HULDAH AND ELIZABETH
In a gala dress of blue with silver embroidery, Martha, her faithful
Eli close at hand and girt in a clean towel, awaited the coming of
Passover guests, for the few days preceding the Feast were used for
visiting, and Lazarus and his sisters had many friends. The first
guest to arrive was Huldah, wife of a Temple scribe. Martha opened the
door. The servant took his place behind a stool near the door with a
basin of water.
"Sit thee down," Martha said after greetings. "Let thy feet be cooled.
The way is dusty for ten thousand feet press to the City of David."
"Yea, from all the world they come to see the Temple of the Jews,"
Huldah answered. "For a week hath the ring of the hammer sounded over
the hills where the roadways are made safe, and tombs are fresh
whitened that none be rendered unclean. All Jerusalem is a guest
chamber. Where is Mary?" and she glanced about the room.
"She is in the garden with Anna and her Capernaum guest Debora. And
Debora hath been saying a prophet hath arisen the like of which hath
not been seen since Elijah went up in his fiery chariot."
"A prophet! A prophet!" exclaimed Huldah, greatly interested. "Whence
cometh he?"
"From Galilee--but the maidens are coming. Ask Debora."
In festive attire and carrying flowers, Anna and Debora entered the
room, followed by Mary, gowned in clinging white caught high on her
breast and falling away leaving her arms bare. Her hair had blown
softly about her face. Her cheeks were like almond blossoms and a
white veil caught around her head by a carved silver chaplet, fell over
her shoulders. After the greeting, Huldah turned to Debora.
"Hast thou said a prophet cometh from Galilee?"
"So I have spoken."
"Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet."
"From Galilee cometh Jesus of Nazareth."
"Jesus of Nazareth!" Huldah exclaimed, throwing up her hands.
"Hast heard of him?" Martha inquired.
"Jesus son of Gamaliel, successor to Jesus son of Damneus; Jesus son of
Sie; Jesus son of Phabet! Be there no end to the Jesus' sons? And now
cometh the worse of them all. Yea, I have heard of him. A wolf in
sheep's clothing--a false prophet is he. Never was he taught in the
Temple school, yet doth he dare within its sacred portals to teach
others. By an evil one is he led."
"Why dost thou say by an evil one?" asked Debora.
"Dost thou, a daughter of Israel, so ask? Aye, is it not evil to speak
against the traditions of the Elders? No worse to blaspheme the Temple
itself! Is not Israel the chosen of God, and hath it not been written
there is no salvation outside Israel? Had there been no Jew the Law
from Sinai had not been given and we too would be unclean as the
Gentiles. What worse could one do than set at naught the traditions of
the Elders? But this is not all. He doth both harvest and winnow on
the Holy Sabbath."
"Harvest and winnow on the Sabbath?" Martha asked in surprise.
"Yea, and this is not all. He is a friend of publicans."
"Publicans? Those vile wretches who filch from the pockets of Israel
to pay for the pageantry of Rome?" It was Anna who questioned.
"Yea, and this is not all. He is also a friend of the defiled
Samaritan, friendly as a brother is he with these heathen--and--and--"
she whispered, "he keepeth company with harlots."
"Harlots!" exclaimed the maidens under their breath.
"Yea--what manner of prophet thinkest thou this be?"
"Hast thou thyself seen the evil things of which thou beareth witness?"
Debora asked of Huldah.
"Nay, but such are the reports."
"Our guest Debora hath both seen the face of him and heard his voice,"
Mary observed.
Huldah laughed. "And what so easy for a false prophet to deceive with
smooth speech and searching eyes, as a maiden's heart? But enough of
such talk as doth vex the Rabbis. See thou my cloth of gold? With my
needle I shall make it gay with crimson pomegranates." Huldah took her
embroidery from her bag, and the young women stood around admiring her
work when voices were heard outside. Martha turned to the lattice
window and looked out.
"More pilgrims are coming. A mother in Israel is to be our guest. She
cometh with a neighbor and leaneth heavily on her staff. Mary--Mary!
It is Elizabeth. Hasten to meet her."
Mary hurried out. When she had gone Huldah asked, "Who is this aged
Elizabeth?"
"Knowest thou not? She is the mother of John the Baptiser whose head
Herod did give as a bauble to the vile Herodias." Huldah rose
hurriedly and looked out the window.
"The mother of John Baptist, he who did come from the caves of the
mountains with the garment of a wolf, the beard of a lion and the voice
of a bear. Jerusalem turned out to hear the man. Possessed of a devil
was he. Aye, and the hair of his mother be white like the cap of snow
that sits on Hermon's head. Verily a foolish son bringeth down his
mother's hair in sorrow. If the Rabbis are not able to teach the Law,
shall one wild from the desert be able? For attending to business not
his own lost he his head."
"Lean on me," said Mary, just outside the door. "My feet have not
traveled the hard path so long."
"The blessing of Jehovah on thee, my daughter," Elizabeth replied as
they came up the steps. In ample black drapery and wearing a widow's
headdress, the aged woman entered. "Peace be to this house and to thy
hearts, my daughters," she said with upraised hands. She was conducted
to a wide armchair, and Mary threw back her black mantle and Eli
unloosed her sandals.
"There are many pilgrim feet pressing toward the Passover Feast,"
Huldah said.
"Yea, my daughter. And some whose feet pressed the pilgrim path last
year have gone on a longer pilgrimage, a farther journey than to the
City of Zion--yea to the Heavenly Zion have they gone." Elizabeth
rested her head wearily against the back of the chair and tears rolled
down her withered cheeks. Mary knelt beside her and taking her hands
said gently, "Weep not! From our brother have we heard what Herod hath
done. It was cruel, aye, cruel as the grave to take thine son--the
only son of thine old age. But weep not!"
"Cruel as the grave! So seemeth it. Yet the Lord gave and the Lord
hath taken away. The Lord truly blessed me in that it was given me to
be the mother of a prophet. Strange too, was it, for the spring-time
of my life had gone. Yea, the ten years had passed after which the
Israelite may give a writing of divorcement to a barren wife. Yet did
the love of my husband live and in the fulness of time to us a son was
born. A Nazarene did he grow, neither cutting his beard, nor drinking
wine nor looking on women. And as Elijah came from the wilds of Gilead
to confound Ahab, so came the son of my bosom from the wilds of Judea
crying in the ear of an adulterous generation, 'Prepare ye! Prepare!
There cometh one after me whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to
unloose.' And as he did declare, so hath that mightier appeared--aye,
the hope of Israel. Not a Nazarene is he. Came he both eating and
drinking and loving womankind, and lo! of him they say 'a wine bibber
and a glutton.' But, daughters, wisdom be justified of her children.
Lo, he that hath been promised to restore again the glory of Israel is
even now in the City of our God!"
"Strange words thou speakest," said Huldah.
"Thou dost not speak of Jesus of Nazareth?" Mary asked.
"Even of him," the aged woman answered.
"Art thou of his acquaintance?" Debora asked with interest.
"Even more, for was not the mother of her who bare Jesus even the
sister of my father?"
"Thy kinsman he is? Thou hast looked upon his face and heard the
wondrous voice that doth drive away fever?"
"Yea, have I seen and heard, both the son and his mother and father,
for twice did I visit under the roof of my cousin."
"His mother--what of her? Is she skilled in savoring rich sop?" Martha
asked.
"She hath not possessed the wherewithal to make rich sop, yet in her
veins runneth the blood of kings. Of the house of David hath she come."
"And where hath she been in hiding, this royal-blooded Jewess?" Huldah
asked.
"In the rude home of a Galilean peasant, for poverty hath been her lot.
Yea, in the stone feed-trough of a cattle shed was Jesus born because
his father had not the price of keep at the inn. A little lad at
Nazareth was he when I first saw him."
"A little lad," Mary repeated. "What manner of little lad was he?"
"Beside his mother's knee he heard stories of the brave and mighty of
Israel. He walked with his mother by the sea and in the fields. He
loved the fowls of the air, the hares and the foxes. And such
questions did he ask as no man hath wisdom to answer. While his mother
toiled he played with the children of the village. When they played
funeral right vigorously would he weep with the mourners. When they
played wedding with those who piped, piped he, and with those who
danced, danced he until his small garments, like wings, flew apace.
Mild was he and obedient, yet when his hand was lifted in wrath it did
strike hard. Once he did fight. Aye, and a good fight it was and over
the wall did he send with the speed of a wild ass and fierce blows, a
lad twice his size. His mother did bind his black eye in a fig leaf
poultice and tell him fighting were not good for little lads. I
remember yet his face as he did make answer, 'Woman, know'st thou not
our father David did smite a giant which did torment Jehovah's chosen
ones? Even so did I smite him who was plucking hair from the head of a
feeble child who could do naught but cry out. For this did I send him
over the wall, and no more will he do this evil thing when I am nigh.'"
"Blessings on him," laughed Debora, clapping her hands.
"My heart goeth out to such a lad," Mary said.
"What for?" Huldah asked. "For making bloody another lad's nose?"
"If so be that to bloody a nose is the only way to stay the hand of
oppression."
"And yet another time did I see him," Elizabeth continued. "At a
wedding in Cana, when he had grown to man's estate. Merry were the
guests with feasting and shouting when the wine did fall short. In an
outer room were some firkins which Jesus did order filled with water.
When the water was drawn out, it was wine."
"This is no sign of a prophet," Huldah answered quickly. "Ofttimes
have I with a cup of grape sirup well thickened, made a kid skin of
wine. What sign hath he given of being a prophet that hath not already
been given?"
"From the dungeon my John asked this question," Elizabeth answered
slowly. "After other things did Jesus say, 'Tell John I have come to
bring the gospel to the _poor_.'"
Huldah laughed heartily. Then she said, "Of a surety this is a sign no
prophet hath given. The poor? Who taketh account of the poor?
Poverty is a visitation of Jehovah. Ever have the poor been despised
and forsaken. Cursed be the lot of the poor--yea, thrice cursed!"
"Yea, cursed be the lot of the poor. Even was this the lot of Jesus of
Galilee. Oft was his food but dried locusts. Oft bore his thin
garments many patches. Oft was a heavy yoke put on the burden of his
childish shoulders. For this pitieth he the poor."
"Locusts for the belly; patches for the back; a yoke for the shoulders!
Shame on Israel that of this sort it would call a king--even from
Galilee where women labor in the field and men like cattle toil!" and
Huldah's lip curled with scorn.
"The toiler toileth that Herod may make great banquets. Pilate doth
ride in a golden chariot and Caesar feed men to tigers. When cometh
the King of the Jews, such will be done away with, for again will
slaves be set free and the Year of Jubilee proclaimed."
"A king must be a King--not a herder of sheep or a driver of oxen," was
Huldah's emphatic reply.
"Was not our glorious David a keeper of sheep before the crown was put
upon his head? Not whence he cometh, but the kind he is, doth decide
the quality of kings," Mary observed thoughtfully.