CHAPTER IX.
THE PERSECUTION.
Menander, or Micah--the young man still wavered between the two moods whichwere symbolized by these names--had been greatly moved, as we have said, bywhat he had seen and heard in his visit to his sister and her husband. Buthe could not shake himself free from the habits and prepossessions ofyears. Though he had always kept aloof from the worst excesses of hisrenegade and heathen friends, still his moral tone had been lowered, andeven his physical nerve weakened by a frivolous and self-indulgent life.Sometimes he would half resolve to cast in his lot with his people.Sometimes, again, the cynical or doubting temper returned. What madness itwould be, so the evil voice whispered to him, to sacrifice all that madelife pleasant, and, very possibly, life itself, for what both philosophersand practical men of the world agreed in pronouncing to be a delusion!
Till this question had been settled one way or the other, he found itimpossible to rest. The city became odious to him, for he shrank from thesight of his fellow-men. Indeed, he did not know with whom to associate.His Greek or Greek-loving acquaintances, with their frivolities and vices,disgusted him; and the patriots regarded him with coldness and aversion.Solitude, he fancied, might suit him better, and he went again to hiscountry house at Lebanon. But he found himself worse off than ever wherethere was nothing to come between his thoughts and himself, and hehastened back to Jerusalem. Then it suddenly occurred to him that hissister had been expecting shortly to become a mother, and he made his wayto her house to inquire of her welfare. Azariah himself answered hisknock.
"How is Hannah?"
"Thanks be to the Lord," replied Azariah, "she is well. She had an easytravail."
"And the babe? A son or a daughter?"
"The Lord has given us a son."
But he said it without the gladness that a Jewish father, newly blessedwith the hope that there should be one to preserve his name in Israel,should have felt.
"But you must come in and see him, for indeed he is of a singular beauty."
The young man followed his host into the chamber already described, andsat down to wait. Presently Azariah reappeared, holding the child in hisarms. It was no father's fondness that had made him speak of his singularbeauty. The child was but five days old; but he had none of the"shapeless" look which is commonly to be seen in the newly born. Hisfeatures were shaped with a regularity most uncommon at so tender an age,and his complexion beautifully clear, while his little head was surroundedwith what may be called a halo of golden hair.
Micah was loud in his admiration. "I never saw his equal for beauty. Youare indeed a happy father to have the fairest son in all Israel."
The smile on Azariah's face faded away.
"I would not be thankless for the 'gift that cometh from the Lord,' norwanting in faith; yet I sometimes cannot but think that in these days thechildless are the happiest, or, I should rather say, the least unhappy."
"Of course you will be prudent," said Micah, "and yield to the necessitiesof the time. Put off the circumcision of the child. There can be no harmin that. And when Hannah has got her strength again, you can come down tomy place in the Lebanon, and it can be done quietly, without any one beingthe wiser."
Azariah said nothing. He turned away his face, but not before hisbrother-in-law had seen his eyes fill with tears. After leaving someloving messages for his sister the young man departed, hoping, though notwithout some serious doubt, that his advice would be followed.
A week after, when the question, he knew, would have been decided one wayor the other, he bent his steps again towards his sister's house. As hewalked through the streets he could see that the persecutors were busy attheir work. Fires were burning here and there, and copies of the Law andthe other holy books were being burned in them. From a house which herecognized as being the dwelling of a scribe of great learning, a party ofGreek soldiers burst forth, as he passed, dragging behind them arichly-ornamented scroll of the Psalms. For a moment the wild impulsesurged in his heart to rescue the sacred writing from the flames; but herecognized the hopelessness of the attempt; and, indeed, he sadly askedhimself, was he fit to be a champion of holy things? A soldier gathered upthe parchment in his arms, and tossed it in a heap on the fire. Part of itopened as it fell, and Micah saw for a few moments before the flamesreached them, words which he never forgot till his dying day: "Princeshave persecuted me without a cause, yet do I not swerve from Thycommandments." As he stood and looked, with a rage in his heart which hecould not express, two more soldiers came out of the house, holdingbetween them the scribe himself, a venerable man, in whom Micah recognizedan old friend of his father's. They threw him down, face foremost, on thefire, and held him there till he was suffocated. But before the tragedywas finished, the young Jew had turned away, feeling in his heart that thequestion which he had been debating so long was being rapidly settled forhim.
The blow that was to clinch his conclusions was not long in falling. As hecame near the bottom of the little hill on the top of which stood hissister's house, he saw a cross, and, bound to it by cords, what seemed tobe the figure of a woman, with a dead child hung round her neck. The sunhad set, and the light was failing with the rapidity that ischaracteristic of a southern latitude.
"Truly these Greeks have a strange way of showing their love of beauty. Wehave had sickening sights in Jerusalem of late enough to make their namestink in our nostrils for ever. What poor wretch is this? How has sheoffended our masters? And the child--what treason can he have been guiltyof?"
And as he spoke a dreadful fear shot through his heart. After all--for heknew what a dauntless spirit his sister had shown at their lastmeeting--after all they might have circumcised the child and brought downupon themselves the vengeance of the persecutors. He turned aside from theroad and ran up to the terrible object. It was almost dark by the time hereached it, and he had to light a torch which he carried with him in caseof need, before he could see what the object really was. Then one glancewas enough. The features of the woman were black and swollen; but herecognized them in a moment. It was the face of Hannah, his sister. But amonth before he had seen it beaming with light and love, and now---- Had heneeded any confirmation he would have found it in the child. The featureswere beyond recognition; but the golden halo of hair was there; itsbrightness scarcely dimmed.
He sank upon his knees, and lifting his hands to heaven he cursed theauthors of this wickedness, and swore that he would give all his life toavenge the innocent blood. Then rising he hastened to the house ofAzariah.
He found a considerable company assembled. They were deep in debate aboutthe course of action to be pursued when Micah, who had been met by Azariahat the door, was introduced into the room. Most of those present wereacquainted with him, at least by reputation, and they were naturallydisposed to consider his presence an intrusion. But it was soon manifestthat the new comer was not indifferent, much less hostile, to theirobjects.
"Hear me, brethren," he cried, "if, indeed, one so unworthy as I may callyou brethren," and he went on to recount the struggles with which his mindhad been agitated during the weeks just past. Then, after briefly touchingon what he had just seen, he went on, "I have sinned; I have forsaken theLaw of my God; I have defiled myself by a companionship with the heathen;and though I have not worshipped their false gods"--there was a sigh ofrelief from the company as he uttered these words with a solemnemphasis--"yet I have been a guest at the feasts of their temples. If,therefore, you judge me to have transgressed beyond all pardon, cast meout from your company; I can find some other way to do service for thecountry that I have betrayed, and the God whom I have denied. Yet, if youthink me worthy of death, I do not refuse to die." And he drew a daggerfrom his belt, and offering it to one who seemed to be a leader in theassembly, stood with bared breast before him.
_The Persecution._]
A murmur of admiration ran through the meeting.
"Nay, brother," said the man whom h
e addressed, "this is not the time totake one soldier from the hosts of the Lord. You have sinned in the past;make amends in the future. There will be time and opportunity enough. Andif you are the brother of her who has witnessed a good confession evenunto death, you will not fail to use the occasion that shall come."
The company then resumed the debate which had been interrupted by Micah'sarrival. Little difference of opinion indeed remained among them, and whenthe president, Seraiah by name, brother-in-law of Azariah, as being thehusband of his sister Ruth, stated his views they met with general assent.
"We have seen enough," he said, "and suffered enough. This city ispolluted, and is no longer a fit abode for the faithful. Let them that arein Judaea flee unto the mountains. Meanwhile we will gather together suchas have not bowed the knee to Baal, and will make head against theoppressor. But here we shall be struck down, and perish as a beastperishes in the pit into which he has fallen."
After this the company dispersed to make such preparation as they couldfor their departure, which was fixed for the night following. Micah andSeraiah remained behind in the house of mourning. Azariah withdrew tocomfort his little girls, who were crying almost incessantly for theirmother. Comfort he needed sorely for himself, and he found it, as far asit could be found, in this fatherly care. Every look and gesture of thelittle ones reminded him of her whom he had lost, and seemed to open thewound afresh. Yet it consoled him to talk to them about their mother, totell the story of her early days, to remind them, though they did not needto be reminded, of all her goodness and love, and to picture her happinesswhere she sat in Paradise with the holy women of old, with Miriam, andSarah, and Rachel.
Meanwhile Seraiah told the story of Hannah's end to Micah. "We cametogether," he said, "on the eighth day after the birth of her child; butthough all was prepared for the circumcision of the boy, we had not yetresolved what was to be done. I know that I wavered--I confess it withshame--and so did Azariah. And, indeed, I can scarcely find it in my heartto blame him. He had no thought of his own life, but to risk his wife'sand the child's--that was terrible. And there were others who advised himto yield for the time; the risk was too terrible. Indeed, that was thefeeling of most of us, and those who thought otherwise were unwilling tospeak. We were assembled, you know, in your sister's chamber. She sat onthe bed, holding the little one in her arms. Her face was somewhat pale;but she had a calm and steadfast look, like the look of one who watcheshis adversary in the battle line of the enemy, and there was a fire in hereyes, such as I have never seen in the eye of woman before. When I hadspoken, counselling delay and yielding for a while to the necessities ofthe time, I turned to her and said, 'And you, Hannah, what think you?'
"Then she spoke, and her voice never faltered for a moment, but was clearand full, though indeed she never raised it above the pitch that becomesthe obedience and modesty of the woman. 'Pardon me,' she said, 'fathersand brethren, if I seem, in differing from your counsel, to reproach you.I am but a weak woman, and know nothing of policy or of the needs of thetime. But I know the thing that the Lord our God has commanded: "Everyman-child among you shall be circumcised," and "whosoever shall not becircumcised that soul shall be cut off from among his people." The Lordhath given me this child, and shall I not do for him according to thecommandment? Shall we fear man rather than God? And for myself, is it anew thing for a mother to give her life into the hand of God? Four timesalready have I so given it, and He has restored it to me. And if it be Hiswill that it be taken, shall I not obey? What said the Holy Children whenNebuchadnezzar would have had them fall down and worship the golden image,lest they should be cast into the burning fiery furnace. "Our God whom weserve is able to deliver us out of thy hand, and He will deliver us out ofthy hand, O King; but if not----"'
"Then she turned to her husband, and said, 'What shall be his name?' assteadily and quietly as if there had been no question of danger or fear.'Let his name be David,' said the father, as he took the babe from itsmother's arms; for the sun was about to set, and in a few moments the duetime would be past. So they carried the child into the next room. And whenyour sister heard his cry, she broke forth into blessings andthanksgiving. 'Thanks be to Thee, O Lord,' she cried, 'in that Thou hastmade him a child of the Covenant. And now I beseech Thee to grant that hemay walk before Thee all the days of his life as walked Thy servant David,and that he may sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdomof heaven.'
"After that she bade us stay and partake of the feast which she had causedto be prepared. Verily she had left nothing uncared for. Never was hertable better spread, and, as you know, she was a notable housekeeper. Andthough, for her weakness, she could not sit at table with us, she was gayand cheerful even beyond her wont, so that we men, for very shame, had tobanish the care from our faces, and laugh and be merry with her. But thenext day the soldiers came and beat Azariah, as they thought, to death,and----" The speaker paused; indeed he could not speak for the chokingtears. At last he said, in a broken voice, "What need to tell the rest?You know it."
The next night Azariah, Seraiah, Micah, and a company of some thirty menand women left Jerusalem. Part of them were on foot, but an ass had beenfound to carry Ruth, Seraiah's wife, who was expecting shortly to become amother. Their destination was the hill-country that went by the name ofthe Wilderness of Bethaven.