The Hammer: A Story of the Maccabean Times

by Alfred John Church

  CHAPTER XXIV.

  THE SABBATICAL YEAR.

  A time was now approaching to which the responsible leaders of the peoplelooked forward, for the most part, with great anxiety. This was theSabbatical year. During a whole twelve months it would not be lawful tocarry on any offensive war, or, a far more serious matter, to till theground. Debate ran high as to whether the Law could be observed in itsstrictness. There were many who asked, with no little show of reason,"Will it be possible in times so troublous to keep a year of rest? Moses,when he commanded it, thought of a people dwelling quietly in a land fromwhich they had driven out all their enemies. As things are now, theseenemies are about us, and even in the very midst of us. And then theharvest? Will it suffice to feed the people, already more than twice asnumerous as in the previous year, and daily increasing?"

  The answer of the Chasidim was peremptory. "For what," they asked, "havewe suffered and fought? For what did the martyrs lay down theirlives--Eleazar the priest, and the mother and her sons, and Hannah, thewife of Azariah, and others without number? For what did Mattathias wearout the remnant of his years? Was it not for the Law, that it might bekept whole and undefiled? Might we not have lived in peace, and stood highin favour with the King, if we had been content to forsake the law of theLord our God? And now that He has given us the victory, and delivered usfrom the hand of the heathen, so that we may serve Him without fear, shallwe cast His commandments behind our backs? Were we not few in number, andscarcely armed, and yet did He not give into our hands great armies, wellequipped with shield and sword and spear? Were we not well-nigh perishingof hunger among the mountains, and did He not richly supply our needs?Surely the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, and, if He will,He can make that which it bringeth forth of itself to abound even as thefields which the sower has sowed and the reaper has reaped?"

  And the Chasidim had their way, as zealous men are wont to have it, whenthey know exactly their own minds and what they want. The Sabbatical yearwas proclaimed. There was to be no labour, no ploughing or sowing, notendance of oliveyards and vineyards. The people were to live simply andwholly on the bounty of the earth.

  The first month of the Sabbatical year itself bore the name of theSabbatical month. Into this were crowded three of the great feasts andcelebrations of the year--the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, andthe Feast of Tabernacles. But the whole year was to be one round ofreligious celebrations. To the daily sacrifices in the Temple were addedspecial services of intercession, praise, and thanksgiving. Nor did theTemple-worship alone satisfy the religious wants of the people. Thesynagogues were thronged, and that not on the Sabbath only but on everyday of the week. The Law and the Prophets were read and expounded, not, wemay be sure, without many stirring references to the events of the day.

  All this religious enthusiasm was wanted to support the people under thehardships of the time. Provisions, if they did not actually run short,began to rise in price. Judas and his council did their best to preventit; but the selfish instincts of the possessors of corn could not beovercome; stores were held back from the market, and the poorer class,swollen as it was in numbers by the great immigration of the precedingyear from Gilead and Galilee, began to suffer seriously.

  Meanwhile the insolence of the Greek garrison was increasing daily. TheJewish soldiers contented themselves, or endeavoured to contentthemselves, with repelling attack. This meant, of course, standing exposedto showers of missiles which they could not return, and it tried theirpatience to the uttermost. Even some of the Chasidim were heard to murmurthat there must be some limits to this endurance; among the besiegers ingeneral, who had not risen to the height of Chasidim zeal, a spirit ofdiscontent was growing up that might well have become dangerous.

  Before long, however, the evil worked its own cure. One sabbath-day, aboutthe beginning of the month which we should call November, there was agreat solemnity in the Temple, and the outposts of the besieging force hadbeen more than usually weakened. Ruth, with her little Daniel and her twonieces, was going towards the Temple, escorted by her husband and Micah,when one of the lower gates of the fortress was suddenly thrown open, anda party of Greeks rushed out upon the party. Seraiah and Micah were botharmed, but for some minutes they had to make head against their assailantsalone. One of the soldiers who had seized Ruth was promptly felled to theearth by a blow from Micah's sword; and Seraiah did similar execution onanother. But the odds were too great for them. Micah was brought to theground, and it was only by desperate efforts that his brother-in-law couldsave him from being stabbed as he lay. Ruth, meanwhile, being left withouthelp, was carried off to the very gates of the fortress. And then, justbefore it was too late, came the longed-for help. The two girls, who, withtheir little cousin, had been some distance behind, ran screaming towardsthe Temple, and happily met with their father, who was just about tochange guard at one of the posts. He and his company ran at the top oftheir speed to the scene of the conflict, plunged recklessly through themissiles which were showered on them from the fortress, and reached thewall at the same moment with the ravishers, whose progress was impeded bythe struggles of the captive, for, brave woman as she was, she never losther presence of mind. A few of the party escaped into the fortress, thenearest gate of which was cautiously opened to receive them; but thegreater number were instantly put to the sword. Ruth, whose strength brokedown when she knew that she was safe, was carried home, sorely bruised andhalf-unconscious.

  Judas was profoundly moved when he heard of this outrage. He had long beenchafing under the restrictions imposed upon his action by his rigidsupporters, and this determined him to break through them. He had a greataffection for Azariah and his kindred. The men were known to him for theirloyalty and courage, and Ruth as an indefatigable worker among the sickand wounded. His resolution was taken, but with the prudence and soundnessof judgment that were habitual to him he was careful to avoid anyappearance of being peremptory or self-willed. He called to him one of hislieutenants, who was reputed to be a leader among the Chasidim.

  "Micaiah," he said, "you remember when a thousand of our brethren wereslain by the heathen, helpless and unarmed, because it was the sabbath?"

  "I remember," replied the man.

  "And that it was determined by my father, as captain of the host, withfull consent of all the princes and priests, that such a thing shouldhappen no more?"

  "It was so determined."

  "Think you, then, that there is one law for the seventh day, and anotherfor the seventh year?"

  "I know nothing, save what I find in the traditions of the fathers."

  "Our fathers had no such experience as we have had. No, Micaiah, we willnot reap nor sow, trusting that the Lord will feed us. But I see not thatthe Law forbids us to strike with the sword when the heathen seek to carryour wives and our children into captivity, nor will I lay upon the peoplea burden that the Lord has not laid upon them. If I sin in this matter,let the punishment fall upon me and upon my father's house."

  Micaiah was not altogether content, but he did not feel sufficientlyconvinced to resist. And, indeed, the character and the exploits of Judasgave an overpowering weight to any conclusion at which he arrived.

  The next day an assembly of the soldiers was held, and Judas informed themthat operations would be more vigorously conducted for the future. Theannouncement was received with great satisfaction, even by the stricterpartisans of the Law. The insolence of the garrison was summarily checked.The sallies on which it ventured were repulsed so fiercely that they weresoon discontinued, while relays of archers and slingers, succeeding eachother without intermission from earliest dawn to nightfall, kept the wallsclear.

  But though this difficulty was surmounted others not less seriousremained. The privations resulting from the observance of the Sabbaticalyear were such as to overtask the endurance of all but enthusiasts. And,of course, under these circumstances it was inevitable that theregulations should be evaded. Hu
ldah, with the children, was wandering oneday among the gardens in the neighbourhood of the city. They weresearching for some fruit for Ruth who was now making a very slow recoveryfrom the injuries which she had received. They were at liberty to go wherethey pleased, for all right of property was at an end, at least for thetime. But others had been before them, and it seemed as if everything hadbeen gathered, even before it was ripe. They were returning home with butthe scantiest results from this toil when they witnessed a scene ofuproar. Some men had been discovered by the officers of the chief priestsin the unlawful act of cultivating the ground. They had been sowing theseeds of some quick-growing plants, doing it in such an irregular fashionthat what came up might seem to have been chance-sown, but they had beendetected, and were now being led off in custody, angry and defiant, andloudly condemning the bigoted folly which, as they said, to carry out anobsolete enactment, condemned a whole people to starvation.

  A crowd speedily gathered and followed the officers and their prisoners tothe house of one of the chief priests. Huldah and the children went withit. The case was tried, in Eastern fashion, in the open air and in public.The process was short, for the offenders had been caught in the act, andthe law which they had transgressed was plain. The defence which theyattempted on the plea of necessity was cut short by the judge. "The Wordof God," said he, "is of more account than meat and drink. Take thesemen," he went on, speaking to an officer whom we should call theprovost-marshal, "and see that they suffer each forty stripes save one.And you," he added, turning to the prisoners, "know that if you offendagain in this matter you shall be stoned with stones till you die."

  The men were bound and flogged. That was a sight which Huldah and thechildren did not wait to see; but just as they were reaching their homethe men passed them, furious at the indignity which they had suffered, andloudly proclaiming their determination to be revenged.

  The next morning they were missing from the city. A porter at one of thesmaller gates was found tied and gagged. He said that he had been attackedby a party of men, some of whom could be identified by his descriptionwith the sufferers of the day before. The others were Greeks, apparentlybelonging to the garrison. They had surprised him, taken his keys fromhim, and had gone--so he judged from something that he had overheard--on theroad to Antioch. This gave a serious aspect to the affair. The men hadevidently deserted, and would put all the information that they had at theservice of the enemy. Judas immediately ordered a pursuit. But though theparty that he sent out was more than once close upon the tracks of thefugitives it did not succeed in overtaking them.

  Time went on. The Feast of the Dedication came round, and was kept with asmuch cheerfulness as the depressed spirits and scanty means of the peoplepermitted. Spring succeeded winter, bringing with it in its mildertemperature and in the abundance of its natural growths some alleviationsof the common suffering. But the prospect, as a whole, was scarcelybrighter. It was almost a relief when tidings reached the city that astruggle was at hand. It was better, thought many, to die on the field ofbattle than to sit still and starve. And, indeed, death on thebattle-field seemed a likely prospect. Lysias, who had been making hispreparations during the whole of the winter, was now, it was said, aboutto set forth. The force which he had under his command was reported to beoverwhelmingly strong, numbering not less than 120,000 men. It was alsosaid that he had with him thirty-two war-elephants. The boy-King--Eupatorwas not more than nine years old--was also said to be with him.