THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS
VOLUME IV
BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS FROM JOSHUA TO ESTHER
BY LOUIS GINZBERG
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT
10. THE EXILE
ZEDEKIAH
The execution of one king and the deportation of another were but preludes
to the great national catastrophe in the time of Zedekiah, the destruction of
the Temple and the exile of the whole people. After Nebuchadnezzar had led Jehoiachin
and a portion of the people into banishment, his commiseration was aroused for
the Jews, and he inquired, whether any other sons of Josiah were still living.
Only Mattaniah was left. He was re-named Zedekiah, in the hope that he would be
the father of pious sons. In reality the name became the omen of the disasters
to happen in the time of this king.
Nebuchadnezzar, who invested Zedekiah with the royal office, demanded that
he swear fealty to him. Zedekiah was about to swear by his own soul, but the Babylonian
king, not satisfied, brought a scroll of the law, and made his Jewish vassal take
the oath upon that. Nevertheless he did not keep faith with Nebuchadnezzar for
long. Nor was this his only treachery toward his suzerain. He had once surprised
Nebuchadnezzar in the act of cutting a piece from a living hare and eating it,
as is the habit of barbarians. Nebuchadnezzar was painfully embarrassed, and he
begged the Jewish king to promise under oath not to mention what he had seen.
Though Nebuchadnezzar treated him with great friendliness, even making him sovereign
lord over five vassal kings, he did not justify the trust reposed in him. To flatter
Zedekiah, the five kings once said: “If all were as it should be, thou wouldst
occupy the throne of Nebuchadnezzar.” Zedekiah could not refrain from exclaiming:
“O yes, Nebuchadnezzar, whom I once saw eating a live hare!”
The five kings at once repaired to Nebuchadnezzar, and reported what Zedekiah
had said. Thereupon the king of Babylonia marched to Daphne, near Antioch, with
the purpose of chastising Zedekiah. At Daphne he found the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem,
who had hastened thither to receive him. Nebuchadnezzar met the Sanhedrin courteously,
ordered his attendants to bring state chairs for all the members, and requested
them to read the Torah to him and explain it. When they reached the passage in
the Book of Numbers dealing with the remission of vows, the king put the question:
“If a man desires to be released from a vow, what steps must he take?” The Sanhedrin
replied: “He must repair to a scholar, and he will absolve him from his vow.”
Whereupon Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed: “I verily believe it was you who released
Zedekiah from the vow he took concerning me.” And he ordered the members of the
Sanhedrin to leave their state chairs and sit on the ground. They were forced
to admit, that they had not acted in accordance with the law, for Zedekiah’s vow
affected another beside himself, and without the acquiescence of the other party,
namely, Nebuchadnezzar, the Sanhedrin had no authority to annul the vow.
Zedekiah was duly punished for the grievous crime of perjury. When Jerusalem
was captured, he tried to escape through a cave extending from his house to Jericho.
God sent a deer into the camp of the Chaldeans, and in their pursuit of this game,
the Babylonian soldiers reached the farther opening of the cave at the very moment
when Zedekiah was leaving it. The Jewish king together with his ten sons was brought
before Nebuchadnezzar, who addressed Zedekiah thus: “Were I to judge thee according
to the law of thy God, thou wouldst deserve the death penalty, for thou didst
swear a false oath by the Name of God; no less wouldst thou deserve death, if
I were to judge thee according to the law of the state, for thou didst fail in
thy sworn duty to thy overlord.”
Zedekiah requested the grace that his execution take place before his children’s,
and he be spared the sight of their blood. His children, on the other hand, besought
Nebuchadnezzar to slay them before he slew their father, that they might be spared
the disgrace of seeing their father executed. In his heartlessness Nebuchadnezzar
had resolved worse things than Zedekiah anticipated. In the sight of their father,
the children of Zedekiah were killed, and then Zedekiah himself was deprived of
sight; his eyes were blinded. He had been endowed with eyes of superhuman strength,
they were the eyes of Adam, and the iron lances forced into them were powerless
to destroy his sight. Vision left him only because of the tears he shed over the
fate of his children. Now he realized how true Jeremiah had spoken when he had
prophesied his exile to Babylonia. Though he should live there until his death,
he would never behold the land with his eyes. On account of its seeming contradictoriness,
Zedekiah had thought the prophecy untrue. For this reason he had not heeded Jeremiah’s
advice to make peace with Nebuchadnezzar. Now it had all been verified; he was
carried to Babylonia a captive, yet, blind as he was, he did not see the land
of his exile.
JEREMIAH
Though Zedekiah besmirched his career by perjury, he was nevertheless so good
and just a king that for his sake God relinquished his purpose of returning the
world to its original chaos, as a punishment for the evil-doing of a wicked generation.
In this depraved time, it was first and foremost Jeremiah to whom was delegated
the task of proclaiming the word of God. He was a descendant of Joshua and Rahab,
and his father was the prophet Hilkiah. He was born while his father was fleeing
from the persecution of Jezebel, the murderess of prophets. At his very birth
he showed signs that he was destined to play a great part. He was born circumcised,
and scarcely had he left his mother’s womb when he broke into wailing, and his
voice was the voice, not of a babe, but of a youth. He cried: “My bowels, my bowels
tremble, the walls of my heart they are disquieted, my limbs quake, destruction
upon destruction I bring upon earth.” In this strain he continued to moan and
groan, complaining of the faithlessness of his mother, and when she expressed
her amazement at the unseemly speech of her new-born son, Jeremiah said: “Not
thee do I mean, my mother, not to thee doth my prophecy refer; I speak of Zion,
and against Jerusalem are my words directed. She adorns her daughters, arrays
them in purple, and puts golden crowns upon their heads. Robbers will come and
strip them of their ornaments.”
As a lad he received the call to be a prophet. But he refused to obey, saying:
“O Lord, I cannot go as a prophet to Israel, for when lived there a prophet whom
Israel did not desire to kill? Moses and Aaron they sought to stone with stones;
Elijah the Tishbite they mocked at because his hair was grown long; and they called
after Elisha, ‘Go up, thou bald head’ no, I cannot go to Israel, for I am still
naught but a lad.” God replied: “I love youth, for it is innocent. When I carried
Israel out of Egypt, I called him a lad, and when I think of Israel lovingly,
I speak of him as a lad. Say not, therefore, thou art only a lad, but thou shalt
go on whatsoever errand I shall send thee. Now, then,” God, continued, “take the
‘cup of wrath,’ and let the nations drink of it.” Jeremiah put the question which
land was to drink first from the “cup of wrath,” and the answer of God was: “First
Jerusalem is to drink, the head of all earthly nations, and then the cities of
Judah.” When the prophet heard this, he began to curse the day of his birth. “I
am like the high priest,” he said, “who has to administer the ‘water of bitterness’
to a woman who is held under the suspicion of adultery, and when he approaches
the woman with the cup, lo, he beholds his own mother. And I, O Mother Zion, thought,
when I was called to prophesy, that I was appointed to proclaim prosperity and
salvation to thee, but now I see that my message forebodes thee evil.”
Jeremiah’s first appearance in public was during the reign of Josiah, when
he announced to the people in the streets: “If ye will give up your wicked doings,
God will raise you above all nations; if not, He will deliver His house into the
hands of the enemies, and they will deal with it as seemeth best to them.”
The prophets contemporary with Jeremiah in his early years were Zechariah and
Huldah. The province of the latter was among women, while Zechariah was active
in the synagogue. Later, under Jehoiakim, Jeremiah was supported by the prophets
of his relative Uriah of Kiriathjearim, a friend of the prophet Isaiah. But Uriah
was put to death by the ungodly king, the same who had the first chapter of Lamentations
burnt after obliterating the Name of God wherever it occurs in the whole book.
But Jeremiah added four chapters.
The prophet fell upon evil times under Zedekiah. He had both the people and
the court against him. Nor was that surprising in a day when not even the high
priests in the Temple bore the sign of the covenant upon their bodies. Jeremiah
had called forth general hostility by condemning the alliance with Egypt against
Babylonia, and favoring peace with Nebuchadnezzar; and this though to all appearances
the help of the Egyptians would prove of good effect for the Jews. The hosts of
Pharaoh Necho had actually set forth from Egypt to join the Jews against Babylon.
But when they were on the high seas, God commanded the waters to cover themselves
with corpses. Astonished, the Egyptians asked each other, whence the dead bodies.
Presently the answer occurred to them: they were the bodies of their ancestors
drowned in the Red Sea on account of the Jews, who had shaken off Egyptian rule.
“What,” said the Egyptians thereupon, “shall we bring help to those who drowned
our fathers?” So they returned to their own country, justifying the warning of
Jeremiah, that no dependence could be put upon Egyptian promises.
A little while after this occurrence, when Jeremiah wanted to leave Jerusalem
to go to Anathoth and partake of his priestly portion there, the watchman at the
gate accused him of desiring to desert to the enemy. He was delivered to his adversaries
at court, and they confined him in prison. The watchman knew full well that it
was a trumped up charge he was bringing against Jeremiah, and the intention attributed
to him was as far as possible from the mind of the prophet, but he took this opportunity
to vent an old family grudge. For this gateman was a grandson of the false prophet
Hananiah, the enemy of Jeremiah, the one who had prophesied complete victory over
Nebuchadnezzar within two years. It were proper to say, he calculated the victory
rather than prophesied it. He reasoned: “If unto Elam, which is a mere ally of
the Babylonians against the Jews, destruction has been appointed by God through
Jeremiah, so much the more will the extreme penalty fall upon the Babylonians
themselves, who have inflicted vast evil upon the Jews.” Jeremiah’s prophecy had
been the reverse: so far from holding forth any hope that a victory would be won
over Nebuchadnezzar, the Jewish state, he said, would suffer annihilation. Hananiah
demanded a sign betokening the truth of Jeremiah’s prophecy. But Jeremiah contended
there could be no sign for such a prophecy as his, since the Divine determination
to do evil can be annulled. On the other hand, it was the duty of Hananiah to
give a sign, for he was prophesying pleasant things, and the Divine resolution
for good is executed without. Finally, Jeremiah advanced the clinching argument:
“I, a priest, may be well content with the prophecy; it is to my interest that
the Temple should continue to stand. As for thee, thou art a Gibeonite, thou wilt
have to do a slave’s service in it so long as there is a Temple. But instead of
troubling thy mind with the future in store for others, thou shouldst rather have
thought of thine own future, for this very year thou wilt die.” Hananiah, in very
truth, died on the last day of the year set as his term of life, but before his
death he ordered that it should be kept secret for two days, so to give the lie
to Jeremiah’s prophecy. With his last words, addressed to his son Shelemiah, he
charged him to seek every possible way of taking revenge upon Jeremiah, to whose
curse his death was to be ascribed. Shelemiah had no opportunity of fulfilling
his father’s last behest, but it did not pass from his mind, and when he, in turn,
lay upon his death-bed, he impressed the duty of revenge upon his son Jeriah.
It was the grandson of Hananiah who, when he saw Jeremiah leaving the city, hastened
to take the opportunity of accusing the prophet of treason. His purpose prospered.
The aristocratic enemies of Jeremiah, enraged against him, welcomed the chance
to put him behind prison bars, and gave him in charge of a jailer, Jonathan, who
had been a friend of the false prophet Hananiah. Jonathan pleased himself by mocking
at his prisoner: “See,” he would say, “see what honor thy friend does thee, to
put thee in so fine a prison as this; verily, it is a royal palace.”
Despite his suffering, Jeremiah did not hold back the truth. When the king
inquired of him, whether he had a revelation from God, he replied: “Yes, the king
of Babylonia will carry thee off into exile.” To avoid irritating the king, he
went into no further detail. He only prayed the king to liberate him from prison,
saying: “Even wicked men like Hananiah and his descendants at least cast about
for a pretext when they desire to take revenge, and their example ought not to
be lost upon thee who art called Zedekiah, ‘just man.'” The king granted his petition,
but Jeremiah did not enjoy liberty for long. Hardly out of prison, he again advised
the people to surrender, and the nobility seized him and cast him into a lime
pit filled with water, where they hoped he would drown. But a miracle happened.
The water sank to the bottom, and the mud rose to the surface, and supported the
prophet above the water. Help came to him from Ebed-melech, a “white raven,” the
only pious man at court. Ebed-melech hastened to the king and spoke: “Know, if
Jeremiah perishes in the lime pit, Jerusalem will surely be captured.” With the
permission of the king, Ebed-melech went to the pit, and cried out aloud several
times, “O my lord Jeremiah,” but no answer came. Jeremiah feared the words were
spoken by his former jailer Jonathan, who had not given up his practice of mocking
at the prophet. He would come to the edge of the pit and call down jeeringly:
“Do not rest thy head on the mud, and take a little sleep, Jeremiah.” To such
sneers Jeremiah made no reply, and hence it was that Ebed-melech was left unanswered.
Thinking the prophet dead, he began to lament and tear his clothes. Then Jeremiah,
realizing that it was a friend, and not Jonathan, asked: “Who is it that is calling
my name and weeps therewith?” and he received the assurance that Ebed-melech had
come to rescue him from his perilous position.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
The suffering to which Jeremiah was exposed was finally ended by the capture
of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. This Babylonian king was a son of King Solomon
and the Queen of Sheba. His first contact with the Jews happened in the time of
his father-in-law Sennacherib, whom he accompanied on his campaign against Hezekiah.
The destruction of the Assyrian army before the walls of Jerusalem, the great
catastrophe from which only Nebuchadnezzar and four others escaped with their
life, inspired him with fear of God. Later, in his capacity as secretary to the
Babylonian king Merodach-baladan, it was he who called his master’s notice to
the mention of the Jewish king’s name before the Name of God. “Thou callest Him
‘the great God,’ yet thou dost name Him after the king,” he said. Nebuchadnezzar
himself hastened after the messenger to bring back the letter and have it changed.
He had advanced scarce three steps when he was restrained by the angel Gabriel,
for even the few paces he had walked for the glory of God earned him his great
power over Israel. A further step would have extended his ability to inflict harm
immeasurably.
For eighteen years daily a heavenly voice resounded in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar,
saying: “O thou wicked slave, go and destroy the house of thy Lord, for His children
hearken not unto Him.” But Nebuchadnezzar was beset with fears lest God prepare
a fate for him similar to that of his ancestor Sennacherib. He practiced belomancy
and consulted other auguries, to assure himself that he was against Jerusalem
would result favorably. When he shook up the arrows, and questioned whether he
was to go to Rome or Alexandria, not one arrow sprang up, but when he questioned
about Jerusalem, one sprang up. He sowed seeds and set out planets; for Rome or
Alexandria nothing came up; for Jerusalem everything sprouted and grew. He lighted
candles and lanterns; for Rome or Alexandria they refused to burn, for Jerusalem
they shed their light. He floated vessels on the Euphrates; for Rome or Alexandria
they did not move, for Jerusalem they swam.
Still the fears of Nebuchadnezzar were not allayed. His determination to attack
the Holy City ripened only after God Himself had shown him how He had bound the
hands of the archangel Michael, the patron of the Jews, behind his back, in order
to render him powerless to bring to his wards. So the campaign against Jerusalem
was undertaken.
THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM
If the Babylonians thought that the conquest of Jerusalem was an easy task,
they were greatly mistaken. For three years God endured the inhabitants with strength
to withstand the onslaughts of the enemy, in the hope that the Jews would amend
their evil ways and abandon their godless conduct, so that the threatened punishment
might be annulled.
Among the many heroes in the beleaguered city that was bidding defiance to
the Babylonians, one by the name of Akiba was particularly distinguished. The
stones were hurled at the walls of the city from the catapults wielded by the
enemy without, he was wont to catch on his feet, and throw them back upon the
besiegers. Once it happened that a stone was so cast as to drop, not upon the
wall, but in front of it. In his swift race toward it, Akiba was precipitated
into the space between the inner and the outer wall. He quickly reassured his
friends in the city, that his fall had in no wise harmed him. He was only a little
shaken up and weak; as soon as he had his accustomed daily meal, a roasted ox,
he would be able to scale the wall and resume the struggle with the Babylonians.
But human strength and artifice avail naught against God. A gust of wind arose,
and Akiba was thrown from the wall, and he died. Thereupon the Chaldeans made
a breach in the wall, and penetrated into the city.
Equally fruitless were the endeavors of Hanamel, the uncle of Jeremiah, to
save the city. He conjured the angels up, armed them, and had them occupy the
walls. The Chaldeans retreated in terror at the sight of the heavenly host. But
God changed the names of the angels, and brought them back to heaven. Hanamel’s
exorcisms availed naught. When he called the Angel of the Water, for instance,
the response would come from the Angel of Fire, who bore the former name of his
companion. Then Hanamel resorted to the extreme measure of summoning the Prince
of the World, who raised Jerusalem high up in the air. But God thrust the city
down again, and the enemy entered unhindered.
Nevertheless, the capture of the city could not have been accomplished if Jeremiah
had been present. His deeds were as a firm pillar for the city, and his prayers
as a stony wall. Therefore God sent the prophet on an errand out of the city.
He was made to go to his native place, Anathoth, to take possession of a field,
his by right of inheritance. Jeremiah rejoiced; he took this as a sign that God
would be gracious to Judah, else He would not have commanded him to take possession
of a piece of land. Scarcely had the prophet left Jerusalem when an angel descended
upon the wall of the city and caused a breach to appear, at the same time crying
out: “Let the enemy come and enter the house, for the Master of the house is no
longer therein. The enemy has leave to despoil it and destroy it. Go ye into the
vineyard and snap the vines asunder, for the Watchman hath gone away and abandoned
it. But let no man boast and say, he and his have vanquished the city. Nay, a
conquered city have ye conquered, a dead people have ye killed.”
The enemy rushed in and ascended the Temple mount, and on the spot whereon
King Solomon had been in the habit of sitting when he took counsel with the elders,
the Chaldeans plotted how to reduce the Temple to ashes. During their sinister
deliberations, they beheld four angels, each with a flaming torch in his hand,
descending and setting fire to the four corners of the Temple. The high priest,
seeing the flames shoot up, cast the keys of the Temple heavenward, saying: “Here
are the keys of Thy house; it seems I am an untrustworthy custodian,” and, as
he turned, he was seized by the enemy and slaughtered in the very place on which
he had been wont to offer the daily sacrifice. With him perished his daughter,
her blood mingling with her father’s. The priests and the Levites threw themselves
into the flames with their harps and trumpets, and, to escape the violence feared
from the licentious Chaldeans, the virgins who wove the curtains for the sanctuary
followed their example. Still more horrible was the carnage caused among the people
by Nebuzaradan, spurred on as he was by the sight of the blood of the murdered
prophet Zechariah seething on the floor of the Temple. At first the Jews sought
to conceal the true story connected with the blood. At length they had to confess,
that it was the blood of a prophet who had prophesied the destruction of the Temple,
and for his candor had been slain by the people. Nebuzaradan, to appease the prophet,
ordered the scholars of the kingdom to be executed first on the bloody spot, then
the school children, and at last the young priests, more than a million souls
in all. But the blood of the prophet went on seething and reeking, until Nebuzaradan
exclaimed: “Zechariah, Zechariah, the good in Israel I have slaughtered. Dost
thou desire the destruction of the whole people?” Then the blood ceased to seethe.
Nebuzaradan was startled by the thought, if the Jews, who had a single life
upon their conscience, were made to atone so cruelly, what would be his own fate!
He left Nebuchadnezzar and became a proselyte.
THE GREAT LAMENT
On his return from Anathoth, Jeremiah saw, at a distance, smoke curling upward
from the Temple mount, and his spirit was joyful. He thought the Jews had repented
of their sins, and were bringing incense offerings. Once within the city walls,
he knew the truth, that the Temple had fallen a prey to the incendiary. Overwhelmed
by grief, he cried out: “O Lord, Thou didst entice me, and I permitted myself
to be enticed; Thou didst send me forth out of Thy house that Thou mightest destroy
it.”
God Himself was deeply moved by the destruction of the Temple, which He had
abandoned that the enemy might enter and destroy it. Accompanied by the angels,
He visited the ruins, and gave vent to His sorrow: “Woe is Me on account of My
house. Where are My children, where My priests, where My beloved? But what could
I do for you? Did I not warn you? Yet you would not mend your ways.” “To-day,”
God said to Jeremiah, “I am like a man who has an only son. He prepares the marriage
canopy for him, and his only beloved dies under it. Thou doest seem to feel but
little sympathy with Me and with My children. Go, summon Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and Moses from their graces. They know how to mourn.” “Lord of the world,” replied
Jeremiah, “I know not where Moses is buried.” “Stand on the banks of the Jordan,”
said God, “and cry: ‘Thou son of Amram, son of Amram, arise, see how wolves have
devoured thy sheep.'”
Jeremiah repaired to the Double Cave, and spake to the Patriarchs: “Arise,
ye are summoned to appear before God.” When they asked him the reason of the summons,
he feigned ignorance, for he feared to tell them the true reason; they might have
cast reproaches upon him that so great a disaster had overtaken Israel in his
time. Then Jeremiah journeyed on to the banks of the Jordan, and there he called
as he had been bidden: “Thou son of Amram, son of Amram, arise, thou are cited
to appear before God.” “What has happened this day, that God calls me unto Him?”
asked Moses. “I know not,” replied Jeremiah again. Moses thereupon went to the
angels, and from them he learned that the Temple had been destroyed, and Israel
banished from his land. Weeping and mourning, Moses joined the Patriarchs, and
together, rending their garments and wringing their hands, they betook themselves
to the ruins of the Temple. Here their wailing was augmented by the loud lamentations
of the angels: “How desolate are the highways to Jerusalem, the highways destined
for travel without end! How deserted are the streets that once were thronged at
the seasons of the pilgrimages! O Lord of the world, with Abraham the father of
Thy people, who taught the world to know Thee as the ruler of the universe, Thou
didst make a covenant, that through him and his descendants the earth should be
filled with people, and now Thou hast dissolved Thy covenant with him. O Lord
of the world! Thou hast scorned Zion and Jerusalem, once Thy chosen habitation.
Thou hast dealt more harshly with Israel than with the generation of Enosh, the
first idolaters.”
God thereupon said to the angels: “Why do ye array yourselves against Me with
your complaints?” “Lord do the world,” they replied, “on account of Abraham, Thy
beloved, who has come into Thy house wailing and weeping, yet Thou payest no heed
unto him.” Thereupon God: “Since My beloved ended his earthly career, he has not
been in My house. ‘What hath My beloved to do in My house’?”
Now Abraham entered into the conversation: “Why, O Lord of the world, hast
Thou exiled my children, delivered them into the hands of the nations, who torture
them with all tortures, and who have rendered desolate the sanctuary, where I
was ready to bring Thee my son Isaac as a sacrifice?” “Thy children have sinned,”
said God, “they have transgressed the whole Torah, they have offended against
every letter of it.” Abraham: “Who is there that will testify against Israel,
that he has transgressed the Torah?” God: “Let the Torah herself appear and testify.”
The Torah came, and Abraham addressed her: “O my daughter, dost thou indeed come
to testify against Israel, to say that he violated thy commandments? Dost thou
feel no shame? Remember the day on which God offered thee to all the peoples,
all the nations of the earth, and they all rejected thee with disdain. Then my
children came to Sinai, they accepted thee, and they honored thee. And now, on
the day of their distress, thou standest up against them?” Hearing this, the Torah
stepped aside, and did not testify. “Let the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew
alphabet in which Torah is written come and testify against Israel,” said God.
They appeared without delay, and Alef, the first letter, was about to testify
against Israel, when Abraham interrupted it with the words: “Thou chief of all
letters, thou comest to testify against Israel in the time of his distress? Be
mindful of the day on which God revealed Himself on Mount Sinai, beginning His
words with thee: ‘Anoki the Lord thy God.’ No people, no nation accepted thee,
only my children, and now thou comest to testify against them!” Alef stepped aside
and was silent. The same happened with the second letter Bet, and with the third,
Gimel, and with all the rest all of them retired abashed, and opened not their
mouth. Now Abraham turned to God and said: “O Lord of the world! When I was a
hundred years old, Thou didst give me a son, and when he was in the flower of
his age, thirty-seven years old, Thou didst command me to sacrifice him to Thee,
and I, like a monster, without compassion, I bound him upon the altar with mine
own hands. Let that plead with Thee, and have Thou pity on my children.”
Then Isaac raised his voice and spake: “O Lord of the world, when my father
told me, ‘God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son,’ I did
not resist Thy word. Willingly I let myself be tied to the altar, my throat was
raised to meet the knife. Let that plead with Thee, and have Thou pity on my children.”
Then Jacob raised his voice and spake: “O Lord of the world, for twenty years
I dwelt in the house of Laban, and when I left it, I met with Esau, who sought
to murder my children, and I risked my life for theirs. And now they are delivered
into the hands of their enemies, like sheep led to the shambles, after I coddled
them like fledglings breaking forth from their shells, after I suffered anguish
for their sake all the days of my life. Let that plead with Thee, and have Thou
pity on my children.”
And at last Moses raised his voice and spake: “O Lord of the world, was I not
a faithful shepherd unto Israel for forty long years? Like a steed I ran ahead
of him in the desert, and when the time came for him to enter the Promised Land,
Thou didst command: ‘Here in the desert shall thy bones drop!’ And now that the
children of Israel are exiled, Thou hast sent for me to mourn and lament over
them. That is what the people mean when they say: The good fortune of the master
is none for the slave, but the master’s woe is his woe.” And turning to Jeremiah,
he continued: “Walk before me, I will lead them back; let us see who will venture
to raise a hand against them.” Jeremiah replied: “The roads cannot be passed,
they are blocked with corpses.” But Moses was not to be deterred, and the two,
Moses following Jeremiah, reached the rivers of Babylon. When the Jews saw Moses,
they said: “The son of Amram has ascended from his grave to redeem us from our
enemies.” At that moment a heavenly voice was heard to cry out: “It is decreed!”
And Moses said: “O my children, I cannot redeem you, the decree is unalterable
may God redeem you speedily,” and he departed from them.
The children of Israel raised their voices in sore lamentations, and the sound
of their grief pierced to the very heavens. Meantime Moses returned to the Fathers,
and reported to them to what dire suffering the exiled Jews were exposed, and
they all broke out into woe-begone plaints. In his bitter grief, Moses exclaimed:
“Be cursed, O sun, why was not thy light extinguished in the hour in which the
enemy invaded the sanctuary?” The sun replied: “O faithful shepherd, I sware by
the life, I could not grow dark. The heavenly powers would not permit it. Sixty
fiery scourges they dealt me, and they said, ‘Go and let thy light shine forth,'”
Another last complaint Moses uttered: “O Lord of the world, Thou hast written
it in Thy Torah: ‘And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and her young
both in one day.’ How many mothers have they slaughtered with their children and
Thou art silent!”
Then, with the suddenness of a flash, Rachel, our mother, stood before the
Holy One, blessed be He: “Lord of the world,” she said, “Thou knowest how overwhelming
was Jacob’s love for me, and when I observed that my father thought to put Leah
in my place, I gave Jacob secret signs, that the plan of my father might be set
at naught. But then I repented me of what I had done, and to spare my sister mortification,
I disclosed the signs to her. More than this, I myself was in the bridal chamber,
and when Jacob spake with Leah, I made reply, lest her voice betray her. I, a
woman, a creature of flesh and blood, of dust and ashes, was not jealous of my
rival. Thou, O God, everlasting King, Thou eternal and merciful Father, why wast
Thou jealous of the idols, empty vanities? Why hast Thou driven out my children,
slain them with swords, left them at the mercy of their enemies?” Then the compassion
of the Supreme God was awakened, and He said: “For thy sake, O Rachel, I will
lead the children of Israel back to their land.”
JEREMIAH’S JOURNEY TO BABYLON
When Nebuchadnezzar dispatched his general Nebuzaradan to the capture of Jerusalem,
he gave him three instructions regarding the mild treatment of Jeremiah: “Take
him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall
say unto thee.” At the same time he enjoined him to use pitiless cruelty toward
the rest of the people. But the prophet desired to share the fate of his suffering
brethren, and when he saw a company of youths in the pillory, he put his own head
into it. Nebuzaradan would always withdraw him again. Thereafter if Jeremiah saw
a company of old men clapped in chains, he would join them and share their ignominy,
until Nebuzaradan released him. Finally, Nebuzaradan said to Jeremiah: “Lo, thou
art one of three things; either thou are a prophesier of false things, or thou
art a despiser of suffering, or thou art a shedder of blood. A prophesier of false
things for since many a year hast thou been prophesying the downfall of this city,
and now, when thy prophecy has come true, thou sorrowest and mournest. Or a despiser
of suffering for I seek to do thee naught harmful, and thou thyself pursuest what
is harmful to thee, as thou to say, ‘I am indifferent to pain.’ Or a shedder of
blood for the king has charged me to have a care of thee, and let no harm come
upon thee, but as thou insistest upon seeking evil for thyself, it must be that
the king may hear of thy misfortune, and put me to death.”
At first Jeremiah refused Nebuzaradan’s offer to let him remain in Palestine.
He joined the march of the captives going to Babylon, along the highways streaming
with blood and strewn with corpses. When they arrived at the borders of the Holy
Land, they all, prophet and people, broke out into loud wails, and Jeremiah said:
“Yes, brethren and countrymen, all this hath befallen you, because ye did not
hearken unto the words of my prophecy.” Jeremiah journeyed with them until they
came to the banks of the Euphrates. Then God spoke to the prophet: “Jeremiah,
if thou remainest here, I shall go with them, and if thou goest with them, I shall
remain here.” Jeremiah replied: “Lord of the world, if I go with them, what doth
it avail them? Only if their King, their Creator accompanies them, will it bestead
them.”
When the captives saw Jeremiah make preparations to return to Palestine, they
began to weep and cry: “O Father Jeremiah, wilt thou, too, abandon us?” “I call
heaven and earth to witness,” said the prophet, “had you wept but once in Zion,
ye had not been driven out.”
Beset with terrors was the return journey for the prophet. Corpses lay everywhere,
and Jeremiah gathered up all the fingers that lay about; he strained them to his
heart, fondled them, kissed them, and wrapped them in his mantle, saying sadly:
“Did I not tell you, my children, did I not say to you, ‘Give glory to the Lord
your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark
mountains’?”
Dejected, oppressed by his grief, Jeremiah saw the fulfilment of his prophecy
against the coquettish maidens of Jerusalem, who had pursued but the pleasures
and enjoyments of the world. How often had the prophet admonished them to do penance
and lead a God-fearing life! In vain; whenever he threatened them with the destruction
of Jerusalem, they said: “Why should we concern ourselves about it?” “A prince
will take me unto wife,” said one, the other, “A prefect will marry me.” And at
first it seemed the expectations of Jerusalem’s fair daughters would be realized,
for the most aristocratic of the victorious Chaldeans were charmed by the beauty
of the women of Jerusalem, and offered them their hand and their rank. But God
sent disfiguring and repulsive diseases upon the women, and the Babylonians cast
them off, threw them violently out of their chariots, and ruthlessly drove them
over the prostrate bodies.
TRANSPORTATION OF THE CAPTIVES
Nebuchadnezzar’s orders were to hurry the captives along the road to Babylon
without stop or stay. He feared the Jews might else find opportunity to supplicate
the mercy of God, and He, compassionate as He is, would release them instantly
they did penance. Accordingly, there was no pause in the forward march, until
the Euphrates was reached. There they were within the borders of the empire of
Nebuchadnezzar, and he thought he had nothing more to fear.
Many of the Jews died as soon as they drank of the Euphrates. In their native
land they had been accustomed to the water drawn from springs and wells. Mourning
over their dead and over the others that had fallen by the way, they sat on the
banks of the river, while Nebuchadnezzar and his princes on their vessels celebrated
their victory amid song and music. The king noticed that the princes of Judah,
though they were in chains, bore no load upon their shoulders, and he called to
his servants: “Have you no load for these?” They took the parchment scrolls of
the law, tore them in pieces, made sacks of them, and filled them with sand; these
they loaded upon the backs of the Jewish princes. At sight of this disgrace, all
Israel broke out into loud weeping. The voice of their sorrow pierced the very
heavens, and God determined to turn the world once more into chaos, for He told
Himself, that after all the world was created but for the sake of Israel. The
angels hastened thither, and they spake before God: “O Lord of the world, the
universe is Thine. Is it not enough that Thou hast dismembered Thy earthly house,
the Temple? Wilt Thou destroy Thy heavenly house, too?” God restraining them said:
“Do ye think I am a creature of flesh and blood, and stand in need of consolation?
Do I not know beginning and end of all things? Go rather and remove their burdens
from the princes of Judah.” Aided by God the angels descended, and they carried
the loads put upon the Jewish captives until they reached Babylon.
On their way, they passed the city of Bari. The inhabitants thereof were not
a little astonished at the cruelty of Nebuchadnezzar, who made the captives march
naked. The people of Bari stripped their slaves of their clothes, and presented
the slaves to Nebuchadnezzar. When the king expressed his astonishment thereat,
they said: “We thought thou wert particularly pleased with naked men.” The king
at once ordered the Jews to be arrayed in their garments. The reward accorded
the Bariites was that God endowed them forever with beauty and irresistible grace.
The compassionate Bariites did not find many imitators. The very opposite quality
was displayed by the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Arabs. Despite their close
kinship with Israel, their conduct toward the Jews was dictated by cruelty. The
two first-mentioned, the Ammonites and the Moabites, when they heard the prophet
foretell the destruction of Jerusalem, hastened without a moment’s delay to report
it to Nebuchadnezzar, and urge him to attack Jerusalem. The scruples of the Babylonian
king, who feared God, and all the reasons he advanced against a combat with Israel,
they refuted, and finally they induced him to act as they wished. At the capture
of the city, while all the strange nations were seeking booty, the Ammonites and
the Moabites threw themselves into the Temple to seize the scroll of the law,
because it contained the clause against their entering into the “assembly of the
Lord even to the tenth generation.” To disgrace the faith of Israel, they plucked
the Cherubim from the Holy of Holies and dragged them through the streets of Jerusalem,
crying aloud at the same time: “Behold these sacred things that belong to the
Israelites, who say ever they have no idols.”
The Edomites were still more hostile in the hour of Israel’s need. They went
to Jerusalem with Nebuchadnezzar, but they kept themselves at a distance from
the city, there to await the outcome of the battle between the Jews and the Babylonians.
If the Jews had been victorious, they would have pretended they had come to bring
them aid. When Nebuchadnezzar’s victory became known, they showed their true feelings.
Those who escaped the sword of the Babylonians, were hewn down by the hand of
the Edomites.
But in fiendish cunning these nations were surpassed by the Ishmaelites. Eighty
thousand young priests, each with a golden shield upon his breast, succeeded in
making their way through the ranks of Nebuchadnezzar and in reaching the Ishmaelites.
They asked for water to drink. The reply of the Ishmaelites was: “First eat, and
then you may drink,” at the same time handing them salt food. Their thirst was
increased, and the Ishmaelites gave them leather bags filled with nothing but
air instead of water. When they raised them to their mouths, the air entered their
bodies, and they fell dead.
Other Arabic tribes showed their hostility openly; as the Palmyrenes, who put
eighty thousand archers at the disposal of Nebuchadnezzar in his war against Israel.
THE SONS OF MOSES
If Nebuchadnezzar thought, that once he had the Jews in the regions of the
Euphrates they were in his power forever, he was greatly mistaken. It was on the
very banks of the great river that he suffered the loss of a number of his captives.
When the first stop was made by the Euphrates, the Jews could no longer contain
their grief, and they broke out into tears and bitter lamentations. Nebuchadnezzar
bade them be silent, and as though to render obedience to his orders the harder,
he called upon the Levites, the minstrels of the Temple to sing the songs of Zion
for the entertainment of his guests at the banquet he had arranged. The Levites
consulted with one another. “Not enough that the Temple lies in ashes because
of our sins, should we add to our transgressions by coaxing music from the strings
of our holy harps in honor of these ‘dwarfs’?” they said, and they determined
to offer resistance. The murderous Babylonians mowed them down in heaps, yet they
met death with high courage, for it saved their sacred instruments from the desecration
of being used before idols and for the sake of idolaters.
The Levites who survived the carnage the Sons of Moses they were bit their
own fingers off, and when they were asked to play, they showed their tyrants mutilated
hands, with which it was impossible to manipulate their harps. At the fall of
night a cloud descended and enveloped the Sons of Moses and all who belonged to
them. They were hidden from their enemies, while their own way was illuminated
by a pillar of fire. The cloud and the pillar vanished at break of day, and before
the Sons of Moses lay a tract of land bordered by the sea on three sides. For
their complete protection God made the river Sambation to flow on the fourth side.
This river is full of sand and stones, and on the six working days of the week,
they tumble over each other with such vehemence that the crash and the roar are
heard far and wide. But on the Sabbath the tumultuous river subsides into quiet.
As a guard against trespassers on that day, a column of cloud stretches along
the whole length of the river, and none can approach the Sambation within three
miles. Hedged in as they are, the Sons of Moses yet communicate with their brethren
of the tribes of Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, who dwell near the banks of the Sambation.
Carrier pigeons bear letters hither and thither.
In the land of the Sons of Moses there are none but clean animals, and in every
respect the inhabitants lead a holy and pure life, worthy of their ancestor Moses.
They never use an oath, and, if perchance an oath escapes the lips of one of them,
he is at once reminded of the Divine punishment connected with his act his children
will die at a tender age.
The Sons of Moses live peaceably and enjoy prosperity as equals through their
common Jewish faith. They have need of neither prince nor judge, for they know
not strife and litigation. Each works for the welfare of the community, and each
takes from the common store only what will satisfy his needs. Their houses are
built of equal height, that no one may deem himself above his neighbor, and that
that the fresh air may not be hindered from playing freely about all alike. Even
at night their doors stand wide open, for they have naught to fear from thieves,
nor are wild animals known in their land. They all attain a good old age. The
son never dies before the father. When a death occurs, there is rejoicing, because
the departed is known to have entered into life everlasting in loyalty to his
faith. The birth of a child, on the other hand, calls forth mourning, for who
can tell whether the being ushered into the world will be pious and faithful?
The dead are buried near the doors of their own houses, in order that their survivors,
in all their comings and goings, may be reminded of their own end. Disease is
unknown among them, for they never sin, and sickness is sent only to purify from
sins.
EBED-MELECH
The Sons of Moses were not the only ones to escape from under the heavy hand
of Nebuchadnezzar. Still more miraculous was the deliverance of the pious Ethiopian
Ebed-melech from the hands of the Babylonians. He was saved as a reward for rescuing
Jeremiah when the prophet’s life was jeopardized. On the day before the destruction
of the Temple, shortly before the enemy forced his way into the city, the Ethiopian
was sent, by the prophet Jeremiah acting under Divine instruction, to a certain
place in front of the gates of the city, to dole out refreshments to the poor
from a little basket of figs he was to carry with him. Ebed-melech reached the
spot, but the heat was so intense that he fell asleep under a tree, and there
he slept for sixty-six years. When he woke up, the figs were still fresh and juicy,
but all the surroundings had so changed, he could not make out where he was. His
confusion increased when he entered the city to seek Jeremiah, and found nothing
as it had been. He accosted an old man, and asked him the name of the place. When
he was told it was Jerusalem, Ebed-melech cried out in amazement: “Where is Jeremiah,
where is Baruch, and where are all the people?” The old man was not a little astonished
at these questions. How was it possible that one who had known Jeremiah and Jerusalem
should be ignorant of the events that had passed sixty years before? In brief
words he told Ebed-melech of the destruction of the Temple and of the captivity
of the people, but what he said found no credence with his auditor. Finally Ebed-melech
realized that God had performed a great miracle for him, so that he had been spared
the sight of Israel’s misfortune.
While he was pouring out his heart in gratitude to God, an eagle descended
and led him to Baruch, who lived not far from the city. Thereupon Baruch received
the command from God to write to Jeremiah that the people should remove the strangers
from the midst of them, and then God would lead them back to Jerusalem. The letter
written by Baruch and some of the figs that had retained their freshness for sixty-six
years were carried to Babylonia by an eagle, who had told Baruch that he had been
sent to serve him as a messenger. The eagle set out on his journey. His first
halting-place was a dreary waste spot to which he knew Jeremiah and the people
would come it was the burial-place of the Jews which Nebuchadnezzar had given
the prophet at his solicitation. When the eagle saw Jeremiah and the people approach
with a funeral train, he cried out: “I have a message for thee, Jeremiah. Let
all the people draw nigh to receive the good tidings.” As a sign that his mission
was true, the eagle touched the corpse, and it came to life. Amidst tears all
the people cried unto Jeremiah: “Save us! What must we do to return to our land?”
The eagle brought Jeremiah’s answer to Baruch, and after the prophet had sent
the Babylonian women away, he returned to Jerusalem with the people. Those who
would not submit to the orders of Jeremiah relative to the heathen women, were
not permitted by the prophet to enter the holy city, and as they likewise were
not permitted to return to Babylonia, they founded the city of Samaria near Jerusalem.
THE TEMPLE VESSELS
The task laid upon Jeremiah had been twofold. Besides giving him charge over
the people in the land of their exile, God had entrusted to him the care of the
sanctuary and all it contained. The holy Ark, the altar of incense, and the holy
tent were carried by an angel to the mount whence Moses before his death had viewed
the land divinely assigned to Israel. There Jeremiah found a spacious place, in
which he concealed these sacred utensils. Some of his companions had gone with
him to note the way to the cave, but yet they could not find it. When Jeremiah
heard of their purpose, he censured them, for it was the wish of God that the
place of hiding should remain a secret until the redemption, and then God Himself
will make the hidden things visible.
Even the Temple vessels not concealed by Jeremiah were prevented from falling
into the hands of the enemy; the gates of the Temple sank into the earth, and
other parts and utensils were hidden in a tower at Bagdad by the Levite Shimur
and his friends. Among these utensils was the seven-branched candlestick of pure
gold, every branch set with twenty-six pearls, and beside the pearls two hundred
stones of inestimable worth. Furthermore, the tower at Bagdad was the hiding-place
for seventy-seven golden tables, and for the gold with which the walls of the
Temple had been clothed within and without. The tables had been taken from Paradise
by Solomon, and in brilliance they outshone the sun and the moon, while the gold
from the walls excelled in amount and worth all the gold that had existed from
the creation of the world until the destruction of the Temple. The jewels, pearls,
gold, and silver, and precious gems, which David and Solomon had intended for
the Temple were discovered by the scribe Hilkiah, and he delivered them to the
angel Shamshiel, who in turn deposited the treasure in Borsippa. The sacred musical
instruments were taken charge of and hidden by Baruch and Zedekiah until the advent
of the Messiah, who will reveal all treasures. In his time a stream will break
forth from under the place of the Holy of Holies, and flow through the lands to
the Euphrates, and, as it flows, it will uncover all the treasures buried in the
earth.
BARUCH
At the time of the destruction of the Temple, one of the prominent figures
was Baruch, the faithful attendant of Jeremiah. God commanded him to leave the
city one day before the enemy was to enter it, in order that his presence might
not render it impregnable. On the following day, he and all other pious men having
abandoned Jerusalem, he saw from a distance how the angels descended, set fire
to the city walls, and concealed the sacred vessels of the Temple. At first his
mourning over the misfortunes of Jerusalem and the people knew no bounds. But
he was in a measure consoled at the end of a seven days’ fast, when God made known
to him that the day of reckoning would come for the heathen, too. Other Divine
visions were vouchsafed him. The whole future of mankind was unrolled before his
eyes, especially the history of Israel, and he learned that the coming of the
Messiah would put an end to all sorrow and misery, and usher in the reign of peace
and joy among men. As for him, he would be removed from the earth, he was told,
but not through death, and only in order to be kept safe against the coming of
the end of all time.
Thus consoled, Baruch addressed an admonition to the people left in Palestine,
and wrote two letters of the same tenor to the exiles, one to the nine tribes
and a half, the other to the two tribes and a half. The letter to the nine tribes
and a half of the captivity was carried to them by an eagle.
Five years after the great catastrophe, he composed a book in Babylon, which
contained penitential prayers and hymns of consolation, exhorting Israel and urging
the people to return to God and His law. This book Baruch read to King Jeconiah
and the whole people on a day of prayer and penitence. On the same occasion a
collection was taken up among the people, and the funds thus secured, together
with the silver Temple vessels made by order of Zedekiah after Jeconiah had been
carried away captive, were sent to Jerusalem, with the request that the high priest
Joakim and the people should apply the money to the sacrificial service and to
prayers for the life of King Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar. Thus they
might ensure peace and happiness under Babylonian rule. Above all, they were to
supplicate God to turn away His wrath from His people.
Baruch sent his book also to the residents of Jerusalem, and they read it in
the Temple on distinguished days, and recited the prayers it contains.
Baruch is one of the few mortals who have been privileged to visit Paradise
and know its secrets. An angel of the Lord appeared to him while he was lamenting
over the destruction of Jerusalem and took him to the seven heavens, to the place
of judgment where the doom of the godless is pronounced, and to the abodes of
the blessed.
He was still among the living at the time in which Cyrus permitted the Jews
to return to Palestine, but on account of his advanced age he could not avail
himself of the permission. So long as he was alive, his disciple Ezra remained
with him in Babylonia, for “the study of the law is more important than the building
of the Temple.” It was only after the death of Baruch that he decided to gather
together the exiles who desired to return to the Holy Land and rebuild the Temple
in Jerusalem.
THE TOMBS OF BARUCH AND EZEKIEL
The piety of Baruch and the great favor he enjoyed with God were made known
to later generations many years after his death, through the marvellous occurrences
connected with his tomb. Once a Babylonian prince commanded a Jew, Rabbi Solomon
by name, to show him the grave of Ezekiel, concerning which he had heard many
remarkable tales. The Jew advised the prince first to enter the tomb of Baruch,
which adjoined that of Ezekiel. Having succeeded in this, he might attempt the
same with the tomb of Ezekiel, the teacher of Baruch. In the presence of his grandees
and his people the prince tried to open the grave of Baruch, but his efforts were
fruitless. Whosoever touched it, was at once stricken dead. An old Arab advised
the prince to call upon the Jews to gain entrance for him, seeing that Baruch
had been a Jew, and his books were still being studied by Jews. The Jews prepared
themselves by fasts, prayers, penitence, and almsgiving, and they succeeded in
opening the grave without a mishap. Baruch was found lying on marble bier, and
the appearance of the corpse was as though he had only then passed away. The prince
ordered the bier to be brought to the city, and the body to be entombed there.
He thought it was not seemly that Ezekiel and Baruch should rest in the same grave.
But the bearers found it impossible to remove the bier more than two thousands
ells from the original grave; not even with the help of numerous draught-animals
could it be urged a single step further. Following the advice of Rabbi Solomon,
the prince resolved to enter the bier on the spot they had reached and also to
erect an academy there. These miraculous happenings induced the prince to go to
Mecca. There he became convinced of the falseness of Mohammedanism, of which he
had hitherto been an adherent, and he converted to Judaism, he and his whole court.
Near the grave of Baruch there grows a species of grass whose leaves are covered
with gold dust. As the sheen of the gold is not readily noticeable by day, the
people seek out the place at night, mark the very spot on which the grass grows,
and return by day and gather it.
Not less famous is the tomb of Ezekiel, at a distance of two thousand ells
from Baruch’s. It is overarched by a beautiful mausoleum erected by King Jeconiah
after Evil-merodach had released him from captivity. The mausoleum existed down
to the middle ages, and it bore on its walls the names of the thirty-five thousand
Jews who assisted Jeconiah in erecting the monument. It was the scene of many
miracles. When great crowds of people journeyed thither to pay reverence to the
memory of the prophet, the little low gate in the wall surrounding the grave enlarged
in width and height to admit all who desired to enter. Once a prince vowed to
give a colt to the grave of the prophet, if but his mare which had been sterile
would bear one. When his wish was fulfilled, however, he did not keep his promise.
But the filly ran a distance equal to a four days’ journey to the tomb, and his
owner could not recover it until he deposited his value in silver upon the grace.
When people went on long journeys, they were in the habit of carrying their treasures
to the grave of the prophet, and beseeching him to let none but the rightful heirs
remove them thence. The prophet always granted their petition. Once when an attempt
was made to take some books from the grave of Ezekiel, the ravager suddenly became
sick and blind. For a time a pillar of fire, visible at a great distance, rose
above the grave of the prophet, but it disappeared in consequence of the unseemly
conduct of the pilgrims who resorted thither.
Not far from the grave of Ezekiel was the grave of Barozak, who once appeared
to a rich Jew in a dream. He spoke: “I am Barozak, one of the princes who were
led into captivity with Jeremiah. I am one of the just. If thou wilt erect a handsome
mausoleum for me, thou wilt be blessed with progeny.” The Jew did as he had been
bidden, and he who had been childless, shortly after became a father.
DANIEL
The most distinguished member of the Babylonian Diaspora was Daniel. Though
not a prophet, he was surpassed by none in wisdom, piety, and good deeds. His
firm adherence to Judaism he displayed from his early youth, when, a page at the
royal court, he refused to partake of the bread, wine, and oil of the heathen,
even though the enjoyment of them was not prohibited by the law. In general, his
prominent position at the court was maintained at the cost of many a hardship,
for he and his companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were envied their distinctions
by numerous enemies, who sought to compass their ruin.
Once they were accused before King Nebuchadnezzar of leading an unchaste life.
The king resolved to order their execution. But Daniel and his friends mutilated
certain parts of their bodies, and so demonstrated how unfounded were the charges
against them.
As a youth Daniel gave evidence of his wisdom, when he convicted two old sinners
of having testified falsely against Susanna, as beautiful as she was good. Misled
by the perjured witnesses, the court had condemned Susanna to death. Then Daniel,
impelled by a higher power, appeared among the people, proclaimed that wrong had
been done, and demanded that the case be re-opened. And so it was. Daniel himself
cross-questioned the witnesses one after the other. The same questions were addressed
to both, and as the replies did not agree with each other, the false witnesses
stood condemned, and they were made to suffer the penalty they would have had
the court inflict upon their victim.
Daniel’s high position in the state dates from the time when he interpreted
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The king said to the astrologers and magicians: “I know
my dream, but I do not want to tell you what it was, else you will invent anything
at all, and pretend it is the interpretation of the dream. But if you tell me
the dream, then I shall have confidence in your interpretation of it.”
After much talk between Nebuchadnezzar and his wise men, they confessed that
the king’s wish might have been fulfilled, if but the Temple had still existed.
The high priest at Jerusalem might have revealed the secret by consulting the
Urim and Thummim. At this point the king became wrathful against his wise men,
who had advised him to destroy the Temple, though they must have known how useful
it might become to the king and the state. He ordered them all to execution. Their
life was saved by Daniel, who recited the king’s dream, and gave its interpretation.
The king was so filled with admiration of Daniel’s wisdom that he paid him Divine
honors. Daniel, however, refused such extravagant treatment he did not desire
to be the object of idolatrous veneration. He left Nebuchadnezzar in order to
escape the marks of honor thrust upon him, and repaired to Tiberias, where he
build a canal. Besides, he was charged by the king with commissions, to bring
fodder for cattle to Babylonia and also swine from Alexandria.
THE THREE MEN IN THE FURNACE
During Daniel’s absence Nebuchadnezzar set up an idol, and its worship was
exacted from all his subject under penalty of death by fire. The image could not
stand on account of the disproportion between its height and its thickness. The
whole of the gold and silver captured by the Babylonians in Jerusalem was needed
to give it steadiness.
All the nations owning the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, including even Israel, obeyed
the royal command to worship the image. Only the three pious companions of Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, resisted the order. In vain Nebuchadnezzar urged
upon them, as an argument in favor if idolatry, that the Jews had been so devoted
to heathen practices before the destruction of Jerusalem that they had gone to
Babylonia for the purpose of imitating the idols there and bringing the copies
they made to Jerusalem. The three saints would not hearken to these seductions
of the king, nor when he referred them to such authorities as Moses and Jeremiah,
in order to prove to them that they were under obligation to do the royal bidding.
They said to him: “Thou art our king in all that concerns service, taxes, poll-money,
and tribute, but with respect to thy present command thou art only Nebuchadnezzar.
Therein thou and the dog are alike unto us. Bark like a dog, inflate thyself like
a water-bottle, and chirp like a cricket.”
Now Nebuchadnezzar’s wrath transcended all bound, and he ordered the three
to be cast into a red hot furnace, so hot that the flames of its fire darted to
the height of forty-nine ells beyond the oven, and consumed the heathen standing
about it. No less than four nations were thus exterminated. While the three saints
were being thrust into the furnace, they addressed a fervent prayer to God, supplicating
His grace toward them, and entreating Him to put their adversaries to shame. The
angels desired to descend and rescue the three men in the furnace. But God forbade
it: “Did the three men act thus for your sakes? Nay, they did it for Me; and I
will save them with Mine own hands.” God also rejected the good offices of Yurkami,
the angel of hail who offered to extinguish the fire in the furnace. The angel
Gabriel justly pointed out that such a miracle would not be sufficiently striking
to arrest attention. His own proposition was accepted. He, the angel of fire,
was deputed to snatch the three men from the red hot furnace. He executed his
mission by cooling off the fire inside of the oven, while on the outside the heat
continued to increase to such a degree that the heathen standing around the furnace
were consumed. The three youths thereupon raised their voices together in a hymn
of praise to God, thanking Him for His miraculous help. The Chaldeans observed
the three men pacing up and down quietly in the furnace, followed by a fourth
the angel Gabriel as by an attendant. Nebuchadnezzar, who hastened thither to
see the wonder, was stunned with fright, for he recognized Gabriel to be the angel
who in the guise of a column of fire had blasted the army of Sennacherib. Six
other miracles happened, all of them driving terror to the heart of the king:
the fiery furnace which had been sunk in the ground raised itself into the air;
it was broken; the bottom dropped out; the image erected by Nebuchadnezzar fell
prostrate; four nations were wasted by fire; and Ezekiel revived the dead in the
valley of Dura.
Of the last, Nebuchadnezzar was apprised in a peculiar way. He had a drinking
vessel made of the bones of a slain Jew. When he was about to use it, life began
to stir in the bones, and a blow was planted in the king’s face, while a voice
announced: “A friend of this man is at this moment reviving the dead!” Nebuchadnezzar
now offered praise to God for the miracles performed, and if an angel had not
quickly struck him a blow on his mouth, and forced him into silence, his psalms
of praise would have excelled the Psalter of David.
The deliverance of the three pious young men was a brilliant vindication of
their ways, but at the same time it caused great mortification to the masses of
the Jewish people, who had complied with the order of Nebuchadnezzar to worship
his idol. Accordingly, when the three men left the furnace which they did not
do until Nebuchadnezzar invited them to leave the heathen struck all the Jews
they met in the face, deriding them at the same time: “You who have so marvellous
a God pay homage to an idol!” The three men thereupon left Babylonia and went
to Palestine, where they joined their friend, the high priest Joshua.
Their readiness to sacrifice their lives for the honor of God had been all
the more admirable as they had been advised by the prophet Ezekiel that no miracle
would be done for their sakes. When the king’s command to bow down before the
idol was published, and the three men were appointed to act as the representatives
of the people, Hananiah and his companions resorted to Daniel for his advice.
He referred them to the prophet Ezekiel, who counselled flight, citing his teacher
Isaiah as his authority. The three men rejected his advice, and declared themselves
ready to suffer the death of martyrs. Ezekiel bade them tarry until he inquired
of God, whether a miracle would be done for them. The words of God were: “I shall
not manifest Myself as their savior. They caused My house to be destroyed, My
palace to be burnt, My children to be dispersed among the heathen, and now they
appeal for My help. As I live, I will not be found of them.”
Instead of discouraging the three men, this answer but infused new spirit and
resolution in them, and they declared with more decided emphasis than before,
that they were ready to meet death. God consoled the weeping prophet by revealing
to him, that He would save the three saintly heroes. He had sought to restrain
them from martyrdom only to let their piety and steadfastness appear the brighter.
On account of their piety it became customary to swear by the Name of Him who
supports the world on three pillars, the pillars being the saints Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah. Their deliverance from death by fire worked a great effect upon the
disposition of the heathen. They were convinced of the uselessness of their idols,
and with their own hands they destroyed them.
EZEKIEL REVIVES THE DEAD
Among the dead whom Ezekiel restored to life at the same time when the three
men were redeemed from the fiery furnace were different classes of persons. Some
were the Ephraimites that had perished in the attempt to escape from Egypt before
Moses led the whole nation out of the land of bondage. Some were the godless among
the Jews that had polluted the Temple at Jerusalem with heathen rites, and those
still more godless who in life had not believed in the resurrection of the dead.
Others of those revived by Ezekiel were the youths among the Jews carried away
captive to Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar whose beauty was so radiant that it darkened
the very splendor of the sun. The Babylonian women were seized with a great passion
for them, and at the solicitation of their husbands, Nebuchadnezzar ordered a
bloody massacre of the handsome youths. But the Babylonian women were not yet
cured of their unlawful passion; the beauty of the young Hebrews haunted them
until their corpses lay crushed before them, their graceful bodies mutilated.
These were the youths recalled to life by the prophet Ezekiel. Lastly, he revived
some that had perished only a short time before. When Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah
were saved from death, Nebuchadnezzar thus addressed the other Jews, those who
had yielded obedience to his command concerning the worship of the idol: “You
know that your God can help and save, nevertheless you paid worship to an idol
which is incapable of doing anything. This proves that, as you have destroyed
your own land by your wicked deeds, so you are now trying to destroy my land with
your iniquity.” Forthwith he commanded that they all be executed, sixty thousand
in number. Twenty years passed, and Ezekiel was vouchsafed the vision in which
God bade him repair to the Valley of Dura, where Nebuchadnezzar had set up his
idol, and had massacred the host of the Jews. Here God showed him the dry bones
of the slain with the question: “Can I revive these bones?” Ezekiel’s answer was
evasive, and as a punishment for his little faith, he had to end his days in Babylon,
and was not granted even burial in the soil of Palestine. God then dropped the
dew of heaven upon the dry bones, and “sinews were upon them, and flesh came up,
and skin covered them above.” At the same time God sent forth winds to the four
corners of the earth, which unlocked the treasure houses of souls, and brought
its own soul to each body. All came to life except one man, who, as God explained
to the prophet, was excluded from the resurrection because he was a usurer.
In spite of the marvellous miracle performed from them, the men thus restored
to life wept, because they feared they would have no share at the end of time
in the resurrection of the whole of Israel. But the prophet assured them, in the
name of God, that their portion in all that had been promised Israel should in
no wise be diminished.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR A BEAST
Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of the whole world, to whom even the wild animals
paid obedience, his pet was a lion with a snake coiled about its neck, did not
escape punishment for his sins. He was chastised as none before him. He whom fear
of God had at first held back from a war against Jerusalem, and who had to be
dragged forcibly, as he sat on his horse, to the Holy of Holies by the archangel
Michael, he later became so arrogant that he thought himself a god, and cherished
the plan of enveloping himself in a cloud, so that he might live apart from men.
A heavenly voice resounded: “O thou wicked man, son of a wicked man, and descendant
of Nimrod the wicked, who incited the world to rebel against God! Behold, the
days of the years of a man are threescore years and ten, or perhaps by reason
of strength fourscore years. It takes five hundred years to traverse the distance
of the earth from the first heaven, and as long a time to penetrate from the bottom
to the top of the first heaven, and not less are the distances from one of the
seven heavens to the next. How, then, canst thou speak of ascending like unto
the Most High ‘above the heights of the clouds’?” For this transgression of deeming
himself more than a man, he was punished by being made to live for some time as
a beast among beasts, treated by them as though he were one of them. For forty
days he led this life. As far down as his navel he had the appearance of an ox,
and the lower part of his body resembled that of a lion. Like an ox he ate grass,
and like a lion he attacked a curious crowd, but Daniel spent his time in prayer,
entreating that the seven years of this brutish life allotted to Nebuchadnezzar
might be reduced to seven months. His prayer was granted. At the end of forty
days reason returned to the king, the next forty days he passed in weeping bitterly
over his sins, and in the interval that remained to complete the seven months
he again lived the life of a beast.
HIRAM
Hiram, the king of Tyre, was a contemporary of Nebuchadnezzar, and in many
respects resembled him. He, too, esteemed himself a god, and sought to make men
believe in his divinity by the artificial heavens he fashioned for himself. In
the sea he erected four iron pillars, on which he build up seven heavens, each
five hundred ells larger than the one below. The first was a plate of glass of
five hundred square ells, and the second a plate of iron of a thousand square
ells. The third, of lead, and separated from the second by canals, contained huge
round boulders, which produced the sound of thunder on the iron. The fourth heaven
was of brass, the fifth of copper, the sixth of silver, and the seventh of gold,
all separated from each other by canals. In the seventh, thirty-five hundred ells
in extent, he had diamonds and pearls, which he manipulated so as to produce the
effect of flashes and sheets of lightening, while the stones below imitated the
growling of the thunder.
As Hiram was thus floating above the earth, in his vain imagination deeming
himself superior to the rest of men, he suddenly perceived the prophet Ezekiel
next to himself. He had been waved thither by a wind. Frightened and amazed, Hiram
asked the prophet how he had risen to his heights. The answer was: “God brought
me here, and He bade me ask thee why thou art so proud, thou born of woman?” The
king of Tyre replied defiantly: “I am not one born of woman; I live forever, and
as God resides on the sea, so my abode is on the sea, and as He inhabits seven
heavens, so do I. See how many kings I have survived! Twenty-one of the House
of David, and as many of the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes, and no less than fifty
prophets and ten high priests have I buried.” Thereupon God said: “I will destroy
My house, that henceforth Hiram may have no reason for self-glorification, because
all his pride comes only from the circumstance that he furnished the cedar-trees
for the building of the Temple.” The end of this proud king was that he was conquered
by Nebuchadnezzar, deprived of this throne, and made to suffer a cruel death.
Though the Babylonian king was the step-son of Hiram, he had no mercy with him.
Daily he cut off a bit of the flesh of his body, and forced the Tyrian king to
eat it, until the finally perished. Hiram’s palace was swallowed by the earth,
and in the bowels of the earth it will remain until it shall emerge in the future
world as the habitation of the pious.
THE FALSE PROPHETS
Not only among the heathen, but also among the Jews there were very sinful
people in those days. The most notorious Jewish sinners were the two false prophets
Ahab and Zedekiah. Ahab came to the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and said: “Yield
thyself to Zedekiah,” telling her this in the form of a Divine message. The same
was done by Zedekiah, who only varied the message by substituting the name of
Ahab. The princess could not accept such messages as Divine, and she told her
father what had occurred. Though Nebuchadnezzar was so addicted to immoral practices
that he was in the habit of making his captive kings drunk, and then satisfying
his unnatural lusts upon them, and a miracle had to interpose to shield the pious
of Judah against this disgrace, yet he well knew that the God of the Jews hates
immorality. He therefore questioned Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about it, and
they emphatically denied the possibility that such a message could have come from
God. The prophets of lies refused to recall their statements, and Nebuchadnezzar
decided to subject them to the same fiery test as he had decreed for the three
pious companions of Daniel. To be fair toward them, the king permitted them to
choose a third fellow-sufferer, some pious man to share their lot. Seeing no escape,
Ahab and Zedekiah asked for Joshua, later the high priest, as their companion
in the furnace, in the hope that his distinguished merits would suffice to save
all three of them. They were mistaken. Joshua emerged unhurt, only his garments
were seared, but the false prophets were consumed. Joshua explained the singeing
of his garments by the fact that he was directly exposed to the full fury of the
flames. But the truth was that he had to expiate the sins of his sons, who had
contracted marriages unworthy of their dignity and descent. Therefore their father
escaped death only after the fire had burnt his garments.
DANIEL’S PIETY
No greater contrast to Hiram and the false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah can be
imagined than is presented by the character of the pious Daniel. When Nebuchadnezzar
offered him Divine honors, he refused what Hiram sought to obtain by every means
in his power. The Babylonian king felt so ardent an admiration for Daniel that
he sent him from the country when the time arrived to worship the idol he had
erected in Dura, for he knew very well that Daniel would prefer death in the flames
to disregard of the commands of God, and he could not well have cast the man into
the fire to whom he had paid Divine homage. Moreover, it was the wish of God that
Daniel should not pass through the fiery ordeal at the same time as his three
friends, in order that their deliverance might not be ascribed to him.
In spite of all this, Nebuchadnezzar endeavored to persuade Daniel by gentle
means to worship an idol. He had the golden diadem of the high priest inserted
in the mouth of an idol, and by reason of the wondrous power that resides in the
Holy Name inscribed on the diadem, the idol gained the ability to speak, and it
said the words: “I am thy God.” Thus were many seduced to worship the image. But
Daniel could not be misled so easily. He secured permission from the king to kiss
the idol. Laying his mouth upon the idol’s, he adjured the diadem in the following
words: “I am but flesh and blood, yet at the same time a messenger of God. I therefore
admonish thee, take heed that the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, may not
be desecrated, and I order thee to follow me.” So it happened. When the heathen
came with music and song to give honor to the idol, it emitted no sound, but a
storm broke loose and overturned it.
On still another occasion Nebuchadnezzar tried to persuade Daniel to worship
an idol, this time a dragon that devoured all who approached it, and therefore
was adored as a god by the Babylonians. Daniel had straw mixed with nails fed
to him, and the dragon ate and perished almost immediately.
All this did not prevent Daniel from keeping the welfare of the king in mind
continually. Hence it was that when Nebuchadnezzar was engaged in setting his
house in order, he desired to mention ‘Daniel in his will as one of his heirs.
But the Jew refused with the words: “Far be it from me to leave the inheritance
of my fathers for that of the uncircumcised.”
Nebuchadnezzar died after having reigned forty years, as long as King David.
The death of the tyrant brought hope and joy to many a heart, for his severity
had been such that during his lifetime none dared laugh, and when he descended
to Sheol, its inhabitants trembled, fearing he had come to reign over them, too.
However, a heavenly voice called to him: “Go down, and be thou laid down with
the uncircumcised.”
The interment of this great king was anything but what one might have expected,
and for this reason: During the seven years spent by Nebuchadnezzar among the
beast, his son Evil-merodach ruled in his stead. Nebuchadnezzar reappeared after
his period of penance, and incarcerated his son for life. When the death of Nebuchadnezzar
actually did occur, Evil-merodach refused to accept the homage the nobles brought
him as the new king, because he feared that his father was not dead, but had only
disappeared as once before, and would return again. To convince him of the groundlessness
of his apprehension, the corpse of Nebuchadnezzar, badly mutilated by his enemies,
was dragged through the streets.
Shortly afterward occurred the death of Zedekiah, the dethroned king of Judah.
His burial took place amid great demonstrations of sympathy and mourning. The
elegy over him ran thus: “Alas that King Zedekiah had to die, he who quaffed the
lees which all the generations before him accumulated.”
Zedekiah reached a good old age, for though it was in his reign that the destruction
of Jerusalem took place, yet it was the guilt of the nation, not of the king,
that had brought about the catastrophe.
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