by Shlomo Kalo
The time is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although they broke my covenant, I was patient with them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will set my law within them and write it on their hearts, and I will become their God and they shall become my people. No longer need they teach one another to know the Lord, for all of them shall know me, high and low alike, says the Lord, for I will forgive their wrongdoing and remember their sin no more.
And the speaker went on to say:
At that moment Michael shall appear, Michael the great captain who stands guard over your fellow-countrymen, and there will be a time of distress such as there has never been since they became a nation till that moment. But at that moment your people shall be delivered, every one who is written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting reproach. And the wise shall shine like the bright vault of heaven, and those who have taught righteousness to many shall be like the stars for ever and ever. And you Daniel, keep the words secret and seal the book until it is time for the end. Many shall run hither and thither and knowledge shall be increased!
And I, Daniel, looked and saw two others standing, one on the bank of the river and the other on the opposite bank. And one said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, How long until these portents cease? And he lifted to heaven his right hand and his left and swore by him who lives for ever: It shall be for a time, times and a half, and when the holy people ceases to be dispersed all these things will come to an end. I heard but I did not understand and I said, Master, what will be the end of these things? And he said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are secret and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be purified and refined, but the wicked shall continue in wickedness and will not understand, but the wise shall understand. From the time that the daily offering is cancelled, and the abomination that is all desolation, there shall be an interval of one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Happy is the man who waits and lives to see the completion of one thousand, three hundred and thirty-five days. But go your way to the end and rest, and you shall arise to your destiny at the end of the age!”
And he wrote everything down as he was commanded, but weakness overtook him again and he collapsed on his bed. This was not a mortal sickness, but both heart and flesh were wracked with pain.
Nejeen sat at his bedside, or stood at the window with her back to him, so quiet he was barely aware of her presence. And his sons came to visit him every day, standing silent in the sickroom, trying to suppress their grief and to hide it from him and from their mother, then mumbling a blessing and leaving as unobtrusively as they had arrived.
And then one day he was surprised by a most welcome visitor, none other than Avarnam, the chief councillor of Jahanur in the distant mountains.
The man was leaner than before, and his whitened hair gleamed like molten silver; in his eyes was the same childlike warmth, and on his face, the same good-natured and captivating smile.
“I came here on official business and I heard you were sick,” he began in a sweetly lilting voice, like the soft tinkling of a spring in the depths of the forest. “As a matter of fact,” he added, “this is not an illness like any other, but God wants you to rest on your bed and ponder all the things that He has seen fit to reveal to you, the secrets that you have proved worthy of knowing. Of course, the truth is there is no such thing in this world as a secret, but if a man has no desire to understand meaningful things and rejects them out of hand – that is what is called a ‘secret’! And you, man much loved, have never closed your heart to meaningful things, those that illumine this existence of ours from end to end, and you love the Lord your God with all your heart and might and mind and spirit, and your neighbour as yourself, and thus you have been proved worthy of what has been revealed to you, and capable of understanding it, and God, who is love, has set out everything before you!”
“How is it that you call me ‘man much loved’?” He was astonished, and a spasm shook his body. “How did you know that I was called thus by the angel of God in the form of a man?”
“As I told you just now,” Avarnam chuckled – a pure, limpid sound like the song of a bird soaring into the bright blue firmament – “meaningful things are revealed to those worthy of them and capable of understanding them. And if I have been found worthy, like you, then both of us, together, are sharing the same experience and seeing and hearing the same meaningful things. And each of us has his own mission, and you did not know your mission until the day that the visions visited you, whereas my mission, I have always known.” And Avarnam gave him a look that was keen, but also radiant with warmth and understanding.
And all of a sudden the thought came to him like a flash of
lightning, and at once, he realised: that look, that ray of light, he had known and recognised in every single one of his visions, and the one who gave this look had been present in the visions, close to him, conveying friendship and fellowship, and it was he who came to him when he fell to the ground and set him on his feet…
As he gazed into Avarnam’s face with a look of growing wonder, the other nodded gravely as if confirming what had not yet been put into words.
“They say of us,” Avarnam explained, “that we are thirty-six in number, and it is by our merit that the world exists, and we see and are not seen – meaning that very few have seen us, the fewest of the few, and they are the chosen, and you are one of them. And remember!” – Avarnam raised an emphatic finger – “Only the wise and the teachers of righteousness, they and only they shall be redeemed!”
And before he could ask him who were these wise ones, and how were teachers of righteousness to be recognised, Avarnam answered him in the same tender and affectionate tone of voice, an ever irresistible force:
“Those who are wise are the believers, and the teachers of righteousness are the humble. And the people that is wise and capable of teaching righteousness – that is the Chosen People of God!”
- The End -
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Dear reader:
If you enjoyed reading THE CHOSEN and would like to recommend the trilogy, we would be very grateful if you could share your opinion with others by leaving your feedback here at Amazon's Book I: THE YOUTH reviews page. (This is where people start looking for details about the whole trilogy).
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DAT Publications
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Other books by Shlomo Kalo available on Amazon:
LILI (a novel)
ATHAR (Autobiographical novel, a coming-of-age Holocaust memoir)
FOREVERMORE (Three documented stories from the history of the Jewish People)
During the year 2016, two more titles are about to be published on Amazon:
THRILLER The Galilee Plot (A thriller with a spiritual bent)
THE TOROUSERS Parables for the 21st Century (Parables and wisdom stories)