Audiobook · read by volunteers
Hurlbut's Story of the Bible Part 3
Jesse Lyman Hurlbut (1843–1930)
Read by Esther, Laura Caldwell, Ezwa, Sean McGaughey, Sibella Denton, Eric Ray, Kalynda, Jezebelle · 20 chapters · 2 h 35
About the book
Few stories are as familiar, or as dramatic, as those of the Hebrew Bible, and Jesse Lyman Hurlbut tells them for readers of every age. In this third part of his Story of the Bible, we meet Saul, the first king of Israel, and follow his rise and his troubles: the rescue of the people of Jabesh, the arrival of a brave young prince, and the heavy price of a great sin. Hurlbut writes in a plain, flowing style that keeps close to the biblical narrative while explaining the setting and the people. Each chapter is short and self-contained, so the book can be taken one story at a time. Several volunteers share the reading. It is a clear and approachable guide, whether you know these stories well or are coming to them for the first time. The stories are brief and clear, and easy to follow.
Introduction
Jesse Lyman Hurlbut lived from 1843 to 1930 and was an American Methodist minister and a writer on religion. He is best known for Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible, which he published in 1904 as a retelling of the whole Bible in simple prose, intended for children and for families who wanted to read it together. It was widely used in homes and Sunday schools in the early twentieth century.
The book follows the order of the Bible, but it gives each episode as a short narrative rather than as a verse-by-verse text. This third part takes us into the period of the early kings of Israel. The titles of the chapters give a good idea of the approach: “How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh”, “The Brave Young Prince”, “Saul’s Great Sin and His Great Loss”. They are stories with a clear shape, and Hurlbut tells them in a way that is gentle and direct, with a moral purpose that is part of the book’s time.
LibriVox has recorded this part in 20 chapters, for a total of about two and a half hours. Eight volunteers share the reading, which gives the collection a pleasant variety. The recording suits listeners who want a calm introduction to the biblical narrative, parents looking for a text to share with children, and anyone interested in how the Bible was told to young people more than a century ago. It is a window onto a long tradition of religious storytelling. The shorter chapters make the book easy to share, one story at a time, and the pace suits children as well as adults. Listening to it today is also a way to see how a story that is thousands of years old was presented to a young audience in early twentieth-century America.
Public domain
Jesse Lyman Hurlbut died in 1930: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text