[Footnote E: See Deuteronomy xxviii.]
But notwithstanding all these promises of favor and blessing on the one hand, and the forewarnings of calamity on the other, Israel rebelled against God, wholly rejected him, and trampled upon his counsels. The generous instructions of the teachers whom the Lord raised up to instruct them in the things of righteousness and true government, were unheeded. They killed the force and spirit of the law of Moses by their vain traditions. The warnings of the prophets were unheeded, and the prophets themselves were stoned and murdered. The earnest appeals of Lehi, the sharp reproofs of Ezekiel, the prophetic pleadings of Jeremiah as well as the poetic fire and more splendid prophecies of Isaiah could do no more than to bring them to a partial repentance.
These means of correction failing, there was occasional chastisement administered in wars, partial famines and seasons of captivity, to remind them that justice was not dead, though at times it appeared to sleep, and as a foretaste of the terrible wrath which would overtake them if they persisted in their rebellion and wickedness. But all this was of no avail. Neither the instructions of wise teachers, nor reproofs of special messengers from God were sufficient to bring them to repentance: Neither moving eloquence, nor prophetic warnings, nor inspired portrayals of certain calamities could soften their obdurate hearts. Even chastisement failed to produce any permanent reformation.
Finally, the Son of God came among them; but him they rejected, accused and condemned of blasphemy, before their senate, and sentenced him who did no sin to death; led him before Pontius Pilate, the Roman judge, and, under the pressure of popular clamor, compelled that functionary of the Roman government, against the sense of his better judgment, to sign the warrant for his death; and then, amid the cry of "Let his blood be upon us and our children," led him away to his crucifixion.
The climax of their apostasy and rebellion had now been reached. Nothing more to their damnation could they add. They had sowed the wind, they must now reap the whirlwind. So they have. The full fury of outraged justice and righteousness broke upon them with a force that was irresistible. The Romans under Titus besieged their city, Jerusalem, and successfully cut off all supplies of food or assistance from the surrounding country. To the horrors of war waged by the Romans was added that of civil conflict within the walls of the city, more fruitful in calamity and cruelty than the actual conflict with the Roman soldiery. As if of distress there was not already enough, famine preyed upon them, and a million people perished from lingering starvation. If men were brutal, women became fiendish, and fed upon the flesh of their own offspring.[F]
[Footnote F: An incident of this kind is thus related by Josephus: "There was a certain woman who dwelt beyond Jordan; her name was Mary, her father was Eleazar, of the village of Bethezob, which signifies the house of Hyssop. She was eminent for her family and her wealth, and had fled away to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein at this time. The other effects of this woman, had been already seized upon, such, I mean, as she had brought with her out of Persia, and removed to the city. What she had treasured up besides, as also what food she contrived to save, had also been carried off by the rapacious guards, who came every day, running into her house for that purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great passion, and, by the frequent reproaches and imprecations, she cast at these rapacious villains, she had provoked them to anger against her; but none of them—either out of the indignation she had raised against herself, or out of consideration for her case—would take away her life: and, if she found any food, she perceived her labors were for others, and not for herself, and it was now become impossible for her anyway, to find any more food, while the famine pierced through her very bowels and marrow, when also her passions were fired to a degree beyond the famine itself; nor did she consult with anything, but with her passions and the necessity she was in. She then attempted a most unnatural thing—and snatching up her son, who was a child, sucking at her breast, she said, 'O, thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our lives, we must be slaves. This famine also will destroy us even before that slavery comes upon us. Yet are these seditious rogues more terrible than the other. Come on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets, and a by-word to the world, which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of the Jews.' As soon as she had said this, she slew her son, and then roasted him, and ate the one-half of him, and kept the other half by her, concealed. Upon this the seditious came in, presently; and, smelling the horrid scent of this food, they threatened her, that they would cut her throat immediately if she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied that she had 'saved a very fine portion for them;' and, withal, uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with a horror and amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight, when she said to them: 'Come eat of this food for I have eaten of it myself. Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother; but if you be so scrupulous and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one half, let the rest be preserved for me also.' After which those men went out trembling, being never so much affrighted at anything as they had been at this, and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole city was full of this horrid action immediately; and while everybody laid this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard of action had been done by themselves. So, that those that were thus distressed by the famine, were very desirous to die: and those who were already dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough, either to hear or to see such miseries." (Wars of the Jews; Josephus, Book VI: chapter iii.)
I advise my readers to compare this incident and other calamities —described by Josephus in these "Wars of the Jews"—with the prophecies which foretold these evils, found in Deuteronomy, xxviii.]
At last the Romans forced an entrance into the city, and they with sword and flame were permitted to complete the ruin so well nigh accomplished by the Jews themselves. The beautiful temple was thrown down so that not one stone was left upon another which had not been thrown down. This was done by the Roman soldiery in their mad search for gold. Jerusalem was laid waste and desolate. Hundreds of thousands of her people were put to death, and the remainder of them taken into captivity, or driven into exile.
From that time until now, for more than eighteen centuries, they have remained a broken, scattered people; despised, hated, distrusted, unfriended, oppressed; a hiss and a by-word in every land where they have sought a home. They have learned by a sad experience that it is a terrible thing to reject the tender mercies of God, and fall under his displeasure.
Turning again to the Western hemisphere, we have the experience of Israel in the East duplicated in that of the Nephites and Lamanites; the same lesson is taught by their experience, viz., that it is a fearful thing to rebel against God, and reject and fight against his truth. The half-naked American savage, with the desolation that surround him in a splendid land (I mean at the time it was discovered by the Europeans) and filled as it is with the ruins that testify to the grandeur of his departed glory, is a warning of deep significance to the nations now in the zenith of their power, not to follow in his footsteps and reject the counsels of God against themselves.