Premonition

by R. S. Ingermanson

  “I swear by the living God and by his holy Temple that I will tell all the truth before this court.”

  “Tell the court what you saw today in the Temple.”

  “A man disrupted the music by shouting out insults and provocations against the city and the people and the Temple. He repeatedly called on the name of Yeshua and he specifically cursed the sanctuary of the living God. He and some others then escaped. I was prevented from arresting him because of the crowd.”

  “Is that man here tonight?”

  “No, but three who were with him are here.” Shimon pointed first to Kazan, then to Yaakov, then to a man of medium height with a black beard and angry eyes.

  “You!” Hanan said to the third man. “What is your name?”

  “My name is called Baruch ben Yehudah.”

  Hanan pointed to Yaakov. “Are you the leader of that sect called The Way?”

  “I am.”

  Hanan turned to Kazan. “I do not require an introduction to the third malefactor. I have long been acquainted with Ari called Kazan.”

  Kazan’s eyes smoldered with a great rage.

  Hanan waved away the first witness. “Enough from you! I call the second witness, Yohanan ben Yoseph.”

  A second guard came forward.

  “What is your name and office?”

  Yohanan gave his name and office, swore not to bear false witness, and then gave the same testimony as Shimon.

  Hanan had now met the requirements for testimony, as required by all right-thinking men. The Pharisees held a different opinion, but they were not right-thinking men.

  Hanan pointed a finger at Yaakov. “You will be permitted to speak, each of you in your own defense, as is your right according to Torah. You may call witnesses on your behalf, so long as they are present. You may not bear false witness, and you may not speak out against this court. After each of you speaks, I will pronounce your guilt or innocence and your sentence.

  “The charges against you are these: First, that you are followers of Yeshua called mashiach, a seditious man who spoke against Caesar and the Temple. The penalty for this charge is death by stoning. This charge I make against all of you. The second charge applies only to three of you, namely Yaakov ben Yoseph, Baruch ben Yehudah, and Ari called Kazan. You three are charged with inciting a man to speak out against the Temple today. The penalty for this charge is death by stoning. The third charge applies also to you three alone, namely that you aided the same man in his escape. The penalty for this is a flogging.”

  Sweat shone on the faces of the prisoners.

  Hanan smiled. He pointed to Yaakov called tsaddik. “We will begin with the eldest. How do you answer to the charges against you? Are you a follower of Yeshua called mashiach?”

  Yaakov

  * * *

  Yaakov did not wish to speak to this wicked man at all. This House of Hanan were dogs! Evil men! HaShem would judge them on the last day.

  Hanan asked again, “Are you a follower of Yeshua called mashiach?”

  Yaakov said nothing.

  One of the guards stepped forward and slapped him. “You will answer the high priest!”

  “Are you a follower of Yeshua called mashiach?” Hanan asked.

  Still Yaakov said nothing.

  The guard hit him again, much harder this time.

  Yaakov coughed, tasting blood. His face felt numb and his tongue thick and he knew he must answer or they would beat him until he spoke. “I follow Yeshua, who is Mashiach, captain of the hosts of heaven, leader of the divine council, Son of the living God.”

  Hanan leaned forward. “And you hold this Yeshua to be king?”

  Yaakov coughed again. “He is king of the World to Come.”

  “And therefore he is greater than Caesar?”

  “As you say.”

  “I spit on this Yeshua.” Hanan drew his two councillors together and began whispering.

  Rage seeped through Yaakov’s body. A frozen numbness welled in his belly. These men were evil! They had no right to dishonor Yeshua in this way. His own dishonor, Yaakov could stand, but to see Rabban Yeshua dishonored—that was vile.

  “We find you guilty of sedition against Rome and the Temple.” Hanan gave him a thin smile. “Since the penalty for this is death, we waive an examination of the other charges.”

  Yaakov raised his chin. “I have something more to say.”

  Hanan narrowed his eyes. “You may speak, so long as you do not attack this court or the Temple.”

  Yaakov glowered at him. “I am innocent of any wrongdoing. Yeshua the Mashiach will judge you himself on the last day for your evil deeds, you dog.” He spat at Hanan’s feet.

  Two guards hit Yaakov in the face.

  The olive oil lamps in the room flickered and then dimmed. He slumped to the floor, and dizziness swept over him.

  Pain cut through Yaakov’s soul like a sword. He had spoken out for the honor of Yeshua and ...

  What good had it done?

  Chapter Forty

  Rivka

  * * *

  RIVKA WANTED TO SCREAM. WAS this what she had come back to this century for? To have a baby and then watch Ari get murdered by some ... creep? HaShem wasn’t playing fair. She’d stayed here so she could save Saul, and this was the thanks she got? To be left a widow with a war coming?

  No! She was going to fight back. If Hanan wanted to kill her, he could go ahead and try. She’d scratch his eyes out. Rivka grabbed Hana’s arm. “Come on, we’ve got to do something.”

  Hana huddled on the floor and hugged Dov. “There is nothing we can do.”

  “Then we’ll get help. Rabbi Yohanan could raise quite a stink.”

  Hope flickered in Hana’s eyes. “You know Rabbi Yohanan?”

  “Of course! He’s an old friend of mine.”

  Hana slowly stood up. “Will he listen to two women?”

  “He’d better!” Rivka took Rachel’s hand. “Racheleh, let’s take a walk. We’re going ...” Despair cut through her. “Hana, I don’t know where he lives.”

  “But Ari the Kazan has many friends, yes?”

  Hope flamed in Rivka’s heart. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She hefted the club in her hands. “Ari has a lot of friends.” Rivka pulled Hana to the door. “I’ll bet you anything Gamaliel can get us inside the palace of Hanan ben Hanan.”

  “Two women with one club are no match for many men.”

  “I know, but forty Sons of Righteous Priests could make a whale of a fight, don’t you think?”

  Rivka

  * * *

  Light streamed through the window slits of Gamaliel’s house. Rivka pounded on the door. “Savta! Gamaliel! I need your help!”

  After about a thousand years, the door opened. Midwife Marta peered out. “Child! What brings you here so late? And with little Racheleh and your friend! Come in, child!”

  “Savta, they’ve arrested Ari the Kazan and the husband of my friend Hana.”

  “At night?” Marta looked scandalized. “Who arrested them?”

  “Temple guards. Men from Hanan ben Hanan.”

  Marta’s face went pale. “Child, Hanan will not dare—”

  “He will kill them,” Rivka said. “Kill them and others unless we do something now. Is Gamaliel home? I need his help.”

  “Come with me.” Marta led the way back to the sitting room. “Gamaliel! Rivka the Kazan needs your help.”

  Gamaliel jumped up from his wooden couch.

  Rivka sketched out the situation.

  Gamaliel asked a few questions. With each answer, his face tightened another notch.

  “I have only one hope,” Rivka said. “You must speak to Brother Eleazar and Brother Yoseph and the other Sons of Righteous Priests. Hanan means to murder Ari, and he will do it tonight.”

  Gamaliel nodded. “You will stay here with Savta. I will do what I can do.”

  “No.” Rivka put Rachel’s hand in Marta’s wrinkled paw. “Savta can watch the children. Hana and I are coming
with you.”

  “It ... it is unseemly for women to go out alone with a man at night.” Gamaliel’s face turned a brilliant red.

  “It was seemly enough five years ago when I helped you limp to the Fortress Antonia so you could save your uncle Saul.”

  Gamaliel’s eyes widened. “That was you?”

  “It was me—in red silk and a veil. I ask you now to let us come with you. We may be able to do things you cannot. If we delay, the life of Ari and many others will be forfeit.”

  “Gamaliel, you must take her,” Marta said. “Whether it is seemly or not.”

  Gamaliel turned and disappeared up a long hallway.

  Rivka’s heart did a double back-flip and then belly flopped. Tears formed in her eyes. Her mind raced, but she could not think what to do. She still had the club she had used to beat up the Temple guard. It was hopeless, but she would have to try. “Savta, will you keep the children? Hana and I must do ... something.”

  “Just let me have a word with that young fool.” Marta hobbled toward the hallway. When she finally reached the far end, she stopped and gave a little shriek.

  Gamaliel rushed past her and came tearing down the hallway, wearing the white linen uniform of a Temple guard. A huge grin covered his face. “Wearing this, I will find a way into the palace of Hanan ben Hanan,” he said. “We need also Brother Eleazar. Run with me, Rivka the Kazan! Run!”

  Rivka

  * * *

  He is not here tonight,” said the steward at the palace of Brother Eleazar’s father. “He had business for Hanan ben Hanan tonight.”

  Rivka gasped. Then a little ray of light awoke in her heart. Brother Eleazar must be at the trial. He would never allow anything to happen to Ari or Baruch.

  Gamaliel turned to face her and Hana, his face downcast. “We must try Brother Yoseph.”

  “Is it far from here?” Rivka looked up at the sky. The moon wouldn’t be up for hours yet.

  “It is past your house.” Gamaliel strode rapidly, his steps almost a run. “The palace of Mattityahu the priest is near to the palace of Hanan ben Hanan.”

  Something clicked in Rivka’s brain. “Mattityahu? Is that ... one of Brother Yoseph’s relatives?”

  “His father,” Gamaliel said. “You will hurry, please.”

  Rivka was gasping for breath now, but she had to know. “And does Brother Yoseph have an older brother also named Mattityahu? Are they Pharisees?”

  “Yes and no.” Gamaliel gave her a strange look. “Has Ari the Kazan told you nothing of Brother Yoseph’s family?”

  Rivka shook her head.

  “They are Sadducees.” Gamaliel spat the words. “A prominent family, allies with the family of Yeshua ben Gamaliel. Their men are named Mattityahu or Yoseph for many generations. Yes, Yoseph’s older brother is named for his father. No, they are not Pharisees. They nearly disinherited Brother Yoseph when he became a Pharisee. He is a pariah in his own family, like Brother Eleazar. The Sons of Righteous Priests have sacrificed much for the truth. Here is the palace. You will wait here.”

  Gamaliel went to the gate and spoke briefly to a guard inside. A side door swung open and he disappeared inside.

  Rivka’s mind was churning. Once again, something she had known to be true was false. Josephus had a father and brother named Mattityahu. And his name in Hebrew was Yoseph. According to his memoirs, published some years from now, his family was close to Yeshua ben Gamaliel. And they were supposedly Pharisees.

  In other words, Josephus had lied through his teeth. Probably because, after the war, the Sadducees would disappear and the Pharisees would rise to prominence. Josephus would someday rewrite history to suit himself.

  And she was basing all her plans on him? What kind of moron was she?

  “Rivkaleh, you are pale.” Hana touched Rivka’s face.

  “I think I’m going to throw up.” Rivka brushed tears out of her eyes. “I just realized that most of what I know is ... smoke and mirrors.”

  “I do not understand what this means, smoke and mirrors.”

  “It means I don’t know anything anymore. I’m not a seer woman. Everything I know, I learned from a pathological liar.”

  “Rivkaleh, does this mean Ari and Baruch are safe?”

  The door clicked open. Gamaliel came out. Alone. He strode toward them, his face tense. “Brother Yoseph went to the Temple with Brother Eleazar early this evening on a matter of importance for Hanan ben Hanan.”

  “To ... the Temple?” Rivka felt horribly tired. They aren’t at the trial. They can’t help Ari. “Can we go to the Temple and find them?”

  Gamaliel frowned and pointed up the street. “There is the palace of Hanan. If we go to the Temple and return to Hanan’s palace, we will lose yet another hour.”

  “There isn’t time! Who else can help us?” Rivka said. “Gamaliel, which other Sons of Righteous Priests live around here?”

  He shook his head. “Most of us come of Pharisee families and live in the New City. There are no other Sons of Righteous Priests in this neighborhood.”

  Rivka’s brain buzzed with ... what? Fear. Uncertainty. Indecision. Hanan was going to kill somebody tomorrow morning. At least Yaakov the tsaddik. Probably several others. She had it on the word of a liar.

  Hey, Rivka, go ahead and bumble right on in. You’re awfully good at this prediction game. Maybe you can get them all killed.

  Gamaliel shifted his weight. “You must decide, Rivka the Kazan. Where should we go?”

  “I don’t know!” Rivka said. “Just let me think for a minute. I need to ask HaShem what to do.”

  “And ... will he tell you?” Gamaliel asked.

  Rivka swallowed. How should I know? I’ve been too busy reading Josephus to ask HaShem anything lately.

  “Rivkaleh.” Hana put a hand on Rivka’s arm. “I know what we must do.”

  “How do you know?”

  Hana smiled. “Because I heard the voice of HaShem.”

  Ari

  * * *

  Ari’s pulse roared in his temples. This was the vaunted Jewish justice his stepfather had boasted of? The Mishnah said a court could not hear a capital case at night. Nor could it make a decision on the same day charges were brought. The full Sanhedrin must sit on a capital case, not three biased judges.

  So said the Mishnah, written by Pharisees a hundred years from now. But in this hour, Sadducee justice prevailed. Justice like the harsh Islamic law Ari had despised in his youth. His whole world was crumbling, the pillars of his temple falling around him, crushing him.

  Hanan pointed to the next man, whose name was Taddai. “How do you answer the charges against you? Are you a follower of that Yeshua called mashiach?”

  Taddai spit at Hanan. “I am.” All of the accused had spit at the high priest.

  A Temple guard hit Taddai in the face. Hanan conferred with his two councillors for a few seconds. “We find you guilty of law-breaking and sentence you to death by stoning.”

  Ari’s tongue felt bloated, his lips dry as papyrus. Hanan was going down the line by age. Ari would be next, then Baruch, then two others. And then ... they would all die.

  Hanan pointed at Ari and spoke to one of the guards. “Unbind his mouth.”

  The guard yanked off the gag.

  Ari felt one of his teeth loosen.

  “You, Kazan, how do you answer the charges against you? Are you a follower of that Yeshua called mashiach?”

  Ari shook his head. It would do him little good, but he must tell the truth here. “No,” he rasped in a brittle voice.

  Shock rippled across Hanan’s face. He leaned forward. “Kazan, I adjure you by the living God to speak the truth. Are you a follower of Yeshua called mashiach?”

  “I am not.”

  “Swear it.”

  Ari raised his face toward heaven. “I swear by the living God and by his Temple and by my lifeblood that I am not now a follower of Yeshua called Mashiach, nor have I ever been his follower, nor will I ever be.” It would grieve
Rivka to hear such words, but he must speak the truth.

  Hanan turned to his councillors and whispered furiously for several minutes. Finally, he broke the conference and pointed to Yaakov. “You, Yaakov called tsaddik! Does Kazan speak the truth?”

  Yaakov nodded. “It grieves me that Brother Ari does not follow Rabban Yeshua.”

  Hanan’s face darkened. He pointed at the next man and the next and the next, asking each if Kazan spoke true. Each affirmed that he did.

  Hanan huddled again with his councillors. Finally they seemed to come to an agreement. Hanan straightened in his seat, and his beard bristled with rage. “This court finds you, Kazan, not guilty of following Yeshua called mashiach. However, there are yet two charges against you.”

  Ari nodded, astounded that he had gotten off the hook in what the Americans called a kangaroo court. Hanan must be very confident of the other charges.

  “You, Kazan, were you in the Temple today with these others, Yaakov called tsaddik and Baruch ben Yehudah and the man who cursed the Temple?”

  “Yes, but I did not know the man who—”

  “Do you admit that he disturbed the peace and spoke words of violence against the people and the Temple and Caesar?”

  Ari nodded. This was hopeless. “Yes, he did those things.”

  “Do you admit that you incited the man?”

  “No, I do not admit such a thing. I never saw the man before, nor did I speak to him until after he shouted his words.”

  Hanan’s face turned purple. “Two witnesses have testified that you incited the man to speak.”

  A base lie. Ari could not listen in silence to foolishness. “With respect, the witnesses did not testify that we incited the man. They testified only that we were present. It is true that Yaakov tried to calm him, but this was not incitement. You have the witnesses. Ask them if we incited the man.”

  Hanan leaned forward. “Kazan, you lie—”

  One of the judges touched Hanan’s arm and leaned close, whispering something in his ear. Hanan shook his head several times, but the judge kept talking. Finally, Hanan said, “The witnesses will come forward.”