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SCENE TWO

The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him. Jeremiah, XXVIII, 8 and 9.

SCENE TWO

The great square of Jerusalem. Thence a broad long flight of steps leads to the porch of pillars of the fortress of Zion; on the right is the king’s palace and in the center the adjoining temple. On the other side the great square is bounded by houses and streets which seem low and mean in contrast with the towering structures facing them. The walls of the entrances to the palace are lined with cedar, carved with figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, all overlaid with gold; there are lavers in the foreground with running water. In the background are seen the brazen gates of the temple.

In front of the palace, in the streets and on the stairway, the people of Jerusalem move to and fro confusedly; a motley mass of men, women, and children, swayed by strong excitement, and in eager expectation. Many voices rise from the crowd, usually in animated dispute, but uniting at times to a single cry. When the scene opens, all have pressed towards the streets and are restlessly expectant.

Voices

The sentinel has already given the signal from the tower.—No, not yet.—But I heard the trumpet.—So did I.—So did I.—They must be close at hand.—From which side are they coming?—Shall we see them?

Other Voices

They are coming from Moria Gate.—They must pass this way as they go to the palace.—Don’t block up the whole street.—We want to get a sight of them.—Stand back.—Room, room for the Egyptians.

A Voice

But is it certain that they are coming?

Another Voice

I myself spoke to the messenger who brought the tidings.

Voices

He spoke with the messenger.—Tell us all about it.—How many are there?—Do they bring gifts?—Who is their leader?—Speak up, Issachar!

[A group forms round Issachar]

Issachar

I can only tell you what the messenger, my father-in-law, told me. Pharaoh is sending the finest warriors of Egypt. With them are many slaves bearing gifts. Nothing like these gifts has come to Zion since the days of Solomon.

Voices

Long live Pharaoh!—Glory to his reign!—Hail Egypt!

An Old Man

No alliance with Egypt! Their wars are not ours!

Issachar

But our need is the same as theirs. They do not want to be the slaves of the Chaldeans.

Voices

Nor we, nor we.—Down with Ashur.—Let us break the yoke.—Let us be on our guard.

Baruch

[A young man, in great excitement] We spend our days in chains. Month after month, when the moon is new, our messengers go forth to Babylon bearing tribute of golden shekels. How long shall we suffer it?

Zebulon

[Baruch’s father] Silence. It is not for you to speak. A light yoke is the yoke of Chaldea.

Voices

But we want no yoke at all.—The day of freedom has dawned.—Down with Ashur!—Let us form an alliance with the Egyptians.

Zebulon

Never did good come out of Mizraim. We must feel our way cautiously, patient and ever mistrustful.

Voices

We must renew the furniture of the temple.—No longer shall Baal enjoy our holy things.—Down with the robbers of the temple!—Now is the appointed hour.

Other Voices

[From farther up the street] They are coming! They are coming!

Voices

[From all sides] Here they are.—Make room.—Come higher up.—Come back here.—I can see them already. You can see them from here.

[The people swarm up the steps and form a lane through which the Egyptian embassy can pass to the palace. At first nothing can be seen of the newcomers but the spear points showing above the noisy throng]

Voices

How finely they march.—Who is the leader?—Araxes is their leader.—Look at the gifts.—Look at the carrying chairs.—One of them is curtained.—That must be Pharaoh’s daughter.—Hail Araxes!—Hail Egypt!—Those are heavy chests; there must be gold in them!—We shall have to pay for it with our blood!—How short their swords are.—Ours are better.—Look at their proud gait.—They must be mighty warriors.—Long live Pharaoh-Necho.—Hail Egypt!—God punish Ashur.—Hail Araxes!—Blessings on Pharaoh!—Blessings on the alliance!

[With frenzied acclamations, the people close in upon the procession of the Egyptians. These latter, richly appareled, march proudly by. They rattle their swords and make gracious acknowledgments]

Baruch

[Speaking from the steps] May the king fulfil your wishes! May he cement the alliance!

[The Egyptians have mounted the steps to the palace, and have entered the porch of pillars. The people throng at their heels. Other sections of the crowd disappear into the streets. On the steps there now remain only isolated groups of the older men, while the soldiers and the women hasten after the Egyptians, eager to see what they are bearing, and vanishing after the train in the entry to the palace]

Baruch

[Who has been looking on in ecstasy] I must go with them.

Zebulon

Stay where you are.

Baruch

I want to see for myself how Israel rises against the oppressors. My soul is consumed with desire to behold great deeds, and now the hour is at hand.

Zebulon

Stay where you are. The time is God’s choice, not ours. The king will decide.

Baruch

Listen to the shouts of joy! Let me go with them, father.

Zebulon

You will have many other opportunities. The people always flock to hear loud talkers, and crowd ever to witness showy sights.

Another

Why do you deny him the pleasure? Is not the day come for which we have been longing? Friends have been raised up for Israel.

Zebulon

Never was Mizraim the friend of Israel.

Baruch

Our shame is theirs, and Israel’s need is Egypt’s.

Zebulon

Naught have we in common with any other folk on earth. Our strength lies in isolation.

The Other

But they will fight for us.

Zebulon

They will fight for themselves. Each nation fights for itself alone.

Baruch

Are we still to be slaves? Shall Zedekiah be a king of slaves, and Zion remain in bondage to Chaldea? Were but Zedekiah a true king!

Zebulon

Silence, I command you. It befits not a boy to lay down the law for kings.

Baruch

It is true that I am young; but who is Jerusalem, if it be not her young men? It was not the cautious elders who built Jerusalem. David, young David, established her towers, and made her great among the nations.

Zebulon

Hold your peace. You have no right to speak in the marketplace.

Baruch

Shall only the cautious elders speak, none but the aged give counsel, that Israel may grow old before her time and God’s word decay in our hearts? The moment is ours, and it is for us to take revenge. You have abased yourselves, and we will lift ourselves up; you have faltered, but we will bring fruition; you had peace, and we want war.

Zebulon

What do you know of war? We, the fathers, have known war. In books war is great, but in reality war is a destroyer, a ravisher of life.

Baruch

I fear not war. Let us have done with slavery!

A Voice

Zedekiah hath sworn an oath of peace.

Voices

The oath matters nothing.—Let him break his oath.—No oath need be kept with the heathen.

Other Voices

[Exultant, coming from the street] Abimelech!—Hail Abimelech!—Abimelech, our leader!

[Groups crowd round Abimelech, the general, and acclaim him]

Voices

Abimelech!—Is it true that Egypt offers an alliance? Draw your sword.—Up, march against Ashur.—Gather Israel’s forces.—We are ready.—We are ready.

Abimelech

[Speaks to the crowd from the top of the steps] Make ready, people of Jerusalem, for the hour of freedom is at hand.

[The crowd shouts exultantly]

Pharaoh-Necho has offered us the help of his armies. He wishes us to join him in breaking the might of Ashur, and we shall do it, people of Jerusalem.

The Crowd

On against Ashur.—War with Chaldea.—Hail Abimelech!

A Warrior

We shall drive them before us like sheep. They have grown soft in the houses of the women, and their king has never worn harness.

A Voice

That is false.

The Warrior

Who says it is false?

The Voice

I say so. I have been in Babylon and I have seen Nebuchadnezzar. He is a mighty man of valor, and his soldiers have no equals.

Voices

Wretch, you praise our foes.—He is sold to the enemy.—His wife is a Chaldean.—She has gone a-whoring with all the men of Babylon.—Traitor!

The Warrior

[Approaching the speaker] Do you mean to say that we cannot beat them?

The Voice

I say that the Chaldeans are mighty men.

The Warrior

[Pressing closer] Look upon my fist, and say once more that they are better than the men of Israel.

Voices

Say it again.—Tear him to pieces.—Traitor.—Traitor.

The Speaker

[Encircled by a threatening mob, loses courage] I did not say that. All I meant to say was that they are many in number.

Abimelech

Always have our foes been many, and always have we laid them low.

Voices

Who can stand against us?—We have overthrown all our enemies.—None can withstand us.—Death to him who despises our power.

[Messengers hasten from the palace]

The Crowd

[Thronging round them] Whither so fast?—What news do you bear?—Whom do you seek?—What’s afoot?

A Messenger

The king has summoned the council.

Voices

War.—He decides for war.—War.

Abimelech

Whom has he summoned?

The Messenger

Imre, the oldest burgher; Nahum, the steward. To you also the summons goes forth.

Abimelech

Waverers and wiseacres are to be my fellow councilors; men who weigh their words overmuch and shrink from deeds. But I have my sword with me, and I will cast it from me if I may not draw it against Ashur. Yours is the hour, people of Jerusalem; I fight in your behalf.

The Crowd

Hail Abimelech.—Hail Abimelech, hail soldier of God.—Hail!

[Abimelech hastens into the palace]

Baruch

Follow him, follow him! The king shall hear our voices. Let us thunder our will beneath the windows of his palace.

Zebulon

I shall disown you if you do not hold your peace. The king has summoned a council, and there must be no clamor to disturb its deliberations.

Baruch

He shall not deliberate. Let him decide! Let him decide for war! We are all for war.

Voices

Yes, all of us.—All of us.—Shout that the king may hear us.

A Voice

Nay, I am not for war, I am not for war.

Voices

Silence.—Traitor.—Another spy.—Who are you?—Down with him.—Who are you?

The Speaker

I am a peasant, and in peace only will my land bear fruit. War comes trampling across my fields. No war for me, I am against it.

Baruch

[Savagely] Shame upon you! May you rot amid your fields and be choked with your fruits! Cursed be he whose courage is measured by his gains, and cursed be he who values his own pitiful life more than the welfare of his country! Israel is our land for tillage. We will manure it with our blood. Are we not happy, brothers, to die for the one God?

The Peasant

Die, then, and let me live. I love the land. This, too, is God’s, and he has given it to me for my own.

Baruch

Nothing is given to us for our own. We hold everything in trust from the living God, and must restore everything when the call comes. Now has the call sounded; let us hearken to it gladly. The signs are fulfilled. Where are they who should reveal his words? Where are they who disclose his spirit, who can spur on the slothful and make the deaf hear? Where are the priests, and where the prophets? Why are their voices silent at this hour in Jerusalem?

Voices

Yes.—The prophets.—Where are the priests?

Baruch

To the temple! Nothing must be done without God’s word! Let the men of God decide.

Voices

Yes, where are our shepherds? In them is the truth.—Hananiah—Pashur—where are they? Open the temple.—Open the gates.—Hananiah.—Pashur.

[Some of the crowd race up the steps and knock upon the brazen gates. The gates open and Hananiah appears. He is received with fierce acclamations]

Baruch

Hananiah, messenger of God, the people thirst for your speech. Let your words pour forth to kindle our hearts, to make fruitful our wrath, and to direct our aim. The fate of Jerusalem is in your hands.

The Crowd

Pour forth God’s word over us.—Reveal the promise.—Say, shall we fight?—Let us know God’s will.—Teach the people, messenger of the Lord, teach the king.—Give utterance to the promise.—Look upon our weakness.—Awaken our courage.

Hananiah

[Standing before the threshold of the temple, speaks with strong emotion] Blessed your questions, blessed your voices, blessed are you, people of Jerusalem, who at length hearken to the cry. For sleep had fallen upon you, Jerusalem; you had been passive in the chains of slavery. The nations have been marching over you as over a drunken man; they have been spitting upon your garments; they have mocked your nakedness. But a call has summoned the sleepers; a message has roused the dreamers; and I will testify to you, now that God has awakened you.

The Crowd

[Breaking into fanatical cries] Listen to him!—We are awakened!—It is true that we have been sleeping.—Tell us, master, is it time?—Say, has the hour struck?

Hananiah

How long will you refrain from deeds, now that God hath awakened you? How long will you remain passive, now that the Lord hath summoned you? God is athirst, for his pitchers are empty; God is anhungered, for his altars are broken; God is cold, for the hangings of the temple have been stolen; God suffers, for the priests of Baal and the servants of Ashtaroth heap scorn upon him! Cast off the yoke, break your chains, raise hosannas, unsheathe your swords. God has awakened you; fight for the Lord!

Baruch

Let hosannas sound! Up, Israel; up Jerusalem, and break the yoke!

The Crowd

Let us break the yoke.—Down with Ashur.—To arms against Nebuchadnezzar.—Unfurl the flag.—Tell us, is it time to start?—War against Ashur.—Say, shall the victory be ours?

Hananiah

The voice of the Lord burns within me. The words come to my mouth like the roaring of the sea, and thus do they sound: “Arise, Israel. I have delivered Ashur into thy hand; clench thy fist, Israel, and break the bones of thy foe! Tread the oppressor beneath thy heels, bring back my stolen goods, deliver me as I deliver thee. Reject those who would counsel thee otherwise; destroy those who would curb thee; pay no heed to the weaklings, and hearken only to the words of my messenger! Hear the words of my messenger, O Israel!”

Jeremiah

[Calling wildly from amid the crowd] Heed him not! Heed him not! Heed him not!

[A tumult ensues, and the crowd draws apart, disclosing Jeremiah in the midst. He tries to make his way up the steps to the place from which Hananiah is speaking]

Voices

Who is that speaking?—What is he saying?—Who is he?

Jeremiah

Do not heed him. Pay no heed to him who speaks through the lips only; reject the lure of his words. Do not listen to the hypocrites who would lead you into slippery places. Do not fall into the snare of the fowlers. Do not listen to the decoy calling to war.

Pashur

[The high priest, wearing full vestments, has appeared on the threshold of the temple] Who speaks in the crowd?

Hananiah

Who speaks against the Lord? Let him show himself in the open.

Jeremiah

[Coming forward] Dismay speaks; concern for Jerusalem cries aloud; the mouth of terror is opened. I speak for Israel, and for the life of Israel.

Voices

Who is he?—I know him not.—He is not one of the prophets.—I know him not.—Who is he?

A Voice

It is Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests in Anathoth.

Voices

Who is Jeremiah?—Who is he?—What do the people of Anathoth want in Jerusalem?—He is the son of Hilkiah.—Who is he?—What does he want?

Pashur

[To Jeremiah, who is mounting the steps] Away from the steps of the temple! The messengers of the Lord, the men of God and the prophets, may alone tread the holy threshold. To none but us is it given to reveal God’s will.

Jeremiah

Who dares declare that to him only has the Lord vouchsafed wisdom and the secret of his will? God speaks to men in dreams, and to me likewise has he sent dreams. He has filled my nights with horror, and has awakened me at due time; he has given me a mouth that I may speak and a voice that I may cry aloud. He has breathed dismay into my mind that I may spread it over you like a burning cloth. I will utter my dismay on behalf of Jerusalem; I will cry my cry before the people; I will reveal my dreams.

Baruch

Away with dreamers and interpreters of dreams. The hour needs waking men.

Hananiah

Dreams come to all. Beasts stir in their sleep, and the dreams of slaves are full of visions. Who has anointed you, that you should speak before the temple?

Voices

No.—Let him speak.—We want to hear him.—He is out of his mind.—Let him reveal his dreams.—The marketplace is free to all.—God’s house is free. Speak, Jeremiah.

Pashur

Not from the threshold of the temple.

Hananiah

I am the prophet of God, and there is no other prophet in Israel to-day. You shall hear my words, not those of the chatterers in the streets. Scourge the dreamers out of the marketplace.

Baruch

He is a coward, shun his terrors.

Voices

Let him speak.—We want to hear what he has to say.—No, let Hananiah speak.—Perhaps Jeremiah is sent by the Lord.—Why should not we hear him.—Speak, Jeremiah.—What has he dreamed?—Revelation often comes in dreams.—Let him speak, Hananiah.—We can compare their words.—Speak, Jeremiah.

Jeremiah

[From the top of the steps] Brothers in Israel, brothers in Jerusalem, in my dream I heard a storm burst upon the city, and I saw warriors assail our walls. The pillars fell and the battlements were laid low. Fire sat upon the roofs like a red beast devouring our dwellings. No stone was left standing upon another, and the streets were laid waste. I saw the dead lying in heaps upon the ground, so that my heart was turned within me and my mouth was unsealed even in sleep.

Pashur

Madness is crying from the steps of the temple.

Hananiah

The falling sickness afflicts him, and he in turn afflicts us.

Baruch

Down with him.

Voices

No, we want to hear his dreams.—What do they mean?—He is a madman.—He is a fool.—Away with him!

Jeremiah

But, brothers, when I awakened in the sweat of my body, I mocked myself even as you mock me now. Did not peace brood over the land; were not the walls untouched, so that no breeze stirred athwart them? I went forth from the house full of shame for my own terrors; I sought the marketplace that I might rejoice in its peace. But when I came thither I heard shouts of exultation; and my heart broke within me, for the shouts were clamors for war. Brothers, my soul was bitter as gall, and the words came to my lips against my will. Tell me, is war so precious that you should praise it? Is it so kindly that you should long for it? Does it bring so much good that you should greet it with all the warmth of your heart? I say unto you, people of Jerusalem, that war is a fierce and evil beast, one that devours the flesh of the strong and sucks the marrow of the mighty, crushing towns in its jaws and trampling the land beneath its hoofs. Those who awaken it, shall not again lay it to sleep; and he who draws the sword, is like to perish by the sword. Woe, therefore, to the contentious man who quarrels when there is no need, for he shall come out upon one way, and flee upon seven. Woe to those who murder peace with the words of their mouth. Beware of all such, O people of Jerusalem.

Baruch

Beware of cowards, O people of Jerusalem; beware of traitors in the pay of the enemy.

Hananiah

What promise does he bring? Where is God’s word? He speaks for Babylon and for Baal.

Voices

No, no.—His words are just.—There is much truth in what he says.—Let him deliver his message.—Dreams.—Where is the promise?—Go on.—We want to hear him too.

Jeremiah

Why do you awaken the ravening beast with your shouts. Why do you summon the king of the north to your city? Why do you clamor for war, men of Jerusalem? Did you beget your sons for slaughter, and your daughters for shame? Did you build your houses for destruction by fire, and your walls for the battering ram? Bethink thee, Israel; call a halt ere thou runnest into the darkness, Jerusalem. Is thy slavery so hard, are thy sorrows beyond assuagement? Look around. God’s sun shines over the land; the vines bloom in peace; lovers walk happily together; children play unhindered; the moon shines gently over the sleep of Jerusalem. Fire and water keep their appointed places, the storehouses are well filled, and God has his spacious mansion. Say, Israel, is it not well with thee within the walls of Zion; art thou not blithe in the valleys of Sharon; art thou not happy by the blue waters of Jordan? Let it suffice thee to live at peace under God’s tranquil gaze. Hold fast to peace, people of Jerusalem.

Zebulon

His words are just! Hail unto him. His speech is golden.

Pashur

Like the gold of Chaldea.

Voices

Yes, he has been bribed.—No, his words are just.—Peace.—We want peace.—He is a traitor.—He is in the pay of Ashur.—Let him speak.—No, Hananiah is right.—Let us listen to Hananiah.

Hananiah

Away with you, away. Go, talk to Samaria, the land of slaves. Deliver your message to Moab, or to the uncircumcised, but not to Israel, God’s first-born among the nations.

Baruch

[Menacingly, to Jeremiah] Answer me, in face of the people. Is our slavery to endure? Are we still to pay tribute to Chaldea? Answer me, traitor.