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Tuesday, 20th of Ethanim
First watch of the day
3789
Temple Mount
Jerusalem
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According to the word spoken by the Almighty the sides and door frames of last year’s booths were assembled along
the ridge of the hill overlooking the house, to make room enough for the families of the servants and slaves of the household
to share in intimate circles closing the year of work and struggle with its satisfying conclusion and to initiate the newest
generations into the growing family circle. Although the materials had been gathered and stacked under the newly cleaned lambing
pen roofs actual construction of the bright and colorful, roofless ‘houses’ didn’t begin until the day after
Yom ha-Zikkaron. This year the rains seemed
to be as far removed as the east from the west, but that could change in a matter of hours as the weather moved the clouds
around between mountain tops along the curved strip of land where it nestled between the Euphrates and the Great Sea.
The sukkah had to be a temporary structure, not a permanent one, but it had to be
study enough to bear daily use and the occasional drenching rains from the early start of the rainy season. Decorated with
the abundance of the last harvest and the joy hat followed swiftly on the heels of the somber introspection demanded by the
holiestday on their calendar, they were ringed with
children’s laughter and the sound of families. The best and the loveliest of their possessions were carried out for
daily use, symbolizing the relaxation from hard labors and the hope for a harvest and awareness
of the Creator who had sustained them for another year, but tradition held the final accounting of lives lived wouldn’t
be completed until the seventh day, Hoshana Rabbeth, with the striking of the Willow branches near the alter, symbolizing the rejection
of all past sins, when the Books of life would be sealed for another year, granting another year to those who received a writ
of clean living from the Heavenlies.
Frustrated in their attempt to arrest Jesus publicly and end his growing popularity, a plan was devised to exploit
his tender regard for women, unlike so many of his elders. The first thing Hilkiah heard was the extraordinary commotion of
men’s voices and a woman’s screams. She was being dragged into the center courtyard, her clothes torn and disheveled
her hair falling into her eyes as they hissed and spat at her, throwing her in a sobbing heap at Jesus’ feet. He felt his heart shrink and shrivel even before he recognized her as Machba`nel
ben Abishalom, in uniform and on duty, rushed down the stairs with horror etched on his face. It was his younger sister! The
woman Jesus had privately healed of blindness, who’d continued her sinful ways with her sodomite husband’s permission!
Au unrepentant woman, caught in the act of adultery, though this early in the morning he suspected she’d been set up
as a trap for the gentle teacher! He dare not spare her life without forfeiting His own! How could the
Chosen One of Yahweh condone sin? Hate rose up in the gentle carpenter’s
heart, but he was as helpless as the soldier who had to stand and watch his own sister be condemned!
“
Now, the Law... of Moses... “ He stressed in cunning
delight, thinking of how he would repeat these words for an awed audience several more times before the holiday was over,
as they celebrated their freedom from this irksome youth. “ Commands us
that such a one as this be stoned! “
He drew himself to his
fullest height, avoiding the desire to glance around for fear of being perceived as being vain since he knew he was the center
of attention even without looking.
“ But...What do you say? “
He silently delighted in the shocked gasp as the entire crowd became so silent that even the sob sobs of the broken
woman laying face down on the stones and dirt could be heard over the strengthening sounds of the bird songs.
“
At this hour of the day? “ An old man’s
voice quaked, but no one responded, even to shush him, for fear they’d miss something.
As a merchant
of wools and woven goods he knew whoever spoke first after a deal was pitched would be the one to lose, so he allowed himself
the small satisfaction of a smile and he folded his arms across his broad chest, ready to wait for as long as it took the
iterant preacher to speak.
Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. And when they persisted in asking him, he straightened
up and said to them, “ He who is without sin, let him be the first to throw
a stone at her. “
And
again he stooped down, and looking down at the ground, again wrote on it. And when they heard it, they began to go out, one
by one, beginning with the older ones, and he was left alone, with the woman, in the midst of where she had been in their
midst.
Eventually Claudia bat Ezra looked
up, still sobbing uncontrollably, as horror gave way to the sinking realization that she had someone escaped a fate she had
no right to avoid! Her eyes, already darkened with befouled make-up and a massive purpling bruise where the lead man’s
fist had caught her just as she started to wake and rise at the pain of the burning tar of the torches being thrust into the
cloistered room, sought out the men watching from a distance. But she saw no pity there, no desire to do anything but heap
further scorn on her. There was no way she could return to Rueben and Evi’s house now, Evi would kill her. She’d
served out any useful purpose for them or he would never have allowed Rueben to betray her publicly like this when he’d
known about Bethuel ben Tivah for months! All he’d ever said was ‘be discrete’, and she
had been! For fear of his father Shahsak. The only one even willing to look in her direction was the Nazarene she’d
mocked so often when the wine went to her head and released her anger with high pitched laughter all Rueben’s friends
encouraged and admired. But where were they now?
Straightening
up, Jesus said to her:
“ Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you? “
She felt the callous
hard work had put on his hand as he reached down and helped her to her feet. She clung to them until her legs could stop shaking
enough to support her. Glancing around nervously at the pious Jews who were gathered in clumps along the pavement where she
was forbidden to stand a s mere woman. But none of them seemed to have any further interest in her. She thought of running
toward the court of women but she saw people there she knew from Capernaum, especially the prophet’s sister and she
was too ashamed to face them now.
“ No one, Sir. “
“
Neither do I condemn you, go your way. From now on sin no more! “
Claudia wanted to kiss the hands that held hers as he pulled back, but she felt too ashamed, too used. With a sharp
cry she fled.
Jesus therefore turned to the people who were listening despite the approach of a unformed Roman officer of high rank.
“
I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. “
“ You
are bearing witness of yourself! Your witness is not true! “ Raamah objected,
since the others with him mumbled but refused to speak out and cause a disturbance with a Roman official so near. Raamah ben
Tola recognized him however, and continued to dispute to try to win over some of the questioning frowns he saw encircling
the healthy young man.
“
Even if I bear witness of Myself, my witness is true, for I know where I come from, and where I am going, but you do
not know where I am from, or where I’m going.“
He
paused waiting for a rebuttal, but Raamah kept his back turned, dismissing the fervent rebuttal, as if he had more important
things to mutter to the influential men behind him. One or two of the onlookers left with nervous glances at the dumbfounded
solider and the nearby temple guard watching with such attention.
“
You people judge according to the flesh. I am not judging anyone. But if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am
not alone in it, but I and He who sent me. Even in your law it is written, that the testimony of two men is true. I am He
who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent
Me bears witness of Me. “
“ Where is your father? “
“
You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also. “
With these words He left the treasury, and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.
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When He found a seat by the treasury, Jesus began teaching those who gathered expectedly in a tight semicircle around
His feet. Looking up at them unflinching, Jesus paused in His teaching to speak directly to the well-dressed men.
“ I go away, and you shall seek Me, and you shall die in your sin; where I am
going, you can not come. “ And those who were Jews but didn’t believe in
Him because of the hardness of their hearts to many good deeds and His faithful preaching of the coming kingdom were saying
between themselves, “ Surely he’s not going to kill himself, is he? Since he says ‘
Where I am going, you can not come.’ “
Since they
were meticulous in the keeping of the restrictions on the Law, given by GOD to Moses on Mount Sinai, they had no sense of the sins of which he accused them.
“ You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this
world. I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins. “
“
Who are you? “
“
What have I said to you from the beginning? “
As a group, even the speaker
turned and looked directly at Raamah ben Tola, who had been holding himself back from the forefront, the better to watch for
some look or action that would carry weight in accusation against the young man he remembered from the Temple steps.
Jesus spoke over the lengthening silence.
“ I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you; but He who sent
Me is true and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world. “ Again there was the weight of eyes on him, on the expensively dressed temple priest
who was beginning to breathe heavily in anger, like a woman beginning serious labor.
“ When you lift up the Son of man, then you will know that I am HE
and I do nothing of My own initiative, but I speak those things as the Father taught Me. And He who sent me is with Me. He
hath not left Me alone, but I always do those things that arepleasing to Him. “
And as He spoke these words, many came to believe in Him. Jesus turned and spoke specifically to those of the
Jews who believed in Him, both new and old. There was a gentleness and a longing in His voice that they might have wished
in their father’s voices instead of the sting of the whip they remembered, even as adults.
“
If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set
you free. “
Raamah
could be silent no longer, seeing an opening too astounding to pass by. He roughly pushed his way around a hulking man with
a worn tallit over his shoulders, a
prize left to him by his recently departed father, and pushed his face directly in front of the self effacing speaker.
“
We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is that you say ‘You shall become
free’? “ He
sputtered in helpless rage.
Machba`nel, still in uniform, bared his teeth in a wicked smile and one or two of the lesser souls skirted away from
the end of the growing crowd.
“ Bemet! Of a truth I tell you and do not lie! Everyone
who commits sin becomes the slave of sin!
Once again the mild mannered Nazarene grasp the crux of the ethereal concept
they might have debated on for hours, and laid it bare; so simple a child might understand it, and they were grateful for
his tact, not completely understanding everything except the tone and the resistance of their better educated leaders.
Who else would dare to answer back to a temple priest so near the Temple itself?
He seemed to be looking
at the dried blood from the scratches on the shorter man’s arm from where they’d found Claudia and Judah the oldest
son of Shashak ben Meshelemiah, just as her husband said. It had been necessary to assure themselves of a timely subject to
publicly throw at his feet before there were sufficient spectators to save the popular speaker. When Jesus leaned forward,
he lowered His voice, and yet it was heard more distinctly than a shout.
“ And a slave does not stay in the house forever; the son does stay
forever. “
Then He raised back to His fullest height, looking back at the faces that strained to hear him, a visible connection
forming in their eager to hear and understand.
“ If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. “
A spontaneous
roar went up and a place formed naturally to allow Him to move to a more
comfortable position.
“
I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill Me; because My Word has no place in you. “
Raamah would have taken a step
backward, but a familiar bearded face was standing directly behind him, smiling in gap-toothed delight at his obvious discomfort.
A disgruntled servant fired by himself or his father-in-law? He knew he
should remember the face, but he couldn’t. Not could he devoted even one extra second to remembering
“
I speak the things I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things of your father.
“
And they answered Him, “Abraham is our father!“, in stubborn rebuttal
“ If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham! But,
as it is, you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from GOD. This Abraham
did not do! You are doing the works of your father. “
They said
to Him, “We were never born of fornication! We have one father, and that GOD! “
As Hilkiah watched
in awe, Jesus said to them, “ If GOD were your Father, you would love Me, for
I have proceed forth and come from GOD; for I did not come on My own initiative, but He sent me. Why do you not comprehend
what I’m saying? It is because you can not hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires
of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not speak in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever
he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you
don’t believe Me!
“ Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak the truth, then why won’t
you believe me? He who is of GOD hears the words of GOD! For this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of GOD!
“
There was a tumult of agreement and disclaimer. As the man with the foolish grin side stepped from him, bowing low in mock humility, Raamah could endure no more!
“
Do we not rightly sat that you are a Samaritan; and have a demon? “
Jesus’ face
became stern and he approached the unhappy man who was feeling vainly for
the small leather pouch of gold coins that Zaavan had just given him for safe keeping. His fingers found the neat slit through
his two outer garments and the knot tied to his inner belt, which now held only two, neatly trimmed strips, but he didn’t
dare take his eyes off the approaching man. His spirit secretly bearing a greater weigh knowing the voracity of the softly
spoken words than even the weigh of the coins he’d hung in two pouches to mimic oversized genital should someone simply
brush past him in a crowd!
“ I don’t have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor me!
“
Great tears welled to the short priests eyes, but they were of humiliation and loss.
“
But I do not seek My glory. There is GOD who both seeks and judges! “
For
an instant, the irate man couldn’t hear. Not his own heartbeat, not the in and out of his breath that he could feel,
even the shouts and the voices of the spectators and merchants and the caravan drivers who resented any obstruction from the
streets below ceased and all he heard was the wind, and he stood poised, waiting, but for what he didn’t know. In that instant he forgot the fool and the loss of his gold. Jesus turned to where
He could face His accusers and also the people who believed in Him, or merely cared enough to question and hear the dispute
to its logical conclusion.
“
Bemet! Of a truth I tell you and I do not lie. If anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death!
“
Raamah was in sudden ecstasy! Here at last was the thing he was looking for!
“ Now we know that you have a demon! “
At the moment of his greatest humiliation, his greatest victory!
“
Abraham died! And the prophets died! And You say, ‘ If anyone keeps My word, he shall never see
death!’ Are you then greater than our father Abraham, who died? “
Hilkiah felt his palms grow moist
and then cold with sweat. He just remembered the
face of the man who had confronted him so many months ago when Ahava was still a little girl and they had come for the first Passover of Jesus’ ministry! He looked over the
other’s heads for the red haired giant, in case they had to fight their way out of the increasingly bitter dispute!
“
The prophets died too! “
‘With a little help from the stones thrown at them by men as irate as you, Little Man.‘
Hilkiah thought to himself, trying to make eye contact with the Roman soldier from Capernaum, who had walked to
his middle-aged son’s side quietly. Belatedly he noticed the gradual tightening of a nose of armed, too casual soldiers
gathering on the perimeter of the tense confrontation.
Jesus answered in a soft voice that yet reached from wall to wall in the narrowing space available by the quadroons
of soldiers converging from the sides of the Courtyard walls. A child cried somewhere near-by, silenced so abruptly, his compassionate
heart made him look up to see if it was alright. Its mother’s hand was firmly clasped over the child’s mouth and
they were both looking in their direction with wide and staring eyes!
“ If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. It is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom
you said ‘He is our GOD’, and you have not come to know Him. But I know Him. And if I say that I do not know Him,
I shall be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and keep His word.
“
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad. “Raamah ben Tola snorted in contempt, having spoken with Av’ri from Nazareth
in depth these last seventeen months!
“ You
are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? “
He spat contemptuously at the Nazarene’s dusty feet.
Jesus answered with equinity, “ Truly, truly I say to you!
Before Abraham was born, I am! “
At the soft but definitive injunction demanding belief, Raamah threw himself at the quiet spoken man, while others
picked up stones left about over the last few days in preparation for this inevitability; whether he attacked the animal drovers
and money-changers or not! And Jesus left as quietly as he arrived, leaving several stunned souls on the brink of discovery
or disbelief, including the two Romans being watched carefully by the four ‘lounging’ squads of four soldier’s each. The crowd broke up of its own accord and
they were only to happy to escape the heat and the angry stares they dared not retaliate against so publicly.
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At the edge
of the Temple gate, Claudia ran into a beautiful young woman who threw a cape over her shoulders to cover the near nakedness
that now shamed her.
“
I can’t pay you! I have no place to go! My baby! “
“ One
thing at a time, Claudia. First, let me get you home. Then we’ll get you dressed and fed. Zaavan can help us get your
daughter. Rueben owes him many favors! “
“ I know you, don’t I? “
“
My name is Naara, yes, we’ve met! But come! They’re already on their way here, I’m
sure! “
Seizing
the young woman’s arm with one hand and holding the cloak shut with the other, she ducked her head and followed blindly,
not even caring to watch which street they took. She already knew the truth, no matter how hard she tried to deny it. Rueben
would never give up the baby daughter he loved so well! She was already dead to both of them!
“
He should have let them kill me! “ She sobbed, suddenly pulling back, but a handsome man with
shining teeth grapped her arm as she struggled to escape the beautiful young woman, and wrapped inside his manly arms she
surrendered her will. Men were stronger; they always got what they wanted.
Judas Iscariot pretended not to enjoy the press of the woman’s soft breast against his arm, but Naara was too preoccupied
looking back over her shoulder to notice the look of lust in the older man’s eyes.
‘ If only the bag of money hanging
from my thigh were my own!‘ He thought in rare humility. ‘I could
buy her the kinds of things she was accustomed too, and win her love for myself!‘
He
was a rich man’s son, one of the few educated and valued men the Master had sought out as his own, a dear friend he
turned too time and time again. Judas knew these things to be true! Just as he knew he deserved so much more than they were
willing to give to him!
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Though disappointed on the one hand, the Stranger in mortal form found reason to smile as he listened to and played
with the inner dialogue of the haunting handsome young man. Some things were becoming so easy they were boring, event he screams
following the shock of revelation did nothing to move him, but this time his mind was sealed upon the ultimate goal, standing
in triumph over the lifeless body of the Son of the Most High, and this insignificant trash of corruptible flesh was his key.
He would use it well;
he would use it wisely, until he had no further use for it at all
He turned sharply at the sound of tramping feet, but there was no one there. When he looked up again, the city street was empty and a stinging wind
was pitting the surface of the stones. He left. This place was too small to contain the force of his rage!
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“ Claudia? Come with me, please. To dress and rest at least. I know the
pain you feel in the loss of your daughter. ..I… “ She asked low
in Greek, trusting the woman would understand.
She felt
the woman lean against her trustingly, attempting to comfort her but having begun to speak of it to another
Naara couldn’t stop herself. “ My younger sister was dragged from my arms,
raped and murdered before my eyes and I could do nothing to help her….I…Perhaps, together, we can help one another
to learn to forgive. “
“
Oh, dear heart. I never guessed! “
Naara forced a smile on her face but it didn’t stop the tears, matching the younger woman’s own.
“ But you’re so beautiful, my lady! How could such terrible things happen to you?
“
“
I was wondering the same thing about you. “ Naara said with a smile, having
to force out any words at all.
Impulsively,
Claudia reached past her fear and trusted the woman of Alexandria.
“
As soon as you’re settled, we’ll send word to your mother and brother. “
“ No please,
let me be dead to them, I’m too ashamed! “
“ When you’ve
rested, Sissy. We’ll go to see the Master. “
“ He spared, why?
“ Claudia sobbed, as her feet shuffled of their own accord. Her hair, unbound and catching
on the edges of the sticks borne by patient donkeys through the narrow streets toward the Pratorium.
“ Do
you even have to ask? “ Naara said to reassure her.
“ Bethuel,
Bethuel, where are you? I need you! “ The disheveled woman sobbed, her words and her fists hitting
her loosely bound chest, but they spoke not another word to each other until they were safely in the modest house where Naara
led her.
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End
Chapter 34
