by Mitch
However, before she could say anything to Yesuah, He said, “Yes, my family heard about Herod’s order.”
Her eyes lit up, amazed, because she hadn’t spoken, only thought the words! In awe, she said, “Kedar, He reads minds! Only God can do that. He is truly the Son of God.”
It was well into the night as Yesuah walked with them to the door. He asked, “Would you please come and visit me in the future?”
They agreed, flying out, something wonderful happened! Suddenly, Careah’s eyes sparkled. Her forehead was shining as though it was daylight around her. She really broke into great sobbing tears. Turning around, her eyes were gleaming and wet, she humbly thanked Yesuah over and over for this wonderful gift. Now they would be able to see where they were going. Oh, how thrilled and grateful she was to be alive at this moment! She excitedly said to Kedar, “Nothing has touched me more than this gift of light.”
Turning to say goodbye, Yesuah smiled and waved goodbye saying, “I will always be thinking of you.”
Kedar was rejoicing and sang out to Careah, “I think Yesuah enjoyed giving us these gifts as much as we did receiving them. I wonder if this was His first miracle!”
Careah responded, “I believe His first miracle was when He came to this Earth to show us that He really loves us.”
Kedar became aware he did not have a headlight as Careah did. His mind raced with chiding thoughts. Oh, how he wished he had not grumbled about coming to Bethlehem, and being selfish, refusing to help carry the Awn of Golden Barley. Maybe things would have been different if he had helped carry it. It was his wife who had faith and carried the heavy Awn of Barley. She deserved the special gift of light, not him. His thoughts continued, Maybe the next time I won’t be so contrary, and things will be different. He knew, had it not been for Careah, he would not have seen the King of Kings. This, he was very grateful for! His love for her was stronger now because of what she did.
Careah broke into Kedar’s gloomy thoughts, exclaiming, “We have truly seen Yesuah, the Messiah!”
“Very true, Careah, I’d like to ask you something. Who would have believed us, had it not been for the fact of our ability to fly and your amazing light that shines brighter than the moon? I say no one would.”
Careah agreed, “You are so right. No one in this whole wide world would have believed us, and that’s for certain.” The most beautiful singing they ever heard caught their attention. Wow, angels singing from Heaven about God’s son. They were singing, “Glory to the newborn King, Glory to the newborn King, Hail to the Prince of Peace.” On and on they sang.
Kedar gasped excitedly, “There is Gabriella, waving and smiling at us.”
Careah’s little finger shot up, “There’s Mitchella, she is smiling also.” The heavenly sight of innumerable angelic beings and celestial singing flooded Heaven with a million Hallelujahs and Alleluias in the background.
Assassins
Meanwhile, two of Herod’s soldiers, Felix and Rufus, assassins by trade, were hunting the child who was reported to be the next King of the Jews. Herod had told them there would be an extra bag of gold for the one who killed the child. These assassins were experts in their line of work. Being the best trackers in the country, they always captured whoever was wanted by the law, guilty or not, especially when a reward was offered. There were times when they did their job for the sheer thrill of seeing the victim squirm. Evidence in their search led them to Bethlehem. They went to all of the best inns, then the second-class inns, but no one knew anything, or they were not telling where the child had been born. Surely the city officials would know where the child was, yet they didn’t seem to know anything either.
Felix piped up, “I know how we can locate the child. We’ll find the greediest man in this town and offer him a gold coin.” Locating a man that looked greedy, Felix asked him if he knew of a boy who had recently been born in a stable?
He responded, “There are no stables or barns here in Bethlehem.” Then he asked suspiciously, “Why do you want to know?”
Felix lied, “We have some money to give him and if you can tell us where he is, we will give you a gold coin.”
That did the trick. Even though the greedy man had more money than he could spend in a lifetime, the gold coin put a gleam in his eyes. He couldn’t tell them fast enough! “Remember it’s not a stable. Look for the shepherd’s lambing house, that’s where the child was born. For another coin, I’ll tell you where the building is located.”
Rufus mumbled to Felix, “This fellow is surely greedy, I bet he would turn his own mother in for a shekel.”
Shrugging, Felix gave him the smallest coin he had, a shekel. Felix spoke out of the side of his mouth to Rufus, “Who said crime doesn’t pay?” The greedy man told them where the building was but neglected to tell them the building was closed for the season. Upon finding the building where the baby had been born, they saw it was not quite a stable by their definition. It was a beautiful building. Being closed, they looked in the window, it was cleaner than any inn in the town. Opening the door, they saw the place was deserted. Felix grunted, “Now what?”
Felix asked a young lad walking by his name.
“My name is Phillip.”
“Do you know if this is the building where a baby was born?”
“Yes, this is the place.”
Felix was curious. “Phillip, do you know what this beautiful building is used for?”
He replied, “Sure, female sheep are brought here.”
Rufus said, “Oh, do you bring them here to sheer them in this nice clean building?”
Phillip responded, “Absolutely not. My dad is one of the Chief Shepherds who bring pregnant female sheep here when they are ready to deliver their young. You see, little lambs have to be without spot or blemish in order to be accepted for sacrifice. That is why they are brought to this lambing house, so the newborn would not be harmed or killed by wild animals. Since the lambing season is over, the lambing house is closed. Our priests have already cleansed the building in preparation for the next lambing season, that’s why there’s no one here now. That’s about all I know. I must get back to help my family, nice talking with you.” Bowing as he touched his forehead and headed down the street, he said under his breath, “I hope you never find my friend.” He neglected to tell them he lived next door where Yesuah and his family used to live.
Felix and Rufus saw an inn which they had previously missed in their search. They entered the inn and began asking about the child who had been born in the building up the street. The innkeeper went outside with them and, pointing up the street, stated, "If you mean that lambing house, yes, the child was born there two years ago. Oh, what a sight it was! Angels were in the sky, singing and praising God. Our Chief Shepherds dressed in their best, went into the lambing house and saw the child lying in one of the mangers. What made that event unique was that the baby was born on the Day of Atonement. The priests tending the lambing house said that according to Isaiah, the prophet, a child would be born here in Bethlehem by the name of Immanuel. He will be the savior who delivers us from God’s wrath. Our Priest said He was born to offer Himself to make an atonement for sin. In other words, he would die for the sins of every person born. That means yours and mine also. I don’t know about you, but I cannot imagine someone doing that for anyone. How He is going to do it? I don’t know. We didn’t care one way or another, all of the Inns were full, and we made a lot of money.
Tishri is the month of harvest. All harvesting is done, and farmers bring all their grain and spices here to sell. Bethlehem has the best water in the world, so the bakers make bread here to sell. People come from every part of the country to buy the grain. Even your Roman Centurions buy grain and bread for your army. As you know, Caesar had made a decree that everyone in the Roman Empire had to go to their place of birth and register for the purpose of being taxed. Since Joseph was of the house and lineage of King David, he had to come to Bethlehem. By the time he got here, all of the Inns were occu
pied.
Whether it was God’s will or not, they had no other choice. The lambing house was the only place for his wife to deliver, which is why the child was born there. Later, they lived in a house which is called the house of bread. It is directly across the street from the lambing house. Anyway, they no longer live there. They left town at sunup." The innkeeper added he had sold Joseph two of his meanest camels. He made it clear he was glad to get rid of the camels, “One of the beasts bit one of my servant’s hands which then required medical attention. The other camel tore the hair out of another faithful servant’s head. You know something funny, when Joseph placed a rope on each of the camels, neither one objected. They just smelled Joseph’s hand and made queer sounds. He helped his wife and little boy on one of the critters. Then, with his tools, he mounted the other beast and headed out of town. That’s the last anyone saw them.”
Felix bellowed, “See, I told you we were traveling too slow, now we lost them for good.”
“Maybe not,” responded the Innkeeper. “For a fee, I can tell you how to follow them. The trail will be easy to follow unless it rains more.”
Felix raised his eyebrows. “Okay, we will give you a gold coin and another when we find the child.”
Rufus spoke up, “Sure, we will even bring back the camels for you to sell to some other poor soul.”
Muddy Cross
After getting the gold coin, the Innkeeper proceeded to tell them how to find the family. "Remember I told you the camels were mean? Well, one day, I sold them to a peddler but had to buy them back at half price. He placed a heavy load on each of the camels’ back. One got stubborn and stood stiff, refusing to move no matter how much it was beaten. Well, the dumb beast did not realize it, the stupid critter was standing on an extremely hot stone which had been in the fire. It was so hot it burned the bottom of its hoof making an imprint in the shape of a cross. Since it is drizzling, you cannot miss seeing the muddy cross on the road.
I should have killed the other stupid beast, it kicked me in the head giving me a headache for a week. It did the same to the other fellow. Then the stupid beast laid down on a hot piece of charcoal. Before it could get up, the charcoal branded its hip. After the hip healed, the hair around the burn grew in all directions; it looked like a thorny wreath. You will have no trouble recognizing the markings on each of the camels." Felix and Rufus, gloating, mounted their horses and headed out of town following the trail of the cross. They came to a fork in the road. Scratching their heads, they began arguing about which fork to take. Finally, Rufus dismounted and took a closer look at the road. Kneeling down as if he was praying, he saw an imprint of the cross, barely detectable, which would have been missed if he had stayed on his horse.
Back on the trail, the imprints led them south. As they rode on, each cross appeared fresher. Rufus remarked, “The gods are riding with us. We should be catching up with the family soon. I can hear the sack of gold jingling.” They were so sure of getting the child they began discussing how to spend their soon-to-be-acquired fortune. Felix mentioned he was going to buy land in Gadara, on the shore of the Galilee Sea, and raise swine. He then bragged about how he would sell the meat to the Galileans and boil the fat into grease and oil. He added that more wagons were being built, their wheels and axles would need grease and oil. Felix invited Rufus to become his partner, saying they could become very rich as oil was going to be the thing of the future. Rufus thought being partners was a great idea. They began laughing, howling, and thrilled about becoming stinking rich!
It was beginning to get too dark to follow the trail of the cross, so they decided it would be better to wait until early the next morning to continue their evil-inspired hunt. They spotted a small inn and decided to have a few bottles of good Jewish wine. Each drinking a bottle, decided the wine was the best wine they had ever tasted, even better than the wine of Rome. Their taste buds wanted more. The innkeeper recognized the thirsty look in their eyes, plus they were in a very jovial mood. He rushed to their table with several more bottles, telling them that this wine is better than the wine they had previously been drinking. However, he said, because of its excellent vintage, he would have to charge them a little more. He assured them it was well worth the price. What he conveniently failed to mention was that it was out of the same barrel and poured in different bottles.
They were so filled with the spirit of joy they jokingly said, “If all the water on the Earth was wine, we would drink it dry.” Paying for the wine and adding a nice tip for the innkeeper, they took their bottles of wine, went outside, and sat under a tree to enjoy the wine and the night air. They talked of their dreams of success with their soon to be acquired swine farm, bragging about how they were going to become richer than kings. The effects of the wine soon took effect, making their eyes heavy, and both drifted into a deep sleep.
Mid-morning, they awoke, each blamed the other for oversleeping. To make up for lost time, they decided, rather than to have breakfast at the inn, they would eat what was in their saddlebags: five small barley loaves of hard bread and two smelly fish. Even with the late start, they were making good time, but the wind started to pick up and the mud on the road was drying. The wind grew stronger, blowing away the shape of the crosses, making the trail difficult to follow. They had been traveling hard all day. Even though they wanted to press on, they realized they had to stop to rest the horses or lose their transportation.
While resting, Felix said to his cohort, “Even though we’ve been friends for a long time, I don’t know much about you, and I am getting tired of killing. So, after this job, I quit.”
Rufus responded, “Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up, I’m tired of it also and plan to quit too. Besides, once we get the kid, we’ll be rich enough to quit for good. Unless, of course, there is a really large reward offered, then I’ll think about whether or not to accept the job.”
A farmer approached riding his donkey from the direction which Felix and Rufus were heading. Rufus inquired, “Where does the road behind you lead?”
The farmer answered, “Ooh, it leads to a town some 60 miles back, but I no longer remember the name. The place is full of undesirables. They keep changing the name even though the law steers clear of it.” Felix asked if he had seen anyone on camels, they had extraordinarily good news for them. The farmer, pulling his beard, said, "Ooh, yes, never saw a tall handsome man as this one and a more beautiful woman holding a small child. They seemed to be in a hurry because they did not stop to talk.
Felix asked, “Are they very far ahead?”
Waving his hand in the air, the farmer replied, “Ooh, yes, they are a good distance ahead. You can catch up with them by taking the shortcut across the mountain. You will save a lot of time because it’s thirty miles shorter. He continued telling them the mountain is too steep and dangerous for camels to travel with a load. As he mounted his donkey, he said,”Ooh, yes, I must give you a stern warning. If you have it in your head to take the shortcut, be very careful, as no one in their right mind crosses the mountain at night and lives to tell about it."
Felix and Rufus thanked him and decided they could afford to give him a small coin. The farmer, overjoyed, said, “Ooh, thank you so much. Have a good trip.”
The two bewitched, evil rogues headed for the mountain. Rufus recommended walking the horses up and then down the other side to give them plenty of time to rest. Once down the mountain, they could ride like the wind. Felix thought it was a good idea. “If the gods are with us and we capture the child, Herod will be happy, and we will be very rich!”
Going up the mountain was not too difficult, going down was a different story. It was getting dark and they were trying to move faster. They took risks that nearly sent them to their deaths. They cursed their moon goddess because she was not a full moon. Finally, they had to stop or risk falling over one of the cliffs. They were so disgusted but decided they may as well eat. While eating the hard bread and tainted fish, Rufus mused, “When we get rich, I’ll never ea
t bread that’s over a day old and I’ll eat pork instead of fish, believe you me.”
All of a sudden, Felix yelled, calling Rufus a dumb horse’s tail. They were great at blaming each other for their own mistakes. Anyway, he reminded Rufus there was a torch in his saddlebag. Once the torch was lit, they saw they were close to the bottom of the mountain. At the same moment, the moon came from behind a cloud. The lit torch and the moon provided enough light for them to continue their quest. They crossed a small river, rode up and over the riverbank and through a briar patch. They were now back on the road heading south toward their unholy deed.
Joseph had a very uncomfortable feeling that someone was following close behind them, but they had to stop to feed and rest the camels in order for them to keep going. As soon as the camels had eaten and rested for a bit, they continued their journey. He and his family had been traveling for quite a few hours and knew that the camels were becoming too exhausted to take another step, but they just did not seem to want to stop. Finally, the camels slowed down, then stopped; they really did need to rest for several hours.
Joseph knew it was dangerous to build a fire, but his family had been too long without warm food. Once they had eaten, Mary and the boy went to sleep. Joseph kept a vigilant watch for any danger that may come to harm them. He estimated the next town to be about five miles away, and it would probably be another 10 miles to the Egyptian border. Mentally, he figured, once they were in Egypt, they would be safe from Herod. Turning at every strange sound, he was ready to defend against any danger. He had no idea how close the satanic assassins were getting.
Felix was the first to spot the small fire in the distance. “Rufus, I do believe we are near the end of our hunt!”
Rufus agreed, “I think you’re right. I can feel it in my bones. We’re going to get our reward soon.” Laughing, they urged the horses into a full gallop. Felix, in the lead, drew his swords as Rufus grabbed his, using them as whips, whipping the horses and screaming for more speed.
