“ Stay your hand, Pedanite!
“
The coarse man paled as soon as he located the source of the mocking voice of stone.
“
Your pardons, Praefectus. “ His voice
was thick with the wine he’d taken scrumptiously over lunch. He feared for the man with the strange, commanding voice
to come too near and smell his breath, so he back two steps for every one that Machba`nel took forward.
Ahava couldn’t stop herself from trembling violently but she found herself aware of every face gathered to watch
the small drama with a clarity unlike any other time in her life! How the strong sunlight seemed to add additional depth to
his scars on his thighs and legs, how the strange, soft man who was his obvious companion for the day could look at her with
such compassion despite the repugnance that rose in her as she recognized him as an effete member of a highly specialized
class of men who once rules Sodom and Gomorrah like kings. And wondering, as her final thought, what he
was doing with such a rugged looking male? She doubled over and braced herself for the blow from the soldier’s raised
fist, but it never came. She smelled the body odor, the sweat and the fear, then a strange odor of male perfume, too brash
to belong to a woman but too effeminate to belong to a male?
The soldiers
were stiff, their eyes filled with concern as they watched the tall Centurion grow angrier as he recognized the tall girl
unbending from her fearful crouch. Instinctively she looked at Simon but he was being held off the ground by the tall scarred
man he called Barabbas, his feet running uselessly, striking the older man’s shins. Her terror was so great she almost
laughed aloud in relief at the strange sight, making her look like Bakky, who laughed with his tormentors, pleased that they
had least noticed him! She was breathing, but for how long?
“
She deserves to die for what she did! “
Machba`nel
ben Abishalom hid his concern for her with a cover of aloof ‘maleness’. As if his sympathies
were for the humiliated soldiers who were now standing in a mob of grim faced Jews who’d heard what the blunderer had
said in his initial arrogance and shame. Except by use of a silver trumpet they couldn’t draw help to them in this crowded,
back ally. And would the hostile crowd even allow them through? Some would be stung by a sword, but they would pull the offending
men to pieces with their bare hands and then melt away like the stones of the very earth under their feet! As the tension
and the numbers of the crowd increased and pulled tighter in a wall of flesh, the advantage was quickly seeping away from
the mighty Masters of the Earth.
“ And
have Pilate laugh us to scorn because of where this child’s hand inadvertently went to save herself from a fall?
Are we not men? Are we not Romans? Can we not forgive a child so young she didn’t even know the
flesh she seized? Bemet? Really? “
Seeing
a wave of uncertainty move through the hostile crowd, the injured soldier leaned against his companion, whispering in his
ear to put up his sword. That “they’d find” the witch alone and do what they would to her without any aristocrats
brat to chide them publicly! The seven men looked around, exhaling loudly, willing to obey the proud Centurion
but unsure if the crowd would allow them too or not.
Seeing their dilemma,
the middle aged soldier turned to the watching faces.
“
Get on with you! No one was hurt. I’ll take the child with me and see that
she stays out of trouble until her mother can claim her. “
Even
the civilians moved to obey. The burly, scarred soldier seized her arm to restrain her and Ahava fainted without warning,
He had meant only to be certain she was unharmed before he dismissed the soldiers, but she blacked out and woke in
his arms as he was walking hastily through streets where the crowd parted before him miraculously, like the water of the Red
Sea before Moses’ path.
“ Find out who that man is! “ Barabbas
hissed, as he moved back into the crowd from a different street, content that the others would take the betraying anger of
the boy far away, to protect them more than him.
The street beggar looked directly
the lead zealot, although he normally pretended to be blinder than he really was.
“
You should already know him. He’s the adopted son of the Roman, Xavier, the one who calls himself Abishalom.
“
Barabbas cursed in futile and foul rage.
“ If
I’d suspected that, this little play would have had a very different ending! “
The beggar smiled. Dead men in the streets were open prey for the ‘unseen’, of whom he was chief in this
tangled corner of the city. As long as the blood wasn’t his own, he didn’t mind how much of it he saw or smelled.
Death meant an absence of riches to some, but willed to the living and the quick of hand!
“
Where did you learn that move, Little Nazarene? “ He asked
pleasantly when he felt her waken and stiffen in his arms. At the same time she answered he realized he had instinctively
spoken to her in Latin rather than their native tongue.
“ Don’t
you remember me? “ He asked as he lowered her to the ground, keep his grip
on the purpling bruise growing on her wrist. She would be in much more danger in the quarters he was taking her if she ran
away from any supposed danger with him.
“ My
name is Machba`nel ben Abishalom. We meet a couple of weeks ago in my sister’s house in Capernaum. And you were there
when my father and I spoke at your brother-in-law’s house. “ He
added, if she didn’t wish to admit to that particular bit of embarrassment in being mistaken for a common servant or
slave girl.
“ I remember who you are. “ She replied
regally, while shivering uncontrollably with fear. The painful grip on her wrist spoke more of what she would have to endure
before death than any of his soft lies could imply.
As soon as he walked
her into the squared stone building and motioned for his aide de camp to close and guard the outer door he left go of her
wrist. The pain swept in and overwhelmed whatever control she had left to her pride. Seeing the fear and the certainty of
punishment in her eyes he pushed himself away from her, or he would gathered her to his arms as the frightened child she was,
and that would have stripped her more than a brush and a few crude words with the soldier in the public street.
“ Follow me. I will not harm you. “
He said gruffly, barely getting past her before the tears or regret flooded his eyes. How
like Claudia she was, whatever his father’s view that she was more like their mother; spitting fire on the outside like
a frightened kitten. Surely this sweet spirit would soon be crushed under the weight of a careless and selfish brute of a
husband and she would never have the chance to know all the things he tried to give his sister in apology for the accident
of her gender at birth!
The old woman paused in her reminiscences, sipping grateful from the chilled juice of some
unidentifiable but satisfying fruit. Remembering him so clearly only reminded her of the length of the
time since she lovingly washed his stiff and lifeless body to lay him in the tomb. The pain was too great to bear, even for
the sake of the children she was attempting to teach. She closed her eyes and squeezed her eyes shut tighter in rejection.
But slowly his voice, his warmth, his love swept over her and she slipped back into that earlier and younger flesh,
feeling the growing cold of her own body as the fear and the chill within the stone building of soldiers even though he rudely
instructed his elderly aide-de-camp to bring braziers and light them, as if it were the old soldier’s fault that they
weren’t present for her use!
“
That man who was standing by you? “ She found herself stammering
unwillingly. Ashamed of her prurient interest and yet drawn to the sense of power that
lay on him like the fine sheen of sweat on his upper arms.
He
smiled without mirth. “ My brother-in-law Rueben. He’s married to
my sister Claudia. You’ve met her, if you remember. Your father stays in my sister’s house, that makes us almost
family. “ He teased gently but her face only tightened, striking him with
a memory of Aurelia Leite his young wife that seemed only just revenge for the pain he caused both of them. He reached out
his hand silently but the image of the dead young woman slipped away and the living one stepped back as if he’d suddenly
grown a viper on her fingers.
“ My brother, not my father! “ She said so stiffly that she
could barely form the words.
“ Your brother! I remembered before you said it! “
His explosive words drained what was left of the blood from her face and he busied himself with stripping off the only
warmth he had, the symbol of his authority, slipping on a full length woven cloak that covered the pits and scars on his suddenly
naked feeling legs.
When he turned her face was a long “oh” from her damp forehead to the length
of her chin under her dropped mouth but he was looking
past her at the face of his wiry little father and Ezra was smiling at him for the first time in a very long time, as if he
were one of his older step-brothers. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not as badly as he was frightening the
child in her woman’s clothes.
“ We are merely waiting for your mother to come to take you home safely. “
The “oh” of her mouth widened as the fear subsided and them slowly her jaw raised and closed. It amused
him that she automatically took for granted that he was telling the truth. It had been a long time since he’d encountered
that either! He was beginning to like this little Jewess with the becoming name. He couldn’t remember it, only
the gentleness it arose him when he heard even his sister’s mocking voice repeating it. He still thought of her as “Little
Sparrow”.
“ Eat. If you like. “
She
finished her awed inspection of the crowded, strongly odored room before she risked turning around to look at him to answer.
“ Thank you, no…Sir? “
He
looked up in annoyance, reading the hand scrawled message his father left him. Abishalom had no right to come in here in his
private quarters! When she took a step back in fear, he cursed himself as a fool and laid the paper down gently, when he wanted
to slam it in rebellion like the half-grown boy Abishalom ben Judah made him feel again!
“
Won’t the owner mind? “
She asked off the
top of her head as he stared at her obviously expecting her to compete the question she’d started to ask when the content
of her thought had fled her mind with lightening at his cross look!
His
smile called to something within her that opened like a new bud on a wild tree. The sweet scent and beauty offered before
the green which sustained the tree, In such a manner did she feel him calling to a sense of herself as a woman that she had
no way to support. On impulse she walked to the edge of the crowded desk to accept his offered hand. She felt like a wild
kitten, fearful of the sight of the approaching fingers
but longing for the reassurance that such gentle touch promised. She
didn’t know it
then but she was
already falling in love with him. He waited so patiently for so many years until she was old enough to respond to that instinctual
belief in his goodness under the gruff exterior.
“
We’re soldiers. There’s little private ownership, not in the way you know it. I’ve sent
for your mother. “ He repeated. “ Till then
let’s talk. Shall we? “
She tensed up and
pulled beyond the reach of his fingertips. Though he was puzzled he didn’t grasp for her such as would have frightened
her again. He ached to be near her, even while he guarded her youth and her innocence even from his own careless remarks,
seeing her blushes.
“ May I offer you a vintage from my mother’s own estates across the Great Sea?
I was supposed to become a vintner
but I chose to squeeze other things from the enemies of Rome, as she was squeezing my father and three older brothers. It’s
very good, I
think you’ll like
it. “ He added casually when he realized how much of his bitterness had slipped
thought in the simple memory of Ezra and Shelomith, and the sons she bore that other shadowed man who preceded them in her
other lifetime as a Roman noblewoman.
Before she married the master vinedresser to have a man’s name cover hers. As they ate and talked of her new
puppy and her new experiences since she left her father’s house for the first and last time until she was carried to
her husband’s home, he found himself relaxing his guard and recalling Jewish terms and habits he’d shut out in
his search for the means to honor the man who’d saved his life by ordering him taken away from the flogging post with
the punishment only half administered.
Xavier finally
stopped threatening him with the unused portion of the stripes earned when he married the youngest daughter of his dearest
friend. At her unexpected death in childbirth, the three men had pulled closer together than any softer bonds of romance or
love could, until this moment as he saw the youth he’d so willingly thrown away and he knew the prophet’s daughter
was as forbidden to him as the love of the young wife he buried! That didn’t stop him from tearing out his heart and
laying it at
her feet, shriveled
gift that it was!
Mary was escorted into the room, out of breath, she looked around in mute terror until she saw the girl kneeling unharmed
by the warm of the glowing coals in the copper-defined iron brazier. Her shocked relief set a weight against the middle-aged
soldier’s heart as he recognized he and her mother were the same age! He had no right to such youthful lust toward the
only unmarried sister of a future king! He cursed himself viciously inwardly, using Ezra’s mocking voice, while he was
gracious and diffident to the frightened mother on the outside. Yet illogically, he longed to see her again since he still
had two months leave coming to him, to prove that his rotting feet were truly healed. It was fitting punishment that he should
live while he caused Julia-Ephrata’s death by his bullish needs!
He
almost fainted when he looked to see the man who quietly followed the woman indoors.
“
Majesty, I never …” He started to protest, but Jude Thaddeus was too concerned for
his aunt and niece to notice to make any sense of the sharp intake of the soldier’s breath. He straightened to defend
them against the gruff man’s annoyance.
Only now did Machba`nel note
the subtle differences in age and coloring. The younger man was danker, burnt by the sun in his outdoor activates as a fisherman
while his broad shouldered cousin was a slightly more ruddy hue, like his mother, this man’s younger sister.
“ I have tried not to abuse the child, but she has a quick mind and a quicker tongue.
“ He warned, lifting his eyebrow at Ahava in rebuke. At her laugh and refusal to be afraid Mary understood
much of the relationship between the haunted man and the little girl. “ Still she reflects well on the pious and worthy
household in which you and your husband have raised her, Good Mother. My apologies for having frightened you both so. “
Mary started to correct him and say that she was a widow, but at the last instant she stifled the impulse despite his
apparent kindness toward Jews. Though he kept his Jewish name the man was more Roman that any other citizen of the empire!
A cultured heathen with kind intentions was still a heathen and the girl gave her trust far too easily.
“ I’m sure you have nothing to apologize sir. Are we free to leave?
“
“ At your convenience, Good Mother. I’ll send a guard. I would go myself, but
I have pressing duties I’ve
postponed as long as I dare. “
“ Get up, Beloved. Can you walk? “
“ I think so, yes, Ima. “
But she rose with such obvious reluctance both adults were mildly embarrassed.
“
I do appreciate your care and concern for my little girl! I thought I had
taught her better! “
“
It was thrust upon her, I assure you. “
The scarred Centurion
startled her by a sudden laugh as he remembered the effective and painful way in which she had disarmed her attacker. As Ahava
skipped ahead with the elderly soldier sent to bring them home, Mary turned around to thank the burly soldier one last time,
but his eyelids were rimmed with tears, and she dared not ask him why.
Machba`nel
forced his mouth closed with difficulty, unsure why he longed to share these deepest fears and loss. This ordinary yet charming
peasant woman was everything his mother Shelomith bat Elnaam scorned to be. He pushed shut the wooden door between them quickly
to shield himself, before he broke down and cried like a boy who still relieved himself! Unsure of the hollow ache forged
inside him like a Ferrier’s coals being brushed intemperately by the bellows. Or the name of the Majesty that wrapped
Himself around the growing pain, filling the emptiness. He fell to his knees, hiding his face in the wooden structure as he
had once hid his tears in the folds of his
mother’s gown when her three older sons by her first
husband taunted him beyond his ability to bear. He remained there till a sweet sense of peace brushed through him as if
on angel’s wings and a name came to his lips with unspeakable
love. The Holy One of Israel Incarnate, and he wept anew, but this time the tears were filled with joy and
he couldn’t stop their flow any more than he could have held back a mountain stream with his hand.
He thought it only a merciful coincidence that he had all the time alone he needed until he recovered
himself outwardly, not knowing that Apulio guarded the door like a wounded wolf. Word traveled faster in secret than in the
open and it was said that Pilate, though annoyed to hear of the almost riot, was pleased with Machba`nel. The old soldier
could only hope the dark pall falling over the man who adopted him from the whipping post so many years ago, wouldn’t
fall on this man’s shoulders as well! Xavier Quintus Marcus, who called himself Abishalom the Jew,
when Pilate loathed the quarrelsome race and what they cost him, despite being married to one, was being recalled to Rome
soon, yes, but not to be honored. Any more than the “Caesar” who took Rome from Anthony and Cleopatra’s
dead hands, cared for Pontus Pilate!
Friday, 23rd of Abib
First watch of the night
3787
Just before
the sun was hidden behind the western most crest of the hill, as the massive gates to the walled city were scheduled to be
closed for the night, Lazarus and his two sisters bid Mary and her family a reluctant goodnight. Deborah seemed anxious to
leave as well, gathering her three daughters hastily, to return to her husband’s expansive house where she complained
proudly that she had could watch over the Egyptian servants’ lax observation during their Mistress’ confinement,
even though their new master was a Jew by birth and religious observant by custom, and Bithynia pretended to be, by life-long
association with her recently deceased husband. Ahava prepared herself for another uncomfortable night in the overheated roofed
storehouse at the top of the Egyptian widow’s house said to have once been a watchtower in case foreign troops entered
the walled city to pillage, but when she heard her name being called from the courtyard below and she saw Nimrod’s leash
in the giant’s hand, she fled outside without even thinking to thank her sister or her hostess. Once they were safely
escorted to Joktan ben Achbor’s house and reunited with the sister in law who really loved her, Ahava began to feel
a little less like a servant, even though she ran to do the slightest thing Rebecka or her mother asked of her, for the joy
of seeing their smiles in return. Even the brothers seemed content to leave her alone, as long as she didn’t demand
their attention or force them to acknowledge their mother was right, and that Jesus had every right to be here, just as they
did. When she saw Jesus in the night-darkened hallway she tried to outrace her somber thoughts about next year when she would
know her future mother-in-law’s name and where she would be spending the rest of her life in obscurity, racing to his
side in the joy of the moment, here and now. He smiled and made room for her even though it meant she had to walk back in
the direction she had just come from. She found strength and comfort in his embrace.
Linking his arm with hers they continued to walk straight ahead, speaking softly. There were so many things changing
from her childhood that as she spoke and as he listened she found herself looking at her daily light in a far different light;
consciously choosing what parts she would be more comfortable leaving behind. Such as the servile attitude her cousin’s
superior attitude arose in her.
“ Oh Jesus! It was so wonderful to have our family together for the Passover! Wasn’t
it? Judas sounded so wise as the ‘The Good Son’ when he asked his question tonight, don’t
you think? “
There wasn’t
any reason to try and hide the sound of pride in her voice since it was just the two of them. Jesus looked so tired that she
wanted to comfort him but didn’t know how. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, a sigh caught between his lips He
couldn’t completely stifle. A thrill of peace ran through her ran through her as she began to formulate her adult view
of herself as this wonderful man’s sister. Seeing Deborah’s total absorption with her husband and children was
freeing somehow, in a paradoxical way because she could see for the first time that it was a purposeful choice, not an automatic
assumption. Foreshadowing the day her husband would be at the center of her life as they lived under her brother’s kindly
rule.
But when they neared the path which turned away from
the city gates toward the low mountain overlooking the walls of David’s city, He turned aside, allowing her to leave
with their mother, and it gave her a sharp ache that tore her into separate, uneven pieces, like pulling apart wool shorn
from a sheep, one to the right and the other to the left. She envied the old carpenter who would be allowed to remain with
Him tonight as He and His disciples made a place for themselves for the night on the low, broach hill. Once a good king of
Israel had to chop down the groves of trees desiccated to the worship of foreign gods of wood, stone and clay. Now the king
so long foretold by the
ancient
Voices speaking for their GOD was walking on those same slopes, and the day would come when He descended from the clouds and
the touch of His foot would break the mountain into two parts, with a river running through it. Just like her life now was
being broken into halves that she had to accept.
She tried not to look up when His
fingers pressed on her shoulder, drawing her to him. She moved unwillingly, angry with Him, and not having the means to excuse
herself or make allowances for H were walking out of her life for good because she was a woman, when there wasn’t anything
she could about it. His tenderness only made her emptier, aching more.
“ I wish I was dead! “ She sobbed; then admitting the valley of tears
locked inside her, she relented and clung to him for dear life.
“ I will never leave you. I will never be so busy I don’t have a heart
ready to listen. To your joys, to your concerns, to your praises, Little One. But when the sun always shines,
there’s a desert below. And the valleys and the mountain tops of your life are the good pleasure of your Heavenly Father,
as they are mine. But suffer the moment’s separation now, that our joy may be full when we are reunited, never to part
again. “
She found it difficult to repeat the words for her family as her hip bones ached from the pressure of being too long
on her side as she heard the scratchings of a bird’s feather across parchment, and her mouth was so dry her tongue cleaved
to the roof of her mouth. Tears trickled down the wrinkles of her cheeks and she was silent for so long the assembled members
of her family began to murmur between themselves, obviously trying to determine what part of her remarkable story to believe,
and she shut her heart against them. She HAD to finish telling the story, for herself, if not for them, because only now was
she hearing what had been said so long ago! When her daughter’s hands reached her before her voice, Ahava mistook
it for Deborah or Martha, until Bashemath
spoke, lifting her tenderly into her embrace and rubbing the reddened wattles of useless flesh as tenderly
as a mother does a sick child, and she wept again, for joy.
“
Each of us has a unique place in our Father’s heart, Fragrance. As you have in mine. “
She whispered softly, but it wasn’t until she felt the warmth of her injured daughter’s tears fall against
her shoulder as the middle aged woman gently rocked her that she understood how much a mind can hold intact even when the
surroundings are blurred.
“ I miss
Abba, too. “ Bashemath admitted, and the old woman was grateful that the people
around them found other things to do for a short while, for she couldn’t be sure when, if ever, this moment would ever
come again between her and her most treasured child. And for the first time, that long ago Passover night, and the three which
followed, culminating in the death and resurrection of her tender half-brother suddenly became a clear image of love, given
to a lesser mind, but foreshortening nothing of the compassion behind it!
The next day she began again, placed where she faced the noises of the busy city on the far side of the far wall, and
the children’s giggles and questions that annoyed the adults made her heart sing, and gave strength to her fading voice.
“ In my wildest dreams I never thought my own wife’s
sister would be a thief! “
Zaavan ben
Jehoiarib wailed, pulling at the freshly barbered and curled hair
locks that clustered around his face. Outwardly he had modeled himself into the image
of a pious and deeply observant man, but the moment he stopped
pacing he passed gas wetly. He no longer seemed like the man who had come to Joseph’s shop looking for a wife to held
him recoup his lost fortune, or the doting father they glimpsed on his yearly visits! He was an angry stranger whom they all
feared, despite his garish make-up and
the
weak-minded foolishness his vanity implied. The granulated incense hidden in the folds of his clothing
couldn’t mask the smell of fear mixed with his sweat.
“
It’s a week after Passover but already I am undone. Undone, I tell you! My wife’s brother’s
man actions have made Benjamin ben Adonijah the little pet lamb of the Sanhedrin! So abused by a mad man who thinks himself
Israel’s lost future king that…”
He seemed to lose
his train of thought when he noticed the grimacing woman wasn’t even honoring him by pretending to be listening! As
if to emphasize his chagrin he forced gas noisily and a secondary odor filled the room unpleasantly. He turned and glared
at glared at them lest anyone should be so foolish as to take notice of his plight. Bithynia bat Adbeel didn’t answer
immediately over the hard series of contractions. Gripping the damp cloth twisted in her hand. She sat panting under the tender
ministrations of the heavyset eunuch until the moment passed and she could force air back into her lungs. She forced a smile
for her son’s sake as they watched her with eyes so wide it took up most of their small faces.
“ I’m trying to have a child here. Would you mind lowering your voice, Heart of
my hearts, since I am not allowed to scream? “
“
It had better be the boy you promised me! “ He threatened darkly,
unaware of his betrayal until he saw his youngest sister-in-law’s face.
“
How dare you? “ He hissed, grapping her wig in his hand, profoundly
shocked when her hair came loose in his hand. He dropped it like a furry spider beside the shaven head bowed to hide the laughter
in her face. He reached to seize her throat but at the first damp touch a small bronze dagger shaped like jagged lightening
moved from her sleeved robe, cutting three small but bloody cuts on his arm like the flick of a serpent’s tongue.
“ You’ve killed me! “
She
spoke with infinite patience although her jaw was compressed against the intensifying pain escalating with imminent childbirth.
“ If I wanted to do that, my lord, you would be dead now not merely ruining
my expensive carpet with your blood. And
I certainly wouldn’t have done it in front of
a witness, would I? “ She challenged, her voice deepening
as the pain passed.
Abiasaph tried to hides his elation. Such candor could only mean the mistress
was through playing with the Fool and they would resume a more normal life, even if
it was in her magnificent palace in Lebanon. He could almost smell the sweetly salty and piney air with each deep breath.
“ What witness? Your sons? A carpenter’s brat? “
He raged. “ You! Go! Bring me Evi the Jebusite before I bleed to
death! “
No one moved until Abiasaph motioned,
then two of the smaller servants who resembled boys fled, leaving Bithynia bat Adbeel with her two small sons whom she tried
unsuccessfully to send away with their nurses as the overwhelming pain came nearer and nearer into one continuous wave of
excoriating pain.
“ I’ll kill you for this! “
He croaked in a whisper, tense with fear, as he watched the wet drip of blood between his fingers on his wrist. The
bronze dagger flicked again as he thrust his face bear hers and a second spout of blood appeared, more serious than the first.
Her face a mask of cold rage between grimaces of the pain he’d inflicted on her against her will.
“ I wished only for the cast off clothing from my niece! “
Ahava protested shrilly. Too late she realized she’d only succeeded in reminding them that she was still in the
room, a pillar grasped by both frightened boys, as if their lives depended upon it.
“
You don’t have to convince me, Little One. “
The
Egyptian woman said in a tender voice, stroking her hair to calm the girl’s tears. Zaavan ben Jehoiarib had fled from
the room while her woman servants drew nearer, to take their accustomed places. The midwife she kept for her harlots who chose
to give birth arrived in a small whirl of noise, scolding the boy’s nurses for allowing
them to remain so long, and dismissing Ahava as soon as she
saw her tears.
“ Find clothes, nice clothes. A few in a larger size, the girl will probably grow more.
Go! Send one of the men with the clothes as if it were a burden to be burned in the dump! “
Despite her pain she turned to comfort the crying girl who tried to remain.
“
It’s time. Take my boys with you, they trust you…. “
She was so still and so silent,
Ahava feared that she was dead, though her eyes were wide open. Till the one’s hand seized the sore arm where the soldier
had roughly left a bruise the week before.
“
My very soul pours out in longing when you tell me these stories about your brother Jesus! There is something unique
and wonderful about the man, Child. And there is so much more I want to know about him, but it’s my time. We’ll
talk later? Promise me that! “
“
I promise! “ Ahava agreed and she left in tears as the nurses
lifted their charges to their empty paps and whisked them away to another part of the house where they couldn’t follow.
Only the seven year old was tall enough to watch the diminishing figure as he was raced down the hallway as if in fear
for his life. As they burned a pinch of incense to Moloch to claim his mother’s protection through the difficulty of
birth, he thought about the tall man in the sunlight whom his mother called Jesus. It was dark when the angry man whom the
servants secretly claimed was his ‘real’ father roused him and his nursemaid from their bed. Seven-year-old Lemuel
ben Jesharelah remembered how the large, damp nipple fell against the lax skin of the old woman’s chest as he was pulled
from her arms by the furious man with bloody bandages on his wrist and neck. He was to know little else.
Lazarus
made them all welcome as the brothers gathered before they started down the mountain to resume their interrupted lives. They
were required to return in fifty days, in a celebration of the first harvest of barley, but there was no question by their
attitude they would not return until next year since they assumed Jesus would now ascend his throne, as they had been raised
to anticipate. Ahava hid the concerns she had for the two women she’d left behind when the massive city gates were closed
and barred from the inside. Bithynia bat Adbeel and her sister Deborah. It was just sinking in that she wouldn’t be
coming home with them to the house three streets over from their own, where it abutted directly into the hillside, terraced
with grapes she had lovingly planted and nurtured since her first year of marriage. The changes in her life were sinking home!
Mary was too busy and Martha was too intimidating. Though she wasn’t allowed to speak of her, she longed for Little
Mary, their youngest sister to still be here
so she could talk to her! Miriam would have understood. She’d promised to speak with Bithynia bat Adbeel
but when she tried to contact her she was told that she had packed up in the middle of the night, taken her two sons and her
three favorite servants and simply left. That ‘women are often moody after the birth and death of a child’
and that she ‘wished some time to be alone to grieve’”. She could hardly be so rude as to push in after
that, as Zaavan ben Jehoiarib counted on.
The tension between the brothers was so thick that finally even good-natured Lazarus was forced
to acknowledge and bow to it. But when they woke in the morning and found that James and Joses had risen early and taken their
younger brothers with them in a wave of migration returning to Nazareth, there was both logic and outrage in their actions.
Obviously they were assuming their mother would remain in Jerusalem with her two oldest children. The fortress their love
had always been crumbled like the rubble of Jericho’s walls, hemming her in and demanding that she scale it to find
her own freedom! As she busied herself in Martha’s spacious kitchen, She felt the warmth of her brother Simon’s
arms as he walked up from behind and put his arms around her and lowering his head to her ear.
“
Elisheba asked me to thank you. They brought so many clothes she had some
to share, and a few of the nicer ones to sell for bread and cheese. You have no idea
what a treat such commonplace things can be when you live on the run. “
Ahava
leaned her head back against his shoulder and found only his chest. She hadn’t been the only one growing this winter!
“ We just got him back after all summer and now we’re losing him again.
“ She said sadly, watching her brother’s head dip forward as he listened to his
cousin intently. Though there was only a matter of months difference in their ages.
“
Did you even hear what I said, Simon? “ She asked at his unusual
silence. Glancing around she was certain no one else was paying attention to their low conversation. She raised her hand over
her head and stroked his hair tenderly.
“ Yes,
but I don’t know how to answer. I’m fearful for her, without anyone to protect her. “
Simon stiffened at her shocked reaction. He reached up and took her
hand as gently as a lover then held unto it as he walked down the steep slope to look
up into her eyes.
“ You’re a man now, Simon. You have to do what your heart dictates.
“
“ Are you mocking me, Beloved? No! Please, forget I said that! “
He added quickly, seeing the tears rise up to her eyes.
“
No! Why would you even ask that? “
“
I…it’s just…you’re so different from other girls. You’re like mother, and a little
like father, but there’s something that’s so uniquely you, no one else would think
to say it. “ She laughed in
self-conscious pleasure.
“ I’ve never seen myself through somebody else’s eyes. I love and trust
you Simon, I just don’t understand a single word you said! “
“
You will. “ He promised, suddenly vague and distant from her as ever.
“ Remember them, some day you’ll understand. “
She
tried to curl her fingers to hold unto his but he pulled away with a greater strength, as if he half feared she knew the truth
and was mocking him.
“ I’m not sure if I can, Simon. “
She had to raise her voice slightly as he walked backwards toward the muddy
and reed covered edge of the river’s bend.
“
Then just remember that I love you and I always will. “
“
You sound like you’re saying goodbye! Really saying goodbye! “
He allowed silence to be his answer. When she became busy again in the front room he simply seemed to fade into the
wall and disappear from her view.
They were in the front room of Lazarus
and Martha’s main house when Deborah rushed in, her hair disheveled and her voice almost higher with fear than was intelligible!
“ He’s sending me back to Nazareth! But without my children! “
She screeched, catching Lazarus’ bare arm before he could pretend a crisis in the one of the birthing sheds and
flee her maternal anguish.
“ What am I going to do? I can’t leave without my children? “
She tried to run her fingers through her hair to ‘comb’ them back out of her face but they were too gnarled.
She’d run here without changing or taking the time to prepare her face or hair.
“
But how can you? “ Martha demanded in eminent practicality, earning
the
sorrowing woman’s appreciation
until she made it clear it was because her male kens men had begun the arduous journey hours before the gates were even opened.
“ What am I going to do without my children? “
“
You’re going to calm down and eat something. Your brother Jesus and his companions are still here, we’re
just waiting for him to return from his morning prayers. Then you’ll go with my sister and allow her to fix your hair!
Martha? “
If looks could kill, he wouldn’t
still be breathing! But she smiled graciously in ascent when the distracted woman’s attention chanced to turn her way.
“ When was the last time you ate, ‘Borah? “
She inquired as if it mattered.
“ I
don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t care! It was her
doing! That Egyptian witch! She did it to protect her own sons, what does she want to do keeping my daughters? The
terrible screams she gave last night, as if she were the only woman in creation to ever endure childbirth! “
The distraught woman gasped as she fell against
the nearest servant’s arms.. “ She turned
him against me with subtle-ness and flattery! My husband is a good man! He loves me! He wouldn’t
do this to me! It was her doing! I’m sure of it! “
“ Beloved? Go find your mother! “
Ahava nodded and had just bent to restrain the wiggling puppy when Mary raced her, twin spots of color on her cheeks.
‘She took a moment to herself and look what happened! It’s as if we’re punishing her for trying
to have a life of her own! ‘ Ahava thought in insights she couldn’t
identify.
Just
outside the door Ruth was leaning on her son’s arm as she started to walk away and there seemed to be a well-dressed
stranger looking over her shoulder, as if he had an interest in what was going on inside a house where he didn’t know
anyone. It
was such an odd feeling
that she straightened, holding Nimrod close to her chest, having forgotten what it was her hostess had just asked her to do
the moment before.
The Stranger in mortal form seemed to turn sideways and disappear into the moving
shadows under the barren Sycamore fig tree. She was looking for him so hard that she didn’t quite catch
the words her mother was saying toward her sister, but she turned back just in time to see the rage on Deborah’s face.
It shocked her to the core of her being. If there was such insane rage in her sister’s eyes, could it be a weakness
flowing through all of them through Mary’s blood? Herself? Jesus?
“
Yes, but it’s only a fraction of the goods he simply brought with him from Egypt! This trip!
Why can’t I just stay here? “
“
Why would you even want to stay near that woman? “
Mary protested in shocked amazement. “ Why would you be willing to shut yourself away there
while she’s living there? “
“
It’s her house, ‘Borah. “ Ahava said, not really
listening to the conversation.
She never saw the slap until she felt the sting of her sister’s open hand on her cheek!
Mary seized her older daughter’s hand, Martha’s advance preparations for the farewell dinner forgotten.
Deborah’s anger turned to fear as she saw the strange look on her mother’s face.
“
I wouldn’t treat an animal like that, `Borah! Apologize to your sister. Now! Or I’m leaving you!
“
Deborah complied, her gaze never leaving her mother’s face in a futile attempt to read what was locked in her
heart. The hurried words sounded sincere, while her sister continued to watch her mother, and she pretended to accept to turn
aside the glare of attention as Lazarus and his older sister walked in, drawn by the urgency and loudness of Deborah’s
voice. No actor pretending to be a woman in distress could have performed better than she, to Ahava’s secretive speculation.
Joses tried to disown her, and now she wondered how much of her sister she really ever had, since she already had Mattatha
when she was born?
She pulled back from her mother and sister’s line
of vision, fighting the feeling that she didn’t even know her sister any longer. Self-pity closed her off from the rest
of the conversation as Deborah elaborated on her tale of tragedy. It was as if they had traded places and Borah had become
the very image of the helpless child she so frequently
rebuked her for being when she asked for help!
“
Come home with us. It’s where you belong! Mattatha is certainly old enough to marry and she’s probably
delighted at being treated like a queen in her own home! You keep thinking of her as a little babe at your
paps! “
At her daughter’s continued resistance and tears, Mary grew stern. Taking a step back to allow Martha to hold
and comfort the sobbing woman as if she’d just heard that her beloved husband was dead and she could not be comforted.
She understood Deborah very well, but she’d always tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, hoping she would outgrow
her need for attention.
“ I warned you this day would come if you didn’t prepare yourself for it. “
It was the closest thing to an angry rebuke she’d ever heard her mother made, and
Ahava turned away slacked jawed, in fear of the day Mary would
be so cold to her. So much the instructress and so much less the comforting maternal figure they’d come to depend upon.
“ Where’s Rizpad? “ Mary demanded
out of her own fear and concern as she looked around at the watching faces and didn’t see the familiar broad face of
the toddler’s wet nurse
Deborah raised herself up with regal dignity and looked down on the country woman with red hands. .
“ He sold her too! “ She
replied, in a shocking kind of haughty justification. “ He sold all three
of my children as wives to rich old men he has business dealings with, Ima! “
The
people in the room were looking at the seated woman rather than her mother, who closed her hand, one over the other as she
sensed her daughter’s overlong stare. She spoke without rebuke but the words chilled the shy girl standing directly
behind her, more than the woman to whom they were addressed,
“ You fell in love with evil, and see what it’s brought us.
“
Mary said with genuine regret.
Deborah pulled away from her friend’s comfort so sharply that standing, she left several strands of long chestnut
hair trapped in Martha’s rings, but the pain on her face never altered. The brilliant gold loop at her left nostril
trembled at the sharp in and out of breath’s she took in shocked anger.
“
Ima! How could you say that? She seduced him! She’s the one who wants my
children out of the way of the
inheritance she seeks for her sons. “
“
They would have their inheritance if your girls were here or not, Borah. “
Martha protested, breaking between the harsh looks between the mother and the grown child. “ You’re
not making sense. ‘Selling them’ then isn’t the same as giving them in marriage. You aren’t giving
him his fair due, as little as I like the repulsive creature personally, he… “
“
Those are Zaavan’s sons! “ Deborah demanded,
in ultimate victory.
Mary’s hand trembled, and stilled.
“ If
you need me, I’ll be outside. “
Lazarus
said softly, too far away to be restrained by his older sister. Although his voice was low, it was heard clearly over the
shocked silence of the many women’s bodies. There was a kind of vicious satisfaction in the twenty-six year old woman’s
voice as she glared at her mother and the escaping man, ready to bring the focus back to herself and her genuine plight. Lazarus
couldn’t hide his shock and repugnance or his distaste as Deborah demanded he return with her to the city gates and
plead in her defense to the religious authorities and ‘wise, old men’ for the return of her daughters.
“ I know of the arrangements of which you speak. “ He interrupted,
clearly uncomfortable. “ The marriages were arranged leally. To remove an unweaned child from
its mother is unusual, yes. Bit she’s had a wet nurse since birth, who was allowed to accompany the child, and since
her future husband is only seven years old, it may well be a kindness to allow them to grow up together and learn to care
about one another? The only thing I can do, legally or morally, is to suggest that you calm yourself and return to your husband’s
house while I examine the matter on a personal basis,. And I give you my word Woman, I will not rest on the matter until I
am convinced of the children’s welfare! Mary is quite probably correct. Mattatha has made her availability for marriage
and restlessness extravagantly public, Naomi, I’m not so sure, she is such a private child. He probably thought to secure
the children’s future well being, Deborah! “
Deborah’s voice reached a fevered pitch even as she crumbled to the floor in tears, seizing his feet and wetting
them with her tears.
“ My children, my children! I want my babies back! “
He motioned for one of the women to pull her away. Resorting to stiff civility to protect himself against the pain
her tears and wails were costing him.
“ Children
are ours for but a brief season. To be raised in the fear and the admonition of the LORD, Blessed be His holy Name, then they
have a life of their own which they must be expected to lead. The marriages were legally arranged, I’m surprised that
your daughter didn’t tell you about it, she seemed so excited when I spoke to her. She made it very clear that
she approved of the man her father selected, despite the difference in their ages. The only real danger is that he’ll
spoil her with gifts and trinkets and letting her have her own way, more. “
Deborah
winced at the unexpected addition of the last word and she was silent as the serving woman helped her to her feet, only because
she was digesting the news that Mattatha had kept the impending separation a secret despite their recent nearness at Bithynia
bat Adbeel’s city mansion.
“ And I myself… “ He continued, ignoring his sister’s
motioning since he was certain he would help to end the woman’s pain. “ Have had numerous
business transactions with Sheik Jah’zerah ben Ehi. “
Martha
gave up in disgust, looking down at her hand and attempting to unravel the strands of what now appeared to be henna-stained
hair despite her younger friend’s protest she never used any.
“
He is observant, a full-blooded Jew, though he chooses to spend most of his time in the desert with his flocks. He’s
as rich as Job and as handsome as sin despite his silver beard. Don’t let that fool you! He will treat her and her children
as if they walked on the clouds rather than mortal earth. You have nothing to fear, I assure you! “
“ And you’ve never been a woman whose children were torn from her loving arms,
my lord! “ Deborah protested dramatically, then painfully raised herself
to one leg. “ You talk like you knew about this long before I told you about it? “
Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
“
Zaavan? “ The brother and sister said in union.
“ Exactly! “ Deborah agreed,
standing with an effort, then her face lost all its
color as she also saw him standing there.
Relief flooding her
yellowed cheeks with tears but he pulled back in distaste at her touch. Unlike her, he was well dressed and wore carefully
applied make-up that appeared to have been there for several hours although it was still near to first light.
‘He’s been up all night!‘ Ahava thought to herself in shock, feeling
a sudden lightening bolt of lust that took her nearly as much by surprise. She’d heard James and Joses talk about such
men, who slept during the day and did unspeakable things with wine and harlots at night, but she’d never thought she
would actually meet one! ‘But this is Zaavan, my brother-in-law!‘ She reminded
herself in such confusion that even her thoughts were silenced. He must have followed her here. Did he also time the loss
of her children to coincide with her older brother’s presence? To trap Jesus into their infernal morass?
The silence between them became intense. Deborah’s back straightened in anticipation and she was rigid with resentment
as the older woman stepped away from her as the heavyset man in ornate costume and make-up stepped nearer threatening.
“ Is this how you repay my kindness? My years of devotion to you despite your churlish
ways? Your inability to give me a male heir? You go behind my back and try to make my friends and business
associates into enemies? And you, Lazarus? How can you stand there and believe such
outright lies? “
“ I agreed to look after the welfare of the child, Zaavan.
“
The younger man said stiffly, without the usual pretense of pleasantness. It seemed to drive Zaavan into a colder rage,
though he never pretended to believe he was well liked in the noisy house in Bethany.
“
And what about you, Jesus? “ He mouthed profanely.
Ahava looked up in shock, not even sensing her eldest brother’s quiet addition to the tumult. She broke free
of the cook’s warning clutch and ran to him, throwing herself against him bodily in tears she could no longer deny.
Her world had just been shattered and she didn’t know who else to trust! Shielding her with his work hardened forearm,
he used his voice like a chisel to break away the deceit from the truth. She clung to him all the tighter hearing the anger
in his voice. Even meek and gentle Jesus was changing before her very eyes, though he’d never been one to stand
by idly and watch injustice! That’s why he defended Bakky against the bullies so often when she and Tizah the prostitute’s
simple-minded son were growing up together.
“
I’m not a judge in matters between a husband and a wife, but if my sister asks for my help, I will naturally
do all I can to heal this hurt and restore what is rightfully yours together. “
Deborah snorted so hard in contempt, her gold nose ring dislodged and she bowed to catch it before it could fall under
so many careless feet. Thinking she was honoring the softly spoken man, Zaavan’s kohl outlined eyes narrowed and he
turned toward the remainder of the sunlight beside Jesus at the open doorway.
“
Where are you going? “
Deborah’s
actions betrayed her sudden uncertainty and she stopped short when the shorter, pudgy man whirled and turned on her with unexpected
agility.
“ Why with you, of course, adonai. “
She stammered, afraid to look away from him for support from her mother.
“
No, you aren’t, Deborah bat Joses Not now, not ever! I divorce you! I divorce you! I divorce you! “
He said three times in cold formality, breaking their tie as surely as her death.
“
You can’t do that! “ She protested in agonized disbelief.
“ I can, and I just did. I am a man. I’ve seen to the fulfillment of my moral
obligations to the “get” between you and me, and I will not have a conniving, deceitful woman at my side, betraying
me and making my friends into enemies! “
He
glared at the gentle man from Galilee until Jesus stepped back, gently pulling his little sister with him. Then Zaavan stood
in the doorway, casting his shadow back against the room filled with stunned people as the new sun rose above the line of
the mountain.
“ Not even for the shadow of a throne! “
He said ominously.
Jesus met his direct gaze and never wavered. It was the obese man who crumbled and lowered his head, watching at the
worrisome efforts to play with his Roman style laces but fearing to kick at the meddlesome puppy with its fiercely loyal young
mistress so near.
“ Where am I going to stay? “
“
Here with us. At first. “
Martha
said politely, ignoring her younger brother’s widened eyes and hasty head shaking behind the disheveled woman’s
back.
“ You’re coming home with us to your own house. “
Mary said firmly. Her lips pressed close together in shock and dismay.
This
time, Deborah chose not to argue but she had a difficult time hiding her disappointment when she realized the overweight man
had taken back all of the servants, the goods and even the donkeys burdened with their heavy loads. She fled, sobbing so loudly
that Martha discretely advised her servants to wait before they made any real attempt to find her.
“ I have business down in Jericho, if you could wait one more day, Jesus?
“
Lazarus said
but Martha was quick to hear and she snapped off a bitter quip before Ahava or Mary could think to object, implying he’d
have to ask Deborah bat Joses before he made any business plans for the next few days.
Joseph’s sons left during the night without alerting anyone. Perhaps in quilt that they would break the Sabbath
command if they walked further than half a day’s distance down the steep mountain, or perhaps because they couldn’t
face their mother’s eyes in telling her first that weren’t prepared to follow her lead any longer? Hilkiah couldn’t
say for sure and he could feel his wife’s angry desire to find some way to bring up the forbidden topic.
Hilkiah gave Judith permission to take their children and his sister to stay with friends in Bethphage for the Sabbath,
until they were ready to leave. It had been a trying time, and all he’d heard from them was excitement at this unexpected
inauguration of the Master’s public identification of himself, and though he was so proud of them and their willingness
to absorb even the rather unorthodox manner of its announcement at the temple a few days ago, he wanted to use this rare peaceful
moment to go outside in the dark and use the necessity of burning the remainder of the uneaten meal as a time for private
reflection and thought. The stars pressed near. The servants of this house were aliens who worshiped their Egyptian gods in
secret, and it made him uncomfortable to
be
any place that Jesus’ footsteps hadn’t sanctified by his passage. It was the way of the world. The same way his
wife and baby sister influenced their children and sons-in-law to follow his lead, and he had to answer some penetrating questions
in his own mind to
be worthy of the calling
he had impulsively seized in his own hands as an untried
thirteen-year-old shepherd boy.
Oddly, after all these years with
Joseph, and then Jesus in Nazareth, it was easier to think of himself as a man dealing with wood and sharp metal tools rather
than a boy with a sling shot and a stout staff, although he well remembered Jezreel’s proud smile at him the night he
gave it to him and sent him out with the family dogs for the first time. Asa was old enough to have his own flock then, so
he’d gone out, shorter than the staff his father had lovingly carved for him.
“
From one of the few trees the Romans haven’t chopped down to make their damnable cross to break our people’s
spirit. “ His father’s voice echoed, as real as if he were saying it for
the first time.
‘But Abba... ‘ He reasoned in his own mind.
‘The Holy One Who never slumbers nor sleeps in His loving watch over His people Israel, heard and answered you!
That very night! ‘ He protested.
Hearing
the carpenter’s words echo the same theme of the angelic beings who had filled the night sky as if it were day, Jezreel
had cried out in despair.
“ But if the Holy One is to give us this gift of freedom and peace on earth on men who are
of a good will to Him, then what gift have I to give our new king in return? “
“ Why do you fight not to see? “
He questioned, watching his breath rise with the smell of the burning bones, meat and hide of the sacrificed lamb.
As if to interrupt his thoughts when he’d finally begun to make sense of them, there had been a loud and ugly commotion
between a rich man and his servants and Bithynia bat Adbeel’s old gatekeeper, who knew how mentally unstable their new
‘master’ truly was, and Hilkiah had eagerly led the learned man to his clandestine night meeting with the new
king. This was faster action that he had even hoped to dare to dream or expect! For the first time since he came to this mountain
top with Joseph and his newborn son, the old carpenter ached to simply walk down the hill and return to his father’s
house before they all broke his heart! But the thought of facing Sari, his brother Asa’s widow, and her ‘I
told you so!’ was more than he could bear.
-
End Chapter 8
Abib: March/April [7th month of Civil year][1st month of Religious calendar] Warming
weather, Pulling
