Hebrew Captives of the Kings of Assyria

Front matter

HEBREW CAPTIVES OF THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA, BY WILLIAM HENRY GOSS, F.G.S., Etc [entered at stationers' hall.] LONDON : Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Limited. HANLEY: Allbut & Daniel. mdcccxo. CONTENTS. Chapter I. page Nineveh in the days of King Shalmanezer. — Tobit's home on the bank of the Tigris. — His soliloquy on Contentment. — A great thunderstorm, during which an Assyrian officer seeks shelter at the captive's house. — Dialogue on religion and happiness I Chapter II. Return of Shalmanezer from the conquest of Samaria. — The triumphal entry of the King and his victorious army into Nineveh. — Great procession of captives and spoils 7 Chapter III. Raguel, Edna, and Sara among the captives. — Days of happiness. — The Mesopotamian spring. — The foreshadowing of sorrow. — The Story of the True Love of Meshad, Prince of Moab 12 Chapter IV.

A disquisition on spirits, and events termed supernatural. — The continuation of Sara's story : The Genie of the Fiery Gem : A visit to a concealed treasury of a King of the Titans, who reigned before the Flood. — Combat between the Prince of Moab and a terrible monster of the woods. — A fairy temptress and a magic castle 22 Chapter V. Sara's story continued : A panther, a lion, and an Egyptian giant beset the path of the Prince. — He reaches a royal city of Egypt. — The power of love. — The Prince is told of the death of his bride, the beautiful Princess of Zobah 33 Chapter VI. A grand wager between the Princess of Egypt and her cousin, the wife of King Solomon. — The Queen of Israel loses her famous ivory chariot with its beautiful Arabian horses and all their trappings. — It is discovered that the Princess of Zobah is yet alive ; and she is recovered by her Trince with the aid of the Princess of Egypt 39 Chapter VII.

Solomon versus Solon. — Little children excellent practical philosophers. — Continuation of the history of Prince Meshad : Grievous sickness of the Princess of Egypt. — The Sage her father discovers the nature of her distemper. — The Queen of Israel negociates her cure. — King Solomon angry with his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh 44 Chapter VIII. Sara and her parents depart for Media. — The sorruw of Tobias.— Tobit has extraordinary dreams. — He is summoned to the palace of the King of Assyria CONTENTS. Chapter IX. Description of the palace grounds. — The Song of the merry Hebrew girls. — Tobit's reception by King Shalmanezer. — His appointment to the office of Chief Purveyor to the King SS Chapter X. Anna's anxiety at the absence of her husband. — Belaaron and his Daughter. — Anna reproaches her husband for his reckless generosity 6l Chapter XI.

Chapter I. Nineveh In The Days Of King Shalmanezer

TOBIT'S HOME ON THE BANK OF THE TIGRIS. — HIS SOLILOQUY ON CONTENT- MENT. A GREAT THUNDERSTORM, DURING WHICH AN ASSYRIAN OFFICER SEEKS SHELTER AT THE CAPTIVE'S HOUSE. DIALOGUE ON RELIGION AND HAPPINESS. " There are, who, deaf to mad ambition's call, Would shrink to hear th' obstreperous trump of Fame : Supremely blest, if to their portion fall Health, competence, and peace." " From labour health, from health contentment springs, Contentment opes the source of every joy." — lieattie's Minstrel. HEN Nineveh was the metropolis of A<\sia and the residence of the conquerors of the eastern world, there sat one evening beneath his porch on the western bank of the Tigris, a certain Hebrew captive, philosophizing on contentment. It was less than ten years since he had been in the enjoyment of considerable prosperity as a pastoral proprietor in the land of Israel.

Now his rich inheritance was permanently occupied by strangers ; and himself, his wife, and their son, residing in unredeemable captivity, were dependent for bread upon the produce of a small allotment of land heavily taxed by the government. It was the latter part of the Hebrew month Adar, when all the fresh beauties of a sudden Spring contrasted so pleasantly with the late desolate aspect of Winter and the bitterness of the north wind. The mild breezes now carried abroad the sweets of the narcissus, the hyacinth, and the violet ; while the almond, the plum, the apricot, and the peach were in full blossom ; and the fields were already robed in the tender green of the rising crops. On the opposite side of the Tigris the gilded and painted domes, towers and obelisks of the queen of cities reflected the glories of the western sky, and the increasing roar of its vast traffic resembled the sound that reaches the ear on approaching the beach of a rough sea.

Magnificent, as approached in the distance, was the view of the imperial city, extending from the margin of the river over the rising land farther than the eye could discern, three days' journey towards the mountains, the whole enclosed within mighty walls fluted and guarded with fifteen hundred lofty towers. The enormous wealth and high civiliza tion of its myriads made it the centre of the world's commerce. Its merchants were princes in a greater degree than were even the merchants of Tyre. Its artizans were the most skilled in the whole world, for whenever its conquering kings went forth to war they sent home to Nineveh the most skilful and most scientific of the inhabitants of the conquered cities. And not only was Nineveh enormously rich by means of its commerce and its manufactures, but it was the receptacle of the world's tribute.

And not only did its Kings, when they went forth to chastise rebellion, or extend conquest, send home skilled and learned captives, and gold and silver and precious stones, but also every desirable work of art that could be removed from the cities of the conquered. The boast of Sennacherib alluded to by Isaiah, " I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man : and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people : and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth ; " was applicable to several previous generations of conquerors. And through these frequent " gatherings " the palaces and temples of Nineveh were actually rich and curious museums, crowded with the rarest productions of art, especially statuary, which they called the gods of the conquered cities. Nahum compared Nineveh to " the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid.

The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravine." Thus the cost of its immense armies and its government was defrayed by the outer world, and captives of all nations were compelled to labour in the repairs, extensions, fortifications and improvements of this wonderful city, the empress city of the east. And this city — thus enriched with the tribute or spoils of all Asia, beautified by the greatest architects and sculptors of the recent ages, at the will of despots more powerful than the builders of the Pyramids, inheriting the accumulated experiences and improvements and labours of a thousand years, and among whose garrison were included one hundred and twenty thousand warriors who knew not the difference between their right hand and their left in the use of arms — this city was at the zenith of its power and glory when on this particular evening it engaged the attention of Tobit the Hebrewcaptive, as he sat resting from his day's toil, beneath the portal of his cottage, on the western bank of the Tigris.

He felt naturally sad at first when he compared his present condition with the past in his native Thisbe, where he had enjoyed the rich inheritance of his ancestors, but whence he had brought nothing but his wife and son. Tobit's captivity dated from the invasion of the land of Israel by the late Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser, who, conquering Syria on his way, and transplanting its inhabitants, ravaged a great part of the dominions of Pekah, and carried back with him into A^ssyria a great number of that King's subjects, including Tobit and all his tribe of Naphtali. By thus transplanting and breaking up the nations which they conquered, the Assyrian Kings hoped to destroy all opportunity for future national combinations and revolts, and so secure permanency to the great empire which they had during the latter reigns so vastly extended.

While Tobit remembered with regretful sorrow his confiscated share in that " field which the Lord hath blessed ; and given it of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine," his eye rested on the dear persons of his young wife Anna and their son Tobias as they laughingly romped around the little home, and his clouded countenance brightened in sympathy with the joy of their unmeditative humour. "Thank God," thought he, arising and walking in his garden, " that I have yet these the greatest of all my late possessions left. And although this home be so much more humble than the house of my fathers at Thisbe, it is spacious and grand enough for the entertainment of dear domestic loves ; and here is room enough for the sweet pleasure of rest after my daily toil.

Though I toil for our daily bread, and have not leisure for day-long indolence as at Thisbe, yet my work is sweetened by the love of those for whom I labour, and here I enjoy a richer zest with repose. And although these lands be not the lands of my inheritance, yet I may contemplate them as the works of the same God, even the God of Israel. And the fragrance of the gardens, the refreshment of the sweet soft air, the beauties of the landscape, the music of the groves, the glory of the evening, and the sweet breath of the rosy morning, are all mine to enjoy. As the captive thus soliloquized, a feeling of grateful contentment at his own present lot succeeded his late grievings for the loss of his native possessions ; dashed still, however, with some patriotic sorrow fulness at the misfortunes of his people, especially when he looked once more across the Tigris at the towers of the magnificent palace of Shalmanezer, who had succeeded to the throne of Tiglath-pileser, and remembered that the King was even now absent directing to the bitter end the protracted siege of Samaria, the fenced capital of his native land, if that city had not already fallen.

While Tobit still gazed upon the grand city, ablaze with the reflec tions of a glorious sunset, the scene was presently dimmed, and the heavens were rapidly clouded, with more than the shades of evening. The sky grew darker and darker, and Anna and her son hastened indoors from the approaching storm; while Tobit again sheltered himself beneath his doorway, to await the grandeur of the expected scene; for he loved nature as well in her stormy as in her serene aspects. Presently the clouds were riven with vivid lightnings, rendering more intense the succeeding darkness, and loud crashing thunder rolled grandly through the black vault, followed by great plashes of rain. Brighter lightnings succeeded ; deeper thunders boomed along the sky, and the torrents increased. Surpassingly grand were the glimpses of the great city revealed for trembling seconds, then lost in utter darkness amid the deafening crash.

The roar of the traffic was soon entirely hushed during the expectant intervals, like a roaring monster subdued and slain by the bolts of heaven. And, truly, Nineveh was appalled, and its mighty men experienced fear at the supposed utterances of the angry voice of Nisroch the supreme, the eagle-headed god, while the Hebrew captive still sat under his porch undismayed. The storm continued, but a mist arose from the surface of the warm earth, and the flashes no longer revealed so distinctly the landscape or the city ; but the observer then perceived near at hand another object of interest approaching like a bright flickering light whenever the clouds opened. He soon discovered it to be a radiant helmet, whose wearer, an Assyrian officer, was presently standing before him. The stranger, seeing the Hebrew quietly watching the storm, expressed surprise that he should thus expose himself to the wrathful thunders of heaven, and requested that himself might obtain shelter in the cottage.

The Hebrew welcomed the stranger, and replied that he feared not the thunder, but, rather, delighted in its grandeur, "For," said he, "I know that the great God who ordains the thunders is my protector, and that His angels who guard me will protect me from the fiery bolts." "Yet," replied the Assyrian, entering the cottage, "although I fear not the front of hottest battle, I dare not brave the thunders of Nisroch." There was that in the dignified countenance of the stranger which justified his assertion that he was fearless of human hostility. His dress was that of an officer of the King's guard ; but apart from his dignity as a commander in the army of the conquering race of the Assyrians — which merely of itself would have provoked in the mind of his entertainer a feeling of aversion — he was possessed of that natural influence of superior and commanding manhood which obtained involuntary deference.

" I boast not a heart fearless as thine, my lord," said the Hebrew, "but I admire the storm without dread, knowing that the God of my people, who is gracious to me, and has blessed me, rules its terrors." It is not so remarkable that Tobit's indifference to the terrors of the storm should have arrested the attention of his visitor, when we remember that the superstitious dread of thunder was no more a part of the nature of the Assyrians than of the still more learned and refined countrymen of Ajax, who has become immortalized, both in Poetry and Sculpture, for the temerity with which he once, two or three centuries earlier, dared to cast his eyes towards the thundering sky in attitude of defiance of its bolts. The Assyrian was now seated, awaiting the termination of the storm, the fury of which appeared to be gradually abating, as each volley became more muffled in its roll towards the snow-capped mountains of A<\rmenia.

Anna had retired ; and Tobit himself placed before the stranger some clusters of sun-dried grapes and dates, and bread of a delicious flavour, the composition of which was a secret for which Tobit and his wife had become famous among their friends. The calm disregard of the terrors of the great storm which the Hebrew had expressed and exhibited, appeared still to occupy the thoughts of the Assyrian, and, desirous to learn more of the source and grounds of this confidence, he thus continued the conversation : "And how can you, in this land of the invincible Gods of Assyria, confide in the favour of the God of your people to protect you, when He has failed to save you even in His own land, and has permitted you to be brought here into unhappy captivity ? " "Nay, my lord; not unhappy altogether, although grieving for my unhappy people.

It is only by the power and just anger of our God that my people are scattered and distressed. It is by His ordinance alone that Assyria rules the nations to be the instrument of His judgments. It is also by His favour and especial protection that I am here, with my dear ones, to acknowledge His power, His justice, and His mercy. He who has thus spared me and my family from the effects of His general anger, will yet save us from all real harm. And I would have you know, my lord, that this captivity of my people has been already long foretold by our seers, as a judgment of our own God, for the abandonment of His laws for the worship of strange gods which were no gods. This judgment was even distinctly threatened against us seven hundred years ago, when our fathers were first brought up out of the land of Egypt.

But if the people of Israel had not thus forfeited the protection of their God, then would the great King never have prevailed against them, but have found them invincible, as in times past. The King is but the servant of our God in this matter — and our God is the God of all the earth — bringing to pass his threatened judgments against the Hebrews, and against other nations, as our seers foretold. And thereby do I know full well that the inhabitants of Samaria shall not be able to stand against the power of the great King, because their own God has forsaken them." The brow of the Assyrian had assumed a trace of sternness at the bold declarations of Tobit ; but the momentary feeling was soon replaced by a calmer interest in the captive's words, and he said : " Then while your people have abandoned the worship of the God of their land, have you alone continued His faithful servant ?

And, if so, wherein has He specially rewarded you for your fidelity ? " " Not alone am I and my house faithful among the faithless, though I grieve to reply that they among my people are few who have preserved the pure worship of their fathers. His reward for my observance of His law, my lord, is a happy, contented, and fearless heart. Yes ; I believe that I am even happier than the King of nations ; for though poor I have enough, and contentment therewith." "Perhaps so," replied the Assyrian, "so far as you can judge of happiness. But how can you appreciate the happiness of the great King, whose deeds, engraved on brass, or on tablets of unperishable burnt clay, and represented in noble sculpture, shall be recounted in remotest ages, and his name be immortal as the names of the Gods in all succeeding nations ?

" " Truly, my lord, it is impossible that I should be able to speak of HEBREW CAPTIVES OF the nature of that happiness belonging to great Fame such as that of great and victorious Kings, which I know I can never test by my own experience. Yet this knowledge that I can never by any possibility become famous, does not in the least mar my contentment ; for I know also that when my body shall rest in the grave, and my name be entirely forgotten here, still shall my soul live by the favour of the great God in a higher and far more glorious world ; and shall endure for ever in a state of glory compared to which the majesty of the great King would be obscurity, and all his greatness of no account. Then should I esteem earthly renown a vain thing had I won it, and rejoice more in a spotless heart acceptable to the Mightiest, than had I left in memory of man a renown as great as that which the great King has won among the nations.

For what Prince, formerly the captain of a thousand, shall care to be remembered as the mere captain of a thousand, after he has been advanced by his King to be the general of a great army ? So I judge that the souls of good Kings will care little for the renown of their earthly crowns, when they shall have been rewarded by the King of Kings with far greater glory and happiness in the Kingdoms of Immortality." During this reply the Assyrian appeared to listen to the words and study the countenance of the Hebrew with considerable interest. It is a curious circumstance that the humble and modest Hebrew captive, who, during this conversation with the mysterious Assyrian, expressed his very reasonable assurance that he could never by any possibility become famous, but must soon after death become utterly forgotten among men, yet is, after all, universally famous, and his history well remembered to this day — two thousand and six hundred years after the date of the conversation just stated, with a record far more ample than that of the great King himself — of Shalmanezer the conqueror of Samaria.

When Tobit had ceased speaking, the Assyrian stranger arose and looked forth at the night, and finding that the storm was over and the sky brilliant with stars, thanked his entertainer for his shelter and conversation, and passed forth to cross the Tigris by one of the ferries which were ever at hand for the use of the King's officers. And the Hebreftv retired to rest that night little dreaming what great events in his history would result from that storm and his consequent enter tainment of the unknown Assyrian.

Chapter II. Return Of Shalmanezer From The Conquest Of Samaria

— THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF THE KING AND HIS VICTORIOUS ARMY INTO NINEVEH. — GREAT PROCESSION OF CAPTIVES AND SPOILS. 'HE Hebrew captive in his conversation with the Assyrian officer had expressed his belief that Samaria would not be able to withstand the siege of the King of Assyria, although that strong city had already I resisted the greatest offensive forces of the age during three terrible years of investment ; and its stubborn inhabitants had long endured the extreme horrors of famine without sign of capitula tion. The news had not yet reached Nineveh that Samaria had already fallen. But on the morrow of the great storm mentioned in the previous chapter messengers preceded the return of the Assyrian army, announcing in Nineveh the successful termination of the expedition, and the return of the victorious hosts with tens of thousands of prisoners and great spoil.

The King, who delighted in surprises, had, fearless of personal danger, posted in advance of his messengers, incognito, with only one attendant, that he might pass into his palace in the disguise of an officer of the guard, and privately reveal himself to his favourite queen, and his son Sennacherib, whom he longed to behold. On the day succeeding this announcement of the conclusion of the war there appeared on the western bank of the Tigris the vanguard of a troop of horse, who there halted for the arrival of the main army, which in due time followed with their prisoners and baggage, attended by a sound incomparable in our day — the distant thunder of ten thousand war chariots and an apparently innumerable host of foot soldiers. For although a portion of the army remained in the con quered country to garrison the cities until they could be settled with new inhabitants, and other portions had been detached to convey the great bulk of the captive population through Babylon and Sepharvaim direct to their destined settlements in the cities of Media, and along the river Gozan, yet there returned a great host, covering with their tents the hills and valleys as far as the eye could reach.

The prisoners who accompanied them consisted of the skilled artisans of various trades, with their families, who were to be employed in the imperial city ; disarmed warriors ; the Princes and principal priests of the conquered people ; and a large concourse besides, to figure in the triumphal entry into Nineveh, and then to be dealt with according to the will of the King. Many would be doomed to recruit the armies of labourers, of which vast numbers were constantly employed under HEBREW CAPTIVES OF the stern rule of overseers, in great public works, such as the trans port of stones for the erection of palaces and temples, cutting water courses, making roads, removing mounds and filling up valleys, for the convenient extension of the great city of Nineveh. AVhile others, more favoured, would be permitted to follow their brethren eastward into the cities of the Medes, and elsewhere.

By the morning of the fourth day of our tale the whole of the army had encamped in the plain west of the river. Conspicuous was the pavilion of the King, surrounded by those of his chief Princes and officers who had accompanied the expedition, and of the royal body-guard. The King had now rejoined his army as privately as a few days since he had left it. During the night a vast stationary raft had been fixed across the river, of such stability as to form a suitable bridge for the passage into the city of the triumphal procession. Great was the preparatory bustle on both sides of the river, and all Nineveh appeared to have crowded in general holiday to the banks, the walls, the house-tops, and every place which might afford a view of the camp or of any part of the route of the royal pageant.

The first movement of especial attraction was the issuing forth of the great officers and Princes of the King's household from one of the city gates — Princes who were altogether Kings, who came forth to congratulate their sovereign and pay him homage ; for, as before intimated, Shalmanezer had not discovered himself to his court on his secret visit to the palace. While these were being received by the King, enthroned in his pavilion, the tents of the principal part of the army were rapidly and almost simultaneously struck, and in a few moments each horseman stood at the bridle of his richly-caparisoned steed ; each chariot was ready for its occupant, -with a captive warrior, in the costume of his country, chained to each side ; the infantry formed in order of march ; the standards of the various nationalities composing the host were raised fluttering in the morning breeze ; trophies, spoils and prisoners were variously grouped ; and the whole pageant, under the control of marshals well-instructed in the plan of the procession, was ready to move in its appointed order at a signal from the royal pavilion.

Presently the body-guard, which had formed a strong circle about the King, broke in front and contracted into a crescent. The pavilion opened, revealing the King seated upon his chariot-throne, and surrounded by his Princes. Nineveh shouted ; martial music struck up, and to its measure the march commenced. Companies of the various arms of infantry — the bowmen, slingers, spearmen, macemen and axe-bearers, saluted the royal tent as they passed towards the bridge, each company escorting a group of bound prisoners of war. Then passed over vast flocks of sheep ; herds of cattle ; waggons piled with arms ; and led horses, asses, and mules, each laden with corn, wine, oil, wool, and other produce — not the great bulk, but only representative samples of the spoils of the conquered people. After these came ten troops of cavalry, each troop followed by a thousand prisoners of each of the ten conquered tribes of Israel, an Assyrian bearing in front of each thousand the captured standard, with the name of the tribe blazoned in precious stones, agreeing with the stones on the breastplate of the Jewish high priest.

After these again was a vast following of horses, asses, and mules, every one bearing a beautiful Hebrew girl in the richest costume of the Israelites. These were destined to be the future slaves of the officers of the victorious forces. The next to salute the royal pavilion were the occupants of five hundred chariots, the knights of the Assyrian army, each flanked with important prisoners of war. After these came a long procession of dishonoured priests of Baal, in rich vestments, compelled to bear the gold and silver vessels of sacrifice as trophies to be placed in the temples of the superior gods of Assyria ; cars bearing altars and golden idols ; the chariots and beautiful horses dedicated to the Sun ; the beautiful but sorrowing Princesses of Israel, decked in their utmost magnificence by compul sion of the conquerors, and borne upon the richly-trapped royal mules and white asses.

Then came the mighty siege engines which had been used against the walls and forts of Samaria. These ponderous machines moved with groaning, creaking, and deep rumbling sounds, drawn along by strong ropes, at which strained hundreds of the captives in place of beasts of burden. All this gazing Nineveh had viewed with silent interest ; but again an indescribable roar of cheers burst forth when the vacant throne of Israel appeared upon a splendid car, followed by the dejected ex-King Hoshea in a chariot, wearing the crown of Israel in mockery and heavily weighted with chains. Some have supposed that this unhappy King was captured and thrown into prison before the siege of Samaria, as soon as he was known in Assyria to have applied to the King of Egypt for assistance to throw off the yoke of Shalmanezer.

This supposition has arisen from the manner of the writer of his history in the Book of Kings, where his captivity is alluded to before the brief details of the siege are given. But the statement that " the King of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison " was merely a state ment in anticipation of the result of the siege afterwards mentioned ; and the nine years' reign of Hoshea included the three years during which his capital was invested by the Assyrian army. The captive King's chariot was encompassed, in mock attendance, by the chief Princes of his house, on foot, and all in chains. This part of the procession caused a great stir of excitement among the vast concourse, for the protracted siege had given birth to a lively interest in the royal prisoner who had so long resisted all the power of Assyria, and was at length fallen.