{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_7482/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_7482","id":"gutenberg_7482","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7482","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Prophets","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Judaism"],"text":"Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Robert Shimmin,\nDavid King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                       STORIES OF THE PROPHETS\n\n\n\n\n                   COMMISSION ON JEWISH EDUCATION\n\n                                of the\n\n               UNION OF AMERICAN HEBREW CONGREGATIONS\n\n                               and the\n\n                CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS\n\n                      DAVID PHILIPSON, Chairman\n\n             JOSEPH L. BARON           DAVID MARX\n             EDWARD N. CALISCH         S. FELIX MENDELSOHN\n             H. G. ENELOW              JULIAN MORGENSTERN\n             HARRY W. ETTELSON         JOSEPH RAUCH\n             MAX HELLER                WILLIAM ROSENAU\n             SAMUEL KOCH               SAMUEL SCHULMAN\n             GERSON B. LEVI            ABBA H. SILVER\n             HARRY LEVI                ABRAM SIMON\n             LOUIS L. MANN             LOUIS WITT\n                             LOUIS WOLSEY\n\n                       GEORGE ZEPIN, Secretary\n\n\n\n\n\n                       STORIES OF THE PROPHETS\n\n                         (Before the Exile)\n\n\n\n                          BY ISAAC LANDMAN\n\n\n\n\n                                  To\n                              My Parents\n\n               Who first introduced me to the Prophets,\n                     this book is dedicated with\n                          love and devotion.\n\n\n\n\n                              CONTENTS.\n\n\nI. THE SHEPHERD OF TEKOAH.\n    1. An End to War\n    2. In the Days of Prosperity\n    3. The Man Who Dared\n    4. Treason and a Fight\n    5. Priest Against Prophet\n    6. The Prophet in Tekoah\n\nII. THE MAN WHO LEARNED HIS LESSON.\n    1. An Eventful Night\n    2. The Tragedy with a Purpose\n    3. The Repentant Returns\n\nIII. THE STATESMAN PROPHET.\n    1. The Vision in the Temple\n    2. The Parable of the Vineyard\n    3. A Coward on the Throne\n    4. On Deaf Ears\n    5. The Survival of the Fittest\n    6. Working with the Remnant\n    7. Like Father, Like Son\n    8. The Prophet Triumphs\n    9. The Fruit of His Labor\n\nIV. THE COMMONER.\n    1. His Awakening\n    2. The Cause of the Common People\n    3. When Samaria Fell\n    4. Judah Learns Its Lesson\n\nV. THE PROPHET OF WOE AND HOPE.\n    1. The Escape\n    2. The Boy King\n    3. Jeremiah's Call\n    4. The Seething Caldron\n    5. The Great Discovery\n    6. A New Covenant\n    7. To the Fore Again\n    8. The Shadow of a King\n    9. The Temple of the Lord\n    10. A Narrow Escape\n    11. A Taste of Martyrdom\n    12. The Woe of the Prophet\n    13. Teacher and Pupil\n    14. Baruch's First Venture\n    15. The King Hears and Acts\n    16. Beginning of the End\n    17. The First Deportation\n    18. In Exile and in the Homeland\n    19. A Friend in Need\n    20. In the Midst of Despair\n    21. Lamentations and a Vain Hope\n    22. Cowardice and Treachery\n    23. Jeremiah, the Martyred\n\n\n\n\n                        LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n\"_The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz._\"--Isaiah I, 1\n\n\"_Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel._\"--Amos IV, 12\n\n\"_Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in\njudgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercy._\"--Hosea II, 21\n\n\"_Here am I, send me._\"--Isaiah VI, 8\n\n\"_And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears\ninto pruning-hooks._\"--Isaiah II, 4\n\n\"_For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of\nthe house of Israel._\"--Micah I, 5\n\n\"_I sat alone because of Thy hand._\"--Jeremiah XV, 17\n\n\"_And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go into\ncaptivity._\"--Jeremiah XX, 6\n\n\n\n\n                               FOREWORD\n\n\nThe company of inspired men, commonly known as the prophets of Israel,\nwere the unique product of the Jewish religious genius. They were\npre-eminently preachers of righteousness. Fearless and undaunted, they\ntold the house of Israel their sins and the house of Jacob their\ntransgressions. They contemplated the facts of life from the highest\npoint of view. For them religion and morality were blended, ethics and\npolitics were one. Theirs was peculiarly a social message; the demand\nfor justice underlies all their thinking and speaking. They had a\nveritable passion for righteousness; through all the ages their words\nhave been torches lighting the way of men struggling upward towards\nthe truth.\n\nThough living over twenty-six hundred years ago, these men are very\nmodern. As a great thinker has well said, \"The spirit of the prophets\nof Israel is in the modern soul.\" The foremost workers for the welfare\nof their fellowmen to-day posit social justice as the first article of\ntheir program. The world to-day, as never before, is filled with cries\nfor social righteousness as the indispensable foundation for the\nstructure of society. What is this but harking back to the eternal\nmessage of the ancient prophets? \"Let justice flow as water\"\npassionately and unreservedly demanded Amos of old; for him and his\nbrother prophets this was the sine qua non for society's welfare; the\nsame may be said of the thousands and tens of thousands to-day of\nevery creed and every nation who are toiling for the social salvation\nof their fellowmen the world over. Ages meet; the words of the ancient\npreachers of righteousness are still the inspiration for the seekers\nafter justice everywhere.\n\nThe story of the life work of these giants of the spirit has often\nbeen told, but it can be told none too often, particularly if the\ntelling is well done, as is the case in the present volume. Each one\nof these men delivered the same message in his own individual and\ninimitable way. Yet their work was continuous and forms a consecutive\ntale. In the speeches and experiences of each one of them the eternal\ntruths they present appears in differing light. The author of the\npresent volume approaches his subject, one might say, from the\ndramatic standpoint, for, with fine insight, he has culled from the\nlives of the prophets those striking and intense experiences which\nillustrate most powerfully the indomitable spirit of these men who\nfollowed right in scorn of consequence, for were they not the\nmessengers of the God of right whose demand upon men is, as told by\none of them in imperishable words, to do justice, to love mercy and to\nwalk humbly with God?\n\nThe author has succeeded well in his characterization of the various\nprophets. His pages glow with the vital spark of each prophet's\nflaming figure. He has named his book fittingly \"Stories of the\nProphets,\" and interesting stories has he told. He has brought to his\ntask not only a sympathetic appreciation of his subject, but an\nimaginative faculty that has enabled him to supply links in the\nnarrative suggested if not actually given in the incidents preserved\nin the recorded annals.\n\nFrom the words of the prophets themselves he has, therefore,\noccasionally built up situations which if not strictly indicated in\nthe original text may, at any rate, be imagined. Not as predictors of\nevents in the far future, for this the prophets were not, despite\nfrequent interpretations of their words along this line, but as bold\nspeakers of the truth, as fiery preachers of the right, as intrepid\nchampions of the poor and oppressed, as fearless denouncers of\ncorruption and wrong in high places does our author present the\nleading figures in his book. As such, their words are as significant\nfor us to-day as they were for the men of their generation, and their\nimpassioned accents sound as forcefully now as they did then. This is\nbrought out clearly and strikingly in the sketches of this volume,\nwhich without doubt will succeed in giving a vivid picture to the\nreader of these towering spirtual heroes who belong to the ages,\nspeakers of the everlasting nays and yeas of the Everlasting God.\n\nDAVID PHILIPSON.\n\nCINCINNATI, SEPTEMBER, 1912.\n\n\n\n\n\n                        THE SHEPHERD OF TEKOA\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER I.\n\n                        _An End to War._\n\n\n   \"Damascus has fallen!\n    Damascus has fallen!!\"\n\nThe whole city of Samaria rang with the glad tidings. Fleet-footed\nrunners, who had started with this precious news on the day of\nvictory, covered more than one hundred and fifty miles to bring it to\nthe capital of the Kingdom of Israel.\n\nThey crossed mountains and swam rivers, fairly flew over fertile\nplains and through busy cities, shouting, while there was breath in\ntheir bodies:\n\n   \"Damascus has fallen!\"\n\nMany of the messengers fell exhausted on the way, but others took up\nthe wonderful news from the front and carried it on, until the whole\nnorthern part of the kingdom knew of the king's victory.\n\nLittle by little the whole story was told to the eager Samarians--how\nthe king, Jeroboam II, himself led the hosts of Israel; how attack\nfollowed attack upon the fortified Syrian capital; how the first\nbreach was made in the outer wall; how the valiant Israelites rushed\nupon the enemy, and how the final victory was won for Israel's\nstandard.\n\nWhat a celebration was there in Samaria that long-to-be-remembered\nday!\n\nNot since the days when the first Jeroboam led the rebellion of the\nten tribes against King Solomon's weak son, Rehoboam, and established\nthe independent kingdom of the Ten Tribes, with Samaria as the\ncapital, was there such rejoicing in that city.\n\nWe can picture the celebration in our mind's eye; we cannot describe\nit in words.\n\nParents who had sent their sons to the war now laughed happily through\ntheir tears, because there would be an end to war.\n\nSisters whose brothers doubtless lay dead in and about the walls of\nthe doomed city, now sang songs of joy in the midst of their weeping,\nbecause there would be an end to war.\n\nThe strongest and finest men of Israel had given their lives for their\ncountry, but now, thank God! there would be an end to war.\n\nThe fall of Damascus meant the end of a hundred and fifty years' war,\ncommenced by Ben-hadad I, of Syria, against Israel, long before\nJeroboam's great-grandfather established the dynasty of Jehu on the\nthrone of Israel.\n\nIt meant even more than that; it meant the end of Syrian oppression,\nand, perhaps, a period of peace to the long-troubled and war-ridden\nkingdom of Israel.\n\nNo wonder, then, that there were feasts of rejoicing and full-throated\ncries:\n\n\n   \"Damascus has fallen! Long live King Jeroboam!\"\n   \"Damascus has fallen! Long life to the house of Jehu!\"\n\nAll day and all night Samaria swarmed with people. The streets were\nthronged with shouting men and women who had come from Geba and\nDothan, and even from Jezreel on the north, and from Schechem and\nShiloh and Bethel on the south, to help celebrate the great victory.\n\nSacrifices were brought at all the sanctuaries of Israel--in Bethel,\nin Dan, in Gilgal, in Beersheba.\n\nPriests and people brought thank-offerings, and, together, sang\npraises to God:\n\n   \"God is my light and my salvation,\n    Whom shall I fear?\n    God is the strength of my life,\n    Of whom shall I be afraid?\"\n\nTruly, God was on the side of Israel, or else the Syrians could not\nhave been defeated. He was showing favor to the Northern Kingdom, and\nwas pleased with Israel, for was not Judah, the Southern Kingdom, too,\npaying tribute to Jeroboam?\n\nAnd so they recalled how Joash, the father of the great Jeroboam II,\ndefeated Amaziah, king of Judah, took him captive, partially\ndemolished the walls of Jerusalem, and looted the Temple in Jerusalem.\n\n\nThe older men of Samaria remembered the fine sarcasm with which Joash\ntreated Amaziah's challenge to war, in his reply:\n\n\"The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in\nLebanon, saying, 'Give thy daughter to my son to wife,' and there\npassed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trod down the\nthistle.\"\n\nHow young and old laughed at the repetition of this clever little\nstory that compared Israel to a cedar in its strength and to a wild\nbeast in its fighting power, and Judah to a poor, little thistle to be\ntramped upon!\n\nJeroboam II was indeed a son of his father. Joash humbled Judah,\nIsrael's enemy on the south; Jeroboam humbled Syria, Israel's enemy on\nthe north.\n\nNot satisfied with the fall of Damascus, however, Jeroboam pushed\nright ahead and captured Lodebar and Karnaim, which he turned over to\nAssur-dan, king of Assyria.\n\nThe fact is that Jeroboam had to do this. It was his end of a bargain\nmade with Assur-dan. It was agreed between the two that the Assyrians\nwould keep their hands off during the war between Israel and Syria.\n\nAs a reward for Assur-dan's non-interference, Jeroboam undertook to\ncapture these two cities and turn them over to the Syrians to become\npart of his empire.\n\nHaving fulfilled his agreement, Jeroboam continued his victorious\nmarch further north, and never stopped until he had laid low the pride\nof Hamath, the prosperous city on the river Orontes.\n\nJeroboam II, thus had the great distinction of restoring the\nboundaries of the Kingdom of Israel to the proportions of the empire\nof David and Solomon, \"from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of\nArabah,\" which is the Dead Sea.\n\nWonderful was the reception prepared for the king and his victorious\narmy on their return to Samaria. More people had come to the city to\njoin in the welcoming demonstration than had pilgrimed to Jerusalem on\nthe Passover, in the days before the division of the kingdom.\n\nThe northern walls were massed with people, and the gates were\ndecorated with flowers. Priests and elders, dressed in spotless white\nand led by the high priest, Amaziah, himself, awaited Jeroboam and his\ngenerals just outside of the city and preceded them to the gates. Such\nan acclamation of joy as greeted the king upon his entrance through\nthe gates had never been heard in Samaria.\n\nPassing through a triumphal arch of stone and marble, the procession\nwas met by hundreds of maidens and children, clothed in linen and\ngold, who led the way, singing and strewing flowers in the path of\nthe heroes.\n\nA turn in the street led to the market-place. Here had been built a\ngreat triumphal arch of ivory and gold, beyond which was an altar,\nspecially erected for the occasion.\n\nPassing through the arch, Amaziah and Jeroboam mounted the steps that\nled to the altar. All the rest remained below. When the priest and the\nking faced the people the singing and the shouting ceased. With due\nceremony, and according to the rites, the king brought a thanks-offering\nto God for his victories and his safe return. When Amaziah placed the\nsacrifice upon the altar a deep hush fell over the great assembly.\n\nSlowly the smoke of the sacrifice rose to heaven, and the multitude of\npeople, like one man, fell on their knees and worshiped.\n\nJeroboam was deeply moved. Solemnly he raised his right hand, and,\nfrom the depths of his grateful heart, he said:\n\n   \"Peace to the house of Israel!\"\n\nLike the rumble of a mighty wave rolling toward the shore came the\nresponse from the sea of worshiping people:\n\n   \"To the house of Israel, peace!\"\n\nFor one whole week after Jeroboam's triumphant entry into the capital,\nSamaria was a place of feasting and rejoicing. When, by command of the\nking, the celebration came to an end and the people began to return to\ntheir homes, each one, on leaving the city's gates, repeated to\nhimself the now answered prayer of over a century:\n\n   \"Peace to the house of Israel!\n    To the house of Israel, peace!\"\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER II.\n\n                  _In the Days of Prosperity._\n\n\nIt was market day in Samaria.\n\nGreat throngs of people crowded all the streets. They jostled each\nother good naturedly, traded, bargained, renewed acquaintanceship,\nspoke of their home towns and expressed the hope of meeting again.\n\nThe market place itself, where the many bazaars displayed wonderful\nmerchandise from many cities and many lands, was an especially lively\nplace. It was gay with life and color. Gilded chariots and ivory-bedecked\nlitters passed to and fro. Heralds announced particularly important\npersonages and escorts and cleared a way for them with whip or spear.\nMilitary men and merchant princes, with many followers, often\nscattered the smaller merchants and petty traders in their path\nthrough the market. Many were caught under the wheels of the vehicles\nof the rich when they did not get out of the way quickly enough.\nOthers were purposely thrust aside by the wealthy aristocrats simply\nto show their disdain.\n\n\nIt was a typical Samarian market day--crowds and noise; buying and\nselling; idle rich and drudging poor; haughty military grandees, in\ntheir resplendent attires, and cowed, miserable beggars in their rags;\ncolor and laughter at the bazaars, and tears and sorrow at the auction\nblock just across the way--always crowds and always noise.\n\nThe auctioneer was shouting above the general din the good points of a\nman who had just been placed on the block.\n\n\"To be sold till the Jubilee Year,\" he cried. \"How much am I bid?\"\n\nA clerk read the court's decree that this man was to be sold for debt.\nIt was signed by the judges, who sat in the East Gate of Samaria. The\ndocument was a cold, formal statement. It did not take into account\nthe reason why this man, in the full vigor of manhood, had fallen into\ndebt. His creditors had pushed the poor fellow hard for their money.\nHe could not pay. He pleaded with the judges that the sickness of his\nwife and children had reduced him to direst need, but it was without\navail. He could not pay his debts and must work them off as a slave\nfor seven years; that was the decree of the court. After seven years\nhe would be a free man again. Cases like this were very common.\n\nThe keen eye of the auctioneer noted a man at the far edge of the\nplatform who had made several attempts as if to bid during the sale.\nHe was a middle-aged man, tall and thin, but wiry. His face was\nbronzed from exposure to sun and wind. He wore a long woolen mantel\nthat completely covered him, even to the sandals on his feet.\n\n\"How much am I bid?\" The auctioneer spoke the question directly to\nthis country yokel, while he winked at the crowd in front of him. He\nthought that the fellow who came to the market clad in such clothes,\ninstead of his Sabbath best, had little money with him to buy a slave,\nand less use for one. So he spoke the question again to the \"farmer,\"\nexpecting an answer that would make the crowd laugh and put them in\ngood humor.\n\nThe country yokel again made as if to speak but changed his mind and\nbacked away, facing the auctioneer.\n\nHe had hardly backed three paces when he bumped into some one. He was\npushed violently forward, and, before he could recover, winced under a\nstinging crack from a whip.\n\nHe turned quickly and faced two brutish looking men, swearing at his\nawkwardness and cursing his impudence for being in the way.\n\nThe \"farmer\" could have given a good account of himself in a square\nfight with these men, but he knew better than to start a fight with\nthem. They were the foreguards to a splendid pleasure outfit--the\noutfit of a very rich Samarian merchant. A fight meant arrest and\npunishment at the hands of Samarian judges, whether he was in the\nright or not. The rich of Samaria had the judges under their thumbs. A\nstranger or a poor man, in fact, anyone who had no influence in\nSamaria, stood little chance of getting justice.\n\nSo the farmer cleared the way. Standing aside, he watched the chariot\ndrawn by four Egyptian steeds, surrounded by guards, slaves and\nhangers-on, make its way through the crowded market place, paying no\nattention to the rights and privileges of any one. The wealthy\nmerchant in the chariot held his head up proudly. He greeted only the\nprosperous looking; upon the curious crowds and small merchants, he\nlooked down with contempt.\n\nThe merchant whose attendants had so grossly insulted the \"farmer\"\ndrew up before a great palace. Rich carpets were spread from the\nchariot to the steps of the mansion. The rich man's followers bowed\nlow as he passed up the steps and through the door held open by\nattendants. Some followed him into the house; others mingled with the\npeople in the market place; the slaves went to their quarters by a\nrear entrance.\n\nThe stranger in the woolen robe was not as green as he looked. He had\nwitnessed the growth and prosperity of Samaria during the last twenty\nyears of Jeroboam II's reign until it became the busiest trade center\nin the Empire.\n\nLeaning against the stone column, on which was graven the record of\nJeroboam's victory over Damascus, and still smarting from the lash of\nthe servant's whip, he recalled the story of Samaria's great strides\nto its present prosperous condition.\n\nThe subjugation of Judah on the south, which this farmer had good\ncause to remember; the conquest of Syria on the north and Jeroboam's\npeace compact with Assyria further east, assured a long period of\npeaceful development within the empire.\n\nNew highways were built, so that the farther ends of the country were\nbrought close together for business purposes. Farmers could bring\ntheir crops to the cities easily. Many remained in the cities and\nengaged in business pursuits. Caravans traveled great distances,\nbringing precious luxuries from one part of the empire to another, and\neven from foreign countries.\n\nMany thus became very wealthy. They built themselves palaces for\nwinter residences in the cities and palaces for summer residences in\nthe country. To get rich seemed to be the aim of everybody; and, with\nriches, came ostentation and luxuriant living.\n\nThe city of Samaria, especially, was the center for Israel's most\nwealthy men. Their homes were wonders of stone and ivory. The\nfurnishings rivaled in beauty the splendor of the outside. The rooms\nwere high and spacious. The beds and tables and chairs were of the\nfinest wood of Lebanon, carved by the craftsmen of Tyre, and inlaid\nwith ivory. The coverings were of the richest purple and gold from\nEgypt and the Indies. Wine cellars were a part of every house and\nfeasts were spread whenever the occasion offered itself. Fatted lambs\nand calves were slaughtered daily to supply the tables, and new\ninstruments were invented to furnish music at the feasts.\n\nThis, however, was only one side of the picture of Samaria in its days\nof greatest prosperity. The \"farmer\" knew that there was another, much\nless beautiful. While the rich were growing richer, the poor were\ngrowing poorer.\n\nThe rich, thinking only of themselves, their wealth, their power,\ntheir good times, cheated and oppressed the poor unmercifully. They\ngave false weights and short measure and sold at high prices, poor\nstuff at that. They would drive a poor man into debt and have him sold\ninto slavery; so that human beings became a drug on the market, as it\nwere. In fact, at the very auction which the \"farmer\" watched that\nday, one poor man was sold for the price of a pair of shoes. The poor\nhad even no chance to get justice in the courts. The greed for money\nplaced corrupt officials in office and the offenders bribed them to\nthe undoing of the poor and needy.\n\nStrange to say, the Israelites, in whose midst there were those who\nlived such scandalous lives and treated the poor people so\noutrageously--the Israelites--nevertheless, believed in their hearts\nthat they had not forgotten God. They believed that God was with them;\nthat He loved them above all other peoples; that He guarded and\nprotected them; that He sent them all their blessings of prosperity\nand peace.\n\nThis is the way they reasoned it out: Had not God helped them to\ndefeat Judah? Had not God been with them when they crushed their\nancient foe, Syria? Did not God send them rain in season, so that\ncrops were good and plentiful?\n\n\"Therefore,\" said they, \"God is on our side. Let us go up to the\nsanctuaries and offer sacrifices upon His altars.\"\n\nAnd so, at festival times, Bethel and Gilgal, and Dan and Beersheba\nwere crowded with the rich, offering their sacrifices, feasting,\ndrinking and rejoicing. It never entered their minds that God is the\nGod of the poor, as well as of the rich. Though they continued to rob\nand oppress and enslave the poor and the needy and the helpless, they\nwere perfectly satisfied with the idea that all God asked of them was\nto offer the prescribed sacrifices. If there were any who knew\ndifferently, or thought differently, they seemingly did not dare say\nso in anybody's hearing. For the poor, these were, indeed, evil times.\n\n\nAt this point in his musings, the \"farmer\" actually shuddered. He was\nnot aware that his peculiar dress and his peculiar position at the\nmoment had attracted attention. While he was contrasting in his mind\nthe great difference between the rich and the poor in Samaria, several\nmen, having nothing better to do, had stopped to stare at the yokel.\nAs is always the case when people stand in the street and gawk, a\nlarge crowd soon assembled. A military chariot stopped near the group\nof curious gazers to see what was going on. Soon several others were\nhalted there, including gilded and gaudy litters, in which fashionably\ndressed women were being conveyed. All stared, called each other's\nattention to the queerly garbed stranger, and finally laughed\noutright.\n\nThe man who was the center of attraction became aware of the crowd\nonly when he had reached that point in his thoughts, the horrible\npicture of which had made him shudder. When he noticed the crowd, he\ngasped. He recovered from his astonishment quickly, however. He opened\nhis mantle, showing his gaunt, powerful form. He raised his head and\nfaced the crowd. His face, strong and sunburned, was tense and drawn\nfor a moment; then it relaxed. Deep lines, expressing severe pain,\nwere furrowed in his forehead.\n\nThe crowd, in turn, was astonished at the complete change that had\ncome over the \"yokel.\" Before they recovered from their mistaken\nopinion about the man, they saw him clinch his fists in determination\nand heard his voice ring out clearly and distinctly, above the din of\nthe market place:\n\n   \"Hear ye,\n    Who turn justice to wormwood\n    And cast down righteousness to the earth;\n    Who trample upon the poor\n    And afflict the just;\n    Who take a bribe\n    And thrust aside the needy in the gate:\n    I know how manifold are your transgressions,\n    Saith the Lord, God of hosts,\n    And how mighty your sins,\n    The end of my people Israel hath come,\n    Saith the Lord, God of hosts,\n    I can no longer forgive.\"\n\nThis outspoken attack upon Samaria, its rich, and its military nobles,\nwas so extraordinary that it amazed the crowd. Having spoken, the\n\"farmer\" turned away and was soon lost among the bazaars. Some looked\nafter him, astonished at his recklessness in laying himself open to\nthe revenge of the powers that be. Others looked after him, amazed at\nhis bravery and fearlessness.\n\nThat night many in Samaria had heard of the unknown stranger and his\nspeech in the market place. At many dinner tables the question was\nasked:\n\n\"Who is this man who dares to lift his voice against the high and\npowerful in behalf of the poor and downtrodden?\"\n\n\"Who is this man who dares to proclaim the doom of the Kingdom of\nIsrael in the days of its greatest prosperity?\"\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER III.\n\n                      _The Man Who Dared._\n\n\nThere lived a man in the little town of Tekoah, in the Kingdom of\nJudah, twelve miles south of Jerusalem, who made a living from\n\"dressing sycamore trees.\"\n\nIn ancient Palestine, the fruit of the sycamore that grew in Judah was\ndried, ground into flour and used for making coarse bread. This bread\nwas eaten by the very poorest people, who could not afford to buy\nwheat.\n\nNow, the man who lived from gathering poor fruit, out of which poor\nbread was made, for poor people, must, himself, have been very poor.\n\nBut a poor man may love his country as much as a rich man; and, when\nthe foolish war between Amaziah of Judah and Joash of Israel broke\nout, this \"dresser of sycamore trees,\" from Tekoah, followed his king\non the battlefield.\n\nAt the battle in which Amaziah was defeated and Joash gained his\ngreatest victory, leading to the destruction of part of the\nfortifications of Jerusalem, this man, fighting valiantly in the front\nranks, with many other patriotic Judeans, laid down his life for his\ncountry. He was buried in the trenches, an unknown hero, whose name is\nnot even in the records.\n\nBut history gives us the record of his son, named Amos. Left with his\nwidowed mother, after the war, the burden of finding a living for the\ntwo was soon thrust upon him. There was only one thing that he knew by\nwhich he could earn money--\"dressing sycamore trees.\"\n\nHe went at his work with a vim. As he grew up, and his and his\nmother's needs increased, his wits became sharpened. Why could he not\ndry and grind the sycamore fruit himself? This he did and increased\nhis income. Then, his mother suggested that she would bake the flour\ninto bread, if he would sell it. Amos agreed to that, and the little\nfamily thrived.\n\nOne day Amos brought the idea to his mother that their sycamore bread\ncould be sold at a better price in Jerusalem. He asked for permission\nto go there and his mother, desiring more that her son should see the\ncapital than that he should get higher prices for the bread, said:\n\n\"Go, my son, and God be with thee.\"\n\nThat trip to Jerusalem and the several trips that followed, made a\ngreat impression upon the young man and gave a remarkable turn to his\nwhole life.\n\nHe saw Jerusalem, of whose beauty and glory his father had often told\nhim, a fallen city. It had not yet recovered from the terrible results\nof the war with Amaziah of Israel; King Uzziah had not yet restored\nthe treasures and vessels of which the temples had been looted; and,\nin the quarter of the city where Amos sold his bread, oh! such\npoverty, such wretchedness, such desolation!\n\nHis heart was filled with grief. He went to the trenches where he knew\nhis father lay in an unmarked grave, and wept bitterly. There, at his\nfather's grave, a wonderful thought came to him. A new light entered\ninto his life and a great determination for his future career. His\nmind once made up, he soon outlined a plan for himself, and having the\ndetermination to carry the plan through, he made rapid progress.\n\nWith the additional profits that resulted from his business trips to\nJerusalem, Amos bought sheep and goats and became a shepherd, as well\nas a gatherer of sycamore fruit.\n\nThe great rocky wilderness that slopes from the limestone hills of\nTekoah down to the Dead Sea was just the place where sheep and goats\ncould prosper.\n\nSo, in addition to the thriving business of his old trade, he dealt,\nalso, in goat milk and wool and in the animals themselves.\n\nOften, as he sat on the hillsides, in the cool of the sycamores, and\nwatched his flocks, his mind would turn to the things he saw and heard\nin Jerusalem. He had heard there that Bethel, one of the sanctuaries\nof Israel, was always filled with pilgrims at festival time--and he\ndetermined upon a trip to Bethel, twenty-two miles north of Tekoah.\n\nHe returned greatly disheartened.\n\n\"Wealth and feasting saw I there,\" Amos told his mother, \"and wine and\nsong, and altars reeking with blood of fatted lambs and oxen; but God\nwas not in the heart of the people of Israel.\"\n\nHis mother chided him gently. To say such things was blasphemy; for\nsacrifices were demanded of all the people by the religious laws of\nthe state; and it was also commanded that a portion of the sacrifice\nshould be consumed by him who brought it--therefore the feasting. As\nto the song and wine, did not the Sweet Singer say, \"Serve the Lord\nwith gladness?\"\n\nAmos did not reply. He knew that his good-hearted mother had given\nexpression to the idea of God's worship as all the people, both of\nIsrael and of Judah, at that time, understood it. They brought the\nsacrifices, as prescribed by the priests at the sanctuaries; a portion\nof the slaughtered animal was given to God on the altar, and the\nportion that was eaten by the sacrificer was looked upon as a meal--a\nbanquet--participated in by him and God, together; such a meal soon\nbecame a feast, with wine and song. Unfortunately, these banquets\noften degenerated into drunkenness and revelry.\n\nAmos felt that such worship of God was not right, but he had not yet\ndiscovered what was wrong.\n\nWhen the period of prosperity opened up for Israel, with Jeroboam II's\nconquest of Damascus, Judah also felt the good times. Amos, now an\nexperienced master herdsman, took the advantage afforded by the peace\nand improved business conditions. He traveled with his stock-in-trade\nto far northern markets, to Samaria, to Damascus, to Hamath, and, from\nthere his caravans wended their way east, even as far as the City\nAsshur, the capital of Assyria.\n\nHe was not a mere trader, however. He was a close observer and a\nstudent of men and things wherever he led his caravans. He talked with\nstrangers about other lands which he had not visited and became,\ntherefore, well acquainted with political, religious and social\nconditions everywhere.\n\nAll this made no change in the outward circumstances of Amos. Success\ndid not turn his head. He did not build himself a palace, but remained\nwith his mother in the village of Tekoah, where he was born and\nraised. He did not indulge himself with fine clothes and high living,\nbut continued to dress simply and live plainly.\n\nHis mother was often greatly worried about Amos. When he returned from\na far northern and eastern trip he would betake himself to his beloved\nhills and sycamore groves and flocks. He would work with the most\nlowly of his sycamore fruit gatherers; but he would often spend hours\nby himself in the woods or in the wilderness.\n\nIt was during these lonesome hours that Amos added high thinking to\nhis simple living. The grandeur of Samaria and the wealth he saw\ndisplayed in Bethel did not deceive him. Neither did the peace compact\nbetween Jeroboam II and Assur-dan III blind him to the exact state of\naffairs in the relationship between the two countries.\n\nHe knew that Tiglath-Pileser III, the successor of Assur-dan, had\ncrushed all rebellions in Assyria, which Assur-dan III had failed to\ndo, and was reorganizing the army of the great empire. He knew that\nDamascus, which had been weakened by Jeroboam II beyond hope of\nrecovery, would be the first point of conquest for the young and\nenergetic Pul, as Tiglath-Pileser was called. Next before him, to the\nsouth, lay the rich Kingdom of Israel, the booty from whose palaces\nand sanctuaries would be an enormous prize for the Assyrian emperor\nand his army. After Damascus, must come Samaria!\n\nIn other words, Amos saw distinctly that the time was near when Israel\nwould have to fight again for its independence and its very life; and\nhe asked himself, \"Is Israel prepared?\"\n\nClearly it was not. The rich had become unfit for war, because of\ntheir luxuriant living. The poor had become unfit for war, because of\ntheir oppression by the rich. Should the Assyrians invade the land,\nhow could such a nation of weaklings defend its home and its liberty?\n\nIsrael must be warned! It must be awakened from its stupidity to a\nrealization of the danger ahead! The rich must cease their extravagances\nand become manly men again! The poor must be given their rights, must\nbe treated justly and righteously, that they may become manly men\nagain! Only a nation of moral, upright, God-fearing men can hope for\nvictory! If the Assyrians should defeat and crush Israel, it will be\nGod's punishment visited upon Israel for its sins and crimes.\n\nAmos had often discussed these things with his mother. She was not\nsurprised, therefore, when, one day, upon his return from a long trip\ninto Assyria, Amos said to her, \"I am called to the cities of Israel.\nMy mission will be prolonged many days.\"\n\nThe good woman knew and understood. Laying her hands upon his head,\nshe repeated the blessing with which she had blessed him when, as a\ntimid young man, he made his first trip to Jerusalem:\n\n\"Go, my son, and God be with thee.\"\n\nAnd so it was that Amos, the herdsmen of Tekoah, had dared to speak\nfor the poor people in Samaria, and to prophesy the fall of the\nKingdom.\n\nHis first speech attracted little attention, but others, in various\nparts of the country, to the same effect, followed. Many laughed at\nthem; few thought seriously about them.\n\nBut Amos was not so easily discouraged. He concluded that the wrong\nidea the people had about God, how to worship Him and what He demanded\nof them, was the cause of all the evil. Amos, therefore, selected the\nsanctuaries during festival season as the place where he must do his\npreaching.\n\nHe went especially to Bethel, the king's sanctuary, where Jeroboam\nbrought his sacrifices and where the great nobles and soldiers and\nrichest merchants gathered and reveled in their feasts.\n\nOne day Amos broke in upon a reveling group, with the unexpected call:\n\n   \"Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel!\"\n\nSuch a call was, indeed, unexpected. The Israelites, assembled at the\nsanctuary, offering their sacrifices, believed that they were\n_with_ their God. Some one told Amos as much, and the crowd\njeered at the fool, who evidently did not understand his religion.\n\nThis laughter ceased suddenly, however, when Amos began to chant a\nmournful dirge:\n\n   \"Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you,\n        O house of Israel!\n    Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel!\n    Cast down upon her soil she lies,\n    There is none to raise her up.\n    The city that taketh the field with a thousand,\n    Hath but a hundred left;\n    And the one that taketh the field with a hundred,\n    Hath but ten left.\"\n\nA young officer, who felt that the army, the pride of the Kingdom, had\nbeen grossly insulted, rushed forth from the crowd and exclaimed,\nhotly: \"Thou art a false prophet! Prophesy no more.\"\n\nThen he continued, explaining to Amos and to the crowd, that God could\nnot have sent such a message to the house of Israel. God was with\nthem, he said, and was gracious to them. Israel was stronger, mightier\nthan ever before and Israel was, that very day, at Bethel, at Gilgal,\nat Beersheba, bringing thanks-offerings to God.\n\nAmos stood stolidly by and listened until the young man had finished.\nThen he replied:\n\n   \"Thus saith God to the house of Israel:\n    Ye that oppress the poor and crush the needy,\n    That trample upon the just and cause the poor of the land to fail,\n    Seek _Me_ and live,\n    But seek not Bethel,\n    And Gilgal do not enter,\n    To Beersheba go not over;\n    For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity\n    And Bethel shall come to naught.\n    Seek God and not evil\n    That ye may live\n    And so God, the Lord of hosts,\n    May be with you, as you say.\n    Hate evil and love good,\n    And establish justice in the gate.\n    Perhaps God will be gracious,\n    The God of hosts, to a remnant of Joseph.\"\n\nThe young officer shook his head in disgust and walked away. Others,\nhowever, remained awhile, meditating upon what Amos had said.\n\nAmos, too, when he went his way, felt that his words had made an\nimpression. He thought they had fallen, like seeds, upon fertile soil.\nWould these seeds take root? Would they grow and flourish? Would they\nbear fruit when the crisis for Israel came?\n\nBut first a crisis for Amos came, when he had to fight for his life.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER IV.\n\n                     _Treason and a Fight._\n\n\nFor some time, now, Amos had been preaching his new and formerly\nunheard-of ideas, to the effect that God prefers rather that man be\njust to his fellowmen than that he offer sacrifices; that Israel had\nbecome weakened because of its indulgence in luxuriant living, on the\none hand, and because of the oppression and ill treatment of the poor\nand needy, on the other; that God would be with the people against\ntheir enemies only when the people turned away from their idolatrous\nworship and sought God, by doing good and hating evil.\n\nAnd he had been rewarded with laughter and jeers and derision on the\npart of the people he tried to save!\n\nAny other man would have given up long ago; not so Amos. His rebuffs,\nhowever, made him somber and morose.\n\nIn his great address at Bethel he held out the hope to Israel that God\nmight forgive His people for their crimes and sins if they began to\nlead godly lives. His continued failure to impress the people with\nthis message, however, finally led him to the belief that God would\nmeasure out the severest justice to Israel, in accordance with their\nsins, and without mercy.\n\nAmos had become a well-known figure at all the sanctuaries. Most of\nthe people thought him to be one of those wandering dervishes, known\nas \"Sons of the Prophets,\" who made their living by a kind of fortune\ntelling, or forecasting the future, as did Samuel in the early days\nwhen he told Saul where the lost asses were; only, that Amos was one\nof the Sons of the Prophets run mad, judging from the way he talked\nand the strange things he said.\n\nThis did not trouble Amos. What worried him was the fact that the\npeople would not listen to his addresses.\n\nSo, in the year 745, he journeyed again to Bethel, where a great\nfestival was to be celebrated. He was determined that the people\nshould hear. He was well prepared, too. Instead of beginning with a\ncondemnation of Israel, he used new tactics:\n\n\"Thus saith God,\" he began. \"For three transgressions of Damascus,\nyea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof.\"\n\nThat was interesting. We always like to hear about the punishments\nthat others will receive for their misdeeds, even if we close our ears\nto those that threaten us.\n\nAnd, as for Damascus, she was Israel's ancient foe, and the listeners\nrather liked the idea that God was to visit her with destruction.\n\nWhen Amos had recounted the sins of Damascus and announced that \"the\npeople of Syria shall go into captivity into Kir,\" there was loud\napplause.\n\nSome cried, \"Let the Prophet speak!\"\n\nAmos continued. He mentioned the sins for which God would punish Gaza,\nTyre, Idumia, Ammon, Moab, and each period was greeted with volleys of\napplause.\n\nAmos paused for a moment. He swallowed a lump that had risen in his\nthroat and lowered his voice. He spoke, sadly and regretfully:\n\n   \"Thus saith God,\n    For three transgressions of Judah,\n    Yea, for four, I will not revoke its punishment.\n    Because they reject God's law,\n    And do not keep His statutes;\n    Because their lies have caused them to err,\n    (The lies) After which their fathers did walk.\n    Therefore, I will send a fire upon Judah\n    And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.\"\n\nPoor, weak little Judah! The Prophet was declaring the doom of his own\ncountry! It was a thing to laugh at! And how they did laugh!\n\nBut it was no laughing matter for Amos. His heart was wrung with woe\nfrom his own people. He waited for the uproar to subside, and then\nwent on to the very point which he had come to make:\n\n   \"Thus saith God,\n    For three transgressions of Israel,\n    Yea, for four, I will not revoke its punishment.\n    Because they sell the righteous for money,\n    And the needy for a pair of shoes;\n    Who trample on the head of the poor,\n    And turn aside the way of the humble.\n    Upon garments taken in pledge they stretch themselves beside\n        every altar,\n    And the wine of those who have been fined they drink in the house\n        of their God.\"\n\nJeers and threatening cries were hurled at Amos from all directions,\nbut he stood his ground.\n\nWith the art of a master orator he won back his displeased audience.\nPassionately he poured forth the story of Israel and its relationship\nto God--a story he knew so well--and brought the people back to\nbreathless attention. He recounted the wonders God had done with and\nfor Israel from the days when He brought them out of Egypt, poor,\nmiserable slaves, until this day of their wealth and glory.\n\nHere someone stepped out from the crowd and took up the argument for\nthe people. If all this beautiful story is true, he claimed, then God\nmay punish and destroy all the nations that Amos had mentioned; but\nIsrael, to whom God had shown special favors, even up to this day, God\nwill not destroy.\n\nQuick as a flash the Prophet answered:\n\n   \"Are ye not as the Cushites to me,\n    O children of Israel? saith God.\n    Did I not bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt\n    And the Philistines from Caphtor\n    And the Syrians from Kir?\n    (But) you, especially, have I known of all the races of the earth,\n    Therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.\n    Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,\n    And I will destroy it from the face of the earth.\n    An adversary shall surround the land,\n    And shall strip from thee thy strength;\n    And thy palaces shall be plundered.\n    Verily, I am now raising up against you\n    O house of Israel, a nation,\n    And they shall oppress you\n    From the entrance of Hamath\n    Even to the brook of the Arabah,\n    Saith the Lord, God of hosts.\"\n\n\"Treason! Treason!\" rose up the cry from the several army men who had\nbeen listening.\n\n\"Treason! Treason!\" was shouted immediately from many directions.\n\nThe army officers who had raised the cry now rushed toward Amos,\nthreatening him with bodily harm.\n\n\"Treason! Treason!\" was echoed by most of the crowd. Hundreds now\nsurged forward and things looked bad for the Prophet.\n\nTo meet this danger, Amos brought into play all the strength and power\nthat he had stored up during his shepherding days. Out in the\nwilderness near Tekoah he had often fought with robbers who had stolen\nhis sheep, and, like David, even with wild beasts that had stolen his\nlambs.\n\nPrepared just for this kind of an emergency, keen of eye and alert of\nmind, he met the leaders as they came on.\n\nUnfortunately for Amos, there was nothing that could afford him\nprotection from the rear. He could meet any number that might attack\nhim face to face; but while he was guarding in front someone might\nstrike him in the back--and he was surrounded by the mob.\n\n\"Traitor! Traitor!\" they shouted.\n\nHis blood boiled with anger. He, a traitor! He, guilty of treason!\nWhy, he was the only man who saw the danger of his people and had\nventured to warn them!\n\n\"Seek God and ye shall live!\" kept flashing through his mind. But this\nwas no time for preaching, not even for thinking. It was time for\naction.\n\nAnd act he did!\n\nThe weak, undergrown army officers were like men of straw before Amos\nand he disposed of them as easily. With the speed of lightning he\nturned face, fearing an attack from the rear. There, however, the\npeople had not awakened to what was going on.\n\nFacing front again, he saw that the army officers had not yet\nrecovered from his blows. They were sprawled on the ground before him\nand a few of the people were laughing at their discomfiture.\n\nAmos had no desire to continue the fight and started to help the\nofficers up; but, at that moment, he felt two pairs of hands lay hold\nof his mantle at the neck.\n\nA sudden turn, a quick stretching of his brawny arms, like a swimmer\nmaking for speed, and the two men, merchants, clad in their holiday\nfinery, were pushed to either side into the crowd.\n\nNow, as soon as the bystanders saw with what ease Amos was handling\nhis opponents, they began to laugh and take sides. A crowd always does\nthat. Some urged Amos to go on fighting; others urged the sprawling\nvictims to attack.\n\nAmos, however, was not there to fight, nor did his opponents fancy a\ngood beating at his hands. In the meantime a small group of the king's\nguard came up, post haste, and began to disperse the crowd.\n\nThe crowd scattered, but gathered again in various streets, in small\ngroups, discussing the unusual occurrences of the day.\n\nThey spoke, in whispers, overawed by the fearlessness of the\nProphet--some by his ability in self-defense; some by the force\nof his speeches.\n\nIn the palaces of the rich and mighty, gathered in Bethel at that\ntime, Amos--what he said and what he did--was the topic of\nconversation no less than he was in the streets, only in one of these\npalaces was hatched a clever scheme for the Prophet's undoing.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER V.\n\n                   _Priest Against Prophet._\n\n\nThat very night the most prominent people in Israel--military and\ncivilian--assembled at Bethel, and decided that something must be done\nto get rid of the Prophet. They considered Amos crazy, and, therefore,\ndangerous. A little group of leaders gathered in the house of one of\nthe merchant princes of Samaria to adopt a definite plan of action.\n\nThe High Priest, Amaziah, was called into consultation. He saw the\nseriousness of the matter, as they all did. Such preaching must\nbe stopped!\n\n\"This man,\" spoke one of the priests, \"is destroying the worship of\nGod in Israel. If we are no longer to bring sacrifices on God's chosen\naltars, wherewith shall we worship him? Besides,\" he added very\npointedly, \"without sacrifices the income of the priesthood will be\nruined, and the sons of Aaron will be reduced from their high and holy\noffice to beggary.\"\n\n\"Nay, this is not the worst,\" began another priest, who did not think\nso much of his income from the sacrifices as the former speaker. \"The\nsons of Aaron can work, as do other men.\"\n\n\"What is more serious,\" he continued, \"is, that this Prophet proclaims\nall other people as equal in the sight of God with Israel; that God\nhas performed wonders for them, as for us. I fear,\" he concluded\nsolemnly and with bowed head, \"that if such teaching will continue,\nIsrael will lose faith in its God.\"\n\nA captain of the host sprang to his feet. \"You priests,\" he said,\nsavagely, \"worry about many minor things. This man is telling the\npeople that God, Himself, is raising up a powerful nation to destroy\nour great empire. He is filling our peaceful people with dread and\nfear of the imagined enemy and will disturb the peace of our country.\"\n\n\"Yea,\" cried a wealthy merchant, \"and its business prosperity.\"\n\n\"All of which,\" added another merchant and slave dealer, \"is, as our\nfriend has said,\" looking at the captain, \"simply imagination. The\nactual danger lies in his arousing the common people. He tells the\npoor that they are not getting their rights; that they are not being\njudged honestly; that the weak and the needy ought to be protected and\nhelped--by us, by us! As if we have anything to do with them! I tell\nyou that it is here the danger lurks. If this crazy Prophet is not\nsilenced immediately, the merchant and military classes will face open\nrebellion on the part of the common horde.\"\n\nThe last speaker seemed to have said the final word on the subject.\nAll were silent, their eyes turned toward Amaziah. The aged priest had\nnot yet ventured an opinion; but he had been thinking deeply on what\nwas said by the others. He agreed, for the most part, with the\nspeakers who had preceded him; but he counseled caution and delay.\n\"Perhaps, now that the Prophet has seen opposition,\" Amaziah\nconcluded, \"he will quit and go home to Judah.\"\n\nBut Amos did not quit, nor did he go home. The fight, that morning,\nwas a mere incident, to be forgotten; but his mission to his people\nburned deep in his soul, a flame that could not be quenched.\n\nOn the day of the conclusion of the great festival, Amos again\nappeared in the sanctuary. This time it did not take long for a crowd\nto gather. In fact, most of the people were looking for him to appear.\nEven the richest and most exclusive, who usually are not interested in\nsuch men, had heard about Amos and had come to see and hear him,\nexpecting something unusual to occur.\n\nAmos did not waste any time. Without preparatory remarks, he gave\nvoice to his warning call:\n\n\"Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel!\"\n\nHardly had the words left the Prophet's lips, when a man stepped forward\nfrom the crowd, and facing Amos with threatening fists, exclaimed:\n\n\"Hold thy peace! Thou art a false Prophet. Who hath sent thee\nto prophesy?\"\n\nHere was a challenge to Amos. Who, indeed, had appointed him a\nProphet? Who had set him up to judge the people's wrongdoing? Who had\ncommanded him to declare Israel's doom? What entitled him to speak in\nthe name of God?\n\nThis challenge, however, was just what Amos was looking for. He had\nwanted a number of times to correct the mistaken idea the people had\nof him.\n\nThere were, in the land, the long-established Schools of Prophets.\nThese schools were under the protection of the king. At the head of\neach was a leader, like Samuel, Elijah and Elisha of the olden days.\nThe leader was called \"The Seer\" and his pupils \"Sons of the Prophets.\"\n\nNow, the Seers and Sons of the Prophets, with the exception of such\nstrong and powerful characters as the three great men mentioned,\nusually did the bidding of the king and his officers, and prophesied\nto please them.\n\nAmos was not a member of any of these established schools. He was a\nfree lance--in truth, the first of the independent Prophets, who cried\nout against the evils of their day and who, fearlessly and without\nfavor, laid the blame where it belonged--on king, on priest, and\non people.\n\nAmos, therefore, grasped this opportunity to set himself aright. He\nanswered his questioner with a series of beautiful similes:\n\n   \"Do two walk together unless they be agreed?\n    Does a lion roar in the forest when there is no prey for him?\n    Does a young lion cry out in his den unless he has taken something?\n    Can a trumpet be blown in a city and the people not tremble?\n    Can calamity befall a city and God hath not sent it?\n    Surely, the Lord doeth nothing,\n    Unless He revealeth His purpose to His servants, the Prophets.\n    The lion hath roared; who does not fear?\n    The Lord God hath spoken; who can but prophesy?\"\n\nGod, then, it was, not the head of a School of Prophets, or a king, or\na priest, who had sent Amos to prophesy! He, himself, had no desire to\nspeak these terrible things he was saying to his people. A force over\nwhich he had no control--God, had impelled him to his task. It was the\nstill, small voice of which Elijah spoke. Though his heart bled, while\ndelivering the message, Amos could not help himself. God had commanded\nhim; he had but to obey!\n\nBefore the challenger could continue the argument, there was a\ndisturbance on the outskirts of the crowd. A murmur arose and all\ncraned their necks to see what was going on. The crowd opened, forming\na wide aisle, through which there advanced a tall, majestic figure,\nwith flowing robe and gray beard.\n\n\"The High Priest!\"\n\n\"Amaziah!\"\n\n\"The High Priest!\"\n\nThe people whispered to each other and an expectant silence followed,\nas the venerable priest walked through the row of bowed heads, toward\nthe sanctuary. He stopped in front of Amos and looked at him\ncuriously.\n\nAmaziah was an old man, but as erect as a cedar in Lebanon. He was\ndressed in an ephod, the holy garment of his office. The robe was of\nfine twined linen, with threads of blue, scarlet and purple, embroidered\nin gold. Two shoulder pieces, fastened to the shoulders of the ephod\nwith cords of \"wreathed gold,\" came down the front of the garment to\njust above the girdle, where they were fastened with two golden rings.\nHeld by these cords above, and by blue ribbons through the golden\nrings below, was the breastplate, the insignia of the High Priest. On\nthe front of the breastplate, in gold settings, were twelve precious\nstones, four rows of three stones each, on each of which was engraved\nthe name of one of the tribes of Israel. A mitre on his head completed\nthe High Priest's holy vestments.\n\nThus brilliantly arrayed, \"for glory and for beauty,\" Amaziah made a\ngreat contrast to the simply clad shepherd, robed in his woolen\nmantle, as they faced each other.\n\nThe splendor of Amaziah, his age and his authority, the tension caused\nby the struggle that was imminent between the Priest and the Prophet,\noverawed the assembly. There was a deep silence, like the calm before\na heavy downpour.\n\nAmos, cool and collected, always prepared for an emergency, bowed low\nto Amaziah out of respect to his gray head. Amaziah, who was equally\nprepared for an emergency, smiled at Amos, kindly, in greeting.\n\nAmos, of course, did not know that Amaziah was working out a plan that\nhad been outlined previous to his starting for the sanctuary. Only\nthose who were in the Priest's confidence knew that he had sent a\nmessage to King Jeroboam, when it was reported that a crowd had\ngathered about Amos and that the Prophet would, no doubt, deliver\nanother address. The message to Jeroboam read:\n\n   \"Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house\n    of Israel; the land is not able to bear his words. For thus\n    hath Amos said, 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel\n    shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'\"\n\nThe messenger proceeded, post haste, to the palace of the king, and\nAmaziah, quietly and with dignity, went to the sanctuary.\n\nHardly had Amos lifted his head from his low salute, when Amaziah\naddressed him:\n\n   \"O seer! Go, flee away to the land of Judah, and there eat\n    bread, and prophesy there; but prophesy not again any more\n    in Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the\n    royal residence.\"\n\nHow the Priest misunderstood the Prophet! Just because Bethel was the\nking's sanctuary and the royal residence and the seat of all the\nmighty in the land of Israel, Amos had selected it, above all other\nplaces, to preach his message there.\n\nBut Amaziah's little speech contained something more important to Amos\nthan this. Amaziah had addressed the Prophet as \"seer,\" he had taken\nhim for the leader of a \"School of Prophets.\" Amos immediately\ndisclaimed such a questionable distinction. He answered Amaziah:\n\n   \"I am no Prophet, nor am I the son of a Prophet; but I was a\n    herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, when God took me\n    from following the flock and God said to me, 'Go, prophesy\n    against My people Israel.'\"\n\nEntirely unprepared for such an answer, and not quite certain whether\nhe understood what Amos meant by his claim that he had taken his\norders direct from God, Amaziah was disconcerted. Amos did not give\nthe Priest a chance to recover from his surprise and continued:\n\n   \"Now, therefore, hear thou the word of God: 'Thou sayest,\n    \"Prophesy not against Israel, nor preach against the house\n    of Isaac.\"' Therefore, thus saith God, 'Thy sons and thy\n    daughters shall fall by the sword and thy land shall be\n    divided by line; and thou shall die upon an unclean soil,\n    and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of this land.'\"\n\nThe fearlessness of the Prophet in attacking the High Priest dismayed\nAmaziah and his followers greatly. The crowd, too, by its acclamations,\nwas evidently siding with Amos. Amaziah was, therefore, placed on the\ndefensive. In broken and halting sentences he defended himself and the\npeople. The ancient laws of Israel, he pointed out, were being adhered\nto by all Israelites. He, for one, was not afraid, even if the Day of\nGod, the judgment day, should come to-morrow.\n\nNow, a man like Amaziah might not fear the strict judgment which, Amos\nsaid, God was to visit upon Israel; but, how about those who were\nguilty of the crimes of which God, through the Prophet, was accusing\nIsrael? Amos understood this, though Amaziah did not. The Prophet was\nspeaking to all the people and not to one man in particular.\nTherefore, he continued:\n\n   \"Woe unto those that desire the Day of God!\n    Wherefore would ye have the Day of God?\n    It is darkness and not light.\n    It is when one flees from a lion,\n    And a bear meets him;\n    Or goes into a house and leans his hand upon a wall,\n    And a serpent bites him.\n    Shall not the Day of God be darkness and not light,\n    Yea, murky darkness, without a ray of light?\"\n\nThat is why, retorted the High Priest, the people come to Bethel and\nGilgal and the other sanctuaries. They bring their sacrifices to God,\nthat He may forgive their sins, against the coming of the Day of God,\nwhen all the guilty shall be judged and punished.\n\nAmos did not interrupt Amaziah because he was an old man, and Amos\nknew what courtesy was due the aged. But when the Priest had finished,\nthe Prophet, with fine sarcasm, showed the uselessness and selfishness\nof the whole artificial scheme as practiced at the sanctuaries:\n\n   \"Come to Bethel and transgress,\n    At Gilgal increase your transgressions,\n    And bring in the morning your sacrifices,\n    And every third day your tithes!\n    Burn some leaven bread as a thanks-offering,\n    And proclaim aloud the voluntary offerings,\n    For you love to do so, O Israelites!\"\n\nThe sarcastic smile, however, suddenly faded from the speaker's lips,\nas he asked:\n\n    \"Did ye bring me sacrifices and meal-offerings in the wilderness,\n    forty years, O House of Israel?\"\n\nThen, with the power and fervor of the God-inspired man he was, Amos\ndenounced bitterly the whole system of worshiping God by means of\nsacrifices, and delivered a message, new to his hearers, relating to\nwhat God really expected from Israel:\n\n   \"I hate, I despise your feasts,\n    And I will take no delight in your festivals;\n    With your meal-offerings I will not be pleased,\n    And the peace-offerings of your fattlings I will not regard\n        with favor.\n    Banish from me the noise of your songs;\n    To the melody of your viols I will not listen.\n    But let justice roll down as waters,\n    And righteousness as a never-failing stream.\"\n\nThese concluding sentences literally stunned the crowd. Priest and\npeople gasped at the Prophet's proclamation that God did not command\nthe sacrifices at Sinai and did not care for them, but that, instead,\nHe demanded justice and righteousness on the part of His people. The\nProphet had upset all their ideas and traditions regarding their\nreligious forms and practices, and he claimed God for his authority!\n\nNo one can tell just what might have happened, there and then, had not\na company of the royal guard, in answer to Amaziah's note to the king,\nrushed upon the crowd and dispersed it \"in the name of the king.\"\n\n\"In the name of the king,\" also, the leader of a small detachment of\nthe guard made his way to Amos and placed him under arrest. Amos might\nhave been successful in getting away, had he resisted; but, being a\nlaw-abiding man, he submitted to the authorities, and, long before the\nscattered crowd was aware of what had happened to the Prophet, he was\nwhirled away in a chariot to the palace of the king.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VI.\n\n                     _The Prophet in Tekoah._\n\n\nKing Jeroboam II was now an old man. The vehemence and determination\nand aggressiveness that had made him a far-famed conqueror had been\nmellowed by the years and rarely, if ever, showed themselves.\n\nThe note he received from Amaziah regarding Amos, however, awoke the\nold spirit in him. The dispatch of the section of the royal guard with\norders for the Prophet's immediate arrest was in line with the way\nJeroboam did things during the days when he personally led his armies.\n\nBut instead of having Amos put in chains and thrown into a dungeon,\nJeroboam had him brought into his presence. The king wanted to see and\nspeak to the man who, according to Amaziah, had conspired against him\nand the God of Israel and was proclaiming the doom of his dynasty.\n\nAmos, who had never seen the king face to face, who had never even\nbeen inside any of the royal palaces, was, nevertheless, calm and cool\nas usual. The splendor of the throne room and the crowd of officers\nand counselors did not in the least affright him. He made a low\nobeisance to his king and waited for the order to rise.\n\nJeroboam was a much keener man than Amaziah. When he saw Amos, studied\nhis bearing, the seriousness of his face, the simplicity of his garb,\nhe recognized at once that before him stood an uncommon man.\n\nAmos neither smiled the smirky smile of him who is anxious to get into\nthe king's good graces, nor did he tremble like a coward, who, being\ncaught, feared the king. He waited for Jeroboam to speak.\n\nFrom the messenger who brought Amaziah's note the king had learned\nsomething about Amos and about the things he was telling the people.\nHaving supposed the Prophet to be either a traitor or a madman, but\njudging him now to be neither one nor the other, Jeroboam now was\npuzzled as to the manner in which to speak to him.\n\nJeroboam looked quizzically at Amos for a few moments and began:\n\n\"Thou, then, art the Prophet?\"\n\n\"I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees,\" Amos replied.\n\n\"But thou speakest evil against the king and against the house of\nIsrael,\" exclaimed Jeroboam.\n\n\"The Lord God hath commanded me,\" answered Amos, with deep humility.\n\n\"Thou art a traitor and thou shalt die,\" threatened the king.\n\n\"I can but speak,\" calmly replied Amos, \"even if thou slay me.\"\n\nJeroboam made the threat to take the Prophet's life in order to test\nhim. He figured that it would send Amos groveling to his knees,\nbegging for mercy. The quiet manner in which he accepted the threat\nhowever, puzzled the king. He concluded that Amos must be either\nexceedingly brave or hopelessly crazy.\n\nNow, a man who is not afraid to die, be he brave or crazy, is a very\ndangerous man to have around. It would have been easy enough to behead\nAmos and be done with him, but Jeroboam was not a king who took his\nsubjects' lives ruthlessly--especially when it was so simple to get\nrid of an undesirable one in another way.\n\n\"Then go to thy flocks and sycamores,\" commanded Jeroboam, \"and speak\nto them.\"\n\nThe king's humorous sally called forth a great shout of laughter from\nthose who were present. Jeroboam, smiling, waved his hand, indicating\nthat the interview was over. The guard closed around Amos and he was\nled into an outer hall. After a short wait he was informed that, by\ncommand of the king, he must leave Bethel on that very day and never\nset foot in the Kingdom of Israel again.\n\nHad Jeroboam himself been a wicked man like King Ahab, Amos, no doubt,\nwould have disregarded the threat against his life and would have\nconfronted the king in his palace, as Elijah confronted Ahab in\nNaboth's vineyard. Jeroboam, as ruler, however, did not oppress or\nmistreat the people. Being an old man, resting on the laurels of his\ngreat victories and knowing from his friends and counselors and the\nsize of the royal treasury that his empire was rich and the people\npeaceful, Jeroboam probably had no idea of the corruption and\ninjustice that was rampant in the land. He would have laughed at the\nthought of it.\n\nBesides, and this was the important thing with Amos, it would have\nbeen folly for him to sacrifice his life at this time. To die a martyr\nfor a cause is a noble and beautiful thing--if martyrdom will in any\nway advance this cause. To have confronted Jeroboam or to have\nremained in Bethel would have meant certain death--and, to die then\nwould have meant an end to the crusade that he was just beginning\nagainst the oppression of the poor, the denial of justice, the\nunrighteousness in business dealings and the misunderstanding of God\nand His worship: it would have meant an end to his set purpose to warn\nIsrael against Assyria, the enemy approaching from the North, and\nagainst the inability to meet this enemy, because of the immorality\nthat was weakening the nation.\n\nHe had plenty of time to think this over as he wended his way\nmournfully out of the busy and joyful thoroughfares of Bethel to his\nquiet, though beloved Tekoah.\n\nAmos found to his great joy that he did not now stand alone. Many who\nhad heard him, had understood him. When the news that he had been\ndriven out of Israel spread, many followed him to Judah and\naccompanied him to his home in Tekoah.\n\nAs was always the case with Amos in a crisis, he thought quickly and\narrived at a new plan of action speedily. On his way to Tekoah he\nselected from among his followers men who could write--scribes--and\nconfided to them that from now on he must confine all his wealth to\nthe spreading of his ideas throughout the empire by means of the\nwritten word.\n\nAfter all, God had willed it that he should be driven back to Tekoah.\nAmos, as a speaker, could address a crowd only in one place at one\ntime. In listening to a speech, too, much of what the speaker says is\nlost to his hearers. Therefore, Amos concluded, God had willed it that\nhe should return to Tekoah, write out his speeches and his warnings,\nsend them to the farthest ends of the land that all the people may\nread and study and understand in order that they may return speedily\nto God; seek good and not evil, that the nation may live.\n\nBy day, he and his followers tended the flocks and gathered the fruit\nof sycamore trees. All the products that were sent to market were sold\nby honest weight and measure and at honest prices.\n\nBy night, he and his scribes wrote out the speeches that he had\ndelivered in Israel, and especially in Bethel, added new ones and sent\nthem with trusted messengers to all parts of Judah and Israel.\n\nAmos was thus probably the first prophet who wrote down his speeches.\nWhat we have of them, however, are only fragments. There is not one\nspeech complete as it was originally written or delivered. The\nfragments are collected in the Biblical book, called \"Amos.\" Through\nthis book the name of the humble herdsmen of Tekoah is written large\nin the history of religion.\n\nIt was Amos who first conceived of God as the God, not of Israel\nalone, but of all peoples:\n\n   \"Are you not as the Ethiopians to me,\n    O Israel? saith God.\n    Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt,\n    And the Philistines from Caphtor,\n    And the Syrians from Kir?\"\n\nIt was Amos who first appeared as the public champion of the poor and\ndowntrodden, who publicly denounced the greed of the rich and the\ncorruption of the men in power:\n\n   \"For I know how manifold are your transgressions,\n    And how mighty are your sins--\n    Ye, that trample upon the poor,\n    That afflict the just, that take a bribe,\n    And that turn away the needy in the gate.\"\n\nIt was Amos who first cried out against the mistaken idea that animal\nsacrifices were what God asked of His people:\n\n   \"Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and meal-offerings\n    In the wilderness, forty years, O house of Israel?\"\n\nIt was Amos who first brought forward the great and universal truth\nthat God judges every human being, no matter what the race or color,\naccording to his or her acts:\n\n   \"Seek good and not evil,\n    That ye may live;\n    Seek God and ye shall live.\"\n\nIt was Amos who first made clear, that God demands of men, above all\nthings, justice and righteousness:\n\n   \"Let justice roll down as a flood of water,\n    And righteousness like a never-failing stream.\"\n\nWe do not know definitely what became of Amos.\n\nOne tradition has it that he came to Jerusalem and, while he was\ndenouncing Uzziah, king of Judah, Uzziah struck him on the forehead\nwith a piece of glowing iron. As a result of the blow, Amos died while\npreaching in the hope of saving his people in Jerusalem, as his father\ndied while fighting in defense of Jerusalem, in the hope of saving\nhis country.\n\nThe probabilities are, however, that Amos lived peacefully with his\ndisciples among his sycamore trees near Tekoah, until he had completed\nthe writing of his speeches and saw to their distribution all over\nIsrael, believing that there was yet time for the people of Israel to\nreturn to God and to save the nation from the calamity that was\nthreatening it.\n\n\n\n\n\n                   THE MAN WHO LEARNED HIS LESSON\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER I.\n\n                      _An Eventful Night._\n\n\nWhenever Jezreel was sent early to bed, although he had been a good\nboy during the day, and, in addition, when his little sister and\nbrother were ordered to go with him, he knew the evening would be\nanother one of those that made his little heart ache.\n\nJezreel was only ten years old, but he was sharp and keen for his age.\nHe understood that his parents wanted him out of reach and sound.\nTwice before, on similar occasions, after he had recited his night\nprayer and the maid-servant had tucked him in his bed, he lay with his\neyes closed tight but wide awake, listening.\n\nHe knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he could not sleep. He\nheard his father and mother talking to each other loudly, but could\nnot make out just what they were saying. Their voices, however, he\nfelt, were not soft and sweet, as they usually were, when they\naddressed the children.\n\nOn this particular evening, as he went out of the dining-room with\nLo-ruhamah, his seven-year-old sister, and Lo-ammi, his four-year-old\nbrother, Jezreel made up his mind to do a very unusual thing. He\ndetermined not to sleep at all.\n\nThat afternoon, his father, Hosea, had returned from Bethel all out of\nsorts. The children had been expecting him, as they always did, when\nhe came home from the sanctuary, to bring the usual little gifts; but\nthe father seemed to have forgotten them. In fact, Hosea was quite\nirritated when, not understanding his father's mood, Lo-ammi cried for\nthe expected sweets or trinkets.\n\nIn a little while, however, Hosea, calmed his youngest son and\npromised all three of the children that, in the morning, he would take\nthem to the bazaars in the market place, to buy what they pleased.\n\nJust then their mother, Gomer, came in. She was a beautiful woman,\ndressed in the latest fashions of the wealthy Samarians. Her robes\nwere long and flowing. A veil, woven of golden threads and imported\nfrom Assyria, set off her jet-black hair. Her arms and fingers were\nadorned with jewel-studded bracelets and rings. She was accompanied by\nan Ethiopian slave.\n\nStrange to say, the children did not rush to their mother, except\nlittle Lo-ammi, who was fond of the jeweled things she wore.\n\nGomer, on the other hand, did not seem to feel hurt that the children\nclung to their father and quite ignored her. After a formal greeting\nto her husband, and a pat of Lo-ammi's head, Gomer retired to her own\nroom.\n\nA little later the evening meal was announced, and, immediately after\nthey had eaten, Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah and the baby were told to go to\nbed.\n\nTheir attendant, satisfied that the three children were fast asleep,\nleft the room and went about her business. Thereupon Jezreel got out\nof bed, moved a chair near to the door, sat down and listened.\n\nBelow he heard his father's and mother's voices. Words were spoken in\na high, shrill tone, loud and harsh, but indistinct. There were short\nperiods of silence, followed by explosive sentences that sounded like\nthreats. If he could only understand what it was all about! But he\ncouldn't, until, finally all was silent in the room below.\n\nThen Jezreel heard the street door close with a bang.\n\nGoing to the window that looked out into the street, Jezreel saw his\nmother standing alone in front of the house. It was an unusually\nmoonlit night. Samaria, a beautiful city in the daytime, was a very\ndark and gloomy place at night, except when the moon and stars reigned\nin their glory in clear skies. This happened to be just such a night.\n\nThe yellow moon was reflected from the red-tiled housetops. In the\ndistance were the famous Samarian houses of stone and marble, dark and\nforeboding against the moonlight. Above all the houses towered the\nroyal palace--in which Zechariah, Jeroboam II's son, had been king\nsince his father died, six months before--with its bright, gilded\ndomes, like a sentinel wearing a brass helmet.\n\nBut the little boy, in his night clothes, looking out of the window of\nhis room into the moonlit and shadowed street, saw only his mother\nstanding there below.\n\nHis attention was called suddenly away from the window by loud\nsobbing. He hurried to the door, but did not dare open it. He listened\nuntil the sobbing ceased. Then he returned to the window, to find the\nstreet empty and deserted. His mother had evidently gone away.\n\nHe shivered. He folded his arms tightly, as if hugging himself to keep\nwarm. Then he brought his chair from the door to the table, sat down\nand listened. In the room below he heard his father walking up and\ndown with regular step. The house was completely silent but for\nHosea's footfalls.\n\nJezreel drew his legs up under him on the chair. He was tired and\nrested his head upon his arms on the table. The silence and the\nmonotony of the regular heavy walking in the room under him, made him\ndrowsy. His little heart ached, though he could not explain why. He\ntried hard to keep awake, but finally fell asleep, there at the table.\nAt one time he shivered, when the street door of the house shut again\nwith a bang; but he did not wake up.\n\nBelow, a great big, powerful man had been keeping up a continuous\nmarch up and down the room. He was brooding over the events that had\njust preceded and thinking over the years of his married life.\n\nWhen Hosea first met Gomer, she lived in her father's home in one of\nthe poorest sections of Samaria. Diblaim, Gomer's father, was a poor\nman and could not give his daughter the advantages other girls in\nSamaria enjoyed. But Hosea loved Gomer most devotedly and he married\nher.\n\nSon of the priest Beeri, Hosea inherited great wealth and a position\namong the priests at the Bethel sanctuary. He was thus able to give\nGomer not only a beautiful home in one of the city's most beautiful\nsuburbs, but also to introduce her to the royal and social leaders\nof Samaria.\n\nAfter a few years, however, everything seemed to go wrong in the Hosea\nhousehold. Gomer developed a weakness for luxury and jewels and fine\nclothes; she used to be away from the house and the children most of\nthe time; she did not understand her husband, his desire for quiet\nevenings at home with the children and his dislike of the pomp and\ndisplay at the court and in society. And that night, Hosea and Gomer\nparted, Gomer going home to her father.\n\nHosea felt very much oppressed. Walking up and down the room brought\nhim no relief. So he rushed out of the house into the night, into the\nopen, where he could breathe more freely--and think. It was the bang\nof the door behind him that disturbed Jezreel, asleep at the table.\n\nBut Hosea's brain was all clogged up. It could not dwell upon a single\nline of thought for five consecutive minutes. And yet he was so\nthoroughly absorbed in his thoughts, that he did not notice any number\nof people excitedly hurrying past him.\n\nHe walked on toward the center of the city in a daze. The first time\nhe realized that he was not alone on the streets of Samaria was when\nhe found himself being jostled in a wide thoroughfare leading to the\nmarket place.\n\nThen he was awakened out of the stupor in which he had left his home\nby cries, coming from several directions:\n\n\"Shallum!\"\n\n\"Long live the king!\"\n\n\"Long life to Shallum!\"\n\nShallum? Who was Shallum? Why was the name being shouted in the\nstreets of Samaria?\n\nHosea, trying to find his bearings, was asking himself these questions\nwhen he arrived in the market place.\n\nThere an unusual and most unexpected sight met him. The place was\nfilled with people. Troops were fighting in front of the royal palace.\nFrom the palace, which was brightly illuminated, soldiers and plain\ncitizens were pouring forth in a stream. Above the shrieking of men\nand women and the clang of contending arms, he heard enthusiastic\nshouts:\n\n\"King Zechariah is dead! Long live King Shallum!\"\n\nWhat? Zechariah dead!\n\nIn a flash the whole situation was made clear to Hosea. Now he recalled\nthat down at Bethel, the king's sanctuary, someone had spoken to him of\na movement that was on foot to depose the king.\n\nHosea knew that Zechariah was unlike his great father, Jeroboam II,\nwhom he succeeded in the year 742 B. C. E. The new king was a\nweakling. Upon his accession to the throne, Syria refused to pay the\nannual tribute, revolted, and Zechariah could not help himself. The\nwealth of the people, the luxury they lived in, the disorganization of\nthe army by corruption, the oppression of the poor, the injustices\npracticed in business and in the courts of law, had unfitted Israel to\nwage war against Syria, or any other nation, for that matter.\n\nZechariah, in the six months that he ruled Samaria, therefore, lost\nall that had been gained by his illustrious father. Hosea, however,\ndid not look for an insurrection in Samaria.\n\nBut here it was: Zechariah was dead and Shallum--yes, Shallum, the son\nof Jabesh, the one mentioned to Hosea as the probable successor--had\nbeen proclaimed king. When Shallum was spoken of, down at Bethel,\nHosea had paid no particular attention. He was occupied with his own\nfamily troubles then, as he was in the presence of this history-making\nevent. The threatened revolution was the farthest thought from his\nmind, at that time as it was at this moment.\n\nTherefore, before Hosea had grasped the full significance of either of\nthe two events that had occurred that night, he was jostled into a\nside street by the mob that now filled the market place.\n\nSick at heart, Hosea did not stop to see the bloodshed and the horror,\nnor to listen to the story of the revolt, but walked on to the outskirts\nof the city.\n\nHis head swam from the excitement. His temples pounded like sledge\nhammers. As he walked on, his feet grew heavy and dragged. Just how he\ngot there Hosea did not know, but suddenly he found himself in front\nof his own home.\n\nThe day was now dawning. The first rays of the sun were shooting their\nway through the early morning mist and playing on the bedewed stones\nof the house. Hosea entered quietly, and walked up to the children's\nbed room. To his amazement he found Jezreel asleep on his arms at\nthe table.\n\nAs he gazed for a moment upon the children, Hosea's heart was wrung\nwith sorrow. He picked Jezreel up from the chair. The boy, asleep,\nclung tightly about his father's neck. Hosea laid him in his bed,\ncovered him, kissed him and, with bowed head, went to his own room.\n\nAnd while little Jezreel was dreaming that a great giant came to his\nhome, picked up the house and shook it, carried it away to a beautiful\nvalley and brought back his mother, Hosea sat at the window and\nwatched and watched, until the morning's duties called him.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER II.\n\n                 _The Tragedy With a Purpose._\n\n\nKing Shallum soon discovered that a stolen throne is no sweeter than\nany other stolen thing. A palace is no more protection against\nconscience than a hovel; and Shallum passed miserable days of fear and\nnights of sleeplessness, because of his murder of Zechariah.\n\nSmitten by his conscience and tortured in mind, Shallum was not able\nto collect a large force of followers to protect him or his ill-gotten\nthrone. When, therefore, a plot was set on foot to dethrone him,\nShallum was helpless.\n\nMenahem, the son of Gadi, one of Jeroboam II's generals, organized an\nexpedition against the usurper in Tirzah, the city that was the\ncapital of Israel for fifty years after the Kingdom of Solomon was\ndivided. Within a month after Shallum had proclaimed himself King of\nIsrael, Menahem marched from Tirzah to Samaria, attacked Shallum,\ndefeated him, and, in turn, mounted the throne of Jeroboam.\n\nInstead of ruling peaceably in Samaria, however, Menahem started a\nreign of terror, until nobody in the country seemed safe in his home\nor in his possessions.\n\nTrouble came for the new king thick and fast.\n\nTiglath-Pileser III, who had been ruling in Assyria since 745, and\nagainst whom Amos had warned the weakened Kingdom of Israel, had\naccomplished many conquests north of Israel, in Phoenicia and in the\nfrontier lands of Damascus.\n\nIn the year 738, Tiglath-Pileser was knocking at the gates of Damascus\nand threatening Samaria. In order to keep the Assyrian conqueror off,\nand save their countries the spoliation and ruin that followed in the\nwake of the Assyrian armies, Menahem, together with Rezin, King of\nDamascus, the Kings of Tyre, Hamath, and other small states, agreed to\npay him tribute.\n\nMenahem's share was the enormous sum of one thousand talents of\nsilver. To raise this amount, he levied a tax of fifty silver shekels\neach on \"all the mighty men of wealth,\" both priests and merchants, in\nthe kingdom.\n\nNow, the lawlessness started by Shallum and the anarchy continued by\nMenahem had had their effect. The great sum of money needed for\nTiglath-Pileser was raised by \"all the mighty men of wealth;\" but it\nwas ground out of the poor by cheating, robbery and even murder.\n\nThe conditions against which the Prophet Amos cried out were now\napparent to all observers. The final overthrow of the kingdom, which\nAmos declared to be but a matter of time, was now evident to all\npatriotic lovers of their country.\n\nThese conditions were clear as the light of day, especially to Hosea.\nBeing a priest himself, he knew how the very priests at the\nsanctuaries had entered upon secret understandings with rebel\nassociates of Menahem and the wealthy merchants to raise the Assyrian\ntribute at the expense of the people. Being a lover of his fatherland,\nhe knew that these sins and crimes against God and men must react upon\nthe nation as a whole and rush it on to destruction.\n\nHosea, like Amos, therefore, felt himself called upon by God to warn\nhis people, and, if possible, to save his country. He could no longer\nstand aside and see rulers, priests and \"all the mighty men of wealth\"\ndespoiling his well-beloved fatherland. He must speak words of reproach\nand warning. He must open the eyes of his people to the calamity that\nwas ahead of them.\n\nOne night Hosea was at home brooding over his own family troubles and\nthinking of the future of his country. He had just seen the children\nto bed and his mind was dwelling on Gomer, their mother, from whom he\nhad not heard a single word since she went away. As he came downstairs\nhe heard shouting and screaming and hurrying footsteps. Going into the\nstreet, he learned that another of those attacks on peaceful people\nhad been made by a company of Menahem's followers for the purpose of\nrobbery.\n\nThis did not surprise Hosea in the least. What did chagrin and pain\nhim was the discovery that the attacking party was under the direction\nof several priests whom, he knew personally.\n\nAll that night this phrase kept running through his mind--\"Like people,\nlike priest.\" And, strange to say, the thought of Gomer, his wife, whom\nhe loved devotedly, whom he never ceased loving, kept on intruding\nitself into his thoughts about his country.\n\nBy morning, however, the whole situation had cleared up for him.\nIsrael, its rulers and priests were like Gomer. God loved the whole\npeople of Israel devotedly as Hosea loved Gomer, but Israel does not\nalways understand what God desires of His people any more than Gomer\nunderstood what Hosea desired of her. If Gomer had continued loving\nher husband, as from the beginning, she would never have left him; if\nIsrael had continued loving God, as from the beginning, Israel would\nnever have strayed away from His law and commandments. What is to be\ndone? Israel lacks knowledge of God and His will! Israel is being\ntaught falsehoods by priests and prophets! Israel does not understand\nGod's loving-kindness toward His people! Israel must be warned! Israel\nmust be taught!\n\nHosea had determined what to do. His unhappiness at the departure of\nhis wife was somewhat lightened now, because he read God's mission to\nhim in the tragedy of his home. He felt himself ordained to be a\npreacher to Israel--and he went to work.\n\nFrom that day on he traveled the wide land over, preaching to the\npeople against the corrupt priesthood and against the usurpers of the\nthrone of Samaria.\n\n   \"Hear the word of God, ye children of Israel,\n    For God hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,\n    For there is no truth, nor loving-kindness,\n    Nor knowledge of God in the land;\n    There is naught but perjury and lying,\n    Murder and stealing,\n    Violence and bloodshed.\n    Therefore doth the land mourn,\n    And all its inhabitants languish.\n\n   \"Yet, let none bring charges,\n    And let none reprove,\n    Since my people are but as their priestlings.\n    My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge.\n    Because thou has rejected knowledge\n    I will also reject thee,\n    That thou shalt be no priest to me.\n    Since thou hast forgotten the instruction of thy God,\n    I will also forget thy children.\n    I will change their glory into shame,\n    And it shall be, like people, like priest.\n    The people that doth not understand shall be overthrown!\"\n\nHosea naturally, met opposition everywhere on the part of the priesthood\nand the hirelings of the king. Undaunted, he rebuked Menahem and the\nusurping rulers in Samaria, as well as the priests and the unrighteous\npeople.\n\n   \"Hear this, O ye priests!\n    And hearken, O house of Israel,\n    And give heed, O house of the king,\n    Since for you is the judgment.\n    They themselves have made kings, without my consent;\n    They have made princes, but without my knowledge.\n    For they commit falsehood;\n    The thief entereth in and the troop of robbers ravageth without.\n    And they consider not in their hearts\n    That I remember all their wickedness.\"\n\nThen, his heart aching with pain, and remembering the sorrow of his\nlife, which led him to prophesy, he concludes:\n\n   \"What shall I do unto you, O Ephraim!\n    What shall I do unto you, O Israel--\n    Since your love is like a morning cloud,\n    Yea, like the dew which goes early away.\"\n\nBut the people as a whole, having been taught by the unworthy prients,\nstill believed that, in offering sacrifices, all their sins and crimes\nwere forgiven them by God. Amos had objected strenuously to this\ncommon belief. Hosea went a step further and decried the act of\nsacrificing as an act of idolatry.\n\nReferring bitterly to Bethel as Bethaven (the House of Violence)\nHosea replied:\n\n   \"Come not ye into Gilgal,\n    Neither go ye up to Beth-aven,\n    Nor swear, 'As God liveth.'\n    In Bethel I have seen a horrible thing;\n    All their wickedness is in Gilgal;\n    For there I hated them.\n    Because of the wickedness of their doings,\n    I will drive them out of my house;\n    I will love them no more.\n    They shall go with their flocks\n    And with their herds to seek God;\n    But they shall not find Him;\n    He hath withdrawn Himself from them.\"\n\nEvery place where Hosea denounced the sacrifices, the people who heard\nhim, but could not or would not understand, called him a fool and said\nthat he was mad. \"Yes,\" replied Hosea:\n\n   \"The prophet is a fool,\n    The man that hath the spirit is mad\n    Because of the abundance of thine iniquity.\n    They shall cry unto me,\n    'My God, we Israel know Thee.'\n    (But) Israel hath cast off that which is good;\n    Israel hath forgotten his Maker.\n    And now they go on sinning,\n    They make for themselves molten gods,\n    From their silver, idols according to their own model,\n    Smith's work, all of it!\n    To such they speak!\n    Men who sacrifice, kiss calves!\n    They sow the wind and shall reap the whirlwind!\"\n\nAfter that Hosea followed up his rebuke and denunciation with most\npathetic entreaties:\n\n   \"Sow to yourselves righteousness,\n    So shall ye reap loving-kindness.\n    Break up your fallow ground,\n    For it is time to seek the Lord,\n    That the fruit of righteousness may come upon you.\n    But ye have plowed wickedness,\n    Ye have reaped disaster,\n    Ye have eaten the fruit of lies.\n    It is love I delight in, and not sacrifice,\n    Knowledge of God and not burnt-offering.\"\n\nWhen the time came for Menahem to send the tribute to Tiglath-Pileser,\nHosea discovered that even here the king and his advisers were\ndouble-dealing with Assyria. The sending of the money to the great\nemperor was only a blind on the part of Menahem.\n\nSecretly he was in communication with the King of Egypt, sending\nprecious gifts to him. Menahem wanted to create an alliance between\nIsrael and Egypt against Tiglath-Pileser.\n\nHosea saw the folly of it all. He knew that neither the tribute to\nAssyria nor the proposed alliance with Egypt could help the corrupt,\ndegraded people. He compares Menahem's double-dealing to the action of\na silly dove, and concludes:\n\n   \"Samaria shall bear her guilt,\n    For she has rebelled against her God.\n    Shall I deliver them from the power of Sheol?\n    Shall I redeem them from death?\n    Come, on with thy plagues, O Death!\n    On with thy pestilence, O Sheol!\n    Repentance is forever hid from mine eyes.\"\n\nThis terrible pronouncement, almost a curse, brought Hosea back to his\nhome all wrought up. Never had he spoken so harshly. Never had he felt\nso deeply the doom of Israel.\n\nHe found his children in the playroom, playing an old game called\n\"Mother.\" After watching them for a moment in silence and in thought,\nhis heart was almost crushed by a question his little girl put to him:\n\n\"When is our real mother coming home?\"\n\nFor answer he drew Lo-ruhamah close to his heart--and wept. Hosea did\nnot know; only God knew.\n\nAll the love he bore for Gomer came back in an overwhelming flood. She\nhad strayed from him, but his love had never lessened. Would that he\ncould find her! With all her faults he would forgive her, if she would\nrepent and return. And yet, that morning, he had been so harsh. He\npreached that Israel must bear its guilt and that God had forever hid\nrepentance from before Him.\n\nIf he, a man, could love so deeply and could be willing to forgive,\nhow much the more so does God love His people; how much the more so\nwill God have compassion and forgive, if Israel will repent and return\nto Him?\n\nAnd that very night it seemed that God had ordained an ordeal for\nHosea to test him and inspire him in his further work as a prophet.\n\nA message was brought to Hosea that his wife, Gomer, was to be sold as a\nslave at public auction, in the slave market of Samaria, on the morrow!\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER III.\n\n                    _The Repentant Returns._\n\n\nWith a bowed head, though with a stout heart, Hosea went to the market\nplace on the following morning. He mingled with the people in the\nvicinity of the slave auction district, watching particularly a certain\nblock, on which, he was told, Gomer was to be offered for sale.\n\nHe studied carefully every woman that was put upon the block. At last\nhe recognized her. But how changed she seemed. Her beauty, for which\nshe had been famous, was gone. Her straight erect form was stooped.\nHer eyes, once proud, were cast down. She had a forlorn, hopeless\nlook, as if she didn't care what happened to her. Evidently she had\nsuffered greatly.\n\nWhere had she been during the past four years? What hardships had she\nbeen through that she was so changed? Why did she fall so low that she\nhad to be sold into slavery?\n\nThe answers to these questions would have made no difference in the\nplan Hosea had determined to follow with Gomer. Standing on the\noutskirts of the crowd, he raised bid after bid, until he bought her\nfor \"fifteen pieces of silver and a homer of barley and a half-homer\nof barley.\"\n\nGomer was not at all concerned about the one who had purchased her.\nShe did not take a single glance in the direction of those who were\nbidding for her. When sold, she stepped wearily down from the block\nand waited listlessly to be claimed by the owner and taken away.\n\nHosea approached her, stepped to her side and spoke her name in a low\nvoice: \"Gomer!\"\n\nShe raised her eyes and looked at him as through a haze. Hosea, too,\nhad changed much during the past four years. His love for Gomer, the\nuncertainty of her whereabouts, his grief, his constant preaching to\nIsrael that fell on deaf ears, had made deep furrows in his face and\nbrought wrinkles to his forehead.\n\n\"Come with me,\" he said softly to her.\n\nFor a moment Gomer stared at him; then she fell in a dead faint at\nhis feet.\n\nIt was a long time before she revived. Sorrow and repentance for her\nfoolishness in leaving a home where her husband loved her and where\nher children would have worshiped her, had she permitted them to do\nso, had sapped all her strength. The sudden shock of seeing Hosea and\nthe knowledge that he had bought her as a slave nearly killed her.\n\nBut Hosea had no thought of revenge. In his great heart there was\nnaught but love for Gomer.\n\nOn their way home Gomer began:\n\n\"I regret,\" she said, \"I am sorry--\"\n\nBut Hosea stopped her. He would not even listen to words of explanation\nfrom her whom he loved. He knew that she must have suffered much, that\nshe was unhappy. It was sufficient now that she was sorry, that she\nhad repented. Hosea did not want to cause her the pain of a recital of\nher sorrows.\n\nThat is the way people who love truly do. They forgive and forget,\nquickly and without causing pain.\n\nHosea had the children removed to the home of a friend for several\nmonths. During that time Gomer quickly recovered from her trials and\nreturned to health and beauty. Then he brought the children back and\nrestored them to their real mother.\n\nOnce, after the reunited family had spent a very happy evening, a\ntremendous truth came home to Hosea. Here they were all happy, as if\ntrouble had never entered to disturb the sweetness and beauty of their\nlives! Why had sorrow and suffering come upon them at all?\n\nThen and there Hosea realized that there was a purpose in his home\ntragedy. He understood better than ever before that God had selected\nhim to be a prophet to his people; that God had taught him through\nsorrow and suffering, the lesson he was to teach to Israel.\n\nIsrael had become faithless to God and had left His law; even as Gomer\nhad left her husband. God grieved for the sins of Israel; even as he\nhad grieved for Gomer who had strayed from him. God loved His people,\nnevertheless; even as he loved Gomer, continually. God was prepared to\ntake Israel back under His guiding and loving care, when Israel would\nrepent of its backsliding and sinning; even as he did with Gomer.\n\nFrom that day on Hosea's preaching took on a different form. He no\nlonger scolded and condemned, but entreated and pleaded with his\npeople:\n\n   \"Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God,\n    For thou hast stumbled through thine iniquity.\n    Take words with thee\n    And return to God.\n    Say to Him,\n    'Pardon Thou wholly iniquity\n    And receive (us) with favor.\n    Assyria will not save us,\n    We will not ride upon horses (to Egypt);\n    We will no more say to the work of our hands,\n    \"Ye are our god.\"'\"\n\nAnd, in the fervor of his poetic soul, the prophet hears God's answer\nto repenting and returning Israel:\n\n   \"I will heal their backsliding,\n    I will love them freely,\n    For my anger is turned away from them.\n    I will be as dew to Israel;\n    He shall blossom as the lily\n    And strike his roots deep as Lebanon.\n    His saplings shall spread out,\n    And his beauty shall be as the olive tree.\n    They shall return and dwell in my shadow,\n    They shall live well-watered like a garden,\n    They shall flourish like a vine,\n    Their renown shall be like that of the wine of Lebanon.\"\n\nBut such hopefulness and promise of divine love had no more effect\nupon the doomed people than did the attacks upon their sinfulness and\nwrongdoing.\n\nThe Judean prophet, Amos, it will be remembered, drew a picture of God\nas a stern judge and Israel as the criminal. Israel is proved guilty\nof all the prophet's accusations, and the Judge pronounces sentence.\n\nThe experiences that led the Samarian, Hosea, to prophesy were\ndifferent than those of the Tekoan. Understanding the lasting love\nthat dwelt within him for Gomer, and how he yearned for her return to\nhim, he cried out to his people, from the depths of a wounded heart,\nspeaking through the inspiration of a loving and merciful God:\n\n   \"O my people!\n    How can I give thee up, O Ephraim!\n    How can I surrender thee, O Israel!\n    How can I give thee up as Admah!\n    Or make thee as Zeboim!\n    My heart asserts itself:\n    My sympathies are all aglow.\n    I will not carry into effect the fierceness of my anger;\n    I will not turn to destroy Ephraim.\n    For God am I, and not man,\n    Holy in the midst of thee;\n    Therefore I will not utterly consume.\n    Turn thou to thy God,\n    Keep kindness and justice,\n    And wait for thy God continually.\"\n\nAlthough Hosea saw that he was laboring to no good effect, he did not\nfor an instant give up. Time and again  he recalled the early days of\nlove and devotion between God and Israel. He recounted the times when\nIsrael deserted God, from the Exodus on, but God always received\nIsrael back, when the people repented of their sins and returned to\nacts of justice, righteousness and love.\n\n   \"I am the Lord, thy God, from the land of Egypt;\n    Thou knowest no God but Me,\n    And besides Me there is no Savior.\"\n\nHosea could not conceive the idea that God would desert Israel\nforever. He recognized, however, that the doom of the sinful nation\nwas sealed. And so he read the drama of Israel in his own life.\nAssyria would destroy Samaria. Israel would leave the fatherland as\nGomer left her home. In exile Israel would learn through suffering and\nhardships as Gomer had done. Israel would redeem itself and,\neventually, would return to God. God, loving Israel always, would wait\nto receive His repentant people, as he himself had received Gomer.\n\nAnd so Hosea drew a beautiful picture of that future day in these\nwords:\n\n   \"And I will betroth thee unto me forever.\n    Yea, I will betroth thee unto me with righteousness,\n    And with justice and with loving-kindness and in mercy;\n    Yea, I will betroth thee unto me with faithfulness,\n    And thou shalt know God.\"\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe compiler of the fragments of Hosea's speeches in the book bearing\nthe prophet's name--the most fragmentary book in the Bible, and from\nwhich this story has been built up--concludes his labors with\nthis admonition:\n\n   \"Whoso is wise, let him understand these things;\n    Whoso is prudent, let him realize them;\n    For straight are the ways of the Lord.\n    The righteous walk in them,\n    But transgressors stumble upon them.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n                        THE STATESMAN PROPHET\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER I.\n\n                   _The Vision in the Temple._\n\n\nEven his closest friends could not explain what had come over young\nIsaiah, since the physicians announced that King Uzziah was nearing\nhis end.\n\nAmoz, Isaiah's father, was of a noble family, very near the throne in\nJerusalem, and a dear personal friend of the king. Isaiah, too, was a\nprime favorite of Uzziah's, not by virtue of his father's friendship\nfor the king, but because of his own fine qualities and excellent\ndisposition.\n\nOften Isaiah had been invited, with the Crown Prince, Jotham, to be\npresent at the Great Councils of State--a very distinguished honor for\nso young a man. But no one thought, for an instant, that this change\nin manner and behavior, so noticeable to everyone, had come upon\nIsaiah because of his grief over the aged king's fatal illness.\n\nIsaiah was being trained to enter upon a political career. His\npolitics was the only serious thing in life for him. The country was\nso peaceful and prosperous, however, that even politics was a matter\nof little consequence to most of the royalty in Jerusalem. They lived\nthe joyous life, paid little attention to the Temple and its priests,\nand often laughed at the whole religious ritual. But when great State\nfunctions occurred at the Palace or foreign ambassadors appeared at\nCourt, all royalty celebrated with feasting--and Isaiah was among\nthose present and in high favor.\n\nHe always came to these occasions in rare good humor and with cheerful\nenthusiasm. He was a young man of many accomplishments. His knowledge\nof affairs was wide and extensive. His cleverness and wit had made him\nfamed far and wide. His occasional poems, written for sport and\nfestivals, showed a genuine talent, almost a genius, for the poetic\nart. He was considered by all the very life and spirit of the younger\nCourt set. A great future as a statesman and man of letters was\npredicted for him by everybody.\n\nNow, however, since King Uzziah became so critically ill that his life\nwas despaired of, this unexplainable change took place in Isaiah. He\nseemed to have quarreled with Prince Jotham, who had been reigning as\nking since Uzziah was smitten beyond hope of recovery, though both\nlaughed at the rumor and denied it.\n\nWhat proved the greatest surprise to all, was the fact that Isaiah\noften went to the Temple and talked earnestly with the priests. At\ntimes he would linger about the place long after the evening\nsacrifices had been offered and the priests had gone home. His jolly\nfriends would make sport of him; but his more sober-minded companions\nbecame quite alarmed when, instead of displaying his usual good humor,\nhe spoke with bitter sarcasm. His contagious laugh began to ring\nforced and hollow. He was morose and always ill at ease, as if he were\nlaboring under a great strain that burdened his heart and mind.\n\nKing Uzziah's death was a lingering one. For many weeks reports from\nthe sick chamber were to the effect that he was passing away, but he\nclung to life. Jerusalem had doffed its gala attire and the whole of\nJudah was prepared to go into mourning for its king. For a month or\nmore the nobility and the Court had not indulged in any social\nfunctions, state or private. The Capital and the country were awaiting\nthe royal funeral.\n\nUzziah had been a great king and a good ruler. He had done much for\nthe whole country, and especially for the Capital. The mourning in\nJerusalem and all through Judah was, therefore, genuine and sincere,\nwhen the king died. The pomp and ceremony that characterized the\nfuneral procession were not mere royal show, but expressions of honor\nand deep regret of a loyal people for its beloved sovereign.\n\nThe young Isaiah was accorded an honored place in the long list of\nnotables who followed the body of the king to its last resting place.\nHe walked beside Jotham, his bosom friend; but did not accompany the\nnew king on the return to the palace. In the slight confusion that\nfollowed after Uzziah had been \"buried with his fathers,\" Isaiah\nslipped quietly away and took the road to the Temple Mount.\n\nTaking his way through the Water Gate, on the west side of the Temple,\nhe entered the Inner Court. Then he mounted the twelve steps leading\nto the vestibule of the Temple proper. Two priests, who had just come\nout of the chamber where the implements for sacrificing were kept,\nbowed low to him and passed out into the Inner Court. Isaiah was\nevidently so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not notice them, for\nhe did not return their salute, but walked forward to the entrance of\nthe Hekal, or Temple proper.\n\nThere he stood for a moment in silence; then he leaned wearily against\none of the entrance pillars. Behind him the Priests' Hall and the\nInner Court were deserted. Before him, in the Hekal, was the Altar of\nIncense, on which coals from the recent sacrifices were still alive.\nTo the right of the Altar was the Menorah, the seven-light\ncandlestick, and to the left the table of showbread. Behind these hung\nthe golden curtains that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of\nthe Temple.\n\nA thin line of blue and purple smoke rose from the live coals on the\nIncense Altar and wound its way upward to the ceiling of the Hekal. As\nIsaiah watched the rising smoke, it became thicker and thicker, and\nfilled the whole Temple. His eyes gazed from the Altar to the\nglittering gold curtains behind it. The reflection from the coals, and\nthe playing of the blue and purple smoke on the golden sheets, caused\nthem to sheen and shimmer until they faded entirely away into the blue\nand purple maze that filled the Hekal.\n\nIsaiah was gazing right into the Holy of Holies, where no human eyes,\nexcept those of the High Priest, once a year, ever looked, and behold!\nhe saw a most remarkable vision.\n\nThere, instead of the wooden Ark of the Covenant, he beheld a great\nand lofty throne on which was God, Himself. Instead of the two\nCherubim of wood and gold, that surmounted the Ark, he beheld\nSeraphim, the fiery Angels, standing attendant before Him. Each of the\nSeraphim had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he\ncovered his feet and with two he flew. And one cried unto another and\nsaid:\n\n   \"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,\n    The whole earth is full of His glory.\"\n\nIsaiah felt the very foundations of the threshold shake under him,\nat the sound of the calling. Covering his face with both hands, he\ncried out:\n\n   \"Woe is me!\n    I am undone.\n    For I am a man of unclean lips.\n    And I am dwelling among a people of unclean lips;\n    Yet mine eyes have seen the King, the God of hosts.\"\n\nUncovering his face, he stretched out his hands towards the throne in\nmute appeal. Thereupon one of the Seraphim flew to the Altar and, with\na pair of tongs, took from it a live coal. From the Altar the Seraph\nflew directly to Isaiah and, touching his mouth with the live coal,\nsaid:\n\n   \"See, this has touched thy lips,\n    Therefore thine iniquity is gone\n    And thy sin forgiven.\"\n\nThen Isaiah heard the voice of God Himself, saying:\n\n   \"Whom shall I send,\n    And who will go for us?\"\n\nFalling to his knees, and again stretching out his hands towards the\nthrone, Isaiah answered:\n\n   \"Here am I!\n    Send me!\"\n\nKneeling there, motionless, hardly breathing, his lips apart, his face\nexpressing the fear and anguish that were in his heart, Isaiah heard\nthe reply:\n\n   \"Go and say to this people:\n    Hear and hear again, but understand not;\n    See and see again, but perceive not.\n    Make fat the heart of this people,\n    And their ears dull, and besmear their eyes,\n    Lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears\n    And their heart should understand and they be healed.\"\n\nThe force of this message struck Isaiah to the heart. He understood\nits meaning very well. It was terrible! It carried with it the sound\nof doom and the end of his nation. The very thought of it terrified\nhim. Holding his head with both hands his back bent forward as under a\nheavy weight, until his face touched his knees upon the floor, he\ncried in heartbreaking tones:\n\n   \"Lord! How long?\"\n\nAnd God answered him:\n\n   \"Until the cities are in ruin without an inhabitant,\n    And the houses without a human occupant,\n    And the land become utterly desolate,\n    And God hath sent the men far away,\n    And in the midst of the land the deserted territory be great.\n    And should there be a tenth in it,\n    It must in turn be fuel for flame,\n    Like the terebinth and the oak,\n    Of which, after falling, but a stump remains.\"\n\nFor a long time after the voice had ceased speaking, Isaiah remained\nin the position in which he had listened to the last reply.\n\nWhen, finally, in fear and trembling, he slowly raised his head, the\nvision had gone! Behind him the Priests' Hall and the Inner Court were\ndeserted. Before him a thin line of blue and purple smoke rose from\nthe live coals on the Incense Altar and wound its way upward to the\nceiling of the Hekal.\n\nIsaiah passed his hands over his eyes. For a moment he let his cool\npalm rest against his burning forehead. Then he slowly found his way\nout of the Temple and passed out into the silent night.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER II.\n\n                 _The Parable of the Vineyard._\n\n\nThe fact was that Isaiah did not grieve particularly over King\nUzziah's illness and approaching death. What troubled him was the\nattitude taken by his dear friend, the Crown Prince, Jotham, toward\nthe political future of the Kingdom of Judah, since his sick father\nhad placed the reins of government in his hands.\n\nThe differences of opinion between Isaiah and Jotham, as to what was\nbest for the nation were so great as to be almost hopeless. So that,\neven before Uzziah died the two stopped discussing problems of State,\nalthough they continued their warm friendship.\n\nAs long as King Uzziah lived, it was plain nothing serious could\nhappen to the country. To the south, Uzziah was feared by the\nPhilistines and Arabians, whom he had subdued, and his name was\nhonored even at the Court of Egypt. To the north Jeroboam II was\nprosperous and at peace; Syria was weak and Assyria had not yet made\nits power felt. Within the extended borders of his own country, Uzziah\nhad established peace and had built up commercial enterprise and\nprosperity.\n\nTo the average citizen of Judah, therefore, the country was all right,\nthe king was all right, and the future had not the slightest cloud\nbefore it. To Isaiah, the keen-sighted and well-posted young\nstatesman, however, neither the country nor the king was fit to deal\nwith a great national crisis--and the future had one in store.\n\nWhen Uzziah became sick and abdicated, quietly, in favor of Jotham,\nthen a young man of twenty-five, Isaiah began to call Jotham's\nattention to the internal social conditions of the country; but Jotham\nhad such a high respect for his father's ruling power that he would\nnot alter a single law nor make a single reform.\n\nWhen Isaiah attempted to drum into Jotham's head the causes of the\nreign of anarchy in Samaria and the lessons to be drawn therefrom for\nJudah, Jotham, desiring to show his power as a ruler while his father\nwas yet alive, busied himself fighting with the Ammonites and\nextending the boundaries of his kingdom.\n\nWhen, finally, in the year 788 B. C. E., the news came to Jerusalem\nthat King Menahem, of Israel, had sent a heavy tribute to the Assyrian\nTiglath-Pileser, Isaiah's worries over the future of his own country\nbecame very acute.\n\nIt was in this year Uzziah died; and it was on the day of the king's\nfuneral that Isaiah saw the remarkable vision in the Temple.\n\nUp to that hour Isaiah was conscious only of the fact that something\nmust be done in Judah to save it from the evils of injustice and\nunrighteousness that were being practiced by the rich and powerful\nupon the poor and weak. From that hour on he knew that God had called\nhim to be His prophet, that God had selected him to bring the truth\nhome to the Judeans and, if possible, to save the nation from the doom\nthat awaited the sister-nation, Israel.\n\nWhat Isaiah saw and heard in the Temple at the close of that memorable\nday, gave him the germ of an idea as to what God demanded of him to\ndo. Time, thought and experience ripened that idea into a plan. The\ncourse of events offered him the opportunity to put the plan into\naction.\n\nIsaiah could not count on Jotham to institute and carry out reforms in\nthe religious beliefs and practices of the people, in their commercial\nwrongdoings, in the corrupt law courts and in the general oppression\nof the lower classes. He had to begin work on his own initiative; and\nhe began it with the people themselves, in the City of Jerusalem.\n\nHe came to the Temple Mount one day, when many pilgrims were gathered\nthere. He listened attentively, with the rest, to travelers from\nArabia, who were relating wonderful tales of adventure. From stories\nof adventure in foreign lands the pilgrims drifted into stories of\nhappenings in their own country. Some related rumors of what was going\non in Samaria; others spoke of the possibility of Judah's being forced\nto fight Assyria some day. Some laughed at such a suggestion; others\nwere in grave doubt whether such an emergency would find the nation\nprepared. Some spoke of the evils that were sapping the strength of\nthe people; others complained that the king, instead of attending to\nhis business of State, was busying himself with his wealth of herds\nand vineyards.\n\nHere Isaiah, who had been silently listening to the discussions, offered\nto recite a poem, an original composition. The suggestion was received\nwith loud applause and Isaiah began:\n\n   \"Let me sing a song of my friend,\n    My friend's song about his vineyard.\"\n\nAt this introduction everybody settled down comfortably to listen,\nand Isaiah continued:\n\n   \"My friend hath a vineyard\n    On a fertile hill;\n    He digged it and gathered out the atones,\n    And planted it with choicest vine;\n    A tower he built in the midst of it\n    And hewed out a wine press.\n    He looked to find grapes that were good,\n    And it yielded only wild grapes.\"\n\nIsaiah's listeners were disappointed. The story not only lacked\nexcitement, it even lacked interest. They shifted in their places\nuneasily, but Isaiah caught their attention again by continuing:\n\n   \"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem,\n    And ye people of Judah.\n    Judge, I pray you, betwixt me\n    And betwixt my vineyard.\n    What more could be done to my vineyard\n    Than that which I have done?\n    When I looked to find grapes that were good\n    Why yielded it wild grapes?\n\n   \"And now, pray, I will tell you\n    What I will do to my vineyard:\n    I will take away the hedge thereof,\n    That it shall be devoured;\n    I will break down the wall thereof,\n    That it shall be trodden down;\n    Yea, I will make a waste thereof,\n    That it shall not be pruned or weeded.\n    Then it shall put forth thorns and thickets of brambles;\n    The clouds I will command that they rain not thereon.\"\n\nEverybody understood now that Isaiah was speaking a parable and that\nits application was to them and to their country. But who was the\n\"friend\" who possessed this vineyard? Isaiah did not hold the\nquestioners in long suspense:\n\n   \"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the House of Israel,\n    And the men of Judah are His cherished plant;\n    And he looked for justice, but, behold! bloodshed;\n    For righteousness, but, behold! a cry of distress.\"\n\nThen Isaiah launched forth into a powerful denunciation of the social\nevils of which Judah and the leading Judeans were guilty--a sixfold\nwoe that was rushing the Nation on to destruction.\n\n   \"Woe unto them that join house to house,\n    Who add field to field,\n    Until there is no space left,\n    And they dwell alone in the midst of the land.\n\n   \"Woe unto them that rise at dawn\n    To pursue strong drink,\n    Who tarry late into the night\n    Until wine inflames them;\n    But they regard not the work of the lord\n    And see not what His hands have made\n\n   \"Woe unto them that draw guilt upon themselves\n    With cords of folly,\n    And sin as with a cart rope!\n\n   \"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;\n    That put darkness for light, and light for darkness;\n    That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!\n\n   \"Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes,\n    And prudent in their own conceit!\n\n   \"Woe unto them that are heroic in drinking wine,\n    And valiant in mixing strong drink!\n    Who, for a bribe, justify the wicked\n    And strip the innocent man of his innocence!\n\n   \"Therefore, as the fire devours stubble,\n    And as hay shrivels in a flame,\n    So their root shall be as rottenness\n    And their blossom go up as dust;\n    Because they have rejected the teaching of the Lord of hosts,\n    And despised the word of Israel's Holy One.\"\n\nSo intensely absorbed in his speech was Isaiah, and so deeply\ninterested was the vast assembly whom he was addressing, that no one\ntook note of a splendidly arrayed group of men who had come up and\nstood with the rest, listening.\n\nWhen Isaiah had finished speaking, and the people had caught their\nbreath again, some one shouted:\n\n\"Behold! The king!\"\n\nIsaiah looked over the heads of the crowd toward the newcomers, and\nthere he beheld Jotham and a retinue of nobles, laughing heartily, no\ndoubt, at his masterful effort.\n\nFearlessly, and without a moment's hesitation, the prophet did what he\nhad threatened Jotham he would do--he denounced his friend, the king,\nbefore his people:\n\n   \"The Lord standeth forth to present his case,\n    And He standeth up to judge His people.\n    The Lord entereth into judgment\n    With the elders of His people and their princes.\n    'Ye, yourselves, have devoured the vineyard.\n    The spoils of the needy are in your houses.\n    What do you mean by crushing my people\n    And by grinding the face of the needy?'\n    Saith the Lord, God of hosts.\"\n\nLaughing still more heartily at this madness of his old friend, Jotham\neasily made his way to where the prophet stood. He placed his arm\naround Isaiah's shoulder and invited him to go with him and his\ncompanions to the palace.\n\nIsaiah did as he was bidden. All the way Jotham and his friends made\nfun of the feverish enthusiasm with which the denunciations were\ndelivered, but Isaiah did not feel hurt. His heart was quite at peace.\nAt last he had launched forth upon the work to which God had so\nunexpectedly and so marvelously called him!\n\nWhen Jotham and his friends arrived at the palace, a joint embassy\nfrom Rezin, the king of Syria, and from Pekah, the king of Israel, was\nawaiting them. To the amazement of them all, the ambassadors placed\nbefore Jotham a demand that Judah join forces with Syria and Israel,\nforthwith, and fight Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, who was\nthen threatening to invade Damascus and Samaria!\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER III.\n\n                    _A Coward on the Throne._\n\n\nKing Jotham was wise enough to follow the advice of the Prophet Isaiah\nin his reply to the embassy from Rezin and Pekah. At the Council of\nState, called to consider the message from the kings of Syria and\nIsrael, Isaiah counselled an unhesitating and decisive refusal of\ntheir demand. While, therefore, the ambassadors were received and\nentertained royally in Jerusalem, they returned to their respective\nsovereigns, their mission unaccomplished.\n\nThe answer that Jotham sent back to Damascus and Samaria was plain,\nsimple and to the point. Judah, he said, had no interest in the\npolitical policies and intrigues of Syria and Israel and would not\njoin a coalition against Assyria.\n\nBoth Rezin and Pekah stormed against Jotham and his advisors, but to\nno avail. Judah was strong, independent and at peace, and Jotham would\nnot involve his country in a quarrel with which he had nothing to do.\n\nConditions in Israel were different, however. The majority of the\npeople chafed under the indignity of being tributary to Assyria. They\nhated King Menahem who, in his fear, sent the tribute to Tiglath-Pileser\nand became his voluntary subject. Menahem was hated by the rich merchants\nand large landowners as well as by the people generally, because on\nthem the burden of the tribute fell the heaviest. The powerful Samarians,\ntherefore, formed themselves into a party to oppose the king.\n\nKing Rezin, of Syria, who was watching his opportunity to rebel against\nAssyria, kept alive this hostile spirit against Menahem in Samaria and\nIsrael. Rezin was working toward a coalition of all the countries along\nthe Mediterranean sea that were tributary to Tiglath-Pileser, so that in\ntheir combined strength they might rise and throw off the Assyrian yoke.\n\nThe leaders of the opposition to the king,--the national patriots--in\nSamaria, hoped that Pekaiah, Menahem's son and successor, would prove\nhimself a truer son of his country than his father. They looked to him\nto refuse the payment of the Assyrian tribute and to re-establish the\nindependence of the Kingdom of Israel; but they were disappointed.\nPekaiah followed in the political footsteps of his father and the\nhopes of the Samarian patriots waned when he succeeded his father on\nthe throne.\n\nRezin, however, was not to be denied in the plan he had laid out for\nhimself and for the other Assyrian tributaries. Pekaiah reigned in\nSamaria less than two years, when, in 735, through the assistance of\nRezin and the connivance of the patriotic party in Samaria, he was\nassassinated by one of his generals, Pekah, the son of Remaliah.\n\nPekah was thus raised to the throne of Israel with the avowed purpose of\nuniting with Rezin in the proposed rebellion against Tiglath-Pileser.\nIsrael wanted, and needed, the help of Judah in the desperate conflict\nthat awaited them. The smaller countries north of Israel and Syria,\ncrushed under the burden of their Assyrian tribute, gladly joined the\nSyro-Israelitish coalition; but the embassy to Jerusalem returned\nempty-handed. Rezin and Pekah, however, were not dismayed by the refusal\nof Judah to join them. They bided their time for a better opportunity.\n\nThis opportunity came the very next year when Jotham died, suddenly,\nand his son, Ahaz, a young man of twenty, came to the throne of Judah.\n\nWithout any notice whatever, Rezin and Pekah united their armed forces\nand marched upon Jerusalem. This sudden invasion of Judah had been\ncarefully planned beforehand. It was so arranged that, when the\nSyro-Israelitish forces attacked Jerusalem, a certain man, the son of\nTabeal, who was willing to play the traitor, was to assassinate Ahaz,\nproclaim himself king, admit the enemy into the city and throw all the\npower and wealth of Judah into the scale with Syria and Israel in the\nwar against Tiglath-Pileser.\n\nAhaz was entirely unprepared for such a move on the part of Pekah and\nRezin. The news that the two armies were on the march caused\nconsternation, not alone in the palace of the king, but in Jerusalem\nand in the entire country.\n\nThe northern part of Judah, as far as Jerusalem, was unprotected and\nat the mercy of the enemy. Neither Uzziah nor Jotham looked for a foe\nfrom that direction. In fact, the Syro-Israelitish forces met no\nopposition whatever until they came within sight of Jerusalem.\n\nThe very first thing that Ahaz and his generals did, when they had\nrecovered from their consternation, was to prepare the capital for a\nsiege. The fortifications were examined and strengthened. The water\nsupply to the south of the city, without which Jerusalem could not\nhave withstood a siege for three months, was especially looked after.\n\nNow, Ahaz was like that ancient Pharaoh who did not know Joseph, or\nlike his own predecessor, Rehoboam, who \"took council with the young\nmen that were grown up with him.\" Ahaz did not call Isaiah, the old\nfriend and counsellor of the royal house, to advise him in his great\nextremity.\n\nIsaiah, however, called to God to save his nation--if the nation would\nbe saved--and did not wait for an invitation from the young king.\nWhile Ahaz, his advisors and the commanders of his army, were examining\nthe water supply of Jerusalem, preparatory to the inevitable siege,\nIsaiah went out to meet him. The prophet came upon the royal party at\nthe end of the conduit of the upper reservoir, in the highway of the\nFuller's field.\n\nIsaiah, who had been quietly and carefully studying the entire situation\nsince the embassy came to Jotham, understood well enough that an\nintrigue must be brewing in Jerusalem against the young King. When the\nreport reached the city that the enemy was on the march, Isaiah's\nsearching inquiries and careful observation of the leaders of the\ncapital resulted in the discovery that the son of Tabeal was in league\nwith Rezin and Pekah. It was Isaiah at this meeting, who informed Ahaz\nthat his immediate danger was as much within his own city as from the\nenemy that was approaching. No wonder, then, that \"his heart trembled,\nand the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with\nthe wind.\"\n\nBut Isaiah immediately reassured the trembling Ahaz in the following\nwords:\n\n   \"Take heed and keep thyself calm; fear not, neither be\n    fainthearted because of these two fag ends of smoking\n    firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria\n    and of the son of Remaliah. Syria, with Israel, hath purposed\n    evil against thee, saying, 'Let us go up against Judah and\n    distress it and overpower it and appoint the son of Tabeal\n    king in its midst.' But thus saith the Lord God: It shall not\n    stand, neither shall it come to pass, for, the head of Syria\n    is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and the head\n    of Israel is Samaria and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son.\n    Verily, if you will not hold fast, ye shall not stand fast.\"\n\nAhaz laughed at the idea of keeping quiet and having no fear, under\nthe conditions. He turned away impatiently from the prophet and\nproceeded with his business of examining the reservoir. Isaiah,\nhowever, would not be put off with mere impatience.\n\n\"Ask thee a sign of the Lord, thy God,\" he cried to Ahaz. \"Ask it\neither in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above.\"\n\nBut Ahaz replied, \"I will not ask, neither will I put the Lord to\nthe test.\"\n\nThen Isaiah said:\n\n   \"Hear now, O House of David! Is it too small a thing for\n    you to weary men, that ye must also weary my God? Therefore\n    the Lord, Himself, will give you a sign. Behold, a young\n    woman will bear a son and call his name Immanuel (God is\n    with us). Before this child shall know to refuse the evil\n    and choose the good those two kings before whom thou\n    tremblest shall be deserted.\"\n\nAhaz was tired of mere words. Advice he had enough; he wanted now to\nact. In fact, when the knowledge of the political intrigue in\nJerusalem became known to him, he immediately made up his mind what to\ndo. He, therefore, again turned from Isaiah and ordered his retinue to\ncontinue the examination of the water supply.\n\nIsaiah then tried another form of argument with this cowardly young\nking, in order to bring him to his senses. He, himself, was positive\nthat Tiglath-Pileser, who was at that time in Asia Minor, had, no\ndoubt, been informed by his spies of the action taken by Rezin and\nPekah. Isaiah felt sure, also, that Tiglath-Pileser would immediately\ninvade Syria. He knew, in addition, that neither Rezin nor Pekah was\nstrong and powerful enough, at this time, to wage a protracted war\nwith Assyria; that is why he described them as \"two fag ends of\nsmoking firebrands.\" He, therefore, concluded that, at the first\ninformation of Tiglath-Pileser's march into the northern country,\nRezin and Pekah would have to return to defend their own lands.\n\nOn the other hand, Isaiah knew that, if Ahaz did anything that would\nin any way displease the mighty King of Assyria, the latter would,\nafter finishing his campaign in Syria and Israel, attack Judah.\nTherefore, he warned Ahaz in these words:\n\n   \"God will bring upon thee and upon thy people and upon thy\n    father's house days such as have not been, since the day\n    Ephraim departed from Judah, through the King of Assyria.\n    Curds and honey will be that child's food (in the wilderness)\n    when he knows to refuse evil and choose the good.\"\n\nIsaiah ceased. He had delivered his message, had counseled and warned\nthe king. He made it clear to Ahaz that, if he did anything except\ntrust in the power and care of God for his people, Judah, like Syria\nand Israel, was destined to become a wilderness in the short time that\nit takes a child to reach that age when it can begin to think for\nitself.\n\nAhaz, however, acted upon his own and his young men's counsel. Hardly\nhad he returned to the palace that day, when he sent messengers\ncarrying the following letter to Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria:\n\n   \"I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from\n    the power of the King of Assyria and from the power of the\n    King of Israel, who have attacked me.\"\n\nAhaz followed up this message by ransacking the Temple in Jerusalem\nand the treasures of the royal palace, sending both as a gift and\nbribe to Tiglath-Pileser.\n\nThen exactly what Isaiah foresaw happened. Tiglath-Pileser immediately\ninvaded Syria and attacked Damascus. Rezin and Pekah were forced to\nhurry back to defend their own countries, and Judah was saved from\nSyro-Israelitish attack; but Ahaz had already thrown himself at the feet\nof the great Assyrian conqueror, with terrible results to his own\ncountry.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER IV.\n\n                         _On Deaf Ears._\n\n\nThough the spineless Ahaz sent his cowardly note, and the presents\nthat followed, to Tiglath-Pileser secretly, the truth leaked out.\nGreat indignation was aroused among certain opponents of the king in\nJerusalem at the discovery of his act of treachery to the nation, and\na new party was formed to fight against submission to Assyria.\n\nThe aim of the new movement was, principally, to preserve the independence\nof Judah. The only avenue open seemed to be the alliance with Israel and\nSyria that the lamented king, Jotham, would not enter into.\n\nWith Ahaz looked upon as a traitor, the only one whom these patriots\ncould turn, was the Prophet Isaiah, who loved his land and knew its\ntraditions. So, the leaders of the patriotic party came to him with\ntheir plans. But Isaiah stood firm in the position he had taken with\nJotham against entangling alliances.\n\nHe shocked these gentlemen with a well-spoken rebuke. He told them that\nthe patriotism Judah needed was not of alliances and war, but of faith\nin God, of trust in Him who always guards and protects a righteous nation\nagainst its enemies.\n\nIsaiah knew well enough the weakened and helpless condition of both\nIsrael and Syria. To join with them in a war against Tiglath-Pileser\nwould mean even greater ruin for Judah than the peaceful submission of\nAhaz. He pictured the results of such an alliance in the following words:\n\n   \"Because this people have rejected the waters of Shiloah that\n        flow softly,\n    And rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son,\n    Therefore the Lord is about to bring upon them\n    The waters of the River Euphrates, mighty and great,\n    (Even the King of Assyria, in all his glory).\n    And it shall rise above all its channels,\n    And overflow all its banks;\n    And it shall sweep onward into Judah,\n    And it shall overflow and pass over it,\n    Reaching even to its neck,\n    And its outstretched wings shall cover the breadth of thy land,\n        O Immanuel.\"\n\nTo the king, the prophet sent a concise message that would have been\nheeded and understood by any one but a weakling like Ahaz. Isaiah\nreferred to the utter helplessness into which Ahaz had cast Judah by\nhis cowardly self-subjugation to Tiglath-Pileser. He pictured what\nmight happen when that mighty monarch would receive the king's pitiful\ncry for help:\n\n   \"In that same day the Lord will shave with the razor hired\n    beyond the Euphrates the head and the hidden hair; and it\n    shall even sweep away the beard.\"\n\nDespite Isaiah's efforts, the peace party that stood by Ahaz, and  the\nwar party that desired an alliance with Pekah and Rezin, continued\ntheir separate agitations.\n\nThe capture of the town of Elath, at the head of the Arabian Gulf, by\na detachment of the Syrian army, strengthened Ahaz in his belief that\nhelp could come only from Tiglath-Pileser. On the other hand, it\nconvinced the war party that only the union with Samaria and Damascus\ncould restore to the country this center of Judah's lucrative trade,\nthat commanded the commerce to the south.\n\nIsaiah recognized the uselessness of appealing to either of these\nopposing parties. He determined to appeal to the country at large, to\nthe whole people, who were interested not in party quarrels, but in\nthe welfare of the nation. He wanted to create a public opinion in\nfavor of peace and in opposition to entangling alliances, either with\nAssyria or with the Palestinian coalition.\n\nOn his own property, in the heart of Jerusalem, where all the passers-by\ncould see and read it, Isaiah erected a great sign which read:\n\n                     \"SWIFT BOOTY--SPEEDY PREY.\"\n\nHe meant this to indicate to the people that the triumphs of either\nthe champions of peace or the champions of war would mean ruin to the\nnation at the hands of Assyria.\n\nAbout this time a son was born to Isaiah. He gave a magnificent feast\nto the leading people of Jerusalem and, to bring his conviction home\nmore forcibly, named the boy \"Swift Booty--Speedy Prey.\"\n\nAt the close of the feast he addressed his guests and said, in part:\n\n   \"Before the boy knows how to cry, 'My mother' and 'My father,'\n    they shall carry off the riches of Damascus and the spoil of\n    Samaria before the King of Assyria.\"\n\nAt a great meeting in Jerusalem, soon thereafter, Isaiah again took up\nthe burden of his argument against Israel and Syria. He predicted the\ninevitable destruction of these two kingdoms, because they were in\nrebellion against Assyria, and he pointed out the consequent\nfoolhardiness of involving Judah in the oncoming disaster. Regarding\nIsrael he said:\n\n   \"In that day the glory of Jacob shall grow dim,\n    And the fatness of his flesh wax lean.\n    And it shall be as when a harvester gathers standing grain,\n    And his arms reap the ears;\n    Yea, it shall be as when he gleans in the valley of Rephaim,\n    And the gleanings thereof shall be as the beating of an olive tree--\n    Two or three berries on the topmost branch,\n    Four or five on the boughs of a fruit tree,\n    Saith the Lord, the God of Israel.\"\n\nThen, addressing himself as if he were speaking to the people of\nIsrael, but hoping to drive the lesson home to the people of Judah,\nwho were listening to him, he spoke most regretfully:\n\n   \"For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation\n    And hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength.\"\n\nTurning to a consideration of the second of the allies, Syria,\nIsaiah continued:\n\n   \"Soon shall Damascus cease to be a city\n    And shall be a ruinous heap.\n    Its cities shall be given up to flocks\n    Which shall lie down, with none to make them afraid.\n    Ephraim shall lose her bulwark,\n    And Damascus her sovereignty,\n    And the rest of Syria shall perish;\n    Like the Israelites shall they be,\n    Saith the Lord of Hosts.\"\n\nThese descriptions of what would happen to Syria and Israel, however,\ndid not go unchallenged. The prophet was told that he had evidently\nforgotten that all the nations in Palestine and along the Mediterranean,\nexcept Judah, were parties to this coalition against Tiglath-Pileser.\nIsaiah laughed. With fine scorn he cried:\n\n   \"Ah! The multitude of many peoples\n    That roar like the roaring of the seas!\n    And the rushing of nations,\n    That rush like the rushing of many waters!\n    But he shall rebuke them and they shall flee far off,\n    And shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind,\n    And like the whirling dust before the storm.\n    At eventide, behold, terror;\n    Before the morning, they are no more.\"\n\nThen, as if addressing himself to all the petty northern countries\nthat were trying to drag his own beloved fatherland into the whirlpool\nof disaster, Isaiah spoke as follows:\n\n   \"Make an uproar,\n    And be broken in pieces;\n    And give ear, all ye of far countries;\n    Gird yourselves and be broken in pieces,\n    Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to naught;\n    Speak the word and it shall not stand;\n    For God is with us.\"\n\nAnd in answer to the appeal of the people as to what ought to be done\nin this national crisis, Isaiah replied:\n\n   \"Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calleth conspiracy.\n    What they fear do not fear, nor be filled with dread.\n    The Lord of Hosts, Him regard as the conspirator!\n    Let Him be your fear and your dread!\"\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER V.\n\n                 _The Survival of the Fittest._\n\n\nWhile Isaiah was thus attempting to influence the two parties in\nJerusalem, exactly what he had warned Ahaz of happened. The Assyrian\nforces made a speedy march into Syria, with Damascus as the point of\nattack. The combined Syro-Israelitish army, upon hearing of\nTilgath-Pileser's new move, abandoned the siege of Jerusalem and hurried\nback to defend their own countries.\n\nThe great Assyrian conqueror easily subdued all the land about\nDamascus and finally besieged the city itself. Rezin offered him\ndesperate resistance, but it was useless. Tiglath-Pileser destroyed\nall the forests, fruit groves and fertile fields in the vicinity of\nthe city, until both food and water failed the defenders.\n\nIn a last sally from the doomed city, the Syrian troops were literally\ncut to pieces. Rezin escaped with his life, and, disguised and alone,\nre-entered Damascus. But he was caught, brought before Tiglath-Pileser\nand put to death.\n\nIn the meantime, all Israel and Samaria quaked at the fate that\nawaited them. Pekah, who had been lending Rezin what help he could,\nwithout entirely weakening himself, was ready and willing to give the\nAssyrian battle. Tiglath-Pileser, however, had his hands full with\nDamascus. He therefore, welcomed the suggestion of a certain Hoshea,\nson of Elah of Samaria, who offered to follow the example of the\ntraitor Menahem.\n\nTiglath-Pileser assented gladly. He promised help and protection to\nHoshea, as he did to Ahaz, for voluntary submission to Assyrian rule.\nSo Hoshea conspired against Pekah in Samaria, slew him, proclaimed\nhimself king under the protection of Assyria. and sent tribute to\nTiglath-Pileser at Damascus. Cowardice and treachery thus once more\nsealed the fate of the kingdom of Israel.\n\nAfter the fall of Damascus, the victorious Assyrian ordered a great\n_Durbar_ to celebrate his victory in that city. All the tributary\nkings in Palestine were commanded to meet him and pay homage to him\nthere.\n\nThe splendor and display of the gathering was rivaled only by the\nmagnificence of the welcome the terrible monarch received on his\nreturn to Asshur, his own capital.\n\nAmong the princes who hob-nobbed with their master at Damascus were\nthe cowardly Ahaz and the traitorous Hoshea. But both were happy in\nthat their countries escaped the awful havoc they witnessed in\nDamascus and throughout Syria.\n\nTiglath-Pileser always carried with him a wonderfully wrought altar on\nwhich he offered sacrifices to Asshur, the Assyrian god. During the\nreligious exercises at the Damascus festival, in which all the\nAssyrian vassals participated, Ahaz was particularly struck with the\nbeauty of this altar. Thereupon he sent to Urijah, the high priest in\nJerusalem, \"the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according\nto all the workmanship thereof,\" with instructions to have it\nduplicated for the Temple in Jerusalem.\n\nIsaiah, when he heard of this, was thunderstruck by the audacity of\nthe king who had no respect for his people or for his God.\n\nNot only was this heathen altar built, but it replaced the ancient\none, which was set aside. Ahaz even went further. When he returned\nfrom Damascus, he himself, instead of the regularly appointed priest,\noffered the sacrifices upon the new altar, as he had seen Tiglath-Pileser\ndo. To cap the climax, Ahaz introduced certain pagan religious ideas,\ncopied from the Assyrian worship, into the cult of the Temple, simply\nto please and gratify his Assyrian master.\n\nWith so base a king, Isaiah could hope nothing for the nation. Truly\ncould he cry out in the anguish of his spirit:\n\n   \"My people--a boy is their leader!\"\n   \"My people--thy guides lead thee astray.\"\n\nOf one thing, however, Isaiah was positive. When messengers came to\nhim from various parts of the country to inquire what to do in this\nnational crisis he answered them all alike: \"God hath founded Zion,\nand in her shall the afflicted of His people take refuge.\"\n\nHe was certain that neither a weakling like Ahaz nor a terror like\nTiglath-Pileser could bring destruction upon the city that God had\nselected as the center of His worship, or upon the people whom God had\nchosen, to reveal Himself to them and to entrust them with His law.\n\nThe patriotic and religious backsliding of Ahaz and his counselors,\nhowever, seemed to point to the destruction of both. But Isaiah was\nnot dismayed. Trusting faithfully in God's protecting hand over His\npeople, he could not conceive that God would desert them for long. God\nwould not permit a backboneless king to reign over His people. The\nsuccessor to Ahaz would be a different type of man--an ideal prince in\nthe sight of God and men:\n\n   \"And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse,\n    And a branch of his roots shall bear fruit.\n    And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,\n    The spirit of wisdom and understanding,\n    The spirit of counsel and might,\n    The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.\n    And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,\n    Neither arbitrate after the hearing of his ears;\n    But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,\n    And arbitrate with equity for the afflicted of the land:\n    And he shall smite the tyrannous with the rod of his mouth,\n    And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked,\n    And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,\n    And faithfulness the girdle of his reins,\n    And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,\n    And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;\n    The calf and the young lion shall feed together;\n    And a little child shall lead them.\n    And the cow and the bear shall make friends;\n    Their young ones shall lie down together;\n    And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.\n    And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,\n    And the weaned child shall stretch out his hand to the serpent's eye.\n    None shall do evil or act corruptly in all my holy mountain,\n    For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the\n        waters cover the sea.\"\n\nIn all literature there is no more beautiful and meaningful\ndescription of what an ideal ruler should be and of the peaceful and\nhappy state to which such a ruler could bring his country.\n\nBut Isaiah did not lose sight of the fact that just as little as an\nAhaz could accomplish the destruction of the nation, so little could\nan ideal king, even if his fond dream would come true, accomplish the\nreconstruction of the nation, single-handed and alone.\n\nWhat was necessary, therefore, was the raising and educating of a new\ngeneration of citizens in Judah; a just, patriotic, God-fearing\ncompany of men who, when the hoped-for king shall have come to the\nthrone, would support him, with their valor and their lives, in\nbuilding up the entire nation to walk in God's way.\n\nSo Isaiah began quietly with his own family first, and later with a\nfew friends and disciples who believed as he did. \"Binding up the\nadmonition and sealing the instruction among my disciples,\" said\nIsaiah, \"I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the\nHouse of Jacob, and in Him will I trust. Behold, I and the children\nwhom the Lord hath given me are signs and symbols in Israel from the\nLord of Hosts who dwells in Mount Zion.\"\n\nIsaiah's idea was similar to that of Moses in the olden days in the\nwilderness. The present generation, ruler and people, that did not\nplace its trust wholly in God, would slowly die out; a new generation,\nbetter and more fit, would survive to save the nation.\n\nJust at this time, when Isaiah began his slow work of upbuilding the\nnation, a son and heir was born to the king. Isaiah accepted this\nincident as a message of approval of his course from God. He and his\ndisciples looked to this prince to be the ideal king; and in\ncelebration of the event Isaiah greeted the heir apparent in the\nfollowing fine outburst of hope for the future:\n\n   \"Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given;\n    And the government shall be upon his shoulder;\n    And his name shall be called wonder-counselor,\n    Divine hero, father of glory, prince of peace.\n    For the increase of dominion and for peace without end,\n    Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom,\n    To establish and support it by justice and by righteousness\n    From henceforth, even forever; the favor of the Lord of Hosts\n        will perform this.\"\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VI.\n\n                  _Working With the Remnant._\n\n\nIsaiah called his little band of disciples and followers \"The Remnant.\"\nHe referred to them as \"The Remnant\" because he knew that, if only\nthese remained true and faithful to God, for their sakes God would not\nforsake the Fatherland.\n\nIt was upon \"The Remnant\" that he placed the future welfare of his\ncountry. Through these few he hoped to regenerate the rest of his\npeople, despite the corruption and wrongdoing of their leaders. He\naimed, especially, to prepare the young generation for patriotic,\nGod-fearing, God-trusting lives.\n\nThe prophet had set for himself no easy task. He met opposition from\nmany directions. The king himself opposed him for political reasons.\nThe priests, who sided with the king in his introduction of Assyrian\nrites and practices in the Temple service, opposed him on religious\ngrounds; so that, for many years, Isaiah simply devoted himself to\nteaching and preaching moral living, just and righteous dealing and\nabsolute trust in God.\n\n   \"Hear, O heavens, and give heed, O earth, for the Lord speaketh:\n    Sons have I brought up and placed on high, but they have proved\n        false to me.\n    The ox knows its owner and the ass its master's crib,\n    But Israel has no knowledge; my people have no insight;\n    Ah! Sinful nation, people deep laden with guilt,\n    Race of evil-doers, perverse children!\n    They have forsaken the Lord;\n    They have spurned the Holy One of Israel;\n    They have become rebellious.\n\n   \"On what place can you yet be smitten since you continue rebelling?\n    The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint,\n    From the sole of the foot to the head there is no soundness,\n    Only wounds and bruises and fresh sores,\n    Which have not been dressed nor bound up nor softened with oil.\"\n\nWith words of this kind, and in similar speeches, Isaiah tried to\ndescribe the condition of Judah to its people. The cowardice of Ahaz\nin throwing himself at the feet of the Assyrian had, indeed, smitten\nthe land and the people very sore. The large tribute to Tiglath-Pileser\nhad to be collected and paid. The burden was terrible to bear. In the\nmeantime, Judah's enemies from the south and along the Mediterranean\ncoast took advantage of the weakened condition of Judah and attacked\nthe country from many points.\n\nIsaiah tried, with all his might, to bring the people, as a whole, to\nan understanding of Judah's condition. He wanted them to join \"The\nRemnant\" and to live their lives in accordance with his teaching,\nwhich were really not his, but God's. Only in this way, Isaiah said,\ncould a country that had fallen deeply into sin and unrighteousness,\nand was at the mercy of its enemies, be saved:\n\n   \"Your land is a desolation, your cities are burned with fire,\n    Your tilled land--before your eyes strangers devour it;\n    And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard,\n    Like a lodge in a field of cucumbers, like a watchtower.\n    Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a remnant,\n    We should almost be as Sodom,\n    We would have been like Gomorrah.\"\n\nThis simile, comparing Jerusalem to these ancient cities of evil\nrepute, was answered by Isaiah's opponents with the statement that the\npeople of Sodom and Gomorrah were idol worshipers, but that the people\nof Judah brought their sacrifices to the Temple and observed the\nholydays in accordance with the ancient laws. This was the same kind\nof an argument as the citizens in Samaria gave to Amos and Hosea.\n\nIsaiah, however, who knew, and had taught \"The Remnant\" that sacrificing\nanimals was not the true manner of worshipping God, replied as follows:\n\n   \"Hear the word of the Lord, ye Rulers of Sodom;\n    Give heed to the instruction of our God, ye people of Gomorrah!\n    What care I for the great number of your sacrifices? saith the Lord.\n    I am sated with the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of\n        fed beasts,\n    And in the blood of bullocks and lambs and he-goats I take\n        no pleasure.\n    When ye appear before me--who has required this of you?\n    Trample no more my courts, bring no more offerings,\n    Vain is the odor of incense--it is an abomination to me;\n    I am not able to endure a fast and a solemn assembly.\n    Your new moons and your appointed days my soul hateth.\n    I am tired of bearing it.\n    When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you.\n    Also, if ye make many prayers, I will not hear.\"\n\nThen Isaiah launched forth into one of the most beautiful speeches that\nhe delivered in his whole career. In it he brought home to the people\nthe true idea of the religion which God had commanded to Israel, and\nthrough which Judah could be regenerated, strengthened and saved:\n\n   \"Your hands are stained with blood;\n    Wash, that ye may be clean;\n    Remove the evil of your deeds from before mine eyes.\n    Cease to do evil; learn to do good;\n    Seek justice; relieve the oppressed;\n    Vindicate the orphan; plead for the widow.\"\n\nIn one of the sublimest passages that any prophet ever uttered, Isaiah\npromised the people God's forgiveness in the following wonderful appeal:\n\n   \"Come now, let us argue together, saith the Lord.\n    Though your sins be as scarlet,\n    They may become white as snow;\n    Though they be red as crimson,\n    They may become as wool;\n    If ye willingly yield and are obedient,\n    Ye shall eat the good of the land,\n    But if you refuse and rebel,\n    Ye shall be devoured by the sword.\n    The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!\"\n\nWhile Isaiah thus pleaded and threatened, he gained many additions to\n\"The Remnant,\" but he failed to create a deep impression either with\nthe reigning house or with the powerful priesthood or with the\nmajority of the rich in Jerusalem and Judah.\n\nIn the meantime, a vassal of Assyria, in far-off Babylonia, rebelled\nsuccessfully. Immediately, various Palestinian states, including\nJudah, began to prepare a similar attempt to free themselves from the\nAssyrian yoke.\n\nAhaz had died in 721, the year in which Sargon the Great captured\nSamaria, after a two year's siege, and effectually reduced the kingdom\nof Israel. Hezekiah, his young son, to whom Isaiah looked for the\nideal prince he had pictured, succeeded him.\n\nThe calamity of the northern kingdom did not seem to bring Isaiah or\nAhaz any warning. The king had been paying his Assyrian tribute\nregularly and faithfully; the prophet had centered his hope in \"The\nRemnant\" and in the crown prince, and bided his time.\n\nWhen, however, six years later, in the year 715, Hezekiah joined the\ncoalition of Palestinian states against Assyria, Isaiah was not only\ndisappointed, but became greatly alarmed.\n\nTo permit Hezekiah to follow the advice of his father's counselors,\nIsaiah knew would be national suicide. For three years, therefore,\nwhile the agitation for coalition and rebellion was going on, Isaiah\ncast off his prophet's mantle and sandals, and walked barefooted and\nin the garb of a captive through the treets of Jerusalem, as an object\nlesson to the people of Judah, to show them what might await them if\nthey rebelled against Assyria.\n\nBut even this, for the time being, was of no avail. Rebellion was in\nthe blood of the king and the court clique. Somehow the very thought\nof it in Jerusalem seemed to reach the Assyrian capital. Hardly had\nHezekiah begun to carry his contemplated revolt into action when\nSennacherib, the new Assyrian king, was on the march.\n\nOnce more Judah was invaded by the Assyrian hosts, and once more\nJudah's rulers bent their knee in submission and undertook to pay a\ntribute that was heavier than ever before.\n\nYet Isaiah, though heartbroken, was in no way dismayed. His unbounded\nfaith in the final triumph of God's purposes led him to go on,\nfearlessly, to oppose the king and his associates to the very end.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VII.\n\n                     _Like Father, Like Son._\n\n\nA chain, we are told, is as strong as its weakest link. The weak link\nin the long chain of Assyrian provinces was the fact that whenever a\nnew king came to the throne, if he happened to be away, fighting in\nthe field, he had to hurry back to the capital, backed by the complete\nmilitary force under his command, in order to establish himself firmly\nin his dominions.\n\nImmediately upon the withdrawal of the king's armies from the field,\nall the provinces that hated Assyria bitterly, rebelled. Naturally,\nall the work of conquest had to be done over again. Then, when another\nchange took place in the rulership of Assyria, the new king met the\nsame conditions and the same difficulties.\n\nWhen Tiglath-Pileser died, Shalmaneser IV., who laid siege to Samaria,\nwas forced to reconquer all the Syrian and Palestinian tributaries.\nThe great Sargon, who reduced Samaria and carried its inhabitants\ncaptive into the northern part of the Assyrian Empire, left his\nsuccessor, Sennacherib, no better legacy.\n\nWith Sennacherib's ascension to the throne in the year 704, therefore,\nthe usual thing happened--rebellion broke out all along the line of\nhis possessions.\n\nIn Palestine, King Hezekiah of Judah became the leader of a movement\nfor a strong organization of all Palestinian and Syrian states and\ncities with the purpose of concerted rebellion against the new king.\n\nSo strong was the patriotism aroused among the various peoples that\nPadi, king of the city of Ekron, who would not join the proposed\ncoalition, was captured by the citizens, bound in chains and handed\nover a prisoner to Hezekiah in Jerusalem.\n\nIt did not take Sennacherib long to make up his mind what to do. His\npredecessors had shown him the way. He organized a strong force,\ncomposed mostly of mercenaries, and marched at once into Phoenicia.\n\nCity after city fell before his prowess and he worked his way rapidly\ninto Palestine. Unfortunately for Hezekiah and his allies, no\nconcerted action could be agreed upon by them. Each one feared for\nhimself; each one tried to be on the safe side.\n\nSennacherib took advantage of the situation in this rebellious\ndistrict of his empire. He marched his armies, victorious throughout\nPhoenicia, into Palestine, meeting with success after success. The\ncity of Tyre resisted most nobly on its own account, but it was no\nmatch for the Assyrians. Immediately after that Ekron, too, fell, and\nJudah itself was overrun by Sennacherib's troops.\n\nThe great disappointment of the Palestinian allies in this struggle\nfor independence during the years 703-701, was that the help they\nlooked for from the Arabian tribes to the south was very meagre, and\nthat the horses and chariots they counted upon from Egypt did not\nmaterialize at all.\n\nIn Jerusalem, the prophet Isaiah counseled against the proposed\nrebellion from its very beginning. He warned Hezekiah, the leaders in\nJerusalem, and even the nations who were entering into the coalition\nwith Hezekiah, of the folly of this step. Knowing, as he did, the\nsituation, the weakness of the leaders, the corruption within Judah\nand the demoralization of the army and the people generally, because\nof greed and oppression, he understood that Sennacherib's forces would\nrout the Palestinian forces unmercifully.\n\nHe wanted no coalition. He wanted Hezekiah and the Judeans to trust\nwholly in God. \"Quietness and trust\" was his motto and \"Abiding faith\nin God\" his standard.\n\n   \"By repenting and remaining quiet you shall be delivered;\n    In resting and in trusting shall your strength consist.\"\n\nHezekiah, like his father, Ahaz, however, placed his trust in himself\nand in the power of his armies. There was no doubt in Hezekiah's mind\nbut that the assistance that would come from Egypt would strengthen\nhim sufficiently to defeat Sennacherib and gain complete independence\nfor Judah.\n\nIsaiah, who knew differently, preached openly against Hezekiah; but he\nhad no more influence with the king than he had had with his father:\n\n   \"Woe to the rebellious sons, is the oracle of Jehovah,\n    Carrying out a plan which is not mine,\n    Establishing a treaty contrary to my spirit,\n    So that they heap sin upon sin;\n    Who would set out for Egypt without asking my decision,\n    To flee to the shelter of Pharaoh,\n    And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt.\n    The shelter of Pharaoh will be your shame,\n    And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.\"\n\nWhile Isaiah's position among the people, and his standing in the\ncommunity in Jerusalem, made Hezekiah fear to do him bodily harm, or\neven to arrest him, the king and his counselors, who were, naturally,\neager to gain all the assistance possible from the people at home,\nsent out men who were in favor of fighting Assyria to refute the\nopinions and arguments of Isaiah.\n\nThese men also called themselves prophets of God; but Isaiah saw in\nthem only false prophets:\n\n   \"For it is a rebellious people, lying sons,\n    Sons who will not heed Jehovah's instruction,\n    Who say to the seers, 'See not!'\n    And to those who have visions, 'Give us no vision of what is right!\n    Speak to us what is agreeable, give us false visions!\n    Turn from the way, go aside from the path,\n    Trouble is no more with Israel's Holy One.'\"\n\nWhen Sennacherib's armies finally came into Judah, Isaiah still saw\nthe possibility of saving the country from the horrors of devastation,\nand he warned the king and people in these words:\n\n   \"Therefore, thus saith the Holy One of Israel,\n    Because ye reject this word,\n    And trust in perverseness and crookedness and rely thereon,\n    Therefore this guilty act shall be to you\n    Like a bulging breach in a high wall about to fall,\n    Suddenly, in an instant, will come its destruction;\n    Yea, its destruction shall be as when one dashes an earthen vessel\n        in pieces, shattering it ruthlessly,\n    So that not a potsherd is found among the pieces\n    With which to take up fire from the hearth or to draw water from\n        a cistern.\"\n\nNotwithstanding the utter failure that faced Hezekiah in his course,\nneither he nor his counselors gave heed until Sennacherib had captured\nand destroyed forty-six fortified Judean cities and towns and had\nactually begun preparations for a siege of Jerusalem.\n\nIt was then that Hezekiah came to his senses. When Sennacherib was at\nLachish, Hezekiah sent him a message which was almost a duplicate of\nthe one sent by Ahaz to Tiglath-Pileser:\n\n   \"I have offended; withdraw from me; whatever you lay on me I\n    will bear.\"\n\nThe tribute that Sennacherib laid on Hezekiah was three hundred\ntalents of silver and thirty talents of gold. To meet this, Hezekiah\nwas forced to ransack the Temple in Jerusalem and the treasure-chamber\nof the royal palace. He was even forced to strip the doors and pillars\nof the Temple of their gold decorations in order to make up the\nenormous tribute to send to Sennacherib.\n\nJudah once more lay a helpless tributary at the feet of Assyria.\nSennacherib withdrew his armies and returned to Nineveh. Hezekiah had\nproved himself both a coward and a traitor; a traitor because he did\nnot do all in his power to assist such allies as Tyre and Ekron; a\ncoward because, unlike Tyre and Ekron, he did not fight Sennacherib to\nthe bitter end.\n\nIt was only after his own country had been terribly devastated by the\nAssyrian mercenaries that he followed the advice which Isaiah gave him\nin the first place. Had he followed it before, he would have saved not\nalone his country and his people from the ravages of war, but he would\nhave been spared the payment of so large a tribute and the desecration\nof the Temple.\n\nThe real reason why Sennacherib withdrew from before Jerusalem was the\nfact that, while he was engaged in Palestine, all the Babylonian\nprovinces rebelled. He, therefore, received Hezekiah's message with a\ngreat deal of pleasure. In truth, he was eager to act upon it, for he\nhad to hurry to Babylonia to subdue the rebels there.\n\nImmediately after the Assyrian troops were out of Palestine, however,\nHezekiah returned to his old policy and began a war to regain the\nforty-six cities which Sennacherib had conquered and in which he had\nleft Assyrian governors.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER VIII.\n\n                     _The Prophet Triumphs._\n\n\nThe fearful crisis through which Judah and Jerusalem had passed,\nbefore Sennacherib withdrew from Judah to fight his subjects in\nBabylonia, set both the king and the people to thinking.\n\nHezekiah had evidently become convinced that Isaiah's counsel for\npeace with Assyria was the best; for, after he had reconquered several\nof the fortified cities and towns captured by Sennacherib, he made an\narrangement with the Assyrian king to pay an annual tribute\npeacefully, in order that his country should be at rest.\n\nDuring the ten years that followed, Hezekiah, instead of seeking\nalliances with foreign nations, for the purpose of rebellion, devoted\nhimself to building up his own country, and to reforming his own\npeople, in line with the preaching of Isaiah.\n\nOnce, when Hezekiah was sick, Isaiah called on him at the palace. The\nprophet cheered him in his illness and expressed his hope for the\nking's speedy recovery. This call established a friendlier\nrelationship between the king and the prophet.\n\nAt another time, Hezekiah invited Isaiah to the palace; and Isaiah was\nglad to go, because Hezekiah, in his new policy, was following the\ncommandments of God which, as taught by Isaiah, were destined to save\nthe nation from its enemies.\n\n\"The Remnant,\" which Isaiah educated, now grew in great proportions,\nuntil it included the majority of Jews who were leading upright lives.\nIsaiah, himself, was established as a true prophet of God among\nhis people.\n\nUpon his recovery from his illness, Hezekiah began to reform the\nreligious life of the country. He destroyed the \"high places\" on which\nmany people offered sacrifices to strange gods. He broke up the brazen\nserpent to which the people sacrificed and which they worshiped from\nthe days of the Wilderness. He destroyed many idols and practically\nbanished idolatry from the land. Men turned from their evil ways; they\nleft off their wrongdoing and dealt justly and honorably, one with\nanother. Not only did they worship their God, but they had full faith\nin Him.\n\nIt so happened, therefore, in the year 690, when Sennacherib marshaled\nhis great Assyrian army, in order to conquer Egypt, that another\ncrisis came upon Hezekiah and Judah; but neither king nor people\nfeared the Assyrians, because they now trusted in the God of their\nfathers to save them from the hands of their enemy.\n\nSennacherib had determined to conquer Egypt for two reasons: first,\nbecause none of his great predecessors on the Assyrian throne had ever\ngone so far south in their conquest; second, because Egypt was always\nstirring up rebellion in the Assyrian provinces of Asia Minor, by\npromising them help. Sennacherib figured, therefore, that, with Egypt\nthoroughly subdued, the great Assyrian Empire would be permanently\nestablished and strongly founded on absolute union.\n\nSennacherib made one of his whirlwind marches toward Egypt. A little\npoem describing his march, is preserved in an ancient record:\n\n   \"He has gone up from Rimmon.\n    He has arrived at Aiath.\n    He has passed through Migron.\n    At Michmash he lays up his baggage.\n    They have gone over the pass.\n    At Geha they halt for the night,\n    Ramah trembles.\n    Gibeah of Saul flees.\n    Shriek aloud, O people of Gallim.\n    Hearken, O Laishah.\n    Answer her, Anathoth.\n    Madmenah flees.\n    The inhabitants of Gebin are fled.\n    This very day he halts at Moab.\n    He shakes his fist against Mount Zion,\n    Against the Hill of Jerusalem.\"\n\nFinally, Sennacherib had a problem to solve: He wanted to be sure of the\nfriendship of Hezekiah, through whose land he would have to pass on his\nway to Egypt. He was afraid on the one hand, that, having passed through\nJudah, Hezekiah might rebel and attack him from the rear; on the other\nhand, he wanted the city of Jerusalem to be a safe-guard to himself,\nso that, if he should be defeated by the Egyptians, he could escape to\nits shelter.\n\nTherefore, when he came within hailing distance of Jerusalem, he sent\nword to Hezekiah to deliver the city into his hands peacefully, and\nalso to join with him in the proposed conquest of Egypt. Sennacherib\nwas willing to furnish two thousand horses if Hezekiah would furnish\nhim two thousand men to mount them, and to join the Assyrian cavalry.\nHe did not want to attack Jerusalem, because he could not afford to\nwaste his strength on a long siege, and thus weaken his forces before\nhe met Egypt on the battlefield.\n\nBut this time, Hezekiah, being older and wiser, and knowing that his\npeople were certain that God was on their side, sent word back to\nSennacherib that there was no reason whatever for such action on the\npart of Judah at this time since the country was at peace with\nAssyria, paying the tribute annually.\n\nEncamped at Lachish, on the western border of Palestine, and eager to\npress on toward Egypt, Sennacherib thought to force Hezekiah into\nhelping him by an unusual display of his power; so he sent his\nCommander-in-Chief, with a great retinue, to the king in Jerusalem.\n\nA meeting was arranged between them and Hezekiah's representatives\njust outside of Jerusalem, at the conduit of the upper reservoir, the\nplace where Isaiah first confronted King Ahaz.\n\nKing Hezekiah, himself, did not go out to receive the emissaries from\nthe Assyrian army. Instead, he sent Eliakim, who was Governor of the\nRoyal Palace, Shebnah, the Secretary of State, and Joah, the\nChancellor of the Treasury.\n\nA great assembly of the leading citizens of Jerusalem gathered upon\nthe walls to see and hear the interview between the agents of\nSennacherib and Hezekiah.\n\nThe spokesman for the Assyrians began:\n\n   \"Thus saith the great king, the King of Assyria, 'What\n    confidence is this which you cherish? You, indeed, think, a\n    simple word of the lips is counsel and strength for the war!'\n    Now, on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?\n\n   \"Indeed, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even\n    upon Egypt, which, if a man lean on it, will go into his\n    hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all who\n    trust in him.\"\n\nEliakim, speaking of his king, attempted to make clear to the Assyrians\nthat they were misjudging Hezekiah. He did not lean upon Egypt; no\nalliance had been entered into between the two nations; Judah did not\ndesire to enter into this quarrel at all and relied upon neither Egypt\nnor Assyria. \"We trust in the Lord our God,\" concluded Eliakim.\n\nQuick as a flash came back the reply from Assyria:\n\n   \"If you say to me, 'We trust in the Lord our God,' is not\n    _he_ the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken\n    away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship\n    on this altar in Jerusalem?'\n\n   \"Now, therefore, give pledges to my master and King of\n    Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you\n    are able on your part to set riders upon them.\n\n   \"How can you repulse one of the least of my master's servants?\n    And yet you trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen! Have I\n    now come up against this place to destroy it without God's\n    approval? God it was who said to me, 'Go up against this land\n    and destroy it'\"\n\nShaken a little bit in their argument, and a great deal in their\nfaith, Eliakim, Shebnah and Joah held a short consultation. Then\nEliakim said to the spokesman, in a whisper:\n\n   \"Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Aramaic language,\n    for we understand it; but do not speak with us in the Jewish\n    language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.\"\n\nThe Assyrian caught the drift of this request at once. He understood\nthat the people had evidently not given up their idolatrous practices\nvery graciously and that their trust in the Lord their God was not as\ngreat as that of Hezekiah. He, therefore, answered Eliakim, so that\nall could hear:\n\n   \"Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak\n    these words? Is it not rather to the men who sit on the wall,\n    that they shall eat their own refuse and drink their own\n    water together with you?\"\n\nThen, walking away from the official group and facing the assembly on\nthe walls, he cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language, saying:\n\n   \"Hear the message of the great king, the King of Assyria.\n    Thus saith the king, 'Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he\n    will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.'\n\n   \"Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in God by saying, 'God\n    will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given\n    into the power of the King of Assyria.'\n\n   \"Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the King of Assyria,\n    'Make your peace with me and come over to me; thus shall\n    each one of you eat from his own vine and his own fig tree\n    and drink the waters of his own cistern, until I come and\n    take you away to a land like your own land, a land full of\n    grain and of new wine, a land full of bread and vineyards,\n    a land full of olive trees and honey, that you may live and\n    not die.'\n\n   \"But hearken not to Hezekiah, when he misleads you, saying,\n    'God will deliver us!' Has any of the gods of the nations\n    ever delivered his land out of the power of the King of\n    Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are\n    the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Where are the gods\n    of the land of Samaria that they have delivered Samaria out\n    of my power? Who are they among all the gods of the countries,\n    that have delivered their country out of my power, that God\n    should deliver Jerusalem out of my power!'\"\n\nThis speech cast a deep gloom upon the people gathered upon the wall.\nAll were silent. Not a single man, not even the representatives of the\nking, could answer the Assyrians' arguments.\n\nThen Eliakim, Shebnah and Joah hastened back to Hezekiah and repeated\nto him the message of Sennacherib through his Commander-in-Chief. As\nsoon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered\nhimself with sackcloth and went into the Temple. He sent Eliakim,\nShebnah and the eldest of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to\nIsaiah, and they said to him:\n\nThus saith Hezekiah:\n\n   \"This is a day of trouble and of discipline and of contumely.\n    It may be God, thy God, will hear all the words of the high\n    official, whom his master, the King of Assyria, has sent to\n    defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord\n    your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the\n    remnant that is left.\"\n\nWhen Isaiah heard the message of the king, he sent back this reply of\nhope and courage to the palace:\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord: 'Be not afraid of the words that thou\n    hast heard, with which the servants of the King of Assyria\n    have blasphemed me. Behold I will put forth a spirit in him\n    so that he shall hear tidings and shall return to his own\n    land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his\n    own land.'\"\n\nHezekiah, acting upon the advice of Isaiah, then sent Sennacherib's\nemissaries back to Lachish with a flat refusal to do what the King had\nasked him.\n\nWhen the Commander-in-Chief returned to Lachish, to his great amazement,\nSennacherib and his army were not there. An officer who was left behind,\nhowever, told him that Sennacherib had broken camp and had marched\nagainst Libnah.\n\nThe next that was heard of the Assyrian armies in Jerusalem was that a\nplague had fallen upon the camp of Sennacherib and that, in great\ndisgust and disappointment, the king and what remained of his forces,\nhad returned to Nineveh.\n\nIt was at that time that Isaiah gave expression to a conception of\nGod's relationship to the nations of the earth that was entirely\ndifferent from that held by the people up to this time.\n\nAccording to Isaiah, God had used Assyria as a rod with which to whip\nthe people of Judah, God's chosen people, into an understanding of His\nlaw and commandments, by which they should live.\n\nNow that Hezekiah and his people had thoroughly reformed and were\nfollowing in the ways of God and His commandments, Assyria's work was\ndone. Because Assyria, however, had prided herself that she had become\na great power in the world on account of her own strength, God would\nnow destroy Assyria.\n\nThis is the dirge that Isaiah sang regarding Assyria and God's hand in\nthe life and death of nations, while Sennacherib was retreating toward\nNineveh, his capital:\n\n   \"Woe, Assyria, rod of mine anger,\n    The staff in whose hand is mine indignation.\n    Against an impious nation am I wont to send him.\n    And against the people of my wrath I give him charge,\n    To take spoil and gather booty,\n    And to tread them down like the mire in the streets.\n    But he--not so doth he plan;\n    And his heart--not so doth it purpose.\n    For destruction is in his heart,\n    And to cut off nations not a few.\n    For he saith, By the strength of my hand have I done it,\n    And by my wisdom, for I have discerned it;\n    And I have removed the bounds of thy peoples,\n    And I have robbed their treasuries,\n    And like a mighty man I have brought down those who sit enthroned.\n    And my hand hath seized, as on a nest,\n    The riches of the peoples.\n    And as one gathers eggs that are unguarded,\n    I, indeed, have carried off all the earth.\"\n\nTo this boasting of Assyria, God answers, speaking through Isaiah:\n\n   \"Before me is thy rising up and thy lying down,\n    Thy going out and thy coming in.\n    I know thy raging against me\n    And thine arrogance hath come to my ears.\n    Therefore I will put my ring through thy nose,\n    And my bridle between thy lips,\n    And will make thee return,\n    By the way in which thou hast come.\"\n\nNot long after this, while Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of\nNisroch, in Nineveh, he was attacked by his own sons and killed, and\nEsarhaddon, one of his sons, succeeded him on the throne of Assyria.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER IX.\n\n                    _The Fruit of His Labor._\n\n\nBlessed is the man whose toil and striving of a lifetime bring\nresults, even though he, himself, does not live to see them!\n\nThrice blessed is the man, the fruit of whose labor is garnered while\nhe is among the living, to see and enjoy it!\n\nThe prophet Isaiah was a thrice-blessed man. Although no one knows\nwhere or how he died, every one knows where and how he lived, and how\nhis life was fruitful in blessings for his people.\n\nHe saw kings come and go on the throne of Judah. He passed through\nmany crises in the history of his country. He experienced many woes\nbecause of his patriotic devotion to the welfare of his land and\npeople.\n\nBut through it all he remained, uncomplainingly, staunch in his faith\nand true to his God. He believed, implicitly, in the justness of God\nand, therefore, in His demand of righteousness as the standard of\nliving for the people. Isaiah's own strength, in time of trial and\ntribulation, came from his trust in God; and that same trust he urged\nupon Jerusalem and Judah in his day and, through his discourses, upon\nall men, for all time.\n\nThus it was given Isaiah to see the fruit of his labor in the peace\nand prosperity of Judah during the remainder of his life which he,\nundoubtedly, spent in peace with his family in his home in Jerusalem.\n\nIt is no wonder that he conceived the ideal of a time of universal\npeace, in which God shall be the God of all the nations, an era in\nwhich all peoples shall come to Him, and believe in Him, and follow in\nHis law, and live such just and righteous lives that there would be an\nend to war in all the earth:\n\n   \"It shall come to pass, in the end of days,\n    That the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established at the\n        top of the mountains,\n    And it shall be exalted above the hills;\n    And peoples shall flow unto it.\n    And many nations shall go and say,\n    'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountains of the Lord,\n    And to the house of the God of Jacob;\n    And he will teach us of His ways,\n    And we will walk in His paths.'\n    For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,\n    And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,\n    And He shall judge between the nations,\n    And arbitrate for many peoples;\n    And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,\n    And their spears into pruning hooks;\n    Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,\n    Neither shall they learn war any more.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n                             THE COMMONER\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER I.\n\n                         _His Awakening._\n\n\nSloping down from the Judean hills toward the plain of Philistia and\nthe Mediterranean Sea is the Shefelah, or Lowlands, a section of\nPalestine, far-famed for its stretches of rich farm lands, vineyards\nand olive groves.\n\nThese foothills were once the constant battlefield on which the\nIsraelites from the hill country and the Philistines from the plain\nstruggled for mastery; but, since the days of King Amaziah, who\nconquered Philistia soon after he came to the throne of Judah, in the\nyear 798, the Shefelah, far away from the political turmoils in\nSamaria and Jerusalem, was one of the most peaceful and richest farm\nsections in Israel or Judah.\n\nUp in Samaria, in the year 734, Hoshea, son of Elah, had played the\ntraitor and had bent his head to Tiglath-Pileser, the Assyrian\nconqueror. Up in Jerusalem, Ahaz, son of Jotham, had acted the coward\nand had slipped his neck under the Assyrian yoke. But down in the\nShefelah, on the lower highlands, politics and political intrigues\nplayed little part in the lives of the humble peasant folk.\n\nNumerous towns and villages dotted the Shefelah, especially on the\nhighway running northeast from Gaza, in Philistia, to Jerusalem, in\nJudah. These towns and villages were the centers where the neighboring\nfarmers gathered at set times and where the many daily wage earners\nlived all the time.\n\nRich and fertile sections like the Shefelah were the backbone, the\nstrength and the power of Israel and Judah. While the high and mighty\nprinces and merchants lived in the capitals and squandered their\nwealth, the simple and hard-working farm folk and wage earners made up\nthe bone and muscle of the population, raised the necessities of life\nand, in times of need, furnished the sinews of war.\n\nYet, notwithstanding the fertility of the Shefelah, its rich fields\nand olive groves, its plentiful and well-watered pasture lands, the\nfarmers in the entire section, had to live from hand to mouth. Though\nthey labored hard at their toil, they were, in fact, poor and unable\nto lay aside anything for a rainy day.\n\nIt was very difficult to become reconciled to such a condition of\naffairs. No one seemed interested enough to fathom the reason for it,\nexcept a certain young peasant, named Micah, who had a home in the\ntown of Moresheth, and was the proud possessor of several well-paying\nolive groves and vineyards in the vicinity.\n\nMicah's interest in the population was aroused, one day, when the\nwidow of one of his neighbors came to him for advice. Her husband had\nowned a farm, adjoining one of Micah's pastures, on which there was a\nheavy mortgage. Now that the head of the family was gone, the merchant\nin Jerusalem, who held the mortgage, threatened to eject the widow and\nthe children, because they could neither pay the amount borrowed nor\nthe interest due thereon.\n\nThe sturdy young peasant, brought up in a home of severe simplicity,\nwhere gentleness and kindness were taught and practiced, pitied the\nwoman and her children in their sad plight and loaned her the needed\ninterest payment to stave off ejection from her home. Thereafter, he\nlooked after her family until the oldest son was able to manage his\nown affairs.\n\nTalking to some of his day-laborers he discovered a very amazing\nsituation. He found that most of them had, at one time or another,\nowned their farms, but had lost possession of them through lawsuits,\nin which mortgage holders from Jerusalem had involved them, or through\nunjust treatment on the part of tax collectors and corrupt judges.\n\nMore amazing still was the knowledge that, all through the Shefelah,\nthe majority of vineyards and olive groves were not owned by those who\ncultivated them, at all, but that they formed the vast estates of the\nprinces and wealthy men of Jerusalem.\n\nThe beautiful and fertile Shefelah, then, was not the habitation of\nhappy and contented tillers of the soil, who sang at their tasks and\nprided themselves upon their independence! It was in the heavy grip of\na _land trust_, controlled by the great interests in the capital!\n\nThis knowledge caused Micah to enter upon his investigations with\ngreater interest and deeper feeling. He discovered that the nobility\nand the rich were fattening upon the sweat and toil of the rural and\nworking population. A farmer thrown into debt was sure to lose his\nacres, and a wage earner, having no possessions that could be taken\nfrom him, was sure to lose his liberty. Widows and orphans were\nquickly robbed of their inheritances by the greedy land-grabbers of\nthe metropolis, aided by a corrupt judiciary.\n\nAll this was a severe shock to the young peasant. He, himself, born\nand raised on a farm, had inherited his father's estates free from\ndebt. He lived simply, worked hard, saved a neat sum every year--and\nimagined that every one else was doing the same.\n\nAwakened to the real condition of affairs, Micah now determined to\nleave his estates in the care of his trusted overseers and to go to\nthe great and famed cities of his land, to study at first hand the\ncauses that had made possible the terrible economic and social wrongs\nin his section of the country.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER II.\n\n                _The Cause of the Common People._\n\n\nMicah, the Moreshtite, came to Jerusalem when the capital was at\ncomparative peace. The struggle between King Ahaz and the Prophet\nIsaiah had narrowed down to an armed neutrality, as it were--the king\nwas paying his tributes to Tiglath-Pileser and the prophet was\npreparing his \"Remnant\" for the day when the crown prince, Hezekiah,\nwould come to the throne.\n\nThe young peasant took no sides and embraced no causes in Jerusalem.\nHe stood aside, the better to study conditions as an onlooker. To his\ngreat dismay and sorrow, he found the situation even worse than he had\nimagined it. It was true of the rich and mighty of the capital that\n\n   \"They covet fields and seize them,\n    And houses, and take them away.\n    They oppress a man and his house,\n    Even a man and his heritage.\"\n\nThis much was clear on the surface of things.\nRapacity on the part of the rich meant oppression\nof the poor; increase of power for the mighty meant\ndecrease of opportunity for the humble tiller of the\nsoil and for the wage earner.\n\nSeeing all this and understanding it, Micah felt himself impelled to\nfight the cause of the common people.\n\nConditions and a sympathetic soul thus made Micah a Prophet.\n\nOne of the people, he spoke in their behalf with the feeling and\npassion of a man who has been through the mill of bitter experience:\n\n    Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits,\n    As when they glean the grapes of the vintage:\n    There is no cluster to eat,\n    Nor first-ripe fig which my soul desireth.\n\n    The godly man has perished out of the earth,\n    And the upright among men is no more:\n    They all lie in wait for blood;\n    They hunt every man his brother with a net.\n    Both hands are put forth for evil,\n    To do it diligently.\n    The prince asketh and the judge is ready for reward,\n    And the great man, he uttereth the evil of his soul;\n    Thus they weave it together.\n    The best of them is as a brier;\n    The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge.\n    A man's enemies are the men of his own house.\n\nWhere shall he look for help and guidance--he, a commoner, without\npower, without influence? To whom shall he go for instruction, for\ninspiration, to struggle against conditions in the face of which he\nwas helpless?\n\nMicah returned to Moresheth to think matters over at his leisure. It\nwas not an easy or simple task that he had voluntarily assumed.\n\nOne source of strength he always had to rely upon. Close to the soil,\nseeing the Creator's handiwork in the fields at his feet by day and in\nthe wonders of the starry firmament by night, he was full of the\nspirit of God.\n\nAt the very outset of his self-imposed mission he could exclaim,\nfervently:\n\n   \"But as for me, I will look unto the Lord:\n    I will wait for the God of my salvation:\n    My God will hear me.\"\n\nGod's guiding hand often leads us to our destinations by winding and\nunexpected paths. It is strange to record that Micah's first\nopportunity, in the task he had set before himself, came to him by way\nof Egypt and an Ethiopian usurper. The ambitions of that wily Pharaoh\nled directly to the fall of Samaria and to the Commoner's first great\nprophetic utterance.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER III.\n\n                      _When Samaria Fell._\n\n\nA man who is a traitor to his country will, in all likelihood, prove\ntraitorous to his avowed friends.\n\nHoshea, son of Elah, of Samaria, was such a man. Tilgath-Pileser, the\nAssyrian conqueror of Damascus assisted Hoshea to assassinate King\nPekah, and appointed the assassin to rule in Pekah's stead, in the\nyear 734 B. C. E., merely as a matter of expediency. It was an easier\nmethod of re-annexing the rebellious Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrian\nEmpire without cost of life or treasure, and he stooped to it.\n\nBut when Tiglath-Pileser died and Shalmaneser IV succeeded him on the\nthrone in Nineveh, Hoshea gave ear to the siren voice of Egypt, and\nrebelled.\n\nIt is related that Hoshea sent an embassy to King So, more correctly,\nPharaoh Sabako, of Egypt, when that energetic Ethiopian prince became\nmaster over the whole of the ancient Nile country.\n\nThe new Pharaoh had ambitions northward. It was he who organized a\ncoalition of Assyrian provinces in the Mediterranean country, with an\neye to Nineveh. The traitor, Hoshea, proved the miserable stuff he was\nmade of by joining actively in Sabako's ambitious schemes.\n\nIn answer to Sabako, Shalmaneser rushed his veteran troops toward\nEgypt. The Kingdom of Israel was the first rebellious province he had\nto deal with. Hoshea was prepared when, in 728, Samaria was besieged.\nSamaria held out bravely enough for two years, waiting all the time\nfor help from Egypt. But Sabako's promised armies and funds never\ncame.\n\nShalmaneser died during this siege; but his successor, the great\nSargon, came on with re-enforcements and finally, in 721, captured and\nreduced Samaria, before Hoshea's Egyptian ally had been heard from.\n\nThat was the end of the Kingdom of Israel, founded by Jeroboam ben\nNebat, in the year 937, B. C. E., when he rebelled from Rehoboam, King\nSolomon's son. The Kingdom of Israel had lasted just 218 years.\n\nSargon sent away 27,290 captives, the youth and pride of Israel and\nSamaria, and had them scattered widely apart, in all his provinces.\nThe conqueror, himself, proceeded southward to meet and defeat Sabako,\nat Raphia, on the great Nile-delta-highway along the Mediterranean\ncoast.\n\nWhile the records do not show that these events made any impression\nupon the leaders of thought, such as Isaiah, in Jerusalem, they\nbrought Micah his first opportunity to prohesy.\n\nLiving in Moresheth, on the highroad from Gaza to Jerusalem, Micah,\nwho up to this time knew only of the corruption of the classes and the\noppression of the masses of Judah, now had first-hand information of\nthe political situation, as well.\n\nSargon's armies captured and passed through Gaza on their march to\nRaphia. By way of Gaza, Micah learned that Samaria had not been razed\nto the ground. There was, therefore, hope for the city and for Israel.\nMicah's hope, however, was not political. He, unlike Isaiah in\nJerusalem, was not concerned with politics. His concern was with the\nsocial wrongs and economic outrages of which, as he had now learned,\nboth Israel and Judah were victims.\n\nThere was this distinction, however, Israel had already collected the\nwages of its sins, had paid the price and had been chastised by the\nrod of Assyria. Judah might be recalled to its better self and escape\na similar calamity.\n\nSo, before the dust of Sargon's victorious armies, passing through\nGaza, had settled in the roads, Micah went again to Jerusalem and\nlaunched forth earnestly and with vigor upon his prophetic mission.\n\nIn his very first public utterance he drew a deadly parallel between\nIsrael and Judah:\n\n   \"Hear, ye peoples, all of you;\n    Hearken, O earth, and all that therein is:\n    And let the Lord God be witness against you,\n    The Lord from His holy temple.\n\n    For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place.\n    And will come down, and tread upon the high places the earth.\n    And the mountains shall be molten under Him,\n    And the valleys shall be cleft,\n    As wax before the fire,\n    As waters that are poured down a steep place.\n\n    For the transgression of Jacob is all this,\n    And for the sins of the house of Israel.\n    What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria?\n    And what are the high places of Judah?\n    Are they not Jerusalem?\"\n\nFearlessly, with bold strokes, and in vivid pictures, he described the\nterrible conditions as he knew them:\n\n   \"Hear, I pray you, ye chiefs of Jacob,\n    And ye judges of the house of Israel!\n    You surely ought to know what is just!\n    Yet, you hate good and love evil;\n    You who devour the flesh of my people,\n    Flay their skin from off of them,\n    And break their bones!\"\n\nIt was possible for Judah to be saved, if the governing classes, the\njudiciary, the great landowners and the wealthy merchants dealt justly\nand righteously with the common people, the poor, the peasant and the\nwage earner:\n\n   \"For this will I lament and wail;\n    I will go stripped and naked;\n    I will make a wailing like the jackals,\n    And a lamentation like the ostriches.\"\n\nMicah did more than merely preach and wail. Down in the Shefelah he\nset himself to help his fellow-peasants and to correct the injustices\npracticed upon them, wherever he could.\n\nBut the western foothills were not the whole of Judah; and the origin\nand source of the demoralizing wickedness lay not in the farm\nsections, but in the capital; and as to the capital, \"her wounds are\nincurable.\" The cause of the downfall of Samaria and Israel\n\n   \"Is come even to Judah;\n    It reacheth unto the gate of my people,\n    Even unto Jerusalem.\"\n\nTherefore Micah, less hopeful than Isaiah, who was biding his time for\na change of heart in the rulers and chiefs of the country, said of the\ncoming of the day of reckoning:\n\n   \"Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but He will not answer them:\n    Yea, He will hide His face from them at that time,\n    According as they have wrought evil in their doings.\"\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER IV.\n\n                   _Judah Learns its Lesson._\n\n\nKing Hezekiah's preparation for rebellion against Sennacherib, in 715,\nshattered any optimistic hopes that Micah held for a continuation of\nimprovement in the condition of the common people, in which he had\nbeen instrumental up to this time. The costs of war always fell\nheaviest on the poor, and the devastating results of war upon the\nfarming population.\n\nYounger and readier to act than his older contemporary, Isaiah, he was\nnot satisfied with a negative warning, such as the older prophet gave\nthe leaders in Jerusalem when he walked about the city barefoot and in\nthe garb of a slave.\n\nMicah came up to the capital to stir it up; and he did set the people\nto talking and to thinking when, in a memorable speech, he differed\nfundamentally from Isaiah in his declaration that the Temple, the very\nHouse of God, as well as the city in which it was situated, could and\nwould be destroyed:\n\n   \"Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob,\n    And rulers of the house of Israel,\n    That abhor justice and pervert all equity;\n    That build up Zion with blood,\n    And Jerusalem with iniquity.\n    The heads thereof judge for reward,\n    And the priests thereof teach for hire,\n    And the prophets thereof divine for money;\n    Yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say,\n    'Is not the Lord in the midst of us?\n    No evil shall come to us.'\n    Therefore shall Zion, for your sake, be plowed as a field,\n    And Jerusalem shall become heaps,\n    And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.\"\n\nMicah, naturally, received opposition from the same clique of false\nprophets that opposed Isaiah, and made his labors so difficult and, at\nfirst, unsuccessful; that misled king and people, \"that bite with\ntheir teeth and cry, 'Peace,' to make my people to err.\" To these\nMicah gave as well as he received:\n\n   \"The seers shall be put to shame,\n    And the diviners confounded.\n    Yea, they shall all cover their lips,\n    For there is no answer of God.\n    But as for me,\n    I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord,\n    And of judgment and of might,\n    To declare unto Jacob his transgression\n    And unto Israel his sin.\"\n\nFor years Micah kept at his task. He was indeed a tribune of the people,\nthe champion of their rights against the vested interests, the great\ncommoner of his day and time, fearlessly and courageously standing out\nagainst all opposition, trusting absolutely in God.\n\nAt last came the crisis of 704-1 and Hezekiah's memorable change of\nmind and heart. Micah played no mean part with Isaiah, in Hezekiah's\nreforms that followed.\n\nReforms were needed, however, not alone by \"the heads of the house of\nJacob\" and \"the rulers of the house of Israel,\" not alone in the\ncourts of law and among the priests and prophets; they were needed as\nwell in the religious beliefs and practices of the common people,\nwhose cause was Micah's cause.\n\nWith the passing of all political danger to the fatherland, Micah\nretired permanently to his farms in Moresheth. There he devoted the\nremainder of his peaceful, happy years to teaching the common people,\n\"_my_ people,\" as he fondly refers to them, the religious, moral\nand ethical life that God demanded of them.\n\nMicah employed the same vivid, picturesque language in his speeches of\npeace as he did in his addresses of war. There is extant a remarkable\noration in which he pictures a religious controversy between God and\nhis people, and in which he makes a declaration of what _true\nreligion_ is that has not been better phrased in all the thousands\nof books that have been written on religious subjects since that day.\n\nThe address is in the form of a dialogue between God and Israel, and\nreads as follows:\n\n   \"Hear ye now what the Lord is saying:\n    'Arise, contend thou before the mountains,\n    And let the hills hear thy voice.\n    Hear, O ye mountains, the Lord's controversty,\n    And ye enduring rocks, the foundations of the earth:\n    For the Lord hath a controversy with His people,\n    And He will plead with Israel.\"\n\nThen God is pictured pleading with the people:\n\n   \"O my people, what harm have I done unto thee?\n    And wherein have I wearied thee?\n    Testify against me.\n    Is it because I brought thee out of the land of Egypt,\n    And redeemed thee out of the house of bondage,\n    And sent before thee Moses, Aaron and Miriam?\n    O my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, devised,\n    And what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him;\n    (Remember what took place) from Shittim unto Gilgal,\n    That ye may know the righteous acts of the Lord.\"\n\nAs with the purely religious teachings of the older prophets, the people\ncould not quite understand Micah. They believed that religion consisted\nin offering the prescribed sacrifices regularly, and that, in having\nfulfilled this obligation they had performed their religious duties.\n\nThe average Judean's idea of religion, of the relationship between man\nand God, was that of a _bargain_ between man and God; so many\nsacrifices brought to God, so many favors from God, in return; the\nmore precious and numerous the sacrificial oils and burnt offerings,\neven to one's children, offered to God, the more precious and numerous\nwould be the blessings from God.\n\nTo this false idea Micah replies, with irony that stings, in these\nwords:\n\n   \"Wherewith shall I come before the Lord,\n    And bow myself before God on high?\n    Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,\n    With calves of a year old?\n    Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,\n    Or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?\n    Shall I give my first-born for my transgression,\n    The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?\"\n\nTo which God answers, through Micah, in the world-famed and unparalleled\ndefinition of religion:\n\n   \"It hath been declared unto thee, O man, what is good:\n    Yea, what doth the Lord require of thee,\n    But to do justice, and to love mercy,\n    And to walk humbly with thy God?\"\n\n\n\n\n\n                     THE PROPHET OF WOE AND HOPE\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER I.\n\n                          _The Escape._\n\n\nThe entirely unexpected assassination of King Amon, of Judah, in the\nyear 639, surprised and appalled the entire country, as well as\nJerusalem, the capital.\n\nKing Amon had succeeded his father, Manasseh, to the throne of Judah\nbut two years before. He had had no chance to show the character of\nman he was and the type of a ruler he would be, and yet, without\napparent knowledge on anybody's part that a conspiracy was brewing\namong the princes of the royal palace itself, Amon's life was snatched\naway in a most cruel manner.\n\nThe evening of the tragedy in the king's household was no different\nthan the many others that had preceded it during the time of Amon's\nreign. The king and queen had just said good-night to their\neight-year-old son Josiah and his little friend Jeremiah, who had spent\nthe day with the young prince, and had sent them to bed, in the wing of\nthe palace occupied by the princes, in care of Ebed-melech, a young\nEthiopian slave, of whom both boys were very fond.\n\nJeremiah, who was the son of the high priest Hilkiah, lived in Anathoth,\nthe exclusive suburb to the north of Jerusalem, where the wealthy,\npriestly families had their homes.\n\nIt was after much begging on the part of Josiah with his royal father,\nand on the part of Jeremiah with his mother, that permission was given\nJeremiah to accompany his father into Jerusalem and to spend the day\nand night with Josiah in the palace.\n\nThe high priest and the king were great friends, though they differed\nfrom each other on matters of politics and religion. Hilkiah was a\nfollower of the religious practices and ideals of the prophet Isaiah,\nwhile Amon was inclined to follow the religious practices and ideals\nof his father, King Manasseh.\n\nA very strange thing happened in Jerusalem and Judah when both the\ngood King Hezekiah and the great prophet Isaiah died and young\nManasseh came to the throne. The many religious and social reforms\nthat were instituted by Hezekiah under the guidance and inspiration of\nIsaiah, and which saved the country from the ravages of the Assyrian\nconqueror, were brought to a sudden halt by King Manasseh.\n\nIt seems that the young king was entirely under the influence of the\nparty at court. This party composed mostly of Manasseh's young friends\ndiffered with the opinions of the old men who stood by Hezekiah and\nIsaiah. It was the story of Rehoboam and of Ahaz all over again. The\nking listened to the advice of his boon companions instead of to the\ncounsel of the sages.\n\nManasseh had another reason which, in his own mind and in the minds of\nhis advisers, justified the reaction he led against the teachings of\n\"the remnant\" founded by Isaiah, and later taken up by Hezekiah.\n\nAssyria, after the death of Sennacherib, had become the great world\npower at which all the Assyrian kings, from Tiglath-Pileser III down,\nhad aimed. Sennacherib's successors actually conquered Egypt twice,\nthus extending the sway of Assyria, with its capital at Nineveh, over\nthe whole of the then known world.\n\nDuring both wars in which Egypt was defeated, the little kingdom of\nJudah was, by its geographical location, the stamping ground for the\nAssyrian armies. Judah was called upon during these wars to do more\nthan pay its regular tribute. It was forced to furnish food, supplies,\nhorses, shelter and camps to the Assyrians.\n\nThe suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of the Assyrians was\ngreater than ever before, and the court party asked the king whether\nthe nation was better off when following in the footsteps of Isaiah\nand Hezekiah and worshiping the God of Isaiah and Hezekiah, than it\nwould be if it worshiped the gods of the Assyrians, the worshipers of\nwhich were always victorious over their enemies.\n\nWhile the Assyrian armies were coming and going through Judah, Manasseh\nwas anxious not alone to show his loyalty to the Assyrian throne by\nthe punctual payment of the tribute levied on Judah, but to show also\nhis personal faithfulness to the kings of Assyria by paying homage to\ntheir gods.\n\nSo Manasseh began a bloody campaign against \"the remnant\", who were\nnow called the Prophetic Party in opposition to the Court Party.\nJerusalem flowed with the blood of the martyrs, who were nowhere safe\nfrom the power of Manasseh and the princes.\n\nSo great and good a man as the high priest Hilkiah, Jeremiah's father,\nhad to hide his most inward religious beliefs and convictions in order\nto escape the sword of King Manasseh.\n\nWhen, after a reign of forty-five years, Manasseh died, the Prophetic\nParty looked eagerly to Amon, the new king, in the hope that he would\nchange conditions in the land from those established by his father;\nbut Amon permitted all the heathen shrines that were erected\neverywhere in Judah, and even in the Temple in Jerusalem, to remain.\n\nJust why, therefore, the Court Party assassinated King Amon will never\nbe known. The fact remains that on this particular evening in the year\n639, armed men sprang up in the palace as if by magic. The royal\nfamily was completely exterminated, with the exception of the boy\nJosiah, who had retired with Jeremiah, his young guest, to the\nnursery.\n\nHilkiah, Jeremiah's father, who, after taking leave of his boy and\nseeing the two youngsters in the care of Ebed-melech, was preparing\nfor the hour's trip to his home in Anathoth, was as completely dazed\nby the uprising and as unprepared for it as was the king himself.\n\nThe conspirators, however, had no design on Hilkiah's life; and so, in\nthe pandemonium that reigned in the palace, Hilkiah stole quietly up\nto the nursery.\n\nAt the door he met Ebed-melech on guard. The young Ethiopian always\nwaited just outside the little princes' apartment until he was sure\nthat the boys' every wish was satisfied and that they were asleep,\nbefore retiring to the servants' quarters.\n\nHilkiah did not speak to Ebed-melech. In his excitement he probably\ndid not see him. He opened the door, which was not locked, hurriedly,\nand entered, followed closely by the Ethiopian, who surmised, from\nHilkiah's appearance, that something unusual had happened.\n\nInstead of finding the boys tucked away in bed, asleep, he found them\nwide awake, at play. Josiah had leaned a tiny chair up against the\nposts at the foot of the bed, propped it up with pillows, and, with a\nwand in his hand, was playing at king. Jeremiah, in another part of\nthe room, had bound and laid several toy animals upon a little table\nand was playing at high priest.\n\nWhen Hilkiah broke into the nursery the boys stopped suddenly at their\nplay and looked shamefacedly at the priest. They did not notice the\nflushed face nor the anxious, eager look in his eyes that changed\nimmediately to hope as he snatched both lads in his arms, bade them be\nsilent and started out of the nursery.\n\nEbed-melech was at his heels, asking what was wrong. Hilkiah told him\nof the uprising, in a few whispered words. The Ethiopian thereupon\ntook the amazed Josiah in his brawny arms and led the way through the\nservants' hall to the court yard.\n\nIn the tumult that reigned within the palace Hilkiah, Ebed-melech and\ntheir burdens were not noticed by the conspirators. Unmolested, they\nmade their way into the royal gardens. There they hid in the shrubbery\nwith the boys, whose cries had been stopped by commands and pleading.\n\nWhen the noise quieted down in the palace and the conspirators had\nevidently been satisfied with their work, Hilkiah, carrying Jeremiah,\nand Ebed-melech, carrying Josiah, quietly stole out of the garden and\nmade their way through a narrow by-way crossing the Mount of Olives to\nAnathoth.\n\nThey arrived at Hilkiah's home at daybreak, both boys asleep. Jeremiah's\nmother, almost distracted by anxiety, met the four eagerly at the door,\nand, after a few words of whispered explanation by her husband, she\nunderstood what had happened.\n\nSilently and with the help of servants the two boys were brought into\nJeremiah's room, where they slept peacefully, being none the wiser for\nthe tragedy in the palace in Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER II.\n\n                         _The Boy King._\n\n\nIt was interesting to see, the next morning, the effect upon the two\nboys when they discovered that instead of being in Josiah's bed in the\npalace in Jerusalem they were in Jeremiah's, at his home in Anathoth.\n\nJosiah thought it was a great joke and laughed at the miracle, as he\ncalled it, that was performed during the night. Jeremiah, however,\nbeing two years older than his friend and of a more active mind and\nimagination, tried quietly to study out what had taken place.\n\nJust as Josiah was figuring the miracle all out, Jeremiah's mother\nentered the room. The dear woman was choked up with tears and could\nnot say a word. In reply to the volley of questions with which she was\ngreeted, she merely pressed the two boys to her bosom and kissed them.\n\nHer trembling arms made the lads feel that something had gone wrong.\nThey clung to her most affectionately. She told them to dress quickly;\nthat it was already late in the day; that breakfast was waiting for\nthem and, she added smilingly, that if somebody did not reach the\nbreakfast room in a hurry somebody would be scolded.\n\nAt breakfast she unfolded the story of the tragedy at the palace very\nguardedly and with great care, so that the blow should not fall too\nheavily upon Josiah. When she finally told them that the King and\nQueen were dead, the boys broke out in loud weeping. It was all she\ncould do to comfort and quiet them.\n\nJust at this time, Hilkiah, Jeremiah's father, who had gone back to\nthe city for news, returned. He related that Jerusalem was in a great\nuproar. The conspirators in the palace, who had proclaimed one of\ntheir number as king, were having a hard time of it with the army and\nthe people.\n\nIt seemed that the assassins were not at all well organized and that\nthe assassination was most unpopular. The army proved faithful to the\nroyal house and the people sided with the army.\n\nWhen Hilkiah had announced to the leaders of the army and the people\nthat the whole of Amon's family was not destroyed, but that young\nJosiah was safe at Anathoth, there was great public rejoicing amid the\nmourning for the king. Within a few hours the army laid siege to the\npalace which was in the possession of the conspirators.\n\nDuring the three days that followed the palace was besieged by a\ndetachment from the army. Many of the leading men of Jerusalem and\nmany of the army officers came to Hilkiah's home, in the meantime, to\nsee the young prince and to pay homage to him as his father's\nsuccessor on the throne; but Hilkiah would not permit them to see or\nspeak to Josiah until the siege was successful and the usurpers put\nout of the way.\n\nWhen the palace finally fell and the conspirators were put to death, a\ngreat concourse of people, headed by the king's guard, marched to\nAnathoth, gathered before Hilkiah's home and called for the Prince.\n\nHilkiah brought Josiah to a window in the second story of the house.\nUpon seeing him a great shout went up from the crowd below:\n\n   \"The king!\"\n   \"The king!\"\n\nThe captains of the host then entered the house and consulted with\nHilkiah while the crowd outside carried on happily over the survivor\nof the ancient dynasty.\n\nAfter a little while the captains, surrounding Josiah who was sitting\non Hilkiah's shoulders, reappeared. A shout of acclaim greeted them.\nThen began a triumphant march back to Jerusalem.\n\nAt the gates the whole city of loyal people greeted them. The royal\nchariot was waiting. Instead of horses, picked young men drew it to\nthe palace where Josiah was proclaimed king in his father's stead.\n\nSo it happened, in the year 639, that a boy eight years old reigned as\nking in Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER III.\n\n                        _Jeremiah's Call._\n\n\nJosiah and Jeremiah passed through the first great and vital\nexperience of their lives together and the friendship between these\ntwo lads was thereby knit as closely as was that of David and\nJonathan.\n\nFrom the very beginning of Josiah's mounting the throne of Judah, this\nfriendship promised even to outrival that of the king's great ancestor\nand Saul's son. Every day Hilkiah had to bring Jeremiah to the palace,\nbecause the young king was not permitted to leave Jerusalem and go to\nAnathoth.\n\nOne of the very first official acts of the king was to make Ebed-melech\na freedman; but the young Ethiopian chose to remain at the palace in\nJerusalem, to be at the right hand of his master, even to put the young\nking to bed, for many years after he was crowned, as he had done the\nbaby prince.\n\nThis friendship of Josiah and Jeremiah had an unlooked-for effect upon\nthe former; for, though teachers in all the subjects that pertained to\nthe education of the young king were appointed, Hilkiah, the high\npriest, practically became the young monarch's guardian and father.\n\nIn fact, the older Josiah grew the more he understood the love of\nHilkiah for him and the heroic act he had performed in saving him on\nthat terrible night of the conspiracy.\n\nSo it happened that while the boy king was instructed by special\ntutors in the laws and intricacies of government, his religious and\nmoral training came under the influence of Hilkiah. This meant that\nthe moral qualities that make for manhood and character, and the\nprinciples of religious belief that were developed in Josiah, were\nidentical with those that Hilkiah taught his own son.\n\nAt the suggestion of Hilkiah, a cousin of the young king, named\nZephaniah, a member of the Prophetic Party and follower of the\nteachings of Isaiah, was appointed Josiah's religious instructor. The\nking, therefore, grew up in total ignorance of the idolatrous\nreligious beliefs and practices introduced by his grandfather,\nManasseh, and practiced by his father, Amon.\n\nJosiah was so busy with the many things relating to the government of\nhis kingdom that he had no time to study his religion very deeply, but\nthe moral influence of Zephaniah and Hilkiah was very apparent in his\ndevelopment and showed their effect in his later years.\n\nJeremiah, on the other hand, received an education on much broader and\nmore general lines. Not burdened with cares of state, he studied first\nof all the history of his own people and his own religion, and the\nhistory and religion of the other peoples with whom his country came\nin contact. In his religious training he was grounded deeply in the\nreligious history of now almost forgotten Israel as well as of Judah.\nHe paid special attention to the moral and religious condition of his\ncountry and of its people and made himself master of his father's\nideals, which meant the ideals and hopes of the older prophets.\n\nAs Jeremiah advanced in years and Josiah took the reins of government\nmore and more into his own hands, the former's visits to the palace\nbecame less and less frequent.\n\nJeremiah delighted to stay in Anathoth. He spent many hours studying\nin his own room. He roamed among the barren hills near his village\nfrom which, looking down the ravine, a view could be had of the blue\nwaters at the north end of the Dead Sea.\n\nHe often came across the many altars that had been erected on the high\nhills and in thick groves in imitation of the heathen. Even in the\ncity of Jerusalem, the religious legacy left by King Manasseh had not\nbeen destroyed. The Temple Courts were desecrated by images and the\nTemple itself defiled by idolatrous practices.\n\nThe teachings of his father and the religious influence of his home\nwere great factors in turning Jeremiah's mind to view these\nabominations with alarm for his people. Idolatry and heathen worship\nled the people to practice vice and commit crimes that were abhorrent\nto the religious ideas and ideals taught by such men as Amos, Hosea\nand Isaiah in the days gone by, and by Zephaniah and Hilkiah in\nJeremiah's time.\n\nNow Jeremiah knew very well that when Josiah reached the age of\nmanhood the influence of Zephaniah and Hilkiah upon him would tell. He\nfelt quite sure that, in due time, religious and moral reforms would\nbe introduced into the country by the king. He was convinced,\nnevertheless, that a movement for reform of some kind must come from\nthe people at large as well as from the king.\n\nSometimes he thought that the people ought to be prepared for the\nreforms that Josiah would surely introduce. Often, therefore, he felt\nthe voice of God speaking within him, urging him on to go down into\nthe city and there speak to the people of the living God, of His love\nfor them and of His religious and moral demands upon them.\n\nOne day, in the early spring, while roaming among the hills,\nmeditating upon the thoughts that consumed all his waking hours, he\nstopped before an almond tree. It was just beginning to shoot its\nearliest leaves. He contemplated this wonderful miracle of nature. He\nsaw the hand of God working through that tree; he saw that God must be\nvery watchful over the things He created; he saw in that tree a\nsymbol--God's message to him that the immoral and ungodly people of\nJerusalem and Judah could be awakened to a new life, even as the\nalmond tree was blooming into new life.\n\nAt another time he was watching carelessly a boiling caldron. A wind\nunexpectedly came up from the north, so strong that Jeremiah thought\nthe caldron would turn over and empty its contents upon the ground. In\nthis, too, Jeremiah saw a symbol--a call from God to warn the people\nof Judah against the oncoming of the Scythian hordes that were roaming\nat large over the once great Assyrian empire, even reaching the little\nstates along the Mediterranean.\n\nOne night, in his room, Jeremiah was thinking over these and similar\nincidents that had been happening to him quite frequently of late.\nThough ready to retire, he knew that he could not sleep, because a\nterrible restlessness was consuming his mind and heart.\n\nNoiselessly, he stole out of the house into the open. It was one of\nthose wonderful full-moon, spring nights, when the sky is clear blue,\nunclouded and studded with myriads of stars, stars, stars.\n\nJeremiah breathed in deeply and tramped out into the hills. He walked\nlightly, as on air, without fatigue. A strange feeling, as if he\nwished to get away from himself, drove him on. Finally, he reached a\npoint from which he could discern the most northerly corner of the\nDead Sea. For awhile he stood in his favorite spot and meditated,\nthough he could not, for the world of him, say what was passing\nthrough his mind.\n\nHe pressed his temples with his open palms, hoping in that way to\nclear up the jumble of thoughts tumbling about in his head. He\nclenched his fists. He beat the palm of his left hand with the fist of\nhis right. He raised his arms to heaven, as if pleading for advice and\nguidance. He was, evidently, passing through a great, inward struggle.\n\nThen he heard a voice, clearly and distinctly, saying over and\nover again:\n\n    Before I formed thee, I knew thee;\n    Before thou camest forth, I sanctified thee.\n    I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.\n\nand he knew that God was speaking to him.\n\nA stifled groan escaped his lips. The muscles of his face and body,\ntense up to this moment, relaxed. He dropped to his knees and gave up\nthe fight. He buried his face in his arms and cried, in a muffled\nvoice:\n\n    Alas, O Lord God!\n    Behold, I do not know how to speak;\n    I am only a youth.\n\nThis plea showed clearly what inward agonies Jeremiah had been through.\nTimid by nature, he shrank from God's call to him to go out and\nprophesy to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and he struggled\nagainst it. Although he was now a young man of twenty-four or five, he\nfeared to undertake this great task and to answer the call. He felt\nthat he was yet too young and unprepared to deliver the message of God\nto his people.\n\nBut God answered him, saying:\n\n    Do not say, \"I am only a youth\";\n    For to all to whom I shall send thee, thou shalt go,\n    And whatever I command thee, thou shalt speak.\n    Be not afraid of them,\n    For I am with thee to deliver thee.\n\nAnd Jeremiah tells us that God, having stretched\nout His hand toward him and touched his lips to purify\nthem, spoke to him further:--\n\n    Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth;\n    See, I have set thee this day over the nations and kingdoms,\n    To tear up, to break down and to destroy, to build up and to plant.\n\nNow that God had selected him for a distinct and set purpose in life,\nno matter how incapable and unworthy he deemed himself, and being\nassured of His help and protection, Jeremiah walked slowly homeward.\nFor the first time he noticed that the sun had risen big and bright\nand warm. His mind was calm and at rest, but his heart was filled with\nwoe because of what the future held out for him and his people.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER IV.\n\n                     _The Seething Caldron._\n\n\nAn old Hebrew proverb says, \"Train up a child in the way he should go,\nand even when he is old he shall not depart from it.\" If one should\nsay that the man who wrote this proverb must have thought of King\nJosiah, the statement could not be entirely denied. For the religious\ntraining he received at the hands of Zephaniah and Hilkiah soon showed\nitself in the way he began to revolutionize the religious life of\nJudah.\n\nWhen he was only eighteen years old he began to uproot the heathen\nworship that had been reintroduced by his grandfather, after the death\nof Hezekiah and Isaiah. His aim was to cleanse the land entirely of\nthe foreign altars and sanctuaries that Manasseh had erected to the\ngods of Babylonia and Assyria.\n\nIn the twelfth year of his reign, that is, in the year 627, the old\nchronicler tells us, Josiah\n\n   \"brake down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the\n    sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and\n    the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he\n    brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon\n    the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them, and purged\n    Judah, and Jerusalem.\"\n\nIt was at this time that the decline in the fortunes of Assyria set\nin. Esarhaddon and his successor, Ashurbanipal, preserved a semblance\nof holding the empire together; but it was not for long. Built up by\nmercenaries, whose fighting was for pay and not for their country, the\nweak rulers who followed Ashurbanipal on the throne in Nineveh hurled\nthe empire quickly to its fall.\n\nEven in the last days of the cultured and illustrious Ashurbanipal the\noutlying provinces of Assyria became independent. The Assyrian\ngovernors were slowly withdrawn from the tributaries along the\nMediterranean Sea, and Judah, always ready to resist a foreign yoke,\nbegan to feel its independence.\n\nJosiah added to his territory most of what had been the kingdom of\nIsrael and reigned over a country that nearly equalled in size that of\nDavid and Solomon. This good fortune of Judah, perhaps more than\nanything else, convinced the king that God was again favoring his\nnation, and that, therefore, it was time to remove from his dominions\nall those things that were abominations in the sight of God.\n\nNow, it is one thing to cleanse a land of its outward show of\nidolatrous worship and abominable practices and another to purge the\nhearts and minds of a people that have been sotted with these for more\nthan two generations. To do the latter never entered into Josiah's\ncalculations. He didn't even give it a thought. But the uselessness of\noutward reforms, without inward chastening, did not escape the\ndeep-thinking Jeremiah.\n\nIt was evident to him that Josiah was only scratching the surface and\nhe wanted to come to the well-meaning king's help. Notwithstanding his\ncall and his conviction that his life work as a prophet had been\ndetermined upon even before his birth, Jeremiah was yet too timid to\ntake up his burden among the people until the word of God came to him\na second time, saying:\n\n   \"Gird up thy loins and arise,\n    Speak to them all that I command thee,\n    Do not be terrified before them, lest I terrify thee in\n        their presence;\n    For behold, I myself make thee this day a fortified city,\n    And a brazen wall against the kings of Judah, its princes, and the\n        common people.\n    And they shall fight against thee, but they will not overcome thee,\n    For I am with thee to deliver thee.\"\n\nSo Jeremiah's course was not to be smooth and easy! He would encounter\nopposition from the common people, the princes, the king himself! But\nthere was no turning back for him now! Though his heart was heavy, it\nwas determined. Jeremiah went down to Jerusalem to preach.\n\nHis first pleadings were in line with Josiah's reforms:\n\n   \"A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the\n    supplications of the children of Israel; because they have\n    perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God.\n    Return ye backsliding children;\n    I will heal your backsliding.\"\n\nJeremiah began his eventful career with the old cry of Amos and Hosea,\nagainst the widespread evil, the seething caldron of idolatry and\nwrongdoing that threatened the destruction of the nation. It was far\nmore serious, however, than in the days of the earlier prophets. Then\nthe people worshiped idols and seemed to know no better; now the\npeople employed all the ancient idolatrous practices for worshiping\nthe idols and the heavenly bodies and God at the same time.\n\nTherefore, Jeremiah heard from the people at the idols' shrines, in\nreply to his pleadings, practically the same answer that greeted Amos\nat Bethel:\n\n   \"Behold, we have come unto thee,\n    For thou art the Lord our God.\"\n\nTo this false idea that God-worship and idol-worship are the same thing,\nJeremiah gave answer patiently and kindly, as if reasoning with children,\nrecalling what God had accomplished for Israel in the past and the duty\nof obedience to His voice by Israel's descendants in the present:\n\n   \"Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills,\n    the tumult of the mountains; truly the Lord our God is the\n    salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing (idolatry) hath\n    devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their\n    flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let\n    us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us;\n    for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our\n    fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not\n    obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.\"\n\nThen Jeremiah delivered a message of hope, of God's promise to the\npeople, in case they should return from their backsliding:\n\n   \"If thou wilt return, O Israel,\" saith the Lord, \"if thou\n    wilt return to me and if thou wilt put away thine\n    abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be\n    removed; and thou shalt swear, 'As the Lord liveth,' in\n    truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations\n    shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.\"\n\nJeremiah aimed at first merely to arouse the people to a knowledge of\ntheir false point of view toward God; but he soon discovered that he\nwas on the wrong track. Pleading, persuasion, promises and prophecies\nof hope had no more effect upon the daily life of the people than did\nJosiah's destruction of the shrines and sanctuaries upon their\nreligious practices.\n\nIt was at this time that evil days came upon the Empire of Assyria. It\nwas crumbling to pieces. From north of the Black Sea and from east of\nthe Carpathian Mountains savage hordes of Scythians were swarming over\nAssyria. Nomads, without any settled country whatever, they were\nsweeping eastward and southward, down across the shores of the\nMediterranean, creating devastation everywhere. They were not only\neager for the far-famed riches of Assyria, but looked toward the\nsouth, even as far as Egypt.\n\nAnd the little kingdom of Judah lay directly in their path, as it did\nduring former attempted conquests of Egypt.\n\nJeremiah once more recalled the vision of the seething caldron, with\nthe strong wind from the north, threatening to pour out the hot\ncontents over the land.\n\nPoor Judah! The country was seething with destructive idolatry within,\nand the seething hordes of Scythians were endangering its life from\nwithout.\n\nPoor Jeremiah! What was there for him to do now? A double calamity was\nhanging over his people and his beloved country. Even if he stood alone\nhe must try to save them both.\n\nSo he began a campaign, the burden of which was two-fold. He undertook\nto warn the people against the danger which even King Josiah had\nrecognized and of the new danger that was threatening from the north.\n\nHe felt sure, as had the other prophets before him, that unless the\npeople turned from their backsliding they would lack the moral courage\nto withstand the foreign foe and could never gain God's help and\nprotection in fighting their enemies.\n\nOnce more he returned to his early methods of pleading with the\npeople. He appealed to them to restore the relationship of children\nand father that had existed between them and God from the earliest\ndays. He recounted their history from the slavery of Egypt to his own\nday. He pointed to the wonderful things that God had performed for\nthem, but it all seemed of no avail.\n\nThen he turned to the people with the threats of the danger from the\nnorth. He tried to impress them with the idea that God was sending the\nScythians as an instrument with which to punish the idolatrous and\nimmoral Judeans.\n\n   \"Behold a people is coming from the northland,\n    And a great nation is arousing itself from the uttermost parts\n        of the earth.\n    They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and merciless.\n    Their din is like the roaring of the sea, and they ride upon horses.\n    Everyone is arrayed as a man for battle against thee, O daughter\n        of Zion.\n\n   \"We have heard the report of it, our hands become feeble;\n    Anguish taketh hold upon us;\n    Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the highway,\n    For there is the sword of the enemy, terror on every side.\n    O, my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and sprinkle thyself\n        with ashes;\n    Take up mourning as for an only son, bitter lamentation;\n    For the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.\"\n\nFrom Dan and Mount Ephraim in the north the evil tidings announcing\nthe approach of the Scythians had already been brought to Jerusalem.\nThese savages were approaching Judea like a destructive hot wind and a\nwhirlwind from the wilderness, like a lion gone up from his lair \"to\nlay waste the earth.\"\n\n   \"Announce in Jerusalem, 'There they are!'\n    Robber bands are coming from a far distant land;\n    Yea, they are raising their cry against the cities of Judah,\n    Lying in wait in the field over against her on every side,\n    Because she hath rebelled against me, saith the Lord.\"\n\nThe farmers were deserting their lands and the villagers in the\noutlying parts of the country their homes, rushing south to the\nprotecting walls of Jerusalem. The roads were filled with frightened\nmen, women and children. They were not the happy pilgrims who went\ndown to Jerusalem for the great holidays. In their fear they jostled\neach other and even fought to get ahead of each other. They cared\nnothing for their fellows. Everyone aimed to reach the capital first.\n\nJeremiah saw all this, and knew exactly what the result would be when\nthe robber bands came to besiege the city. Already the farthest\noutlying sections had been ravaged, towns destroyed, fields laid\nwaste, and the inhabitants driven in all directions.\n\nNo wonder that Jeremiah was filled with woe. He tried very hard to\nrestrain himself, not to pronounce the doom of his people. But a great\nforce within him urged him to speak:\n\n   \"My anguish, my anguish! I am pained to the depths of my heart.\n    My heart is in a tumult within me, I cannot keep silent,\n    For I have heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war!\n    Destruction succeeds destruction, for the whole land is laid waste.\n    How long must I see the signal, hear the sound of the trumpet!\n    For my people are senseless, they know me not,\n    They are foolish children, and they have no understanding;\n    They are skilled! in doing evil, but they know not how to do right!\"\n\nIn Jerusalem there were many who believed that they were innocent of\nany wrong-doing because they were worshiping God the only way they\nknew; but what they knew was the same old heathen way. There were\nmany, indeed, who continued their wicked practices secretly even in\nplaces where, by King Josiah's orders, the idolatrous shrines and\nsanctuaries had been destroyed.\n\nWhat brought pain and sorrow to Jeremiah more than anything else was\nthe fact that the people insisted that they were not sinning, that\nthey were living in accordance with the laws of God.\n\nTo them Jeremiah answered:\n\n   \"Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see and know,\n    And seek in its open spaces, if ye can find a man,\n    If there is any who does right and seeks after the truth!\n    And though they say, 'As the Lord liveth,' surely they swear to\n        a falsehood.\n    O Lord, do not thine eyes look upon truth?\"\n\nAlways wanting to be fair and honest in his condemnation of the\npeople, Jeremiah bethought himself that perhaps only the common people\nwho \"know not the way of the Lord and the law of their God\" were at\nfault. Therefore he turned himself to the nobles, to the princes of\nthe realm, to the wealthy and exalted, saying to himself, they \"know\nthe way of the Lord and the law of their God.\" But to his great dismay\nhe found that these, too, \"have all broken the yoke and burst the\nbonds\" that made them the beloved of God in the ways of their\nrighteousness.\n\n   \"Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of\n        restraining myself.\n    I must pour it out upon the children in the street and upon the\n        assembly of young men,\n    For both the husband and the wife shall be taken, the aged and him\n        that is advanced in years.\n    And their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields\n        to robbers.\n    For from the least even to the greatest of them, each greedily robs,\n    And from the prophet even to the priest, each deals deceitfully.\n    They heal the hurt of my people as though it were slight,\n    Saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.\"\n\nThis condition was reason enough for Jeremiah to point out, regretfully,\n\n   \"Thy conduct and thy acts have procured these things for thee!\n    This is the cause of thy calamity; verily it is bitter, for it\n        toucheth thy heart.\"\n\nYet hopefully he pleaded,\n\n   \"Cleanse thy heart, O Jerusalem, from wickedness, that thou mayest\n        be delivered.\n    How long shall thy evil thoughts stay within thee?\"\n\nThis preaching, pleading, threatening, in which Jeremiah was assisted\ngreatly by Zephaniah, King Josiah's teacher, and the little crowd of\nmen, \"the remnant\" of Isaiah's days, whom Hilkiah had gathered about\nhim, now known as the Prophetic Party was not a matter of days or\nmonths, but of years.\n\nJosiah, standing practically single-handed among the nobles and the\nCourt Party, the legacy fron his grandfather Manasseh, continued his\nreforms to the best of his ability.\n\nAt last the work was having its effect. The constant hammering away\nbegan to tell. Great progress was actually being made in the religious\nand moral awakening of the people.\n\nAnd now came the joyous news that Psammetich I., Pharaoh of Egypt, had\nsent an embassy to meet the invading Scythians in the north, before\nthey approached Egyptian territory; that he bought the savages off by\nmeans of gifts and large sums of money; that the danger of an invasion\nof Egypt, and therefore of Judah, was past.\n\nThe Prophetic Party pointed to the sparing of Judah from the ravages\nof the Scythian scourge as God's way of showing his approval, not\nalone of the king's outward reforms, but of the people's inner\nawakening to lives of righteousness.\n\nAnd soon after, the most important event in the whole history of\nIsrael up to that time, an event that had a lasting influence, not\nalone upon the Jews but upon the whole world, occurred in the temple\nin Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER V.\n\n                      _The Great Discovery._\n\n\nThe great deliverance from the Scythian invasion strengthened Josiah\nand the Prophetic Party in their work of reform. They felt that their\nGod had spared them because much of the idolatrous worship had already\nbeen stopped in Jerusalem and many of the pagan shrines destroyed.\n\nThe king also determined to repair and rebuild certain parts of the\nTemple. The great building that Solomon erected now looked like a\nhodge-podge of architecture. No repairs whatever had been made on it\nsince the days of King Joash, about two hundred years before, while\nmany additions in the interior and in the courts had been made by Ahaz\nand Manasseh.\n\nJosiah determined to clear out everything foreign connected with the\nTemple; inside and out he was going to restore it as it was in the\ndays of Solomon, and to beautify it. Walls were cracked and foundations\nhad settled at different points. The alterations and repairs planned,\naccordingly, were very extensive and were to be done immediately.\n\nBut the Temple treasury and the coffers of the royal house were empty.\nThe enormous tributes that the predecessors of Josiah were forced to\npay to Assyria had greatly reduced the financial resources of both\nking and Temple.\n\nJosiah, therefore, introduced a new method of collecting funds for the\nproposed work.  He placed great collection boxes at the Temple gates.\nAll who visited Jerusalem and the Temple were expected to make some\ncontribution. Money came in fast, especially when, under the supervision\nof Hilkiah, the masons and the artisans and the workmen of all kinds\nhad actually started operation.\n\nIn addition, Josiah caused collections to be made for this purpose all\nthrough his kingdom, including the old kingdom of Israel, where a\nremnant of the people still remained. With theis money, the hewn\nstone and the timber necessary for the repairs were bought and the\nworkmen paid.\n\nIt is recorded that everyone did his work faithfully and efficiently\nand that the building, for that reason, was being restored in\nexceptionally quick time.\n\nOn a certain day, in the year 621, Josiah sent Shaphan, his minister\nof foreign affairs, to the Temple to empty the collection boxes and\nto report back to him on the progress of the repairs.\n\nWhen Shaphan came to the Temple, Hilkiah approached him carrying a\nparchment statement, \"I have found the Book of the Law in the House of\nGod;\" and Hilkiah handed the book to Shaphan.\n\nBeing questioned, Hilkiah explained that the book was discovered in\none of the corner-stones of the Temple. It had probably been placed\nthere by King Solomon himself, he explained, at the time when the\nTemple was built. But after Solomon's death, during the constant\nwar between Israel and Judah and the inroads that idolatry had made\nin both countries, the real, genuine \"Book of the Law\" that was to\nhave been the basis for government, the constitution of both Israel\nand Judah, had evidently been lost sight of and forgotten. Now, by\nthe merest accident, it was found again.\n\nWhen Shaphan glanced through it he immediately saw what a wonderful\ndiscovery had been made. So he took the book to the king. He reported\nto Josiah first, that the money was collected, material paid for and\nworkmen satisfied; then, that the King's orders regarding the repairs\nof the Temple had been faithfully carried out; finally, that Hilkiah\nhad discovered a book and that he had delivered it to him. The king,\nhaving heard the whole story of the discovery, ordered Shaphan to read\nthe book to him, aloud.\n\nWhat Shaphan read amazed Josiah and the few advisers whom he had\ncalled in to listen to the reading. Everything in it seemed to be the\nexact opposite of conditions as they existed in Judah. The laws for\nsacrifices and ceremonies in the Temple; the statutes regarding the\npriesthood in the Temple; the observances of the holidays; the\ncommandments regarding duties of officers of the law and the\nadministration of justice; the humane laws between man and man, all\nwere different from, actually opposed to, the practice of priest,\njudge and people in Josiah's entire kingdom.\n\nDuring the reading of the book Josiah recognized how little real\nheadway his reforms thus far had made. When he heard Shaphan read:\n\n   \"The judges shall judge the people with righteous judgment.\n    Thou shalt not pervert justice; thou shalt not respect\n    persons; neither shalt thou take a bribe, for a bribe\n    blindeth the eyes of the wise and perverteth the words of\n    the righteous. Justice and only justice shalt thou follow,\n    that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord\n    thy God giveth thee\",\n\nhe understood how far from this ideal his people had strayed.\n\nWhen he heard the great declaration of God's unity,\n\n   \"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and\n    thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with\n    all thy soul, with all thy might\",\n\nhe understood how little he had accomplished throughout his reign, in\nattempted suppression of the worship of many gods.\n\nWhen he heard the scribe read aloud that it is God's will to be\nworshiped only in that \"place which the Lord your God shall choose out\nof all your tribes to put His name there,\" he determined, more than\never before, to pull down every shrine and pagan sanctuary and to\ncenter the worship of the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem alone.\n\nAt the end of the book, Shaphan read a series of wonderful blessings\nthat were promised king and people, if they would live in accordance\nwith the commandments contained in the Book of the Law--and Josiah saw\nvisions of peace and prosperity for his kingdom. But the reading of\nthe last lines cast a heavy gloom upon the little party, for the book\nconcluded with the enumeration of a series of evils upon evils that\nwould surely befall king and people should they not live in accordance\nwith these commandments:\n\n   \"All these curses shall come upon thee and follow thee and\n    overtake thee until thou art destroyed, because thou hast\n    not hearkened unto the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments\n    and His statutes which He commanded thee.\"\n\nUpon hearing this very dramatic conclusion, Josiah came down from his\nthrone and bowed himself to the ground. He rent his clothes and wept\naloud, as if he were mourning for one who had died and whom he had\nloved best of all in the world.\n\nThen, restraining himself and collecting all his strength, he turned\nto Shaphan and Hilkiah and the others, who had been listening to the\nreading, and said:\n\n   \"Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are\n    left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book\n    that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is\n    poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the\n    word of the Lord, to do according unto all that is written\n    in this book.\"\n\nLeaving the King's presence, Hilkiah and his companions held a short\ncouncil to determine what to do next. The Book of the Law was so\nextraordinary that they needed the wisdom of some sage to explain to\nthem how to proceed.\n\nThose of the Prophetic Party understood well enough what this book\nwas. They considered that it was a copy of the law which Moses was\nordered to \"put by the side of the Ark\" and which Solomon probably\nplaced in the corner-stone of the Temple when he built it. They who\nhad been trained by the descendants of the little party of faithful\nJudeans whom Isaiah had gathered about him, knew that this law had\nbeen continually violated since the days of Hezekiah and practically\nforgotten. Therefore they wanted someone who was an authority, one who\nwould be trusted by all the people, to interpret this book and to\ndeclare it to be the genuine Law of Moses.\n\nFirst, someone suggested that Jeremiah be called in to interpret the\nbook, but Hilkiah objected on the ground that Jeremiah was still a\nyoung man and that his opinion probably would not be heeded by all the\npeople. Shaphan then suggested that the book be taken to Huldah, the\nProphetess, a wise and aged mother in Israel, then living in\nJerusalem.\n\nThis suggestion was agreeable to all. With Hilkiah as leader of the\ndelegation, they came to Huldah, bringing the request from the King.\nHer face lighted up benignly when she had read the book, but when she\nthought of the reply she had to send back, her brows knitted and\nwrinkles of care and pain showed in her face. Returning the scroll to\nShaphan, Huldah said:\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Tell ye the man\n    that sent you unto me: Thus saith the Lord, 'Behold, I will\n    bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof,\n    even all the curses that are written in the book which they\n    have read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken\n    me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might\n    provoke me to anger with all the works of their bands;\n    therefore is my wrath poured out upon this place and it shall\n    not be quenched.'\n\n   \"But unto the King of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the\n    Lord, thus shall ye say to him: 'Thus saith the Lord, the\n    God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard,\n    because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself\n    before God, when thou heardest his words against this place\n    and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself\n    before me and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also\n    have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee\n    to thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in\n    peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will\n    bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof.'\"\n\nThe good prophetess knew that what happens to individuals must happen\nto whole nations. Here was a people that had been adding evil to evil\nand transgression to transgression for many generations. Just as a\nperson who keeps on sinning and sinning, without reforming in his\nheart and in his deeds, arrives at a time when, no matter how anxious\nhe is to turn from his evil ways, it is too late and he must finally\npay the penalty for his misspent life, so this nation of Judah, into\nthe very heart of which the cancer of wrongdoing had long been eating,\ncould not, at this late date, escape its final destruction.\n\nBut it is different, as the Prophetess Huldah expressed it, with\nindividuals who turn from their evil paths while they are young, or who,\nlike Josiah, attempt to do the right thing in the very midst of evil.\n\nTherefore, she could send back the message to the king, that he,\nbecause of the tenderness of his heart, because of his humility before\nGod, because of his unquestioned effort to act in accordance with\nGod's commandments, would return unto the God who sent him here before\nthe evil days were to come upon the land, before the doom that awaited\nhis people would encompass them.\n\nThe king had been anxiously awaiting the return of his messengers,\nwhen they arrived at the palace from the house of the Prophetess. They\nwere quickly ushered into the throne room.\n\nIt was with great hesitation that Hilkiah finally made up his mind to\nreport the words of the prophetess, exactly as she had spoken them.\nWhen the priest had finished, a deep, deathlike silence hung over the\nroom, as if some catastrophe were impending.\n\nJosiah turned away from the little group, rested his arm heavily upon\nthe throne and leaned his head upon it. Hilkiah, Shaphan and the\nothers saw and felt the emotion that surged through the young king and\ncaused his whole frame to tremble. A soft, gentle sound escaped him,\nas if he were weeping.\n\nSuddenly, however, Josiah's attitude changed. He ran the back of his\nhand over his eyes, straightened up and faced his friends. He was calm,\ncomposed, determined. He had concluded that he, himself, was the least\nto be considered in this matter. He needed advice from more older and\nmore experienced men. Consequently, before the counselors present left\nhim, Josiah ordered Shaphan to call an assembly of the elders of the\nentire people to meet in Jerusalem before the coming Passover.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VI.\n\n                        _A New Covenant._\n\n\nJosiah was determined not to give up so easily. He would not admit to\nhimself that his country and his people were beyond hope. He figured\nthat perhaps the prophetess had exaggerated purposely in order to\nrecall the people to their duty to their God and to the country, more\nquickly and more conscientiously.\n\nHe was not at all happy over the fact that he himself would escape the\nthreatened destruction of his people. What he wanted was to discover\nsome possible way, and to make every attempt, to save all his people.\n\nAt the council of the Elders, as a first step, he suggested that the\ncoming Passover be celebrated faithfully in accordance with the\ncommandments in the rediscovered law book.\n\nMessengers were therefore sent throughout Judah, and even up into\nIsrael, to announce a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the celebration of\nthe Passover, by order of the king and the Elders.\n\nGreat and happy throngs came to the Capital for the festival. It was a\nmultitude of people far different in mien and behavior from that same\nmultitude that had rushed to the protection of the fortified city when\nthe Scythian invaders had threatened the country a few years before.\n\nNow, when the Passover eve, that is the fourteenth day of the first\nmonth, was at hand, it was found that the great majority of the people\ndid not bring with them the prescribed sacrifices, either because they\ndid not know of the custom or because they were too poor.\n\nSuch a condition, however, did not dismay Josiah and his officers. He,\nhimself, out of his own treasury, distributed the means for making the\nsacrifices to over thirty-three thousand people. Hilkiah and the heads\nof the Temple service, out of their own means, did the same for the\nPriests and the Levites. So that everyone present in Jerusalem that\nday observed the Passover properly and happily.\n\nOn the following morning, that is, on the first day of the festival,\nan assembly of all the people present, both great and small, was\ncalled in the Temple courts.\n\nThe King and his advisers sat on a platform especially erected for the\npurpose. When order was secured, the King arose and stood in his place\nand \"read of the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in\nthe House of God, before all the people.\"\n\nThe impression made upon the assembly was wonderful. As Josiah\nproceeded with his reading the murmurs and low exclamations of\nsurprise changed into a deep and impressive silence that was not\nbroken even when the King had finished and had laid aside the Book of\nthe Law.\n\nReverently and with bowed head, Josiah raised a prayer unto God:\n\n   \"Look down from Thy holy habitation, from heaven, O Lord,\n    and bless Thy people Israel.\"\n\nAnd with one voice the whole assembly answered, softly:\n\n   \"Amen, Oh Lord, Amen.\"\n\nThen Josiah addressed the people. He pleaded with all the fervor and\nsincerity of his soul for them to re-establish, on that day, the\nancient covenant between them and their God. This they did with a\ngreat shout of acclamation. Josiah continued:\n\n   \"This day the Lord thy God commandeth thee to do these\n    statutes and ordinances; thou shalt therefore keep and do\n    them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast\n    avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and that thou\n    wouldest walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his\n    commandments, and his ordinances, and hearken unto his voice;\n    and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be a people for\n    his own possession, as he hath promised thee, and that thou\n    shouldest keep all his commandments; and to make thee high\n    above all nations that he hath made in praise, and in name,\n    and in honor; and that thou mayest be a holy people unto\n    the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.\"\n\nWhen the King had finished and sat down, a great murmur welled up\nfrom the assembled people, until it grew into one great shout from\nthe multitude:\n\n   \"We have heard and shall do accordingly.\"\n\nThus the people of Judah and Israel once more took upon themselves the\nduty and burden to be a holy people unto the Lord their God, as they\nhad done at Sinai in the days of Moses.\n\nThere was one man in the assembly, however, who not entirely carried\naway by the enthusiasm of the moment. It was Jeremiah. He knew well\nenough how a people, excited by a new and novel situation, would make\npromises which perhaps later they would be disinclined to keep. The\nmere acceptance of the covenant did not already mean the carrying out\nof its statutes in their daily life.\n\nTherefore, Jeremiah arose in the midst of the assembly, and, before\nthe people were dispersed, struck one note of warning:\n\n   \"Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this\n    covenant, which I commanded your fathers in the day that I\n    brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron\n    furnace, saying, 'Obey my voice, and do them according to\n    all which I command you; so shall ye be my people, and I\n    will be your God; that I may establish the oath which I sware\n    unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and\n    honey, as at this day.'\"\n\nIn conclusion, Jeremiah bowed his head and expressed the hope of the\nrealization of the new covenant with the words:\n\n   \"Amen, Oh Lord.\"\n\nAnd all the assembly once more responded:\n\n   \"Amen, Oh Lord.\"\n\nGreat feasting and rejoicing throughout the entire city by all the\npeople followed during the whole festival. It was the greatest\nPassover in the history of Judah and Jerusalem, and of it is recorded:\n\n   \"And the children of Israel that were present kept the\n    Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread\n    seven days. And there was no Passover like to that kept in\n    Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any\n    of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept,\n    and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel\n    that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the\n    eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept.\"\n\nWhen the festival and the celebration were over, the spirit thereof\ndid not die with the departure of the people from Jerusalem to their\nhomes in all parts of the country. Josiah went to work in earnest to\naccomplish his share of the keeping of the new covenant. He dismissed\nevery idolatrous priest in the land and destroyed every vestige of\ntheir worship in Jerusalem, in every town and village and on every\nhigh place.\n\nUp in Israel he carried on this work under his personal direction, and\nat Bethel, with his own hands, he destroyed the altar erected by\nJereboam I. at the time of the division of the kingdom.\n\nIt was while in northern Israel, where he ordered the dead bones of\nthe idolatrous priests to be burned upon the very altars at which they\nworshiped, that Josiah espied two sepulchers, of a type that he had\nnot met before. They were so unlike the sepulchers of the idolators\nthat he marked them especially and talked about them. One of the\nmonuments, he was told, \"is the sepulcher of the Man of God who came\nfrom Judah and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the\naltar at Bethel;\" and when he found that the other ancient monument\nwas the last bed on earth of \"the Prophet that came out of Samaria,\"\nhe ordered that neither one should be touched. The memory of those\nearly prophets was sacred and hallowed to the king.\n\nWithin a few years, all this work undertaken by Josiah was accomplished.\nGenuine love of God and genuine living in accordance with His\ncommandments seemed to have been restored everywhere among the people.\nIn addition, the political changes that were taking place in Assyria,\nBabylonia and Egypt, left Josiah entirely at peace to work out the\ndestiny of his own people and kingdom.\n\nIn the year 608, however, in the thirty-ninth year of Josiah's reign,\nhe entered upon a political campaign that proved to be the first and\ngreatest mistake of his life and resulted not alone in his death, but\nin a great religious and moral decline that eventually led to the\ndestruction of Jerusalem and Judah.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VII.\n\n                       _To the Fore Again._\n\n\nThe mystery of the Scythian invasion of Asia has not yet been clearly\nsolved. The results of that invasion, however, shook thrones and shattered\nkingdoms and changed the face of the then known civilized world.\n\nAssyria was the greatest sufferer, for the Scythian ravages had so\nweakened the great empire that it never recovered. Incidentally, this\nsame cause reawakened the spirit of conquest in the Medes, led to the\nre-establishment of the independent Babylonian kingdom and brought\nabout, indirectly and unnecessarily, the death of the good King Josiah.\n\nDuring the last years of Ashurbanipal's long and brilliant reign over\nAssyria, the Medes, under their king, Phraortes, turned the tables on\nAssyria and invaded the empire. Ashurbanipal's army defeated the\nambitious Mede and drove him back into his own territory. But his son\nand successor, Cyaxerxes, having made certain changes in the\norganization of the Median army, again invaded Assyria and actually\nbesieged Nineveh.\n\nAt the same time the Scythians began to swarm over Media, and\nCyaxerxes was forced to return to his own country and defend it.\n\nCyaxerxes, being a wise as well as a great king, managed to buy off\nthe barbarian Scythians and later actually trained them for service in\nhis army, both as teachers of archery and as mercenaries.\n\nIn the meantime, the Assyrian successor of Ashurbanipal made the\nmistake that cost him his life and his empire. He appointed\nNabopolassar, a Chaldean of ancient lineage and of enthusiastic\npatriotism for his age-old country. Nabopolassar immediately entered\ninto an alliance with Cyaxerxes that had for its purpose the overthrow\nof Nineveh and the establishment of Babylonia as an independent state.\n\nNabopolassar declared himself king of Babylonia, to the great dismay\nof the Assyrian court. To seal his alliance with the Medes, a marriage\nwas arranged between Amytis, Cyaxerxes' daughter, and Nebuchadrezzar,\nhis son and Crown Prince.\n\nNineveh was attacked at the same time by the Babylonians and Medians\nin the year 608. The great capital was besieged for two years. So\nfierce was the vengeance wrought upon the city and its inhabitants by\nthe united armies that when the capture was finally made both were\ncompletely blotted out. For many centuries not even the location of\nNineveh could be found.\n\nThis occurred in the year 606. The end of Nineveh brought to a close\nthe history of the great Assyrian power that had ruled so masterfully\nover the then known entire world. It also brought about a situation\nthat had its direct effect upon the beginning of the end of the\nKingdom of Judah.\n\nIn Egypt history was in the making. Psammetich I, a Libyan soldier,\nrecognizing in the crumbling of Assyrian power his own opportunity,\nmade himself master of the country and established a new dynasty in\nEgypt. His son and successor, Pharaoh Necho, grasped the chance given\nhim by Nabopolassar's attack on Nineveh to win back the provinces\nalong the Mediterranean, that had been Egyptian before they were\nconquered by Assyria.\n\nWithout further ado, therefore, Necho, with a great army, started\nnorth, to conquer all of Assyria that he could and add it to his own\nEmpire. This meant an invasion of Judah.\n\nKing Josiah was by no means ready to sit still and fall helplessly\nfrom the frying pan into the fire, as it were. Once entirely free from\nAssyria, he intended to maintain his independence. At least, he was\nnot going to allow Pharaoh Necho to slip the noose around his neck\nwithout a struggle. Josiah, therefore, organized his armies and went\nout to meet Necho. This was when the campaign against Nineveh began.\n\nTo the Pharaoh's great surprise, when he reached the plain of Megiddo,\nhe was confronted by Josiah. Necho sent him word that he had no\nquarrel with Judah whatever; but Josiah could see nothing in the\nfuture but the sovereignty of Egypt over his dominions and was\ndetermined to retain his independence at all costs. So, the war was on.\n\nIt did not last long, however. It seems that not even a single pitched\nbattle was fought. Josiah was picked off by a Libyan archer in the very\nfirst skirmish and wounded mortally, to the dismay of his entire army.\n\nHis old and devoted servant, Ebed-melech, was with the king in his\nchariot. The faithful Ethiopian carried the wounded Josiah from the\nroyal chariot to another one. Protected by a detachment of the body\nguard, as if in mockery, Josiah was taken back to Jerusalem, dying.\nBefore he reached the capital he was dead, and Necho declared himself\nmaster over Judah without the least resistance. He made it, at once,\nan Egyptian province.\n\nThe mourning for the dead King in Jerusalem and Judah was sincere and\nwidespread. It is recorded that many odes by the poets and musicians\nof that day were written in his memory and that Jeremiah lamented for\nhis friend in accents more woeful than did David for Jonathan. Ebed-melech\nhung around the sepulcher of his beloved master for many days. It was\nmonths before he returned to the palace to resume his duties.\n\n   \"Like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to\n    the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with\n    all his might, according to the law of Moses; neither after\n    him arose there any like him.\"\n\nTo indicate the force and power of Josiah's life with the people of\nJudah, and the genuine value in their own lives of the late king's\nreforms, the people at large passed over Eliakim, Josiah's eldest son,\nand raised his second son, Jehoahaz, to the throne of Judah.\n\nEliakim was a weakling, who loved ease and luxury above everything\nelse. The people feared that he would not continue the life and work\nof his father. Jehoahaz, on the other hand, was a true son of his\nfather, and would have made a splendid successor to the throne of\nJosiah, had not Pharaoh Necho interfered with the will of the people\nof Judah.\n\nIn the third month of the young king's reign (he was only twenty-three\nyears old) Necho ordered him to appear before him at Riblah, on the\nOrontes. Arrived there, Jehoahaz was immediately thrown into chains\nand sent a prisoner to Egypt.\n\nNecho then proclaimed Eliakim King of Judah and to show his complete\nmastery over king, land and people, he changed Eliakim's name to\nJehoiakim.\n\nThe mourning in Jerusalem and Judah was now twofold. The people wept\nfor their beloved king who was dead and for his beloved son who was a\nprisoner beyond hope.\n\nA few men like Hilkiah and Jeremiah, and the others of the Prophetic\nParty, saw in Jehoahaz's successor the coming of more evil days for\nJudah. To those who hoped that there might again be a political change\nand that Jehoahaz would return from Egypt, to reign in his father's\nstead, Jeremiah held out no hope:\n\n   \"Weep not for him who is dead, nor wail for him; weep rather\n    for him who is gone, for he shall not return, and never again\n    shall he see the land of his birth. For thus saith the Lord,\n    concerning Shallum (Jehoahaz), the son of Josiah, who was\n    king instead of Josiah his father, who went forth from this\n    place: 'He shall not return thither again, but in the place\n    whither they have led him away captive he shall die, and this\n    land shall not see him again.'\"\n\nSoon after Jehoiakim came to the throne, word came from Egypt that\nJehoahaz had died. It was then that Jeremiah, who with Shaphan and\nHilkiah had quietly aided the king in his policy of reform, but had\nretired to his home in Anathoth when these reforms began to bear\nfruit, heard again the call to go out and prophesy to the people of\nJudah. Danger was threatening from the throne and this danger brought\nJeremiah out of his seclusion, to the fore again.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER VIII.\n\n                     _The Shadow of a King._\n\n\nPharaoh Necho's ambitions were short-lived.\n\nThe child's-play conquest of Judah was not to be repeated in dealing\nwith the conquerors of Nineveh.\n\nNebuchadrezzar really had no thought of extending the sway of his\nreborn Babylonia to Egypt; but he would not countenance for a moment\nNecho's encroachment upon Assyrian territory.\n\nIn dividing up the Assyrian Empire, Cyaxerxes was perfectly satisfied\nwith the absolute independence of Media and such Assyrian possessions\nas adjoined his country. The rest, to the west and south, including\nancient Syria and Judah, was apportioned to his son-in-law. There was\nno quarrel about the division.\n\nSyria and Judah being his, Nebuchadrezzar swore by all his gods that\nNecho should be made to suffer for his audacity.\n\nNecho encamped at Riblah, after the victory over Josiah. Riblah,\nsituated in the broad valley between the Lebanon and Hermon ranges,\nwas destined to be the scene of several tragedies in Judean history.\nIt was here that Necho awaited the outcome of the struggle at Nineveh.\n\nHe did not have long to wait. Nineveh gasped her last in the year 606.\nNebuchadrezzar left his father-in-law to complete the destruction of\nthe glory of Assyria, and, flushed with victory, marched at once\nagainst the Egyptian invader.\n\nNecho was prepared for this. He broke camp at Riblah and proceeded to\nmeet Nebuchadrezzar. The Babylonian and Egyptian armies faced each\nother at Carchemish by the Euphrates, in 605; and the result once more\ncast Judah into the political balance.\n\nIn the meantime, Jeremiah was forced back to his labors by the\nconditions at Jerusalem. Necho knew what he wanted when he substituted\nJehoiakim for Jehoahaz on the throne of Judah. Jehoiakim was weak,\npliable, incapable of big things. Jeremiah knew that, too. Therefore,\nhe had to go to work again.\n\nJeremiah raised no false hopes, based on anything Jehoiakim would do\nfor himself or for Judah. Even while Josiah lived, the crown prince\nshowed the type of man he was. Instead of applying himself to the work\nof succeeding to the throne, he spent his time in riotous pleasure,\nand his father's money in lavish extravagance.\n\nAs crown prince, he built himself a sumptuous new palace. Unlike\nJosiah, when the Temple was repaired, Jehoiakim did not pay fair\nwages, and oppressed his artisans and mechanics. When he sat in\njudgment, he did not judge righteously.\n\nTherefore, at Josiah's unexpected death, Jeremiah approved the action\nof the people in raising the unfortunate Jehoahaz to the throne.\nNecho's substitution of Jehoiakim filled the prophet with alarm. The\nhappy years of Josiah's reign vanished like a mist; and, with a heart\nthat was heavy-laden, Jeremiah left Anathoth, where he had been living\nquietly with his relatives and friends, and went down to the turmoil\nin Jerusalem.\n\nSatisfying himself that he had not exaggerated the situation in the\ncapital, and, seeing now that the calamity of Josiah's death was more\nfar-reaching than he had at first supposed, Jeremiah addressed himself\nto Jehoiakim with the following warning:\n\n   \"Woe to him who buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his\n        chambers by injustice;\n    Who causeth his neighbor to labor without wages, and giveth him\n        not his pay;\n    Who saith, 'I will build me a vast palace with spacious chambers;\n    Provided with deep-cut windows, ceiled with cedar and painted\n        with vermillion.'\n    Dost thou call thyself king because thou excellest in cedar?\n    Thy father--did he not eat and drink and execute law and justice?\n    He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well.\n    'Was not this to know me?' saith the Lord.\n    But thine eyes and heart are bent only on thy dishonest gain,\n    And on the shedding of innocent blood and on oppression\n        and violence!\"\n\nNor did Jeremiah hesitate to point out that such a state of affairs\ncould not exist long and that such a king could not reign long over\nIsrael.\n\nHe even foretold the fate of Jehoiakim. He knew that the political\nsituation, as it would develop when Nineveh was conquered, would once\nmore embroil Judah. Jehoiakim, he was sure, could not stand the test.\n\nTherefore, he could see nothing but the fall and untimely death of\nJehoiakim, and he added, \"They shall not lament over him, saying one\nto another, 'Oh, my brother!' or 'Oh, my sister!' They shall not wail\nfor him, saying, 'Oh, Lord!' or 'Oh, his glory!' but shall be glad\nwhen he is 'buried as an ass is buried, drawn out and cast forth.'\"\n\nOn that very day came the news of the Battle of Carchemish. It was one\nof the epoch-making struggles of ancient history. Victory perched\nproudly on the banner of Nebuchadrezzar and Necho was utterly routed,\nfleeing toward Egypt, the Babylonians in hot pursuit.\n\nWithin that very year all signs of Egyptian rule in Syria and\nPalestine were wiped out. \"The king of Babylon had taken from the\nbrook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king\nof Egypt.\" Judah became a Babylonian province and Jehoiakim but the\nshadow of a king.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER IX.\n\n                    _The Temple of the Lord._\n\n\nNebuchadrezzar had taken up his headquarters where Pharaoh-Necho had\nencamped at Riblah, and there received the homage of the little Syrian\nand Palestinian states that he had wrested from Egypt.\n\nTo Jeremiah's great surprise, Jehoiakim sent a secret embassy to\nNebuchadrezzar vowing allegiance to Babylon.\n\nJehoiakim's submission pleased Jeremiah. He saw in it a splendid\nopportunity for Judah. All that was needed now was to keep the people\nin the path of right. Their future, he felt, could be worked out well\nenough as long as the country was at peace, free from the ravages of\nwar.\n\nBut here Jeremiah was met by a new difficulty. Josiah's reformation,\nfollowed by his death and the quick changes in the country's political\nfortunes, had not worked out very satisfactorily. People began to\ndoubt the wisdom of the whole proceeding.\n\nIn the first place, some said that God was displeased at Josiah's\noverriding the traditional forms of worship. The opportunity for God\nto show that displeasure was at Megiddo, and, therefore, Josiah lost\nhis life there. All the people, it was plain, had not yet arrived at\nthe conception of God held by a Jeremiah or Josiah.\n\nAgain, there were others who fell back into the old reasoning that the\ngods of the other nations were mightier than Judah's God, and,\ntherefore, they fell back into the old idolatrous ways. They were\nmerely awaiting the opportunity to worship the other gods publicly as\nsome of them were already doing privately.\n\nThen, again, there were many who believed that the new Book of the Law\nand the new order of things prohibiting sacrifices in any place except\nthe Temple in Jerusalem, did not permit of enough sacrificing to God,\nand, therefore, was He again visiting the land with the rod of Egypt\nand Babylonia.\n\nAnd, opposing all these, Jeremiah and his followers were positive in\ntheir hearts and souls that sacrifices were by no means the all-important\nfeature of the worship of God, but, as Jeremiah had reminded the\npeople on the day of the Great Passover, God asked them only to obey\nHis voice and to live in accordance with the moral law that He had\ncommanded them.\n\n   \"So shall ye be my people, and I will be your God; that I\n    may establish the oath which I sware unto your fathers, to\n    give them a land flowing with milk and honey.\"\n\nKing Jehoiakim had no interest whatever in these differing religious\nopinions among the people.\n\nAs long as he could pay his tribute to Nebuchadrezzar and live\nluxuriously and voluptuously in his newly built palace, he cared not\nfurther. Religiously and morally he permitted things to take their own\ncourse, as if morals and religion had no part to play in the strength\nand safety of his people and in their national welfare.\n\nJeremiah was now convinced that it was his duty once more to take up\nthe brave fight for God and His law. The opportunity came during the\nFeast of the Ingathering, in the year 604.\n\nMany thousands had come from all parts of the country to Jerusalem to\ncelebrate the festival. All brought with them many heads of cattle and\nbags of grain and flour for the prescribed sacrifices.\n\nThey were a happy company. When the Temple came into view, rising\nmajestically in the distance, they shouted to each other, \"The Temple\nof the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!\" out of sheer joy in beholding\nthe sacred structure that meant so much to them.\n\n\"The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!\" they cried, and\npointed to the magnificent edifice which some of them had never\nseen before.\n\nJeremiah listened to these joyous shouts and observed sorrowfully the\nself-satisfaction of those who had come to offer their sacrifices. He\nwas much alone these days. His parents had been dead some years and a\nnew Priest was in charge of the Temple. Shaphan and all Josiah's old\ncounsellors were either gone to their reward or had been dismissed\nfrom service by Jehoiakim. Shaphan's two sons, Ahikam and Gemariah,\nwere indeed high in the counsels of the king, but they bothered little\nabout Jeremiah and his teachings.\n\nSo Jeremiah stood alone, on the first day of the festival, at the\nTemple gates. A multitude of people passed him, taking their turn at\nbringing their offerings. From within the Temple he heard the sounds\nof cattle being slaughtered and smelt the odor of burning flesh. The\nnoise deafened him; the odors choked him. Here were king, priest and\npeople leading unrighteous lives and believing that this wholesale\nslaughtering and burning was what God demanded of them! Here were\nelaborate form and ritual, but no justice and love!\n\nJeremiah fairly gasped for breath when the full meaning of this came\nto him. Turning upon a great crowd that was jammed at the gates,\nwaiting their turn to enter the Temple, he cried:\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:\n\n   \"'Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye\n    flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them\n    in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,\n    concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices.\n\n   \"'But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken unto my\n    voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people;\n    and walk ye in all the way that I command you that it may\n    be well with you.\n\n   \"'Yet they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked\n    in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil\n    heart. This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the\n    voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction. Truth\n    is perished and is cut off from their mouth.'\"\n\nWhat an amazing outburst! God did not command them concerning\nburnt-offerings and sacrifices! The man is ridiculous!\n\nReligious discussions and controversies had often taken place in the\nTemple courts. Here was the Forum of the People, in fact, and several\nmen who had often proclaimed themselves as prophets, speaking the word\nof God, joined issue with Jeremiah, whom they now recognized.\n\n\"Here is the Temple--the Temple of the Lord,\" they exclaimed. \"What\nwas it built for, if not for sacrifices?\" they wanted to know. \"What\nother way is there for men to worship God than to bring their\nofferings to him?\"\n\nJeremiah replied that sacrifices were instituted by men, by the\npriesthood, not by God, and continued, making plain once for all his\nunderstanding of the way God wanted men to show their religion:\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your\n    ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this\n    place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, 'The Temple of\n    the Lord! The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!\n\n   \"'For, if you really amend your ways and your deeds, if ye\n    faithfully execute justice between a man and his neighbor,\n    if ye oppress not the resident alien, the fatherless and\n    the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and\n    do not go after other gods to your hurt; then I will cause\n    you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your\n    fathers, forever and ever.'\"\n\nHere was a very amazing accusation! What does he mean by saying that\nthe people are trusting in \"lying words?\" Jeremiah insisted:\n\n   \"But now ye _are_ trusting in lying words that cannot profit.\"\n\nThen he hastened to explain fully and without reserve:\n\n   \"Will ye steal, murder and commit adultery; swear falsely\n    and offer sacrifices to Baal, and go after other gods whom\n    ye have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this\n    House which is called after My name and say 'We are free to\n    do all these abominations?'\n\n   \"Is this, My house, which is called by my name, a den of\n    robbers in your eyes?\n\n   \"Behold: I, indeed, have seen it, saith the Lord.\"\n\nThe crowds stood there, mouths agape. They had never heard anything so\noutspoken and fearless before. Several so-called prophets were\nprepared to go on with the argument, but a number of assistant\npriests, who were marshalling the people with their sacrificial\nofferings into the Temple in proper order and to their appointed\nplaces, put a halt to the debate.\n\nWord had come from the interior of the Temple that the chief priests\nwere waiting for the sacrifices. The assistants wanted the people to\nmove on. So it was arranged that, on the day following, Jeremiah\nshould meet a chosen few of the Jerusalem prophets to discuss their\ndifferences of opinion publicly, in the Temple courts.\n\nJeremiah's acceptance of this challenge nearly cost him his life.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER X.\n\n                        _A Narrow Escape._\n\n\nThe issue was squarely drawn.\n\nEither the Temple Prophets were the true spokesmen of the God of Judah\nand Jeremiah was an impostor, or Jeremiah spoke the truth that had\nbeen \"cut off from their mouth\" and the Temple Prophets were feeding\nthe people on \"lying words.\"\n\nA great concourse of citizens of Jerusalem and pilgrims to the city\ngathered for the debate. Jeremiah, much older looking than his years,\nwas the center of attraction. He was tall and erect. His face was\nsomewhat drawn and showed wrinkles of worriment. He was dressed in an\nunadorned brown mantle that singled him out among the holiday-attired\npriests and prophets with whom he was conversing.\n\nEvidently this was to be a friendly argument, without ill-feeling on\neither side.\n\nJeremiah was the first to speak. As soon as he began it was plain to\nbe seen that his worry was not fear of the arguments with which his\nopponents were about to attack him, but that it was deeper-seated. He\nstarted by informing his hearers that he was well acquainted with the\nthings that were being preached in Jerusalem as the word of God.\n\n   \"I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright. No man\n    repenteth him of his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?'\n    Everyone turneth to his course as a horse that rusheth\n    headlong into battle.\n\n   \"Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed time;\n    the turtle dove and the swallow and the crane observe the\n    time of their coming; but my people know not the law of\n    the Lord.\"\n\n\"Is that so?\" queried one of the Jerusalem prophets, with a sneer. In\nhis reply, he pointed out that both the laws of the religion and the\nlaws of the State were known to the priests and prophets, in whose\ncharge were the Temple and the government, and were obeyed by them and\nthe people. With sweeping gestures he emphasized the prosperity of the\npeople and the peace of the country. \"Thou art the disturber of the\npeace,\" he concluded hotly. \"Leave the Temple and the State to the\nwise men, the scribes, the priests and prophets in Jerusalem, and all\nwill be well.\"\n\n\"The same kind of argument,\" thought Jeremiah, as he listened\nattentively to the speaker. \"They always fail to grasp the vital\nthings that God demands of them.\" In his rejoinder, therefore,\nJeremiah came back forcibly:\n\n   \"How do ye say, 'We are wise and the law of the Lord is with\n    us!' But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath made\n    falsehood of it. The wise men are put to shame. Lo, they\n    have rejected the word of the Lord.\n\n   \"And what manner of wisdom is in them? Every one, from the\n    least even unto the greatest, is given to covetousness; from\n    the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.\n\n   \"And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people\n    slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.\"\n\nInstantly there came to Jeremiah's mind the story of the Kingdom of\nIsrael with its deceitful priests and false prophets, who, at Bethel\nand Shiloh, taught and preached untruths about God--and the sad end of\nthem all. They, too, had thought everything was well with them and\ntheir sanctuary and the peace of the land. So Jeremiah continued:\n\n   \"Then go now to my sanctuary which is in Shiloh, where I\n    caused my name to dwell at first and see what I did to it\n    because of the wickedness of my people Israel.\n\n   \"And now because ye have done all these deeds, and although\n    I spoke to you insistently, ye have not heeded, and although\n    I called you, ye have not answered, therefore I will do to\n    the house, which ye call by My name, in which ye trust, and\n    to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I\n    did to Shiloh.\"\n\nThis speech started several commotions in different parts of the\ncrowd. From the extreme edge, to the right of the speakers, one man\nbegan to come forward, shouting:\n\n\"Blasphemy!\"\n\nThe cry was taken up all around him. From various directions men,\nthrowing their arms in the air and yelling at the top of their voices,\nmade their way with difficulty toward the speakers, crying:\n\n\"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!!\"\n\nJeremiah, at first, could not understand the commotion. What had he\nsaid, what had he done, that was blasphemous? Then, as the cry became\ngeneral and the surging mob became threatening, the thought came to\nhim that the people had been taught by the priests and prophets in\nJerusalem that the Temple was inviolable, that no matter what the\npolitical fortunes of Judah might be, God would never permit \"the\nHouse which is called by His name\" to be destroyed.\n\nNow Jeremiah understood and he was helpless. His simile of the\nsanctuary at Shiloh suggested the destruction and ruin of the Temple\nin Jerusalem--and that was blasphemy.\n\nHe did not know, however, that his opponents had purposely planted men\nin various sections of the assembly to wait and watch for any\nblasphemous hint in his argument and to raise the cry against him.\n\n\"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!\" The cry was now general. And the leader who\nstarted it, when he came within reach of Jeremiah, grasped his mantle\nand shouted:\n\n\"You must die!\"\n\nThe Temple guard rushed to the prophet's assistance. Blasphemy was\npunishable by death, but the punishment must come in the regular,\nlegal way and not by the hands of the mob.\n\nUnder protection of the guard, therefore, Jeremiah was led to the new\ngate, built by King Josiah, where the princes sat as judges. At his\nheels was the threatening, gesticulating crowd, goaded on by\nJeremiah's enemies, demanding his life.\n\nThe trial was opened without delay. Here were thousands of witnesses\nwho had heard the man and there seemed little hope for him to escape\nbeing stoned to death. One of the prophets opened the case for the\nprosecution, addressing himself to the judges:\n\n   \"This man is worthy of death; for he hath prophesied against\n    this city in the name of God, saying, 'This house shall be\n    like Shiloh. This city shall be deserted, without an inhabitant.'\"\n\nTurning dramatically to the crowd, he swept his arm over their heads,\nadding for the purpose of affirmation:\n\n   \"As ye have heard with your ears.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye,\" many responded.\n\n\"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!\" shouted others.\n\nAnd still others demanded, \"He must die! He must die!\"\n\nWhen a semblance of quiet was restored, Jeremiah stepped forward from\nbetween the two guards who had him in charge, faced the accusing\npeople, and said, very calmly and humbly:\n\n   \"It was the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this Temple\n    and against this city all the words that you have heard.\"\n\n\"Bah!\" jeered the leaders of the opposition, and many took up the\nsignal and joined in the jeering. Jeremiah did not permit the jeers to\ninterrupt him:\n\n   \"Now therefore reform your ways and your acts and obey the\n    voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent of the\n    evil that he has pronounced upon you.\"\n\n\"Hear him! Hear him!\" arose from all directions. \"He blasphemes! He\nblasphemes!\" Jeremiah paid no attention to these outcries, but turned\nto the judges and concluded his defense:\n\n   \"But as for me, see, I am in your hand; do with me as\n    appears to you to be good and right.\n\n   \"Only be assured that, if you put me to death, you will\n    bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and\n    upon its inhabitants, for verily the Lord hath sent me to\n    you to speak all these things in your ears.\"\n\nJeremiah ceased. He walked back to his place between the two guards to\nawait his sentence. The mob was rather taken by surprise at the\nprisoner's defense. He made no arguments for release, no pleas for his\nlife, but stated his belief in his work and his faith in God, trusting\nfor the rest in the justness of his cause.\n\nFrom out among the princes arose Ahikam, the eldest son of Shaphan,\nwho was the Royal Scribe for Jehoiakim, as his father had been for\nJosiah. Ahikam and Jeremiah had been close friends as young men, even\nas their fathers had been all their lives. Recently, however, they had\nnot seen much of each other. Jeremiah was busy about his business and\nAhikam was permanently stationed in Jerusalem, at the palace.\n\nJeremiah hardly recognized Ahikam when he began to address the judges.\nHis interest in the speaker was greatly stirred, however, when he\nheard Ahikam say that he had no apology to offer for the position he\nwas taking, nor for his friendship and love for the man who was\naccused of the crime of blasphemy. He said that he believed that his\nand Jeremiah's fathers were of the greatest service to King Josiah in\nthe prosperity that attended his reign, and that, though the priests\nand prophets of Jerusalem might not understand it, Jeremiah wanted the\npeace and prosperity of the nation and of the capital, not their doom.\n\nThen, rising to a pitch of oratorical flight, he cried:\n\n   \"This man is not worthy of death, for he hath spoken to us\n    in the name of the Lord our God.\"\n\nUp jumped Pashhur, the chief officer of the Temple, and told the story\nof Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, who also had prophesied in the Temple\nin the name of God. Pashhur continued:\n\n   \"And he prophesied against the city and against this land\n    according to all the words of Jeremiah; and when Jehoiakim,\n    the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard\n    his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when\n    Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.\n\n   \"And Jehoiakim, the king, sent men into Egypt, and they\n    fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto\n    Jehoiakim, the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast\n    his dead body into the graves of the common people.\"\n\nBut Ahikam, who, like his father, was acquainted with the history of\nhis people, arose and answered Pashhur:\n\n   \"Micah the Moreshtite, prophesied in the days of Hezekiah,\n    king of Judah, and he spake to all the people of Judah,\n    saying, 'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: \"Zion shall be plowed\n    as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain\n    of the house as the high places of a forest.\"'\n\n   \"Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah put him to death?\n    Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord\n    so that the Lord repented him of the evil which he had\n    pronounced against them? But we are on the point of doing\n    great injustice to ourselves.\"\n\nTo the surprise of the priests and the prophets Ahikam's argument\nprevailed with the princes who sat in judgment, and with the people\nthemselves. They dispersed without further ado, but they continued\ndiscussing the situation among themselves.\n\nNo punishment was visited upon Jeremiah, but he had a narrow escape.\n\nJeremiah and Ahikam left the gate arm in arm. They were happy at the\nrenewal of their friendship, even if it took place in the shadow of\ndeath.\n\nAhikam warned his friend to be more careful, when they parted.\nJeremiah left him with much to think about. It was the first time that\nhe had been attacked and his life threatened. In addition, though\nJeremiah did not hear of it that day, Pashhur had sworn to corner\nJeremiah yet, so that he could not escape.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XI.\n\n                     _A Taste of Martyrdom._\n\n\nJeremiah returned home a very sad man, but not a wiser one from the\npoint of view of his safety. He kept much to himself in the city of\nAnathoth and devoted his time to teaching a group of young men with\nwhom he had surrounded himself.\n\nAmong them was Baruch, son of Neriah, of a distinguished Jerusalem\nfamily, whose members had always stood high in the counsels of the\nkings. Baruch was not only a disciple of Jeremiah, but also acted as\nhis secretary when writing was to be done.\n\nBaruch was intimate with Jeremiah's family in Anathoth, and he\ninformed Jeremiah that his cousins did not approve of his actions in\nthe Temple. They did not like the notoriety it brought them and hoped\nhe would hold his peace.\n\nThese cousins did not have the courage to speak their mind to Jeremiah\nface to face, and so he did not trouble about them, their likes or\ndislikes, their approval or disapproval. He had on his mind a very\ntroublesome problem when it began to be rumored that Jehoiakim was\nabout to re-introduce human sacrifices in Ge-Hinnom.\n\nGe-Hinnom was the \"valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry\nof the gate of potsherds, called Tophet.\" The southwestern gate of the\nCity of Jerusalem overlooked this valley where an altar had been\nerected for the atrocious Moloch-worship, but which was destroyed by\nJosiah during the Reformation.\n\nJeremiah had but to hear of the king's proposal to re-establish the\nMoloch-rites, to act.\n\nHe went to Jerusalem, despite the pleading of Baruch not to go,\ngathered a number of the Elders who had been his father's and Josiah's\nfriends and co-workers, and asked them to accompany him to Tophet.\n\nThey proceeded through the southwestern gate, \"the gate of the\nvalley,\" followed by a number of idlers, the curious who keep at a\ndistance to see what will happen.\n\nArrived at the ruins of the altar of Moloch, Jeremiah drew from under\nhis mantle a potter's earthen bottle, and, without giving a hint of\nwhat he was about to do, broke it on one of the altar stones. Turning\nto the Elders, he said:\n\n   \"Thus said the Lord of Hosts: 'Even so will I break this\n    people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel,\n    that cannot be made whole again.'\"\n\nThat was all! He had portrayed more vividly than he could ever have\ndone in a long speech what would be the consequences if the king\npersisted in bringing back the horrible worship of Moloch.\n\nReturning to the city, Jeremiah stopped at the Temple. He had not been\nin Jerusalem since he narrowly escaped stoning at the hands of the\nmob. As soon as he was recognized--and the word of his coming had been\nspread by the onlookers, who had returned from Tophet ahead of him--the\ncrowd gathered about him, anxious to hear what he would have to say.\n\nHe told them a story first. He had been down at a potter's house that\nmorning, watching the potter at work. The vessel the potter made\ndidn't suit him, so he destroyed it while the clay was yet soft and\npliable. Then he made another vessel out of that same clay, \"as seemed\ngood to the potter to make it.\" This story he followed up with a\npassionate plea to the people:\n\n   \"'O house of Israel cannot I do with you as this potter?'\n    saith the Lord. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand,\n    so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.'\n\n   \"'At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and\n    concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to\n    destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken,\n    turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I\n    thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak\n    concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and\n    to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that\n    they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good,\n    wherewith I said I would benefit them.'\n\n   \"'Now, therefore,' thus saith the Lord: 'Behold, I frame\n    evil against you, and devise a device against you. Return\n    ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and\n    your deeds.'\"\n\nSeveral of the Jerusalem prophets, upon Jeremiah's coming to the\nTemple, gathered quickly in Pashhur's chambers to talk the matter\nover. They had thought that the charge of blasphemy had frightened\nJeremiah so that he would not return; but here he was again, as\npersistent in his course as ever. Not one was willing to admit that\nthere was some truth in Jeremiah's pleadings and threats, but all of\nthem came to this conclusion:\n\n   \"Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law\n    shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise,\n    nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him\n    with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.\"\n\nPashhur listened to all their talk with amusemsnt. Jeremiah had been a\nnuisance around the Temple, of which he was chief officer, long\nenough. Here was his chance to fix him, he thought.\n\n\"Come, and let us smite him with the tongue?\" he asked, with a jeering\nlaugh. He told them that they were fools to argue with the pest. He\nwould show them how to deal with him.\n\nPashhur buckled up his mantle, gritting his teeth. He fairly ran to\nthe open place where Jeremiah was speaking. He burst through the crowd\nwith curses upon them all. Facing Jeremiah, he shouted:\n\n\"Thou--\" but his anger and hate overcame him. He almost foamed at the\nmouth with rage and could not speak a word.\n\nBefore Jeremiah understood what the matter was, Pashhur slapped him on\nboth cheeks with his hands. Then he struck him square on the jaw with\nhis right fist--and Jeremiah dropped to the slabbed marble of the\ncourtyard, where he had been standing.\n\nThe crowd was startled and amazed at what had happened. But Pashhur\ngave no opportunity for remonstrance. A number of the Temple guards,\nwho had come up with their chief, dispersed the people with curses and\nblows.\n\nPashhur stood over the prostrate body of Jeremiah, like the victor\nover his defeated adversary--waiting for him to show signs of rising\nthat he might strike him again. When Jeremiah regained consciousness,\nhowever, the brutal Pashhur had thought better of it. Another such\nblow and he would have killed the prophet--and Pashhur knew the law on\nshedding innocent blood.\n\nTherefore, when Jeremiah had fully recovered and had once more risen\nto his feet, Pashhur arrested him and had him led to the upper Temple\ngate, which is the gate of Benjamin. There he put him into the stocks\nwith his own hands.\n\nThat whole day and that whole night Jeremiah remained pilloried.\nHundreds of people passed him. Some, urged on by the priests and the\nfalse prophets, mocked at him; some, pitying him from the depths of\ntheir hearts, sympathized with him; some spat upon him.\n\nNear the pillory, all that day and night, there hovered a gray-haired\nEthiopian who longed to speak a word of cheer and comfort to the\nunfortunate prophet and to give him water to drink and food to eat,\nbut he dared not because of the guard that Pashhur had placed over him.\n\nDuring all the terrible agony and shame, Jeremiah did not utter a loud\nword of complaint or condemnation.\n\nOn the following morning Pashhur ordered Jeremiah to be brought to his\nchamber. There twenty-one stripes were administered to him; and after\nwarning him never to enter Jerusalem again, Pashhur ordered him to\nleave the city and be thankful he wasn't carried out of it a corpse.\n\nBefore going, however, Jeremiah turned on Pashhur and said to him:\n\n   \"The Lord hath not called thy name Pashhur, but Magor\n    (Terror), for thus saith the Lord: 'Behold I am about to\n    make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends; and\n    they shall fall by the sword of your enemy before your very\n    eyes. But thee and all Judah will I give into the hands of\n    the King of Babylon, and he will carry them into captivity\n    and slay them with the sword.\n\n   \"'Moreover, I will give all the riches of this city and all\n    its possessions and all the treasures of the king of Judah\n    into the hands of their enemies, and they shall carry them\n    away to Babylon; and thou and all that dwell in thy house\n    shall go into captivity, and thou shalt die at Babylon and\n    be buried there, together with all thy friends to whom thou\n    hast prophesied falsely.'\"\n\nHere, for the first time, Jeremiah spoke of Babylon as the source from\nwhich all the evil impending over Judah was to come. For, one of the\nElders who had accompanied him to Tophet, the day before, had\nwhispered to him that Jehoiakim was preparing for a revolt from\nNebuchadrezzar.\n\nThe reason why such a dangerous idea had entered the mind of Jehoiakim\nwas that Nebuchadrezzar had received word, while yet at Riblah, that\nhis father, Nabopolassar, had died. Without delay, and before having\nsubdued the Palestinian states to his entire satisfaction, he marched\nto Babylon to be crowned and to establish himself firmly upon his\nthrone.\n\nJehoiakim thought he saw an opportunity here to regain his\nindependence. Jeremiah knew how foolhardy and impossible this\nundertaking would be. He so informed Pashhur, therefore, and received\na kick and a cuff for his pains, as a farewell from that worthy\nofficer upon leaving Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XII.\n\n                    _The Woe of the Prophet._\n\n\n\"What now?\" Jeremiah asked himself.\n\nWithout an idea as to what his next move should be or where he should\nnow turn, he took the road leading to Anathoth.\n\nA day and a night in the stocks and the smarting lashes at Pashhur's\nhands, had given him a taste of martyrdom, and left him sick of heart\nand soul. He wanted to go home! Yes, he would go home where he would\nfind, among his relatives and those dear to him, the shelter and\ncomfort and rest that he longed for so much. His heart yearned for\nlove and his soul for peace.\n\nHe turned northward. Head bent, spirit crushed, wounded in mind and in\nbody, he approached the town of his birth, where he had spent the\nhappy days of his youth, where he had received his call to prophesy,\nthat ended now in humiliation and disgrace.\n\nThe painful, bitter thoughts that passed through his mind were\nsuddenly disturbed by the noise of someone running toward him and\ncalling his name. Jeremiah looked up to see young Baruch, all out of\nbreath, coming toward him, both his arms waving in the air as if\ngiving a warning.\n\n\"Flee, master, flee!\" Baruch cried, looking back in fear lest some one\nwas pursuing him or would overhear him.\n\n\"Baruch!\" exclaimed Jeremiah, stretching out his arms in welcome. The\nsight of the young man was the first moment of joy he had had since\nhis encounter with Pashhur.\n\nBaruch did not hear the joyous note in his master's greeting. His face\nwas pale and he was trembling from head to foot. Mechanically he ran\ninto Jeremiah's embrace, but did not return it. Facing Anathoth and\npointing toward it, he whispered, rapidly, \"They have devised devices\nagainst thee, saying, 'Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof;\nlet us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be\nno more remembered.'\"\n\nJeremiah finally succeeded in calming Baruch and drew out of him the\nfact that his cousins had conspired to kill him, and that, to save\nhimself, he must not enter Anathoth.\n\nJeremiah's family had been poor but respectable citizens of Anathoth\nfor many generations. They traced their ancestry back to Eli and to\nthe high priest, Abiathar, who served in the Temple during the time of\nDavid, but whom Solomon banished to the suburb.\n\nHis relatives had always looked upon Jeremiah as the black sheep of\nthe family. Now, in addition to their poverty, he had cast ridicule\nupon them by his actions, and contempt by his punishment in the\nstocks. So they decided to put him out of the way and be rid of him,\nonce for all.\n\nBy this time the two men had reached the gray, barren hillside from\nwhich the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea can be seen in the distance.\nIt was here where Jeremiah received his call and commission to be a\nprophet to his people. With deep emotion did he now bewail his lot:\n\n   \"Ah! I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter and I\n    knew it not.\"\n\nThe injustice and the unrighteousness of it all came to him more\nforcibly at this place of sacred memories, and he cried:\n\n   \"Oh, Lord God of Hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest\n    the heart and the mind, I shall see thy vengeance on them;\n    for unto thee have I revealed my cause.\"\n\nIn the bitterness of his spirit he could no longer restrain his woe.\nOutcast and disgraced, persecuted in Jerusalem and his life sought for\nby his own family, Jeremiah cursed the very day of his birth:\n\n   \"Cursed be the day in which I was born.\n    Let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed.\n    Cursed be the man who brought joyful tidings to my father, saying,\n    'A man child is born to thee,' making him very glad.\n    Let that man be as the cities which the Lord pitilessly overthrew,\n    Because he did not let me die.\n    Why was I born to see labor and sorrow,\n    That my days should be consumed with shame?\"\n\nBaruch did not break in upon the grief and anguish of Jeremiah. He\nturned away, sat down quietly at the foot of a tree and listened, with\na fast-beating beating heart, to the sobs that were racking the very\nframe of his beloved teacher.\n\nFor a long time the two sat there, each engrossed in his own thoughts.\nThe tree-clad hills of Gilead, to the northeast of them, were now\nbathed in the deep shadows cast by the rapidly setting sun. Baruch\nwalked over to Jeremiah and laid a light hand upon his shoulder.\nJeremiah felt his presence but did not raise his head.\n\n\"Master!\" Baruch called softly.\n\nJeremiah looked up into a tear-stained face in which he read sympathy,\nlove and sincere devotion. He arose slowly. The lines of a faint smile\nof appreciation played about his mouth. He grasped the young man in\nhis embrace and clung to him as if he were his only remaining hope.\n\n\"Baruch! Baruch!\" he cried, in a tear-choked voice, and held him tight\nand stroked his head and kissed his forehead. The boy melted into\ntears in the man's almost crushing embrace, and his very soul went out\nto him in sympathy and love.\n\nThere in the twilight, the bond of friendship had been established\nbetween Jeremiah and Baruch, to be broken only in death!\n\nBaruch attempted to comfort his friend, but he at once saw the\nhopelessness of the task.\n\nThen he suggested to Jeremiah that they run away, that they go to\nBabylonia, to Egypt, anywhere, to escape the horror of it all at home.\nBut Jeremiah showed him the uselessness of trying to run away from\nduty's call:\n\n   \"And if I say, I will not think of it nor speak any more in\n        His name,\n    Then there is in mine heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up\n        in my bones.\"\n\nThere was a fire burning within the heart of Jeremiah, impelling him\nto prophesy. He could not help himself! He would not escape it!\n\nAnd, what is more, that day of woe and trial, and the night that\nfollowed, bound up Baruch's destiny with that of Jeremiah.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER XIII.\n\n                       _Teacher and Pupil._\n\n\nWonderful is the love of teacher and pupil! There is no blood\nrelationship to fuse that love. No selfishness enters into it. There\nis only the common interest of the spirit upon which it feeds and\ngrows. It is, therefore, a love of the purest type.\n\nSuch a love was that of Jeremiah and his pupil, Baruch. Just as the\nfriendship between Josiah and Jeremiah was lasting, because as boys\nthey passed through the same danger at the time of the death of\nJosiah's father, and just as the friendship between David and Jonathan\nbefore them was knit closely together at the time when David was in\nflight before the anger of King Saul, so Jeremiah and Baruch were\nclosely bound together in friendship and love from the very first\nnight that they spent outside of Anathoth together, when the pupil\nsaved his teacher's life from the conspiracy of his relatives.\n\nWho knows what would have happened to the despondent, disgraced,\nheart-broken old man that day had not Baruch warned him of the fate\nthat awaited him in his home town!\n\nYes! At fifty Jeremiah was an old man. His beard was gray, his hair\nwhite, his shoulders prematurely bent. Deep wrinkles, lines of care\nand woe, were furrowed in his face. Only at times, when he delivered\nhis fiery addresses to the people or when he courageously faced an\nenemy like Pashhur, would he straighten up to his full height and show\na semblance of his gaunt form and strong physique.\n\nTeacher and pupil passed many days and nights together in the\nfoothills, undecided on the next step for Jeremiah to take. Just then\nhe dared go neither to Anathoth nor to Jerusalem--and Baruch would not\nleave him.\n\nFortunately, for both of them, old Ebed-melech, who had followed\nJeremiah from the pillory to Pashhur's chamber and from there, at a\ndistance, when he started for Anathoth, brought them food and drink\nlate that first night of their hiding, and continued to do so\nevery night.\n\nFor the present Jeremiah had little hope of returning to his task in\nJerusalem. He, therefore, often prayed to God in behalf of his people;\nbut always the answer came back to him:\n\n   \"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in\n        the streets of Jerusalem?\n    Therefore pray not thou for these people,\n    Neither lift up cry nor prayer for them,\n    Neither make intercession to me,\n    For I will not hear thee.\"\n\nBut the effect of prayer is mightier upon the persons who pray than\nupon those prayed for. While Jeremiah's prayers could not bring back\nthe people of Judah to just and righteous lives without effort on\ntheir own part, and while Jeremiah knew well enough that God could not\nsave these people simply because he prayed for them, yet the very act\nof praying brought comfort and consolation to the distracted and\ndespondent prophet and to his loving pupil who clung to him.\n\nAfter some days spent in discussing various plans for returning to\nJerusalem, an inspiration came to Jeremiah. He would write out the\naddresses he had previously delivered in Judah and Jerusalem and add\nsuch new thoughts as occurred to him, exactly as the Prophet Amos had\ndone when he was driven out of Bethel to Tekoah!\n\nMany weeks were then spent by Jeremiah in dictating, and by Baruch in\nwriting down the prophecies. At last, when the scroll was completed\nand Baruch looked up into Jeremiah's face, as if to ask \"What now?\"\nJeremiah took the young man by the shoulders and looking straight into\nhis eyes, said to him:\n\n   \"I cannot go into the house of the Lord; therefore, go thou,\n    and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth,\n    the words of the Lord in the ears of the people, in the Lord's\n    house upon the fast-day; and thou also shalt read them in the\n    ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.\n\n   \"It may be they will present their supplication, before the\n    Lord, and will return every one from his evil way; for great\n    is the anger and the wrath that the Lord hath pronounced\n    against this people.\n\n   \"It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil\n    which purpose to do unto them; that they may return every\n    man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and\n    their sin.\"\n\nThis suggestion, or rather command, for the moment stunned Baruch. He\nwas not prepared to devote his life to the work of God in behalf of\nhis people, as his master had done. The son and heir of Neriah, Baruch\nhad a splendid future before him. He was a young man, full of hope\nthat his country's trouble would end, and full of ambition to become a\ngreat man in Judah's history; but he knew that if he accepted the\nmission that the prophet was entrusting to him, he might as well give\nup all thought of such a future. The same fate that had overtaken\nJeremiah would probably overtake him, too.\n\nAll this Baruch had told Jeremiah with hesitation and a trembling\nvoice. Jeremiah, both his hands resting on the young man's shoulders,\nlistened very sympathetically. He knew that the great ambitions of his\npupil could never be realized. The country was doomed to destruction,\nunless a great religious and moral revolution should change the\ncharacter and the lives of the people.\n\nFor a moment Jeremiah looked straight into Baruch's eyes with the\ntenderness of a mother. Then, embracing him tightly in his arms, he\npressed him to his heart and said:\n\n   \"O Baruch! Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the Lord hath\n    added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning--and I\n    find no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him, Thus saith the\n    Lord: 'Behold, that which I have built will I break down\n    and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in\n    the whole land.'\n\n   \"'And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not;\n    for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh,' saith the\n    Lord; 'but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all\n    places whither thou goest.'\"\n\nFor a long time Baruch's head was buried in Jeremiah's arms. Neither\nspoke a word. Finally, when Jeremiah released Baruch from his embrace,\nthe young man's knees were shaking and he would have dropped to the\nground but for the support of Jeremiah's hands.\n\nTears streamed down his face. Baruch kissed his master's hands again\nand again and cried out that he would go, that he would do Jeremiah's\nbidding, which was God's bidding. \"And Baruch, the son of Neriah, did\naccording to all that Jeremiah, the prophet, commanded him,\" and he\nwent down to Jerusalem and \"read in the book, the words of the Lord,\nin the Lord's house.\"\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XIV.\n\n                    _Baruch's First Venture._\n\n\nIt was the year after, that is 603, the fifth year of the reign of\nJehoiakim, and the ninth month, that Baruch took the completed scroll\nand went down to Jerusalem.\n\nHe had timed his coming so as to arrive at the Temple on a great\nfast-day, when many people were in the Temple courts attending to\ntheir sacrifices.\n\nThe young man met very few whom he knew and was practically lost in\nthe crowd. Standing at the new gate in the upper court of the Temple,\nthe one built by Josiah, Baruch was wondering what to do. The day was\nrather cold and everyone was hurrying about his duties, personal or\nreligious, or else seeking a place of warmth and shelter.\n\nBaruch could see no chance of gathering a crowd, to whom to read from\nhis scroll. Like every young man who is about to attempt a big and\nunusual thing, Baruch hesitated. Then he decided to give up for the\npresent and try again some other time. He tucked the scroll under his\narm and prepared to go down from the Temple Mount into the city.\n\nJust as he turned to pass through the gate, however, he ran into no\nless a prominent personage than Gemariah, son of Shaphan and brother\nof Ahikam, who had defended Jeremiah during his trial at this very\ngate.\n\nGemariah knew Baruch and greeted him most kindly. Baruch, too, was\ndelighted to find someone he knew. After Gemariah had inquired about\nAnathoth and Baruch's family, he asked \"What is that scroll?\" Baruch\nreplied that it was something he desired to read to the people\nassembled in the Temple.\n\nGemariah laughed affectionately, slapped the young man heartily on the\nshoulder and asked whether it was some new poem or tale of adventure\nthat he had written. Baruch replied simply that it was something he\ndesired to read in the hearing of the assembled people. Gemariah\nlaughed again and very generously offered him one of the chambers\nabove the new gate for his purpose. Then he actually sent out a crier\nto assemble a crowd for the young author. With expressions of good\nwishes Gemariah left Baruch and proceeded to the place of the king,\nwhere, in the chambers of the chief scribe, a meeting of the king's\ncounselors had been called to discuss Jehoiakim's proposed revolt from\nNebuchadrezzar.\n\nBefore long, Gemariah's chamber was overflowing and Baruch was reading\nfrom the scroll. His voice was clear and strong. He was evidently very\nwell acquainted with his text, for he emphasized and enthused over\nparticular passages with all the power of an orator:\n\n    Thus saith the Lord:\n\n   \"Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh\n    his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he\n    shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see\n    when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in\n    the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.\n\n   \"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose\n    trust the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the\n    waters, that spreadeth out its roots by the river, and shall\n    not fear when heat cometh, but its leaf shall be green; and\n    shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall\n    cease from yielding fruit.\"\n\nThen Baruch turned to a passage of a different character. He was\nfollowing a pre-arranged program. He aimed at interesting his audience\nfirst with selections of poetic charm and beauty. So he read:\n\n   \"The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly\n    corrupt; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the mind, I try\n    the heart, even to give every man according to his ways,\n    according to the fruit of his doing. As the partridge that\n    sitteth on eggs that she hath not laid, so is he that getteth\n    riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they\n    shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.\"\n\nThese beautiful figures of speech brought Baruch a round of applause.\nHe now had his audience; so he proceeded, and, with the fire and\nfervor of a Jeremiah, delivered the following:\n\n   \"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with\n    the point of a diamond: It is graven upon the tablet of\n    your heart, and upon the horns of your altar.\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord of hosts:\n\n   \"'Because ye have not heard my words, behold I will send and\n    take all the families of the north,' saith the Lord, 'and I\n    will send unto you Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, my\n    servant, and will bring them against this land, and against\n    the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round\n    about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an\n    astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.\n\n   \"'Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth and the\n    voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice\n    of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of\n    the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an\n    astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon.'\"\n\nAh! The young man, then, was a prophet! This was evident to everyone.\nHe was speaking as did the Prophet Uriah, whom the king had put to\ndeath, and as spoke the Prophet Jeremiah who, last year, had been\npilloried and driven out of Jerusalem!\n\nMurmurs of astonishment and of pity arose from the audience. Men\nwhispered to each other about the brilliant young man's probable\narrest, punishment and, perhaps, death. Baruch felt instinctively the\ndrift of the conversations, and smiled. With a well-selected passage\nhe brought the talkers back to attention by the power and forcefulness\nof his oratory. He was a transformed man, cool, collected, eyes ablaze\nand peering at the very souls of his hearers. He held them and swayed\nthem and finally moved many to tears and to ask, \"Wherefore hath the\nLord pronounced all this great evil against us?\" \"What is our\niniquity?\" \"What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord\nour God?\"\n\nNow Baruch told them who he was and whose the addresses were. And in\nanswer to the questions put to him he quoted from Jeremiah:\n\n   \"Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and\n    have walked after other gods, and have served them, and\n    have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept\n    my law; and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for,\n    behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil\n    heart, so that ye hearken not unto me; therefore will I cast\n    you forth out of this land, into the land that ye have not\n    known, neither ye nor your fathers.\"\n\nIt was, indeed, fortunate for Baruch that none of the Temple prophets\nhappened to be in the audience. There was present, however, a young\nman who was at first amused at Baruch's poetic fancies, then\ninterested, then outraged when he discovered that he was listening to\nJeremiah's prophesies. This young man was Micaiah, son of Gemariah, in\nwhose chamber Baruch was speaking.\n\nNow, Micaiah, grandson of the illustrious Shaphan, was growing up to\nbe a different type from his noble ancestor. He was proud of his\nfather's position at court and in the temple. He moved in the choicest\nroyal circles and was a devoted court follower.\n\nWhen Baruch had finished his answer to the questioners, Macaiah had\nhad enough. Without a word he made his way through the crowd and ran\nall the way to the palace where, he knew, his father was at the\ncounsel of the princes.\n\nPost-haste and out of breath, he entered the scribe's chamber and\nrepeated, as best he could, the words he had heard Baruch read out of\nthe book to the people.\n\nHere was a very awkward situation. The princes admitted Jeremiah's\ncleverness and Baruch's courage; but just at this time, when the king\nwas contemplating rebellion from Babylonia, such preaching was\ntreasonable and would prove injurious to the cause.\n\nThey held a hurried conference. Some were for the immediate arrest of\nBaruch; some were for his immediate death; some, who were opposed to\nrebellion, were for hearing the book read to them. Among the latter\nwas Gemariah. One of their number, therefore, Jehudi by name, was\ndespatched to the Temple with orders to bring Baruch and his scroll to\nthe palace.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XV.\n\n                   _The King Hears and Acts._\n\n\nJehudi arrived in Gemariah's chamber to hear Baruch finish this:\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord:\n\n   \"'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the\n    mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory\n    in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this,\n    that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am the\n    Lord who exerciseth loving-kindness, justice and righteousness\n    in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.'\"\n\nJehudi pushed his way roughly through the crowd to Baruch. He laid his\nhand upon the speaker's shoulder and ordered him, in the name of the\nprinces, to accompany him.\n\nBaruch did not hesitate. His mind had been made up to face any\nconsequences that might result from his mission. His heart, therefore,\nwas strong and he accompanied Jehudi without protest.\n\nSome of the princes marveled at the youth of Baruch, when they beheld\nhim. He felt much reassured when Gemariah stepped forward, smiled at\nhim and took the scroll from his hands. The son of Shaphan glanced at\nseveral columns of the scroll, returned it to Baruch and said:\n\n   \"Sit down, now, and read it in our ears.\"\n\nWhile selecting his passages, Baruch thought very quickly. Why not\nselect prophecies that these princes would repeat to the king? Nothing\ncould please his master more than that Jehoiakim should hear; perhaps,\nat last, he would understand. Therefore Baruch chose the following,\naddressed to the \"King of Judah that sittest upon the throne of David,\nthou and thy servants and thy people\".\n\n   \"Execute ye justice and righteousness and deliver him that\n    is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong,\n    do no violence, to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the\n    widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.\n\n   \"For if ye do this thing, indeed, then shall there enter in\n    by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of\n    David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants\n    and his people. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear\n    by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become\n    a desolation.\"\n\nAs Baruch proceeded, he noted the restlessness of the princes under\nthe thunderbolt denunciations contained in his master's words. So, he\nselected for his concluding passage this warning:\n\n   \"For thus saith the Lord concerning the house of the king\n    of Judah:\n\n   \"'Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon; yet\n    surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are\n    not inhabited.\n\n   \"'And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with\n    his weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and\n    cast them into the fire.\n\n   \"'And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall\n    say every man to his neighbor, \"Wherefore hath the Lord\n    done thus unto this great city?\" Then they shall answer,\n    \"Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God,\n    and worshiped other gods, and served them.\"'\"\n\nUpon hearing this, the princes \"turned in fear one toward another,\"\nand the spokesman said, \"We will surely tell the king of all\nthese words.\"\n\nBaruch was happy. His first venture upon his mission had proved more\nsuccessful than even Jeremiah could have hoped. He handed the scroll\nto Jehudi, expressed his thanks for the courtesy shown him, made his\nadieus and prepared to leave. Gemariah stopped him at the entrance,\nhowever, and said to him, warningly and with emphasis:\n\n   \"Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where\n    ye are.\"\n\nBaruch left the palace completely satisfied. Not only had he read the\nprophecies to the people, but also to the princes; and now the princes\nthemselves were to read them to the king. On his way to Jeremiah's\nhiding place, however, some of the joy in his heart left him, because,\nthinking of Gemariah's suggestion, he feared lest the anger of the\nking should be aroused and a search be sent out for Jeremiah with the\npurpose of arresting him.\n\nThe winter palace was one of the achievements upon which Jehoiakim\nalways congratulated himself because of its structure and beauty.\nGemariah and the princes found the king in the sun parlor. Though the\nday was bright and clear, it was unusually cold. A charcoal fire in an\nAssyrian-wrought brass brazier, provided warmth for Jehoiakim who, at\nthis time, was by no means a well man.\n\nThe king was greatly amused by Gemariah's story of the incidents at\nthe Temple gate and in the scribe's chamber. He laughed heartily at\nthe fact that Neriah's son was turning prophet.\n\nJehoiakim asked to see the scroll. Gemariah, not knowing what the\nking's attitude would be, had left it behind. Jehudi was sent for it.\nJehoiakim seated himself comfortably in front of the brazier, while\nthe princes were standing, and ordered Jehudi to read to him.\n\nJehudi had read but three or four columns when the king, to the\namazement of the princes, rose and in anger snatched it out of\nhis hands.\n\nHe glanced through parts of the papyrus, and, with an amused smile,\ntook a penknife out of his robe and began to slice the scroll\ninto pieces.\n\nSeveral of the princes appealed to the king not to destroy it. In\nreply, Jehoiakim walked up and down the chamber, cursing and swearing\nthat such things should be in his kingdom. He punctuated his remarks\nby throwing piece after piece of the scroll into the brazier until it\nwas all consumed. Then he dismissed the princes, called them back and\nordered that the army prepare for rebellion, dismissed them again,\nonce more called them back and gave command that Jeremiah and Baruch\nbe found and brought before him, dead or alive.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XVI.\n\n                     _Beginning of the End._\n\n\nJeremiah waited eagerly for the return of Baruch and listened most\nattentively to the story of his adventure at the Temple and in the\npalace of the king. His pupil's bravery and courage in trying moments\npleased the master greatly, and he complimented Baruch on his\nachievements thus far. The question of the restoration of the scroll\nnever entered Jeremiah's mind at all, on account of his gladness in\nhaving had his discourses brought home to the king.\n\nThree days later, however, Ebed-melech brought with the provisions the\nnews that Jehoiakim had burned the scroll. Upon hearing this, all the\nspirit of hopefulness left Jeremiah. He lost his temper and, at once,\ndictated the following prophecy against Jehoiakim:\n\n   \"Concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah, thou shalt say,\"\n    Thus saith the Lord:\n\n   \"'Thou has burned this roll, saying \"Why hast thou written\n    therein saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come\n    and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence\n    man and beast?\"'\n\n   \"Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, king\n    of Judah:\n\n   \"'He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and\n    his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and\n    in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed\n    and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon\n    them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men\n    of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them.'\"\n\nThen Jeremiah took another papyrus and began once more the laborious\ntask of dictating his discourses to Baruch.\n\nThose were indeed days of pain and sorrow for Jeremiah and Baruch.\nThey were not troubled so much by Jehoiakim's designs upon their\nlives--for Ebed-melech kept them well informed on the progress of the\nsearch--as they were by the preparations for rebellion. They knew that\nthis was the beginning of the end.\n\nAt one time the faithful, old Ethiopian warned them that the search\nparty was near at hand. They were forced to hide in a cave for two\ndays. It was then that Jeremiah cried:\n\n   \"Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of\n    strife and a man of contention to the whole earth.\"\n\nThis danger past, Jeremiah and Baruch continued their laborious task\nof finishing the new scroll of prophecies. Then came Spring, and with\nit Jehoiakim's rebellion.\n\nNebuchadrezzar had not yet fully established himself on his throne in\nBabylon. He was too busy to deal with the rebellious Judean, himself.\nSo he ordered a guerrilla warfare to be carried on by detached troops\nin all parts of Judah. It was only a question of time, however, when\nNebuchadrezzar would invade Judah with his entire army and crush\nJehoiakim like a snail under foot. No wonder that Jeremiah asked:\n\n   \"Who will have pity on thee, O Jerusalem?\n    Or who will bemoan thee?\n    Or who will turn aside to ask for thy welfare!\"\n\nHis grief was not alone for the great and glorious city and for its\npeople, but for himself as well, that he should have to witness what\nhe knew was inevitable:\n\n   \"Oh, that I could comfort myself against sorrow!\n    My heart is faint within me.\n    The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved.\n    For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt.\n    I mourn; dismay hath taken hold of me.\n    Is there no balm in Gilead?\n    Is there no physician there?\n    Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my\n        people recovered?\n\n   \"Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears,\n    That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter\n        of my people.\n    Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men;\n    That I might leave my people and go from them.\"\n\nThis despondency and hopelessness did not last long, however. As\nNebuchadrezzar's guerrillas continued their cruel and merciless\nwarfare, destroying crops and whole villages, Jeremiah determined that\nhe must once more return to Jerusalem. He was ready and willing to pay\nfor his efforts in behalf of his country with his life, if need be.\n\nA comforting and encouraging message came to him from God, at\nthis time:\n\n   \"I will make thee unto this people a fortified, brazen\n    wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall\n    not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee\n    and to deliver thee.\n\n   \"And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked,\n    and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.\"\n\nBut Baruch and Ebed-melech counseled against undue risks. They had\nheard that the Rechabites, that tribe of wandering nomads, which,\nbecause of the vow their ancestor, Jonadab, son of Rechab, had taken\nnever to settle permanently in any definite place and never to follow\nagricultural pursuits, had been driven south by the marauding\nguerrillas and were making their way toward Jerusalem. Jeremiah and\nBaruch fell in with them and came, unobserved, into the city.\n\nMany strange stories had been told about these nomads and the whole\npopulation turned out to gape and wonder at them. Jeremiah directed\nthem to the Temple, and hundreds of people followed them.\n\nAt the Temple, Jeremiah ordered bowls of wine and cups and invited the\nRechabites to refresh themselves with drink.\n\nJazaniah, their leader, arose in his place and, with a courteous bow\nto Jeremiah, replied:\n\n   \"We drink no wine. For, Jonadab, our father, commanded us:\n    'Ye shall never drink wine, neither ye nor your sons. And\n    we have obediently done just as Jonadab, our forefather,\n    commanded us.'\"\n\nThis incident gave Jeremiah the opportunity once more to pen his\nartillery against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord:\n\n   \"'Will he not learn instruction as to how one should heed\n    my words? For, while the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab,\n    have performed the command of their forefather, this people\n    hath not hearkened unto me.'\n\n   \"Therefore, thus saith the Lord: 'Behold I am about to\n    bring upon Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the\n    evil that I have pronounced against them.'\"\n\nJeremiah thus revealed dramatically the meaning of all his preaching.\nJust as the Rechabites had remained faithful to the ancient vow of\ntheir ancestors, so must Judah remain faithful to the covenant between\nthem and their God, if the country was to be saved from the hands of\nthe Babylonians.\n\nYet, this proved to be but one more act in the hopeless part that\nJeremiah was playing in the drama of Judah. Hopeless, indeed, it was\nnow. As Jeremiah himself expressed it:\n\n   \"Can the Ethiopian change his skin,\n    Or the leopard his spots?\n    Then may ye also do good\n    That are taught to do evil.\"\n\nThe very next year, the year 597, Nebuchadrezzar gathered his full\narmy at Riblah and prepared to march on Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER XVII.\n\n                    _The First Deportation._\n\n\nPoor, miserable Jehoiakim! He was not even given an opportunity to\nmeet Nebuchadrezzar on the battlefield in a single engagement. The\nBabylonian had hardly entered Judean territory when Jehoiakim died and\nwas buried with his ancestors.\n\nOf course, Jeremiah's prophecy, at the moment of his anger, that\nJehoiakim's body would be thrown to the dogs, did not come true; but\nthe king's death did not in any way put off the calamity that was to\nbefall Jerusalem and its people. Upon hearing of Jehoiakim's death,\nNebuchadrezzar, at Riblah, hastened his preparations to besiege\nJerusalem.\n\nAn eighteen-year-old boy, Coniah, also known as Jehoiachin, succeeded\nhis incapable father to the throne.\n\nJeremiah's advice to the young king was to submit to Nebuchadrezzar\nand remain in peace. The policy of Nebuchadrezzar, with regard to his\ndependencies, was that of peace. As long as they did not rebel and\npaid their tribute, he left them entirely undisturbed to work out\ntheir own futures.\n\nSo Jeremiah hoped that if Jehoiachin would at once show his\nwillingness to be honest with Nebuchadrezzar, there would still be a\nchance for the country. Therefore he sent this message to the king:\n\n   \"Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Sit ye down low,\n    For from the head hath fallen your fair crown.'\"\n\nUrged on by the queen mother and his father's counselors, however,\nJehoiachin proposed to hold out against the Babylonian siege.\nJeremiah, therefore, delivered the following oration in Jerusalem:\n\n   \"As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah (Jehoiachin), the\n    son of Jehioakim, wore the signet ring upon my right hand,\n    I would pluck him thence. And I will give thee into the hand\n    of them that seek thy life, whom thou dreadest, into the\n    hands of the Chaldeans, and I will hurl thee forth, and thy\n    mother who bore thee, into a land where ye were not born,\n    and there ye shall die. But to the land for which they long\n    they shall not return.\n\n   \"Is Coniah despised as a broken vessel and thrown forth into\n    a land which he knoweth not? O land, land, hear the word of\n    the Lord! Write down this man as childless! For no man of\n    his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David and\n    ruling any more in Judah.\"\n\nBut Jehoiachin continued his stubborn defense until, driven by the\nhorrors of famine, he\n\n   \"together with his mother and his servants, his princes and\n    his chamberlains went to meet Nebuchadrezzar.\"\n\nOn this unconditional surrender, Nebuchadrezzar determined never again\nto be troubled by stiff-necked, rebellious Judah. To that end he\nthoroughly ransacked the treasuries of the Temple and of the royal\npalace. He took away all the gold vessels that belonged to the worship\nof the Temple and, in addition, carried away\n\n   \"as captives, all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the\n    mighty warriors, even ten thousand, and all the craftsmen\n    and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of\n    the land.\n\n   \"And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's\n    mother and the king's wives, and his chamberlains, and the\n    chief men of the land he carried into captivity from\n    Jerusalem to Babylon.\n\n   \"And all the men of ability, even seven thousand, and the\n    craftsmen and the smiths, a thousand, all of them strong\n    and ready for war; these the king of Babylon took captive\n    to Babylon.\"\n\nThis was the first great deportation, in the year 597. The pride and\nstrength of the country were taken away and led captive to a strange\nland.\n\nPoor Jeremiah!\n\nNow he did not glory in the fact that all that he had spoken had\nfinally come true.\n\nHe wept bitterly. He mourned as if every one of the exiles had been\nhis brothers and sisters. He could not be consoled.\n\nBut when his first grief had worn off and the Prophet had a chance to\nstudy the conditions and to consider the future, God vouchsafed to him\na new message for his people--a message of hope and of promise.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n                 _In Exile and in the Homeland._\n\n\nStripped of all its best people the country was in a sorry plight\nwhen, in the year 596, Nebuchadrezzar, on departing for Babylon,\nraised Zedekiah to the throne of Judah.\n\nZedekiah was an uncle of the ill-fated Jehoiachin. He was the third\nson of Josiah, and, like his brothers, Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, he was\nto see the fortunes of Judah ebb to their lowest point, and finally to\nwitness the destruction of the capital and the end of Judah.\n\nThe king had to surround himself with a vulgar, arrogant and uncouth\nset of people. All of the princes and leading Judeans who were taken\nto Babylon had been forced to sell their estates and properties at\nwhatever price they would bring. These were bought up by anyone that\ncame along and created a class of newly-rich that the country had\nnever had before.\n\nThe court was now, therefore, composed of these newly-rich, who knew\nnothing about affairs of state, but who prided themselves on the fact\nthat because they were spared in Judah, they were the choice remnant\nof God.\n\nZedekiah himself was feeble, slow to make up his mind and to come to a\ndecision. He went to everybody for suggestions and help, including\nJeremiah and the horde of false prophets that swarmed in Jerusalem.\nUnfortunately, he always took the wrong advice.\n\nNotwithstanding these unpromising conditions, Jeremiah was filled with\nnew hope for his land and people. He believed that now they would\nunderstand his position regarding them and the meaning of his constant\npreaching and teaching.\n\nOne day he was walking through a fig orchard near Anathoth. It was\nharvest time and everywhere there were baskets laden with figs. Under\na particularly fine tree he noticed two baskets. One was filled with\nvery good figs; the other with very bad ones. Immediately he saw in\nthem a symbol for his people.\n\nHe compared Zedekiah, his upstart courtiers and the remnant in\nJerusalem to the basket of bad figs. The princes, elders, mechanics\nand artisans, whom Nebuchadrezzar had carried away, he compared to the\nbasket of good figs. There was no message of hope in the \"bad figs\"\nnow ruling the country; there was hope, however, in the exiles.\nTherefore Jeremiah sent the following letter to the Jews in Babylonia:\n\n   \"Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens and\n    eat the fruit of them. Take ye wives and beget sons and\n    daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your\n    daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters;\n    and multiply ye there, and be not diminished.\n\n   \"And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you\n    to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it;\n    for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.\n\n   \"For, thus saith the Lord: 'After seventy years are\n    accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my\n    good word toward you, in causing you to return to this\n    place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,'\n    saith the Lord, 'thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give\n    you hope in your latter end.\n\n   \"'And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto\n    me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and\n    find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.\n\n   \"'And I will be found of you,' saith the Lord, 'and I will\n    turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all\n    the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven\n    you,' saith the Lord; 'and I will bring you again unto the\n    place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.'\"\n\nJerusalem, however, swarmed with false prophets who took themselves\nseriously. They prophesied the immediate fall of Babylonia; they\npromised the people that within two years the very Temple vessels that\nNebuchadrezzar had carried away would be restored and Judah\nrejuvenated in its ancient glory.\n\nPoliticians, too, became active. Zedekiah, urged on by them, was\nmaking alliances with the little countries about Judah, with Edom,\nMoab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, for the purpose of rebellion against\nBabylon; and behind them all was Pharaoh Hophrah, who came to the\nthrone of Egypt in 589, and who immediately turned his eyes to\nBabylon, hoping to accomplish what Pharaoh Necho had failed to do.\n\nJeremiah denounced both prophets and politicians most bitterly. When\nambassadors from the neighboring states came to Jerusalem, to consult\nwith Zedekiah and to receive a message from the Egyptian king that he\nwas ready to send an army to assist them against Babylon, Jeremiah\nappeared in the Market Place with thongs and yokes around his neck and\non his arms. He sent a yoke to each of the foreign ambassadors, with a\nmessage to all of them advising that they permit the yoke of Babylon\nto remain around their necks, resting assured that the rebellion was\ndoomed to failure.\n\nIn the Market Place Jeremiah was met by Hananiah, one of the false\nprophets. Hananiah tore the yoke from Jeremiah's neck, broke it over\nhis knee and exclaimed:\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord:\n\n   \"'So will I break the yoke of the king of Babylon from the\n    neck of all the nations.'\"\n\nJeremiah answered:\n\n   \"Thus saith the Lord:\n\n   \"'Thou hast broken the yoke of wood, but I will make a yoke\n    of iron. I will put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these\n    peoples that they may serve the king of Babylon.'\"\n\nAnd to Zedekiah he sent the following message:\n\n   \"Bring your neck into his yoke and serve the king of Babylon;\n    for these prophets prophesy a lie to you. 'I have not sent\n    them,' saith the Lord, 'and they prophesy in My name falsely,\n    that they might drive you out, and that ye might perish,\n    together with the prophets who have prophesied falsely to you.'\"\n\nBut Jeremiah's efforts were all in vain. That same year, 589, the\nrebellion broke out. Nebuchadrezzar did not delay long. He poured his\ntrained veterans into Palestine. They marched through the country with\nthe ease and assurance of a brook running along in its smooth course.\nWithin a few months they were before Jerusalem and, in 588, besieged it.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XIX.\n\n                       _A Friend in Need._\n\n\nZedekiah sent messenger after messenger into Egypt, urging, pleading,\nbegging Hophrah to come to his assistance.\n\nJeremiah cried that it was too late; that Hophrah would not come.\n\n   \"Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise; he hath let the\n    appointed time pass by.\"\n\nHophrah, however, did finally bestir himself. Word came to Jerusalem,\nand it reached the besieging forces, that a vast army of Egyptians was\non the march northward. To the surprise of all, Nebuchadrezzar\nwithdrew from Jerusalem.\n\nThe Jerusalem prophets were jubilant. They saw their hopeful forecasts\nall fulfilled and Judah once more independent. But Jeremiah knew\nbetter. He held out no such false hopes:\n\n   \"Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come out to help you,\n    shall return to Egypt. Then the Chaldeans shall come back\n    and fight against the city and shall take it and burn it\n    with fire.\n\n   \"Do not deceive yourselves with the idea that the Chaldeans\n    will depart from you; for they shall not depart. For though\n    ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight\n    against you, and there remained but wounded men, yet would\n    these arise up each in his tent, and burn this city with fire.\"\n\nAlthough this sounds like a trumpet call of doom, Jeremiah was not\nwithout hope. The course of events, as he saw it, included the fall of\nJudah at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar; but he hoped also for a later\nrehabilitation of the land and rebuilding of the capital.\n\nJeremiah pinned his faith on the exiles in Babylonia and the certainty\nof their return to Judah. To picture his hope vividly, he determined\nto purchase his family estate in Anathoth. While Jerusalem was\ncelebrating the withdrawal of the Babylonian troops and awaiting the\ncoming of Hophrah's army, Jeremiah, with this in mind, started\nfor Anathoth.\n\nAt the gates of the town, however, he was arrested and brought back to\nJerusalem in chains. He was accused of high treason, of having spied\nout Jerusalem, and of attempting to escape to the Babylonians with the\nsecrets. Without trial he was sentenced to prison and jailed in the\nguard house of the Temple garrison.\n\nBut this was not sufficient for the princes who had trumped up this\ncharge against Jeremiah. They came to Zedekiah and charged that, by\nhis speeches and actions, he was undermining discipline in the army\nand weakening the spirit of the people. They demanded that he be put\nto death.\n\nZedekiah, always weak and uncertain, replied, \"Behold, he is in your\nhands.\" But they dared not kill Jeremiah outright.\n\n   \"Then took they Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern that\n    was in the Court of the Guard; and they let down Jeremiah\n    with cords. And in the cistern there was no water, but mire;\n    and Jeremiah sank in the mire.\"\n\nThere was one person in the Court of the Guard who might have drawn\nJeremiah right up out of the cistern where he had been left to die,\nhad he not feared the wrath of the princes. It was Ebed-melech, the\nold, faithful friend. The Ethiopian was not afraid to die; but he felt\nthat it would be useless to attempt to spirit Jeremiah away, for both\nwould surely be caught. He cast about for some other means to save him\nwhom he loved only as he had loved Josiah, the friend of his youth.\n\nHad Ebed-melech known, however, that Jeremiah was sunk thigh-deep in\nmud, and that he had given himself up to die, he would have acted more\nquickly. It was on the second evening that he stole quietly out of the\npalace and up to the Court of the Guards. With great care, so as not\nto be discovered, he crawled to the cistern prison and leaned his gray\nhead on the rim to listen. Jeremiah was praying:\n\n   \"O Lord, Thou knowest.\n    Remember me and visit me.\n    Know that for Thy sake I have suffered reproach.\n    Thy words were found, and I did eat them,\n    And Thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart;\n    For I am called by Thy name.\n    O Lord, God of hosts, why is my pain perpetual?\"\n\nYes! There was no mistake about it--Jeremiah wanted to die! Hot tears\ncoursed down Ebed-melech's cheeks as he listened. Then he whispered a\nhurried word of hope to the prisoner and was off for the palace as\nfast as his old legs could carry him.\n\nTwice he was stopped by the guards, but each time quickly released.\nEveryone knew Ebed-melech, his story of Josiah's escape, his\nprivileges in the palace. He was a fixture at the court, and people\nsaid that he would never die.\n\nArrived at the palace, he demanded to see the king. Brought into the\npresence of Zedekiah he asked to speak to him alone. When both were\nleft alone, he fell at Zedekiah's feet. Pointing to the door through\nwhich several princes had just gone out, he said:\n\n   \"My Lord, the King!\n\n   \"These men have done evil in all that they have done to\n    Jeremiah, the prophet, whom they have cast into the pit. He\n    is like to die in the place where he is.\"\n\nRaising his head and looking straight into the king's eyes, he pleaded\nfor the life of Jeremiah. He spoke very fast, his grey head shaking\nand his lips trembling. At last he finished his impassioned speech,\nprostrated himself before Zedekiah and kissed the hem of his robe.\n\nZedekiah graciously yielded to Ebed-melech's pleading and sent three\nmen with him to raise Jeremiah out of the cistern. More dead than\nalive, Jeremiah was again taken to the guard house. Ebed-melech was\ngiven free access to his cell at all times.\n\nA few days later Zedekiah requested Ebed-melech to bring Jeremiah to\nhim, secretly. Rumor had it that Pharaoh Hophrah had halted in his\nmarch northward, because the Babylonians had lifted the siege, and was\nreturning to Egypt. Zedekiah, therefore, wanted to know from Jeremiah:\n\n   \"Is there any word from the Lord? Conceal nothing from me.\"\n\nJeremiah answered him:\n\n   \"If I declare it to you, will you promise not to put me to\n    death? And if I give you counsel, you will not hearken to me.\"\n\nBut Zedekiah wanted to hear. Vacillating as he was, he hoped that\nperhaps this time Jeremiah would bring him a message of assurance. So,\nhe swore to him, saying:\n\n   \"As the Lord liveth, who hath given us this life, I will not\n    put you to death; neither will I give you into the hands of\n    these men.\"\n\nThereupon Jeremiah fearlessly delivered his final message to the king:\n\n   \"They have betrayed thee; they have overcome thee, thy\n        familiar friends!\n    They have caused thy feet to sink in the mire; they turn back!\n    They shall also bring out all your sons to the Chaldeans.\n    You yourself shall not escape out of their hands,\n    But shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon;\n    And this city shall be burned.\"\n\nZedekiah did not tear and rage as his brother, Jehoiakim, would have\ndone at such a message. He did not possess enough energy or\ndetermination for that. In a hopeless sort of voice he simply sent\nJeremiah back to the guard house, where Ebed-melech continued looking\nafter him.\n\nOnce more Jeremiah proceeded to give practical evidence of his faith\nin the future of Judah, if the country would only submit to Babylonian\nrule; or, if king and princes and false prophets persisted in pushing\nthe country to its fall, of his faith in the Babylonian exiles, who,\nhe truly believed, would return and build up Judah again.\n\nTherefore, with the assistance of Ebed-melech and Baruch, who was a\nfrequent visitor to his master, Jeremiah arranged for and purchased\nthe family property near Anathoth from his uncle, Hananel, and turning\nthe deed over to Baruch, said to him:\n\n   \"Take this purchase deed and put it in an earthen vessel,\n    that it may remain for years to come. For, thus saith the\n    lord, 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be\n    bought in this land.'\"\n\nEvents that followed, however, seemed to mock his enthusiasm and his\nhope. The rumor of Hophrah's return to Egypt was verified--and\nNebuchadrezzar was still encamped at Riblah.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XX.\n\n                    _In the Midst of Despair._\n\n\nThe year 586!\n\nWhat a terrible year it was for Jerusalem and Judah--and Jeremiah!\n\nOh, the famine, the misery, the horrors within Jerusalem when the\nBabylonians besieged the city for the second time.\n\nOh, the carnage, the massacre, the hopeless destruction when the\nBabylonians finally captured Jerusalem and burned the Temple!\n\nOn the ninth day of the fourth month the first breach was made in the\nouter walls of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, the commander of\nNebuchadrezzar's body guard, who led the besieging forces.\n\nTrue to his character of weakling, Zedekiah, with his nobles, at this\nfirst sign of danger to the city, fled from Jerusalem through the\nking's gardens and the south gate, by night. When the news of the\nking's departure reached the Babylonians, Nebuzaradan, with a chosen\ntroop, followed immediately in hot pursuit. The whole renegade lot\nwere captured in the plains of Jericho. Thrown into chains, they were\nsent to Riblah, to Nebuchadrezzar, while Nebuzaradan returned to his\ncommand, to push the final capture of Jerusalem with an energy equal\nto that with which his master had destroyed Nineveh.\n\nTwo terrible tragedies were being enacted at about the same time, in\nJerusalem and at Riblah. Nebuchadrezzar timed his performances at\nRiblah with the news that was brought to him from the doomed Jerusalem.\n\nOn the day when the report of the capture of the second defenses\nreached Riblah, Nebuchadrezzar gathered all his court in the market\nplace, which had been transformed into a festive arena. Zedekiah, his\nsons and the Judean princes of the blood, in full regalia, were\nenthroned on platforms, on one side of the arena. Nebuchadrezzar and\nhis courtiers were enthroned in full state on the other.\n\nZedekiah and his people, who had heard no news from the besieged\ncapital, were greatly astonished at this whole procedure. They were\nsoon to understand, however. At a given signal heralds entered and\nannounced the report from the front. Following this came\nNebuchadrezzar's body guard leading the lesser Judean nobles in\nchains; and, at a command given by a Babylonian officer from\nNebuchadrezzar's platform, these were slaughtered before the eyes of\nZedekiah, and of his sons and princes, in cold blood.\n\nWhen the news was brought that Jerusalem had finally fallen, a second\nfestival was held in Riblah in the same way. To all appearances,\nZedekiah and his sons were the royal guests of the royal\nNebuchadrezzar at a great royal celebration. It was noticeable,\nhowever, that the Judean princes of the blood were missing from the\nside of their king and his sons.\n\nAt the proper time the heralds announced the tidings from before\nJerusalem, the Judean princes were marched into the center of the\nfestive throng--and beheaded.\n\nFinally, on the eighth day of the fifth month, the month of Ab, news\ncame to Riblah that on the day before, the seventh of Ab, the\ndestruction of the city had begun. The report stated that the little\ngarrison in the Temple was holding out, but that Nebuzaradan hoped to\nfinish up his work and burn the Temple on the day after; that is, on\nthe ninth day of Ab.\n\nNebuchadrezzar took it for granted that Nebuzaradan's estimate of\nevents was correct. Just at about the time, therefore, that\nNebuchadrezzar calculated the Temple ought to be burning, on the ninth\nday of Ab, the final horror in Riblah began.\n\nThis time Zedekiah sat alone on his platform, a hopeless, shrunken\nfigure, the mockery of a king. His heart told him the tragedy that he\nwas about to behold; but he did not know what terrible thing the\nBabylonian had prepared for the climax.\n\nZedekiah's sons, mere boys, were brought into the open space before\nNebuchadrezzar. Rings had been pierced through their noses and they\nwere led by chains, like animals. A loud fanfare announced their coming.\nThe trumpet notes were like so many sword points in Zedekiah's heart.\n\nThe young princes, too, knew what awaited them. Innocent of any crime,\nthey marched bravely to their fate. One after another they laid their\nheads on the block, brave descendants of King David.\n\nZedekiah saw the executioner's axe rise--and fall; and again; and again!\n\nHis heart stopped beating. His brain was numb. His body was without\nfeeling. He never knew just when he was led from his mock throne, nor\nby whom, nor where he was led to. He did not hear the jeers and\nhowling of the blood-infuriated Chaldeans, nor the commands given him\nby his captors, nor the words addressed to him by Nebuchadrezzar himself.\n\nAll at once he felt a severe pain in his head, a shock through his\nentire nervous system, a red-fire-like blur before his eyes--and he\nwas blind forever. The eyes that, for the last time, had looked upon\nthe writhing bodies of his headless children had been pierced out by\nthe royal spear in Nebuchadrezzar's hand!\n\nIn Jerusalem the tragedy was less studied and, therefore, the carnage\nwas much greater. Imprisoned in the guard house, Jeremiah did not know\nthe worst; but he surmised it.\n\nHe had not seen Ebed-melech or Baruch for several days. He did not\nknow what progress the siege was making. No one had time to stop and\nspeak with him. Even food was no longer brought to him. In his\nloneliness and helplessness, he turned to God:\n\n   \"There is none like unto Thee, O Lord!\n    Thou art great and Thy name is great in might.\n    Who should not fear Thee, O King of the nations?\n    The Lord is the true God.\n    He is the living God and an everlasting King.\n    He hath made the earth by His power;\n    He hath established the world by His wisdom;\n    By His understanding hath He stretched out the heavens.\n    O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself;\n    It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.\n    O Lord God, correct me, but in judgment,\n    Not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.\"\n\nFinally came the seventh day, and then the ninth day of Ab! He heard\nthe shouts and the clang of hand-to-hand fighting. The thick prison\nwalls could not shut out the curses of hating, contending men, the\nshrieks of the wounded, the prayers and moans of the dying.\n\nOn the night of the seventh day of Ab he knew that the Babylonian had\nentered Jerusalem. The red sky told him that the city was burning. On\nthe next day, he judged from the noises and commands within the\ngarrison that preparations were being made for the last stand.\n\nAll that day and all that night long he heard the fighting on the\nTemple Mount. He pictured to himself every step of the retreating,\nbeaten Judeans and the oncoming, victorious Babylonians.\n\nOn the morning of the next day, the fatal ninth of Ab, the oppressive\nheat told him that the Temple was on fire. Through the day, the\nshouting and the fighting died slowly away. Jeremiah knew that the end\nhad come for his beloved fatherland--and for himself. His presence in\nthe guard house had been accidentally or purposely forgotten!\n\nAt sunrise the next day, he was suddenly aroused from his aimless,\nmental wanderings by the noisy marching of troops. They passed his\nprison without stopping. He shouted, but they did not hear him. He\ncould not see who they were, but surmised that they must be Babylonians.\n\nSeveral hours passed and once more he heard the heavy steps of troops.\nThis time he shouted at the top of his feeble voice and pounded the\niron bars. They halted. Several were dispatched to the guard house.\nThey broke open the door and brought forth a gray-headed, gray-bearded,\nunkempt little man, whose face and bearing showed the horrors he had\nbeen through.\n\nThe soldiers made sport of him, but the commander did not permit them\nto kill a helpless old man. Instead, he sent Jeremiah, through the\nruins of the Temple and the city, with hundreds of others, to the\nprisoners' camp at Ramah, five miles north of Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER XXI.\n\n                  _Lamentations and a Vain Hope._\n\n\nIt is said that ties of true friendship are often stronger than ties\nof blood. Of such stuff were the ties made that bound together the\nfamilies of Hilkiah, the priest, and Shaphan, the scribe. Hilkiah and\nShaphan labored hand in hand with King Josiah in his reforms.\nShaphan's sons, Ahikam and Gemariah, came to the assistance of\nHilkiah's son, Jeremiah, when the latter was in sorest need. Now a\ngrandson of Shaphan, Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, was to give a temporary\nhaven to the weary Jeremiah.\n\nThe whole of the Shaphan family followed in the footsteps of their\nnoble ancestor. Both Ahikam and Gemariah belonged to the Prophetic\nParty; though, unlike Jeremiah, they took the course of least\nresistance and continued in favor with the royal house.\n\nNebuchadrezzar, who kept himself informed concerning the political\nleanings of the leading families in Jerusalem, therefore believed that\nif he raised a scion of Shaphan's family to the governorship of Judah,\nthe country would remain loyal and leave him to his peace in\nupbuilding Babylon.\n\nAccordingly, Ahikam's and Gemariah's families were spared during the\ngeneral slaughter in Jerusalem, and Gedaliah, Ahikam's son, was made\ngovernor of Judah when the victorious Babylonians had finished their\nwork in the land.\n\nThere was still another person whom Nebuchadrezzar had given orders to\nspare--Jeremiah. Nothing would have pleased Nebuchadrezzar better than\nfor Jehoiakim and Zedekiah to have followed the counsel of Jeremiah.\nTherefore, the prophet was not only to be saved from the carnage, but\nhe was to be rewarded.\n\nNebuzaradan had strict orders to find Jeremiah. In fact, the troop\nwhich Jeremiah had heard in the garrison and that accidentally saved\nhim was in search of him at the time.\n\nNebuzaradan knew that Jeremiah was alive, through Baruch. Baruch had\nbeen captured and thrown into chains on the seventh day of Ab. When he\nheard that the Babylonians were searching for Jeremiah to save him, he\ninformed them that he was imprisoned in the garrison.\n\nThe captain of the troop had no idea that the emaciated old man was a\nprophet; but he thanked his stars that he had not permitted his\nsoldiers to slay the poor fellow. He complimented himself when, at\nRamah, he discovered that he had Jeremiah in his keeping and was\ncomplimented by the commander-in-chief when he brought Jeremiah to\nNebuzaradan's tent.\n\nWhile in the prisoners' camp, Jeremiah could not get out of his mind's\neye the picture of devastation that he had beheld while passing\nthrough Jerusalem. He kept entirely away from his fellow prisoners. He\nwanted, and needed, to be alone. It was during these days he composed\nhis Lamentations on Jerusalem:\n\n   \"How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people?\n    She is become as a widow, that was great among the nations!\n    She that was a princess among the provinces is become a tributary!\n    She weepeth sore in the night and her tears are on her cheeks;\n    Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her:\n    All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are\n        become her enemies.\n    All that pass by clap their hands at thee:\n    They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying,\n    Is this the city that men called\n          The perfection of beauty,\n          The joy of the whole earth?\n    All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee:\n    They hiss and gnash the teeth: they say,\n    'We have swallowed her up:\n    Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found,\n        we have seen it.'\"\n\nBut Jeremiah, even in this great extremity, was not a man without hope\nfor the future. He knew his God and understood that His anger with the\nworst of men or nations does not last forever:\n\n   \"This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope.\n    It is of the Lord's loving-kindnesses that we are not consumed,\n        because his compassions fail not.\n    They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.\n    The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.\n    The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that\n        seeketh Him.\n    It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the\n        salvation of the Lord.\n    It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth;\n    Let him sit alone and keep silence, because He hath laid it\n        upon him;\n    Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.\n    Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him be\n        filled full with reproach.\n    For the Lord will not cast off forever.\"\n\nJeremiah was not particularly interested when he was ordered to appear\nbefore Nebuzaradan. It did not really matter to him any longer what\nwould happen to him. He had fought a brave fight--and had lost. Life\nor death made no difference now. In fact, he would rather have died at\nthe hands of the Babylonians than at the hands of his own people. So,\nhe replied listlessly that he was ready.\n\nEven when given clean garments and ordered to bathe and told to\nbrighten up and be cheerful, because all would be well with him, he\ncould not figure out what it all meant until he was in the tent of\nNebuzaradan. Then, hope was born anew in his heart, as he listened to\nwhat the commander had to say to him:\n\n   \"The Lord your God pronounced evil upon this place; you have\n    sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed his voice,\n    therefore this thing is come to you.\n\n   \"And now behold, I loose you this day from the chains which\n    are upon your hand. If it seem good to you to come with me\n    to Babylon, come and I will look out for you. But if it seem\n    undesirable to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come;\n    but go back to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of\n    Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the\n    cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go\n    wherever it seems right to you to go.\"\n\nJeremiah replied, shortly, that he preferred to remain in Judah. A\nclear look again came to his eyes; his shoulders straightened up; he\ncarried his head erect once more; he had new work, on the old lines,\nto do.\n\nHe also asked a favor--that Baruch, son of Neriah, and Ebed-melech, an\nEthiopian freedman of the royal house, if alive, should be permitted\nto remain with him.\n\nBoth his preference and his request were granted. Baruch was found\namong the living in Riblah and Ebed-melech at the camp in Ramah.\nNebuzaradan gave Jeremiah provisions and presents and sent him, with\nhis two companions, to Gedaliah, who had established his capital at\nthe ancient city of Mizpah, on the dividing line between the old\nkingdoms of Israel and Judah.\n\nOn his departure from Judah, Nebuchadrezzar had deported with him\npractically the entire population that was of any consequence. He left\nbehind only the poorest of vine dressers and farmers.\n\nGedaliah's position as governor, therefore, seemed to be but an empty\nhonor. The country a wilderness, the capital in hopeless ruins, the\nTemple a pile of smoking and smouldering ashes--it was not a picture\nto bring rejoicing to a governor's heart.\n\nBut Jeremiah laid a new plan for rehabilitating the land. Neither\nJerusalem nor the Temple were to be rebuilt, for the present. All\nefforts were to be bent toward building up a new conscience in the\nsimple farmers and vine dressers; to fit these for entering a new\ncovenant with their God and to make them worthy, indeed, to be\nGod's people.\n\nIn politics the land was to stand, above all, for faithfulness and\nloyalty to Babylonia. That was what Nebuchadrezzar expected from\nGedaliah and that was what Gedaliah proposed to do. With the religion\nNebuchadrezzar never did and never would interfere. Therefore, first\nof all, the new governor issued this proclamation to the remnant that\nremained in Judah:\n\n   \"Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Settle down and\n    be subject to the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with\n    you. As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah, as your representative\n    to receive the Chaldeans who shall come to us; but you gather\n    for yourselves wine and fruits and oil, and put them in\n    your vessels and dwell in your cities of which you have\n    taken possession.\"\n\nThe future again looked bright. Under Gedaliah there was promise of a\npeaceful restoration of Judah.\n\nJewish refugees in Moab, Ammon and Edom began to return, because they\nlooked for a just and benevolent rule from Shaphan's grandson; and\nthey would not have been disappointed had not scheming selfishness and\nhateful treachery stepped in to shatter the last possible Judean hope.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER XXII.\n\n                    _Cowardice and Treachery._\n\n\nGedaliah had governed in Mizpah seven months when he was pleased to\nwelcome back to his fatherland, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, a Judean\nchieftain of the royal family, who had been driven to Ammon during the\nguerrilla warfare with Babylonia, under Jehoiakim.\n\nA few days later, Johanan, son of Kareah, who was one of the\ngovernor's chief assistants, came to Gedaliah with the news that\nIshmael was not sincere in his protestations of loyalty, that he was\nin the employ of Baalis, King of Ammon, and that his mission to Mizpah\nwas to put Gedaliah out of the way. Baalis, Johanan reported, was\ncontemplating rebellion some time in the future, and did not want in\nJudah a governor faithful to Babylonia. In addition, Johanan said,\nIshmael was hoping, through the assistance of Baalis, to regain the\nthrone of Judah for his family.\n\nGedaliah, nobleman that he was, refused to suspect Ishmael of\ntreachery. On the contrary, a few days later he prepared a great\nbanquet in Ishmael's honor and invited, in addition, all the Chaldean\nnobles whom Nebuchadrezzar had left behind in Judah to assist Gedaliah\nin restoring order and in establishing law and government.\n\nIshmael came with ten followers who had accompanied him from Ammon. At\na given signal, Ishmael and his ten men fell upon the unsuspecting\nGedaliah and his Chaldean guests and turned the banquet hall into a\nhouse of death.\n\nOn the next day, word came to Mizpah that eighty men from Shechem,\nShiloh and Samaria, were coming to Mizpah, on their way to Jerusalem\nto offer sacrifices in the Temple ruins. These men had been selected\nby the survivors in that section of the country to express their\nthanks to God, in this manner, for having been spared by the\nBabylonians.\n\nIshmael went out to meet them. With tears in his eyes he told them\nthat he was a messenger from Gedaliah to welcome them to Mizpah. Once\nin Mizpah, however, these eighty men were slaughtered by the ruthless\nand treacherous cowards from Ammon. Under Ishmael's direction, all the\ndead were thrown into the great reservoir that was built by King Asa\nof Judah at the time when he was at war with Baasha of Israel.\n\nHis work completed, Ishmael gathered his men to return to Baalis,\nin Ammon.\n\nJohanan, who had warned Gedaliah of Ishmael's treachery, did not\npropose to let the murderer escape. He gathered up such faithful men\nas he could. By a quick march of two miles to the north, his little\nforce confronted Ishmael just outside of Gibeon, on the well-traveled\nroad leading to Beth Horon.\n\nBefore the little armies came to an engagement, Johanan sent word to\nIshmael demanding surrender. Ishmael answered with a request for a\nparley on the next morning, which was granted.\n\nDuring the night, however, Ishmael's men deserted him and went over to\nJohanan. Ishmael, himself, escaped to Ammon, and Johanan did not even\npursue him. On the next morning all returned to Mizpah.\n\nIn Mizpah, Johanan was confronted with a new problem. What would\nhappen when the news reached Babylon that all the Chaldean officers in\nMizpah had been slain? The entire population knew what Nebuchadrezzar's\nvengeance meant. They feared to remain in Judah and, at a council of\nelders called by Johanan, it was determined to leave the fatherland\naltogether and emigrate to Egypt.\n\nBefore making a definite move, however, Johanan and the elders sought\nthe advice of Jeremiah. They came to the prophet with this petition:\n\n   \"Permit us to bring our petition before you that you may\n    supplicate the Lord your God for us, even for all this\n    remnant, for we are left but a few out of many--you yourself\n    see us here--that the Lord your God may show us the way\n    wherein we should walk, and the thing that we should do.\"\n\nJeremiah answered them:\n\n   \"I have heard you; behold I will pray to the Lord your God\n    according to your words, and whatever the Lord shall answer\n    you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back\n    from you:\"\n\nTo which the leaders replied:\n\n   \"God be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not\n    according to all the word with which the Lord your God shall\n    send you to us. Whether it be good or whether it be evil, we\n    will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you,\n    that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the\n    Lord our God.\"\n\nJeremiah took ten days to consider the matter. Then the message came\nto him from the Lord his God and he delivered it to Johanan and\nhis chieftains:\n\n   \"If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you\n    and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck\n    you, up; for I am sorry for the evil that I have done to you.\n    Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, for I am with you to\n    save you and to deliver you from his hand.\"\n\nJohanan and the chieftains had hoped that Jeremiah would advise them\nto go to Egypt. They were disappointed. They took time, therefore, to\ndiscuss the matter further among themselves.\n\nJeremiah had had experience enough to know what the result would be.\nSo he backed up his advice concerning Egypt with a public discourse,\nevery line of which breathed hope for the future in Judah.\n\nHe tried to show that the old order of things had passed; that the old\ncovenant between God and his people had been broken, never to be\nrenewed again; that God would enter into a new covenant with them, a\nspiritual covenant, not so much with the whole nation, as with each\nindividual. This is Jeremiah's memorable address at Mizpah:\n\n   \"Behold the days are coming,\n    That I will sow Israel and Judah with the seed of man and the\n        seed of beast,\n    And as once I watched over them to pluck up and to afflict,\n    So will I be watchful over them to build and to plant.\n\n   \"'Behold the days are coming,' saith the Lord,\n    'That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and\n        the house of Judah,\n    Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers,\n    In the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of\n        the land of Egypt,\n    My covenant which they themselves broke and I was displeased\n        with them;\n    But this is the covenant which I will make with the house\n        of Israel:\n\n   \"'After those days,' saith the Lord,\n    'I will put my teaching in their breast and on their heart will\n        I write it;\n    And I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.\n    And they shall not teach any more every man his neighbor,\n    And every man his brother, saying, \"Know the Lord,\"\n    For they shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest;\n    For I will forgive them their iniquities and remember their\n        sins no more.'\"\n\nOn the day of the meeting to settle finally the question of emigration\nto Egypt, another shocking surprise awaited Jeremiah.\n\nHe was accused of being a false prophet; of not having received the\nmessage against going into Egypt from God, at all. He was accused of\nhaving conspired with Baruch, who, Jeremiah was told, being of noble\nfamily, had ambitions to become King of Judah. Finally he was warned\nthat Baruch intended to hand all the remnant over to Nebuchadrezzar.\nMore than that! It was determined to emigrate to Egypt at once and\nthat both Jeremiah and Baruch must accompany the self-exiled.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER XXIII.\n\n                    _Jeremiah, the Martyred._\n\n\nThe forcing of Jeremiah into Egyptian exile with the others was the\nstroke that finally broke Jeremiah's heart. Against such stiff-necked\nperversity he could hold out no longer. He submitted, like a lamb,\nthis time to be led, literally, to the slaughter.\n\nJudah was destroyed, the Temple burnt, the royal family exterminated,\nthe last of the friends of Jeremiah's family dead, the strength and\nnobility of the nation in Babylonian captivity, and now, the miserable\nremnant that was left in Judah, self-exiled to Egypt!\n\nThe destination of the emigrants was Tehaphenes, just across the\nboundary from Judah. There was already a small colony of Jews there.\nBeing a frontier city on the main road to Jerusalem, Judeans often\nfound refuge there from the many destructive armies that swept Judah.\n\nThese gave all the emigrants a hearty welcome. Jeremiah might have\nsettled down there to pass the remaining years of his life quietly and\nat peace; or, he might have gone to Babylon where Nebuzaradan had\npromised to look after him. The course of events however, bade him\nremain where he now was.\n\nPharaoh Hophrah still had in mind the conquest of Babylon. But\nJeremiah had preached all his life that Nebuchadrezzar was God's\nchosen servant for smiting the nations, Egypt among them. He had, many\ntimes, dared death rather than dare be untrue to God and to his\nmission as a prophet. Therefore, in Tehaphenes, before Pharaoh's\npalace, Jeremiah delivered the following oration:\n\n   \"Take great stones in thine hand and hide them in the clay\n    of the pavement which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in\n    Tehaphenes, in the sight of the men of Judah; and say unto\n    them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:\n    Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar, the king of\n    Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne upon these\n    stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal\n    pavilion over them. And when he cometh, he shall smite the\n    land of Egypt.\"\n\nBoth the Jews and the Egyptians who heard him were thoroughly enraged.\nTheir rage swelled into an outcry, and the outcry into an attack upon\nJeremiah. The very stones of which he spoke were showered upon him by\nthe infuriated mob.\n\nDeath, that he had often faced but escaped, now came to Jeremiah in\nthis way--and Baruch, loving disciple and friend that he was, and\nEbed-melech, faithful admirer and servant that he was, stood by\nJeremiah's side to the last, sharing his fate with him.\n\nThrough no fault of his own, but as God's chosen servant, speaking\nnaught but the word of God as it was revealed to him, Jeremiah had\nbeen despised, degraded, spat upon, made to suffer for the sins of his\npeople and, finally, he was martyred at their hands.\n\nIt is held by some that the martyrdom of Jeremiah inspired a later\nprophet to write the following remarkable lines, although most Jewish\nscholars explain these lines as personifying the people of Israel and\nreferring to its sufferings:\n\n   \"Who would have believed what now we hear?\n    And to whom was the Lord's arm revealed?\n    Why, he grew up like a sapling before us,\n    Like a shoot out of dry ground!\n\n   \"He was despised and forsaken of men,\n    A man of pain and familiar with sorrow:\n    Yea, like one from whom men hide their faces,\n    He was despised, and we esteemed him not.\n\n   \"Surely our sufferings he himself bore,\n    And our pains he carried;\n    Yet we esteemed him stricken,\n    Smitten of God and afflicted.\n\n   \"But he was wounded for our transgressions,\n    Crushed because of our iniquities;\n    The chastisement for our well-being was upon him,\n    And through his stripes healing came to us.\n\n   \"All of us, like sheep, had gone astray,\n    We had turned each his own way;\n    And the Lord laid upon him,\n    The guilt of us all.\n\n   \"He was sore pressed, yet he resigned himself,\n    And open not his mouth,\n    As a lamb is led to the slaughter,\n    And as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb.\n\n   \"Shut out from justice he was hurried away;\n    And as for his fate, who regarded it?--\n    That he was cut off out of the land of the living,\n    Stricken to death for our transgressions.\n\n   \"They made his grave with the wicked,\n    And his tomb with the ungodly,\n    Although he had done no violence,\n    Neither was any deceit in his mouth.\n\n   \"But the Lord hath pleasure in His servant;\n    He will deliver his soul from anguish;\n    He will let him see and be satisfied,\n    And will vindicate him for his woes.\"\n\n   (Isaiah LIII.)\n\n\n                        [END OF VOLUME ONE.]\n\n\n\n\n                             SUPPLEMENT\n\n\n                        CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES\n\n[Transcriber's note: the following table was presented across two pages\n in original text, and cannot be fit into an 80-column format. I have\n presented it across 160 columns.  As such, it may not display properly\n on some screens, especially if word wrap is turned on.]\n\n\n     KINGDOM OF        UNITED HEBREW         KINGDOM OF           DAMASCUS             ASSYRIA              EGYPT             BABYLONIA            PERSIA\n       JUDAH              KINGDOM              ISRAEL\n\n                    B.C.E. 12th and\n                      11th Centuries,\n                      Settlement of\n                      Canaan by Children\n                      of Israel\n                    1037 United Hebrew\n                      Kingdom Established\n                    1037 Saul\n                    1017 David\n                     977 Solomon\n\n                      DIVISION OF THE\n                          KINGDOM\n\n     KINGDOM OF       ------937------        KINGDOM OF\n       JUDAH                                   ISRAEL\n\n 937 Rehoboam                            937 Jeroboam\n 917 Asa\n                                         913 Baasha\n                                         887 Omri\n 876 Jehoshaphat                        _Elijah_\n                                         875 Ahab\n                                                                 Ben Hadad II\n                                                                                 860-839 Five\n 851 Jehoram                             851 Jehoram                               Expeditions\n 843 Ahaziah                            _Elisha_                                   against Damascus\n 842 Athaliah                            842 Jehu\n 836 Joash\n                                                             816 Hazael Defeats\n                                         814 Jehoahaz          Joash\n 796 Amaziah                             797 Jehoash\n 782 Uzziah\n  (Azariah)\n_Isaiah_                                 781 Jereboam II                         745 Tiglath-Pileser\n                                        _Amos_                                     III--Two\n                                        _Hosea_                                    Expeditions\n 735 Ahaz                                                                          against Israel\n_Micah_                                  734 Hoshea                  732           and Judah\n                                                               DESTRUCTION OF\n                                                                DAMASCUS BY      727 Shalmaneser IV\n 727 Hezekiah                                   722               ASSYRIA        722 Destroys\n                                           DESTRUCTION OF                          Kingdom of\n                                             KINGDOM OF                            Israel\n                                             ISRAEL BY\n 686 Manasseh                                 ASSYRIA                            722 Sargon\n_Zephaniah_                                                                      711 Expedition\n_Nahum_                                                                            against Judah\n_Jeremiah_\n_Habakuk_                                                                        705 Sennacherib\n                                                                                 701 Expedition\n                                                                                   against Judah\n 639 Josiah                                                                        and Egypt         700 Shabataka\n\n 605 Jehoiakim                                                                   681 Esarhaddon\n 600 Conquered by                                                                675-71 Two\n   Babylon                                                                         Expeditions\n 597 Zedekiah                                                                      against Judah     672 Necho\n 597 First Captivity                                                               and Egypt\n   by Babylon\n_Ezekiel_                                                                        668 Ashurbanipal\n_Obadiah_                                                                          Two Expeditions           663\n         586                                                                       against Judah         EGPYT UNDER\n    DESTRUCTION OF                                                                 and Egypt            ASSYRIAN RULE    626 Nabopolassar\n      KINGDOM OF                                                                                                         605 Nebuchadrezzar\n       JUDAH BY                                                                          606\n       BABYLON                                                                      DESTRUCTION OF                       600 Defeats Judah\n_Isaiah II_                                                                           ASSYRIA BY                           in Battle\n 538 Cyrus Restores                                                                   BABYLONIA                          586 Destroys\n   Captives to Judah                                                                                                       Kingdom of        559 Cyrus\n_Haggai_                                                                                                                   Judah             538 Conquers\n_Zachariah_                                                                                                                                    Babylonia\n_Malachi_                                                                                                                        538         529 Cambyses\n                                                                                                             525             CONQUEST OF\n 445 Nehemiah                                                                                          EGYPT CONQUERED       BAYBLONIA BY    464 Artaxerxes I\n   Governor of                                                                                            BY PERSIA            PERSIA\n   Jerusalem\n_Joel_","title":"Stories of the Prophets (Before the Exile)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":65619}