Page 322 - Bible History

THE LAST DAYS OF T KINGDOM OF JUDA 295
begged him to keep up his courage and to die like a man.
After the rst brother was dead, they took the second and, having torn o his scalp, they asked him if he would eat the esh of the swine before he was made to su er like his brother. But he answered, "I will not do it.'' Then they forced him to bear the same torments that his brother had borne, but with his dying breath he said to the king, "Thou indeed, 0 most wicked man, canst take away our present life, but the King of the world will raise us up in the resurrection of eternal life, for we die for His law."
The third brother followed him to death, as did the fourth and the fth and the sixth. Their noble mother stood by and watched them in their su erings, -encouraging them to be brave and not to give in to the king's demands. At last, only the youngest boy was left.
The king, seeing that all his cruelty was having no e ect, attempted to win the boy away from God by kind words. He promised him on his oath that he would make him a rich and happy man, that he would take him for his friend and give him everything that he wanted in this life, if he would only turn away from the laws of his fathers.
When the boy refused to listen to him, the king called u boy his mother and told her to advise her son not to be ID d
stubborn, but to obey the commands of the king. But she sco ed at the cruel tyrant and, turning to her boy, she said, "My son, have pity upon me who took care of thee as a baby, watched over thee during thy boy-