An Echo in the Darkness(88)

Night came, bringing with it a blessed coolness. He dreamed he was adrift on the sea. He could see no shoreline, only a vast, endless blue all the way to the horizon.

He awakened as the sun rose. He could hear children playing on the street. Carts passed. The crier shouted again in Aramaic, then in Greek. The swelling around his eyes had gone down enough that he could open his eyes. His vision was slightly blurred. When he tried to sit up, he sank back, overwhelmed by a wave of dizziness.

Ezra came up to the roof. “I have brought you something to eat.”

Marcus tried to sit up again and groaned.

“You must not push yourself, Roman.”

Marcus submitted to being fed again. “What difficulties have I made for you by being here?”

Ezra didn’t answer. Marcus looked up at the solemn, bearded face framed by two long curls of hair. He suspected the man was already suffering from repercussions and heartily regretting his act of kindness.

“What do you do to make a living, Ezra Barjachin?”

“I am a sopherim,” he said solemnly. “A scribe,” he explained when Marcus frowned, not understanding. “I copy the Holy Scriptures for the phylacteries and mezuzoth.”

“The what?”

Ezra explained that phylacteries held strips of parchment on which were written four select passages, two from the book of Exodus and two from Deuteronomy. These parchments were enclosed in a small square black calfskin case and fastened on the inside of the arm nearest the heart, between the elbow and shoulder, by long leather straps. Another phylactery was tied to the forehead during prayers.

A mezuzah, he explained further, was a container on the doorframe of a Jewish home. Inside it was a small piece of parchment on which were written two passages from Deuteronomy and marked with “Shaddai,” the name of the Almighty. The parchments were replaced after time and a priest would come to bless the mezuzoth and the household.

Having finished his meal, Marcus sank back onto the bed. “What Scriptures are so important you have to wear them on your arm and head and post them on your door?”

Ezra hesitated because he was not sure he should share Scripture with a Gentile dog of a Roman. However, something compelled him.

“‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.’”

Marcus listened intently as the words flowed from Ezra. His voice was full of reverence. He spoke the Scriptures precisely, but in a way that made it clear they were written in his heart and not just ingrained in his head after years of copying them.

“‘You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you (for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. . . .’” Ezra went on, his eyes closed. When he finished reciting the Scriptures for the Roman, he fell silent. No matter how often he said or heard them, those words were like music to him. They sang in his blood.

“No half-measures,” the Roman said grimly, “or God will wipe you off the face of the earth.”

Ezra looked at him. “God blesses those who love him with all their heart.”

“Not always. I knew a woman who loved your god with all her heart.” He fell silent for a long moment. “I saw her die, Ezra Barjachin. She didn’t deserve such a death. She didn’t deserve to die at all.”

Ezra felt a pang within his own heart. “And so you look to God for answers.”

“I don’t know if there are any answers. I don’t know if there is a god such as the one you believe in and she served. He’s in your heart and head, but that doesn’t mean he’s real.”

“God is real, Marcus Lucianus Valerian.”

“For you.”

Ezra pitied him. The Roman had been beaten more than physically. And in the wake of Ezra’s pity came the first flicker of hope he had felt since seeing Joseph crucified. Many enemies had come against God’s chosen people. Some had conquered them because Israel had sinned against the Lord. Jerusalem, bride of kings, had fallen to other nations. But when the people turned back to God, God went before them, destroying their enemies and restoring his people to the Promised Land. Assyria, Persia, and Babylon had put Israel to the sword and in turn been called to judgment. Just as Assyria, Persia, and Babylon had fallen, so too would Rome fall. Then the captives would return to Zion.