The Hammer: A Story of the Maccabean Times

  CHAPTER XXX.

  NICANOR.

  The complaints which Alcimus carried to the Syrian King at Antioch wereeagerly listened to. Demetrius was eager, as new rulers frequently are, toreverse the policy of his predecessor. Eupator had yielded to thepersistency of these obstinate Jews, but he would show them that it was heand not they who was master. A new expedition should be sent, and thispestilent rebel, who, after all, had been shown not to be invincible,should be extinguished for ever. There was some doubt as to who should beput in command; but ultimately the King's choice fell upon Nicanor, thesame that had been associated with Gorgias in an earlier campaign. He hadbeen since promoted to the exalted office of "Commander of the Elephants,"and was in high favour with Demetrius.

  Once more Judas found himself obliged to retire from Jerusalem, where hecould not command the liberty of movement that was necessary for hissafety; but he remained in the neighbourhood, and watched the developmentof events.

  Nicanor's first idea was to repeat the treachery of Bacchides, and to getJudas and his brothers into his power. A letter, written in studiouslyfriendly terms, was sent to the Jewish captain, suggesting a conference,at which the matters in dispute might easily be settled. Judas was notlikely, especially after recent experience, to fall into the trap; butnevertheless he did not refuse the invitation. He came to the conference,but he came with a strong guard, and not till he had secured suchconditions as seemed to make a treacherous surprise impossible. Themeeting took place. Side by side, on two chairs of state, sat the twogenerals, each with their armed guard within call. On either side was abarrier, beyond which no one that did not belong to the stipulated numberof attendants was allowed to pass. The conversation between the two wasfriendly and animated. Nicanor's treacherous purpose did not prevent himfrom having a genuine admiration for the character and achievements of hisgreat adversary; and the praises which he heaped upon him were perfectlysincere. But this feeling did not make him at all less anxious to get thisformidable hero into his power.

  Negotiations had not proceeded very far, in fact had not got beyond theinitial stage, when a preconcerted signal warned Judas that there wasdanger at hand. Self-possessed as ever, he showed no sign of havingpenetrated his companion's intention. A point of some importance wasraised by Nicanor, and Judas intimated that he could not deal with ituntil he had consulted his council. Rising from his seat, without allowingthe least indication of disturbance to be seen in his manner, he bade theGreek general a courteous farewell, rejoined his guard, and was soon outof the reach of danger. But when he was again among his friends, he didnot conceal his feelings. "He is a false liar," he said, "and, so long ashe lives, I will see his face again no more." The words were to have asingularly close fulfilment.

  Nicanor, finding his attempted fraud unsuccessful, resolved to try force.He marched against Judas, who, for military reasons, had retired as far asSamaria, and gave him battle at Capharsalama. But the plans of Nicanorwere conceived with more haste than prudence. He delivered his attackunder unfavourable conditions, and received a crushing defeat in which helost fully five thousand men.

  Thus baffled for a second time, he returned to Jerusalem in a frenzy ofrage. On the day after his arrival he went, followed by an armed guard, tothe Temple, and forced his way into the Great Court. It was the time ofthe morning sacrifice, and the trembling priests came down from the altarto salute him.

  "Rebels," he cried, "you are praying to your God that the enemies of theKing may prosper."

  "Not so, my lord," said the presiding priest, "we have but this momentoffered the customary sacrifice for the health and welfare of the mostexcellent Demetrius."

  "These are but words, and I ask for deeds. Let this pestilent fellow, thisJudas, be delivered into my hands. Thus and thus only shall I know thatyou are faithful to my lord the King."

  "But, my lord, you ask that which is impossible. How can we, that are menof peace, have power to lay hands upon this man of war?"

  "Ask me not how, but do the thing that I command, or it shall go ill withyou and your city."

  "Nay, my lord, speak not so. Ask that which is possible, and it shall bedone to the uttermost of our power."

  "Fair words! fair words! But I know well that, after the manner of yourrace, for you are the enemies of all men, you curse me behind my back. Nowlisten unto me. You will not deliver this traitor into my hands----"

  The priests attempted to speak, but he silenced them with an imperiousgesture.

  "So be it. Then I will take him by force. And when I have taken him, anddealt with him after his deserts, then----" he paused for a moment, and heldout his right hand with a threatening gesture towards the altar--"then Iwill burn this house with fire; even as the Chaldaeans burnt it in the daysof your fathers, so will I burn it. All the gods of heaven and hellconfound me, if I do not burn it, as a man burns a brand in the fire."

  So speaking he turned away, and without deigning to salute the terrifiedpriests, quitted the precincts of the Temple.

  When he was gone the priests stood weeping and praying before the altar."O Lord," they said, "for the blasphemies wherewith Thine enemiesblaspheme Thee, reward Thou them sevenfold into their bosom. Thou didstchoose this house to be called by Thy name, and to be a house of prayerfor Thy people. Avenge Thyself, therefore, of this man and his host, andcause them to fall by the sword."

  Nicanor had sent to Antioch for reinforcements, for he would not failagain for lack of strength or due preparation, and marching out ofJerusalem, he awaited their arrival at the western end of the Pass ofBeth-horon. Judas, who, after his victory near Samaria, had followed hisbeaten enemy, took up his position at Adasa, an elevated position aboutfour miles to the north of Jerusalem. He thus put himself between Nicanorand the Holy City. But he had only three thousand men to match against aforce three times as numerous.

  The fate of the Sanctuary of Israel now seemed to be trembling in thebalance. If Nicanor was victorious its doom was sealed. He had vowed, withall the emphasis of an awful curse upon himself, that if he came again inpeace he would utterly destroy it. Day after day the women and the old menleft behind were continually in the Temple, which, perhaps, they might ina few days see destroyed before their eyes. And when at night the Templegates were shut they sought their homes to fast and to renew in privatetheir prayers for the deliverance of the Holy Place, and the victory ofthe armies of the Lord.

  By a notable coincidence the anniversary of a great danger and a greatdeliverance was approaching. Within a few days the Feast of Purim would becelebrated. Would the time bring with it a fresh cause for thanksgiving,or a disaster so terrible that all the deliverances of the past would seemto be of no avail?

  "Tell us, mother," said little Daniel, one evening when they had returnedfrom their daily visit to the Temple--"tell us about Mordecai and thewicked Haman." He knew the story well, but, after the manner of children,liked it better the oftener he heard it.

  So Ruth told the familiar tale again--how the wicked Haman, wroth that thehonest Mordecai would not pay him reverence, slandered the whole nation tothe King till he obtained a decree for their slaughter, how Mordecai wentto Esther the Queen, a Jewess herself, and bade her save her people,though she risked her own life to do it, how the wicked Haman was hangedon the gallows which he had made for his enemy, and the Jews had licensegiven them by the King to slay their adversaries in every city of thekingdom of Persia.

  "And this Nicanor," she went on, when she had finished her story--"thisNicanor is a new Haman. May the God against whom he has uttered hisblasphemies cast him down and destroy him."

  Meanwhile the hour of battle was drawing near. Judas and his little armywere bivouacking on the hills of Adasa. It was the 12th day of the monthAdar--about equivalent to the beginning of March--and on that high groundthe night air was cold and piercing. Seraiah, Azariah, and Micah weresitting by a camp-fire, and talking over the chances of the comingstruggle.

  It wa
s the eve of the great Purim feast--the memorial which had been keptnow for three hundred years of the great deliverance which God had wroughtfor His people by the hands of Mordecai and Esther. The thoughts of thecomrades naturally turned to this memorable day.

  "Where and how," said Micah to his companions, "shall we keep the Purimfeast?"

  "Shall we keep it at all?" said Azariah, always somewhat disposed to takea gloomy view of their prospects. "A Mordecai we have, none moresteadfast; and there is a Haman against us even more cruel and wicked thanhe of Persia. But Ahasuerus is against us, nor do I see who shall turn himfrom his purpose."

  "Well," said Seraiah, with a smile, "at least we can use our swordswithout his license."

  While they were talking they observed a figure emerge from out thedarkness into the circle of light made by the flames. They rose to theirfeet, for it was the captain himself.

  "Sit down, my friends," he said, "we shall be on our feet enoughto-morrow." And as he spoke, he took his seat on the ground by their side.

  He went on, after a few minutes of silence, "So Azariah doubts what sortof a Purim festival we shall keep. As for myself I doubt not. But I havebeen thinking not so much of Mordecai and Haman--though it seems to me ahappy thing that we shall fight on the day of that deliverance--as ofHezekiah and Rabshakeh. Did not the king his master send him to blasphemethe Holy City? And did not Hezekiah lay the letter before the Lord? Andwhat was the end? In one night the host of the Assyrians was as if it hadnot been. So shall it be, I am persuaded in my heart, with thisblaspheming Nicanor and his host. He and they shall be utterly destroyed.Yes, Azariah, we shall keep our Purim right joyously, after the manner ofour fathers. But as for our enemies, the wine that they shall drink(25)will be the wine of the wrath of God."

  He rose with these words, and passed away to spend the rest of the nightin meditation and prayer. His face next morning, when in the early dawn hestood in front of his slender line, was as the face of one who has talkedface to face with God. Not less rapt than his look was the tone of hisvoice as he poured out the words of his prayer--"O Lord, when they thatwere sent from the King of the Assyrians blasphemed, Thine angel went outand smote an hundred fourscore and five thousand of them. Even so destroyThou this host before us this day, that the rest may know that he hathspoken blasphemously against Thy Sanctuary, and judge Thou him accordingto his wickedness."

  A murmur of assent passed through the little army as he uttered thesewords in that clear, thrilling voice which was one of his many gifts as aborn leader of men. The next moment the line advanced, for Judas followedagain the successful tactic of attack. Never had his Ironsides advancedwith a more determined courage; never did they deal fiercer blows. Theenemy were scattered by their impetuous onset, as the dust is scatteredbefore the wind. For all his brutality and falsehood, Nicanor was nocoward. He stood in the very van of his army, giving such cheer as hecould to his men, and though the lines behind him reeled and shook withthat movement which is the sure presage of defeat to a soldier's eye, atthe approach of the Chasidim, he stood his ground with a dauntlesscourage. He was almost the first to fall, Azariah striking him to theground with a sweeping blow of his sword. It was an appropriate ending tothe blasphemer that he should receive his death-stroke from the weaponthat bore the talisman of the Holy Name.

  The Greek line had been already beginning to break, but the death of theleader completed the rout.

  It was no common victory that Judas won that day. The pursuit was long andbloody. The beaten army fled in wild disorder over the country, only tofind enemies on every hand. Before the sun set it was simply annihilated.The tradition of that awful slaughter still lingers in the place, and thevalley is called "The Valley of Blood."

  Their work done, the conquerors entered the city. The news of the greatdeliverance had already reached it, and the Feast of Purim was being keptin earnest. During the earlier part of the day the suspense and anxietyhad been too great to admit of anything more than formal rejoicing. Thecustomary sacrifices were offered, the customary prayers put up; but thethoughts of all were with Judas and his men on the battle-field of Adasa.Then came rumours, at first wholly vague and even fictitious--rumours firstof victory, then of defeat, then of victory again. An hour or so afternoon a swift runner came in with some authentic tidings. But he could nottell of all that happened. This was gradually learnt, and then, long afterthe darkness had closed in, came the advanced guard of the conqueringarmy, and, close upon midnight, Judas himself. In spite of the darkness,multitudes thronged to meet him. With extravagant manifestations ofdelight, with shouting and singing, with mingled tears and laughter, theywelcomed him home, the deliverer of the city and the Temple. Never beforehad he been so enthusiastically received. And it was well that it shouldbe so, for this was his last return as a conqueror.

  The feast was continued with yet more hearty rejoicing into the next day.And indeed from thenceforth the two deliverances were to be celebratedtogether--the salvation which Judas had wrought for his people on thebattle-field of Adasa, and that which Esther and Mordecai had accomplishedin the presence-chamber of the Persian King.

  Ruth would gladly have stayed at home and expressed thankfulness inprivate, but the children were urgent with her that she should take theminto the streets that they might see the people keep holiday. It was arequest that, as the wife and sister of patriots, she could not refuse;and in the depth of her mother's heart was the proud thought that thelittle Daniel was not an unworthy scion of the race, and that not a fewwould look with admiration on the son of Seraiah, the nephew ofAzariah.(26) And indeed she did hear as she passed along not a fewwhispered praises, which made her pulses beat quick with thankfulness andjoy.

  As they came in their rambling into the neighbourhood of the Temple, theyfound their way blocked by a dense crowd, which seemed eagerly pressingforward to see some spectacle of surpassing interest. "What is it?" sheasked of one who had been, it seemed, successful in the struggle for aglimpse of this interesting sight, and was now turning away. She could nothelp shuddering at his answer, and called to the children to come away.But the quick ears of little Daniel had also caught the man's reply, andhe loudly objected.

  "Nay, mother," he said, "I must see. Such things are not for women tosee"--the little fellow of five or six had already caught the masculinetone of superiority--"but I am a soldier's son, and shall not be afraid tolook. And when I am a man I shall fight for God and for His Holy Temple."

  "You are a brave lad, and if I mistake not, and you are the nephew ofAzariah, there is no one here that has a better right to look at yondersight than you. For 'twas your brave uncle, I am told, that slew that sonof Belial with his sword."

  So saying he lifted the child from the ground, and raised him till hecould stand upon his shoulders. And what did the little Daniel see thatmade him shout and clap his hands? It was the head and hand of Nicanornailed against the Temple wall. There were the pallid, distorted lips thathad uttered such proud blasphemies against the Sanctuary of the Lord;there was the shrunken, bloodless hand that had been lifted up withthreats and scorn against His Holy Place. The Lord had indeed punished theproud doer.