THE CHOSEN: A Man Much Loved: Historical Fiction (The Chosen Trilogy Book 3)

by Shlomo Kalo

  And Daniel bowed at the King’s feet and answered him:

  “Long live His Majesty! I can tell the King a way whereby he may put an end to this malady and be cured of his sickness, so he may stand firm on his feet and resist the army of King Cyrus – and it is the way of modesty, fear of God and utter humility.”

  “What are you talking about?” Darius asked gruffly, some tension showing in his face which had lost its rosy hue and turned grey, his eyes sunk deep in their sockets. His viceroy proceeded to explain:

  “The style of life to which Your Majesty is accustomed is to be abandoned once and for all. You must abstain from indulging in wine, meat and women! Eat vegetables and a little bread, and drink only fresh water or honey-water, and there should be no more dalliance with women for as long as you live. And your strength will be restored to you and you shall again be a stalwart King, your natural vigour unabated, and on the face of all this earth there will no enemy who is a match for King Darius!”

  For a moment the King froze, his mouth agape and his eyes open wide in bemusement, but then he recovered himself and laughed, lying back on the bed.

  “Why should I live a life without wine, meat and women?”

  “For God’s sake, and to do His will.”

  The King gave him a long and quizzical look, then sighed and said solemnly:

  “I understand, these are the words of the living God that you are speaking, though personally I would prefer a short life and a few days on the earth to abstinence from meat, wine and women! Be blessed, Belteshazzar, and be assured – I have always seen you as my friend!”

  A few days later he heard that the King had recovered and risen from his bed and was tirelessly training for the forthcoming battle, practising his swordsmanship and spear-throwing, and even shooting arrows with bows of horn and cherry-wood.

  Meanwhile, Cyrus the Persian arrived at the head of his army before the lofty walls of Babylon and set his siege. Persian troops surrounded the perimeter in a dense cordon, blocking the supply of provisions to the greatest city in the world, allowing no one to enter or leave.

  King Darius laughed on hearing news of the siege and he said in the War Council that Cyrus would need a great deal of patience and self-control, since in Babylon, the fortified capital, there were stocks of food sufficient to feed the population for five years at least. If King Cyrus were indeed as astute as he was reputed to be, and dauntless too, then he would know which was the correct and the logical course of action, and mount a massive frontal assault designed to storm the walls, in which case he, King Darius, could promise Cyrus the Great – a solemn promise of one King to another – a surprise which would not be at all to his taste.

  But matters evolved according to patterns hidden from the eyes of mere mortals, and did not accord with the King’s expectations. Cyrus the Persian proved he was indeed astute, and a peerless master of stratagems too. The unpleasant surprise, of which King Darius spoke, took on skin and sinew and became a reality, and yet the one surprised was not Cyrus the Persian but Darius the Mede.

  One morning, on a day of searing heat, the citizens of Babylon rose and were astonished to find that there was no water in their wells. All their sources of water had dried up overnight.

  Anxious and tense, Babylonians began gathering in groups, angrily demanding to be told what was happening. In a move that was quite unpremeditated, the thirst-stricken populace converged on the royal palace and milled about the gates, with only a handful of trusty guardsmen to keep them at bay.

  When the news reached the King, he convened a meeting of the War Council and ordered an investigation. It soon became clear that Cyrus had done something which no one could have foreseen – he had diverted the course of the Euphrates, thus drying up all the water-sources of Babylon. And while this information had a devastating effect on the army commanders present at the meeting, it did nothing to detract from the equanimity and the vigour of the King; for some obscure reason, he seemed positively delighted.

  “Our friend Cyrus is challenging us to leave the safety of our defensive walls and confront him on the battlefield, face to face. As he is leaving us no other option, let us gladly accept his invitation and go out to meet him in the open, where we shall harry him with our sharpened arrows and fend off his arrows with our shields, hurl our long lances, draw our burnished swords and hack his soldiers down. To the colours!” cried Darius, and for the first time since he was taken ill the healthy, ruddy colour was fully restored to his grey, wrinkled cheeks.

  They dressed the King in his armour, hung a knight’s sword at his waist, put a long Chaldean lance in his right hand and a gold shield in his left. He was mounted on a powerful horse, sleek and adorned with gaudy trappings. And so King Darius the Mede rode out from his palace, followed by the royal horse guards and the sovereign’s escort, gold shields sparkling in the sunlight and the blades of their drawn swords dazzling.

  The crowd, seeing the King in his resplendent armour, forgot its anger and was fired with enthusiasm, uttering ear-splitting cries of “Long live the King!” and “Praise and glory to our King!” and “Victory to the mighty Darius!”

  His personal contingent reinforced by two extra brigades of cavalry, and his infantry held in reserve, the King ordered that the great Shamash Gate be opened before him and he rode out of Babylon to confront his enemy.

  The King lost no time in charging at one of the advance units of Cyrus’ army, inflicting a decisive defeat and setting out in pursuit. And then, as he raised his heavy sword with a mighty flourish, he suddenly reeled in the saddle, as if he was losing consciousness, and he collapsed and fell at his horse’s feet, his gold shield lost, lance broken and helmet dented. The officers following closely behind him reined in their mounts and hurried to help their King as he sprawled on the ground, closing around him in a tight circle and stripping off his armour.

  “I always hoped I would die on the battlefield!” King Darius wheezed, gasping for breath. “God has answered my prayer! Cyrus – he was slow, too slow. He missed his chance to stick an arrow in me, not even one single arrow…” The exhausted King gulped air into his lungs and cried: “He is your King now!” And saying this he breathed his last, as a broad smile spread across his face, the cheerful expression, so characteristic of him in days gone by, restored in full.

  Babylon capitulated to King Cyrus without further bloodshed. And the new King held a lavish funeral for his predecessor, a royal funeral in every sense, conducted with reverence and solemnity. The citizens of Babylon, attending the ceremony en masse, appreciated this generous gesture on the part of Cyrus and felt reassured.

  And so a new era began, the reign of Cyrus, that shrewd and courageous King, far-sighted and resourceful, doing everything in his power to ease the lives of his subjects, by the grace and with the blessing of God.

  The Wise, And The Teachers Of Righteousness

  He knew that during the reign of Cyrus the Persian there would come to an end the seventy years of exile decreed upon his people, as it had been prophesied by Jeremiah in the name of the Lord.

  The Jews of the exile, and likewise those Jews of the old community who had studied the passage of time and noted the signs, knew that the period of exile was drawing to a close, and they would soon be returning to Judah and to Jerusalem, where the glories of the past were to be restored. And deep down in their hearts they also knew that so long as they failed to respect and observe the commandments of the Torah, this was not going to happen. And he was witness to a remarkable phenomenon – the rebirth of a people and the renewal of a nation. Fathers taught their children to serve and to love God, and furnished them with a living example. And children gladly followed in their fathers’ footsteps, suppressing their baser instincts, eschewing pride, and maintaining high standards of honesty and integrity in commerce and in employment.

  At the Sabbath Eve prayer, in the new and spacious synagogue of the exiled community, built not far from the Shamash Gate, he recognised among the wors
hippers a white haired man, the friend of Uziel and Gabriel. When the prayer was finished and the congregation dispersed, he approached him and asked of them. And he answered him willingly and thoroughly:

  “The two of them went down to the islands of the north. They never really settled down in these parts; they didn’t marry either, and bachelors are not well regarded in Babylon. They did make efforts to marry but there was always something unsatisfactory – an unattractive bride, awkward prospective in-laws, insufficient dowry – or they themselves failed to impress. So they never married, or were even seriously betrothed. Nor was it easy for them to uphold the commandments which the whole of the community, with the exception of a small minority, is happy to observe. Finally, that small minority decided, with one accord, to go down to the islands of the northern seas and no longer be numbered among their people, the Jewish people. They asserted that accident of birth is not the arbiter of destiny, but it is the inclination of the heart that tells a man where to go and with whom to associate. They were told it is not enough to want to belong to any particular race; you have to consider how willing that race will be to admit and accept you into its midst. Although proximity of blood is no guarantee of harmony and unanimity, the course of action that they were proposing would turn them into aliens among all the nations, a strange plant in whichever race they chose to belong to, and they would be spurned.

  “But they refused to listen to any advice, gathered together a few possessions and set out in a northerly direction. And before they went, Uziel turned to me and with these ears of mine I heard him say these words:

  ‘Whether the nations of the world accept us or revile us, it makes no difference, for better or for worse, to me and to my fellow-travellers, since our own people do not want us and have spewed us out!’ Then he turned and went to join that group of renegades from Israel and Judah, and set out for the north.”

  At about this time he recorded, at Nejeen’s suggestion, a dream that had been revealed to him, and this was the text that he wrote:

  And I saw in a dream that I was by the river Ulai. I looked up and there I saw a ram with two horns standing between me and the stream. The two horns were long, the one longer than the other, growing up behind. I watched the ram butting west and north and south. No beasts could stand before it, no one could rescue from its power. It did as it pleased, making display of its strength. While I pondered this, suddenly a he-goat came from the west skimming over the whole earth without touching the ground; it had a prominent horn between its eyes. It approached the two-horned ram that I had seen standing between me and the stream and rushed at it with impetuous force. I saw it advance on the ram, working itself into a fury, then strike the ram and break both its horns; the ram had no strength to resist. The he-goat flung it to the ground and trampled on it, and there was no one to save the ram.

  Then the he-goat made a great display of its strength. Powerful as it was, its great horn snapped and in its place there sprang forth towards the four quarters of heaven four prominent horns. Out of one of them there issued one small horn, which made a prodigious show of strength west and east and towards the fairest of all lands. It aspired to be as high as the host of heaven, and it cast down to the earth some of the host and some of the stars and trod them underfoot. It aspired to be as great as the prince of the host, suppressed his regular offerings and even threw down his sanctuary. The heavenly hosts were delivered up, and it raised itself impiously against the regular offerings and threw truth to the ground. In all that it did it succeeded. I heard a holy one speaking and another holy one answering him, whoever he was. The one said, How long will the period of this vision last, and how long will iniquity bring desolation and the holy place be trodden down? And the answer came: For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, and then the holy place shall emerge triumphant.

  As I, Daniel, was seeing this vision I was trying to understand it. Suddenly I saw standing before me one with the semblance of a man; at the same time I heard a human voice calling to him across the bend of the Ulai: Gabriel, explain this vision to this man. And I sensed his look of friendship and fellowship, so familiar to me, but I could not remember from where and from when. He came to me where I was standing, and I was alarmed and fell prostrate, but he said to me: Understand, O man, the vision points to the time of the end. When he spoke to me I fell to the ground in a trance, but he grasped me and made me stand up where I was. And he said: I shall make known to you what is to happen when the wrath is ended, for this is an end to the appointed time. The two-horned ram that you saw signifies the kings of Media and Persia, the he-goat is the kingdom of the Greeks, and the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn which was snapped off and replaced by four others – four nations shall rise out of that nation, but not with power comparable to his.

  In the last days of those kingdoms, when their sin is at its height, a king shall appear, bold and a master of stratagem. His power shall be great and he shall wreak havoc and shall succeed in everything he does and bring destruction upon great nations and a holy people. With his keen intelligence he shall succeed in his crafty designs. He shall devise great plans and when they are at their ease bring destruction upon many and challenge even the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken but not by human hand. And the revelation which has been given of the evenings and the mornings is true, but you must keep the vision secret, for it points to days far ahead. And as for me, Daniel, my strength failed and I lay sick for a while, then I arose and attended to the king’s business, but I was perplexed by the vision and could not understand it.

  He collapsed and needed some days to recuperate. And as he lay on his bed of sickness, given to contemplation, he asked himself again and again, what future had been decreed for his people. And the question disturbed his rest and nagged at him without respite. None of the visions that appeared to him was capable of answering it or resolving it. And then as he began to overcome his weakness and recover from his infirmity, and friends and relatives were coming to wish him well, he imposed a strict fast upon himself.

  He fasted for twenty-one days, and when the fast was done, turned to his Father in Heaven, to his God, and prayed to Him from a broken heart, begging most fervently for the forgiveness of his people, despite all their mistakes. He asked that they be purified in faith and strengthened in piety, human as they were and of volatile temperament, and not to be trusted; as the prophet said, Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and Blessed is the man who trusts in God.

  When his prayers were concluded, he was visited by another dream, which he recounted in these words:

  On the twenty-first day of the first month, I found myself on the bank of the great river, that is the Tigris. I looked up and saw a man clothed in linen with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body gleamed like topaz, his face shone like lightning, his eyes flamed like torches, his arms and feet sparkled like a disc of bronze, and when he spoke his voice was like the voice of a multitude.

  I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while those who were near me did not see it, but great fear fell upon them and they stole away, and I was left alone gazing at this great vision, but my strength left me and all my energy was gone. I heard the sound of his words and when I did so, I fell prone on the ground in a trance. Suddenly a hand touched me and pulled me up on to my hands and knees. He said to me: Daniel, man much loved, attend to the words that I am speaking to you, and stand up where you are, for I am now sent to you! When he addressed me I stood up trembling, and again I sensed that gentle look of friendship and fellowship, so familiar to me, though I could not say from where and from when, and he said to me: Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you applied your mind to understanding and humbled yourself before your God, your prayers have been answered and I have come in answer to them. And the prince of the kingdom of Persia resisted me for twenty-one days, and then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia. And I have come to ex
plain to you what will happen to your people in days to come for this too is a vision for those days. And when he spoke these words to me I hung my head and was struck dumb. Suddenly one like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and addressed him as he stood before me: Master, this vision has left me at a loss and I have no strength left. How can my master’s servant presume to speak with my master, since my strength has failed me and no breath is left in me? Then the figure touched me again and restored my strength. He said: Do not be afraid, man much loved, peace be with you, be strong, be strong! When he spoke to me I recovered my strength and I said: Speak master, for you have made me strong! And he said: Do you know why I have come to you? I must now go back to fight with the princes of Persia, and as soon as I have left, then the prince of Greece will appear. But I shall tell you what is written in the book of truth, and I have no ally at my side other than Michael, your prince!

  And the man told me all that lay in store for my people, and for all other peoples in the world, a bitter fate indeed, with no chance of escape and only the faintest of hopes – depending on repentance, true penitence and absolute piety.

  Oh, my Father in Heaven and my God, you know that whenever this people of yours has repented, and put on sackcloth and fasted and bemoaned its sin – it has withdrawn its repentance the very next day, and neither it nor its sincerity are to be trusted – unless you bring this people back, so that it never again falls by the wayside or turns away from you, bringing upon itself affliction after affliction, disaster after disaster and wreck and ruin! Bring us back and we shall return, O Lord our God, our beloved Father and King, as you spoke by the mouth of your faithful servant Jeremiah, the man of Anathoth: