Noadiah

Chapter 7

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Josh asked his parents to ‘get the girl’ for him. The parents of both were happy enough and it certainly wasn’t a surprise to them. The parents also got to know each other. Although from different tribes, they had a commonality in belonging to the very few of Israel who had come ‘home’ from the diaspora. Both sets of parents had been born in Judea, so had not faced the temptation to remain in Persia, although their parents had. They agreed on an engagement period in which bride and groom would remain wholly faithful to each other. Wedding plans were made and although Josh’s family could afford a rather lavish affair, both Josh and Di asked for something simpler.

They mused on their commitment. Josh dreamed of romancing his bride with words and song. He wasn’t a musician, but he felt he wasn’t a half bad poet. He reckoned he could do a better job of describing the perfect wife than Lemuel had done. He smiled at his days of wanting a harem. Not now. What made Di different? Yes, he’d wanted an attractive wife and she was that. Her eyes – he loved the depth there. Hadn’t one of the Akkadian poets call eyes ‘the windows of the soul’? How right he was. But more. He hadn’t defined it, but he realised that her intelligence was a call to him. But more. What girl would have the passion to serve Adonai that she had? How desperate he was to share that with her. Poor old ‘preacher’ he thought, couldn’t find one decent woman in a thousand and now Josh had his one.

Di knew Josh was a good man, and she felt she genuinely loved him and wanted to be with him. But…was there some hesitancy? Why? She couldn’t think of anything better that to share Adonai with her husband. So, why was there something missing. Her mother. The mother, who had so painstakingly tutored her to self-reliance – how would she feel about the marriage? Her daughter now on the same old female path?

After the customary yearlong engagement, they married in a modest ceremony, with enough good food and wine to gladden the heart of any man. The old custom of a ‘bride price’ had disappeared in the diaspora. They had adopted social customs of the Babylonians and Persians and the only ‘gift’ now given to the bride’s family was to care for and protect her. As Josh’s family were relatively wealthy, the bride’s parents were satisfied.

She was eighteen and he was twenty-six. Only Di’s mother seemed to have a far away look in her eyes. Di noticed.

The next morning, Di told Josh she’d like to visit her mum for a bit.

‘Wow,’ Josh said ‘You’re going home to your parents already. Was I that bad?’

She laughed. ‘This is my home now – but I need to see mum.’

She found her mother still packing up ‘stuff’ from the wedding. Di took her aside.

‘I know how you feel mum. After all you’ve done for me. Now look at me – married and kids in line. But I have much to tell you.’ And with that she told her mother all that had happened. Of her dreams, of Josh’s contact with the Samaritans and his dreams which started at Gerizim and continued. Josh the Malak of Adonai and her Malachi. She told her mother of her dreams to still be a prophet, but at least she could be a prophet’s wife.

‘Yes Di, but if Josh is your Malachi, he is your messenger which means you are the one to instruct him. He carries your message.’ Di hadn’t thought of it like that.

Di’s dreams did return and became more frequent. Angry men shouting and Josh by her side. But something was curious. She was the main object of their hatred. Why? If she was just the prophet’s wife, why not direct the attack to the prophet? She didn’t understand. Perhaps she was the one with the message, and Josh was ‘the mouthpiece’, the messenger.

Over dinner one night, after a day of olive oil business, they discussed the prophet ‘business’.

‘Sometimes,’ Josh said, ‘the prophets seem to be given a clear instruction. Go to Ahab and tell him it will no longer rain on the land. Other times they seem to recite an oracle or a proverb against some nation. Take up this proverb against the King of Tyre. Or this is the word of Adonai… . Clearly from Adonai. But, on other occasions, they seem to pronounce blessings or curses from their own sense of what is good and right. Hanani the seer came to Asa to condemn him. Of his own volition? No mention of Adonai instructing him. I wonder…do we just get a soap box and stand up in the market and warn or instruct the people? They do so many things that betray true worship. They offer diseased and lame animals for sacrifice when the Torah asks for animals without blemish. They screw the poor to make more money and get fat and rich. There is so much to warn the people of.

So it happened, that before the Temple or the synagogue on Shabbat, Joshua and Noadiah would call to the people to repent. Be honest to Adonai. Give the best of your flock, love the poor and do not deceive your neighbour. Do not exact interest from those who had to borrow to survive. Josh took on the name of my messenger, Malachi. They echoed the words of Haggai and Zechariah in their call to repentance. The people seemed to pay them little heed.

‘Don’t you recall the words of Haggai and Zechariah’? they said. ‘They told you to love Adonai, be honest and be merciful to the poor and weak.’

The crowd would snarl back.

‘We don’t even know what Zechariah was talking about….all the stuff about myrtle trees, gold bowls, girls in measuring bins…what was all that supposed to mean.’

‘What did a woman ever represent in Tanakh?’ Di said. ‘Every symbolic woman in Tanakh is Israel and Judah. She was taken to Adonai as a virgin bride at Sinai, but she became a harlot. She has been measured in the measuring bin just as Belshazzar was measured and judged before Daniel. She has gone back to Babylon. You have despised your inheritance and have become Babylon of the nations’.

They screamed at her. Screaming hatred.

She felt compelled to continue. ‘Just as Zechariah called you Babylon, so the great prophet Ezekiel called you Sodom. You have exceeded the sins of Sodom.’

‘We’re not homosexuals.’ They screamed back. ‘We are pure. We don’t have sex with men!’

‘Read the prophet!’ she said. ‘The sin of Sodom was pride, and rejection of the needs of the poor.’ And so, the debate would go.

It was the time of the early rain and the farmers were delighted to see the rain water the crops. Wheat, spelt, barley and the fruit trees greened before their eyes. The dust joyously absorbed the water to renew the promise of rebirth. Soil become mud. Fig trees budded, spelt sprouted. But there came strange tiding from Jerusalem. Ezra, the leader of the people had been told of some bad behaviour and practices of ‘his’ people. Seems he was in a fowl mood. From what the people said, Ezra had torn his clothes and then clothed himself in hessian rags. He had come with letters from Artaxerxes to take on the role of instructor of the people of Judah. But now, he seemed to be in mourning. It was said that he had spent days in prayer, in supplication for some great trespass.

Josh and Di decided to travel to Jerusalem to see what was up. When they arrived, they found a great crowd of people, waiting at the Temple. It was whispered that Shekaniah4 Ben Jehiel had taken Ezra to the house of Johanan5 Ben Eliashib where he refused to eat or drink. A huge crown had gathered. While they were standing there, a spokesman came out and demanded that all the exiles must assemble in Jerusalem and if they didn’t their land would be confiscated and they themselves would be excommunicated. Outcasts.

‘They can’t do that!’ Di said. ‘That’s unlawful. Nothing can take the ancestral lands from a clan.’

‘And I fear that excommunication is just the start. It is a way of commanding subservience. Once you are out, you become a pariah. No work, no food.’ Josh said. ‘And totally illegal.’

The rain had set in. In three days’ time all the heads of the clans assembled at Jerusalem. They stood in the rain. They looked a sorry bedraggled crowd.

Josh had an oiled skin to serve as a waterproof covering. They both huddled under it. Those around were getting pretty distressed as the rain was pouring down on them. Then Ezra, the man himself, stepped up, and demanded that they pay attention to him. He said that he had learned that many of the people, Levites and even priests, had taken goyim wives of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites peoples. And now, he demanded that they divorce their foreign wives and send them away with the ‘half-caste’ children. He even referred to the people of Judah and Benjamin as ‘the holy people’.

‘I don’t believe what I am hearing’ Di said. She abandoned the oil skin and leaped up onto a donkey cart which was nearby and called out as loud as she could.

The Message - Days of Ezra book

“Don’t listen to this. Where, in the Torah, does it ever say to divorce? Even goyim? Never. Adonai hates divorce. Bring them with us. Teach them of Adonai and they will come to him. And your little ones, if you do this they will be lost. Don’t do this!’

Someone called out ‘Abraham booted out his Egyptian wife and their child!’

‘Yes, at the instruction of Adonai, and He cared for them and promised them an inheritance too. Your goyim wives will follow your instruction. They will follow the lead of the head of the house. Bring them to Adonai. But bring them to Him first.’

Di’s rain-soaked black hair stuck to her face.

‘We don’t want the holy seed polluted with goyim’ they cried out.

Di almost screamed out: ‘Adonai can make ‘holy people’ from the stones by the roadside if He wants. It means nothing! Elisha washed the uncleanness from Naaman and sent him back to Syria as a servant of Adonai. Elijah was attended by a Phoenician and he saved her child. The Canaanite Rahab became the ancestor of the great king David. Adonai hates divorce!’

The crowd screamed at her. She could hardly believe what she saw. One minute they were apathetic, lethargic, and suddenly they were so zealous to do harm to the innocents. They had certainly regained all their passion, but for all the wrong reasons. The crowd screamed at her. Suddenly she felt a calmness overcome her. Her dream. The hate filled men. She raised her head and said ‘hear the word of Adonai: be careful what you do. Adonai demands mercy not ritual, mercy not bloodlines. Adonai hates divorce.’ She turned to Josh ‘I received the message Josh. I am a prophet.’

There was a movement in the crowd as four men moved forward.  Jonathan6 Ben Asahel, Jahaziah Ben Tikvah, Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, stood by her. Their voices were lost in the madness of the crowd but they stood firm. Others came to their side. Gentle folk who understood the message. Still others who confided to her that they too had received a message. Prophets. But something else. Di had long left the cover of the oilskin behind, and there in front of her, rain soaked and bedraggled stood a group of little girls. Wonderment in their eyes. Di felt fulfilled. But even more, behind them, at the front of the soaked crowd stood her mother. Di had never before seen such pride in her eyes.

4  Ezra 10:2

5  Ezra 10:6

6  Ezra 10:15

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Chapter 4

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How? How to become a female prophet in Israel? The schools of the prophets were gone and even if they weren’t, she’d guess a girl would not be allowed to attend. Where did she go from here? It had now been over sixty years since Zerubbabel had arrived from Persia, and the Temple had been rebuilt. She had been told that there had been a great spirit of revival at that time. The Temple would be restored. Adonai would once again live in Zion. Prophets too. Zechariah and Haggai as well as others. But how soon the people fell back into their mediocre ways. Sick and lame animals were brought for sacrifice, the poor were exploited by the rich. It seemed that no lesson had been learned from their captivity.

Well, one lesson had been learned. The people of Israel in the past had prostituted themselves by worshipping other gods. It seemed that they could hardly wait to do so. As soon as Moses ascended Mt Horeb, the Hebrews had forgotten the salvation from Egypt, and built an ‘Adonai’ in the shape of an Egyptian bull calf and began to worship that. In the time of the Judges, they went after the gods of Canaan, the Baals, the Asherah, then the gods of Moab and Ammon. Then, even great Solomon worshipped the Gods of his wives. Then the people degenerated to sink to the depths of the likes of Manasseh. There were times of revival under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah, but the people fell away straight after their influence waned after their death,

But the people of today did not follow other gods. They stuck to Adonai. But their worship was weak and half-hearted. They were all more interested in building wealth and influence. High society developed in Jerusalem.  The priests emerged as the class of influence. The High Priests were selected based on ‘who you knew’, and to make things worse, most of the Hebrews had stayed in Babylon or Susa of the Persians. They had built houses, started businesses, so who would want to uproot all that and travel to dusty Zion.

And what was worse, they had rejected the prophets just as their fathers had. Zechariah had come to them, with great prophesies for Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest. But he had castigated the people for ungodly behaviour. Oppression of the poor, dodgy business deals and lust for money. They had killed him in the days of Zerubbabel, in the space between the altar and the Temple entrance. Of course, the people of her day condemned this, saying, ‘we would not have done such a thing’. But their hearts were just as false as that generation in the past.

She spent her time daydreaming. She had chores to do and did them, but it was mechanical. Her thoughts were of serving Adonai as a prophet. Maybe if she prayed hard enough, He would make it happen. She wished she could go sit at the feet of a real prophet and learn of His ways. She loved to read the prophets. Copies of scrolls from Ezra’s scribes had made their way to Jerusalem, but very few showed any interest in reading them or even hearing them read by the Levite Rabbi on shabbat. She was different. Each Shabbat she was allowed to attend Synagogue early and the kindly old Levite Rabbi there would allow her to view one scroll. He would so tenderly remove it from the ark where it rested and place it on the altar table and unfurl it for her to read. The vellum seemed to shine in its pure whiteness and the letters contrasted like the blackness of night. She dared not touch it. So much of what the prophets wrote was of the glory of Zion when Adonai’s presence came to it. But that glory was sadly missing now. She mostly loved the prophet, Joel. He gave a promise of the spirit of Adonai to women. He wrote

‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.’

Yes, on men and women. Why couldn’t their leaders see this? They made foolish rules: no woman to publicly read from the Tanakh in the synagogue, no woman to pass through the court of women in the Temple. Man-made laws when Adonai had said His spirit will rest of men and women alike.

After chores were done, her mother would set her homework to do. Reading and writing to practice script. Also, ledgers and computations. Volumes of olive oil, weights and measures of fine flour. She would become quite competent in accounts and writing. A rare gift from her mother. At evening, she would come into the central room to eat with her mother, father, brother and two sisters. The room had a stove in one corner and a set of tables containing an assortment of foods. Olives, flat bread, sesame paste, roast goat and the like. Beside the table stood jugs of water. They washed their hands before they touched food. Then they would each fill their plate and sit on the family mat. Father would offer the blessing and they were free to eat. Then the evening would pass with some stories of Israel, or some games. Then, mother and father would retire to a separate room separated by a curtain, while all four children would spread out bed mats and sleep in the main room.

This night she found it hard to sleep. She got up and drank a little goat’s milk. It often made her sleepy. She finally fell asleep and dreamed. She dreamed of Joel and his visions. He was there, with an outstretched hand reaching to her to say. ‘Yes, you’ he would go on. ‘You are one I spoke of. The women who will see the vision’. She felt flooded with warmth. But then the vision paled, and she was surrounded by angry men shouting at her. She couldn’t understand their words, but she knew that they hated her.

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Chapter 3

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It was Di’s tenth birthday when she seemed to have an epiphany. Why? In all the following years she’d never been able to figure out why it happened then. It just seemed to all come together. Even at that age she was flooded with the awareness of being trapped by her sex.

She knew that it would be just a few short years until she reached puberty. Her mother had told her. A few short years until she would be ostracised for one in every four weeks. A few short years before marriage plans would be in the wind. No choice. Her future was set in stone. Marriage, hopefully to a man she liked, children, washing, cooking, and preparing meals for her husband and his guests. That was it. If she couldn’t have children – she’d be stigmatised and become an outcast. If she had only girls, she would be branded a failure. And, if her husband was wealthy, she’d have to share him with two or three other wives.

At ten, she realised, that only boys had options. Soon after birth, boys got the circumcision – the party – the rejoicing. At twelve they got the ‘coming of age’ ceremony. When a woman gave birth to a boy, the community, as one, would chant: ‘She has been blessed with a man-child.’ If a woman gave birth to a girl; the chant seemed to be ‘how nice – better luck next time.’

Parents doted on their boys. Boys got the inheritance from their father. They had career choices; a soldier, a shepherd, a metal smith, a counsellor – whatever.

But it was also at age ten, that she realised that the stories from her mother had been nuanced to produce her present feelings.

She loved the stories her mother told. Her mother romanced her with all the stories of their people, but some stories were special. Her mother’s face would light up as she told the stories of Deborah yet again. Deborah – the woman of flames. Deborah – Leader of Men. Warrior. Judge. Counsellor. King. Why had Deborah been a leader and yet no other women were allowed to follow in her footsteps?

And the stories of Abigail. So wise that she instructed and led the great King David. And Miriam, who had been a great leader of their peoples as they travelled the desert in search of a land.

Yes, it was at ten that Di felt that her epiphany had been guided by her mother; the mother who had taught her to read and write. Each night, as Di lay in her bed, she would chant the family blessing request, taught to her by her mother: ‘Adonai bless you and keep you; Adonai make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; Adonai turn his face toward you and give you peace’. From age ten, Di followed the nightly blessing request with; ‘and what of me Adonai – what of me?’

Days passed as she mused the inherent sexism of her society. Only men could be Kings – the leaders of their nation. Only men could be allowed into the priesthood. Yes, a woman could be a Nazarite, but that wasn’t a leadership role. The time of the Judges had passed and there would be no more Deborahs. Even Abigail had to ‘submit’ to her husband. But; the prophets. Yes, you could be a girl and be a prophet. Miriam was a prophet. Yes, a prophet. A נָבִיא, a narvee. Not a prophetess. That was a male construct. Not a נְבִיאָה, a neveyar – but a narvee, a prophet, on equal standing with the men. Miriam was a prophet and led the people. Deborah was a prophet and a leader. Huldah was such a prophet that kings and priests came to her for her sagely wisdom and for her access to the Adonai.

huldah redrawn
Huldah the Prophet

It appeared as though fate was against her. The Temple had been built, but the leaders of her people had failed to understand the very message it was intended to convey. Hadn’t the great prophet Isaiah proclaimed it a ‘house of prayer for all nations’? Even the goyim too? And yet the Judean leaders had shunned foreigners and refused the help of those who wanted to share in the worship of Adonai. Didn’t they know that the great Temple of the great King Solomon and been built with the help, expertise and timber of the King of Tyre, just as king David had planned. How could their present leaders not see that goyim were welcome when they served Adonai together. Yes, they had accepted the timber from Tyre, but not its people. She could only hope that new leadership may change these practices. But, in her heart, she knew they wouldn’t. She was only too aware of Ezra’s proud announcement of his lineage right back to Aaron. A Levite of the Levites. She also knew of his edict forbidding any priest to serve if he could not produce his lineage back to Eleazar or Ithamar.  What hope was there for her people?

She even saw their arrogance in the adoration of the fathers of their faith. Their leaders proudly announced that ‘they were the children of Abraham’ – the first ‘Jew’. They loudly announced their allegiance to the ‘Law of Moses’, seeing Moses as the saviour of the Jews, not Adonai. Where was the praise of Noah – the most faithful of all on earth. Nowhere to be found. Why? Because he was not a Hebrew. He was a progenitor of Abraham, not a descendant. And righteous Lot. Never mentioned. Why? Because he was the father of the hated Moabites and Ammonites. What of Job? Adonai had attested that he was like no other on earth – a righteous man who fled from evil. No mention of him by the Jews. He was a hated Edomite. And yet, the great prophet Ezekiel, whom they had abused in his day, had proclaimed that Noah, Job and Daniel were the most righteous of all men of all ages. But the Jewish leadership had rejected them in favour of the Jewish heroes, Abraham and Moses. It seemed that they had built their service on exclusion.

Even the Kings and Priests were based on exclusion. Who could be a king? Only males. Only those of the tribe of Judah. Only those in the line of King David. Exclusion, exclusion, exclusion! And who could be priests. Only males and only Levites and only if you descended from Aaron’s line. Even the Torah was so much about exclusion. List after list of all the things they were forbidden to do. Even the ten commands had so much ‘thou shalt not…’ within them. It made her sad.

How she loved the prophets. Inclusion at every level. Girls, no specific tribe, no specific family. Maybe even the goyim were allowed to be prophets if they had come to Adonai. Elijah a goyim? She believed he was and wanted to believe he was. It was only the prophets who had understood Adonai and they were always persecuted for their understanding. Elisha had washed the flesh of Naaman and cleansed him. A Syrian! Adonai had sent Jonah to save the people of Nineveh and their cows. Only the prophets knew that God loved the goyim and wanted to bring them to Zion with rejoicing. Only the prophets. And they were the ones their leaders had killed.

She loved her name. Noadiah*3. Derived from Noah. It was a sexless name. Had her mother planned that? Both boys and girls could be called Noadiah. She felt that was a tiny step forward. Whispering her name whispered its meaning – ‘meeting with Adonai’. She was proud to be another Noah and yet even that story left her angry. Eight souls were saved from the great flood of Sumer. But only four were named. The men. Why? Why were the women left out of the story? Hadn’t they participated in the ark narrative? Hadn’t they born the children to perpetuate the ‘sons of God’? Why were they so despised? She wondered about Noah too – did he have a secret? Just before the commencement of each Shabbat, on Friday evening, her mother and father would often share a glass of new wine, and giggle and raise a toast to Noah. ‘Here’s to Noah’ they’d giggle. What was that about? He wasn’t in the story of Shabbat. Perhaps he was in the story of the new wine.

So, she settled on Di as the diminutive of Noadiah. She liked it.

She didn’t want to be caught in the trap of marriage, that ageless ritual of subservience to a man, and yet, even at ten, she started to notice boys she liked.

*3 Apparent head of the prophets. Nehemiah 6:14

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THE MESSAGE – A Romance in the Days of Ezra

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The Message - Days of Ezra

CHAPTER ONE

Josh’s face hit the dirt. His mouth was half open as he slid into the sandy clay.

Small pebbles and sand covered the left side of this face and mouth. Thankfully his eyes were shut as he landed. He lay motionless.

He didn’t want to spit, in case of noise. He lay there for what seemed an eternity. Then he slowly raised his head, just a fraction and let saliva run from his mouth in a feeble attempt to rid it of the sand. He could feel the burn of gravel rash on his bare left arm.

He hadn’t expected to see a soldier here. Who was it?

He slowly raised his head to just the level required to see over the ridge he lay behind. There was a guy there all right. Josh dropped his head again. What was the guy doing? He didn’t seem to be walking – or moving. Josh slowly raised his head yet again. The guy seemed to be in amongst some shrubbery. Josh got a better look.

A grunt. A foot soldier. Josh could tell. He saw that the clip holding the tunic was leather. In an officer it would have been metal. The beard was square cut but not curled. A commoner – low class.

He seemed to be squatting in some sparse bush, pulling up his tunic.

‘Oh’ Josh whispered to himself. ‘The guy’s taking a pee or something.’

Josh’s hand tightened on the staff by his side. He could be up, cover the twenty or so paces to the guy in less than four seconds, all while the guy has his tunic knotted about his waste, he could smash his brains in. But why? That would drop this guy’s armed forces from one hundred thousand to a mere ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine; and he would leave a trail. They’d hunt him down.

No – better leave him be.

He would have expected a Persian soldier, but this guy looked Assyrian. Josh wondered what an Assyrian was doing here. They had been defeated a couple of hundred years ago, first in Nineveh and then at Harran. The conquering Babylonians hadn’t fared much better, having fallen to the Medes a handful of decades later. Now his beloved Judea was ruled by Persians. He figured that the Assyrians must be surveying Samaria for a possible tilt at re-establishing their former glory. Maybe the inhabitants of Samaria were trying to make a connection with the few remaining Assyrians to challenge Persia. Fat chance. One of the proverbs of ‘The Preacher’ came to his mind and he added an ironic ending of his own. ‘… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…but that’s the way to bet!’ He didn’t think the Assyrians had much of a chance. Anyway, this one could live another day.

As he lay in the sand, waiting for the Assyrian to leave, his mind flew to the words of one of their holy prophets, Isaiah who has said ‘Egypt are my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.’ What was that all about? Not what the leaders has always said at the Synagogue at Shabbat. They always proclaimed that Israel was God’s people – no room for anyone else. Weird.

He had left his home in Bethany to travel north-east to Mt. Gerizim. He loved his home village. Best place on earth he figured. ‘House of dates’ – such a cool name. He loved date cakes. There were date palm, fig and pomegranate groves growing in lovely loam soil, but it was also just a stones throw from Jerusalem, where all the action was. He had seen the yearly dedication re-enactment of Zerubbabel’s Temple and although it was impressive, he was happy to observe it from a distance. He liked the ‘action’ around the Temple, but also liked to retreat to Bethany, to his home. He was thankful for Zerubbabel’s reinstatement of the festivals; the festival of booths with its required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day, and the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of Adonai, as well as free will offerings. But Passover was best of all.

He enjoyed Passover at Jerusalem. So much blood and guts. Priests covered in blood from slain animals, merchants selling their wares to those who didn’t have an animal to sacrifice, exchange desks where you could exchange a gold Persian daric or a silver siglos for silver shekels. Josh reckoned that the exchange rates were a rip-off. But there was so much action. Temple guards sorting ‘the sheep from the goats’. Jews from Samaritans. Samaritans were considered goyim and excluded. But Jews from far flung lands were welcome, so that they could be fleeced on the accommodation and food prices.

People from Egypt, Carthage, Babylonia, Cilicia and even Elam would flood in with their strange clothes and customs. All united in the faith of Passover. Hawkers would patrol the streets, selling their wares; leather goods, trinkets of gold and silver, lapis lazuli and jade. It was bazaar time. Fun time.

Street food. The prescribed Passover lamb was reserved for the High Shabbat, the Passover Seder, and for the seven days after, the time of yeast free cooking, there were street vendors. Also, for the days before the festival as well, visitors would swell the ranks of the population. Lamb marinated in exotic spices, on skewers, served with yeast free flat bread. Paste made from sesame seeds, chic peas, garlic, cumin, coriander and lightly salted. Finely chopped aromatic herbs. What a time to be alive! How wonderful was Passover.

Josh wondered if any of these people ever stopped to consider the saving hand of Adonai as He brought His people out of Egypt. To the crowds it was just a holiday without meaning. Although Ezra the scribe was painstakingly transcribing the Hebrew texts into Aramaic, the people seemed as yet unaware of what the Torah spoke.

But it was all such fun for a young man.

Girls too. Pretty girls from exotic places, some with braided hair, some with head and face coverings showing only their flashing black eyes. Some with nose rings and forehead adornments, unknown to the girls of Judea. Josh knew that his parents would select a girl for him, but there was no harm in looking.

He cheekily mused that maybe he could resurrect the concept of a concubine. They had been a big part of the culture of Israel, ever since Abraham. The great judges kept them. Gideon and Shamgar. Kings like Saul and David. It had reached its crescendo with Solomon’s three hundred! But then, after king Rehoboam, concubines were never referenced again in all the chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah which Ezra, the scribe, had so painstakingly mapped out into the Babylonian script. Maybe he could start concubines again. He’d have two of the girls with the flashing black eyes, and maybe two of the raven-haired girls from the land of Ephraim. He had luxuriated in the thoughts for a while.

He also looked forward to the contrast of the festival of first fruits which culminated fifty days after Passover. It was a joyous conclusion to the festival. Happiness, and a certain serenity filled the air. He loved the noise and bustle of Passover, but he loved the quiet thanksgiving of Pentecost. Such joy in the air. No one seemed to care that the walls of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt. Many buildings still lay in ruins, but people just skirted the fallen stones to go about their parades of thankfulness. Many of the ‘foreigners’ who stayed on after Passover but now began returning home. Street crowds thinned. Merchants disappeared. Life fell back to normal. Jerusalem seemed to be almost deserted after Passover and Pentecost. The city still lay largely in ruins with few people willing to stay within its broken walls.

Josh had decided to travel this year. His career was decided. He would have to follow in his father’s footsteps and be an oil merchant. The family business was to buy oil from the farmers with their olive groves, refine, grade and bulk store the oil until olive harvest was past and the oil became a more precious commodity. Much was sold to travelling caravaners who took the oil to far flung places and in exchange gave spices and silk for his father to on-sell. It was a good business, and he was expected to continue it, even though he was the second son, there was room enough in the trade for the two boys.

He had taken leave from the family, at the age of eighteen, with his father’s blessing, to travel a little. Explore the land. He knew that his mother was a little worried, but he assured her that he just wanted to see the history of his land. Where had Goliath fallen, where had Barak come down with his ten thousand men? Where had the beautiful Jael planted her tent peg? Where had the ark rested in Shiloh? His parents had accepted that these were questions a young man should ask. But Josh felt a twinge of guilt, as this was not the real reason he wanted to travel. Yes, he had a curiosity about all those things, but that was not at the foremost of his mind. He wanted first to seek out the Samaritans. He had heard that they had built a mock Temple on Mt. Gerizim *1   – a blasphemy of the true temple. His heart was full of hatred for them. How dare they duplicate the one true temple and pretend that Adonai dwelt there. They were dogs, the unclean of the earth. He wanted to see for himself. But there was another desire within his heart. Cyrus, the great Persian King, had been magnanimous to the Jews in allowing the return. A magnanimity followed up by Darius and his support for the building of the temple. But Israel was still ruled by a foreign nation. He wanted independence – like in the days of David and Solomon when the Kingdom of Israel stretched from the Euphrates to the Nile. His passion was to see how this could possibly happen again. Not in his days, but he wanted to see the possibility and dream of a future.

Travelling north-east took him to Jericho. What a history. The first of all the cities to fall to the Israelites. It would always stand in Israel’s folklore as a symbol of Adonai’s blessing on his people and as a symbol of his severity in the curse on Achan. He stood outside and looked for massive walls that once surrounded the town. Gone. Fallen at the command of Adonai. Now it was just a bustling but small town quite close to ‘the river’. But it contained a quandary for Josh. He had so many questions, about the Torah and no one seemed to be able to answer. Hadn’t Adonai instructed Moses to tell the people to destroy all the inhabitants of Canaan. No mercy! These goyim deserved nothing but condemnation and death. Four hundred years they had had to repent and come to Adonai. Four hundred years from the time of Abraham to the time of Moses. Four hundred years to turn, to listen to the message of Melchizedek. But did they? No; they rejected Melchizedek and Adonai. They deserved death and destruction. No mercy! This was what Adonai instructed Moses. He knew it by heart:

‘I will bring you into a land of seven nations larger and stronger than you, and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them’. 

Clear enough. And yet they had immediately broken this command. It almost seemed as though they had set out to defy Adonai. The Israelites, under Joshua, had shown mercy to Rahab and her family. Exactly what they were told not to do. And they were blessed for this disobedience. Not only that, but Salmon had married Rahab, is exact disobedience to the command not to marry the Canaanites. But here was the rub – not only did Salmon disobey – but he was blessed by Adonai is that his line led to the great King David, and the greater son of David to come. How could Adonai allow a goyim to be the progenitors of King David? This was one of myriads of questions which Josh had posed to the Levite teachers in his hometown. No answers.

Jericho has suffered the same fate as Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. The city had been destroyed by the Babylonians and was now a smaller and poorer version of itself. It still served as an administrative centre for Persian rule while Jerusalem lay waste. But as Jerusalem repopulated, Jericho became second rate. Josh only stayed a couple of nights.

He waited in ‘the town square’ for a kindly soul to offer hospitality. He was offered a room by a single Levite man, and he was happy to accept it. They spent a pleasant time discussing Tanakh before bed each night and during the two days Josh helped with chores. On the third day he bad farewell and headed north again. He crossed the Samaritan border, although it was unmarked, and bedded for the night in the open. He travelled along the Jordan valley where he could access water without asking for peoples help. He had left his prayer shawl and other Jewish trappings behind, wondering how he’d fare if they knew he was a Jew.

*1 A Temple to YHWH was built by the Samaritans, on Mt Gerizim, in mid 5th Century BC.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Gerizim

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