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53. The Fate of the
Kingdom of Judah.
How can a kingdom,
how can a place, how can a house be happy and endure where wickedness
reigns? As long as it existed, the kingdom of Judah had almost incessant
wars and celebrated bad victories. Did not the Egyptians and Moors come
to Jerusalem under the first king Rehoboam and take away the treasures
from the temple and the king's palace and Solomon's golden shields?
Did not the Syrians come with a small force and also conquer Jerusalem,
killing the rulers of the city and carrying off all the plunder? It was
in the same year that Joash had Zechariah, the son of his foster father
Jehoiada, stoned to death. But they did not kill the king, nor did they
take him prisoner. He was not to die like a brave war hero on the
battlefield at the hands of the victor or at the court of a king. They
left him sick. His own servants killed him. - God has judged. - No
wicked ingratitude is committed in vain. - God judges. - A king of the
ten tribes struck Amaziah son of Joash and tore down the wall of the
fortified city of Jerusalem so that it was open for four hundred cubits.
And Pekah, another king of the ten tribes, slew an hundred and twenty
thousand men of Judah in one day, and carried away two hundred thousand
captive women and children to Samaria, that they might become bondmaids
and servants to their enemies, according to the custom of war in those
days.
But at that time, a prophet in Samaria named Obad went to meet the train.
The sight of so many unfortunate people moved his pious, human heart. He
spoke to the leaders of the army: “You have killed the men. Do you also
want to condemn the women and children to such misery? Are not the Jews
your brothers, and do you want to bring such guilt upon the land before
God?” The nobles of the people, who also had a human heart, stood by him
and did not suffer the prisoners to be brought into the city. They were
given hospitality. The naked men were all clothed anew from the spoils.
They were all given permission to return to their homes, and the sick
among them were taken home to the border, to Jericho, the city of palms.
Such is the power of the word of a pious and respected man. It has
delivered so many thousands of poor widows and orphans from the fate of
forced servitude and brought them back to their beloved homeland.
After all these defeats and debilitations, the Jewish empire became
subservient and submissive, soon to the Assyrians, soon to the Egyptians,
and an alien warrior nation from remote mountains is already on its way
to hold the last judgment over the land and over the city full of
idolatrous altars and sacrileges.
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