An hour later Rachel, guided by the soldier, arrived at the street and the dwelling she had so greatly desired to find, but disappointment awaited her. “Ezekiel? Yea, he was here,” she was told, “but a month ago he died and only yesterday his family started back to Israel.”
Rachel was not Isaac’s only problem. There was Miriam. That she was related to the shepherd who had nursed him with tender care through a long illness meant, to the young man, that he should see to her welfare; that the gift he had brought his master’s wife from the enemy’s country should be unappreciated, that the child was unwanted and unwelcome, stirred him to profound indignation; and that she grieved for the home and loved ones from which he had ruthlessly taken her roused his deepest pity.
In compensation he gave her the best of himself—his leisure moments, his most unselfish thought. All at once he became critical of his own motives and those of others. Miriam had such an uncomfortable way of looking him straight in the eye and innocently inquiring, “Thinkest thou Jehovah would be pleased?” He had never thought before nor cared. “Jehovah” was a name his mother reverenced and to which his sister was not indifferent, but it had meant nothing in particular to him. Now, however, with the obligation of answering the frank questions of this small maiden, who seemed to believe him the embodiment of wisdom, he began to observe and compare conduct, to ask himself what was worth while and why. As the weeks and months went by, such considerations could not fail to react upon his own ideals nor remain unnoticed by others.
In his wife’s apartments lingered Naaman, soldier-statesman of Syria. “What thinkest thou, Adah, of the little maid who is of the Land of Israel?”
His wife toyed with a silken tassel. “I know not indeed, having seen her but a time or two and that from a distance.”
“Then thou dost not care for the present Isaac brought thee, with such elation, from afar?” Something there was in the cool displeasure of the tone which caused the lady suddenly to remember that Isaac’s parents had served her husband’s family; that Isaac’s mother had been Naaman’s nurse; and that Isaac himself had been born in that very house.
She hastened to her own defense. “The maid of whom thou speakest hath been so woe-begone I felt I owed it to myself not to be troubled by her sadness. Milcah hath borne tidings of her and I was not attracted.”
His reply was dictated by long observation and much worldly knowledge. “Milcah taketh precautions lest she be supplanted later. Fear hath eyes of its own and its vision is oft distorted. Thou wilt be wise, I think, to judge of the little maid for thyself. It hath been my experience that where there is a drop of Israelitish blood, there is trustworthiness. Oft have I wondered if their religion had aught to do with it. Look thou at Isaac. Because he understandeth the tongue of Israel, I sent him with Lemuel, kinsman of thy friend, to spy out the land to the south of us. Of the two, Isaac brought back the more detailed and reliable information.”
Adah was glad to turn the conversation into this new channel. “Was it for this thou didst reward him with the captaincy of a small band? My friends were somewhat displeased, hoping no doubt for such preferment for Lemuel.”