Zadok

“ He turned away, and would have passed on, but Zadok caught him by his loose and tattered garment, and addressed him in a voice of kindness:
"Come home with me, thou son of Ananus; and let me give thee clothes and food. You utter unceasing woes against our city and our families; but I will return thy curses with blessings, for it pains my heart to behold a fellow creature so desolate and so miserable. Hunger and fatigue have made you mad. Come home with me, and cease to terrify the women and children, and scare away their sleep by night with such doleful sounds." ”

“ In the house of Zadok, piety, charity, faith, and resignation glowed with an inextinguishable flame, and its inmates were as a burning and a shining light in the midst of a thick darkness. The influence of Javan over the partizans of Simon was sufficient to preserve his family from the visits of the plunderers, or if a few of the ruffians attempted to enter the gates, they found them too well secured and guarded; and hitherto the effects of the famine had not been felt so powerfully in that habitation as in almost every other. ”

“ In the twinkling of an eye the Demon transported him to the steps of the palace.
“Zadok,” said the Wise Man, “give me the staff of life and death;” and the Demon brought from under his clothes a wand, one-half of which was of silver and one-half of which was of gold. The Wise Man touched the steps of the palace with the silver end of the staff. Instantly all the sound and hum of life was hushed. The thread of life was cut by the knife of silence, and in a moment all was as still as death.
“Zadok,” said the Wise Man, “transport me to the treasure-house of the king of Egypt.” ”

“ The noble and pious Zadok was seen to take his place undauntedly by the side of the altar, and to perform his sacred duties with a composure and dignity that commanded the respect even of the lawless and blaspheming ruffians who looked on in scoffing derision at the superstition (as they regarded it) of the worshippers. Many of his sacred brethren were wounded or slain, but he remained unharmed, and daily returned in safety to his anxious wife and daughter, to tell of greater horrors and fiercer conflicts than had disgraced the preceding day. ”

“ While we were arguing about it there was a clanging and banging out in the yard like a dozen kids were knocking tin pans together, and we heard somebody set up a holler.
“Hey! inside there! Hey! Marcus Aurelius Fortunatus Tidd, are you at home?”
“It’s Zadok,” says I, and we ran to the door.
Sure enough, there was old Zadok Biggs, the tin peddler, who was such a good friend of ours. Zadok was about half a man high and a man and a half wide, with the soberest, most serious-looking face you ever saw. He traveled all over the State in his red wagon, swapping tinware with wimmen for old rags. ”

“ The government men never found poor Zadok, and have no conjectures to make as to what became of him. Where does madness leave off and reality begin? Is it possible that even my latest fear is sheer delusion?
But I must try to tell what I thought I saw that night under the mocking yellow moon—saw surging and hopping down the Rowley road in plain sight in front of me as I crouched among the wild brambles of that desolate railway cut. ”

“ It was the end, for whatever remains to me of life on the surface of this earth, of every vestige of mental peace and confidence in the integrity of nature and of the human mind. Nothing that I could have imagined—nothing, even, that I could have gathered had I credited old Zadok's crazy tale in the most literal way—would be in any way comparable to the demoniac, blasphemous reality that I saw—or believe I saw. ”

“ Instead of indulging in such idle dreams, your wisest course would be, to use all your influence in persuading your father to abandon this city while yet there is time, and throw himself on the clemency of Vespasian. Zadok's character stands high, both among the Romans and his own people, for wisdom, integrity, and courage; and if he were to take so prudent a step, and recommend it to his countrymen, his example would probably be followed by many, if not all; and oh! Naomi, what bloodshed and misery would be averted! ”

“ The provisions thus preserved were not kept for the use of Zadok's family, but were freely bestowed on those who had taken refuge in his house, and on many others who knew his benevolence and came secretly to share it. He himself, and all belonging to his establishment, allowed themselves no more sustenance than was barely sufficient to support life, that they might have more to give to those who needed; and their wasted forms and pallid cheeks would have prevented any suspicion that they yet possessed the means of living in plenty. ”

“ Zadok had accompanied his daughter to the prison, and with several of his attendants he now waited for her in the porch. The state of the city was not such as to admit of any person traversing the streets alone and unprotected, after the shades of night had spread a veil over the sin and violence that continually defiled that once holy place; and Zadok also felt a vague apprehension that the same persons who had so successfully conspired against Theophilus, might also seek to rob him of his beloved child. ”

“ That the mare was out on some other errand than the one which ended in blood and murder,” was the coachman’s unexpected retort.
“Is that so?” whispered Sweetwater into the mare’s cocked ear. “She’s not quite ready to commit herself,” he drawled, with another enigmatical smile at the lingering Zadok. “She’s keeping something back. Are you?” he pointedly inquired, leaving the stalls and walking briskly up to Zadok. ”

“ All the cheerfulness of social and domestic intercourse had died away beneath the chilling influence of danger and dread, and when friends and relatives met together it was only to relate fresh horrors and anticipate coming woes. The spirit of Zadok was yet unsubdued, and his confident hopes unchecked, by the misery and distress around him; but his wife did not share his sanguine feelings, and Naomi remembered the doom which had been pronounced on Jerusalem by Him whose every word must be fulfilled. ”

“ But I am sorry for everything, and most of all for living."
"Would you not live to kill the fox Herod?" cried Jotham fiercely.
"Why should I let him out of the trap," answered the sad shepherd. "Is he not dying more slowly than I could kill him?"
"You must have faith in God," said Zadok earnestly and gravely.
"He is too far away."
"Then you must have love for your neighbour."
"He is too near. My confidence in man was like a pool by the wayside. ”

“ Few were found willing to receive and comfort their distressed brethren, and the sufferings of these wretched people were extreme. But some individuals were yet remaining in Jerusalem in whose hearts all the better and nobler feelings were not extinguished, and who gladly offered an asylum to as many of the fugitives as their dwellings would contain. Among these Zadok was the most distinguished, and his benevolence set a bright example to the rich and noble of the city. ”

“ Maybe you never met Zadok Biggs before, but we had, I can tell you. We got acquainted with him when Mr. Tidd come close to losing the turbine-engine he had invented and which made him rich, and Zadok did a lot to help us get it back. I really don’t believe we ever would have got it back if it hadn’t been for him. So we were pretty good friends, and every time he was near Wicksville with his tin-peddler’s wagon he’d stop overnight with Mark, and we’d all spend the evening together. ”

“ Still, Mark Tidd says it is more important what a judge has in his head than in the legs of his pants, and maybe he’s right.
Zadok came into town next day and drove right up to Tidds’. He thinks Mark is the greatest boy in the world, on account of his name. Zadok is funny about names. He collects them like some boys do stamps or birds’ eggs, and he says Mark’s name, Marcus Aurelius Fortunatus Tidd, is the best one of the lot.
“Well, well, well!” he said. “What’s this I am informed? (Most folks would say ‘told.’) Runnin’ a mill, eh? Now can you beat that? Indeed you cannot. ”

“ The sister sick, the brother invisible, there was little more to hold his attention in this quarter; so he let it roam across the heads of the people about him, to the distant hall communicating with the kitchen.
Several persons were approaching from this direction, among them Zadok. The servants of the house, no doubt, for they came in all together and sat down, side by side, in the chairs Sweetwater had so carefully passed by. There were five persons in all: two men and three women. Only two interested him—Zadok, with whom he had already made a superficial acquaintance and had had one bout ”

“ On the contrary, one of the outstanding things in the constitution of the sect is the predominance of the lay element. The Supervisor is a layman; laymen form the majority in every court; the Messiah is the “Anointed from Aaron and Israel.” Whether the external testimony upon which Dr. Schechter relies for justification of the name is more adequate will be considered below.
Zadok and the sons of Zadok suggest the Sadducees,73 whose name, according to the most probable explanation, designates them as descendants (or followers and partisans) of Zadok. ”

“ All the types of ghetto fanatics are portrayed with the crudest realism. The most prominent figure is Rabbi Zadok, canting, unmannerly, lewd, an unscrupulous criminal, covering his malpractices with the mantle of piety. He is the prototype of all the Tartufes of the ghetto, who play upon the ignorance and credulity of the people. His chief follower, Gadiel, is a blind fanatic, an implacable persecutor of all who do not share his opinions, the enemy of Hebrew literature, embittering the life of any who venture to read a modern publication. ”

“ So down to Gihon goes the procession, with the youthful prince seated on his father's mule, in token of his accession, the trusty bodyguard round him with Benaiah at their head, and the great prophet Nathan, side by side with the high-priest Zadok, representing the divine sanction of the solemn act.
It would take stronger men than the spoiled Adonijah and his revellers to upset anything which that determined company resolved to do. The lad is anointed with the holy oil which Zadok as high-priest had the right to bring forth from the temporary sanctuary. ”

“ Zadok and his unhappy brother had returned to their home, after the fruitless effort for the preservation of the prisoner. A crowd of persons were assembled round the door of the prison, and the cause of the disturbance which was heard within the walls soon reached them, and excited a great feeling of indignation against Amaziah. The Nazarenes were held in entire abhorrence by the populace; and the rumour that an attempt had been made to rescue a convicted heretic and others, to deprive them of the savage joy with which they always hailed the execution of such victims, filled them with rage. ”

“ The power and influence of Zadok rendered great caution necessary in taking any steps against the persons of his near relatives; and these blood-thirsty men knew well that with all his zeal for religion, and horror of all deviations from the faith of his ancestors, and the customs which were sanctioned by tradition, yet he would never give his consent to any act of cruelty or oppression, or forget the feelings of a brother, to gratify a spirit of bigotry. The aged Mary of Bethany was also marked as a victim ”

“ He left his family in sorrow and dismay. Those who adored Jesus of Nazareth as their Saviour, and worshipped him as God, were filled with horror and indignation at hearing his holy name blasphemed; and all were overpowered with the conviction that no hope remained of the liberation of Theophilus. Zadok endeavoured to speak comfort to his afflicted relatives, by urging them to use their influence in persuading his nephew to renounce Christianity; but Amaziah bade him cease such dreadful suggestions, and declared, while tears of deep emotion flowed down his manly cheeks ”

“ Amidst the general corruption, there were yet, however, a few faithful sons of Abraham remaining, though not enough to save the city; and Zadok was of this number. He stood by the altar, to receive from the hands of the people the baskets which contained their offerings, and to hear the declaration and confession which were appointed to be uttered on this occasion ”

“ Why are the people all gone mad this morning, and why do they weep and wail, and why do they go crazy when I do but ask them why they are so afflicted?”
“I will tell thee,” said Zadok. “Seven-and-thirty years ago there was a queen over this land—the most beautiful that ever was seen. Thy father, who was the wisest and most cunning magician in the world, turned her into stone, and with her all the attendants in her palace. No one since that time has been permitted to enter the palace—it is forbidden for any one even to ask a question concerning it ”

“ Their chief warrior, on whom they depended as the leader of their armies, was reported to have fallen; their choicest troops were slain; and one of the strongest of the Galilean fortresses destroyed. But though the dejection and sorrow were general, yet in some families it was more profound and heartfelt, for they had lost a son, a brother, or a husband among the Jewish troops. In Zadok's house the sound of mourning and woe was heard, for it was believed that Javan was slain. He had joined the army of Josephus, and was known to be present at the siege of Jotapata ”