Naomi

by Mrs. J. B. Webb

Naomi rejoiced to perceive that as her mother's bodily powers failed, her soul was strengthened, and her desire to bear a good testimony to the grace of her Redeemer before she departed became fixed and strong. The dread of death subsided, and she looked for its approach with calmness and peace. Her only fear was now for the fate of Naomi, and though she tried to put her trust in the Lord, and commit her child to Him in confidence, she could not think of leaving her in that distracted city without grief and anxiety.

CHAPTER XXIV.

The immediate effect of the strict blockade which Titus had established was to carry the horrors of famine to their height. Whole families lay expiring together, and the streets were strewn with the bodies of the dead and dying. None wept over them—none buried them. No cry was heard in the streets, for the wretches had not strength to complain: they lay in a state of mute anguish, waiting unheeded by those whom once they loved, for the last expiring pang. The only sounds that broke the oppressive silence of that city of death, were the bands of robbers forcing open the houses in search of food and plunder, or the blows which they wantonly inflicted on the dead bodies that were scattered on every side. For some time the soldiers made an attempt at burying the corpses, as they feared their exposure might occasion a pestilence; but they soon became too numerous, and then they threw them over the walls into the trenches below. Even this precaution ceased ere long, and the whole city was poisoned with the odour as of a vast charnel-house. The way to the walls was actually choked with dead bodies; yet still the soldiers both of John and Simon went trampling over them to man the fortifications, with a desperate courage and hardened indifference.

At this time another crime was added to the awful catalogue of Zion's sins. The high-priest Matthias was slain on a pretended charge of holding a correspondence with the Romans; and the cruelty of the act was enhanced by the three sons of the venerable old man being first massacred before his eyes. This sacrilegious murder at length excited in the populace a determined resolution to shake off the tyrannical yoke under which they had so long groaned in silence. One of their number, named Judas, conspired with several others to betray one of the towers to the enemy. They made the offer of surrendering it, but the Romans had learned to be suspicious of such overtures, and hesitated to take advantage of it. While they paused the conspiracy was revealed to Simon, and instant vengeance overtook Judas and his accomplices. They were slaughtered, and their bodies cast down to those with whom they had been parleying. This plan being defeated, the wretched people again began to desert in multitudes; but their sufferings did not always end with their reaching the Roman camp, for many of the famished creatures so eagerly devoured the food which was presented to them by the soldiers that they died in agony. Others perished yet more miserably. They were suspected of having swallowed their gold and jewels before they left the city; and to obtain this wealth the Arabian and Syrian allies seized a large party of the deserters, and actually cut them open alive, and searched for the treasure.

When this inhuman proceeding reached the ears of Titus he was filled with indignation, and would have ordered his cavalry to surround and slay the murderers, but that their great numbers deterred him from such an act of justice. He however denounced death against whoever should in future be guilty of such barbarity but the love of gold was in many instances greater than the fear of detection, and the crime was not entirely prevented.

The calamities of Jerusalem were at their height. What a spectacle of God's righteous vengeance did the proud city now display! Within the walls the rival factions dyed their hands in each other's blood, and in that of their helpless countrymen; and without, the Roman camps covered the surrounding hills. The trumpets and shouts of the armed host resounded through the day, and in the darkness of night their watch-fires were seen gleaming on every side. All the pastoral beauty of the scene had departed. The summer dwellings and garden-houses of the Jewish nobles that so lately were seen among the trees, in every variety of architecture, had been levelled to the ground by the troops of Titus, and the vineyards and shady groves were swept away. The gardens had become a sandy waste, cut up in every direction by trenches and military works, in the midst of which was seen the fatal wall of Titus, effectually shutting out all hope of relief or reinforcement from the beleaguered city. Within its sad enclosure all was dark despair. The daily sacrifice had ceased, for no victims remained to offer, and the sword and famine had fearfully reduced the once crowded population. The dogs and vultures shared their dreadful meal undisturbed, for none ventured into the streets except they were compelled to do so; and then they hurried on as swiftly as possible, to avoid the spectacle of horror that surrounded them, and dreading every moment that the hand of violence would lay them by the side of the mangled corpses that strewed the way, to become the food of birds and beasts of prey, or the objects of insult to the yet more ferocious soldiery. In every street numbers of houses which had been partially destroyed by fire, were abandoned to decay, the doors and windows torn away, and in many instances the roofs fallen in, and the once splendid edifices left to be beaten by the storm and become the habitations of owls and bats. From some of the shattered tenements lights might be seen gleaming through the fissures in the walls, and showing that they were yet peopled with miserable human beings.

Among the desperate men who passed to and fro through these desolate streets were many who even yet retained that natural vividness of countenance for which their nation ever were distinguished; but it was hardened by ferocity, and the keen black eye scowled darkly, while the compressed lip spoke of desperate thoughts and the firmness of despair. Then there were hurried gatherings of these insurgents, frequently ending in fierce quarrels and murders in the open face of day, or in the sudden attack of some house that was yet deemed worth pillaging.

Men and angels might have wept to behold how deeply this city of God, this sanctuary of holiness, was sunk into misery and desolation. But oh! it was the spiritual degradation of her children that called for the deepest pity; it was the spectacle of human nature in all its own depravity, unrestrained by the fear of God or the laws of man; it was the scourge of the Almighty lighting on this rebellious people, and piercing their inmost souls—a faint representation of that eternal punishment, where those who persist in rebellion will suffer and blaspheme for ever, but repent not.

Amid all the crime and all the horror of that siege, there was one event that seemed to surpass every other, and even moved the hearts of those to whom murder was a pastime. Spies were employed by the officers of both John and Simon's party, to bring them intelligence of any provisions that they might discover in the houses of the famishing people; and one day the artful Reuben came hastily to the temple, and informed Isaac that he had observed the smell of food being cooked in the house of his former mistress. He had long ago deserted her, and only visited the house to commit fresh acts of depredation, or lead others to add to her misery, and take from her and her child the scanty pittance that she was yet able to procure. Isaac summoned a party of his chosen companions in cruelty, and hurried off to the dwelling of Mary, followed by the traitor Reuben. The door was fastened inside, but it soon yielded to the furious blows of the assailants, and they rushed on to the apartment usually occupied by the heiress of Bethezob in the days of her wealth and prosperity, and so well known to Isaac.