CHAPTER I.
"_I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark sayings upon the harp."-- Psalm 49:4._ The harp is a musical instrument invented many centuries ago.

When properly strung and played upon it yields sweet music, making glad the heart.

The first mention of the harp made in the Bible is in Genesis 4:21, and the inventor's name was Jubal.

He was therefore called "the father of all such as handle the harp and organ".
[2]It was 1812 years before the coming of Jesus in the flesh that God organized the twelve tribes of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, into a nation, which nation thereafter was known as the nation of Israel.

It was the only nation with which God made a covenant, and he did not recognize any other nation in the same way.