The Builder
Page 5 of 7
V. Egypt
Yosef passed down the path to his family’s homestead in the village of Bethlehem. He and Miriam had taken a brief trip back to Nazareth directly after the visit to the temple to gather up what few things they had left there and to pass the responsibility of the family business on to Yehuda. They had been living in Uncle Obed’s compound for nearly a year now, the builder having been hired by his Uncle Attai to help out on the royal porch. The other workmen were pleased to have such a skilled wood carver join them, though some were openly jealous of him. Uncle Attai provided well for them, but Yosef had turned down the offer to live in Jerusalem proper. He had never liked his older uncle much. Obed was a much more agreeable person, being a farmer, and his family was a bit smaller. Also, Miriam wanted to stay in Bethlehem, where she had relatives. And the village was a better place for a boy to grow up.
Yehoshua was crawling all over the place, inspecting things. It seemed his favorite thing was to watch living creatures. Nothing delighted him more than to watch a bug crawl across the ground. He cracked a wide smile when a bird flew overhead and had made fast friends with the various livestock around the compound. He’d just recently taken a few steps, trying to get from his mother to Yosef, before landing on his amply padded bottom. The builder thought he caught a look of puzzlement in Yehoshua’s dark eyes, puzzlement that was quickly replaced by determination. He pushed himself up again and toddled across to Yosef with two more falls, but then squealed with delight as his father caught him up and hugged him.
Yosef felt he couldn’t get enough of holding the child, now really feeling that this was his boy. Somewhere deep inside he knew that Yehoshua was more than simply his son and he was reminded now and again when he watched other children fight and bicker amongst themselves. It seemed to him that Yehoshua was the most unselfish of children he’d ever met. Oh, he would yell when he was uncomfortable and make his needs known, but he would readily share things, be it with adults or other children.
“And that at an age when they are usually fighting over everything,” Sarah had remarked when she’d visited with Miriam for a day. “What a remarkable child!”
Yosef arrived at the compound to hear squeals of delight, definitely Yehoshua’s voice. He opened the door to see Atarah there, swinging the boy around in the air by his hands. At the same moment Miriam appeared in the doorway of their room.
“Atarah!” she shouted at her niece. “Put him down!” The girl slowed down a bit to quickly, shaken, and bounced the boy’s knees against the dirt. He yelped. Miriam was across the yard faster than Yosef had ever conceived she could travel and scooped little Yehoshua up.
“Are you all right, sweetie?” he heard her ask him. The boy sniffled and looked at his scraped, pudgy knees. Tears began to pour down his cheeks, but he didn’t bawl and he didn’t glare. Yosef came over as Miriam straightened up.
“How many times have I told you to be careful with him, girl?” she demanded of Atarah.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Miriam, we were just...”
“I don’t want you doing that with him! Now he’s hurt.”
“But, Aunt Miriam, if you hadn’t...” the girl pleaded.
“Don’t talk back to me, girl,” the woman snapped. “He got hurt and I don’t want that to happen!”
“Miriam, it was an accident,” Yosef intervened, coming up. She turned and glared at him.
“We must protect him,” she shot back at him.
“Yes, from great danger, but not from little things like this!” He gently took the boy from her arms. His tears were still running and he moaned a bit at the pain. He stuck his finger in his mouth, puckering up his little face.
“There’s a strong boy,” the builder laughed. “You’ll be all right. Let’s put something on those cuts.” And he walked back to their room. Miriam shot one warning glance at her niece and then followed him.
“So you think I’m overprotective,” she demanded, closing the door behind her.
“Yes, I do.” Yosef kicked off his sandals, stepped into the room and sat down on the floor, placing Yehoshua on his lap.
“But, if he hurts I hurt,” she told him and went about finding the linen.
“I know, and so do I, but we must bear it, Miriam.” He looked at her, taking in her lovely form. She was so precious to him and sometimes so strange. She quickly came over and wiped the little boy’s knees and wrapped them with the linen.
“There, all better now?” she asked. He smiled a little, but the tears still ran a bit. They set him down on the floor and he pushed himself upright, toddling back and forth across the floor of their house.
“I don’t think that we should let the other children play with him,” Miriam began. “It’s too dangerous.”
“But that’s a part of childhood,” Yosef explained. “As are cuts and bruises.”
“If she hadn’t swung him around, this wouldn’t have happened!” He had to smile at that.
“My dove, if you hadn’t said anything, I don’t think anything would have happened in the first place.” She glared at him.
“Are you saying it’s my fault?” she demanded.
“Some of it is.” She gritted her teeth at his honest answer. He gently took her hand and she made to pull it out of his grasp, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Wife,” he began, “we have been entrusted with watching after Yehoshua. And right now he’s our only child. What will happen when his brothers and sisters arrive? We need to watch him, yes, but we also need to give him space to grow and that includes cut knees.” She glared at him, and he thought he could see the struggle in her eyes. She sighed after a moment.
“I guess you’re right, husband.” She gazed over to where Yehoshua was inspecting one of her empty pots, making gurgling sounds as he reached down into it.
“I love you so, my dove,” he laughed.
“And I love you.” She smiled. “You really think we’ll have more children?” she asked.
“If God grants it.” Yehoshua was now toddling back over to them, his tears forgotten. “I think that no child should grow up without brothers and sisters, be he Messiah or not.”
The three of them took the evening meal together and then sat on the roof of their house, Yosef reciting parts of Isaiah in Hebrew to his wife’s son, as his father had done to him many years before.
“The stars are awfully bright tonight,” Miriam remarked, gazing up at the night sky. “Especially that one.” She pointed up. Yosef and Yehoshua both followed her finger to see the bright light right above them. Yehoshua gave a little cry, pointing at it as well.
“Lovely, isn’t it, son?” the builder laughed. “You know what your great-great-great-grandfather David wrote about that? The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands...[20]” He was cut short by a noise outside the compound wall. It sounded like the groan of a camel. There was the flicker of torches beyond the wall and Yosef thought he could distinguish the large lumpy shapes of camels and awnings in the street. The gates to Uncle Obed’s house were open most of the time, as they were now. He saw a man bearing a torch enter, and then turn and call back through the gate. The camels started protesting and they disappeared from sight.
“What’s going on?” Yosef asked. He passed Yehoshua to his wife and stood. She looked past the parapet to see several figures pass through the gate. Four of them were quite tall and distinguished looking, wearing large turbans. The flickering light of the torches glinted off their robes, making Yosef think that these were either very rich men indeed or else soldiers.
“What do you want?” he demanded in Aramaic from the roof-top.
“We have come from afar and are seeking the one who is born king of the Jews,” one of the men below called up in perfect Aramaic. Yosef couldn’t place the accent, though. “We saw his star in the east and it has led us here.” The builder glanced at his wife, puzzled. She hugged Yehoshua closer. He tried to scramble out of her arms to see what was going on below.
“Wait here,” Yosef told her and hurriedly descended the stairs. If the men had looked magnificent from a distance, being close to them made the builder positively want to fall on his knees before them. The four were tall, outlandish men, attired in rich robes embroidered with gold and silver. One seemed quite old, his beard white, but well-oiled. The others were younger, men of brown skin with bright, dark eyes and midnight hair, curled and oiled beards in an unusual style. They smelled richly of incense and perfume. Gold rings glittered on their hands and the old one bore a strange gold collar around his neck that held a single gem. The rest were servants, several of whom had the fair skin and dark hair of the Greeks and there was even a giant of a man with flaxen hair and beard. He bore a large chest in his arms, standing silently behind his masters.
“Who are you?” Yosef asked, breathlessly.
“We are Magi from the east,” the old man replied in Aramaic. “I am Mehuman, advisor to the Parthian king.” His bearing was regal, clearly underscoring that fact. “And these are my associates, Bigtha, Mersen, and Carshena.” Each gave a little half-bow as their names were mentioned. “As we were saying, we are seeking the one who was born king of the Jews. We bring gifts.”
“Born king of the Jews,” the builder echoed, bewildered. Certainly Yehoshua was Messiah and that he was the king to be. Mehuman looked down at him, proud and yet humble.
“Have we come to the wrong place?” he asked.
“No, no! I — it’s just that no one has ever called him that before,” Yosef admitted. The tall man raised an eyebrow, trying to keep his face from breaking into a broad grin.
“Then he is here?” he pressed. One of the men behind him said something in a language that Yosef couldn’t understand. The old man waved his hand and he was instantly silent. The thought of these men seeing Yehoshua both scared and thrilled him. Should he let them see him? Something in his heart told him it was for the best, but at the same time he was afraid that they might harm the child. He paused, prayed for guidance and looked deep into Mehuman’s eyes.
“Come, man!” the old man exclaimed. “We have come to worship the child! He is king. We must pay homage!” He made to move, his façade crumbling for a brief moment, excitement pouring through, before he straightened again and resumed his regal bearing.
“I — I will get him,” Yosef stammered suddenly making up his mind. Come to worship the child. These were king-makers. Why would they worship a child from a little-known land? A Messiah who was only for the Jews? The builder couldn’t understand. He rushed to the stairs only to find Miriam already descending them.
“Miriam...” he began.
“I know, I heard.” She smiled uncertainly. “Let them see him. I think God would want it that way.” She looked at the child whose eyes sparkled in the torchlight. “I know he wants it that way.”
She came down the stairs the rest of the way and into the light of the torches of the Magi. Yosef thought he could hear them draw a deep breath as they saw the mother and child. She smiled and then turned and entered the house, Yosef close on her heels. Mehuman made a sign and strode forward, followed by his three friends. The servants came after. Yosef quickly stoked up the fire and Miriam stood beside it.
And then the most amazing thing that Yosef had ever seen happened. These four powerful foreigners, king-makers, lords of their realm, those who directed the course of the king’s reign in the east, fell down with their faces to the ground, prostrating themselves before the child. They spoke in a language that Yosef couldn’t understand.
Yehoshua held out one hand towards them and for a brief instant it seemed that the child was more than a simple peasant boy, the son of a builder. He had for that moment become king and Yosef found himself sinking to his knees as well.
Mehuman was the first to rise, but only to his knees.
“O king of the Jews,” he addressed the boy child in Aramaic, “we have come from afar to see you and we have not been disappointed. We saw your star rise in the east nearly one year ago and we immediately set out to find you. We praise your God that he has guided us this far by the star we first saw. The star brought us to Jerusalem where the wise men told us where we might find you. And now it brings us here, to this village. We praise the God of heaven that he has shown us to you and we have brought gifts for you, O king.” He clapped his hands and the big man came forward with the chest, placing it on the ground and releasing the large catch on the front. He folded back the lid to reveal two pouches and an ornate vase of some metal.
“We have brought you gifts from the very best of our treasures,” the head of the Magi explained. Carshena got up and opened the first bag, a large, heavy leather sack. He reached inside and retrieved a hand-full of gold coins, large and round, heavier than any Yosef had ever seen.
“We have brought you gold, riches for a king,” he exclaimed in Greek, letting the coins fall back into the sack as he spoke. Bigtha came forward and opened the second pouch, markedly smaller, but of much richer leather than that full of money. As he untied the string, a lush fragrance filled the room.
“And incense, for the worship of one who is worthy of it,” he said, also in Greek. Lastly, Mersen lifted the small jar from the bottom of the chest.
“And myrrh, to bind the wounds and heal those who need it,” he exclaimed.
“We pray the blessings of your God upon you, O king of the Jews,” Mehuman closed, “upon you and your parents. We will pray for you to claim your throne soon and dispense justice and righteousness upon your people.” Those words sent a thrill down Yosef’s spine. Might he live to see Yehoshua take power? Might he after all be father of the King of Israel? The three men passed the priceless gifts into the builder’s hands, paid deep homage to the child king again, and left as quickly as they had come. Miriam looked at Yosef and he at her. Only Yehoshua seemed unaffected. Dumbfounded, it took Yosef a long moment to realize he must see their guests off, have them stay the night, offer them food, or something. He hurried out of their house and to the gate only to find that the Magi had already mounted their camels and had begun their journey away from there.
He came back to the house, puzzled. Yehoshua was back on the ground, inspecting the gifts.
“What on earth?” Yosef asked of Miriam. She just shook her head and gazed at the child who for one moment had seemed so regal, so much more than he had ever been.
Yosef had thought that he might never get to sleep that night, but as he bedded down with his wife nestled in his arms, the dark of sleep overtook him with a speed that he’d rarely experienced. And with the sleep came another night vision. He dreamed he was awoken by someone calling his name. He got up from his bed and opened the door. There was their donkey, laden with a large bundle. A man stood beside it. His attire and bearing reminded Yosef of the Magi who had just departed, but there was a brightness around him that made it seem as if it was he who glowed.
“Get up,” he commanded, “and flee to Egypt with the child and Miriam, his mother. Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to try to kill the child.”[21] And Yosef awoke, the thought still fresh in his mind. He immediately shook Miriam.
“Miriam!” he exclaimed.
“Let me sleep,” she muttered. “I just dropped off.”
“Miriam, we must leave!” he hissed. “Herod is going to try to kill Yehoshua!” She instantly came fully awake.
“What?” she demanded, rolling over to see his face.
“Herod is going to try to kill him. We must leave immediately!” The urgency was clear.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“I’ve just had a night-vision.” He leaped up and hurried over to where Yehoshua slept in a large basket. “Come, dear, take only what we need.”
“Yes, yes,” she rolled herself out of her blanket and fumbled for her belt and shawl. “The bed rolls and our clothes.” She collected them together as she spoke dropping them into one of the carpets on the floor. “What about your tools?”
“They’re over there,” he called, pointing to the satchel on the floor. “I’ll have to leave the large saw. We can buy more when we get to Egypt.”
“Egypt?” she gasped, ceasing her packing. “Why Egypt?”
“Because that’s where I was told to go. We’ll be safe there.” He reached hurried to the corner where they’d stashed the gifts of the Magi. “Let’s not forget these.” Miriam nodded her head and gathered some provisions: fruit, bread, and a water skin. Meanwhile Yosef grabbed a wax tablet off one of the shelves and hastily scribbled a note to his uncle in Aramaic. He grabbed his satchel and slung it over his shoulder, picked up Miriam’s bundle and hurried to get the donkey out. He was still tying the bundle to it when he heard a voice from the large house.
“Who is out there?”
“It’s me!” he called up to his uncle. “Yosef!”
“What in heaven’s name are you doing in the dead of night?” the old man demanded, descending the few steps to the courtyard. “And with a donkey? Are you leaving?”
“Yes,” the builder replied checking the ropes again. “Herod wants to kill Yehoshua.”
“How do you know that?” Uncle Obed’s face was skeptical.
“I had a night-vision, uncle.”
“A night-vision.” The old man snorted. “More likely fear brought about by those strange men visiting us!”
“It is true! I swear by Almighty God.” Just then Miriam hurried out, the sleeping Yehoshua in her arms.
“Do you believe this, Miriam?” Obed demanded.
“I do,” she said with conviction. “My husband does not lie. You should know that, uncle!” The old man glared at her.
“Very well, go with God. May you be kept safe.”
“Peace be upon you, uncle,” Yosef intoned.
“And upon you, my son.”
And the three of them left the courtyard with their donkey.
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Yosef in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.[22]
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