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February " .Z4, . 1915
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NUMBER .16.
KING .ASA
( Cont!.m:Led) For inst&nce, there were many customs connected wi.th the faith of his fathers that sot}med strange, even senseless. His t~.:tors could not give reaspns, such as A~:>a wanted. Thei.:- i.nvariai:le reply was, "It is the law and the prophetsn. ~he J:hoen~x hvwaver never failed to answer his queries in a thoroughly satisfa~tury way: It came about,then,quite natu rally that ASA, though only· A yo:t::.:th, su:L'p:rised his tutor·s and others of t he pries thood \7i th his unusual 'i"Tisdorn. .After s while the knowl .dge go~ abroad that the cl.d.es t son of tht' king was quite a remarkable youth. fhlS assurance that their next }{ing v1vuld pr.o"bably· be both wise and good VTaS. t h~ gre~ttttst _J.oSsible co:mfoi·t t .:> tho peo·p le, :for they were not at all sat~ s f1ed w~th h~s father and looked forward rather eagerly to the end of his t:" eign. That event carne to pass very much sooner tha~ they expected, fo r King Abijah was relatively a yo1mg man when he died, and itsa came to the throne while sttJl in' his teens. Proud,indeed were the people of the hands ome young heir~ and :no.st magnificently did they -p:tan for his coronanation. It vva.s the Llost imposing one that had eve:- bee!:). held in the Temple, for ne i thcr his f~ther ncr his grandfather had been \":ell 1 iked by the peo1le. His grandfather hari been the one who lost the allegiance of the ten othe r t ribeH,- and his father had had few friends and many enemies. It is not· surprising that Asa•s head was a little turned by the pomp and ceremony of the coronation, by the very evident adulation of the people, for it was a diffe~ent attitude from that to which ~e h~d been accustomed. Heretofor e, he had had to obey orders from mornign ~v night) with only the brie f twilight hour and his talk vTi th the Phoen:1.x ior respite. So many vwre the festivities in his hon()J· ~:w many the demands u:>on him that da,r of his corrnation, so long dravm ou·t the ceremonial affairs, tha t there re~lly YlaS no time when Asa could steaJ. away to the garden and be al'ine . All the next day the hours were filJ..ed wi'i.;h matters of stnte, nnd e ven when the night. came on the1e v1ere still those whose postio11s in the kingdom demc.nded his attention, so for 'the second time Asa failed to keep his tryst with the Phoenix. On the third day, howevet, there was a l ittle mnre leisure, but along wi~h ~ came some waighty problems on whic h 'he :folt that he simply must haYe the advice of that never-failing frie nd, SC\ he tnC\k eood ar that he should. oe in time . On the way to the fig roe he r~appene d to pass the l7ooden image. His mother was not kneP.l ing ·before it as \;ras h r custom in days· past, but the sight of it i rrit ated him excec:-dingly and along with the sense of ol~-time irritation &nrne the realization thn t np v he was k~.ng he. could do as he 1 iked ab nut it . th t h i n the the brief space of a minute he had lmo eked it over, stamped on lt and ordered it burned by the Brook Kidron. Then giving orders that he wa: nGt t o be disturbed, he passed quickly into th deep seclusion of the crnve . Reaching the fi.g tree, he ('lapped his hands twice and called gai l y , uPho enix , Phoenix". :Hut there was no answerin 0 glow . Again he called, this time a little · impatiently , but with no better result. In his voice,when he called the third time, there vms not only the tone of command, but the r e tras a lso the scmblqnce of a 1ihreat, as he stamped his fAct. It was t hen that h e heart1 abov e h i m the sweep of wings that moved always farth€r and f!lrther AWay, till ~t last they were· heard no more. When Asa called 1
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