Ezekiel of Bethlehem

Chapter I

Chapter II., Chapter III , Chapter IV., Chapter V , Chapter VI., Chapter VII., Chapter VIII., Chapter IX , Chapter X., Chapter XL, Chapter XII , Chapter XIII., Chapter XIV., Chapter XV., Chapter XVI., Chapter XVII., Chapter XVIII.,

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Chaptee XIX.,

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Chaptek XX.,

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Chapter XXI.,

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Chapter XXII.,

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Chapter XXIII , .

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Chapter XXIV., .

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Chapter XXV.,

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Chapter XXVI., .

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Chapter XXVII ,

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Chapter XXVIII.,

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Chapter XXIX., .

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Chapter XXX.,

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Chapter XXXI., .

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Chapter XXXII.,

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Chapter XXXIII.,

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Chapter XXXIV.,

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Ezekiel oe Bethlehem.

CHAPTEE 1.

H! Mablah, Mahlah, haste thee, haste, and see the crowds of people coming,” shouted a small Israelitish boy to his sister.

Little five-years-old Mahlah ran to him clapping her tiny hands with glee, “ I am so glad, Ezekiel, are not you ? ”

“Yes, I am ; it isn’t every day we see a sight like this ; why the street is full of men, women, and animals. I wonder whence they all come ? ” “I have never before seen so many people, Ezekiel, why are they coming here ? ”

“I heard our father say the people had to come here to be enrolled, but I don’t know what that means ; ah, here is our father now, let us ask him.”

“What is it, my son, that thou wouldst inquire of me ?” said the father, who, on approaching, had overheard Ezekiel.

“Father, tell us why so many persons are coming to Bethlehem to-day.”

“Ah, my children, they come because the Roman Emperor decreed that each inhabitant of Judea must go to his own city, that is, the chief city of his tribe, to be enrolled.”

“ What meanest thou, father, by ‘ enrolled ’ ” ?

“ Each one is to have his name written on a census register kept for the purpose, the object of which is to enable the officers to know from whom to collect a tax, which is a certain sum of money people are required to pay to the Roman government.”

“ Dost thou mean, father, that we Israelites must pay tax to the Romans ? ” spoke Ezekiel.

“Yea, my son, we are no longer a free people ; the sceptre hath now departed from Judah, yet the old promise to us was that it should not depart until the Shiloh come.”

“Father, when will he come?”

“Alas! my son, I know not, would that he were here now to rule his people and free us from the Roman yoke ; it is a galling thing that we Israelites must pay tribute to a heathen, but all the world over which the Roman Emperor rules doeth the same ; he is, as it were, sovereign of the universe, and when he decrees the subordinate peoples must obey.”

“ How long, father, will these strangers stay here?”

or. From Bethlehem to Calvary.

“It may be a long time, my son, for the enrolling is a slow process.” So saying the father entered the house, leaving Ezekiel and Mahlah gazing upon the novel sight.

Watching the living panorama passing before them, afforded the children much entertainment for several days, after that, the number of strangers gradually decreased, until only occasionally a little group of them was to be seen coming.

“Now, children,” said their father, “I hope thou art satisfied with what thou hast beheld the last few days.”

“Dost not think, father, more people are coming?”

“Nay, my son, all of them must be here by this time, Bethlehem has never held so many people before, I know not where any more could find lodging.”

When night settled down upon the ordinarily quiet town of Bethlehem, the dwelling houses and also the square fiat-roofed khan or inn, of rough stones, were crowded with strangers; every available spot in them was occupied with people and goods of all kinds.

Beside the inn, was a court for animals, an inclosure of flat rocks bounded it upon two sides and a limestone bluff upon the others^

In the bluff was a cave, which had been used by the patriarchs of the tribe of Judah when they had lived and ruled in the khan; hither their cattle were often driven for security, and here were the mangers used by them. Some of the strangers, who came late, were obliged to find quarters in this cave ; among those so necessitated were Joseph and Mary his espoused wife, who came from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because they were of the family of David, and Bethlehem was “ the city of David.”

A fairer day ne’er dawned upon earth than was the following one ; no wonder the sun shed down his rays with such an effulgence of splendor ; no wonder the winter air breathed health and strength to all mankind, for, during the night just passed, a little stranger had arrived in Bethlehem, and his mother Mary, who came with Joseph, ‘‘ wrapped him in swaddlingclothes and laid him in a manger.”

All the town was in excitement over the news that some shepherds, not very far away, while watching their fiocks had been surrounded by the glory of the Lord and had heard angelic voices proclaim, “Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the

OTy From Bethlehem to Calvary. 11

Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you : ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddlingclothes, lying in a manger.”

Whilst the startled shepherds gazed in silent wonder upon the scene, strains of sweetest music fell upon their ears, as the words “ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,” chanted by a heavenly choir, rose and swelled upon the breezes of that strange night, that brought the little Christ child to earth — the child toward whom the decades of the past had pointed, of whom prophetic utterance had foretold, and the one to whom all future ages would look back, and confess as the Eedeemer of the world, the Saviour of mankind!

The first hour of the morning was scarcely passed, before the father of Ezekiel and Mahlah was astir, and, having performed his devotions, was out upon the street, people were hurriedly going to and fro, many little groups of them were standing about, eagerly talking and gesticulating; one of his acquaintances saluted him with : “Hast heard the news, Ephraim? ”

“Nay, my friend, I was marveling what meaneth all this commotion.”

“Ah, it is wonderful, wonderful, what thinkest thou, it is said the Messiah hath come 1 ”

“Hath come? whence and how? we have waited so long for his appearing.”

“That is the amazing part of it; he was born last night, and is even now lying in a manger.”

“Born? and cradled in a manger? ’tis not thus our Messiah cometh.”

“ But some shepherds vouch for it, that the God of our fathers, blessed be his name ! came and revealed this unto them.”

“It passeth knowledge, my friend, it is too strange to be true, verily I cannot believe it.”

“Yet they say they saw the glory of our God and heard the angels call the newly-born, Christ the Lord.”

“Didst thou see these men?”

“Yea, with mine own eyes I beheld them and heard them speak ; they are the men who tend the flocks in that field about ten or twelve furlongs hence.”

“ I know them well — uncouth, but kindly men are they — why should they bring such a tale to Bethlehem now? we shall hear more of this, my friend, mark my words.” So saying, Ephraim retraced his steps and in a short time reached home. Here he recited to his astonished family the wonderful tidings; the mother, Ezekiel, and Mahlah listened attentively to him.

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“Were not the shepherds afraid?” asked Mahlah, when he had finished.

“Tea, but after a while their fear left them, and when the angels had gone and all was quiet again, they came with great haste into Bethlehem to see if what they had heard were true.”

“And was it, father? ” queried Ezekiel.

The father paused before he replied : “ They said they found all as the angels had proclaimed.”

“Didst thou go, father, to see the baby in a manger? ” said Mahlah ; “ oh, father, do go and take me with thee.”

“ Nay, my daughter, I did not go.”

“ Didn’t the angels say,” asked Ezekiel, “ that he is the Saviour which is Christ the Lord? Father, isn’t it the Christ we are looking for? perhaps this is he.”

“Ah ! no, my son, our Messiah will come as a ruler, a king, not as a babe.”

“ Why, then,” said the mother, “ should the angels make such an announcement to the shepherds ? ”

“ I apprehend that the shepherds were excited, and knew not the meaning of all the angels said.”

“My husband, that could scarcely be, for you told us they found all exactly as the angels had declared, even to the manner in which the babe was clad and the place where it lay. I have always been so happy in looking forward to the coming of our Messiah as a conqueror and our king. I like not to think of him in any other light, but I know ’tis a truth that the sceptre hath departed from Judah ; this very gathering of people here proves it, and I know our father Jacob assured us that the sceptre should not depart until the Shiloh come.”

“ ’Tis a strange, strange thing, I cannot fathom it,” replied her husband; “if this be the Messiah, why was his coming not announced to our learned men, those high among our people, instead of to mere shepherds ? ”

“ True, but I doubt not they are men of piety and devotion to our God ; who are more zealous than they in purifying themselves upon the Sabbath day and then humbly sitting farthest from the ark ? who have more tender hearts, and who are more vigilant in defending weak and helpless creatures committed to their care? Yet, were he the Messiah, it is surprising, as thou sayest, that men of such low degree should be the first to do him homage.”

“It is said they are telling all with whom they come in contact about it, and they are praising and giving glory to God.”

or. From Bethlehera to Calvary, 15

“ Didst thou not say the angels sang, ‘ Peace on earth, good-will to men ’ ?

“ Yea, those were the words.”

“ Peace on earth ! my husband that is so of a truth ; rememberest not the Janus temple gates are shut? and Rome rules the earth.!’

‘‘Yea; it is so.”

“And, moreover, dost thou not think the time hath arrived for the Deliverer to come? hath not wickedness been excessive in both high places and low, and are not the minds of men looking forward for a some one or something, they understand not who or what, that shall appear to free the nations from this evil?”

“ Yea, the world is ready I doubt not for the Messiah to come.”

“And hath thou forgotten what the prophet Micah saith, ‘But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel’?”

“Nay, I forgot it not; the prophet hath so said, but how couldst this babe be a ruler in Israel?”

Ezekiel and Mahlah did not see the little Christ child in the manger ; when he was eight days old he was carried up to the temple at Jerusalem and circumcised and the name Jesus, which the angel had told his mother Mary to call him, was given ; henceforth he would be recognized as an Israelite.

Thirty-three days after this, he was again taken to Jerusalem to be presented and consecrated to the Lord. Before this service, Joseph and Mary offered, in accordance with the old ceremonial law, the sacrifice of either a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt-offering, the other for a sin-offering for the purification of the mother ; after being sprinkled with some of the blood, the priest pronounced her legally clean, then, and not before, she could present her son to the Lord.

While she was doing this, a devout man, named Simeon, to whom the Holy Spirit had declared that he should not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ, came into the temple. As he witnessed the ceremony, the Holy Spirit revealed to him that the joy he had so long been anticipating was at this moment before him. Scarcely able to repress his feelings, he approaches Mary, and, taking the infant in his arms, gives expression to his emotion in the words, ‘‘ Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people : a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.”

While Simeon was speaking, an aged Galilean woman named Anna came up to them; as she listened to his touching words, the knowledge came to her also, that not many .years hence, the innocent, helpless babe he held in his arms, would be the helper of all mankind. J oyfully she too thanked God that his promise to Israel was at length fulfilled ; that she beheld in the little Christ child before her the Messiah who would bring redemption to all his people.

CHAPTEK 11.

HEBE is great excitement in Jerusalem,”

X said Ezekiel’s father, who had just returned from that city, “ a company of men from the East, people call them ‘The Wise Men,' have arrived and are inquiring ‘Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the East and are come to worship him,’ all Jerusalem is in a ferment, it delighteth the people to hear the Messiah hath come, but Herod feareth and hath called all the chief priests and scribes together and interrogated them, as to where it was prophecy said the Messiah should be born? To that they made answer, ‘Tn Bethlehem of Judea,’ then Herod summoned the Wise Men and asked them when the star appeared to them, and he told them to go to Bethlehem and search for the child, and when they found him to bring him word, so he could go and worship him also, but this he does not intend to do ; he only wants to get possession of the child to destroy him.”

“Crafty Herod! I trust he may be defeated in his purposes, whether the little babe be really our promised king or not.”

‘‘You speak truly, wife; he is a dangerous man. I, too, would be sorry to see the innocent babe in his power ; people call him ‘ Herod the Great,’ h.e is that alone in wicked deeds; ever since he was, in Rome, installed king of the Jews forty years ago, his conduct hath been most vile ; a man wlio could slay his own wife, as he did Mariamne, and his two sons Alexander and Aristobulus, would surely not stay his hand from this child if he chose to destroy it.”

It was nearly eventide, when the Wise Men left Herod’s presence. As they mounted their camels at the khan in Jerusalem, the stars were twinkling above them, while larger than any other and shining with a light singularly bright, was the one that was to guide them to the object of their search. Ever looking to it for direction, they go out through the Bethlehem gate, which is in the western wall of Jerusalem, down the rough mountain road, on through the valleys and plains, up over hills they wend their way, until, by the light of their guiding star, they see Bethlehem’s white walls.

In stately quietness, but for the sound of the bells on the camels, the Magi pass on. Lo ! as they watch the star, it stops in its course through the heavens, and the Wise Men know their journey is ended. The cavalcade halts at the gate of the khan, which gate is outside the walls of the town, the camels kneel, the travellers dismount, the keeper unbars the gate, and upon being inquired of for the child lately born, leads them through the court-yard, down the enclosure where the cattle are sheltered, to the shed which protected the entrance to the cave. Immediately overhead the star is blazing, and the Wise Men enter the lowly abode, to find the holy babe upon its mother’s knee. With reverence they prostrate themselves before him, never doubting his sovereignty, for them it is enough the star has led them thither ; and was it not God’s hand that moved the star? Adoringly they present unto him the costly offerings they have brought from their far off home : offerings meet only for a king, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Evening had deepened into night. The Wise Men had retired to the khan, wearied by their long journey and happy that their mission had been accomplished, they slumbered peacefully, but in their dreams, the angel of the Lord came to them and warned them not to make any report to Herod, but go homeward by another route.

Joseph and Mary, not apprehending any danger, were calmly sleeping when the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him to take the young child and his mother and go away to Egypt, a distant country, and remain there until he bade him return, because Herod would seek for the child to destroy it.

Before the last of the night watches had passed away, ere Ezekiel, Mahlah, and any of Bethlehem’s inhabitants were awake, the Wise Men, aroused by their heavenly visitant, were making their preparations for departure and as their servants were equipping the drowsy camels for their journey, there passed through the court, yard of the khan, Joseph leading an giss, upon which Mary was seated with the precious baby nestled close to her bosom. Out over the stony road they go; many tedious miles lay before them, but if Herod be illdisposed toward the child, they know that there is no place in Palestine where he would be safe, so, at their Lord’s command, they undertake the journey, never murmuring, never doubting, only hastening to do his bidding.

A few days after the foregoing events occurred, Ephraim’s wife, seeing him come into the house at a very unusual pace, said : “ My husband, what hath happened? thou seemest in much haste.”

“Aye,” he excitedly exclaimed, “I know not what will become of our nation ; affairs are getting worse and worse, I just heard some startling news: it is said Herod, impatiently awaited the return of the Magi, but when they came not and he realized that his stratagem to get possession of the child some persons say is our Messiah, had been thwarted, he became exceeding wroth and commanded that all male children of two years old and under, living here and in the surrounding country, should be slain.”

“List! what are those fearful shrieks I hear without?” said his wife.

The children, having heard their father’s voice elevated to an unwonted pitch, ran into the room and were listening to him in astonishment, when the cries from the outside reached them.

“ Oh ! mother, mother, will they come for us ? ” sobbed Mahlah, clinging to her mother’s robe.

“Nay, my daughter, I thank the God of our fathers, that thou art too old to come under wicked Herod’s decree. Isn’t it, my husband, a fulfillment of the prophecy by Jeremiah ?”

“ Thou reforest to the passage, ‘A voice was heard in Eamah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Eachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not,’ it seems like a confirmation of that prophecy.”

“ Though it is so distressing the dear children should die in this way, I am sure our God will take them home to dwell with him ; yet, oh ! how hard it is for the parents to give them up.”

“ Doth Herod think if he kills all the male infants here, that he will certainly slay the one the Wise Men called Hhe king of the Jews’? ” asked Ezekiel.

“ Yea, I think that must be his idea ; Herod doth not want a rival to his throne, even if that rival be a tiny babe, he is full well aware the Jewish people have no love for him, so he would not scruple to use any means to rid himself of a real or supposed rival, being an usurper, he was alarmed at the intelligence brought by the Wise Men.”

“ I hope he will not find him.”

“ Nay, my son, there is no probability of Herod finding [the child, for Joseph and Mary and the babe disappeared just previous to the departure of the Eastern travellers ; no one hath information why they went, or where they went to.”

CHAPTEK III.

URING the three years that followed the

1 J events recorded in the last chapter, affairs moved . on quietly in Palestine ; life was much the same as it had been ; Ezekiel, Mahlah, and the other children in Bethlehem had studied the tasks allotted them, and played the games commonly indulged in by children of that day. Ezekiel and Mahlah were both carefully trained in the doctrines of the old Mosaic law, but neither of them had forgotten the incidents which made such a deep impression three years before, and they often talked of the infant Jesus, whom the wise men had worshipped as ‘‘the King of the Jews,” and wondered what had become of him.

“ Oh ! mother,” cried Ezekiel, one day, coming into the room where she was, “the boys say that wicked Herod is dead.”

“Well, my dear,” replied his mother, “no one will be sorry that he has gone to give an account of the deeds done while he was living.”

“Now mother, his son will reign in his stead, I suppose.”

“Yea, Archelaus is his name, and of all

Herod’s sons he is the one most like his father. Would that we had a ruler of our own!”

‘‘ If only the Messiah would come, it would be better for our people, would it not, mother?”

“Yea, far better, my boy.”

One night an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, and said : “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.”

Obedient to the heavenly voice, Joseph, Mary, and the child left their refuge in Egypt, and returned to the land of their nativity.

In lower Galilee there lies a valley. Upon the side of one of the fourteen surrounding hills, and upon its top, nearly twelve hundred feet above the sea level, was built the village of Nazareth. Here, up the narrow mountain path, Joseph brought Mary and the child to live in one of its humble dwellings.

Beautiful was the devotion shown by the younger members of the family circle to their elders in these old Israelitish homes, and the reverence of child manifested for parent was a magnificent model, worthy of imitation far away in this nineteenth century.

Both Joseph and Mary were educators of the child, so the boy Jesus learned to read the

Scriptures, whence he drew lessons of wisdom and love, and of things concerning both the moral and ceremonial law. We are told that “ he grew, and waxed strong in spirit : and the favor of God was upon him.”

There were five annual festivals held in Jerusalem : the Passover, the Pentecost, or feast of harvest, the feast of Tabernacles, the feast of Trumpets, and the day of Expiation. All the males of Israel went to Jerusalem to attend the first three of these feasts. Each year Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. To all Jews this was the most important of their annual sacred feasts, and not only commemorated their deliverance when the angel of death passed over the houses in Egypt where the lintels of the doors were sprinkled with blood, but it was also an offering each family made, that its sins during the year might be passed over. The fifteenth of Nisan, or our April, which commenced at sunset of the fourteenth, was the day of celebration. The fourteenth, which began at sunset of the thirteenth, was the day of preparation, or the feast of unleavened bread. Each house and all vessels in it were on this day purified ; for seven days from this time no leaven would be allowed anywhere. Extraordinary care was

(9r, Froin Bethlehem to Calvary, 27

taken in drawing the water for grinding the flour and baking of the bread. Each family provided a male lamb without blemish, which, on the afternoon of the fourteenth, was taken to the temple, where it was slain and prepared, in the ‘‘forecourts” of the building, for roasting. After it was opened and skinned, the tail and the fat were handed to a priest and burned upon the altar as an offering to God. Then the head of the family carried the lamb home to be roasted.

Thousands of fires were burning to roast the lambs whole; not a bone of them was to be broken ; all of them were required to be killed and eaten between the hours of three in the afternoon and midnight. If any part of it was not eaten during the feast, it was required to be burned.

Every house in the city was thrown open to strangers attending the feast. Each house was filled with guests, who ate the Passover supper with their hosts. Not fewer than ten, nor more than twenty, could form one company. Only men, and boys of fourteen years and over, partook of the roasted lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, a dish containing raisins, dates, and other fruits, on which vinegar had been poured, and all beaten and blended together

Ezekiel of Bethlehem.

into a mixture commemorative of the mortar with which their forefathers had worked when in the land of the pyramids, and wine mixed with water ; all of which constituted the Paschal feast. During the ceremony the youngest one at the table inquired its meaning. The questions and answers about it were always the same : the old story of the lamb slain by the ancient Israelites in the land of their captivity the evening before they fled from Egypt, and sprinkling the door-posts with some of its blood as an indicator for the destroying angel to pass over houses so marked; and their wonderful passage through the bed of the Eed Sea, with the watery walls towering on either side of them and the armed hosts of Egypt upon their rear; and their signal deliverance from their pursuers by the hand of the Lord moving the mighty mass of waters back to its place and engulfing them — all was rehearsed year after year, in a formula determined by the rabbis.

At midnight the gates of the temple, which had been closed throughout the ceremony, were again opened and the people thronged through them, bearing thank-offerings to the Lord.

On the fifteenth no servile work could be done, it was kept as a Sabbath; on the third day of the Feast crowds of people followed after the men who had been sent by the priests, to the valley of the Keclron, to cut and bring to the temple a sheaf of the first ripened grain, to be waved before God. Thus did the people recognize his munificence toward them, and until this was done, no field in the land could be harvested, the only exception being to obtain food for cattle. The three remaining days were only half-holy ones, and the last day was observed as a Sabbath.

Jesus, having completed his twelfth year, the age at which the Jewish law declares, that ‘‘ a boy is from henceforth a son of the law, and must be accountable for his own sins,” Joseph and Mary took him with them to the Passover Feast. What a sight it must have been to him, the holy city with hill after hill rising around it, their declivities and the valleys between, gardens of loveliness, rich with fig, olive, and almond trees ; the verdure dotted with the tents of those who came to the feast after the houses were filled ; the streets of the city teeming with people; the sacred feast of which he had so often heard, but of which he had never before been partaker, the gorgeous temple with its impressive services, the white-robed' priests, the massive buildings of the holy city, all, all a new revelation to him.

Since Ezekiel had attained his thirteenth year, he had regularly accompanied his parents to Jerusalem, when they went to attend the Passover, as he grew older he took more interest in the celebration of it ; his anticipations of pleasure were always realized, for among the people there he met friends and relatives from distant parts of the country, who came to the city three times a year, if possible, to attend the great festivals.