Stories of the Prophets Part 35

Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah provisions and presents and sent him, with his two companions, to Gedaliah, who had established his capital at the ancient city of Mizpah, on the dividing line between the old kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

On his departure from Judah, Nebuchadrezzar had deported with him practically the entire population that was of any consequence. He left behind only the poorest of vine dressers and farmers.

Gedaliah's position as governor, therefore, seemed to be but an empty honor. The country a wilderness, the capital in hopeless ruins, the Temple a pile of smoking and smouldering ashes--it was not a picture to bring rejoicing to a governor's heart.

But Jeremiah laid a new plan for rehabilitating the land. Neither Jerusalem nor the Temple were to be rebuilt, for the present. All efforts were to be bent toward building up a new conscience in the simple farmers and vine dressers; to fit these for entering a new covenant with their G.o.d and to make them worthy, indeed, to be G.o.d's people.

In politics the land was to stand, above all, for faithfulness and loyalty to Babylonia. That was what Nebuchadrezzar expected from Gedaliah and that was what Gedaliah proposed to do. With the religion Nebuchadrezzar never did and never would interfere. Therefore, first of all, the new governor issued this proclamation to the remnant that remained in Judah:

"Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Settle down and be subject to the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah, as your representative to receive the Chaldeans who shall come to us; but you gather for yourselves wine and fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels and dwell in your cities of which you have taken possession."

The future again looked bright. Under Gedaliah there was promise of a peaceful restoration of Judah.

Jewish refugees in Moab, Ammon and Edom began to return, because they looked for a just and benevolent rule from Shaphan's grandson; and they would not have been disappointed had not scheming selfishness and hateful treachery stepped in to shatter the last possible Judean hope.

CHAPTER XXII.

_Cowardice and Treachery._

Gedaliah had governed in Mizpah seven months when he was pleased to welcome back to his fatherland, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, a Judean chieftain of the royal family, who had been driven to Ammon during the guerrilla warfare with Babylonia, under Jehoiakim.

A few days later, Johanan, son of Kareah, who was one of the governor's chief a.s.sistants, came to Gedaliah with the news that Ishmael was not sincere in his protestations of loyalty, that he was in the employ of Baalis, King of Ammon, and that his mission to Mizpah was to put Gedaliah out of the way. Baalis, Johanan reported, was contemplating rebellion some time in the future, and did not want in Judah a governor faithful to Babylonia. In addition, Johanan said, Ishmael was hoping, through the a.s.sistance of Baalis, to regain the throne of Judah for his family.

Gedaliah, n.o.bleman that he was, refused to suspect Ishmael of treachery. On the contrary, a few days later he prepared a great banquet in Ishmael's honor and invited, in addition, all the Chaldean n.o.bles whom Nebuchadrezzar had left behind in Judah to a.s.sist Gedaliah in restoring order and in establishing law and government.

Ishmael came with ten followers who had accompanied him from Ammon. At a given signal, Ishmael and his ten men fell upon the unsuspecting Gedaliah and his Chaldean guests and turned the banquet hall into a house of death.

On the next day, word came to Mizpah that eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, were coming to Mizpah, on their way to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices in the Temple ruins. These men had been selected by the survivors in that section of the country to express their thanks to G.o.d, in this manner, for having been spared by the Babylonians.

Ishmael went out to meet them. With tears in his eyes he told them that he was a messenger from Gedaliah to welcome them to Mizpah. Once in Mizpah, however, these eighty men were slaughtered by the ruthless and treacherous cowards from Ammon. Under Ishmael's direction, all the dead were thrown into the great reservoir that was built by King Asa of Judah at the time when he was at war with Baasha of Israel.

His work completed, Ishmael gathered his men to return to Baalis, in Ammon.

Johanan, who had warned Gedaliah of Ishmael's treachery, did not propose to let the murderer escape. He gathered up such faithful men as he could. By a quick march of two miles to the north, his little force confronted Ishmael just outside of Gibeon, on the well-traveled road leading to Beth Horon.

Before the little armies came to an engagement, Johanan sent word to Ishmael demanding surrender. Ishmael answered with a request for a parley on the next morning, which was granted.

During the night, however, Ishmael's men deserted him and went over to Johanan. Ishmael, himself, escaped to Ammon, and Johanan did not even pursue him. On the next morning all returned to Mizpah.

In Mizpah, Johanan was confronted with a new problem. What would happen when the news reached Babylon that all the Chaldean officers in Mizpah had been slain? The entire population knew what Nebuchadrezzar's vengeance meant. They feared to remain in Judah and, at a council of elders called by Johanan, it was determined to leave the fatherland altogether and emigrate to Egypt.

Before making a definite move, however, Johanan and the elders sought the advice of Jeremiah. They came to the prophet with this pet.i.tion:

"Permit us to bring our pet.i.tion before you that you may supplicate the Lord your G.o.d for us, even for all this remnant, for we are left but a few out of many--you yourself see us here--that the Lord your G.o.d may show us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing that we should do."

Jeremiah answered them:

"I have heard you; behold I will pray to the Lord your G.o.d according to your words, and whatever the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you:"

To which the leaders replied:

"G.o.d be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not according to all the word with which the Lord your G.o.d shall send you to us. Whether it be good or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our G.o.d, to whom we send you, that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our G.o.d."

Jeremiah took ten days to consider the matter. Then the message came to him from the Lord his G.o.d and he delivered it to Johanan and his chieftains:

"If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you, up; for I am sorry for the evil that I have done to you.

Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand."

Johanan and the chieftains had hoped that Jeremiah would advise them to go to Egypt. They were disappointed. They took time, therefore, to discuss the matter further among themselves.

Jeremiah had had experience enough to know what the result would be.

So he backed up his advice concerning Egypt with a public discourse, every line of which breathed hope for the future in Judah.

He tried to show that the old order of things had pa.s.sed; that the old covenant between G.o.d and his people had been broken, never to be renewed again; that G.o.d would enter into a new covenant with them, a spiritual covenant, not so much with the whole nation, as with each individual. This is Jeremiah's memorable address at Mizpah:

"Behold the days are coming, That I will sow Israel and Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast, And as once I watched over them to pluck up and to afflict, So will I be watchful over them to build and to plant.

"'Behold the days are coming,' saith the Lord, 'That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, In the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they themselves broke and I was displeased with them; But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel:

"'After those days,' saith the Lord, 'I will put my teaching in their breast and on their heart will I write it; And I will be to them a G.o.d and they shall be to me a people.

And they shall not teach any more every man his neighbor, And every man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord,"

For they shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest; For I will forgive them their iniquities and remember their sins no more.'"

On the day of the meeting to settle finally the question of emigration to Egypt, another shocking surprise awaited Jeremiah.

He was accused of being a false prophet; of not having received the message against going into Egypt from G.o.d, at all. He was accused of having conspired with Baruch, who, Jeremiah was told, being of n.o.ble family, had ambitions to become King of Judah. Finally he was warned that Baruch intended to hand all the remnant over to Nebuchadrezzar.

More than that! It was determined to emigrate to Egypt at once and that both Jeremiah and Baruch must accompany the self-exiled.

CHAPTER XXIII.

_Jeremiah, the Martyred._

The forcing of Jeremiah into Egyptian exile with the others was the stroke that finally broke Jeremiah's heart. Against such stiff-necked perversity he could hold out no longer. He submitted, like a lamb, this time to be led, literally, to the slaughter.

Judah was destroyed, the Temple burnt, the royal family exterminated, the last of the friends of Jeremiah's family dead, the strength and n.o.bility of the nation in Babylonian captivity, and now, the miserable remnant that was left in Judah, self-exiled to Egypt!

The destination of the emigrants was Tehaphenes, just across the boundary from Judah. There was already a small colony of Jews there.

Being a frontier city on the main road to Jerusalem, Judeans often found refuge there from the many destructive armies that swept Judah.

These gave all the emigrants a hearty welcome. Jeremiah might have settled down there to pa.s.s the remaining years of his life quietly and at peace; or, he might have gone to Babylon where Nebuzaradan had promised to look after him. The course of events however, bade him remain where he now was.