He Who Returned. Martin Fieber
from Elischeba and Sarah, Miriam and Abischag, the wife of the shepard Jeroham, were also at the well. The women all very muched enjoyed these moments they regularly shared close to the water. “Sarah, don’t let him get away with so much anymore“, Elischeba encouraged her. Besides Miriam, Sarah had now also gained Elischeba and Abischag as true friends who gave her much strength.
“That is easy for you to say, Elischeba. I try as hard as I can, but sometimes I am left with no way out due to Samuel’s aggressive temper.”
“I think Elischeba is right.” Abischag chimed in. “Once you are in the new big city, you should come up with something. I have heard that it is easier for women to lead their own life in such cities.” But deep down Abischag was happy to have such a nice husband, Jeroham, herself, and that she did not have to move to a heathen town. Also, she was secretly looking forward to the day when Samuel would leave Nazareth, for it was not easy to have to even live in the same town with such a strict and stubborn rabbi. Although it was too bad about Sarah leaving. However the joy over being rid of Samuel was the stronger feeling in her.
“I will try my best“, Sarah replied. “I have been praying to our father in heaven for a long time, asking that he show me a solution. Also for our children and especially for Joshua.”
“You can't always expect your father in heaven to help you“, Abischag replied haughtily. “No one has ever seen him. As far as I can tell we are responsible for our own good fortune. If my husband were so violent, I would have thrown him out of the house long ago, and only let him back in if he begged me to.”
“Abischag, how can you say such things?” Miriam was quite angry about the words she had just heard there. “How can you doubt in the existence of our heavenly father? And it is easy for you to talk since you are not in the same position as Sarah. I would like to see how you would last even one day next to Samuel. You would be quite different than now if he was your husband, believe me.”
“Trust me, I would have never chosen a man like Samuel. You can all mark my words.”
“What words can I mark, Abischag?”, Samuel asked, who had just now reached the four women.
All four of them turned around in surprise. For a moment they had forgotten that Samuel had been on his way to the village. Abischag was dumbfounded at first, then merely said “I, uh, I only meant that if I was living in Sepphoris, uh, I wouldn't have chosen a shepard as husband, eh, but rather a builder instead perhaps, like Miriam.”
“I see. And there I had thought that you had mentioned my name just now. Well I guess I misheard then. Let me greet all of you first. And Sarah, please accompany me home. May God bless you, Abischag, Elischeba and Miriam“.
Sarah turned around, picked up her full water bucket, left the three bewildered women behind and followed her husband. No one had ever experienced such a happy Samuel.
The family of the rabbi was seated at the evening meal. Joshua was glad that all of the rituals, which were enacted before and during the meal, had been completed. Joshua was hungry. Sometimes he envied other families, that were not as religious as his own. But such was life as the son of a rabbi. especially of such a strict one. But this evening his father seemed to be down jolly. The meal was over, but the family remained seated for a while, for Samuel wanted to tell them something about his time in Jerusalem and about the imminent journey to Ephesus. And so Sarah served up some almond cake, dates in honey and warm goat milk. Especially Joshua’s sisters loved these sweet treats.
“I have experienced a lot and have at much to tell you“, Samuel began. “Let me begin with the worst part. The messenger of the high priest and I were attacked by robbers near Mt. Garizim. My companion was prepared for this eventuality, for as he said, one had to expect the worst when undertaking such a trip. Hence he had split our coins and only carried the smaller portion visible on our belts. And luckily the robbers only took that portion from us.” Samuel sighed deeply and gazed into the eyes of his family for some sympathetic reaction, which however did appear, except for Judith's wide-eyed stare.
“The ragged clothing of my companion did not serve to convince the robbers when he told him that he had been sent directly by the high priest in Jerusalem. They scoffed at us yet nonetheless let us continue with our donkey and provisions. So his words must have had some effect. I had the feeling as if our heavenly father was standing right by our side and protecting us very well. I returned via a longer and more difficult, yet safer road.”
Joshua listened to the narrative of his father without any feeling except quite a bit of suspense. Even his sisters had forgotten that they had almond cake on their plates. Only his mother seemed fairly relaxed.
“The talk with the high priest and Bealja went very well. They had informed me that a messenger had been sent to Ephesus at the same time, who was to suspend the current rabbi of my future congregation from his position there immediately. The messenger is to stay there until the former rabbi has vacated our future home and left town. I was told that the synagogue there and adjacent house are very large. The Jewish congregations include nearly 10,000 members, not much for a city as large as Ephesus, however when one considers that it is a town that has been shaped predominantly by Greek and Roman culture, then 10,000 Jews is a proud number indeed. Isn't that incredible?” A second attempt to gain some recognition from his family. And again, it did not work.
Joshua drank a sip of goat milk.
“The high priest added that not all Jews lived the true faith anymore there. Only very few still attend the services in the synagogue regularly. My predecessor had become a victim of vice in that city of magic. Hence they required an experienced rabbi there, who obeyed the Jewish laws.” Samuel smiled and gazed at his family, but no one returned the sentiment. “Bealja had heard of my good work and mentioned me early on in the selection process. The high priest was quite happy about this since it meant one less worrisome problem for him to be concerned about . Well, we can now leave as soon as we wish, once I have spoken with Abija, my successor here. I am happy that Abija will be my successor. I wanted to speak with him a while ago about who should succeed me, and was surprised when he mentioned that would like to suggest himself as my successor. I also still have to tell Jeroham and Jacob about the events of the last few days. All of this will probably take about another week. My suggestion is that we depart after the next Sabbath, in about eight days time.”
Sarah forgot to breathe. “In eight days already?”
“Woman, it is your job to pack all of our belongings and to clean our house for when we hand it over to Abija. Joshua and Esther, you are to both help Sarah. I will have to depart for Sepphoris the day after tomorrow. Abija has been informed already and is preparing to move as well. I will not be giving any more lessons in the synagogue here. Some will be happy to hear that. But I know Abija well, and he will continue my work there in a way I would approve of.” Samuel paused for a moment and gave Joshua a sharp look. “Ah yes, Joshua, I have taken a look at the work you completed while I was gone. I must say I like what I see. I am proud of you. All right, let's all get to bed now.”
Joshua was not sure whether he had just really heard correctly. Had his father really praised him just now? It had been a long time since that had happened last. He glanced over at his mother. Sarah was also visibly surprised and gave him a sweet smile that warmed his heart. He went to his bedroom, took out the small wooden cross, placed it on his heart, thanked God for the praise and for knowing Jesus, and fell asleep happily.
∞
Word spread quickly in the village that the family of the rabbi would be leaving them soon forever. Many in the village were delighted at this news, for the strictness of Samuel not only had an effect on his students, but rather also affected their parents and most of the inhabitants in some way quite harshly. There were only few who were sad about this bit of news. Among them were Jesus and Rachel. The time the boys would have normally spent in the synagogue was now spent however they saw fit. As usual, Simeon played his game of Romans against zealots. Joshua, Jesus and Rachel spent almost all of their free time together.
Samuel had departed early in the morning to Sepphoris today. Joshua seized the moment and went down to where he usually