If trees can speak, then I am an eagle.
My lord commands that we return to our garden.
When we are all returned to the judgment place, he says, “You boy, Daniel, say what you have to say.”
“What was the testimony against the woman?” Daniel asks.
“These two elders swore by The Name that they saw this woman playing the zonah with a young man under a tree in this very garden.”
Daniel’s face shows no fear. He looks on the two elders. He looks on me. He looks all around the garden. His eyes turn inward, as he is hearing a song no mortal man can hear. A thin smile splits his face.
“You are all fools,” he says in a voice bitter as bile. “Let me question each witness alone.”
The two elders look on each other in amaze and alarm.
My lord points to a bailiff.
The bailiff seizes one elder and leads him away.
The other has the look of an ox hit on the head with a hammer before it is sacrificed to the Babylonish gods.
Daniel looks on him without pity. “Under which tree did you see the woman playing the zonah?”
The elder’s face seems frozen for his fear. He looks all around the garden. “It is not so clear in my mind—”
“Then you lied,” says my lord. “You swore by The Name that you saw it clear in your mind.”
“I …” The elder looks here and there. He points on a mastic tree that is twice my height. “That one! That very tree. I see it clear in my mind. She lay on the ground and spread her legs for the young man under that tree.”
“Liar!” I scream.
Daniel makes a fierce grin on the elder and commands that he be led away and the other one brought.
Bailiffs take him away and bring the other back.
Daniel stabs his finger at the elder. “Under which tree did you see the woman playing the zonah?”
The elder’s face is gray as death. He says nothing.
“Under which tree?”
The elder looks all around and shakes his head. “It is not—”
“You swore by The Name it was clear! Under which tree?”
“That one!” The elder points on the giant oak behind my lord. It stands twenty times the height of a man. “I see it clear in my mind. She stood against that tree and spread her legs for the young man—”
“Liar!” shouts my lord. He stands from his judgment seat, and his face gleams with rage.
All the judges stand from their judgment seats and spit the eye of the elder.
My lord spits his eye.
The bailiff brings in the other elder.
All the judges spit his eye.
My lord spits his eye. He holds up his right hand to show the Ring of Justice. “Here is my judgment, and it is a righteous justice. He who bears false witness is condemned with the death of the one he would have killed unjustly.”
The two elders fall on their faces, begging mercy.
My lord calls for his bailiffs. “Take them away and stone them.”
The bailiffs take hold on my accusers.
I do not know what to feel.
I was lost, and now I am free.
I was shamed, and now Yah made a justice on me.
But a voice in my heart says I should beg mercy on the men.
I run to my lord. I take his hands in mine. I cover the Ring of Justice with my own fingers. “Make a mercy on them, I beg you.”
My lord looks on me long in a mighty wonder. “Why should I make a mercy on them? They are wicked and cruel, and they made a big injustice on you. They would have killed you, and now you beg mercy on them? What reason should I make a mercy on them?”
I do not know a reason my lord should make a mercy on them.
I know it is a foolishness, only my heart says that even if they are wicked and cruel and made injustice on me and would have killed me, still they are children of HaShem. I think HaShem loves them and hopes they will repent.
Love is not a reason.
Hope is not a reason.
So I do not have a reason, and I do not know what to say.
Still I think my lord should make a mercy on them, even if I can give no reason.
Mercy is its own reason, more than justice ever was.
My name is Shoshanna, and all my people call me Beautiful.
Miryam of Nazareth
“And all the people of Babylon praised Shoshanna Beautiful, the righteous woman, who did right in the eyes of HaShem,” Yeshua says.
I blink once, twice, three times.
I am not Shoshanna Beautiful.
It was all just a tale, more wonderful and terrible than any tale I ever heard.
Only a tale.
I am Miryam Beautiful.
My son looks on me and smiles.
My son looks on the village and smiles.
I had forgot the village. I look behind me.
Yehuda the sheep-man and his family are on their faces, weeping.
Shmuel the iron-man and his family. Old Hana and her family. Shimon the baker and his family. On their faces, weeping.
Old Yonatan and his family, on their faces.
Weeping.
I do not need to see more.
Tonight, they weep. Tomorrow, perhaps they will be kind, and perhaps they will be cruel, I do not know.
It does not matter.
I am brave of the village now, but more than brave.
I do not care what the village thinks on me, any more, forever.
I am free of the village, and free is more than brave.
My son grins on me. “Come here, Imma, there is a thing we must do.”
I do not know what thing we must do. I feel weak in all my body.
Yeshua comes to me and pulls me to a standing. “Walk with me, Imma. This way.”
I walk with him.
He leads me down the street toward our house.
I look back toward the village square.
Nobody follows after us.
We are alone.
“Run in circles with me, Imma.”
“I … that is a big foolishness.”
He takes my hand and makes me walk in circles around him.
He makes me run in circles around him.
He makes me run fast.
I laugh. I shout. I scream for my joy.
I run fast and faster. I never ran so fast in all my life.
He takes both my hands in his.
I run so fast, I lose my feet.
He holds my wrists in his strong hands, and he spins and spins and spins.
I feel as I am flying. I feel as I am soaring like an eagle. I feel as I am riding on the wings of HaShem.
It is a big foolishness, for I am an old woman, almost fifty.
It is not done in Israel.
It is not done in Egypt.
It is not done in Babylon.
It is not done in Rome.
It is not done anywhere in all the earth.
My son Yeshua is making a scandal again.
I love him more than I ever did.
Continue the Adventure
Shimon the Rock says:
“The tale you have read is the first of four scrolls in the long tale called Crown of Thorns.
“The second scroll will be called Son of David, and it is a mighty tale, how Rabbi Yeshua fights the second Power with a big help from me.
“I hope it will also tell the secret how my brother died. I was there and I should remember the matter, only some Samaritan smote me on the head, and I lost the memory on it. I have dreams on the matter now and again, only I wake up shouting in a big sweat and never learn the truth. If some man knows how it befell, I will have the secret out of him, if I have to break his teeth.
“Also, Rabbi Yeshua must do battle with the Greatest Satan. I do not understand the matter, only I know the Greatest Satan is mightier than the Great Satan. It has to do with the evils done by Rabbi Yeshua’s father David. I think it is a hard thing to ask a tsaddik to step into t
he sandals of a bloody man like David the king. The man who would be Mashiach should think three times whether he can take up David’s sword and not destroy his own soul.
“But the scribe who writes the tale of Son of David is a dull-wit and slow with his reed pen, and the tale is not yet all put on papyrus. I have set Miryam Magdala to hound the scribe. She has sharp teeth and will see the thing done at a good speed.
“This same scribe wrote another tale, a set of three scrolls that can be bought now. The tale is called City of God, and it tells about that matter we heard from Yohanan the prophet, how the Great Satan will make a bad war on our people. Yoni says it is the wrath of HaShem, but I say that is a big foolishness. I heard the tale once, and it is a mighty tale, better than any tale Yoni ever told, only not so good as a tale by Rabbi Yeshua. The first scroll is called Transgression.”
Click here to check out Transgression.
If You Enjoyed This Book
Yoni says:
“Did you like this tale of Rabbi Yeshua? What do you think will happen next? I am dying of my curiosity to find out. When the tale began, I thought the first Power was Egypt, only I was wrong.
“Toma Trouble says there is another mighty Power in the world, and that is the Power of word-of-mouth. I do not know what he means by that.
“I wish I could write letters with a reed pen on a papyrus, but I am not such a big genius as that. Do you know how to write? Rabbi Yeshua will be very angry on me for saying so, but I think you should write a review on this tale, so your whole village will know the matter of the first Power.
“If I could write, I would make a review of many ten thousand words, but Miryam Magdala says that is a big foolishness. She says a review should be one sentence or two, to tell how the tale made you feel, and that is all.
“Anyway, there is a good place where you can write a review, and that is the place you bought the scroll of this tale.”
Click here to go to the book page on Amazon. To review the book, scroll down to the Customer Reviews section and click the button labeled “Write a Customer Review.”
About the Author
Miryam Magdala says:
“The scribe who wrote this tale is some man from a far country. His name is called Randy son of Carl of the House of Ingemar, only he does not write it that way.
“I heard he is a philosophos, so you should be wary on him. He made a study on a thing called physics in a far country called Berkeley. I do not know what is physics, but it sounds like a mighty foolishness. Also, I do not know what is the meaning of the letters PhD. He said it was important, so it probably is not.
“This man says he lives in a place called ingermanson.com and that you would know how to find it.
“Also, he says if you go to that place, you can sign your name to get emails to learn when his next tale will be written on a scroll. The man is more lowborn than even a fish-man, but I like him, and if I knew how to sign my name, I would do it, for my heart beats fast when I hear words from him. Only do not tell him I said so, or he will be more conceited than that little Yoni, and that will be a bad matter.”
www.ingermanson.com
Standard Disclaimer
Toma Trouble says:
“The tale you have read is a thing called a fiction. The plain meaning is that it is not quite a lie, but almost, and you should not believe the matter without making investigation on it yourself. What did you see, and what do you know?
“If you did not see the matter yourself, then how can you know that was the way of it? That is a hard matter, and I think you should ask someone who was there. Only do not ask Yohanan ben Zavdai, for he bends his tales overmuch, and anyway he uses too many ten thousand words. Also, you should not ask Shimon the Rock, who is a thick-head and a dull-wit.
“Now that I think on the matter, it is not so easy to know who to ask. I think even a philosophos will make a big work to understand the matter. All the people in the tale are dead, and the matter is written by many scribes in many books, mostly Greekish people, and it is not so easy to put sensible Aramaic words in the foolish Greekish language.
“Here is what I know, that the scribe who put this tale on papyrus spent many thousand hours to make a study on the matter, and still you should not believe he got his tale right. I think you would have a good luck if a tenth part of his tale is true.
“But only HaShem knows which is the tenth part that is true, and which are the nine parts that are guesses and foolishness.”
20 Questions to Think On
Emotions: How did this story make you feel? What did you like most in the story?
Characters: Which characters did you identify with most?
Plot: Want to take the #SonOfMaryChallenge? Try to explain the storyline of the book in 25 words or less.
Setting: What surprised you most about the geography of first-century Palestine? How does geography affect the story? Would you like to get the maps in the book as free downloads? For a limited time, you can get them at ingermanson.com/maps.
You: How did this story change you? Did it make you think about Yeshua in a different way? Is he the same Yeshua you’ve always imagined? Is he a different Yeshua? Is he a little of both?
Theme: Yeshua and Yoni make several guesses about the first Power. What do you think is the first Power? How many different facets of the first Power can you find in the story?
The Ring of Justice: Is the Ring of Justice a Power for good? A Power for evil? Is it a Power at all?
Miryam’s Story Goal: Miryam desperately wants justice. Is there more than one kind of justice? How many kinds of justice can you think of? What kind of justice does she want? Do you think she deserves justice? Does she receive justice in the end, and if so, what kind? Does the village receive justice?
Yeshua’s Story Goal: Yeshua wants to destroy the first Power. In what sense does he succeed? In what sense is humanity’s battle with the first Power still going on? Do you think this battle will end?
Patriarchy: Most societies in the ancient world were shockingly patriarchal. In what ways does Yeshua subvert this system? In what ways does he work within the system? Why do you think he deals with patriarchy the way he does?
Family: There are three different theories on the “brothers of Yeshua” mentioned in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55. Some say they were sons of both Miryam and Yoseph. Some say they were sons of Yoseph by a previous wife. Some say they were cousins of Yeshua. Which theory makes the most sense to you? What reason do you have for accepting the theory you prefer? Do you think we have enough information to prove any of the theories?
Miryam’s Secret: If you had a twelve-year-old daughter who told you she was pregnant by a miracle of God, would you believe her? Do you think Miryam’s parents would have believed such a story? What would you do if you were Miryam? Would you tell anyone, ever? Would you tell even the child born from that miracle? If so, how would you prove your claim?
Son of God: In the Bible, the term “son of God” is used with several different meanings. How many can you think of? In what sense was Adam the “son of God?” In what sense was Israel the “son of God?” In what sense was the king of Israel the “son of God?” In what sense are all humans “sons and daughters of God?” In what sense was Yeshua the “son of God?”
Paradoxes: Yoni is obsessed with paradoxes. Do you agree with all the solutions he comes up for his paradoxes? Are you able to live with paradox in your own life?
Obedience: Hebrews 5:8 says that Yeshua “learned obedience from the things he suffered.” What does that mean to you? Why would he need to learn obedience? Can you think of any gospel stories that say Jesus learned things or asked questions to get information?
Yeshua’s Humanity: The Council of Chalcedon ruled in AD 451 that Yeshua had two natures in one person—a human nature and a divine nature. The Confession of Chalcedon says that Yeshua was truly God and truly man, both at the same time. Do you agree with the Council’s decision? What does it mean to be truly God? What doe
s it mean to be truly man? Do you find it a paradox? How do you think Yoni would resolve this paradox?
Omnipresence: God is said to be omnipresent—present everywhere throughout the universe. Do you believe Yeshua was omnipresent in his human nature? Why or why not? Do you think there is a paradox here?
Omnipotence: God is also said to be omnipotent—all-powerful, able to do anything. But Hebrews 6:18 says it is impossible for God to lie. Are there other things God can’t do? Were there things Yeshua was not able to do? Was he ever tired, hungry, thirsty, or sleepy? Did he ever cry out in agony? Did he ever need strengthening from angels? Do you believe Yeshua was omnipotent in his human nature? Why or why not? Do you think there is a paradox here?
Omniscience: God is said to be omniscient—knowing all things. Can you think of some occasions in the gospels where Yeshua appears to not know something? Do you think Yeshua was born able to speak Aramaic? What about English? Elvish? As an unborn fetus, did he know the plays Shakespeare would write sixteen centuries later? As a one-celled embryo, did he know the number of carbon atoms in the planet Mars? Do you believe Yeshua was omniscient in his human nature? Why or why not? Do you think there is a paradox here?
Yeshua’s Self-Knowledge: What do you think Yeshua believed about himself and his relationship to God? Did he believe this as a one-celled embryo? As an unborn fetus? As a growing child? When do you think he came to his belief? How do you think he came to his belief? What are your reasons for thinking so?
Copyright © 2020 by Randall Ingermanson
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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