho rough bark of tho fiG tree out the little bnro lees. but he uns of the stock cf David, and ho versisted until he ~na at last hiGh 11~ in the sheltering fo-

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1ia88 • It wns quite a distance from the ltmb uhera he perched to the top t! th8 wall. but the darkne~s had como on a~ rapidly while Little Asa ns

GlimbinB the treo that he did not reallzo that ho unuld never in tho world be able to make the lenp, that he mu::;t surely fn.ll short of the \1all and go to his doath on the walk belou.

He did Lot ston to c?nsider the dnr~or heqover, for all that he wao ~hinkjng ~f ~ne the joy or being iorovor freed' ttom the things that uero ee:tJ.nt) nr.rcy nis her.rt.

Ho bnlanco himsel:£' n tbe limb and t)Ot roa.dy :!or tho sprint).

"You mustn r t do that", so.id u ·voiae.

Asa looked around the tree e.nd up e.nd down the path. bttt se.~ no eno.

It mus t have beon tho Giant Fecr 1 he told himself~ and of course ho wasn't going to be afrnid, not even of Fear. Re would jump, 1f for no other ron~ son than to show that he rras not ai'1·e.id.

"You mustn't do that", said tho voice again.

This time Little Asn loca~ed the voice.

It came iro~ overhead.

LooLins up quickly, he snw n.mone the leaves a very larse and beautiful bird.

It ~ta'.1 ve~ difi'eront from an ..,,r other that he hE>.d over seen. The most nc - ouliar thinB about the· bird i70.S that the foathcra seemed to radiate licht, so mucb,in~aot,that Asa could sao the l.holo outline quite distinctly, alt~ the grove tTas nO\v in complete darlmcna. Ro could also sea that there 'iroro glints Of rcCi here and there in the generF.l SlOW :from tho golden body • "You mustnrt do that", 9£'.id the bird quite positively.

"But I've just c;ot to", replied Little J~sa,"fol.· I can't livo in thin place any longer tlith solemn-visaged rnbbis, a father who frowns, a mother who ueeps, thirteen stepMothers, ~1cnty-o~ nto~brothers ~,d sixteen stepstaters. Besides there's the t/OOden ima.BC in the garuen. I've just sot to rtm away", he went on quiverinsly. "'But you mustnrt do that", 2a1c1 the bird atill more emphatically, nnd being only a littla follow, Ass. sa.id,"Why? " nBecause you a:r:-e not able to juwp thnt fnr and you \7ould go to your G.cnth on tho path bel0\7"? replied the bird.

11 But I'd s great deal rnther dio, if I've got to stay hera alwaya". saici the brave but+rem:hlnG little lips. "'It 1 s oowardlyn., went li).n the bird, 'to \7ant to die. It's so muoh braver to :lace 1 i:fo, and be a ides", Ci ·n tinned tho voic.e, "life ia ever so interesting.

It vras Life that waa tclking, Eternnl Life, that knew the needs ·o f man, because it bad d~elt close to his heart since the besinnine o~ timo, kncr: that heo.rt's capacity for joy 'l.nd ~. ts onpr:.oit~r for pain. knew hou to rejoice with it in glRdness, h~w to syn:_1a'thize in so.1:rou. It knou just \7ha t to d~ in this partiaular case., ·J.~ t O. it did it Ho wo j_l thc.t L1 ttlo Aan ~tas soon sMiling happily thro his tea~s, for had not t~e bird promisea to be his playfellor;, to take ·ll'P its eboeio in t he grove 1 ·co come n t his cal1.?

To be sure there were some ·.rene:o·P.:t1 onn. Tho ·b·L·ct oot'. ld.pome only in tho tnilieht ht'tsh, ana 1 t U~\lld not amnye~. his call~ lUJ.l.e~.~ he had tried to do his duty a.J.l the long day.. As the li\1.!.1 ip,ht hou:r 7?-S 'tt:o only ono, uhen_ Asn wns ui thout su':')ervis io·n since he was ~rn:p1_1osed to oc vn th his mot!'!. ex- tt1en tn the Parden ·and sino~ he· had nlwnys tried to do his best, Asa folt suro that he '"'17ouln 'never miss aae inc his friend for a n inels nisht. And ho ~idn't. Every time that he stood un~or the fi6 tree and, clavping h~s hanc:a tuioc,. called 'Thoen ix, ?ho~nix", the \·tor: 1o r fn.~ gl0\7 nppeared 1n _tho foli&ga anc1 there \7flS the bird, JUSt s.s he han pron'!. ~~eci,. ready to talk or play, a; Little Ass }referred. In the bo;;~nnin r; it '::~s m~stl;r. play, :hide and soek tn~ and a lot of other fa3oinat1n g Games t r.~t uhe u1rd hun learne c: frorrth1s lonG residence in man:.. lo.nus, but as Asa ~revr older the time uas s~1en t more anc1 ruorc in cQnvera& t ionr, bccat-;.~e there were so me.nJ thin r,·s tlult the boy wanted to knou,. thin.:;s thut his tutors either r;ouldn't or c~ldn' t ex-1.1luin satisfactorily,. but tihich the Pl'loeni:x o.lrmys seenoll:) to unc1erstand ?Crfectly.

(Continued) ~