Oratory and Poetry of the Bible

8/22/2019 Oratory and Poetry of the Bible

1/256

THEUN IVERS ITYOF CHICAGOLIBRARY


2/256


3/256


4/256


5/256


6/256

.The Oratory aiwj Fdetf^.._of tfc&Eifel

BYFERDINAND S. SCHENCK, D.D., LL.D.ProfcMor of Preaching in the Thmlogical Seminary at New Brunswick, N. J.

HODDER & STOUGHTON'NEW YORKGEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY


7/256

V

\ rs\ v '

Copyright, 1915GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY


8/256

PREFACEFOR the past fifteen years I have tried to incite my

students in New York University, in Rutgers College,and now in the Seminary, to read the Bible, not as atask, but as a pleasure, and have had fair success. Thebooks of the Prophets look very dull simply as booksbut when we look at them as largely sketches of ora-tions and exercise our historical imagination to hearthe orators speak, they become intensely interesting. Ihave tried in the classroom to so describe the times, thequestions of the day, and the men that we couldimagine ourselves in the crowd facing Isaiah, for in-stance, as he held the multitude spell-bound by hiseloquence.

In this book I make the same attempt, but now I amforced to adopt the device of "Short Stories of GreatOrations," as told in letters supposed to have beenwritten by those who heard them. Such letters de-scribing orations by Webster, Beecher, or Gladstoneare of much general interest and help us to hear them,so I would help all hear Moses, Amos and Paul.As the best poetry is largely impersonal I have nottried to make the college students acquainted with thePoets nor have I tried to give technical lectures uponpoetry; I have simply tried^to show the strength andbeauty of some of the great poems of the Bible in sucha way that they would desire to read them and appre-ciate them.


9/256

vi PREFACEI send this book forth that it may do for all who

read it what I have tried to do for the college students,quicken their interest in reading the Bible: my bookis not an end in itself, only a means to an end.


10/256

TABLE OF CONTENTSPART I. INTRODUCTORYCHAPTER PAGE

I. The Nature of Oratory nPART II. SHORT STORIES OF GREAT ORATIONS

II. The Kind and Amount of Oratory in the Bible 21III. The Four Orations and the Farewell of Moses 27A Letter from a Son of Naphtali to His Brother in

Thebes.IV. Two Orations in the City of Samaria, by Amos and

Hosea, during the Reign of Jeroboam II 43. A Letter from a Prince of Israel to a Merchant Prince

of Tyre.V. Four Orations in Jerusalem, by Joel, Micah and Isaiah,

in the Time of its Great Prosperity 62A Letter from a Prince of Judah to the Archon of Athens.Supplement to Chap. V Arrangement of the Speeches

in the Book of Isaiah 82VI. Three Orations in Jerusalem, by Zephaniah, Habakkuk

and Jeremiah, on the Eve of its Destruction byNebuchadnezzar 85

Letters of the Princess Zebidah in Jerusalem and herHusband, Prince Azariah, a Captive in Babylon .

Supplement to Chap. VI Arrangement of the Speechesin the Book of Jeremiah 106

VII. Two Orations by Ezekiel to the Captives in Babylon . . 109Letters of Prince Azariah, a Captive in Babylon, and

his Wife, Princess Zebidah, in Jerusalem, and at lastin Egypt.

Supplement to Chap. VII Arrangement of the Speechesin the Book of Ezekiel 129

VIII. Two Orations by Haggai and Zechariah, during the Re-building of Jerusalem 131A Letter from a Prince of Benjamin to his Sister Re-maining in Babylon.

vii


11/256

viii TABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER PAGE

IX. Two Orations by Jesus of Nazareth 144A Letter from One Traveling in the Eastern Provincesto his Father, a Patrician at Rome.X. An Oration by the Apostle Peter 167A Letter from Shemuel the Pharisee to his Brother inAlexandria.

XI. An Oration by the Apostle Paul 181A Letter from Dionysius the Areopagite to Aristobulus,a Nobleman in Rome.PART III. THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE

XII. The Birth and Growth of Poetry 197XIII. Epic Poetry 210

Epic Song of the Red Sea.Epic Song of Deborah.The Song of Songs.The Lamentations.The Rhapsody of Zion Redeemed.

XIV. Dramatic Poetry 221The Book of Job.XV. Didactic Poetry 230The Proverbs.XVI. Lyric Poetry 236The Psalms.


12/256

PART IINTRODUCTORY


13/256


14/256

CHAPTER ITHE NATURE OF ORATORY

THE power of oratory is vast and mysterious. Agreat crowd is gathered to hear an orator. It is apopular assembly. Some have come out of interestin the cause to be presented, they are opposed to it orin favor of it ; some have come out of interest in theorator, they admire him or are curious to hear him orperhaps they dislike him; some have come simplybecause there is a crowd and they like crowds. Thereare various grades and conditions in the crowd: thecultured and the uncultured, the learned and the igno-rant, the successful and the failures, the well-clothedand the poorly-clothed, deeper grades still : the brightand strong in mind, the dull and stupid, the heavy inheart, the buoyant as well, those of a deep and richemotional nature, and those poor and shallow in theirfeelings, those strong and stable in will and those weakand vacillating.They grow restless as they wait for the orator. He

is a lawyer perhaps, and has argued many cases beforethe jury and the court ; or perhaps he is a member ofCongress and has advocated causes in the Senate; orperhaps he is a preacher and has plead the cause ofhis righteous Lord in many church services. He haswon his reputation as an orator in one of these ways,but he has a different task before him now. There is

ii


15/256

12 ORATORY AND POETRYno sanction of Court or Senate or Church to hold thesepeople, the assembly is in a public hall or in the openair; they are not special classes familiar with andtrained in certain lines of thought whose present dutyis to hear a well-known advocate ; this is simply a vastpopular assembly. The oratory he has exercised inother fields must take a loftier range now if he suc-ceeds in holding and swaying this crowd of people.At last he steps upon the platform; he stands withinthe easy view, he speaks within the easy hearing ofthe multitude.Now as we are trying to estimate the power of ora-tory we will imagine ourselves as seated upon theplatform by the side of the orator and looking outupon the faces of the multitude. There was loudapplause when he stepped out upon the platform butit was evidently led by his admirers and the friends ofhis cause, there were many who did not applaud, theywere listless or they were opposed. Soon the restless-ness of the mass subsides; favoring faces becomeeager ; dull, listless faces begin to light tip ; frowninglooks brighten into smiles. Now there is a burst ofapplause, this time it is not manufactured, it is spon-taneous; it is not partial, it is general. Soon the in-terest becomes too deep and strong for frequentapplause; the faces are intense, the forms straightenand bend forward, the silence grows oppressive. Stillthe orator speaks on, he holds the multitude as by aspell; they think his thoughts, they feel his feelings,they choose his choices. What is he doing? He ispouring his power into the multitude. This is thepower of oratory. One man becomes a thousand men.


16/256

ORATORY 13His thoughts, his feelings, his will take possession andrule the thoughts, feelings, will of a multitude. Hechanges them, he moulds them into new men in certaindirections, he even gives the sluggish a new life, atleast for a time.

This surely is a vast power. How does the oratorwork such changes? This is a great mystery. Per-haps we can learn something of this mystery if we nowimagine ourselves as seated in front of the orator, adozen seats away ; we are now part of the crowd. Howdoes he sway us, mould us ? He speaks in such a waythat we can understand easily all he says ; his speech isclear and pleasing; his words are well chosen, familiar,and skillfully grouped; there is movement in his sen-tences, a kind of musical wave that bears us along andcharms us. The tones of his voice are marvelous,every change of thought, every breath of feeling, everychoice of the will expresses itself clearly and naturally.How the man acquired this art of speech there is notime to consider, we are simply swept along by it. Hisspeech has the charm of music, the spell of great har-monies, we listen enraptured. But it is not only thevoice that so expresses his thought and so thrills us,the whole man speaks; his face, especially his eyes,respond quickly to every passing feeling; he has

"An eye that tears can on a sudden fillAnd lips that smile before the tears are gone."His voice and eyes and face are so many avenuesthrough which his soul enters into and subdues ours.So it is with the postures of his body and the gestureshe makes. All these are separate languages and he is


17/256

I4 ORATORY AND POETRYthe full master of each; the way he stands before uson the open platform, the way he walks about, the wayhe holds his head and moves his hands and arms revealto us and impress upon us his thought and feeling.The marvel of it all is, that without an apparent effort,without any seeming intention even, all these variedlanguages are in perfect harmony; and each seemsneeded with the others to express the full thought andfeeling of the orator. The subject he is presenting tous is so great, is so fully understood by him, has suchcomplete possession of him that it grasps and uses allthese powers of oratory to express itself and enforceitself upon us.Now a strange thing happens to us. While we arecharmed by voice and eye and gesture we become un-conscious of their charm; it sinks into our subcon-sciousness and we are alive only to what he is saying ;we are intensely alive to that because he is such amaster of it ; the truth he is trying to convey to us isso great and clear and important to him that we losesight of him in seeing it. Here is the mysteriouspower of oratory, at least one of its main elements.The truth, through the personality of the orator, im-presses itself at the instant upon a multitude of per-sonalities. There seems to be no other power justlike it.

This orator has a great mind, he thinks clearly andstrongly ; he is well informed on his subject and widelyinformed on all related subjects ; he has all his thinkingpower and wide information at his ready command;he knows what to say not only but how to say it tointerest others, to lead them to his conclusions. He is


18/256

ORATORY 15thoroughly convinced of the truth and of its import-ance and so he convinces us ; he forces his thought andconviction upon us.

This orator has a rich emotional nature, a feelingheart as well as a thinking mind; and the truth as hesees it stirs his emotions : it is these strong emotions soaroused that thrill in the voice and shine in the eyesand so stir our emotions until we, to the extent of ourpowers, feel as he feels.

This orator has a vivid imagination; he makes ussee that striking incident, or that beautiful scene, be-cause he sees it, sees it so clearly that he vividly de-scribes what he sees and we see it through him.

This orator has a good conscience, he values right-eousness above all else; his lofty moral emotions arehis overmastering emotions, they sway him ; and so hepersuades us that righteousness is on his side, that thecause that controls him ought to control us.

This orator has a strong will. His will is entirelyenlisted in this cause. His thoroughly aroused willappeals to our wills, arouses them and enlists them inhis cause. Herein is a large element in the mysteriouspower of oratory. The truth has such complete posses-sion of a richly gifted person that he, through thevarious languages of communication at his command,impresses a multitude of persons in his presence sothey think and feel and resolve as he does.

There is one other element that adds to, perhaps,rather than throws light upon, the mystery. It maybe called the contagion of a crowd. As we sit beforethe orator listening to him intently, it is not as if wewere there alone or only a very few; we are sur-


19/256

16 ORATORY AND POETRYrounded by intent minds, beating hearts, aroused wills.Some one starts applause, we are swept along to swellit ; some one sighs, our pent-up emotions almost bursttheir bounds. These are the movements we can esti-mate; there are others, strong, pulsating, but beyondestimate. The orator is impressing himself uponmultitudes who are in touch with each other, who areinfluencing each other in thought, in feeling, in pur-pose.

Something may occur which will sweep the multi-tude beyond the control of the orator, such things havebeen known ; but generally this contagion of the crowdhas taken the direction incited by the oratory thoughgoing beyond the desired limit. This extreme onlyshows what a great force the personal influence of thecrowd has upon itself and upon each member of it asawakened by the mysterious power of oratory.Then there is the contagious influence of the crowdupon the orator himself, even of certain classes in thecrowd. He wins the attention of those opposed, andhe goes on with an increased effort for greater victory ;he arouses those listless ones, and he becomes clearerand stronger; those dull faces are touched, and hisemotions gather strength from them; a gleam ofawakening resolution shows itself in eager eyes, andhe doubles his appeals ; the growing enthusiasm of hisfollowers lifts him to loftier flights of eloquence.Streams of personal influence flow from his soul intomany souls, their responding feelings incite him tomore vivid thought, they draw the reserve forces ofhis mind and heart into splendid action, they stimulatehis reason, memory, imagination, feeling, will, and


20/256

ORATORY 17the stream of his personal power becomes a vast floodand sweeps the multitude along in its mighty volume.We may not fully understand the mystery ; we maynot fully estimate the vast power of oratory; but wefeel it. Tomorrow morning we read the verbatimreport of the great oration in the newspaper ; it is clear,it is strong, but it is cold; the life has gone; the heartof fire has ceased to beat. It is all true, but it is truthalone; the personality of the orator has faded away;his vast, mysterious power has vanished. By the im-agination we may recreate the scene, may again becomeone of the crowd, may again see and hear the orator,may again to some extent feel the power of oratory.


21/256


22/256

PART IISHORT STORIES OF GREATORATIONS


23/256


24/256

CHAPTER IITHE KIND AND AMOUNT OF ORATORY INTHE BIBLEA LARGE part of the Bible is the report of orations.The narrative makes us acquainted with the speaker,

describes sometimes quite fully the occasion, gives aconcise report of the oration and estimates its effectupon the people and succeeding history. Many ofthese orations were spoken in the ancient Hebrewtongue. The language itself was finely adapted fororatory; it was not philosophical but popular; notscientific, but poetic. It had great simplicity, clearvisions, direct points of view, large conceptions, ascorn of petty details. It had great strength; it waseven so sensuous and passionate that it frequently ex-pressed its feelings in terms of their physical mani-festations. The simple directness of our EnglishBible fis due largely to the translation of this strongHebrew language into our English tongue at the timeof its greatest strength, in its golden age, that ofBacon, Shakespeare and Milton. The dignity of theLatin and the grace of the Norman-French were har-moniously mingled in not too large proportion withthe body of strong Anglo-Saxon, so forming our clearand vigorous English. The Bible is stronger eventhan Shakespeare in words of Anglo-Saxon origin.

21


25/256

22 ORATORY AND POETRYHebrew oratory has thus been very finely renderedfor us into our own language.The breaking up of our Bible into chapters andverses, while extremely useful for reference, has how-ever been a very serious hindrance to the flow ofvigorous oratory, it has spoiled many a fine passage, ithas kept many readers from even recognizing theywere reading an oration. It is quite possible, for in-stance, to read the book of Deuteronomy by chaptersand verses and not at all recognize it as a book of greatorations. Whatever view may be taken of the originof the book, the form of it is that of oratory. One ofthe greatest men in the world's history, at the close ofhis life, makes a series of orations with the loftypurpose of persuading a nation to elect God as theirKing. Very few orators are great enough to be com-pared to Moses ; very few orations compare with thesein lofty eloquence ; each oration leads to the next, thepause of silence and reflection between adds to theimpression, and there is the steady progression to theclimax of the final oration; Moses marshals facts,arguments and appeals with marvelous power.

In the first oration, chapters 1 : 6-4 : 40, Moses an-nounces his deposition : that he can no longer be theirleader.

In the second oration, chapters 8:51-11: 32, he de-livers to the people the code of laws for their guidance.

In the third oration, chapter 28 : 1-68, he exhorts thepeople to obey the laws.

In the fourth oration, chapters 29:2-31:8, hemakes his final appeal to the nation to form a solemncovenant to have God and obey Him as their King.


26/256

BIBLE ORATORY 23The succeeding history flows from this important

occasion and shows the large effect in the nation's lifeof the action urged by this series of orations.

In the later books of the Bible-narrative we fre-quently meet with men called prophets, they weremen of brave and faithful speech urging the peopleand their rulers to acknowledge God as their King.When kings arose in the national life these brave mentold the most arbitrary kings that they were onlysub-kings after all, that God was the real King of thenation.

In the later days of the nation's life some of theseprophets gathered up and arranged the sketches of theorations they had made to the people and their rulers,and thus the resulting books of the prophets we havein our Bible are really books of oratory. Many lookupon these books as characterized mainly by predictionand think of a prophet as mainly one who foretold thefuture. There is a remarkable element of predictionin some of these books, but it is very small in compari-son with the oratory, and the more remarkable becausesmall.The prophets were preachers of righteousness, notas we think of preachers today, confined in their minis-try to single congregations, these were rather nationalorators; they endeavored to arouse the nation toloyalty to their God, the righteous King. They weremen of such superior ability that they won the atten-tion of the nation and made a large impression uponit; men of great eloquence who used their gifts for thelofty object of advancing civic and religious righteous-ness.


27/256

24 ORATORY AND POETRYThe quality of many of these orations fills us with

admiration. The Golden Age Oration of Isaiah, chap-ters 2-4, contrasted the darkness then prevailing withthe splendid future that might be brought into exist-ence. The Salvation Oration, Isaiah 24-27, describedthe songs of praise arising after the silence of despair.The Shiloh Oration of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 7-10, de-picted in terrible terms the results of unrighteous liv-ing. Many passages from these ancient books areamong the brightest gems of the world's oratory. Thewonderful imagination of Isaiah brings before oureyes his vision of the dead kingdoms arising fromtheir graves to exult over Babylon as she falls into thegrave, Isaiah 14 : 9-20. In like manner, to cheer theoppressed of his people, Ezekiel gives the elaboratedescription of Tyre as a stately ship brought to silencein the midst of the seas, Ezekiel 27. Nahum, in hisshort book, describes the awful majesty of God as heleads the forces of destruction against Nineveh.

Glancing now 'at the New Testament we find theGospels are books of oratory. The loftiest thinking,the finest feeling and the noblest willing the world hasever known, clothed in the most charming forms ofeloquent speech, pour themselves out in the teachingsof our Lord Jesus Christ for the noble purpose, thehighest object an orator can have, the salvation of manfrom all that is low and groveling to the life in fellow-ship with the righteous God, the rightful King of thesoul.The Book of the Acts is also a book of oratory; in

its rapid narrative there are nineteen concise sketchesof orations; orations by great men well adapted to


28/256

BIBLE ORATORY 25their lofty purpose of leading all men to the noble lifeof loyalty to God their righteous King.

There is a subtile element of the power of oratorythat makes that of the Bible of more interest to usthan the oratory of any other age or clime; it may becalled the spirit of all the ages. Generally oratorybelongs specially to its own clime and age. It is truethat men of all ages and climes have much in common.It is true that the orator is the easy master of the greatthings that interest mankind. It is true that domesticvirtues, love of native land, loyalty to national tra-ditions, courage, devotion are the general themes oforatory. But it is also true that the orator and thecrowd he influences belong to the same special age andclime, that there are interests of special value to them,that these awaken kindred thoughts and feelings pecul-iar to their present time and condition ; and that thesespecial interests have very little value to us today.

It is for this reason we find that we do not feel thethrilling contagion which moved the crowd whenDemosthenes was arousing them against Philip. Butwhen we stand with the crowd before Isaiah or Paulthe spirit of their age is the spirit of ours as well, theseorators are trying to awaken loyalty to the ever presentrighteous God; the temple courts have vanished, thehill of Mars is far away, but loyalty to the righteousGod is a thrilling theme of everliving interest.While this makes Bible oratory of special interestto us it can be only by recreating the occasion, by im-agining ourselves as in the crowd hearing Moses orEzekiel, Jesus of Nazareth or Peter, that we can morefully estimate the value or feel the power of their


29/256

26 ORATORY AND POETRYoratory. In order to help in this needed effort, I haveimagined, in a few instances, one who was swayed bysome great oratory describing it in a letter to a friend :these letters form the following chapters.

Since poetry is near akin to oratory I have addedchapters on the Poetry of the Bible.


30/256

CHAPTER IIITHE STORY OF THE FOUR ORATIONSAND THE FAREWELL OF MOSESA LETTER FROM A SON OF NAPHTALI TO His

BROTHER IN EGYPTFROM the time our army won its last decisive victory

over the untold hordes of our foes the march of ournation has been unopposed and very hopeful, everyday seemed to bring us nearer our promised land. Butthe days have been long and many and our eyes havegrown weary looking only upon the great desertstretching out on every side to the far off sky line.Then came a day long to be remembered, when ourmarch brought us over the ridge of the desert and wesaw below us a large lake and on the farther side aland of hills and valleys covered with olive trees, vine-yards and fields of grain, and beyond it the sun wassinking to its rest.But now a strange thing happened, the wonderful

Cloud which had guided our long, slow march andpaused each night for our needed rest, paused as usual,and then slowly rose to a great height, which was thesignal that here we were to form a camp for a longerstay. The next day was a busy one, each tribe knewits own work and place, the Tent of Meeting was setup in the middle of the camp and the tents of all the

27


31/256

28 ORATORY AND POETRYtribes were arranged in order on all sides of it, as Moseshad directed many years before. Our camp extendedover a great space, two or three square miles it musthave been, but was so arranged that from every partof it the Tent of Meeting could be easily seen. We hadlived in many such encampments in various parts ofthe desert, in some of them for several years at a time,but now we were out of the desert on a high table-landsloping down toward the great lake, and from it welooked over upon "the land flowing with milk andhoney," and we were eager to enter upon our promisedinheritance.

Several days followed in impatient waiting. It wasa camp of young men and women, scarcely any wereover forty years old, all were eager to go on under ourgreat leader in whom we placed the utmost confidence.Soon it began to be noticed that Moses, who in otherencampments had passed among the tribes in familiarconverse as a father among his children, did not nowleave his own tent. Those who on various matterscalled upon him there, reported him well and strongbut strangely silent and depressed. A great anxietybegan to mingle with the impatient waiting, and groupsof men and women, wherever formed, talked with eachother concerning the mystery of the long delay.Then one morning just after the hour of worship,while the smoke from the altar of sacrifice was stillrising through the quiet air, and while the people werestill standing before their tents, there rang out threelong blasts from the silver trumpets blown by theLevites before the Tent of Meeting, and easily heardto the farthest bound of the camp. This was a well


32/256

MOSES 29known signal for the elders of the people and the cap-tains of the army, the representatives of all the tribes,to assemble at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Allwas now eager expectation, we felt sure the waitingwas nearly over, that directions were to be given forthe conquest and division of the land, and all the peoplewatched the elders and captains as they gathered atthe appointed place. When the leaders of the farthesttribes had reached us-we were over twelve hundred menstanding close together and pressing as near as possibleto the platform before the Tent. At first there was thebuzzing of earnest but reverent conversing with eachother of the probable message we were to receive, butthis soon gave place to solemn silence as we waited forMoses to come before us.When he came forth we could not help seeing thegreat change that had come upon him. His tall formhad all his accustomed dignity and strength of bearing,

his noble face had the majestic expression we had oftenseen before of one just having had an audience with theLord God Almighty, and of bearing his message to hischosen people, his eyes as usual seemed not only to lookupon our faces, knowing each one of us well and lov-ingly, but to look upon our inmost souls. But now forthe first time he seemed to carry a message which wasa heavy burden to him and which he knew would behard for us to bear; his form, his face, his eyes allexpressed his great sorrow. His voice was alwayswonderful, far-carrying, penetrating, musical, thrilling,conveying tenderness and pleading, sternness and com-mand, courage and confidence in its tones, but now ashe spoke to us it seemed to carry a strange mingling of


33/256

30 ORATORY AND POETRYsad regret and patient resignation that pulsated throughour being from the first word until at the last it brokeinto a painful silence.

His great speech* will be remembered by us all-throughout our lives; but there were three short pas-sages in it that are written on our hearts. He beganby recounting the Lord's leading us and governing usby our own chosen leaders until the time when, uponthe report of the spies we had sent to examine theland, we rebelled against the Lord and he sentencedour fathers to wander and die in the wilderness; thensaid Moses, "The Lord was angry with me for yoursakes, saying, 'Thou also shalt not go into the land ofpromise.' " The voice of Moses trembled as he spokethese words, and many exclamations of sorrow brokeforth from our lips.Moses again took up his speech and told of ourwanderings in the wilderness and of our discipline intoan orderly camp and army, and then of our recentvictories and marches; then Moses almost overcomeby his feelings said that after these victories and veryrecently he had besought the Lord, "Let me go over, Ipray thee, and see the good land beyond Jordan. Butthe Lord was wroth with me for your sakes and said,'Speak to me no more of this matter, thou shalt beholdthe good land from a mountain-top but thou shalt notgo over Jordan.' " We could not now restrain ourfeelings but broke out into loud and almost rebelliousprotest. As soon as he could speak again and beheard Moses began to exhort us to faith in the Lordour God, and to a careful obedience of his command-

* Deuteronomy, Chapters i: 6 to 4: 40.


34/256

MOSES 31ments, and at its close carried on by his almost over-mastering feelings, he told us of the sad result ofdisobedience, saying, "The Lord was angry with mefor your sakes and sware that I should not go overJordan but I must die in this land. I must die here-on this side of Jordan. You will go over into yourgreat inheritance, but I cannot lead you any farther.I must die here : and now within a few days."Then the assembly broke up in silence and each dele-gation returned to its own tribe. We found the peoplegathered before the tents eagerly waiting for the gladnews that we were soon to march to take possession ofour promised land. We had to tell them instead thatMoses could no longer be our leader, but was about todie. Grief could not be restrained, lamentations loudand prolonged filled the camp, strong men broke downwith sobbing, women and children wept as though theirhearts were breaking. For years Moses had been withus, a great leader awakening admiration and loyalty,and we depended upon him as representing the LordGod to us, we revered him as great in himself and asgreat in his office and we had never thought of his fail-ing us or leaving us. Then too he had never held him-self aloof from us in his vast dignity, he had neverwithdrawn himself from us in his lofty position, buthad mingled among us as a father. As he frequentlypassed through the camp he placed his hand upon theheads of the children, he talked with the mothers oftheir cares and joys, he spoke to the young men andmaidens of their hopes and plans, he familiarly con-sulted with the elders and the captains and their menconcerning the various details of the march and the


35/256

32 ORATORY AND POETRYcamp, of the past experiences and of the presentprospects.

That Moses the trusted leader, the loving friendshould die, and die now as we were on the borders ofour land when we needed him so much, when our hopeswere almost realized and yet so difficult of full realiza-tion, hopes centering in his leadership, hopes he hadshared with us, which were peculiarly his, that heshould be disappointed, that he should fail us, that heshould die now, it was too hard for us to bear; webroke down under it. The grief was heartfelt andcontagious ; men, women and children, the whole camp,as the news spread, broke forth into sobs and lamen-tations.There -followed two long days of silence and sorrow,

no songs were now heard in the camp, even the songMoses had given us when we came out of Egyptthrough the Red Sea ceased from our lips. Beforethere had been much laughter and rejoicing among allthe tribes, our hardships were over, our prospectswere bright, our friendships and relationships wereclose and happy ; but now we met each other with tear-filled eyes and broken voices ; even the Promised Landitself, as we looked off upon it through the clear air,seemed remote and unattractive.On the morning of the next day the three long blastsfrom the silver trumpets called the representatives ofthe tribes to another assembly before the Tent of Meet-ing. In the long address* which Moses now made tous there was a careful and stern subduing of his strongfeeling of disappointment which had so filled his

* Deuteronomy, Chapters 5: i to ir: 32.


36/256

MOSES 33former speech, his resignation to his personal fate wasmanifest and his determination to do the best he couldfor us now that he was about to depart from us wasthe prevailing tone of his whole speech. There hadbeen prepared under his direction, copies of all thelaws God had given us through him during the pastforty years, as he had carefully arranged them; andnow Moses gave to the elders of each tribe a copy ofthese laws and also his fatherly advice about theirvalue and how best to keep them. With all the dignityof his character and of his vast experience he beganhis address : "Hear O Israel the statutes and the judg-ments which I speak in your ears this day that ye maylearn them and observe to do them. The Lord ourGod made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lordmade not this covenant with our fathers but with us,even us who are all of us here alive this day."As he began so he continued his whole speech withgreat deliberation and earnestness as befitted his themeand his position, the man grown wise with vast experi-ence, the father of his people, the great leader andlawgiver of our new-born nation. At its close he gavethe Book of the Law to the elders for all the people andsaid, "Ye are to pass over Jordan to go in to possessthe land which the Lord your God giveth you and yeshall possess it and dwell therein. And ye shall ob-serve to do all the statutes and the judgments whichI set before you this day."When, returning to our tribes, we reported to them

this second speech of Moses it affected them as it hadaffected us, our sense of personal bereavement in theloss of our great leader became subdued and in quiet


37/256

34 ORATORY AND POETRYreflection upon the laws our God had given us we beganto see what a priceless possession they were and thatthey would go with us, they could not be taken fromus if we carefully cherished and obeyed them.The early morning hours of the next few days werespent by each tribe in hearing the law. The people wereassembled before the tents and the leading elders tak-ing turns, read the laws aloud and explained them inthe hearing of all. This was the first time the wholecollection of the laws given on various occasions dur-ing the past few years, some at Sinai, others on ourjourneys, had been read to all the people as a whole.We now knew how fully God had through Moses pro-vided for the life we were to lead in the land ofpromise. There was the assurance in this provisionnot only that we were to take possession of the land,but that our prosperity would depend upon the kindof life we as a nation lived in the land.

After this deliberate time of instruction there fol-lowed a third call of the silver trumpets and the repre-sentatives of the tribes again assembled at the Tentof Meeting. Moses in this third speech* described invery earnest and striking terms the blessings whichwould follow a hearty and constant obedience to thelaws. "The Lord shall establish thee for an holy peo-ple, he will open his treasury to bless all the work ofthine hand, all the peoples of the earth shall honorthee, thou shalt lend and not borrow, thou shalt leadand not follow, thou shalt be called by the name ofthe Lord." The thrilling tones of blessing now gaveplace to the stern threatening of the awful curse which

Deuteronomy, Chapter 28: 1-68.


38/256

MOSES 35would follow the disobedience of God's laws: "If thouservest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and withgladness of heart, thou shalt serve thine enemies inhunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want ofall things."Moses in this speech directed that when we hadtaken possession of the land we should set apart twomountains near the center of the land with a narrowvalley between them, as the mountains of blessing andcursing, that these laws should be carved in stone uponthe sides of these mountains, and that once in everyseven years the twelve tribes in large numbers shouldassemble in solemn convocation, six tribes upon theone mountain and six upon the other, that the eldersin the valley between the mountains should read thethrilling blessings and the stern cursings Moses hadgiven, and as each blessing was read the six tribes onthe mountain of blessing should respond with a loudAMEN and as each cursing was read the six tribesupon the mountain of cursing should respond withtheir solemn AMEN ; and that thus the memory of thischarge of their great leader should be kept alivethrough all the coming generations.When the assembly to whom Moses had spokenbroke up and the representatives of the people re-turned to the tribes, each tribe was assembled beforethe tents and the elders told them of the blessings andthe cursings and all the people responded with theirsolemn AMENS. Moses now sent directions throughall the encampment that when the next assembly ofthe representatives of the tribes was called all thepeople, the men and the women and even the children


39/256

36 ORATORY AND POETRYshould gather before the tents facing the Tent ofMeeting, and that they should listen and observe whatthe elders and captains did and said, and that thenthey all should do and say the same things.When the next morning after the early worship,while the smoke of the sacrifice was still rising throughthe still, clear air, the three long, loud blasts of thesilver trumpets sounded through the camp, the repre-sentatives of the tribes gathered to hear Moses and allthe people assembled before the tents facing the Tentof Meeting. There followed a wonderful and awe-inspiring sight. The Cloud that had led us throughall our journeys descended from its great height as ithad often done when we were to break up our camp andtake up our journey again, but now besides hoveringas usual over the Tent of Meeting it took possession ofit, especially of the Holy of Holies, and glowing witha mystic light brighter far than it usually had at nightit made the Tent itself luminous in the sunshine. Ourfathers had told us of the lightnings of God's presenceas he descended upon Mount Sinai at the giving of theTen Commandments and now in this glowing CloudGod seemed to manifest his special presence again toall the people.Moses now spoke* to the assembled elders and cap-tains of the covenant God had made with us at MountHoreb, that he would take us for his people; and henow urged us to make our covenant with him, that wechoose him to be our God and King. With most solemnearnestness he told us of all God had done for us, butthat we had not fully understood and responded to his

* Deuteronomy, Chapters 29: 2 to 31: 8.


40/256

MOSES 37great deeds; the Lord, he said, "had not given you aheart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear unto thisday." Now he had come specially near to us at theclose of our wanderings and as we were about to enterupon the land he had promised us. He had given ushis laws and now he offered to write them upon ourhearts, they should be our most precious possession,and we were to be loyal to him as our King ; we mustnow turn to him with all the heart and all the soul, wemust choose him as he had chosen us. With thrillingspeech Moses now closed his appeal : "I call heaven andearth to witness, I have set before thee this day life anddeath, therefore choose life, to love the Lord thy God,to obey his voice and to cleave unto him, for he is thylife." He paused; and under the spell of his eloquence,swayed by him to do what we knew to be right, all theelders and captains lifted their hands toward the glow-ing Cloud shining over and through the Holy of Holiesand with loud and solemn voice declared, "We choosethe Lord to be our God and King," and then we allprostrated ourselves with our faces to the ground be-fore him. All the people gathered before their tentsheard the solemn avowal and witnessed the solemnaction and they too responded "Amen, we choose theLord to be our God and King," and they too pros-trated themselves with their faces to the ground beforeGod.Moses now urged us to "be strong and of a good

courage, for the Lord thy God, he will go with thee,he will not fail thee nor forsake thee." He then calledJoshua forth from the assembled leaders of the tribesand in the sight of. all the people appointed him to be


41/256

38 ORATORY AND POETRYthe leader of the host and assured him that the Lordwould be with him to lead his people into the landhe had promised their fathers to give unto them. Mosesand Joshua now turned and presented themselves be-fore the Lord whose presence was seen in the glowingCloud hovering over and shining through the Holy ofHolies of the Tent of Meeting. The withdrawal ofMoses preparing for his death and the appointment ofJoshua as the leader of the host, and the choice of theleaders and of all the people so solemnly made of theLord to be their God and King were all then acceptedby the Lord. The Cloud of his presence now slowlyrose to a great height in the clear air and remainedstanding over the camp. Moses on his return to theassembled leaders of the tribes gave them a song Godhad directed him to prepare which they were to giveto all the people to commemorate this great day of thechoice of God by all the people. It was to be sungthrough all the coming generations with its solemnwarning and its lofty cheer. The song of Moses andMiriam at the crossing of the Red Sea had been theexhilaration of the people on their wanderings in thewilderness, now this song of Moses at the choice of allthe people of their Divine King was to be added, tokeep ever fresh in mind and heart this glorious daywith its appeal to loyalty to God and confidence in him.Moses as he dismissed the assembly gave directionsthat on the following morning after the sacrifice, allthe tribes were to assemble before their tents andremain standing there waiting for him and he onceagain and now for the last time would visit them.There was little sleeping in the camp that night, every


42/256

MOSES 39heart was thrilled by the momentous events of the dayand in anticipation of the morrow when their vener-ated leader whom they loved as a father would makehis farewell visit to each tribe.

In this as in all our encampments there were threetribes in front of the Tent of Meeting, three tribes oneach side and three in the rear. Between the tribesand the Tent of Meeting there was a large open space,over this space a strong voice might carry in the still,clear air and the action of a group of men might beeasily seen. This morning the air was as clear ascrystal and as still as still could be.Moses* came forth from the Tent of Meeting aloneand at once advanced to the first tribe. He remainedwith that tribe a little while and seemed to be talkingfamiliarly with them, he then lifted up his hand and ina loud voice blessed them: "Let Reuben live and notdie. And let not his men be few." He then passed tothe next tribe, spoke familiarly with them, again wesaw him lift his hands in blessing and again we heardhis thrilling voice as he said : "Hear Lord the voice ofJudah, and bring him in unto his people. With hishands he contended for himself. And thou shalt be ahelp against his adversaries."We now saw that our tribe belonged to the lastdivision he would visit and that while his progress wasdeliberate it could not well be over a couple of hoursbefore he would reach us. We also noticed that as hepassed from one tribe to the next a single man fromthe tribe came from the ranks to accompany him, andsoon a growing group of men followed at a little dis-

*Deuteronomy, Chapter 33-


43/256

40 ORATORY AND POETRYtance from him. As he passed to the second divisionof the tribes his voice in blessing each tribe becamesomewhat lost in the distance and his action becamesome little indistinct to us as we watched him. TheTent of Meeting was between that division and ours.Our eyes wandered from his stately progress at times,we looked up at the Cloud of mystery high in theheavens, we looked over where Moses was passing thetribes, to the beautiful land beyond the great lake, theland so soon now to be our home ; but these wonderfulscenes could not long claim our attention from him.Sometimes also we looked behind us at the steep andlofty mountain which rose from the ridge of the desert.We had often been tempted to climb that mountain butthe laws of the encampment were -very strict that noone should venture beyond its bounds. Then again wewatched Moses as he and the group of men followinghim advanced toward us.At length he came to our tribe. There was a great

sorrow and a wonderful joy upon his face as we nowlooked upon him. He spoke to the women words oftenderness and cheer. He laid his hand on the headsof the children as they came to him and blessed them.He counselled the leaders concerning their duties. Hecalled our chief leader to join the group following him,and then lifted up his hand and blessing us said: "ONaphtali, satisfied with favor, and full with the bless-ing of the Lord, Possess thou the west and the south."As he passed to the next tribe our hearts would fainhave followed him. How could we let him go ? Howcould we think of never seeing his face again, of neverhearing his voice?


44/256

MOSES 41When he had blessed the last tribe of our division he

spoke a few words of quiet command and a way wasopened for him, and he and the group of the leadersfollowing him passed through the tribe and beganclimbing the mountain behind us. When he hadreached the first resting-place he turned and lifting hishands he blessed all the tribes, his wonderful voicecould be heard in all the camp as he said : "The eternalGod is thy dwelling-place and underneath are the ever-lasting arms." He looked long upon the camp andupon the Cloud and upon the far away hills of thePromised Land and then turned to resume the ascentof the mountain.When they were near the top we saw them stop andMoses spoke to his followers. It was a short messagebut at its close they stood still and he went on alone.Our eyes followed him longingly as he slowly climbedthe steep peak and at length stood upon its top. Henow looked back upon us, a long, lingering look andthen he crossed to the farther side of the peak. Wewatched and watched for his return, but he did notcome back. Our eyes saw him no more.The group of men who had accompanied him waiteda long time on the mountain-side, at times they seemedabout to follow him, but at length as the evening dark-ness began to gather they returned to the camp. Theyreported to us that Moses had told -them that he mustgo on alone and that he would never return, that Godwould show him the land so dear to him from themountain-top, that he would then die and God wouldbury him. He then charged us that neither we norany from the camp should ever climb to the mountain


45/256

42 ORATORY AND POETRYtop, should ever try to find the place of his sepulchre,that we must leave him in the keeping of his God.

During the remaining days of our encampment thatmountain-top dominated our thought, fascinated,tyrannized over us. When it caught the first rays of therising sun, when the glare of the noon-day covered it,when the evening shadows clothed it, when the silentstars passed over it our eyes watched it dimmed withtears; it had lifted our beloved leader from our sight;it was his lofty sepulchre.Then one evening the Cloud descended and hoveredover the Tent of Meeting, it was the signal to prepareto march. The next day all was orderly and rapidpreparation, but often we paused to look long andeagerly to the mountain-top. When the next morningthe Cloud moved in its mysterious majesty, it led usaround the foot of the mountain and over the ridge ofthe desert to the northward. We now saw the riverflowing into the great lake, we saw the wide valley andthe steep hills far to the north, we descended into thevalley coming near to the river where the Cloud de-scended and we formed the camp for the night. Thenext morning the mysterious Cloud, so long familiarto our eyes, vanished away, and we never saw it again.


46/256

CHAPTER IVTHE STORY OF TWO GREAT ORATIONS INTHE CITY OF SAMARIA, BY AMOS ANDHOSEA, DURING THE REIGN OFJEROBOAM IIA LETTER FROM A PRINCE OF ISRAEL TO A MERCHANT

PRINCE OF TYREFAIR Samaria, the city of the ivory palaces, the

capital of our flourishing kingdom, has put on hergala-dress today. Her banners proudly wave fromevery vantage point, her people in their festal robesthrong her streets and parks, while shouts and songsand laughter everywhere resound. The news has justreached us that our great King has captured Damascusand that he is leading our victorious armies to takepossession of the rich plains along the rivers beyondthe northern mountains. Soon he will return ladenwith the spoils of great cities and those prosperouslands will henceforth pour in their rich tribute to ourgrowing wealth and power. But underneath all ourtriumphant joy there runs a strange feeling of depres-sion, we are conscious even in this hour of victory ofa deep foreboding of coming ruin. We know it is notawakened by any lack of confidence in our victoriousKing, he is as prudent as bold, a wise statesman aswell as a great warrior. But recently we have beenunder the spell of two great orations spoken to thou-

43


47/256

44 ORATORY AND POETRYsands in the assembly squares of our city, and spreadby them among all the people. One speaker was fromthe nation south of ours, the Kingdom of Judah, theother was one of our own people.The orator from Jerusalem called himself a prophetof Jehovah, we had heard long before of his proposedcoming and we were fully prepared to give him a hotreception. Why should he intrude himself and hiscounsels in our affairs? What right had Judah tosend us any messenger? What right had Jerusalemto compare herself at all with Samaria? For a longtime we had indeed been rival cities but that time waspast forever. The father of our present King hadled our victorious armies into Judah, he had capturedJerusalem and broken down her walls, he had despoiledher temple and palaces and brought many captivesback to Samaria. Judah still existed and Jerusalemtoo, but largely through our generosity. Jerusalemhad indeed the great Temple of Solomon, it fairlydominated the city, it cast its shadow upon her palaces,it frowned upon her pleasures, it restricted her plans,but so much more our reason to rejoice that we werefree from its baleful influences. Then came our pres-ent King, the great Jeroboam; he carried our powerfar to the east, and the lands east of the Jordan andfar south to the Dead Sea became tributary to us;they sent their flocks and herds, their gold and silver,their ivory and spices to enrich our city. Now Jero-boam was conquering our northern enemies and re-storing and even enlarging the Kingdom of David andSolomon and making it our own. The Ten Tribesformed the real Kingdom of Israel; Judah with its


48/256

AMOS, HOSEA 45dependent tribe was too small and weak to comparewith us. We held not only by far the largest but therichest portion of the land, the land that had not feltthe touch of drouth since the time of Ahab, a landflowing with milk and honey. Judah need not sendher prophet to teach us about the Lord God, she hadno need to instruct us about him, she had an entirelywrong view of him.We too might have erred in our former views ofhim but Jehu, the head of our present line of kings,had broken down the House of Baal in our city andnow we worshiped Jehovah as represented in the Calf.The sculptured bull stood in the grove on the highestmound in our fair city, the symbol of prolific life, ofpleasure and power. Surely Jehovah wanted hisfavored children to enjoy life to the full, he wouldnot restrict and restrain them from luxurious livingand wide dominion. Our great prosperity came fromJehovah and we could honor him only by enjoying it.Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet of Jehovah, hadforetold the triumphs of Jeroboam, had really directedhim in his conquests and so made plain to us all thatJehovah approved our worship of him. Had not thesame Jonah been sent to Nineveh the capital ofAssyria, that great power looming up in the far north-east which might sometime threaten our welfare, todenounce to them a message of destruction fromJehovah? And although Nineveh was spared for thepresent it was only spared because of its repentance,it would flourish only as long as it did not molest us ;so we reasoned and confirmed ourselves in our proudviews of our own prosperity and in our disdain of


49/256

46 ORATORY AND POETRYJerusalem. Then too we learned by probable reportthat this prophet of Jehovah coming to us was notone of the princes of Jerusalem, not even a citizen ofthe capital city, that he was only a farmer, a herds-man in the poor lands south of Jerusalem; and thathe was not sent by any body of men either prophets,priests or rulers but was coming of his own purposewith a deep and irresistible conviction that he feltimpelled to come.

So we waited his coming with hot resentment anddisdain in our hearts.

Soon it was reported that he had entered the cityand would address the people the next morning in theassembly square near the south gate. A great multi-tude of all classes gathered to hear him, curiosity tosee what kind of a man he was and who attendedupon him, was the leading motive that brought ustogether, though some of us thought perhaps theremight be some importance attached to his message.The crowd excited itself speedily with mutterings ofcontempt for Judah and her herdsman messengerwhich soon became cries of scorn and bitter cursings.The more moderate among us became apprehensive ofviolence against him and his followers which woulddisgrace our liberal-minded city as if we were afraid tohear what our inferior neighbors could say about us,but our efforts to quiet the mob were vain, our hush-ings for silence were turned at once into many hissingsof contempt and hatred.

Suddenly there came a great change over the crowd,the cursings and hissings were speedily subdued intorespectful silence as a middle aged man came through


50/256

AMOS, HOSEA 47the door back of the platform and advancing alonestood facing the multitude. He was tall and well-built- and of great dignity of bearing. With utmostselfpossession he looked over the surging, angry throngwaiting for and thus seeming even to demand a hear-ing. His bravery awakened our admiration, his confi-dence in our being willing to hear him was itself acompelling appeal to us. When he began to speak hisvoice thrilled us, it was far-carrying, well modulated,clear, distinct and musical and his language was wellchosen; this man might be a farmer but evidently hewas no boorish man but one of fine powers and muchculture.His first words* claimed our fixed attention : Amos

spoke not a word about himself, made no apology forhis coming, not even an explanation of it but at oncewith deep solemnity and earnest sincerity entered uponhis great message. "Jehovah will roar from Zion andutter his voice from Jerusalem and the habitations ofthe shepherds shall mourn and the top of Carmel shallwither." We had always associated the thunder re-verberating over the hills with the voice of Jehovahand here was an intimation that he would mainlyjudge the southern kingdom for that was more a landof shepherds, ours was an open country of cultivatedfields of grain and our hills were covered with olive-orchards and vineyards, Carmel was ours truly butif only its top withered we could easily endure that.After a short but impressive pause AMOS turned ourthoughts far to our northern enemies where our Kingwas now leading our armies. We could hardly be-

* Amos, the whole book.


51/256

48 ORATORY AND POETRYlieve our ears when we heard him say with greatfervor, "Thus saith Jehovah, 'For three transgressionsof Damascus, yea for four, I will not turn away thepunishment thereof because they have threshed Gileadwith threshing instruments of iron, and Syria shallgo into captivity.' " So this prophet says our cause isjust, for Damascus had threshed Gilead which be-longed by right to us, we had recaptured it and wewere now besieging Damascus and this prophet fore-tells we will capture it, that we will capture the palacesof Benhadad and that our victorious King will bringall the north border, all Syria, into captivity to us.Our people are quick to apply messages to othersand are easily excited with good news and readilychange their feelings; a little while before they werecursing the prophet ; now they gave him wild approval,they waved their arms, they clapped their hands andshouted their applause. This is a great prophet, hesays Jehovah will give us victory over our strongenemies and bring them into subjection to us. Amosnow with the same fervor turned to our other enemies,first to the south, then to the north, then again to thefar south and to the east, and with the same tellingphrase, "Thus saith Jehovah, For three transgressions,yea for four," he threatened the punishment of Godagainst Gaza, against Tyre, against Edom, againstAmmon, against Moab. As he advanced he becamemore and more eloquent, carried along by his enrap-tured vision of coming judgment ; and we too becamefascinated with his conception of the glory of Jehovahas the ruler and judge of all the nations. In eachcase Amos gave the reason for the threatened punish-


52/256

AMOS, HOSEA 49ment, evidently he was well acquainted with the his-tory of our people in the far off as well as in the nearby past. In the early day Gaza and Tyre rejoiced inthe effort of Edom to bring our whole people intobitter captivity, in more recent days our eastern neigh-bors Ammon and Moab had been exceedingly cruelin their warfare against us and in all the cases therehad not been simply a single and solitary offence butmany: "three transgressions, yea four." "Justice,justice," we cried under the spell of the eloquence ofAmos "that is right, that is right, Edom deserves it,Moab deserves it, it is right, it is just."The prophet had renewed our faith in the God ofour fathers, in the great Ruler of all nations; and hehad appealed to our slumbering conscience and arousedit to approve of truth and righteousness. To ourunspeakable surprise Amos now, with great sadnessbut with intense passion, with tears in his voice, turnedto his own nation, our rival nation, and using hischoice phrase, now burned into our consciences, said,"For three transgressions of Judah, yea for four Iwill not turn away the punishment thereof. Becausethey have despised the law of Jehovah I will send afire upon Judah and it shall devour the palaces ofJerusalem." Our consciences recognized the righteous-ness of the threatened judgment but now we couldnot break forth into shouts of approval as in the othercases, our feelings were subdued for we rememberedthat Judah, after all the hard rivalry of our recentseparation, was still our brother.Amos now at length brought his message home tous; with sorrow for us thrilling in his voice and still


53/256

50 ORATORY AND POETRYwith passionate earnestness as the prophet of the MostHigh he said, "Thus saith Jehovah, For three trans-gressions of Israel, yea for four, I will not turn awaythe punishment thereof. Because they have sold therighteous for silver, they pant after the dust of theearth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the wayof the meek." We listened in awe-struck silence, wecould not do otherwise than listen. We seemed in thepresence of Jehovah himself, the just Ruler of all thenations, Amos was his messenger, we listened as forour lives, we hung upon his words as they took posses-sion of our consciences.He did not rebuke us for worshiping our God bymeans of the Calf whose image in the grove crownedthe highest place of our city; he did not denounce usas idolaters as if we had forsaken Jehovah, he ac-knowledged that we offered our worship to him; buthe claimed that we made it the occasion of confirmingourselves in our transgressions against our brethren,in our losing all sense of brotherhood. He spoke asif Jehovah spoke through him, "I hate your solemnassemblies, I despise your feasts, I spurn your sacri-fices and peace offerings. If you would truly worshipme let judgment roll down as waters and righteousnessas an overflowing stream through your streets andthrough your land."Now there followed the swift and stern indictmentof the injustice, the luxury, the licentiousness, thehardness of heart of our selfish indulgence; he didnot mince matters, he did not seek to clothe gravefaults with pleasing words but set them forth in theirhideous nakedness. "Ye have no respect for family


54/256

AMOS, HOSEA 51ties nor for the virtue of young womanhood, ye dodeeds of violence and lust."Ye hate him that speaketh uprightly, ye turn right-

eous judgment into gall and wormwood."Ye live in luxury, ye sing idle songs, ye drink winein bowls, but ye have no sympathy for your afflictedbrethren."Ye have houses of hewn stone, ye have beds of

ivory, ye have pleasant vineyards but ye trample uponthe poor, ye crush the needy."

Alas we felt that in these stern words he truthfullydescribed what our great prosperity had wrought inus, that we had pursued pleasure and power recklesslyand that in worshiping the sculptured bull we hadcultivated and confirmed ourselves in sensuality.The prophet recounted how many calls we had toturn from these low views of God as if he approvedof our indulgent lives, and in the same telling phraserepeated time and time again, "Yet ye have not re-turned unto me saith Jehovah" he rebuked our per-sistency, there were indeed "three transgressions yeafour"; and at length he cried aloud in a way thatreached and awakened and troubled our conscience,"Therefore prepare O Israel to meet thy God." Henow set before us with all the rapt gaze of the impas-sioned orator, vision after vision of advancing judg-ment, he entreated for us but in vain, Jehovah hadpassed an irrevocable sentence, we were to be carriedaway captive beyond Damascus.We listened in silence, once only there was a fierceinterruption. Amaziah the priest of Bethel threatenedto send word to our absent King and he called upon


55/256

52 ORATORY AND POETRYthe prophet to fly back to Judah and confine hisprophecy to that nation. The answer came quick andstern, "The King shall die by the sword; you, ohpriest and your family, shall die in an unclean land.Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.Jehovah has sent me, I came not of myself; he tookme away from following my flock, he said, Go proph-esy to my people Israel. I faithfully give you hismessage."When Amos ceased speaking and left the platformwe quietly went to our homes. There was much

troubled sleep in Samaria that night as there has beenever since. The next day we supposed he would speakto us again, but when we inquired ior him we learnedthat he was already on his way back to his home.

It was nearly four weeks after this that the secondgreat oration that so deeply impressed us was spoken,and this was by one of our own people, a man in highposition among us and greatly respected by all, butone whom we had never thought of as a prophet ofJehovah, nor had he even thought this of himself,as he told us, until a short time before he was forcedby this feeling to speak to us. Some ten years agoHOSEA the son of Beeri had married Gomer the daugh-ter of Diblaim, both were of noble families and ofgreat wealth, and when he brought her as a bride tohis palace the whole city shared in his joy. Gomerwas a great beauty and of charming manners, she hadmany suitors but Hosea easily excelled them all inposition, in manly qualities and bearing; they wereboth young and it was a marriage of ardent love.Within a few years three children were born, two boys


56/256

AMOS, HOSEA 53and a girl, and the happy home-life in the fair palaceflowed buoyantly on.Our women of noble rank are not kept in seclusionas is the case with some of our neighboring nations,they freely pass through our streets, meet in the assem-blies of the people and take part in the public worship.Often Hosea and Corner were seen on the plain beforethe sculptured Calf of Samaria, taking part in thedances before that shrine; they both loved pleasureand power and delighted in the worship of this God;she was a splendid dancer as was he, and the peopleadmired greatly the abandon of their joy. Theirpalace was the center of gracious and luxurious hospi-tality and often large parties gathered there in dancingand feasting ; and whenever the noble and the wealthyof other lands visited our proud city Hosea and hiswife gave them hearty welcome and splendid enter-tainment. Comer was queenly in her beauty, in herrich robes and flashing jewels she commanded ad-miration of all, and her wealth of passionate andhappy spirits together with her free and charmingmanners fascinated those she wished to please; andHosea by his ability and energy rose from place toplace until he became the Governor of the city andnext to the King in honor and power.Some three years ago a great Prince of Judahvisited Samaria with a large retinue and was enter-tained in the palace of the King. Much attention waspaid to him by Hosea, he was a frequent guest at hispalace and it was noticeable that he was specially fasci-nated by Corner and was devoted to her company.One day Hosea visited one of his large estates on the


57/256

54 ORATORY AND POETRYslope of the mountains toward the Jordan valley andspent the night there. When he returned the nextmorning he found the Prince of Judah with his retinuehad left the city and had taken Gomer with him.Gathering a hundred horsemen he followed them inhot pursuit. At nightfall they, from a high hill, sawtheir encampment in the valley beneath ; now a strangerevulsion of feeling seized Hosea. He felt that hecould easily destroy the seducer of his wife and cap-ture her. But such a slaughter of her lover would bea hideous experience to her, a life-long horror andwould hopelessly alienate her from him, and to haveher person a captive in his palace and not her heartrestored to him would sadden his whole life and thatof his children. So he called back his eager horsemenand returned to his city and to his desolate home.

Speedy disaster came to the Prince of Judah, he fellunder the displeasure of his king who confiscated allhis property leaving only a single house near Jeru-salem to his family, and sent him a captive to be heldby his ally the King of Egypt. Gomer would nowhave suffered great hardship had not Hosea heard ofher threatened distress and sent abundant provisionsfor her support. Gomer thought these provisionscame from the Prince, her lover, until she discoveredamong those who brought the clothing and the olivesone of her old servants in Samaria who told her Hoseahad sent them. She learned also from him howHosea had followed her and spared her, how he alwaysspoke kindly of her to the children, and how eagerlyhe asked about her when they returned from bringinghis gifts to her. She was so overwhelmed by this


58/256

AMOS, HOSEA 55constant love that she sent him a message asking if shecould come back. Hosea came himself to her humblehome near Jerusalem and brought her back to hispalace and restored her to her place as his wife; andthey were lovers again as before, the joy of theirhome-life being fully restored.

But Gomer could not help fascinating men; herremarkable physical beauty and form, her cheerful,happy spirits and her warm, passionate nature appealedto men; and it was not rare that a man of physicalcharm and ardent nature made a strong appeal to her.So the inevitable soon happened again. This time, amember of an embassy from Damascus courted herand won her and she fled with him. But when shereached Damascus she found her lover had otherwives, that she was the favorite but only one of many,and she soon wearied of him. So tremblingly she,with a few attendants, rode back to Samaria ; and sheentreated Hosea to receive her again into his homeand his heart, which he was eager to do.Both Hosea and Gomer were in the assembly and

near to the platform when Amos gave his messagefrom Jehovah, when he so sternly and faithfully de-nounced the self-indulgence that prevailed in our cityand nation, and they like -all the spell-bound crowdwere greatly impressed.The next day Hosea, with a few attendants, rodedown the valley to the coast of the Great Sea to in-spect that part of the country left in his charge by ourabsent King ; and Gomer and her maidens gaily wavedtheir farewells from his palace walls.A week before this a wealthy Prince of far-off


59/256

56 ORATORY AND POETRYNineveh who had visited our city and had often beena guest of Hosea, had left us on his return to his owncountry and we thought he was by this time far beyondthe borders of our nation. But toward evening of theday Hosea had left for the sea-coast this Prince re-turned. He threw himself at the feet of Gomer, toldher he could not live without her, and pled with allhis ardent love that she would share his life and for-tunes. The next day she, this time taking her threechildren with her, fled with, her lover to the north.Word was sent by a swift courier to Hosea, who atonce returned.

But as before he did not pursue her to kill her loverand capture her, he would not. force her to return ashis slave, he could not satisfy his heart with anythingless than her love. So he sent messengers after her;he wrote her a letter pleading with her by her senseof right, by her past experience, by the interests ofhis own and her children, and by his quenchless lovefor her to return to him. In a week's time the messen-gers returned, they had caught the flying pair at Tyreand had delivered his letter and his messages to Gomer.But Gomer would hardly read the letter or listen totheir pleas; she seemed in a rapture of love with herPrince, her large, languishing eyes beamed only onhim, her thrilling voice was all tenderness and longingfor him; and she had so taught her children too, thatthey were eager for the excitement of a new life inreckless and splendid Nineveh. So they had gone ontheir journey; and his messengers returned withouther and without any hope of her ever returning to him.Hosea now confined himself largely within the walls


60/256

AMOS, HOSEA 57of his desolate palace. When he was called to exercisethe powers of government, especially when he heardcontested cases and passed judgment upon them, therewas a strange mingling of sternness and leniency inhim. He withdrew himself from all the busy scenesand the gay, joyous life of our city, and his closestfriends could hardly obtain an audience with him. Hehad always been very popular, heartily sharing in allthe pleasures and plans of our prosperous city; butnow he retired from the people and was wrapped upin his gloomy thoughts and great distress. We alladmired him and we shared in his heart-troubles,though there were many who could not sympathizewith him in his sparing the lives of the seducers of hiswife and in his retaining his love for her.

After some two weeks of this retirement Hosea sentout word through the city that he wished to speak ata certain hour the next day to an assembly of thepeople on the hill-top in the center of the city beforethe grove of the sculptured Calf.

Early the next morning the people assembled. Theglorious sun never shone upon a fairer scene. Be-neath us lay our large and prosperous city. On eitherside and before us, beyond the far limits of the city,rose the hills and mountains terraced to their topswith vineyards and olive-groves and among them themany villages of the farmers glimmering in the sun-light. Back of us stretched the broad valley for manymiles with its meadows, its waving fields of grain, itsprosperous villages, and far-off on the horizon onecould catch a vision of the Great Sea. Before thegrove stood the white marble statue, the sculptured


61/256

58 ORATORY AND POETRYCalf of Samaria, looking down upon the prosperouscity and the rich valley to the far-off sea. The Egyp-tians worshiped the sun as the source of life and of allliving creatures they chose the bull as its favoritesymbol. We were wiser than they, we worshippedJehovah as the source of life, he gave the sun, itself,the power to shine, but we adopted the bull as the chiefsymbol of life, of all living beings the most prolific,most powerful, most pleasure-loving. Surely ourworship had been greatly approved and richly blessed.Ours was a fruitful land; ours, a triumphant city;ours, a pleasure-loving people.When>we assembled before the Calf of Samaria weeach one made obeisance to him, we prostrated our-selves before him as the source of all good to us. Aswe waited for Hosea we recalled to each other themany scenes of worship which he, the chief man ofour city, had there shared with us and how he andthe pleasure-loving Gomer had often led in the festaldance; and our spirits were subdued and our heartssaddened as we thought of him in his desertion andof her in the embrace of her false lover in a far-offland.When at length Hosea came before us we noticedthat he made no obeisance to the image of the bull andthat he stood with his back to it as he spoke* to us.

His speech from beginning to end was a torrent ofconflicting emotions, flaming in their strength. Hisvoice sometimes rang with fierce anger and wouldquickly change to the tenderest and most yearninglove; his eyes flashed with hot indignation or beamed

* Hosea, the whole book.


62/256

AMOS, HOSEA 59with touching appeal ; every pose he took, every move-ment he made, all his intense action revealed a warriorstriking down his enemies in battle or a mother gather-ing her children in her arms. He spoke freely to usof his wife and of her unfaithfulness to him, of hisintense and burning indignation against her as shewent after her false lovers and of his fierce angeragainst her seducers and then he told us how he couldnot cease to love her, how he could not, try as hewould, tear her from his heart, how even now whenthere was no hope he hungered for her return, howhe had appealed to her, how he would welcome herback ; and that.his failure, his hopelessness only seemedto deepen his love for her.Then he told us that Jehovah had shown him howthis experience of his for these few years, made in-tense now by the loss of his wife and children, wasbut a faint reflection of his own burning indignationand quenchless love for his people Israel who had,now for over two hundred years, been false to himand who were, at this very moment, given up to theirfalse worship of the Calf of Samaria. He showedhim how they knew in their hearts that he was therighteous and pure God and could not be at all repre-sented in the lustful and dominant bull, that in wor-shiping the bull they had cast off all self-restraint, allobedience to God in righteous living and had giventhemselves up to self-indulgence in the wild pursuitof pleasure and the lust for wide and selfish dominion.Thus he showed us how his own experience, knownto us all, was the way God had taught him; and socommissioned him to be his prophet to us to make a


63/256

60 ORATORY AND POETRYfinal, appeal, he feared a hopeless one, to turn fromthe brutal bull and to come back to the righteous God.His own indignation against the faithless Gomershowed us God's indignation against us : "Ye are notmy people, I will not be your God. I have cast off thyCalf, oh Samaria, it shall be broken to pieces. Myanger is kindled against you; ye sow to the wind, yeshall reap the whirlwind. Woe unto them, they havewandered from me. Destruction to them, they havetrespassed against me."So his quenchless love for Gomer showed us God'squenchless love for us. "She decked herself with herearrings and her jewels, she went after her lovers andforgat me, saith the Lord. But I will allure her. Iwill speak comfortably to her. I will give her vine-yards ; and she shall make answer, she shall sing againas in the days of her youth. How can I give thee up,oh my beloved! I will take her in my arms, I willdraw her with cords of love. Ye shall be my people,I will be your God." Then he made his final appealto us. "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, forthou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Say no more to thework of your hands, Ye are our gods. Come backto him in whom the fatherless find mercy, he will healyour back-sliding, he will love you freely. He will beas the dew to Israel; ye shall blossom as the lily andcast forth your roots as Lebanon."The effect of this faithful and earnest speech ofHosea was very disturbing to us. We had all con-demned Gomer as giving free rein to her pleasure-

loving nature and as being untrue to her faithful,loving, constant and self-sacrificing husband, untrue


64/256

AMOS, HOSEA 61i

to the noblest ties and to the highest obligations. Whilewe sympathized with Hosea in his quenchless lovethere were many who would have heartily approvedhad he followed Gomer and her lovers with fiercevengeance. Now we had had forcefully applied to ourown case that we were like Gomer in being false tothe righteous and loving God, and of giving ourselvesup to the self-indulgence of pleasure and power. Wecould not help feeling the truth of the charge and alsofearing that, though God still loved us and appealedto us, we were so enamored of our worship of theCalf of. Samaria that we would never return to God.We felt that as Gomer's character had been confirmedby her many treacheries and as she was now so in-volved in the condition of her own choice that sheprobably would never return to Hosea, so in the same,way we were so fully confirmed and involved in ourworship of the bull that we would never return to God.So when the news came that Jeroboam had capturedDamascus and was conquering the rich lands beyond

the northern mountains, though the speeches of bothAmos and Hosea filled us with strange forebodingsof evil, we speedily and easily overcame them and gaveourselves up to popular rejoicing. We have chosenour lot: a life of pleasure and wide dominion, andcome what may we will hold by our choice.


65/256

'CHAPTER VTHE STORY OF FOUR ORATIONS INJERUSALEM, BY JOEL, MICAH, ANDISAIAH, IN THE TIME OF ITSGREAT PROSPERITYA LETTER FROM A PRINCE OF JUDAH TO THEARCHON OF ATHENSIT is very difficult for some of us to see how the

golden age can be any better than the present era. Itis true that our history has been checkered : part of itsplendid when good kings have ruled and the city hasflourished, part of it shadowed with the rule of evilkings and with disaster coming even to our walls. Butnow for many years prosperity has been fully estab-lished. Our northern neighbor has prospered greatlyand is living at peace with us; many of her best peoplevisit us freely and attend the great feasts at theTemple, they are guests of friends in the city or en-camp on the hills just outside the walls. That kingdomstands between us and the growing kingdoms farthernorth and so acts as our guard and defense frompossible danger.With the many years of peaceful development greatwealth has come to us. While the city itself hasgrown large and splendid, a city of palaces, our coun-try, under the thorough cultivation of small estates62


66/256

JOEL, MICAH, ISAIAH 63has become very fruitful, a country of many brightvillages of happy homes.

It is hard to understand the prophets : some of thempromise a golden age, some of them threaten speedyruin, and often the same prophet in the same speechwill mingle both promises and threats. Many of theseprophets find it difficult to gain a hearing but therewas one a few years ago of such fine eloquence thatcrowds hung upon his words and there are two nowliving whom the people are always eager to hearthough we may not approve or even fully understandtheir messages.The speech of JOEL several years ago was made tothe crowds attending the temple-service at the closeof the evening sacrifice. It was one of the great feast-days and the full choir of a couple of hundred instru-ments and at least two thousand voices had just ren-dered one of the noblest temple songs. The courtupon which the magnificent Temple stands is lifteda few feet above the court of the people. Here standsthe Great Altar where the priests offer the morningand evening sacrifice for the whole nation. The choirof the Levites which assembled from all parts of theland on the feast-days was divided into two sectionsfacing each other with the altar and the ministeringpriests between them while in front, facing both altarand temple was the large orchestra of trumpets, hornsand flutes, of harps and drums. On such days thecourt of the people is crowded, ten thousand men andwomen filled the open space and the magnificent cor-ridors surrounding it.Well might our city be proud of such a scene: the


67/256

64 ORATORY AND POETRYsplendid Temple of Solomon with its lofty walls ofwhite marble and its roof of pure gold flashing in therays of the setting sun, the open spaces filled with amultitude of worshippers, the corridors of magnificentmarble columns and golden roofs and the far-famedgates into the courts of the Temple upon which Solo-mon had lavished the wealth and genius of a nation.Well might our land be proud of our worship of theMost High God ; all this splendid building, the wonderof the world, all the throng of people from city andcountry had but one purpose, to worship God. Surelyour God must be pleased with such devotion to him.The song the choir sang that evening was the Songof the Redeemed* : a few strong voices with the trum-pets accompanying them, called upon all to praise theLord for his goodness ; then followed four responsivesongs, one part of the choir taking the first, the otherdivision taking the second. Each song began with afew plaintive voices, to the accompaniment of theflutes, describing men in distress : then a great, appealarose from many strong voices to God for help. Thenthe whole division of the choir with the accompani-ment of all the instruments described the help givenby God, and called upon all to praise him for hisgoodness. The four songs sung responsively by thetwo sections of the choir awakened an overwhelmingspirit of praise and now the whole choir joined in agreat chorus of song; this spirit spread irresistiblyand soon the whole congregation was swept into thevast chorus of praise to God for his goodness, tenthousand voices with all the instruments rendering to

* Psalm, 107.


68/256

JOEL, MICAH, ISAIAH 65God the heart's adoration. No such music, we fondlybelieved, could be heard elsewhere on earth; and oursouls were lifted to heavenly heights on the wings ofsong. This evening, too, there was a glorious sunset,the whole heavens were aflame with crimson and goldforetelling a fair tomorrow.As the last note of the music died away in silenceJoel stepped forth from the ranks of the Levites tothe platform overlooking the court of the people* andbegan the great oration whose thrilling effect charmsand ever will charm our minds and hearts, though wecannot claim that we fully understood it all or evenapproved that which we did understand.He was a most dramatic orator. He seemed tocall up to his side on the broad platform variousclasses of people and then make them speak to usthe messages he desired to enforce upon us. Hecalled up the old men to describe a disaster such ashad not before been seen in their day; he called uponthe young revellers, the drinkers of wine, to describehostile armies conquering the land ; he called upon thehusbandmen to describe a country of vast desolation;he called upon the priests to lament in sackcloth thatthere was no offering for the house of God ; he calledupon the representatives of all the people to sanctifya fast, to call a solemn assembly and cry unto theLord. "Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord isat hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shallit come."Then he, in his own person, poured out upon our

terrified souls his vision of the approaching destruc-* Joel, the whole book.


69/256

66 ORATORY AND POETRYtion. Our fathers had described to us what theirfathers had told them had occurred in their day, andwe thought with the exaggeration incident to old-agedescribing a far-gone past, it was a terrible scourgeof locusts that had darkened the sky as the night andcompletely devoured the land. Joel recalled this storyof the locusts and in his vivid way depicted the comingof a great nation from the north whose vast armiesshould in orderly array and in irresistible strengthspread over the land: "they march every one on hisway and they break not their ranks, they leap upon thecity, they run upon the wall, they climb up into thehouses, they enter in at the windows like a thief, theearth quaketh before them, the heavens tremble, thesun and moon are darkened, the land is as the Gardenof Eden before them and behind them a desolatewilderness, yea, and none hath escaped them, a firedevoureth before them and behind them a flame burn-eth." The destruction by the locusts, exaggerated asit might be, was but a faint forecast of the completeand terrible destruction by the northern armies.

Joel now called upon us, as we r

Oratory and Poetry of the Bible

Documents