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. (46) 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. (47) 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. (48)
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. (49) 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." (50) 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 (51) 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. (52)
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. (53)