CHAPTER XXVII.
A PEACEFUL INTERVAL.
It was one of the stipulations of the peace offered by the youngAntiochus, and accepted by Judas, that the King should be admitted withdue ceremony into the surrendered fortress. It was to be a formalacknowledgment of his authority, but nothing more. No change, it wasunderstood, was to be made; the King and his attendants were not to gobeyond the court which it was lawful for the Gentiles to enter.
On the morrow, accordingly, the boy-King came with a splendid processionof nobles and officers. In front marched a company of soldiers, pickedfrom the whole army for their beauty of feature and commanding stature,and gorgeous with their gilded arms. Then, in the order of their dignity,came the high officers of state; last, the young monarch himself, theGovernor Lysias leading him by the hand.
The approach to the Temple was thronged by a crowd of eager spectators,none of whom were more profoundly interested in the sight than the littleDaniel, with his cousins, Miriam and Judith. The child's fancy had beencaught by all that he had heard of the young prince. It seemed strange tohim, almost beyond belief, that a lad, a little older, it was true, thanhimself, but younger than Miriam, should have power to do so much harm."Mother," he said one day to Ruth, "why does God let him hurt so manypeople? It is all his doing that the brave soldiers are shut up in theTemple, and that we have so little to eat. Will he not be punished for itsome day? I suppose, as he is a king, nobody can punish him except God.But He will, won't He, mother?"
_The Boy King._]
Then came the unexpected news of the peace; and nothing would satisfylittle Daniel but that he must see the boy-King received in the Temple.Eagerly did the child watch him as he walked in his little suit of armour,which the most skilful artizans in Antioch had made so light as not to betoo much for his strength, and great was his delight when Eupator,catching a sight of his eager face, kissed his hand to him with a pleasantsmile. That smile he never forgot, though it is true that his old angeragainst the young king returned next day almost as vehemently as ever whenhe heard that orders had been given that the ramparts of the Templefortress were to be broken down, and that the Greek soldiers, anxious todepart, had begun the work of destruction the very hour at which the edicthad been published.
Though this breach of faith was a great blow to the patriots, still theyhad much to console them. In the first place, to their intense relief, theGreek army marched away, and the Holy City was no more defiled by thepresence of the heathen. Then the renegade Menelaues, whom every faithfulJew hated with a more bitter hatred than he felt for the heathenthemselves, went away, but not of his own free choice, with the King.Lysias had an honest man's dislike for a traitor, and indeed did notscruple to say that this impostor, who was neither good Jew nor realGreek, had done more than any one else to cause the recent troubles.
Not less welcome was the end of the Sabbatical year. This of itself wouldnot, of course, have relieved the pressure of scarcity; but there was helpfrom without which before had not been available. Hitherto the Jews hadbeen under a ban; they were enemies of the Syrian King, and none whodesired to be his friends would have any dealings with them. Now all waschanged. The ban was removed. The people were in favour with Eupator andLysias. A brisk trade commenced, and supplies of food came in abundance.With good heart and hope the people set themselves to their work. Frombeing a city of mourning Jerusalem became gay and cheerful.
The general gladness culminated in the Feast of Tabernacles, always themost joyous of Jewish festivals, and now celebrated with specialmanifestations of delight. Never had the people felt so keenly thepleasure of seeming at least to return to the simple life of earliertimes, the rustic enjoyments of a nation that had not yet learnt to dwellin cities. It was the ordinance that for seven days the Israelite shoulddwell, not in his house, but in a booth of boughs. For days waggon-loadswithout number of the boughs of the olive, the palm, the pine, the myrtle,and other trees which had a foliage sufficiently thick for the purpose,were brought into the city. When a house had a roof of a convenient sizeand situation, the booth was built upon it; in many cases it was set up inthe court. Those who had come from elsewhere to share in the festival setup their booths in the court of the Temple, in the street of the WaterGate, and in the street of the Gate of Ephraim. It was a beautiful sightat any time, and now the fresh foliage hid the scars of many a grievouswound that had been inflicted during the years of desolation.
Every day, at the time of the morning sacrifice, each Israelite, gailydressed in holiday attire, made his way to the Temple. Each carried in onehand a bundle of the same branches that were used in the building of thebooths, and in the other a fruit of the citron tree. When all the companywas assembled, and the parts of the victim had been laid upon the altar, apriest was seen approaching with a golden ewer in his hand. He had filledit at the pool of Siloam, and he brought it into the court of the Templethrough the Water Gate. The trumpets sounded as he came in and ascendedthe slope of the altar. On each side of this were two silver basins; intothat on the eastern side he poured the sacred water; while another priestpoured wine into that on the western. Then the "Hallel"(21) was sung; whenthe singers came to the words, "O give thanks unto the Lord; for He isgood, because His mercy endureth for ever," each Israelite shook hisbundle of branches; he did it again when they sang, "Save, Lord, I beseechThee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity;" and a thirdtime at the words, "O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for Hismercy endureth for ever." In the evening there was a grand illumination.Eight lamps, so large and so high that they sent their light over nearlythe whole of the city, were set up in the court of the Temple, while manyof the people carried flambeaux in their hands. Meanwhile a company ofLevites, standing on the steps of the Court of the Women, chanted to themusic of cymbal and the harp the fifteen "Songs of Degrees."(22)
These were the public rejoicings; the private festivities were on the mostliberal scale. Never did the maxim that he who fails to contributeaccording to his means to the general joy is a sinner above other men meetwith a more hearty acceptance.
Azariah with his daughters and little Daniel were watching the ceremoniesof the last and greatest day of the feast from the roof of the Governor'shouse, where they were joined by Micah and by Joseph, who, it will beremembered, had shared with him the disastrous command of the city duringthe absence of Judas in Gilead. Joseph was exultant; Micah's face wasgrave and even sad.
"Thank the Lord, Azariah," cried Joseph, "for He has dealt with thetraitor after his deservings."
"Whom mean you?" asked Azariah; "for we have had more traitors here thanone."
"Whom should I mean but Menelaues, the false priest who sat in Aaron'sseat?"
"And what has befallen him?"
"The King has caused him to be put to death. He was in little favour whenthey took him home, for Lysias said that he had wrought all the mischiefthat had been done. And when they came to Antioch the matter of Oniah wasbrought against him, for there were many who loved the old man, and hadtaken it ill that his death had not been fully avenged. And when the youngKing heard the story, Menelaues being present, and having nothing to sayagainst it, he cried, 'I wonder that the King, my father, suffered thismurderer to escape, but he shall not go unpunished any more. Take him, andcast him alive into the Tower of Ashes.' So they took him and did as theKing had commanded."
"And what is the Tower of Ashes?" asked the little Daniel, who had beenlistening to this conversation with a sort of terrified interest.
Micah answered his question. "At Berea is a tower, the bottom of which isfull of ashes, and in the tower is a machine which revolves and plungesthe criminal who is bound to it deep into the ashes until he is smothered.But as for this unhappy man, the Lord have mercy upon him!"
Joseph turned fiercely upon him. "I marvel," he said, "that you shouldpray for this fellow, who was worse than the heathen. He has but had hisdeservings."
"And where s
hould I be, if I had had mine?" answered Micah. "I walked inthe same way with this Menelaues, and sinned against the Law, even as hesinned, and but that God had mercy upon me, surely I had come to the sameend."
"Don't be sorry, uncle," said the boy, holding up his little face for akiss; "I am sure that God has forgiven you, for He knows how bravely youhave fought for Him, and how many of the heathen you have killed with yoursword."
"May it be so, dear child! But though He has forgiven me, yet I must reapas I have sown."
"And who shall be high priest in this traitor's place?" asked Joseph,after a pause. "For Oniah, the son of him that was slain at Antioch, is inthe land of Egypt, and he takes part with the unfaithful brethren whowould build another Temple among the temples of the heathen, leaving theplace which the Lord has chosen to set His name there."
"And if the House of Zadok have perished, why should not Judas, son ofMattathias, be high priest?" said Azariah. "He is of a principal houseamong the sons of Aaron, and the Lord has been with him always."
Joseph had never forgiven Judas for his own disaster. His was one of thosemean natures that justify the saying, "The injured may forgive, theinjurer never." The captain had treated him with the same generouskindness which he had showed to Azariah, but this kindness had not beenreceived in the same temper. On the contrary it rankled in his mind, tillby a strange, yet not uncommon, perversion of feeling, it had produced apositive sense of injury. He now broke out:
"Nay, nay, my friend, you say too much. That he has won victories I denynot; but was the Lord with him when he fled before the face of the heathenat Beth-Zachariah, or when Beth-zur was yielded up to Lysias, or when wehad well-nigh perished with famine in the siege, or when the King brokedown the ramparts of the Temple? Not so: whatever the people may shout orsing in his praise, he too has known defeat, even as we have."
"This I know," said Azariah, "that whereas we were trodden underfoot bythe heathen till there was no life left in us, now we are risen and standupright."
"And how long, think you," returned Joseph, "will it be so with us? Did wedrive away the King, or did he not rather depart of his own accord,because of what he and his counsellors had heard of the doings of Philip?And will he not return, and the end be worse than the beginning?"
Azariah answered, with some heat, "As for that which may happen hereafter,I say nothing. These things are in the hand of God. But that the youngAntiochus departed to his own land was, I doubt not at all, of the Lord'sdoing. Why, even this child knows the story of Sennacherib, and the wordswhich Isaiah the prophet spoke to Hezekiah when the King wasfaint-hearted, and could not see how there should be any deliverance forIsrael. Did not the prophet say, 'He shall hear a rumour, and shall returnunto his own land?'"
Joseph said nothing. With all his meanness and littleness he was apatriot, and really loved his country; and it went against his heart andconscience to prophesy evil against her.
Then the little Daniel startled them all by saying, with flashing eyes,"And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."
The Hammer: A Story of the Maccabean Times Page 29