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[Ill.u.s.tration]
"THE PROPHETS"
From the frieze of "The Prophets," by Sargent, in the Boston Public Library.
The prophets here represented are Zephaniah, Joel, Obadiah, and Hosea.
[End ill.u.s.tration]
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Which have wrought his judgment; Seek righteousness, Seek meekness: It may be ye shall be hid In the Day of the Lord"s anger.
This is the joyous city, That dwelt carelessly, That said in her heart, "I am, And there is none else beside me:"
How is she become a desolation, A place for beasts to lie down in!
Everyone that pa.s.seth by her shall hiss, and wag his head, Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted, To the oppressing city.
She obeyed not the voice; She received not correction; She trusted not in the Lord; She drew not near to her G.o.d.
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; Her judges are evening wolves; They leave nothing till the morrow.
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: Her priests have profaned the sanctuary, They have done violence to the law.
The Lord in the midst of her is righteous; He will not do iniquity; Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, He faileth not; But the unjust knoweth no shame.
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IV
SING, O DAUGHTER OF ZION
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; Be glad and rejoice with the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy: The king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: Thou shalt not fear evil any more.
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, "Fear thou not: O Zion, let not thine hands be slack.
The Lord thy G.o.d is in the midst of thee, A mighty one who will save: He will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, He will joy over thee with singing."
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NAHUM
(Nineveh was the capital city of the great empire of a.s.syria. It was, to the Hebrews, the expression of all the power and cruelty and bloodthirstiness of that mighty and oppressive empire. The story of the barbaric savagery of this empire almost pa.s.ses belief. The monuments of a.s.syria are its own strongest accusing witnesses. They show pictures of captives of war whose eyes are being put out, who are being skinned alive, who are suffering all the tortures that a savage imagination can invent. Any such torture might come to any Hebrew taken in war. Is it any wonder that the people not only dreaded, but bitterly hated this city? Is it strange that they thought Jehovah would certainly overthrow it? Nahum, in a poetic prophecy of great vigor and vividness, pictures the overthrow, and exults in the fall of the great, rich, cruel city. That fall came, at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians, in about 608 B. C. Since that time, Nineveh has remained in ruins, and is to-day buried under the sand hills of the desert.)
I
THE GOODNESS AND THE GREATNESS OF THE LORD
The Lord is a jealous G.o.d and avengeth; the Lord avengeth and is full of wrath; the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of {386} his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that put their trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make a full end of the place thereof, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make a full end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For though they be like tangled thorns, and be drenched as it were in their drink, they shall be devoured utterly as dry stubble. There is one gone forth out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, that counselleth wickedness.
Thus saith the Lord: Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pa.s.s away.
Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
And the Lord hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy G.o.ds will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
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Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
That publisheth peace!
II
THE DOOM OF NINEVEH
(In describing the doom of Nineveh, the writer draws one of the most vivid pictures of war that was ever written.)
The Hammer is come up to thy face!
Hold the rampart! Keep watch on the way!
Brace the loins! Pull thyself firmly together!
The shields of the heroes are red, The warriors are in scarlet; Like fire is the shining of his chariots in the day of his muster, And the hors.e.m.e.n are prancing.
Through the markets rage chariots, They tear across the squares; The look of them is like torches, Like lightnings they dart to and fro.
And now they flee. "Stand, stand!" but there is none to rally.
Plunder silver, plunder gold!
Infinite treasures, ma.s.s of all precious things!
Void and devoid and desolate is she.
Melting hearts and shaking knees, And anguish in all loins, And nothing but faces full of black fear. {388} Where is the Lion"s den, And the young lion"s feeding ground?
Whither has the Lion retreated, The whelps of the Lion with none to make afraid: The Lion who tore enough for his whelps, And strangled for his lionesses.
And he filled his pits with prey, And his dens with rapine.
Lo, I am at thee, I will put up thy lair in flames, The sword shall devour thy young lions; I will cut off the earth from thy rapine, And the noise of thine envoys shall no more be heard.
Woe to the City of Blood, All of her guile, robbery full, ceaseless rapine!
Hark the whip, And the rumbling of the wheel, And horses galloping, And the rattling dance of the chariot!
Cavalry at the charge, and flash of sabres, And lightning of lances, Ma.s.s of slain and weight of corpses, They stumble on their dead!
All thy fortresses are fig trees with figs early ripe: Be they shaken they fall on the mouth of the eater.
Lo, thy folk are but women in thy midst: To thy foes the gates of thy land fly open; Fire has devoured thy bars.
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[Ill.u.s.tration]
"THE PROPHETS"
From the frieze of "The Prophets," by Sargent, in the Boston Public Library.