Naomi

by Mrs. J. B. Webb

CHAPTER XIV.

The lady of Bethezob dwelt in Zadok's house, and her domestics were busily employed the following day in removing the traces of the incursion of the Zealots. It was hopeless to seek any restitution of the valuable effects which had been carried off, or any punishment of the offenders; for who could enter their strongholds, and bear away any of their members before a tribunal of justice? Javan took advantage of the late occurrence to plead with great eloquence in the council that evening the necessity of inviting Simon and his powerful band to enter the city, and protect the inhabitants from the violence of John of Gischala and his ruffian crew. His arguments had great weight with his hearers; and some who had hitherto opposed his object, now began to fear that it was the only step which remained to them, by which they could hope to check the oppressions of their present masters. Isaac was a warm supporter of all Javan's proposals: he had always inclined to the admission of the son of Gioras; and he now ardently desired the adoption of any measure by which the insolence of the Zealots might be chastised, and vengeance obtained for the injury done to the lovely daughter of Eleazar.

The wealth of this lady, as well as her beauty, had engaged the attention of the counsellor. He was a constant visitor at her house; and finding that his society was welcome to Mary, he had determined to make proposals of marriage to her. The destruction and loss of so much of her valuable furniture and household effects, as he had witnessed the preceding evening, had exasperated him greatly, and excited a strong desire for revenge against the aggressors; but he knew that her possessions in land and money were so great as to render the injury easily reparable, and he made up his mind no longer to delay his proposals.

The council being almost unanimous on the subject of Simon, Javan next informed them of the discovery he had made of the adoption of the Nazarene religion by the members of his own hitherto unsullied family. The recital was listened to with great interest by the assembly, who were all exceedingly zealous for the honour of the law of Moses and the traditions of the elders,—but most lamentably negligent of God's eternal law of mercy and justice. They triumphed in the proof they had now obtained that Javan's suspicions had been correct; and more maliciously still did they exult in the near prospect of seizing on the objects of their hatred, and wreaking on them all that cruelty and bigotry could suggest. Javan did not wish that his uncle and his family should be put to death. He desired that by rigorous imprisonment and other sufferings they should be induced to retract their opinions; and he obtained a promise from his colleagues, that every effort should be used to bring them back to the true faith before any extreme measures should be resorted to. He also stipulated that his sister should not be captured. He had not yet stifled every feeling of affection for her; nor could he contemplate the idea of his mother's anguish, if Naomi was to be torn from her, without some sympathy. He trusted that when she saw the evils to which her relatives were exposed by their religion, she would be affrighted for her new opinions, and gladly return to the faith for which she had once been so zealous. He knew not the soul of his heroic sister, or the power of true Christian faith to make a weaker spirit than hers meet shame, and death, and agony unmoved!

The assembly broke up, after having appointed a body of guards to attend Javan to Bethany the following evening, and to obey his commands in all things; and the young Pharisee then turned his steps homewards, accompanied by Isaac. All in Zadok's house appeared cheerful and at peace, for Naomi had not communicated her own uneasy feelings and apprehensions even to her mother; and she exerted herself to appear in more than her usual spirits. Never did she sing more sweetly, or converse with more animation; and so gaily did she play with little David, and follow his sportive steps from place to place, that Javan began to imagine that he had been deceived by Reuben, or that the man himself had mistaken some other persons for his sister and Claudia. But yet the minuteness of the particulars which the informer had related, and the names of the individuals which he had repeated, forced him to believe his testimony, corroborated as it was by his own previous suspicions; and he concluded that Naomi was rejoicing in the prospect of her beloved relatives being so quickly removed beyond his reach, and in the hope that her own share in their guilt would remain unknown. She looked so lovely and so innocent, that he thought she could not yet have imbibed very deeply those opinions which he believed to be so impious and so productive of evil; and he longed to see her again restored to her duty, and taking a cheerful part in all those Jewish rites and ceremonies in which he had so often beheld her the admiration of all. Isaac too was much struck with her beauty, her accomplishments, and her amiable manners; and he privately encouraged Javan to adopt gentle measures with her, and if possible to conceal her errors from her parents, until he had himself endeavoured to correct them by argument and persuasion and even by threats.

Before the counsellor departed that evening, he took an opportunity of declaring his hopes and wishes to Mary; and she returned a favourable answer. She wished for rank and distinction; and though she had no particular attachment or esteem for Isaac, yet she considered that by uniting herself to him she should obtain the object of her ambition; and as the wife of so noble and powerful a man, she should meet with more consideration, and possess more influence than in her widowed and solitary state. She therefore consented that when her affairs could be settled, and her estates in Peræa disposed of, for the benefit of her son after her death, she would bestow her hand on Isaac; and the arrangement was made known to Zadok and his family as her nearest relatives. They had nothing to oppose to her choice, though her suitor was by no means a favourite with any of them, except Javan. He rejoiced greatly in the proposed connexion, as he thought that Isaac would thus be more firmly united to his own party, and by his increased wealth, be better enabled to assist his projects, and obtain fresh adherents.

The morning of the next day was passed in completing the various preparations for the final departure of Amaziah and his family, and the short absence of Zadok and Naomi. The priest had agreed to his brother's wish of hastening the journey, though he did not acknowledge the necessity for it, or believe that there was any cause for apprehension. He did not partake in his son's fanatical views, or consider that the cause of religion would be advanced by cruelty and persecution. It was well known that he was devoted to the Jewish faith, and that he firmly believed there was no salvation for any who departed from it: but it was also well known that his soul was full of mercy and compassion, and that he would not injure those whom he considered to be in a state of perdition already, and therefore Javan and his colleagues never confided their schemes against the Nazarenes to him. His violent anger at the discovery of his daughter's conversion to Christianity had subsided into a milder feeling of disappointed love and sorrow. He could not continue to treat with harshness the affectionate and dutiful child, who had always been the object of his pride and hopes, and who now sought by every means in her power to win back his love and merit his approbation. The one only subject on which she refused to listen to his authority, was her new religion; and on that subject she always replied to him with such gentleness and humility, and yet with such a holy zeal and firmness, that he was constrained to admire even while he sharply rebuked her. She had been restored to her accustomed place in the family on the return of Javan, and had gradually resumed much of her influence over her parents. In all customs and ceremonies that were indifferent she conformed to the practice of her family, but in the retirement of her own chamber she followed the manner of worship which she had learned so highly to prize, and perused with untiring attention some portions of the Gospels, which she had copied while at Pella from the precious manuscripts possessed by some of her Christian brethren residing there. No alteration was perceptible to those who frequented the house, except that Naomi was more amiable, more obliging, and more gentle in her temper and disposition than formerly. The contemplation of her lovely character, which so beautifully reflected the graces of the Christian model, tended greatly to soften the severity of Zadok's prejudices against the Nazarenes; and for her sake he would have been unwilling to join in any act of oppression towards those whom she loved as her kindred, and more especially those who were united to her by the ties both of near relationship and a common faith. He rejoiced that his brother was about to remove from Jerusalem, for he hoped that when Naomi was left alone, and entirely deprived of the society of Christians, she would probably be induced to relinquish her newly adopted opinions; and therefore he the more readily lent his aid to the hasty completion of the arrangements.

Mules and horse-litters were prepared, and a strong body of the domestic servants of both Zadok and Amaziah were furnished with arms, and appointed to act as guards to the party. A messenger was also dispatched to Joppa in search of Rufus, to request, if he were already there, that he would send the promised band of soldiers to meet them at Lydda on the day now fixed for their journey, instead of that more distant day which had been at first appointed. The baggage was all packed, and everything was ready; nothing remained but to bid farewell to Mary of Bethany, and consign her to the care of Benjamin.

Judith informed Zadok of their intention to visit their old and beloved friend on that evening, and earnestly requested that Naomi might be permitted to accompany them. She urged that it would be the last time that she should have it in her power to lead her niece to receive the blessing of that holy woman, which, whether she were a Jew or a Nazarene, could surely bring no evil on her head; and it would be a grief to Naomi if a friend whom she respected and loved so much were to die without her having seen her once more. The priest almost shuddered at the idea of his child receiving the benediction of one whom he knew to have been so devoted an attendant and disciple of Jesus of Nazareth; but he remembered that Naomi had already chosen her lot with his followers, and that one more interview with her former instructor could have no particular influence over her opinions. He therefore gave his consent, though unwillingly, and only on condition that Naomi should solemnly promise never again to make any attempt at seeing Mary after her return from Joppa.

Javan had absented himself from home nearly the whole day, to Naomi's great relief; and towards sunset she joined her uncle and his family, and all together proceeded by the well-known path up the Mount of Olives towards Bethany. As a proper precaution in case of Javan's having actually discovered their intention, Amaziah took with him several well-armed servants, and he and Theophilus were furnished with swords and daggers. They arrived at the dwelling of their friend, and entered as they were accustomed to do, without knocking, leaving the armed domestics to watch at the entrance. The first objects that met their view filled them with apprehensions that the venerable saint had already departed, and that their farewell visit was too late. Hannah was kneeling by the couch on which Mary was laid; and as the door opened, she turned, and held up her finger in token of silence. The tears were rolling down her cheeks, and sorrow was strongly depicted in her countenance. Judith and Naomi stepped lightly and quickly to the bedside, and Hannah drew aside the curtain that shaded the dying Christian from the light of a lamp that was suspended from the ceiling. Then they saw that life was not yet extinct, but was ebbing gently and swiftly away. Judith beckoned to her husband, and he with his son and Claudia advanced, with noiseless steps, and they all stood silently to gaze on that form which they perceived would ere long be seen no more on earth Mary's eyes were closed, and the pallid hue of death was on her cheek. So motionless, so calm she lay, that but for the deep and heavy breathing and a slight movement of her parted lips, it might have seemed that she was already dead. But her spirit was conscious still, and she was praying at that moment that she might yet be spared to see her expected and well-beloved friends, and bless them before her death; yet her bodily senses were deadened, and she did not perceive that her prayer was already granted.