Hebrew Heroes: A Tale Founded on Jewish History

  CHAPTER XXXIII.

  THE LEADER AND THE MAN.

  In the unsettled state of the Holy Land, where its brave sons had tomaintain a kind of guerrilla warfare against the powerful enemy whoheld its strongholds and ruled in its capital--where communicationbetween places not far remote from each other was difficult anddangerous, and a written letter was a thing almost unknown--theAsmonean brothers had been in ignorance of many events which haveoccupied a large space in these pages. Joab, therefore, on his arrivalin the camp of the Hebrews, had much to tell that was to them entirelynew.

  Judas with thrilling interest had listened to the muleteer's account ofZarah's peril and escape from the palace of Antiochus, and the deathsof Hadassah and Pollux. The fount of tenderness which lay concealedunder the chief's usually calm and almost stern exterior was stirred toits inmost depths. Grief, admiration, love, swelled his brave heart.Maccabeus could hardly wait to hear the end of Joab's narration. Zarahwas near him--his beauteous, his beloved, his chosen bride--she who hadso suffered and so mourned--the tender orphan maiden bereaved of alllove, all protection save his own--but dearer in her poverty anddesolation than she could have been had she brought him the dowry of anempire!

  It was thus that Maccabeus thought of Zarah, as, with an eagerness ofimpatience which could not have brooked an instant's longer delay, hestrode rapidly towards the hut which sheltered his treasure. He soonbeheld her--could it indeed be she? No desolate, weeping, tremblingfugitive met the gaze of the chief; but a maiden bright and fair as themorn, with a blush on her cheeks and a smile on her lips, her wholecountenance beaming with hope, and her eyes fixed with a lingering lookon a Greek who was disappearing from view in a direction opposite tothat by which Judas had approached her! The depths of the leader'sfeelings were again stirred, but this time as by a bar of glowingred-hot iron.

  "Who is yon Gentile?" was the sudden fierce exclamation which burstfrom the warrior's lips.

  Never before had her kinsman looked so terrible to Zarah as when hestartled her then by his sudden appearance. It was not because she nowsaw Maccabeus for the first time arrayed in the harness of battle, histall powerful frame partly sheathed in glittering steel, and a plumedhelmet on his head, giving him a resemblance to the description whichshe had heard from Lycidas of the fabled god of war; it was the eye,the manner, the tone of Judas that changed the smile of the maiden in amoment to a look of embarrassment and fear. Antiochus himself, on hisjudgment-seat, had scarcely appeared more formidable to the tremblingcaptive before him, than did the kinsman who had come to welcome her,and who would have died to shield her from wrong!

  Maccabeus repeated his stern question before Zarah found courage toreply. "That is Lycidas, the Athenian lord," she faltered; "he whomyou spared by the martyrs' tomb. He has well requited your mercy. Heprotected and aided Hadassah to the end, and paid the last honours toher dear remains; he struck down the Syrian who slew my father.Lycidas has embraced the Hebrew faith, and has come to fight, and, ifneed be, to die in the Hebrew cause!"

  The maiden spoke rapidly, and with a good deal of nervous excitement.She did not venture to glance up again into the face of her kinsman tosee the effect of her explanation, for all the false hopes regardinghis indifference with which she had buoyed herself, had vanished like abubble at a touch. Maccabeus did not at once reply. Silently he ledZarah back into the hut, and motioned to her to take her seat upon alow heap of cushions which Anna had removed from the litter, and placedon the earthen floor for the accommodation of her young mistress. Hethen dismissed the attendant by a wave of his hand. The profoundgloomy silence of her kinsman was by no means re-assuring to Zarah, whofelt much as a criminal might feel in presence of a judge--albeit inregard to her conduct towards Lycidas her conscience was clear.

  Maccabeus stood before Zarah, the shadow of his form falling upon themaiden, as he towered tween her and the light, gloomily gazing downupon her.

  "Zarah," he said at last, "there must be no concealment between us.You know in what relation we stand to each other. You have told mewhat that Gentile has been to Hadassah, and to Abner your father; tellme now, What is he to _you_?"

  Zarah struggled to regain her courage, though she knew not how deeplyher evident fear of him wounded the spirit of her kinsman. She did notdare to answer his question directly. "Lycidas is not a Gentile," shesaid; "he is, as you are, a servant of God, a true believer; he hasbeen fully admitted into all the privileges held by our race."

  "Even the privilege of wedding a Hebrew maiden?" inquired Maccabeuswith slow deliberation.

  Zarah fancied that his tone was less stern, and was thankful that Judashad been the one to break ground upon so delicate a subject.

  "Hadassah would not have blamed us," she said simply, blushing deeplyas she spoke.

  Notwithstanding what had just passed, Zarah was utterly unprepared forthe effect of what was in fact an artless confession. It was not agroan nor a cry that she heard, but a sound that partook of the natureof both; a sound that the last turn of the rack could not have forcedfrom the breast that uttered it now! It was the expression of an agonywhich few hearts have affections strong enough to feel, fewer stillcould have fortitude to sustain. No death-wail, no cry of woe, noshriek of pain that Zarah had ever listened to, smote on her soul likethat sound! She heard it but once--it was never heard but once--andbefore she had recovered from the shock which it gave her, Judas hadrushed forth from the hut. He was as one possessed; so fierce were thedemons of jealousy and hatred that for a space held reason, conscience,every power of mind and soul in subjection. One wild desire to killhis rival, to tear him limb from limb, seemed all that had any definiteform in that fearful chaos of passion. It was well for Lycidas that hedid not then cross the path of the lion!

  Maccabeus plunged into the depths of a wood that was near, seekinginstinctively the thickest shade afforded by evergreen trees. He wouldfain have buried his anguish from the sight of man in the darkestcavern--in the deepest grave! The very sunlight was oppressive!

  All lost--all rent away from him for ever! What hope had clung to,what love had treasured through the long, long years of waiting, givingnew courage to the brave, new energy to the weary! Youth, happiness,the cup of joy just filled to the brim by the coming of Zarah, withoutone moment's warning dashed from the lips of him who loved her, and thelast drops sucked up by the thirsty sand! The miseries of a long lifeseemed to be crowded into the few minutes during which the leader ofthe Hebrews, the hope of Judah, lay prostrate on the earth, clinchingthe dust in his despair.

  Hatred and jealousy raged within; and a yet darker demon had joinedthem, one whose presence, above all others, makes the soul as a hell!Like burning venom-drops fell the suggestions of rebellious unbeliefupon the spirit of the disappointed man. "Is it for this that you havewashed your hands in innocency, and kept your feet in the paths oftruth? Is it for this that you have devoted all your powers to God andyour country, have shrunk from no toil, and dreaded no danger? He whomyou were faithfully serving hath not watched over your peace, norguarded for you that treasure which you had confided to his care. Whatprofit is there in obedience, what benefit in devotion? Prayer hasbeen but vanity, and faith but self-deception!"

  Such moments as these are the most terrible in the experience of aservant of the Lord. They afford a glimpse of the depths of guilt andmisery to which the noblest human soul would sink without sustaininggrace; they show that, like the brightest planet, such soul shines notwith light of its own, but with an imparted radiance, deprived of whichit would be enveloped in utter darkness. An Abraham, left to himself,could lie; a David stain his soul with innocent blood. All need theSacrifice of Atonement, all require the grace which comes from above.

  But Judas Maccabeus was not left unaided to be carried away to an abyssof crime by his own wild passions. They were as a steed accustomed toobey the rein of conscience, that, smitten with agonizing pain, hastaken the bit into its teeth, and rushed madly towards a precipice.But the
hand of its rider still grasps the bridle, his eye sees thedanger in front, and the frantic animal beneath him has but for a briefspace burst from his master's powerful constraint. If the rider cannototherwise stop his wild steed, he will strike it down with a heavyblow, that by a lesser fall the greater may be avoided; and so he leadsit back to its starting-place, quivering, trembling in every limb, thesweat on its flanks, the foam on its bit, but subdued, submissive,under command. Even so with the Hebrew chief, conscience regained itshabitual sway over the passions; as soon as the anguish of his soulfound vent in prayer, the crisis of danger was past. Maccabeus rosefrom the earth, pale as one who has received a death-wound, butsubmissive and calm.

  "Shall one who has been so favoured, beyond his hopes, far beyond hisdeserts, dare to repine at the decree of Him who orders all things inwisdom and goodness?" Thus reflected the chief. "Who am I, that Ishould claim exemption from disappointment and loss? Shame on theleader who gives way to selfish passion, and at such a time as this!We shall shortly close in battle; and if in that battle I fall" (thethought brought strange consolation), "how shall I look back from theworld of spirits on that which for a time could almost shake the trustof this unworthy heart in the God of my fathers? If I survive theperils of the day, better it is that there should be no selfish hopes,no selfish cares, to prevent me from concentrating all my energies andthoughts upon the work appointed me to do. I have been wasting my timein idle dreams of earthly enjoyment; I have been rudely awakened. OLord of hosts, strengthen Thy servant to arise and gird up his spiritto perform fearlessly and faithfully the duties of the day!"

  Then, with slower step and calmer aspect, Judas Maccabeus returned tohis camp.