The cave entrance protected the dying embers of the cooking fire. Two figures coaxed the last of their warmth into limbs stiff with cold. The older mans skin was wrinkled, pitted by the wind and burnt by the sun, the crags on his face carved by years tending sheep in the Judean hills. He rested quietly on his haunches, nearly asleep.
The youth, skin smooth, unmarred by the passing of time and the elements, sat quietly beside him pondering the strange events of the day.
“Abba…” He paused, unsure.
“Something strange happened today.”
Ephraim, had been slowly rubbing his hands over the coals, paused with a questioning glance. Shoving his hands deeper into the woolen tunic, he pulled it closer around his shoulders and waited.
The younger one struggled, his thoughts tumbled around inside his head.
“When I left the new lambs at the Temple…” He spoke haltingly,
“I went to the river to see the prophet. He was quoting a passage from the prophet Isaiah…
‘…a voice crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord’…” He paused, a quizzacle look on his face. He felt the passage was a clue to what bothered him.
“Abbah.” He began again.
“Could the Baptizer be the one Isaiah was referring to? A voice crying in the wilderness? He’s a voice crying in the wilderness nu?”
Ephraim was weary from the days work and transfixeded by the slowly dancing coals. He shrugged.
“Maybe____” Slowly awakening, he pondered the deep question.
“For certain the prophecy wasn’t referring to the scribes and Pharisees.”
“He called them a generation of vipers! John is fearless! The scribes and Pharisees hate him. They boast of being decendants of Abraham but John told them God could make decendants of Abraham from the rocks!”
The older man threw his head back and laughed, catching himself before he lost his balance.
“He’s an honest prophet I’ll give you!”
Benjamin continued. “The scribes and pharisees were whispering among themselves and John asked them ‘Who warned you to escape the wrath to come? Where are the fruits of repentance? Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit will be cast into the fire’…”
Ephraim sprang to his feet “Yahweh be praised!” He thrust his arm heavenward.
“Scribes and Pharisees…They profane the temple for filthy lucre. They offer a pittance for our lambs, and pilgrims forced to buy them at usury!” Concluding with a loud; Shameful!”
The outburst stalled the conversation. Benjamin grabbed a twig as Ephraim returned to warming his hands deep in thought.
The silence deepened. The stars pulsed brighter as though they too waited for the rest of the story. to finish. The twig snapped.
“Abba… The Baptizer is so different from the religion of the scribes and pharasees…”
He paused, his eyes betraying the confusion he was feeling. Finding his voice again he blurted;
“John says that one greater then he, is coming after him;”
His assumed Baptiser’s tone of authority:
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to tie: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”
Benjamin turned to face his father.
“While the John was teaching, a stranger made his way into the river. He was different, not like the scribes and Pharisees.”
He paused again searching for the right words.
Ephraim turned, listening more intently. as Benjamin continued.
“We didn’t know what was happening. The Baptiser and the man knew each other but they were both so different. John in his raggy tunic of camel’s hair and leather girdle.”
The older man grunted. “The prophet would make an ordinary shepherd seem dressed like a king!”
For sure. “John’s a wild man. He offends the scribes and pharisee without fear. The stranger was different. He had an air about him not arrogant, like the scribes and pharisees. I felt drawn to him…”
Ephraim leaned forward.
“What happened?”
The boy took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before continuing.
“ John knelt before him.”
“The prophet?”
“Yes … But the man reached down and brought him back to his feet. They talked together for a little and then the stranger knelt and John baptized him.
It was like any of the others, except …. That’s when it happened!”
Benjamin felt a tingle move up his spine.
“When the stranger came up from the water, the heavens opened above them and a dove came and landed on his shoulder!”
Ephraim eyes were riveted on Benjamin as he waited for him to finish.
“Abba, after the dove landed, a voice spoke from heaven! ….. We all heard it!
‘This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased’…”
Ephraim froze. The story awakened a memory from a winter’s eve long ago. His voice broke as he spoke.
“We too heard a message from the heavens once …”
Time stopped. The the dying embers crackled in the stillness. The night hushed waiting the tale to finish.
“In Rama was there a voice heard …;” Ephraim softly intoned the passage from Jeremiah, a trail of tears making their way down his face;
“Lamentation, and weeping … and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children; and would not be comforted; Because they are not…” His voice tailed off.
Benjamin’s eyes grew wide. The passing moments felt like an eternity. He could wait no longer.
“Abba. What is this that you speak of?” His voice a whisper.
Angelic Hosts
For the first time Ephraim’s mind had gone back to the pain he had locked deep inside. He began slowly;
“The sun had set and it was night. The sheep were in the folds and I had placed my mat to guard this very entrance;” His voice faded as the memories flooded back.
“Suddenly, the sky was ablaze with light and sounds of a celebration. It was an angelic host and voices, too numerous to number, all were excited and all speaking at once. A chorus of chaos and joy filling the sky, ”
Benjamin’s eyes grew wide as Ephraim continued.
“We understood every word! The angels proclaimed glad tidings of great joy; A Holy birth: God’s Son … had been born in a stable in Bethlehem! We would find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger!”
Ephraim voice tailed off in wonderment.
Benjamin gasped.
“In Bethlehem? In a manger?”
“Of course we went to see! It was fearful and wondrous at the same time! We gave no thought to the sheep, only that we must go to Bethlehem!”
“Abba. Why have I not heard this before?”
Ephraim continued. “When we got to the village we found everything exactly as the angels had said. A light was streaming from the heavens to a house and stable. We knew it was the sign. The babe would be there! And there he was. A newborn baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in the manger.”
Benjamin interrupted “The stable? Yaweh’s son born in a stable?”
“Yes my son. The mothers name was Mary and her husband Joseph. They had traveled from Nazareth and arrived in Bethlehem when it was nearly dark. Because of the census, there was no room for them in the Inn; all that remained was the stable.”
“The Messiah in a stable? How could this be?” Benjamin stammered.
Ephraim smiled. “Angelic messengers … the wonder of it all; We gave no thought to the strangeness of the Messiah born among simple shepherds, we were only excited and amazed!” remembered. When we told Mary and Joseph of our angel messengers, we discovered they too had been visited by angeles and the angels even told what they were to name the baby.
Before long, the commotion awoke the Innkeeper who found excited shepherds crowding around the manger, all with stories to tell.”
He paused to catch his breath as the memories sprang to life.
“We revelled for a time, telling and retelling the stories; Some neighbors had gathered and we remembered our sheep were unguarded. We left to return to our folds.
As we we left, the Innkeeper insisted the baby be moved from the stable to the Inn.”
Benjamin jumped to his feet. “Abbah! Such a tale! This should be told many times around the fire at night. What a wonder.”
Ephraim sighed quietly and breathed deeply.
“There’s more.” His shoulders dropped as though a great weight had been placed upon them. Sadness filled his countenance and he began to speak.
“You have two older brothers!”
“Abba?” Benjamin interrupted. “Why have I not known of this before?”
Ephraim ignored the question, absently poking the dying embers with a stick. Benjamin sat waiting. a foreboding tempered the thrill he had felt moments before.
Ephraim slowly recounted the story long buried.
“As we returned to our flocks, we encountered a caravan.”
“Caravan?” Benjamin forgot the foreboding feeling of moments before.
“Magi! They had traveled a great distance from the East and arrived at Jerusalem earlier. They spoke of the appearance of a star that prophesied the birth of a king in Israel and were enquiring where he could be found. The scribes told them the prophet Micah had prophesied the king they were seeking was to be born …!”
Benjamin interupted. “Of course Bethlehem! The Messiah will be a descendant of King David he must be born in Bethlehem!”
“Yes, the Magi’s servants told of the appearance of a star that had begun their master’s quest but had disappeared long before their arrival in Jerusalem. As they left Jerusalem, it reappeared, when the angels had appeared to us. Our angeles were their guiding star.”
“They saw the angels … from Jerusalem!?”
Ephraim nodded. “Their tale was as fantastic as ours!” He smiled weakly as the memories of long ago flooded over him and again grew silent.
Rachel’s Children –
“Abba!” Benjamin broke the revery. “What happened to the Magi and the baby?”
Ephraim sighed as a shadow came over his face.
“On the second morning the Magi left Bethlehem before dawn, but they did not return to Jerusalem as Herod had demanded.
The shepherds gathered each evening around the fire and talk of the angel messengers and the appearance of the magi.”
Benjamin shook his head slowly, deep in thought.
“Abba, the angels said you would find Yahweh’s son in the manger, no? The Magi told of following the star and the birth of a king in Israel, no?”
Ephraim bowed his head as the old questions with no answers.
“Yes____ yes my son. We too wondered these thoughts and events to wonderous for shepherds.”
Benjamin’s eyes grew wide.
“Abba, what became of the baby king? In the manger?”
There was a long pause before Ephraim went on.
“The young couple remained with the Innkeeper until the time for her purification had passed …”
The sudden muffled sob jarred Benjamin! Never had he witnessed his father overcome with emotion. Ephraim struggled to speak as his breathing became labored.
“No sooner had they gone; then the Roman soldiers came!” He spit out the last words with uncharacteristic venom.
“Romans!” Benjamin gasped.
“Yes.” Ephraim rasped. “The Magi had asked where to find the newborn KING of the Jews. The Sanhedrin told Herod and Herod sent them to Bethlehem with instructions to return when they found the newborn.”
Benjamin shuddered. Ephraim continued.
“Herod heard rumors of a disturbance in Bethlehem and waited impatiently for the Magi’s return. When he discovered they had left, without returning as he had requested, he was furious! He issued the order….”
Pausing, Ephraim continued with great effort; “All the male children in Bethlehem and the hill country, from the age of two and under were to be slaughtered!”
“Slaughtered!” Benjamin gasped.
“Yes my son, Herod thought only to kill the baby! A rival king!”
Ephraim paused. Taking a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
“You are our third born Benjamin. Yaakov was our first born, Avram our newborn.”
Benjamins voice broke. “My brothers?” anguish and confused by the new revelations.
Ephraim continued in a monotone.
“I was in the hills tending the sheep when the soldiers came. Your mother had your brothers, torn from her arms; Slain before her very eyes. Grief nearly destroyed us. Fifteen seasons passed before Yaweh soothed our sorrow; he gave you to us, my son.”
A look of horror passed Benjamin’s face.
“Father I never knew.” His voice broke.
Ephraim nodded. “I know my son. There were no answers or understanding of these things or their meaning. The grief and pain sealed the memory to the past. I have refused to think or feel the grief for these many years, as have the others. The pain of memory has kept them buried.”
Father and son sat quietly, each deep in thought. Finally Benjamin spoke.
“Abba, you said the baby in the manger had a name?”
Ephraim thought for a moment.
“Yes. The father said his name was Jesus.”
Benjamin jumped to his feet!
“Abba! … The man today; The one of who the voice from heaven. spoke;
‘This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.’
His name was Jesus!
He was the babe in the manger!
The one who the prophets foretold!”
He is God’s Messiah! The one we have longed for!
