King Jesus (Penguin Modern Classics) (22 page)

Mary bowed her head. She said : “These five days I have known that evil news is on the way. My soul has followed it from stage to stage, and from well to well. I am prepared to receive your evil news.”

“It is a whip with three lashes. But you are royal-hearted and will not flinch from it.”

“I bare my shoulders.”

“First, Simon the High Priest has been deposed by the King on a false charge of conspiracy. You can no longer count on his protection, and therefore stand in great danger of your life. What if King Herod should have learned of a certain royal marriage? It would be folly to remain here with your Aunt Elizabeth, when already his soldiers may be on your trail. You are advised to set off at once—”

“Lay on the second lash ; the advice can wait. The first lash stings !”

“Second, my lord Zacharias has been stoned to death. His enemy Reuben the son of Abdiel brought against him the monstrous charge of traffic with the demon Asmodeus. His blood cries for vengeance ; it was spilt in the very Sanctuary of the Temple.”

Mary said, in a voice that trembled : “Zacharias was a God-fearing man, and very kind to me. I will teach my child to honour his name always, though others may still revile and curse it. Oh, the anguish and disgrace that has fallen on this pleasant house! The lady Elizabeth reviled as the widow of a renegade priest, little John shunned as the son of a condemned sorcerer! That lash breaks the flesh and draws blood. Nevertheless, lay on once more !”

“Third, a certain king, home at last from Italy after narrowly escaping shipwreck, has been tried and sentenced to death in a Roman Court on the false charge of attempting his father’s life. Never, I swear, since kings were first crowned in this land was a loving son so outrageously served! Though the old King must still wait for permission from the Emperor to execute him, count him as already dead.”

A long silence followed. Then Mary raised her head and said : “The third lash cuts me to the bone, the third lash cuts me to the heart. Yet still I live, for my child must live.”

“My daughter, my Queen !”

They spoke together quietly for an hour or more, Mary trying to catch at straws to buoy her drowning hopes. The Emperor might perhaps refuse his assent ; Herod might die, or repent ; the indignant people of Jerusalem might break open the prison and release the innocent captive. But always Shelom told her the same thing : “Count him as already dead,” and at last persuaded her to realize the danger of her position and the need for immediate flight. Mary asked wearily : “But where can I go when I leave Ain-Rimmon? I may not now return to the College of Virgins. I dare not return to my father’s house at Cocheba.”

“You must go to Emmaus. And I will accompany you, come what may.”

“What? To Joseph of Emmaus who should have married me ?”

“To Joseph. Only by returning to the son of Heli can you and your child be safe.” ’

“But, Shelom, I cannot be his wife.”

“No, but you must pass as his wife.”

“Does he know the truth ?”

“He knows nothing.”

“How can I pass as his wife, how can he accept me as his wife even in name only—when I am already with child ?”

“Throw yourself on his mercy and he will not reject you. He has the warmest heart in all Judaea.”

“It is very hard.”

“But the only way.”

Then again in grief and pain Mary cried out bitterly : “Why is my King condemned? Oh, how can such things be ?”

“I tell you, it is because his father is possessed by an evil spirit.”

“Can nobody save him? Oh, Shelom, I charge you not to refuse me a last hope !”

“The Lord alone can save him,” said Shelom.

“May he extend a strong arm !”

“And a mighty hand !”

“Leave me now, gentle Shelom. I will presently give Kenah his answer.”

Joseph was a retired timber-merchant. He had begun life as a carpenter, his family having been ruined in the Civil Wars, but had grown fairly prosperous and raised a large family. His small estate at the village of Emmaus, which lay some twenty miles to the north-west of Jerusalem, consisted of two or three acres of vineyard and orchard. There was an adjoining timber-yard which Jose his eldest son managed for him, with James the youngest acting as his apprentice, and which, with half the value of the estate, was bequeathed to these two in his Will. The other
two sons, Simeon and Judah, were in the Galilean timber trade. Their share of the estate at Joseph’s death would be some forest-land on the eastern shore of the Lake of Galilee and the remaining half-value of the Emmaus estate. Jose, Simeon and Judah were industrious close-fisted honest men, with industrious close-fisted honest wives ; they were leagued in a firm resolve not to let Joseph fall a prey to schemers and spongers and so reduce the value of the estate still further by his absurd generosity. But they could not persuade him to change his ways. James the youngest had an altogether different character. He was useless as an apprentice, for all his thoughts were on holiness and salvation and he spent half his days in prayer on his knees.

One evening Joseph, returning from a visit to a neighbour, had just laid his hand on the latch of his gate when he heard his name called from behind. Kenah the Rechabite ran up to salute him.

“I have a word for your private ear, Son of Heli.”

Joseph bowed and replied : “It is pleasant under my fig-tree. You are welcome to enter, Kenah, lord of the desert. Eat and drink of the best that this house has to offer.”

But as they went towards the fig-tree Kenah said : “Forgive me, my lord, if I give you my news with discourteous haste, for, upon my word, it will not wait.”

“Say on, by all means !”

“It is this : I have brought you back one who went astray. It is Miriam your bride. She took refuge in our black tents because she knew of the love that we have borne her father Joachim ever since he gave us the Well of the Jawbone for a perpetual possession.”

Joseph concealed his astonishment. He asked : “Is all well with the lady Miriam ?”

“All is well, and she can have little cause to hate us.”

“How may I requite your kindness ?”

“By loving her well, for the sake of her father, my benefactor.”

“That is no hard request, for I honour Joachim the Heir, and I thank you heartily. Pray, bring her to me at once !”

Kenah uttered a shrill cry, and presently Mary came riding in at the gate on a fine white ass. She alighted and abased herself as a suppliant at Joseph’s feet. He lifted her up, set her on the bench under the fig-tree, and hurried away to call his servants. But by the time that he had found one of them, ordered water, towels and refreshments to be brought instantly, and had returned to the bench, Kenah was gone. The sound of the hooves of his galloping ass gradually died away in the distance. Joseph and Mary were left alone.

Mary spoke first : “My lord Joseph, you are reported to be a just and merciful man.”

“Daughter, only One is just and merciful.”

She paused, not knowing how to continue, but at last said with a sigh : “My lord, you see how it is with your hand-maid.”

Joseph answered in commiseration : “Daughter, I see.”

“The contract is signed for our marriage ?”

“Drafted and signed, but not yet implemented by a payment of bride-money to your guardian, the High Priest.”

“My lord, say—will you be merciful to me? Will you save me and my unborn child from death ?”

“From death? How from death? You talk wildly, daughter. What would you have me do ?”

“I would have you give the bride-money, all but a single half-shekel, to Simon the High Priest. He will pay the whole sum into the Treasury, but make an entry in the accounts that the half-shekel is still owed to himself.”

“Who has planned this ruse and why should it be necessary ?”

“Anna daughter of Phanuel, who was my guardian mother—she planned it. It is necessary because—because it is necessary.”

“But, daughter, you are not what I contracted to marry. You are with child by another.”

“I do not ask you to marry me. I do not wish to live with you as your wife ; but I wish it to be thought that we are married and that my child is your child. The Treasury will thus be the richer by the bride-money ; yet the contract will not be fully implemented. If you refuse me this request you are condemning two souls to a cruel death !”

“Who is the father of your child ?”

“You will be the father in the eyes of the world.”

“Kenah calls you the strayed one. Who enticed you to sin, daughter ?”

“I am free of sin. I strayed as a lamb strays.”

“How can that be ?”

“I will tell you as much as is permitted. A richly dressed messenger came to me seven months ago while I was still at your daughter Lysia’s house. He saluted me and I asked him his name. He answered : ‘This day is Monday ; therefore call me Gabriel, who is Monday’s angel.’ Then he said : ‘Lady, I salute you, highly favoured one! The Lord be with you, most blessed of women.’ I was troubled by this, and asked him his business. He replied : ‘Fear not, Lady, for you have found favour with a glorious King, and if the Lord be willing, you shall conceive and bear a son to him, who shall be the great one, the promised one, the Son of the Highest ; and the Lord God shall bestow on him the throne of David.’ But I asked him : ‘How can this be? I know no glorious King. And I am contracted in marriage to Joseph of Emmaus.’ He answered : ‘The contract with Joseph is signed, but not yet implemented. You are Miriam, the youngest daughter of the line of Michal, and the holy Power of Michal has therefore descended upon you, and you shall be joined in love with the glorious one whose paranymph I am ; and the holy thing that is born of you shall be called the Child of God.’ Then Simon the High Priest came out from behind the door where he was hidden, and he said : ‘Child, this is a messenger of truth. You must believe his words.’ So I answered : ‘I am your hand-maid. Let it be as you say.’ ”

“And then ?”

“I may tell no more, and what I have already told you must not be revealed.”

“Last week Simon was deposed by the King and must return in ignominy to Egypt before the month is out.”

“I am grieved on his account. Yet Anna assures me that he will conclude this business of the contract before he goes away.”

“You are asking much of me.”

“I am asking you more than you know. I am asking you to risk your life for me.”

Joseph pondered a while. “If I give you my protection, what shall I tell my neighbours ?”

“Let us ask my woman Shelom ; she is in my confidence and has more wit by far than I have.”

“Where is this ingenious woman to be found ?”

“Sitting under the plane-tree by your gate.” She clapped her hands.

When Shelom appeared, Joseph asked her directly : “Woman, what am I to tell my neighbours when they inquire about your mistress ?”

“Why, you need tell them nothing. When I am questioned by your men-servants and maid-servants I will lead them to believe by hints, not by lies, that you married my mistress secretly and brought her to Jerusalem, to your little house in the wall, where you go for the Feasts ; and that you then left her for a while under the charge of your daughter Lysia, in whose house she had spun the holy flax. And that you did all this because you feared to be mocked by your neighbours for marrying a young girl when already an old man ; but that as soon as you learned that my mistress was with child you sent for her and had her secretly conveyed here. Then they will laugh good-humouredly and praise you for your modesty and prudence, and congratulate you on your manhood ; and your son Jose will confirm that you rode up to Jerusalem on such and such a day with money for the marriage.”

“It is well. Let them believe that if they please.” Joseph turned to Mary, took her by the hand and said : “I am an old man, indeed, and the Lord has greatly blessed my life. I read the truth in your eyes, and I can refuse you nothing. Be called my wife, be called the mistress of this house. And though you sleep beside me in my bedchamber, you need not fear for your chastity. And when your child is born and learns to speak, let him call me ‘Father’ and I shall answer ‘My son’.”

Mary cried : “May the Lord God who is in Heaven bless you, Joseph, for the love you have shown him to-day !”

Presently she said : “My lord, I have a further request to make. The messenger Gabriel assured me that my child will be born at Bethlehem. Will you therefore ride with me to Bethlehem when my time is near, under colour of visiting the home of your ancestor David ?”

“We will surely visit Bethlehem together when you give me the word. And meanwhile, daughter, I have a request to make of you in return. It is that when you are set in authority over my sons’ wives and over
my two widowed nieces you will treat them gently, showing them the respect due to their age. Rule them, but let them believe that they are ruling you. They will not be pleased at first to hear that I have spent money on a new wife, and that she is already with child by me.”

“They will learn to love me, I trust, for your sake.”

In his palace at Rome the Emperor Augustus was saying to his wife, the Lady Livia : “This request from our friend Herod the Idumaean is preposterous. I cannot possibly give my consent.”

“And why not ?”

“Because Antipater’s trial was fraudulent from start to finish—Varus’s private memorandum makes that clear—and this new portfolio of evidence is not supported by any original documents. I suppose that you
did
receive the letter from Salome which Herod quotes ?”

“I have just found one posted in the Judaean secret file, but it has been placed there very recently and without my knowledge. My woman Acme did not have access to the file at any time. She could not possibly have taken a copy of the letter. You see, she has been on a visit to her parents in Cyrene for the last four months. Herod’s intelligence system is faulty.”

“You mean that the new evidence is fraudulent too ?”

“Of course : it reeks !”

“Then why in the world, my dear, should I consent to Antipater’s execution ?”

“Because you owe more to Herod than you owe to Antipater. Besides, old Herod is no fool. He must have some very solid reason for wishing to eliminate Antipater. After the mistake that you made in the Sylleus case—against my advice, remember—you cannot afford to offend him again.”