THE HALT AT RHINOCORURA.
They arrived in safety, and at an early hour, at Rhinocorura, and
encamped where a copious stream from the mountains had produced verdure
and fertility upon its banks. Elisama, who from his advanced age was
easily exhausted by any unusual excitement, was compelled to lie down to
rest immediately on his arrival, and it was not till after the meal that
he was able to resume his narrative.
“I have,” said he, “a long and melancholy history to relate. The
vicissitudes of five hundred years were necessary, in order to impress
upon the mind of Israel the conviction, that the retributive Providence
of God watched over their observance of the law, and rewarded or
punished them according as they kept or broke it. Yesterday we left our
nation on the highest and most brilliant pinnacle of national
prosperity, possessed of the law, of the land of promise, and of a
temple in which all the outward rites of Jehovah’s worship might be
observed. One thing only was wanting to make Israel that blessed people,
by whom all other nations were to be blessed—willing obedience. But
something more was necessary to produce this obedience, than the
possession of the law and the means of keeping it. It must be regarded
as an extraordinary mark of the favour of Jehovah towards Israel, that
every thing was so combined, as to impress the doctrine of retribution
upon them, both by fact and precept. No people exhibits such a quick
succession and such a striking alternation of reward and punishment, so
that Jehovah may be said to have set it up as a monument to the nations
of his retributive justice. Its history, however, was not designed
merely for the instruction of others, but primarily to teach Israel
itself this great lesson; and for this purpose a succession of prophets
was raised up, to enforce by their instruction the moral which the
events of history were teaching.”
Myron was about to interpose, but Elisama made a sign to him and
continued,
“I guess what you are going to say.”
“Allow me, however, this once to interrupt you in your narrative, for
you seem to me to be going too far in your panegyrics. Has not every
nation and every religion its priests, its prophets, and its inspired
teachers?”
“You know,” said Elisama, “that I do not relish the Grecian mode of
interlocutory debate: let me, if you please, go quietly on, and I hope,
before I have done, to remove all your objections. Your own statement
shows the difference. Our prophets were not always priests. They were
sometimes shepherds, and were chosen by God from all the tribes without
distinction. They were chosen messengers of Jehovah; their office raised
them above both priest and people, and through them he made known his
judgments and his mercy. They remind the people of the law, they point
out in passing, or in future events, the operations of retributive
justice; they promise rewards to obedience and denounce punishments on
disobedience, and they disclose, in the distance, the future glories of
the days of the Messiah.
“Samuel had founded schools of the prophets, and we read of Nathan, the
prophet, in the history of David. But it is to the period which follows
the reign of Solomon, that they more appropriately belong. This period
begins with the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Even in
the last years of his reign, his splendour may have been a source of
oppression to his people, who called upon Rehoboam his successor for
alleviation of their burthens. Young, and following the advice of
youthful counsellors, he threatened, instead of granting their request.
On this Jeroboam, who had come out of Egypt, where he had premeditated
his destructive plans against the house of David, was chosen king by ten
tribes, while Judah, Benjamin and Levi, adhered to Rehoboam, and formed
the kingdom of Judah; Jeroboam, now become the king of Israel, erected
his throne at Sichem, and fearing that by going up to the temple at
Jerusalem, the people might be tempted to reunite with the kingdom of
Judah, he set up the worship of the golden calves, at Bethel and at Dan.
He was the exact opposite of David, and the scripture designates him as
‘the man that caused Israel to sin.’[43] This fearful degeneracy could
not pass unpunished. Ahia, the prophet, predicted the extermination of
his house. His son Nadab, who walked in the way of his father, was
killed by Baasa, who succeeded him as king, and took up his abode in
Thirza, and who, walking in the way of Jeroboam, received from the
prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, a fearful denunciation of divine
vengeance.[44] His son Elah fell, when in a state of intoxication, by
the sword of Zimri; and thus the prophetic word was a second time
fulfilled. Zimri, besieged in Thirza by Omri, whom the people in the
camp had chosen king, set fire to the palace and perished in the flames.
Omri built Samaria, and was succeeded by his son Ahab. Ahab was king of
Israel, at the same time as Jehoshaphat was king of Judah. Though they
were allied by the marriage of their children, they were directly
opposite in their characters. Ahab, wicked and devoted to idolatry,
added the worship of Baal to those which were already practised in
Israel, and thus brought upon himself the most awful threatenings of
Jehovah. Jehoshaphat, weak, but faithful to the law, sent Levites
through the country to teach and judge,[45] and obtained the mercy of
Jehovah.
Footnote 43:
1 Kings xiv. 16.
Footnote 44:
1 Kings xvi. 1-6.
Footnote 45:
2. Chron. xvii. 7.
“In the days of these two kings, Elijah made his appearance; he may be
called by eminence _the prophet_. His native place was Thisbah, but he
traversed the whole country from side to side, clad in a skin, with a
leathern girdle about his loin, denouncing, in the boldest and most
glowing terms, the worship of Baal—a fearful and sublime phenomenon. Now
he appears boldly before the throne—now he wanders a fugitive in the
wilderness: at one time he denounces the wrath of Jehovah on backsliding
Israel; at another he slaughters, on Carmel, the idolatrous priests of
Baal: to-day he is the messenger of Jehovah to bring comfort to the
widow of Zarephath, to-morrow he appears before Ahab and his queen, and
predicts their dreadful fate. His name carries terror with it to the
hearts of the guilty, and inspires the righteous with courage.
“His disciple, Elisha, anointed Jehu, and predicted that the kingdom
should continue in his family to the fifth generation. These kings,
though not acceptable to God as David was, yet opposed the progress of
idolatry. Jehu put to death the worshippers of Baal, and made a pool of
his temple. In consequence this dynasty continued on the throne and
flourished till the fifth generation; and under the fourth, Jeroboam,
the son of Joash, the ancient limits were regained, and Israel extended
from Hamath to the sea of the plain, as Jonah, the son of Amittai, had
foretold to him.[46] Still, however, the calves remained in Dan and
Bethel, the relics of that idolatry which the people had learned in
Egypt. As a punishment for this, a terrible interregnum ensued, at the
close of which, Zechariah, the fifth from Jehu, came to the throne, but
was murdered by Shallum. This is the third fulfilment of the prophecy of
Jehovah respecting the royal houses of Israel.
Footnote 46:
2 Kings xiv. 25.
“This is the time in which Jonah, Amos, Hosea, and the great Isaiah,
prophesied. Jonah was sent to Nineveh, the largest city then existing,
to preach the judgments of Jehovah. Amos, one of the shepherds of
Tekoah, prophesied to all the surrounding nations, and last of all to
Judah and Israel, the punishment of their sins, beginning with these
terrific words:
The Lord will thunder from Zion,
And utter his voice from Jerusalem.
The habitations of the shepherds shall mourn,
And the top of Carmel shall wither.
“And as he successively denounces to Damascus, to Gaza, to Tyre, and the
other neighbouring states, the punishments that awaited them, he begins
each prophecy with the alarming words,
Thus saith Jehovah;
Three sins I have passed by,
The fourth I cannot overlook.
“He beholds first the approach of a desolating flight of locusts, then a
terrible fire, and having interceded against both, he sees the Lord,
standing with a plummet in his hand beside the wall, and hears the
words:
Behold I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel;
I will not again pass by them any more.
The high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.—Amos vii.
7.
“Let me here subjoin, Myron, the history which follows, which will show
you clearly in what relation the prophet stood to the priests: ‘Then
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying,
Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel,
the land cannot remain tranquil for the words which he speaketh. For
thus Amos saith; Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall
surely be led away captive out of their own land. And Amaziah said unto
Amos, O thou seer, go flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat
bread and prophesy there: but prophesy no more at Bethel: for it is the
king’s sanctuary and royal palace. Then answered Amos and said to
Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son, but I was a
herdsman, and I lived on sycamore fruit. And the Lord took me, as I
followed my flock, and he said to me, Go prophesy unto my people Israel.
Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord. Thou sayest
Prophesy not against Israel
And stream not forth against the house of Isaac!
“But the Lord saith,
Thy wife shall be a harlot,
And thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword.
Thy land shall be divided by the line,
And thou shalt die in a polluted land,
And Israel shall be carried captive out of his land.[47]
Footnote 47:
Amos viii. 10.
“Hosea, the son of Beeri, is first of all commanded to contract a
symbolical marriage, to indicate the infidelity of the congregation of
Israel against Jehovah. Then he breaks forth in the highest and boldest
strain of indignation.
Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah!
Cry aloud at Bethaven
‘They are after thee, O Benjamin!’
Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke,
And upon the tribes of Israel
I make known what shall surely be.
The princes of Judah were like them that remove the landmark;
Therefore will I pour out my wrath upon them like water.[48]
Footnote 48:
Hos. v. 8.
“The prophetic words were soon accomplished, in the rapid downfal of the
kingdom of Israel. Assyria, which Jehovah calls the rod of his
indignation,[49] made Menahem, the next king after Zechariah, tributary;
and Tiglath-pilesar carried away many of the inhabitants of Israel.
Galilee, and the district beyond Jordan were lost. Hoseah, the last king
of Israel, contrary to the advice of Isaiah, made a league with So, the
king of Egypt, and was defeated by Salmanassar. Samaria was destroyed,
the inhabitants carried beyond the Tigris, to the neighbourhood of the
river Chebar, and the Lord put away Israel from before him, as he
threatened by his servants the prophets.
Footnote 49:
Isaiah x. 5.
“Where once the tribes of Israel, the sons of Joseph, Ephraim, and
Manasseh had dwelt, strangers from the east had settled themselves, and
being infested with lions, they requested from the king that Israelitish
priests might be sent them; and so they polluted the land, the village
of Jacob, and many other sacred spots, by a mixture of the worship of
God with that of idols, which continues to defile it even to this day.
“Thus had Jehovah manifested, both by deed and precept, his retributory
judgments in the case of Israel. Would that Judah had been wise, and had
learned from the fate of her sister kingdom that lesson which they who
will not read must feel!
“Rehoboam sat upon the throne of David, but had no resemblance to him in
character. He built high places and pillars, and planted groves, and
committed the abominations of the heathens, whom the Lord had cast out
before the children of Israel, upon every hill and under every green
tree. Jehovah sent Sisak, king of Egypt, who conquered all the cities
and Jerusalem itself, and carried away both the royal treasure and that
of the temple into his own country. Jehovah had foretold this by the
prophet Shemaiah[50] and the king and the princes of Judah humbled
themselves. And when the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, he
said, I will not destroy them, but I will grant them a little
deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon them by the hand
of Sisak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know
what it is to serve me, and what to serve the kingdoms of the countries.
Footnote 50:
2 Chron. xiii. 5.
“Abijah followed him. He trusted in Jehovah, and was successful in a
great battle against Israel, in which he defeated an enemy who was at
least twice as numerous.[51] He entered the battle with the words, ‘With
us is the Lord our God and we have not forsaken him, and the priests
which minister unto the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their
occupations.’
Footnote 51:
2 Chron. xiii.
“His successor Asa, by the same faith, smote again a mighty host of
invaders from Arabia and Ethiopia, as the prophet Azariah had foretold.
How greatly was the power of Jehoshaphat increased, by his zeal against
idolatry, and his obedience to God, and in how humbled a condition did
he return from a war in which the prophet Micaiah had warned him not to
engage! He unfortunately gave to his son, Jehoram, Athaliah, Ahab’s
daughter, to wife; and when the iniquity of Israel was thus communicated
to Judah, by this seed of Jezebel, punishment, oppression and distress
soon followed, till Joash, who had escaped her murderous hand, was
brought forth from the temple where he had been concealed by Jehoiada,
and placed upon the throne of David. Uzziah was prosperous against all
his enemies, as long as the prophet Zechariah lived; but a grievous
leprosy fell upon him when he daringly presumed to approach the Lord,
and offer him incense after the manner of the priests. To him succeeded
Ahaz, the worst and most infatuated of the sons of David, who being
given up to Syrian idolatry and superstition, closed the temple and
sought aid of Assyria. But how strikingly was his apostasy punished,
when he was compelled to give the treasures of the temple to these very
allies!
“Even down to this time, how triumphantly had the retributive providence
of God been manifested in the history of our people! What wonderful
accomplishment of the prophetic word, even in years, names, and
individual occurrences! But about this time Isaiah arose, towering with
an eagle’s flight, now encouraging king and people with the promise of
divine favour, now humbling them with denunciations against their sins,
and above all predicting, in clearer language than any preceding
prophet, HIM who was to be the consolation and the glory of Israel—the
Messiah! He who, when he received his prophetic commission, saw Jehovah
seated on a throne, high and lifted up, and the seraphim around him
crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts[52]—whose lips were
touched with a live coal from the altar; and whom the Lord himself sent
to speak in his name, was well fitted either to denounce captivity and
punishment to the people, or to describe the glorious days of Emanuel,
the son of the virgin.
Footnote 52:
Isaiah vi.
Behold the Lord, the Lord of Hosts
Shall lop the bough with a loud crash,
And the high tops shall be hewn down
And the lofty shall be made low.
He fells the thickets of the forest with the axe,
And Lebanon falls by a mighty hand.
Yet there shall come forth a shoot from the stem of Jesse,
And a scion shall grow out of his root;
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of the knowledge and fear of Jehovah.
He shall be of quick discernment in the fear of Jehovah,
And shall not judge according to appearances,
Nor decide according to hearsay.
But he shall judge the poor in righteousness,
And speak for the right of the oppressed in the land.
He shall smite the evil doer with his tongue,
And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.
Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
And faithfulness the cincture of his reins.
Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling shall be together,
And a little child shall lead them.
And the heifer and the she-bear shall feed together,
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like an ox;
The suckling shall play upon the hole of the aspic,
And the weaned child lay his hand upon the den of the basilisk:
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah,
As the waters cover the depths of the sea.—Is. x. 33.
“Contemporary with Isaiah, the sublimest of our prophets, was Micah, the
Morasthite, who uttered these words:
The sun goeth down over the prophets
And the day shall be dark over them.
Then shall the seers be ashamed,
And the diviners confounded.
Yea, they shall all cover their faces
Because no fulfilment cometh from Jehovah.
But I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord,
Full of truth, and of courage,
To declare unto Jacob his transgression
And unto Israel his sin.
For this reason shall Zion be ploughed as a field,
And Jerusalem shall become heaps,
And the temple-hill as the high places of the forest.
But in the last days it shall come to pass
That the hill of the Lord’s temple shall be established on the top of
the mountains,
And it shall be exalted above the hills,
And nations shall flow unto it;
And many people shall come and say,
Come and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah,
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may teach us of his ways
And we may walk in his paths.
For the law shall go forth from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge among many people,
And be arbiter of strong nations afar off.
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
And their spears into pruninghooks;
Nation shall not lift up the sword against nation
Neither shall they learn war any more.
But they shall sit every man under his own vine and under his figtree
And none shall make them afraid:
For the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken it.
Micah iii. iv.
“Such prophets as these spoke in the days of Hezekiah, a weak but pious
man. When indeed could the word of prophecy be more seasonable or more
needed? The doctrine of retribution was now fully developed. Israel had
ceased to be; Judah still existed, through the piety of her kings. Had
the prophet to speak of judgment—he had only to point to the hills of
Ephraim, and to her sons on the banks of Chebar; was the faithfulness of
Jehovah—and his recompense of obedience, the theme;—the seed of David
still sat upon the throne of Judah, while so many dynasties had
successively occupied that of Israel. But there was another occasion for
a prophet: for danger threatened on all sides, and Sennacherib with his
immense host besieged Jerusalem. To-day the army of the conqueror stood
around the terrified city and its trembling king. He goes dejected to
the house of the Lord, spreads out before him the letters and demands of
the haughty invader, and prays to Jehovah. Isaiah, the prophet, declares
to him, ‘He shall not come into this city; for I will defend it to save
it, for mine own sake and for David my servant’s sake.’[53] And in the
morning Sennacherib flees before the angel of the Lord, who had smitten
his host during the night. But Jehovah, who was so benign towards those
that called upon him in humility, showed himself equally severe towards
the proud. When Hezekiah, thoughtless and vain, had shown his treasures
to the Babylonians, a nation then of little account in comparison with
the Assyrians, Isaiah appears before him, and says, ‘Behold the time
cometh, when all that is in thine house and all that thy fathers have
collected unto this day shall be carried away to Babylon, nothing shall
remain saith Jehovah.’[54]
Footnote 53:
2 Kings xix. 33, 34.
Footnote 54:
Isaiah xxxix.
“To Hezekiah succeeded his son Manasseh, a prince wholly unlike his
father, who, as a punishment of his offences, was carried away to
Babylon, and brought back when he repented and returned to Jehovah. His
reign is the picture of the history of the people in this period; sin
and punishment, repentance and favour!
“Some time after began the days of Josiah, who was pious and prosperous
under the guidance of Hilkiah, as Joash had been under that of Jehoiada,
and Uzziah under that of Zechariah. The lost volume of the law was
found, the temple purified, the passover kept, and the abominations of
the high places, of the valley of Tophet, and the horses of the sun,
were removed. The king stood by a pillar in the temple and made a
covenant with the Lord, and it is written, ‘There was no king before him
like unto him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all
his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses;
neither after him arose there any like him.’[55] For this he was
permitted to see the downfal of the hostile kingdom of Assyria, and he
and his people were happy.
Footnote 55:
2 Kings xxiii. 25.
“But after the death of Josiah, Judah hastened with rapid strides to its
destruction under the government of wicked princes. The prophecy of
Isaiah to Hezekiah was fulfilled in the days of Jehoiakim. The vessels
of the temple and the sons of the chief men of the land were carried
away to Babylon. Jehoiakim, his son and successor, was deposed, after a
reign of three months, and all the men of valour or property were
removed to Babylon. Two prophets, who accompanied their exile, Ezekiel
and Jeremiah, were chosen by Jehovah, in these awful times, to make
known his word to his people.
“The last king that sat upon the throne of David was Zedekiah, another
son of Josiah. He was seduced, in the ninth year of his reign, to rebel
against Babylon and to league himself with Egypt. The Chaldeans invested
Jerusalem, and it fell, in the three hundred and seventeenth year of the
division of the kingdoms. The king was carried to Ribla, and his eyes
put out, after he had witnessed the slaughter of his sons. He was then
carried captive to Babylon, and awfully was the prophecy of Ezekiel
fulfilled: ‘I will bring him to Babel in the land of the Chaldeans, and
he shall die there; yet he shall not behold it.’[56]
Footnote 56:
Ezek. xii. 13.
“The vessels of the house of God, small and great, the treasures of the
temple and of the palace, and of all the princes, were carried by
Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. The youths were slaughtered in the sanctuary,
and neither age nor sex was spared; Jehovah gave every thing into his
hand. All that remained was carried away to Babylon. They burnt the
house of the Lord, and the house of the king and all the houses of
Jerusalem. And the army of the Chaldeans broke down the walls of
Jerusalem round about.
“Thus Jeshurun, the once beloved people of Jehovah, the once glorious
daughter of Zion, lay in desolation and misery. The glory of Solomon was
scarcely discernible in its ruins; the blessing of David had vanished
from his throne, and even that which Joshua and the Judges had earned
with toil and blood was lost. David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat,
Hezekiah, and Josiah, had called upon them to fear Jehovah, but the
superstitions of the neighbouring nations had more powerful attractions,
and the law was too heavy a yoke for their untamed necks. Hence this
awful punishment and unheard of retribution. Prophets were not wanting,
to point out and enforce the lesson. Hear how our Jeremiah pours forth
his heart-rending sorrows:
How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!
How is she become as a widow—once great among the nations!
The queen of the lands, how is she become a slave!
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks.
Of all that loved her she hath none to comfort her,
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her
enemies.
She dwelleth among the heathens, she findeth no rest,
All her persecutors overtake her at the borders.
The ways of Zion mourn because no man comes to the solemn feasts;
All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted and are in bitterness.
Her adversaries are victorious, her enemies prosper;
For the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions.
Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy;
From the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed.
Her princes are become like deer, that find no pasture;
They fall without strength before the pursuer.
Jerusalem calls to mind in her misery the pleasures of the days of old.
Now she falleth into the hand of the enemy, and none help her;
Her adversaries see her and mock, because she must keep her sabbaths.
—She seeth that the heathens enter into her sanctuary,
Whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy
congregation.
—See if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow,
With which the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his anger.”
“Admirable!” exclaimed Myron, unable to resist the beauty of this
Lamentation.
Elisama continued: “It is the finest of all the songs of our prophets,
and its echo still lives in the hearts of the children of Israel. This
melancholy tone never ceases to predominate in their minds, no, not even
in the days of Hyrcanus. What must the prophet have felt when he wrote,
All that pass by clap their hands at thee,
They hiss and shake the head at the daughter of Jerusalem;
Is this the city which men call the Perfection of Beauty, the joy of the
whole earth?
“He had foreseen it all—he had taught them how the calamity might be
avoided, but they would not listen to his voice; they had persecuted
him, and despised the prophetic word. Now he had to endure the sight of
that which he had endeavoured to avert.
I am the man that hath seen affliction
Under the rod of his wrath.
He hath led me and brought me
Into darkness and not into light.
He turneth his hand against me every day.
“Jeremiah did not forsake his people. He remained on the ruins of the
temple, sitting and lamenting with the inferior people, when
Nebuchadnezzar carried away the nobles and the princes. Gedaliah was
placed over those who remained. He dwelt in Mizpah, and received those
who had fled during the presence of the Chaldees. But scarcely had the
hapless people begun to recover from the miseries of war, and to gather
in the vintage and the summer fruits, when Ishmael, the son of
Nethaniah, of the royal blood, came and slew Gedaliah.[57] The people,
fearing the king of Babylon, implored Jeremiah to ask counsel at the
Lord on their behalf. After ten days the Lord answered by Jeremiah, that
they should remain in the land and not fear the king of Babylon; nor
venture, under severe penalties, to take refuge in Egypt. But they again
disobeyed, and betook themselves to Egypt—our ancestors, Helon, were
among the number; for what could individuals do against the stream which
hurried them away. By the command of Jehovah, Jeremiah accompanied them
thither, that by a symbolical action, before the door of Pharaoh’s
house, he might typify the defeat of the Egyptians and the punishment of
Israel. He dwelt in our house, and died there. On this pilgrimage we may
well call to mind the words which he spoke; ‘Yet a small number shall
return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the
remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there,
shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs.’[58]
Footnote 57:
Jer. xli.
Footnote 58:
Jer. xliv. 28.
“In the midst of these sufferings Jehovah did not wholly forsake his
people. While, by the mouth of Jeremiah he spoke to those in Egypt,
Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, was his messenger to the captives on the banks
of Chebar. Nearly 40,000 men had been carried thither under Zedekiah;
one hundred and fifty-three years before, in the days of Pekah,
Israelites from Galilee and Gilead had been transferred to Assyria, and
Salmanassar, one hundred and thirty-five years before, had carried those
who remained into the cities of Media. In this manner they were
dispersed through the east. But the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel,
and in bold and lofty images he announced their return, and the glory of
their future days. He foretold too their union, at some future time,
after their present dispersion. The prophet was commanded to take two
rods, and write on one of them, ‘for Judah and for the sons of Israel,
his companions;’ and on the other, ‘for Joseph, the rod of Ephraim, and
for all the house of Israel, his companions,’ and then to join them
together as a symbol of their future union.[59]
Footnote 59:
Ezek. xxxvii. 16.
“Thus Israel was not left wholly comfortless: but her sins had been
numerous and her punishment was grievous. Driven from their home, cut
off from the land of promise, without a temple, or a prince on the
throne of David, they were taught the power of Jehovah. He had punished
no other people so, for he had loved no other so well. As they sat by
the rivers of Babel and wept, when they thought of Zion, they felt that
he was their judge, as well as their lawgiver. What did it avail them,
that individuals of their nation rose to favour and distinction, Daniel,
Esther, and Tobias, when the nation itself lived in misery and
degradation? The seventy years of the captivity were tedious, mournful
years, and while a child of Abraham remains upon the earth, their
features will continue to bear the traces of that melancholy, which
these years impressed upon them. Every year we keep the mournful
anniversary of the destruction of the temple, though it has been
rebuilt, while, according to the words of Jeremiah, ‘we sit solitary and
are still.’”
Elisama ceased, and a grief, that could find no vent in words, hung
heavy about his heart and that of Helon. The last glow of the departing
light had fallen on Elisama’s countenance, as he related the destruction
of Jerusalem. Night succeeded; by the feeble glooming of the hearth
fire, he had described the ruin and misery of Israel; and now all was
darkness and silence. The blast of the trumpet, which gave the signal to
prepare for the march, at length broke in upon them and they arose.