Hogla, the old slave’s granddaughter, had come to beseech Hosea to go
with her at once to her grandfather, who had suddenly broken down, and
who feeling the approach of death could not perish without having once
more seen and blessed him.
The warrior told her to wait and, after assuring himself that Ephraim
was sleeping quietly, ordered a trusty man to watch beside his bed and
went away with Hogla.
The girl walked before him, carrying a small lantern, and as its light
fell on her face and figure, he saw how unlovely she was, for the hard
toil of slavery had bowed the poor thing’s back before its time. Her
voice had the harsh accents frequently heard in the tones of women whose
strength has been pitilessly tasked; but her words were kind and tender,
and Hosea forgot her appearance when she told him that her lover
had gone with the departing tribes, yet she had remained with her
grandparents because she could not bring herself to leave the old couple
alone. Because she had no beauty no man had sought her for his wife
till Assir came, who did not care for her looks because he toiled
industriously, like herself, and expected her to add to his savings. He
would gladly have stayed with her, but his father had commanded him to
go forth, so there was no choice for them save to obey and part forever.
The words were simple and the accents harsh, yet they pierced the heart
of the man who was preparing to follow his own path in opposition to his
father’s will.
As they approached the harbor and Hosea saw the embankments, and the
vast fortified storehouses built by his own people, he remembered
the ragged laborers whom he had so often beheld crouching before the
Egyptian overseers or fighting savagely among themselves. He had heard,
too, that they shrunk from no lies, no fraud to escape their toil, and
how difficult was the task of compelling them to obey and fulfil their
duty.
The most repulsive forms among these luckless hordes rose distinctly
before his vision, and the thought that it might henceforward be his
destiny to command such a wretched rabble seemed to him ignominy which
the lowest of his brave officers, the leader of but fifty men, would
seek to avoid. True, Pharaoh’s armies contained many a Hebrew mercenary
who had won renown for bravery and endurance; but these men were the
sons of owners of herds or people who had once been shepherds. The
toiling slaves, whose clay huts could be upset by a kick, formed the
majority of those to whom he was required to return.
Resolute in his purpose to remain loyal to the oath which bound him to
the Egyptian standard, yet moved to the very depths of his heart, he
entered the slave’s little hut, and his anger rose when he saw old Eliab
sitting up, mixing some wine and water with his own hands. So he had
been summoned from his nephew’s sick-bed, and robbed of his night’s
rest, on a false pretence, in order that a slave, in his eyes scarcely
entitled to rank as a man, might have his way. Here he himself
experienced a specimen of the selfish craft of which the Egyptians
accused his people, and which certainly did not attract him, Hosea, to
them. But the anger of the just, keen sighted-man quickly subsided
at the sight of the girl’s unfeigned joy in her grandfather’s speedy
recovery. Besides he soon learned from the old man’s aged wife that,
shortly after Hogla’s departure, she remembered the wine they had, and
as soon as he swallowed the first draught her husband, whom she had
believed had one foot in the grave, grew better and better. Now he was
mixing some more of God’s gift to strengthen himself occasionally by a
sip.
Here Eliab interrupted her to say that they owed this and many more
valuable things to the goodness of Nun, Hosea’s father, who had given
them, besides their little hut, wine, meal for bread, a milch cow, and
also an ass, so that he could often ride out into the fresh air. He had
likewise left them their granddaughter and some pieces of silver, so
that they could look forward without fear to the end of their days,
especially as they had behind the house a bit of ground, where Hogla
meant to raise radishes, onions, and leeks for their own table. But the
best gift of all was the written document making them and the girl free
forever. Ay, Nun was a true master and father to his people, and the
blessing of Jehovah had followed his gifts; for soon after the departure
of the Hebrews, he and his wife had been brought hither unmolested by
the aid of Assir, Hogla’s lover.
“We old people shall die here,” Eliab’s wife added. But Assir promised
Hogla that he would come back for her when she had discharged her filial
duties to the end.
Then, turning to her granddaughter, she said encouragingly: “And we
cannot live much longer now.”
Hogla raised her blue gown to wipe the tears from her eyes, exclaiming
“May it be a long, long time yet. I am young and can wait.”
Hosea heard the words, and again it seemed as though the poor, forsaken,
unlovely girl was giving him a lesson.
He had listened patiently to the freed slaves’ talk, but his time was
limited and he now asked whether Eliab had summoned him for any special
purpose.
“Ay,” he replied; “I was obliged to send, not only to still the yearning
of my old heart, but because my lord Nun commanded me to do so.”
“Thou hast attained a grand and noble manhood, and hast now become
the hope of Israel. Thy father promised the slaves and freedmen of his
household that after his death, thou wouldst be heir, lord and master.
His words were full of thy praise, and great rejoicing hailed his
statement that thou wouldst follow the departing Hebrews. And my lord
deigned to command me to tell thee, if thou should’st return ere his
messenger arrived, that Nun, thy father, expected his son. Whithersoever
thy nation may wander, thou art to follow. Toward sunrise, or at latest
by the noon-tide hour, the tribes will tarry to rest at Succoth. He will
conceal in the hollow sycamore that stands in front of Amminadab’s house
a letter which will inform thee whither they will next turn their steps.
His blessing and that of our God will attend thy every step.”
As Eliab uttered the last words, Hosea bowed his head as if inviting
invisible hands to be laid upon it. Then he thanked the old man and
asked, in subdued tones, whether all the Hebrews had willingly obeyed
the summons to leave house and lands.
His aged wife clasped her hands, exclaiming: “Oh no, my lord, certainly
not. What wailing and weeping filled the air before their departure!
Many refused to go, others fled, or sought some hiding-place. But all
resistance was futile. In the house of our neighbor Deuel--you know
him--his young wife had just given birth to their first son. How was she
to fare on the journey? She wept bitterly and her husband uttered fierce
curses, but it was all in vain. She was put in a cart with her babe,
and as the arrangements went on, both submitted like all the rest--even
Phineas who crept into a pigeon-house with his wife and five children,
and crooked grave-haunting Kusaja. Do you remember her? Adonai! She had
seen father, mother, husband, and three noble sons, all that the Lord
had given her to love, borne to the tomb. They lay side by side in
our burying ground, and every morning and evening she went there and,
sitting on a log of wood which she had rolled close to the gravestones,
moved her lips constantly, not in prayer--no, I have listened often when
she did not know I was near--no; she talked to the dead, as though they
could hear her in the sepulchre, and understand her words like those who
walk alive beneath the sun. She is near seventy, and for thrice seven
years she has gone by the name of grave-haunting Kusaja. It was in sooth
a foolish thing to do; yet perhaps that was why she found it all the
harder to give it up, and go she would not, but hid herself among the
bushes. When Ahieser, the overseer, dragged her out, her wailing made
one’s heart sore, yet when the time for departure came, the longing
to go seized upon her also, and she found it as hard to resist as the
others.”
“What had happened to the poor creatures, what possessed them?” asked
Hosea, interrupting the old wife’s speech; for in imagination he again
beheld the people he must lead, if he valued his father’s blessing as
the most priceless boon the world could offer, and beheld them in all
their wretchedness.
The startled dame, fearing that she had offended her master’s first-born
son, the great and powerful chieftain, stammered:
“What possessed them, my lord? Ah, well--I am but a poor lowly
slave-woman; yet, my lord, had you but seen it.... ”
“Well, even then?” interrupted the warrior in harsh, impatient tones,
for this was the first time he had ever found himself compelled to act
against his desires and belief.
Eliab tried to come to the assistance of the terrified woman, saying
timidly,
“Ah, my lord, no tongue can relate, no human mind can picture it.
It came from the Almighty and, if I could describe how great was its
influence on the souls of the people....”
“Try,” Hosea broke in, “but my time is brief. So they were compelled
to depart, and set forth reluctantly on their wanderings. Even the
Egyptians have long known that they obeyed the bidding of Moses and
Aaron as the sheep follow the shepherd. Have those who brought the
terrible pestilence on so many guiltless human beings also wrought the
miracle of blinding the minds of you and of your wife?”
The old man stretched out his hands to the soldier, and answered in a
troubled voice and a tone of the most humble entreaty:
“Oh, my lord, you are my master’s first-born son, the greatest and
loftiest of your race, if it is your pleasure you can trample me into
the dust like a beetle, yet I must lift up my voice and say: ‘You have
heard false tales!’ You were away in foreign lands when mighty things
were done in our midst, and far from Zoan,--[The Hebrew name for
Tanis]--as I hear, when the exodus took place. Any son of our people
who witnessed it would rather his tongue should wither than mock at the
marvels the Lord permitted him to behold. Ah, if you had patience to
suffer me to tell the tale....”
“Speak on!” cried Hosea, astonished at the old man’s solemn fervor.
Eliab thanked him with an ardent glance, exclaiming:
“Oh, would that Aaron, or Eleasar, or my lord your father were here in
my stead, or would that Jehovah would bestow on me the might of their
eloquence! But be it as it is! True, I imagine I can again see and hear
everything as though it were happening once more before my eyes, but how
am I to describe it? How can such things be given in words? Yet, with
God’s assistance, I will try.”
Here he paused and Hosea, noticing that the old man’s hands and lips
were trembling, gave him the cup of wine, and Eliab gratefully quaffed
it to the dregs. Then, half-closing his eyes, he began his story and his
wrinkled features grew sharper as he went on:
“My wife has already told you what occurred after the people learned the
command that had been issued. We, too, were among those who lost courage
and murmured. But last night, all who belonged to the household of
Nun--and also the shepherds, the slaves, and the poor--were summoned to
a feast, and there was abundance of roast lamb, fresh, unleavened bread,
and wine, more than usual at the harvest festival, which began that
night, and which you, my lord, have often attended in your boyhood. We
sat rejoicing, and our lord, your father, comforted us, and told us of
the God of our fathers and the wonders He had wrought for them. It
was now His will that we should go forth from this land where we had
suffered contempt and bondage. This was no sacrifice like that of
Abraham when, at the command of the Most High, he had whetted his knife
to shed the blood of his son Isaac, though it would be hard for many of
us to quit a home that had grown dear to us and forego many a familiar
custom. But it will be a great happiness for us all. For, he said, we
were not to journey forth to an unknown country, but to a beautiful
region which God Himself had set apart for us. He had promised us,
instead of this place of bondage, a new and delightful home where we
should dwell free men, amid fruitful fields and rich pastures, which
would supply food to every man and his family and make all hearts
rejoice. Just as laborers must work hard to earn high wages, we must
endure a brief period of want and suffering to gain for ourselves and
for our children the beautiful new home which the Lord had promised.
God’s own land it must be, for it was a gift of the Most High.
“Having spoken thus, he blessed us all and promised that thou, too,
wouldst shake the dust from off thy feet, and join us to fight for our
cause with a strong arm as a trained soldier and a dutiful son.
“Shouts of joy rang forth and, when we assembled in the market-place and
found that all the bondmen had escaped from the overseers, many gained
fresh courage. Then Aaron stepped into our midst, stood upon the
auctioneer’s bench, and told us with his own lips all that we had
heard from my master Nun at the festival. The words he uttered sounded
sometimes like pealing thunder, and anon like the sweet melody of lutes,
and every one felt that the Lord our God Himself was speaking through
him; for even the most rebellious were so deeply moved that they no
longer complained and murmured. And when he finally announced to the
throng that no erring mortal, but the Lord our God Himself would be our
leader, and described the wonders of the land whose gates He would open
unto us, and where we might live, trammelled by no bondage, as free and
happy men, owing no obedience to any ruler save the God of our fathers
and those whom we ourselves chose for our leaders, every man present
felt as though he were drunk with sweet wine, and, instead of faring
forth across a barren wilderness to an unknown goal, was on the way to a
great festal banquet, prepared by the Most High Himself. Even those who
had not heard Aaron’s words were inspired with wondrous faith; men and
women behaved even more joyously and noisily than usual at the harvest
festival, for every heart was overflowing with genuine gratitude.
“The old people caught the universal spirit! Your grandfather Elishama,
bowed by the weight of his hundred years, who, as you know, has long sat
bent and silent in his corner, straightened his drooping form, and with
sparkling eyes poured forth a flood of eloquent words. The spirit of the
Lord had descended upon him and upon us all. I myself felt as though
the vigor of youth had returned to mind and body, and when I passed the
throngs who were preparing to set forth, I saw the young mother Elisheba
in her litter. Her face was as radiant as on her marriage morn, and she
was pressing her nursling to her breast, and rejoicing over his happy
fate in growing up in freedom in the Promised Land. Her spouse, Deuel,
who had poured forth such bitter imprecations, now waved his staff,
kissed his wife and child with tears of joy, and shouted with delight
like a vintager at the harvest season, when jars and wine skins are
too few to hold the blessing. Old grave-haunting Kusaja, who had been
dragged away from the sepulchre of her kindred, was sitting in a cart
with other infirm folk, waving her veil and joining in the hymn of
praise Elkanah and Abiasaph, the sons of Korah, had begun. So they went
forth; we who were left behind fell into each other’s arms, uncertain
whether the tears we shed streamed from our eyes for grief or for sheer
joy at seeing the throng of our loved ones so full of hope and gladness.
“So it came to pass.
“As soon as the pitch torches borne at the head of the procession,
which seemed to me to shine more brightly than the lamps lighted by the
Egyptians on the gates of the temple of the great goddess Neith, had
vanished in the darkness, we set out, that we might not delay Assir too
long, and while passing through the streets, which resounded with the
wailing of the citizens, we softly sang the hymn of the sons of Korah,
and great joy and peace filled our hearts, for we knew that the Lord our
God would defend and guide His people.”
The old man paused, but his wife and Hogla, who had listened with
sparkling eyes, leaned one on the other and, without any prompting,
began the hymn of praise of the sons of Korah, the old woman’s faint
voice mingling with touching fervor with the tones of the girl, whose
harsh notes thrilled with the loftiest enthusiasm.
Hosea felt that it would be criminal to interrupt the outpouring of
these earnest hearts, but Eliab soon stopped them and gazed with evident
anxiety into the stern face of his lord’s first-born son.
Had Hosea understood him?
Did this warrior, who served under Pharaoh’s banner, realize how
entirely the Lord God Himself had ruled the souls of his people at their
departure.
Had the life among the Egyptians so estranged him from his people and
his God, rendered him so degenerate, that he would bid defiance to the
wishes and commands of his own father?
Was the man on whom the Hebrews’ highest hopes were fixed a renegade,
forever lost to his people?
He received no verbal answer to these mute questions, but when Hosea
grasped his callous right hand in both his own and pressed it as he
would have clasped a friend’s, when he bade him farewell with tearful
eyes, murmuring: “You shall hear from me!” he felt that he knew enough
and, overwhelmed with passionate delight, he pressed kiss after kiss
upon the warrior’s arms and clothing.