Hosea returned to the camp with drooping head. The conflict in his soul
was at an end. He now knew what duty required. He must obey his father’s
summons.
And the God of his race!
The old man’s tale had given new life to the memories of his childhood,
and he now knew that He was not the same God as the Seth of the Asiatics
in Lower Egypt, nor the “One” and the “Sum of All” of the adepts.
The prayers he had uttered ere he fell asleep, the history of the
creation of the world, which he could never hear sufficiently often,
because it showed so clearly the gradual development of everything on
earth and in heaven until man came to possess and enjoy all, the story
of Abraham and Isaac, of Jacob, Esau, and his own ancestor, Joseph--how
gladly he had listened to these tales as they fell from the lips of the
gentle woman who had given him life, and from those of his nurse, and
his grandfather Elishama. Yet he imagined that they had faded from his
memory long ago.
But in old Eliab’s hovel he could have repeated the stories word for
word, and he now knew that there was indeed one invisible, omnipotent
God, who had preferred his race above all others, and had promised to
make them a mighty people.
The truths concealed by the Egyptians under the greatest mystery were
the common property of his race. Every beggar, every slave might raise
his hands in supplication to the one invisible God who had revealed
Himself unto Abraham.
Shrewd Egyptians, who had divined His existence and shrouded His image
with monstrous shapes, born of their own thoughts and imaginations,
had drawn a thick veil over Him, hidden Him from the masses. Among
the Hebrews alone did He really live and display His power in all its
mighty, heart-stirring grandeur.
He was not nature, with whom the initiated in the temples confounded
Him. No, the God of his fathers was far above all created things and the
whole visible universe, far above man, His last, most perfect work, whom
He had formed in His own image; and every living creature was subject
to His will. The Mightiest of Kings, He ruled the universe with stern
justice, and though He withdrew Himself from the sight and understanding
of man, His image, He was nevertheless a living, thinking, moving Being,
though His span of existence was eternity, His mind omniscience, His
sphere of sovereignty infinitude.
And this God had made Himself the leader of His people! There was no
warrior who could venture to cope with His might. If the spirit of
prophecy had not deceived Miriam, and the Lord had indeed commanded
Hosea to wield His sword, how dared he resist, what higher position
could earth offer? And his people? The rabble of whom he had thought so
scornfully, what a transformation seemed to have been wrought in them by
the power of the Most High, since he had listened to old Eliab’s tale!
Now he longed to be their leader, and midway to the camp he paused on
a sand-hill, whence he could see the limitless expanse of the sea
shimmering under the sheen of the twinkling stars of heaven, and for the
first time in many a long, long year, he raised his arms and eyes to the
God whom he had found once more.
He began with a little prayer his mother had taught him; then he cried
out to the Almighty as to a powerful counselor, imploring him with
fervent zeal to point out the way in which he should walk without being
disobedient to Him or to his father, or breaking the oath he had sworn
to Pharaoh and becoming a dishonored man in the eyes of those to whom he
owed so great a debt of gratitude.
“Thy chosen people praise Thee as the God of Truth, Who dost punish
those who forswear their oaths,” he prayed. “How canst Thou command
me to be faithless and break the vow that I have made. Whatever I am,
whatever I may accomplish, belongs to Thee, Oh Mighty Lord, and I am
ready to devote my blood, my life to my people. But rather than render
me a dishonored and perjured man, take me away from earth and commit the
work which Thou hast chosen Thy servant to perform, to the hands of one
who is bound by no solemn oath.”
So he prayed, and it seemed as if he clasped in his embrace a long-lost
friend. Then he walked on in silence through the vanishing dusk, and
when the first grey light of morning dawned, the flood of feeling ebbed,
and the clear-headed warrior regained his calmness of thought.
He had vowed to do nothing against the will of his father or his God,
but he was no less firmly resolved to be neither perjurer nor renegade.
His duty was clear and plain. He must leave Pharaoh’s service, first
telling his superiors that, as a dutiful son, he must obey his father’s
commands, and share his fate and that of his people.
Yet he did not conceal from himself that his request might be refused,
that he might be detained by force, nay, perchance, if he insisted on
carrying out his purpose with unshaken will, he might be menaced
with death, or if the worst should come, even delivered over to the
executioner. But if this should be his doom, if his purpose cost him his
life, he would still have done what was right, and his comrades, whose
esteem he valued, could still think of him as a brave brother-in-arms.
Nor would his father and Miriam be angry with him, nay, they would mourn
the faithful son, the upright man, who chose death rather than dishonor.
Calm and resolute, he gave the pass-word with haughty bearing to the
sentinel and entered his tent. Ephraim was still lying on his couch,
smiling as if under the thrall of pleasant dreams. Hosea threw himself
on a mat beside him to seek strength for the hard duties of the coming
day. Soon his eyes closed, too, and, after an hour’s sound sleep, he
woke without being roused and called for his holiday attire, his helmet,
and the gilt coat-of-mail he wore at great festivals or in the presence
of Egypt’s king.
Meantime Ephraim, too, awoke, looked with mingled curiosity and delight
at his uncle, who stood before him in all the splendor of his manhood
and glittering panoply of war, and exclaimed:
“It must be a proud feeling to wear such garments and lead thousands to
battle.”
Hosea shrugged his shoulders and replied:
“Obey thy God, give no man, from the loftiest to the lowliest, a right
to regard you save with respect, and you can hold your head as high as
the proudest warrior who ever wore purple robe and golden armor.”
“But you have done great deeds among the Egyptians,” Ephraim continued.
“They hold you in high regard; even captain Homecht and his daughter,
Kasana.”
“Do they?” asked the soldier smiling, and then bid his nephew keep
quiet; for his brow, though less fevered than the night before, was
still burning.
“Don’t go into the open air until the leech has seen you,” Hosea added,
“and wait here till my return.”
“Shall you be absent long?” asked the lad.
Hosea paused for a moment, lost in thought then, with a kindly glance at
him answered, gravely “Whoever serves a master knows not how long he
may be detained.” Then, changing his tone, he continued less earnestly.
“To-day--this morning--perchance I may finish my business speedily and
return in a few hours. If not, if I do not come back to you this evening
or early to-morrow morning, then....” he laid his hand on the lad’s
shoulder as he spoke “then go home at your utmost speed. When you reach
Succoth, if the people have gone before your coming, you will find in
the hollow sycamore before Amminadab’s house a letter which will tell
you whither they have turned their steps. When you overtake them, give
my greetings to my father, to my grandfather Elishama, and to Miriam.
Tell them that Hosea will be mindful of the commands of his God and of
his father. In future he will call himself Joshua--Joshua, do you hear?
Tell this to Miriam first. Finally, tell them that if I remain behind
and am not suffered to follow them, as I would like to, that the Most
High has made a different disposal of His servant and has broken the
sword which He had chosen, ere He used it. Do you understand me, boy?”
Ephraim nodded, and answered:
“You mean that death alone can stay you from obeying the summons of God,
and your father’s command.”
“Ay, that was my meaning,” replied the chief. “If they ask why I did not
slip away from Pharaoh and escape his power, say that Hosea desired to
enter on his new office as a true man, unstained by perjury or, if it is
the will of God, to die one. Now repeat the message.”
Ephraim obeyed; his uncle’s remarks must have sunk deep into his soul;
for he neither forgot nor altered a single word. But scarcely had he
performed the task of repetition when, with impetuous earnestness, he
grasped Hosea’s hand and besought him to tell him whether he had any
cause to fear for his life.
The warrior clasped him affectionately in his arms and answered that he
hoped he had entrusted this message to him only to have it forgotten.
“Perhaps,” he added, “they will strive to keep me by force, but by
God’s help I shall soon be with you again, and we will ride to Succoth
together.”
With these words he hurried out, unheeding the questions his nephew
called after him; for he had heard the rattle of wheels outside. Two
chariots, drawn by mettled steeds, rapidly approached the tent and
stopped directly before the entrance.