Night came gently down over Israel. The darkness of earth slid like a shadow across the rocks stained by the sunset. Calm and deep the sea of Cinnereth reflected the stars whose lights gleamed upon the trans-Jordanic hills. There the desert slept; while in the north the lights of Tyre shone upon the sea.
The village herds returned from their pastures. Then the roads of Zebulon resounded with the tonk of bells, as the cows with sweet-smelling breath wound down from the hills. The day was over, and their stalls awaited them. Melancholy and austere, they parted from each other without regret.
Aaron, the brother of Jonah, walked behind them. In his hand he carried a rod with which he beat now and then upon the flanks of the animals nearest him. Then they rushed forward, clumsily, to avoid the blows which fell upon them without force.
The young man enjoyed this hour of the day, when he strode home through the village, driving the herds before him. He was proud to be in charge of the village cows. His mother also was proud of him; she foresaw an important future for him. “Always do your best,” she said. “However,” she added, “do not tire yourself out. And in case of robbers, or a lion, please come home; and do not make a fool of yourself.”
“Well,” the young man would say, twirling his stick, “we’ll see about that.”
Aaron did not think that his brother led a very sensible life. To live all alone in the desert seemed to him a nonsensical thing to do, and he felt sure that his mother agreed with him. Else why did she shake her head so sadly, and heave such a sigh, when she spoke of her eldest son? As a matter of fact, she relived in Jonah, but very faintly, the dreamy, mild, religious ecstasy of her maidenhood. That was all over for her now; life had long ago got down to being practical. Besides, one did not hear so much about God as when she was a girl. Still, she remembered the beauty of those times, when her heart beat with joy and love, when a sweet unrest brought her to her knees, and she felt through her prayers the breath of holiness upon her cheek.
No, one did not hear nowadays so much about God. Take Aaron, for example: as he came home from the pastures at evening, he bent his head before the golden bull which adorned the wayside shrine. In the spring he enjoyed the feasts of the Passover; and he also enjoyed the celebrations in honor of Astarte and Adonis, in company with the other young men of the village. The problems of theology did not concern him; he simply wished to enjoy himself, and to get on in the world. To do that, one did something about it; one began by taking care of the village herds. Then one could look confidently to the future, and leave God to dispute with other people about what He looked like.
When the last of the cattle was safely housed, Aaron turned back to his own home, and entering the yard gate, walked toward the kitchen from whose open door a rosy glow spread over the yard. Jonah was at home; and Aaron stood a moment in the doorway, gazing with a smile at his mother, who was preparing supper. Deborah kept one eye on the oven, and the other on her elder son, who, with a small cake of bread in his hand, was relating to her some incidents of the Aramæan campaign. She wished to know if Hamath was as large as Salem, or Bethel.
“It is larger than Bethel,” replied Jonah, “but not as large as Jerusalem.” Deborah sighed happily; it was something to have traveled as much as that.
“The armies of Aram,” said Jonah, biting into the coarse bread, “were drawn up in a truly terrifying array. I saw a number of men seated upon ostriches, so I knew that we were obliged to battle against demons. Not in the least frightened, our men rushed at the foe in an irresistible manner. Nevertheless, they would have been beaten, and were already in flight, when the High Priest Amaziah appeared upon a nearby hill, and announced that the King of Aram with all his generals had been consumed by a thunderbolt. At this our men decided to turn once more upon the foe, who retreated in confusion, and we rushed triumphantly forward into the enemy’s camp, where we surprised and killed a number of generals, including the King of Aram, and his High Priest.
“When our victorious armies arrived at the gates of Hamath, Prince Absalom came out to greet us, accompanied by the women of the town bearing flowers and bowls of wine for our thirsty soldiers. This noble prince, disguised as a Syrian, had left the battle-field before the armies had begun to fight, and had gone quietly off to prepare our welcome in the city, where he knew a number of prominent people. It is faith joined to foresight of this nature that has made Israel great.”
He was silent; the light from the oven glowed upon his face, which shone with enthusiasm and love. He thought to himself, “All Israel resounds with my glory. There is a new prophet; and his name is Jonah.”
And he added, humbling himself before God,
“I understand that this is Your doing.”
Anxious that Deborah should know of his part in his country’s history, he mumbled shyly, with his mouth full,
“The King considers me a greater prophet even than Amos of Tekoa.”
“Well,” said Deborah sensibly, “why not?” Coming up to Jonah, she smoothed his hair with her hand, and gazed at him anxiously. “What a trouble you are to me,” she said gently; “making wars and such mischief. Well....”
Seeing her younger son standing in the doorway, she called to him: “Come in, Aaron, here is your brother Jonah. He has just made a war. Tschk ... you would think there was nothing but fighting in the world.”
Aaron came into the room, and went up to Jonah with frank curiosity. He wished to know all about it, and he asked innumerable questions. When he learned that Jonah had not brought home any gold ornaments, or rich shawls, he was disappointed.
“No, really,” he exclaimed, “what is the good of a war like that?” And he sat sulkily down in a corner.
But Deborah took Jonah’s part. “No, Aaron,” she said, “that would be all right for you; if you made a war, I should expect you to come home with something, a colored shawl for me, or some gold bracelets. But Jonah is different; and living in the desert, the way he does, gives him ideas. Better a war far away, like this one, than like what we used to have in your father’s time, right under my nose, killing and fighting all day long.”
She turned to Jonah with a sigh. “Why,” she exclaimed, “did you choose the Aramæans to make a war with? Such wild people.” She shook her head ruefully. “Always trouble,” she decided; “never what would be sensible.
“At any rate,” she wound up, “perhaps you’ll settle down now for a while and let your mother look after you, instead of living all alone in a desert with foxes.
“Ak, what an old coat you have.”
She went back to her oven with a smile; cheerful and loving, she found in everything some cause for satisfaction, or at least hope, if she was given time enough. And she sang now, under her breath, as she always did when she was disturbed or happy--for happiness or sorrow, either one, disturbed only a little her amiable, confused spirit:
“_Men dead long ago
Have set me like a tree.
Let the wind blow,
What is that to me?
My roots are in their dust,
My roots are deep, I trust.
My son is at my knee._”
Jonah looked at her with a gloomy but tender expression. “Mother,” he said, “what is the matter with my coat? Because it is old? It does me very well. Must I also be a beauty, to suit you?”
After supper Deborah’s brother David came in to see Jonah. He also wished to know about the war, concerning which he had heard rumors.
“Well,” he said to his sister, “so we have actually a prophet in our family. I congratulate you. We could afford to give a little party in honor of this.”
And he looked around him with pride.
“No, really,” cried Jonah; “what an idea.” He blushed to think of it. But his uncle peered angrily at him from under his shaggy eyebrows.
“So,” he said slowly, “that is the kind of prophet you are, then. You think only of yourself, but what about your family? Do you imagine we have so many opportunities to give feasts, and call in the neighbors? Or have you done something to be ashamed of? When an honor comes to us, that is the time to talk about it.”
Aaron agreed with his uncle, although he did not see what they had to be proud of. “We are no better off than before,” he complained, “seeing that Jonah brought home nothing with him from the war.”
“What?” exclaimed Uncle David. “What a pity.” He wagged his old head meditatively. “There it is,” he said; “times change, whether you like it or not. When I was a young man it was entirely different. Feasts, festivals.... I can tell you, we knew how to enjoy ourselves. And what is more, we were religious; it was not like to-day. At any rate, children were respectful, and considered their parents; when they went to a war, they brought something home.”
And he lamented the decay of Israel’s greatness.
But Deborah put in a good word for her son. “If he brought me nothing,” she said, “it was because he knows that really I am satisfied with what I have, and besides there was nothing there which caught his fancy.”
“The old days are no more,” said David, and relapsed into gloomy silence.
Aaron, who had been growing restless in his corner, got to his feet. “Mother,” he said, “I am going out for a while, to see some of my friends.”
“Again,” cried Deborah, “so soon, when your brother has just come home, and Uncle David is here? Aaron, no....”
“I will go with him,” said Jonah quietly; “I should like to visit old Naaman, who lives at the edge of the village. Do you remember, Mother, how I used to go there when I was young; and I have not seen him in many years.”
“Yes,” said Deborah with a smile, “it is true; I remember, you were always there; whenever I could not find you, I had only to look for you in Naaman’s house, and there you were. Go along, but do not be late; and”--she added in a whisper--“when you come home I will have some food set out for you.”
She turned sternly to her younger son. “Aaron,” she said, “please do not get into any fresh mischief with your friends. Perhaps you would do better to go with your brother; it would do you good for a change instead of running up and down the village with nobody knows who.”
Her gaze followed her sons with tender anxiety across the threshold.
“So thin he looks,” she murmured; “and his cloak is so tattered; really, I am ashamed. But what can I do; I have nothing; and he is so proud, besides.”
And she smiled at her brother, with a tear shining in her eye.
Jonah and Aaron walked along in silence, under the dark boughs of trees. At last Aaron remarked: “Well ... you see ... you have made a start now with things. The desert is all very well for old men. But what sort of life is that, after all?”
And in an embarrassed manner he took his leave of Jonah, and went off to join his companions, whose voices could be heard raised in youthful laughter among the shadows.
Jonah stood leaning upon his staff in the darkness. A few lights gleamed among the trees, whose branches bent above him as though to envelope him in their quiet embrace. The odors of night crept around him; he remembered his youth, spent in this village, and he felt in his heart a longing for that lonely boy whose only friends had been an old man and his own dreams. So much of life had gone by, yet here he was again, wearier, wiser, still led by hopes, of what he did not know, hurt by memories, but why he could not tell. He heard the voices of Aaron and his friends fading in the distance; he knew that in the shadows young lovers whispered together, although he could not see them. All about him trembled the happy laughter of youth, the peace of age, the quietness of rest after labor. The sky of heaven, shining with stars, bent upon his home a regard of kindness; and the wind, moving through the sycamores, spoke to him in the accents of the past.
Bowing his head upon his breast, he thought, “Jonah, Jonah, what have you done with your youth?”
Slowly, and with halting steps, he approached the house of Naaman, at the village edge.
