Jeremiah Part 67

Arise, then, and cease repining. Take up your faith as a staff, and you will march bravely through these trials as you have marched for thousands of years. Happy are we to be vanquished, and happy to be driven from home; for we are vanquished, we are driven from home, by G.o.d's will. Happy are we to lose all, that we may find him; happy is our hard lot, gladsome our trial. Kings who mastered us have vanished like smoke; nations which enslaved us have been scattered and their seed has been destroyed; towns wherein we served as bondmen have been made desolate, and are now the home of the jackal; but Israel still lives, ever young, for sorrow is our b.u.t.tress and overthrow is our strength.

Through suffering we have endured the a.s.saults of time; reverses have ever been our beginning; and out of the depths G.o.d has gathered us to his heart. Think of our former troubles, and how those troubles were met. Think of Egypt, the house of bondage, the first ordeal. Give praise to affliction, ye afflicted; give praise to trial, ye sorely tried; praise the name of G.o.d who, through tribulation, has chosen us for all eternity!

[A wave of enthusiasm answers his words. The confused medley of voices gradually gives place to rhythmical choruses]

VOICES

Bondmen of Mizraim Were our fathers, Bridled and bitted Were our fathers, Israel's children.

Taskmasters cruel Hasted our fathers, Beat them with rods, Scourged them with cords, Afflicted our fathers With manifold tasks.

HIGHER VOICES

Ere long the darkness which encompa.s.sed us Was pierced by Jehovah's compa.s.sionate gaze.

To save his people before it had perished, G.o.d raised up a deliverer, One of the house of Levi.

Moses came to our aid, A man mighty of tongue, A man mighty of hand.

He led us forth from the land of Egypt.

He freed us from the house of bondage.

EXULTANT VOICES

Those who had numbered but seventy When they entered the land of Egypt, Went out from it numbering countless thousands, Driving before them flocks and herds, And bearing with them great possessions.

Before their faces went the pillar of cloud, Before them went the pillar of fire, And the angel of G.o.d went before the camp of Israel.

Such was the first exodus, Such the beginning of happiness, When G.o.d was bringing our fathers to the land of promise.

JEREMIAH

But new tribulations awaited us, Fresh trials; Forbear not to recall the days of bitterness, Forget not those days!

VOICES

Pursuing us, Came the army of Pharaoh, Horses and chariots, And a mult.i.tude of hors.e.m.e.n.

With vengeful clamor Did they follow after.

The sea barred our pa.s.sage; Death pressed at our heels.

HIGHER VOICES

Thereupon the Lord sent the strong east wind, Dividing the waters that the sea might be dry land.

The waters were a wall unto us, On our right hand, and on our left.

Thus went we into the midst of the sea Upon the dry ground.

EXULTANT VOICES

With the clashing of arms and the roaring of chariot wheels, Our foes, thirsty for blood, followed after, On the dry ground between the walls of the sea.

They shouted in their wrath as they thought to smite us.

But Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the hors.e.m.e.n, And all the hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; Thus did the Lord overthrow the Egyptians in the midst of the sea!

DEEP VOICES

Thus did the Lord deliver us out of danger, And lead us forth from the land of bondage.

Thus wonderful was the beginning Of our happy and unhappy wanderings!

JEREMIAH

Again and again did he pour over us the bitterness of death and the waters of the cup of trial, that we might be healed for evermore.

Bethink ye of the scorching days in the desert, of the forty years of privation ere we reached the promised land.

VOICES

Parched were our throats, Blistered our lips, Athirst were we And anhungered, In that waterless and barren region.

EXULTANT VOICES

Then Moses lifted up his hand, And with his rod smote the rock twice.

Lo, the stone was riven in sunder, The water gushed forth abundantly, The congregation drank and their cattle, And the wanderers laved their toilworn feet.

HIGHER VOICES

When we were weary, the Lord gave us rest.

He sent cool breezes To temper the burning heats of noontide.

Bitter springs did he sweeten for our sake.

The wind brought fat quails from the sea.

When our entrails were gnawed with hunger, Lo, after the morning dews had risen, There lay on the face of the wilderness Manna, small and round, the bread of heaven.

JEREMIAH

Albeit, never was it granted us to live in safety.

Continually did the Lord chastise us with his holy hand.

Ever and again did he renew the tribulations of his people.

VOICES

The nations stood Against us in arms; Greed and envy Closed the roads Of our pilgrimage; Cities shut their gates; Spears gleamed, Strewing our path with death.

HIGHER VOICES

Then G.o.d forged us new weapons, Making our hearts like sharp swords, Giving us strength against thousands, Victory over tens of thousands.

EXULTANT VOICES

Trumpets blew, walls fell down; Moab was overthrown, and Amalek.

With the sword we carved ways Through the anger of the peoples and the times, Until our hearts stood the test, Until we reached the land of promise, Canaan, where after labor we could rest.

Here was a home for the wanderers, Now could we ungird our loins, Doff our shoes, lay aside our staves.

These staves put forth green shoots, Israel blossomed, and Zion arose.

ALL THE VOICES

Again and again have we been yoked to the plough, Necks bowed; again and again enslaved: But never has he failed to break our yoke, To free us from captivity and exile: From all our afflictions, all our privations, Never has he failed to deliver us, To summon us home at last, To grant us a renewed flowering.

JEREMIAH