Read Online Great Lion of God by Taylor Caldwell - Free Book Online
Authors: Taylor Caldwell
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earth? No! It would seem that He will come obscurely and few will know Him, and He will be rejected, the humblest of men, unproclaimed, unheralded, like a thief in the night, with no panoply, no choirs of seraphim. And who has said that He will be born of a princess of Israel?”
“The Holy One of Israel will not come unheralded!” cried Reb Isaac. “How then, would the world know, or the world heed Him? He would live as obscurely as He had been born, and I assure you, Hillel ben Borush, that He has not been born! For, has not the Lord, blessed be His Name, surely said that His Redeemer will wear government upon His shoulder, and that of His glory there would be no end? To be born as Isaias appears to you to have prophesied, would be to live and die in futility, and to be unknown to all men.”
“Then, of Whom was Isaias speaking?” asked Hillel.
“I do not possess all wisdom,” said Reb Isaac in a voice that disagreed with his words. “Possibly Isaias was referring to the birth of some obscure prophet. Let me speak of what he says concerning the birth of the Messias: ‘For a child is born to us, and a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace! His empire shall be multiplied and there shall be no end of peace. He shall sit upon the throne of David, and of His kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and forever.’
“Hillel ben Borush, does that prophecy, then, not speak of the grandeur of the coming of the Messias, and that all men will know Him?”
“It is possible that they will not know Him when He first appears to them,” said Hillel, and now his heart became heavy with doubt and melancholy. “I see no contradiction in the two prophecies.”
Reb Isaac lifted his eyes to the ceiling of the room as if calling on the Almighty for patience. Then he said, “The sun is setting. It is time for our prayers.”
Young Saul had been listening to all this and there was now a deep glow in his extraordinary eyes which Aristo deplored in his heart, for he suspected zealousness and saw that the child’s whole attention had been upon Reb Isaac and not on his father. He, himself, had listened to these Hebraic controversies with boredom. Why could not the Jews be of ease and accept the birth of gods as the Greeks accepted them, and with thoughts of grace and lust and laughter, and not with proclamations of world government and castrated angels and judgments and justice and all the other dreary fantasies of gloomy men?
What the Jews needed, surely, was some of the arête of the Greeks and less of the formidable gloom of their bearded prophets and wise men. They needed lightness and joy.
Deborah had silently retired. Reb Isaac, a dark and heavy figure, was leading the way to the gardens, walking with a resounding step between the beaming white columns, and Hillel was following him, and Saul in turn followed his father. Prayer shawls had appeared, apparently from the air. Aristo was alone with David ben Shebua. The Greek, as a freedman, waited for the other to speak, for David was looking at him gravely. Then David smiled and gestured slightly and went to a distant door and opened it and closed it behind him. At the final moment a dagger of sun had lit up his one jeweled earring and for some reason Aristo thought it pathetic.
Aristo went into the portico and half stood behind a pillar, to observe. The gardens were lambent with mingled gold and scarlet light, and there was an illuminated mist caught in the branches of the trees, and the palms rattled softly in the evening wind. Beyond, started those incredible red mountains, but now the sky was coldly green behind them and in that greenness stood one single star. In the east a crescent moon revealed itself faintly, like a woman’s pared fingernail painted with pearl. Birds held their
“The Holy One of Israel will not come unheralded!” cried Reb Isaac. “How then, would the world know, or the world heed Him? He would live as obscurely as He had been born, and I assure you, Hillel ben Borush, that He has not been born! For, has not the Lord, blessed be His Name, surely said that His Redeemer will wear government upon His shoulder, and that of His glory there would be no end? To be born as Isaias appears to you to have prophesied, would be to live and die in futility, and to be unknown to all men.”
“Then, of Whom was Isaias speaking?” asked Hillel.
“I do not possess all wisdom,” said Reb Isaac in a voice that disagreed with his words. “Possibly Isaias was referring to the birth of some obscure prophet. Let me speak of what he says concerning the birth of the Messias: ‘For a child is born to us, and a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace! His empire shall be multiplied and there shall be no end of peace. He shall sit upon the throne of David, and of His kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and forever.’
“Hillel ben Borush, does that prophecy, then, not speak of the grandeur of the coming of the Messias, and that all men will know Him?”
“It is possible that they will not know Him when He first appears to them,” said Hillel, and now his heart became heavy with doubt and melancholy. “I see no contradiction in the two prophecies.”
Reb Isaac lifted his eyes to the ceiling of the room as if calling on the Almighty for patience. Then he said, “The sun is setting. It is time for our prayers.”
Young Saul had been listening to all this and there was now a deep glow in his extraordinary eyes which Aristo deplored in his heart, for he suspected zealousness and saw that the child’s whole attention had been upon Reb Isaac and not on his father. He, himself, had listened to these Hebraic controversies with boredom. Why could not the Jews be of ease and accept the birth of gods as the Greeks accepted them, and with thoughts of grace and lust and laughter, and not with proclamations of world government and castrated angels and judgments and justice and all the other dreary fantasies of gloomy men?
What the Jews needed, surely, was some of the arête of the Greeks and less of the formidable gloom of their bearded prophets and wise men. They needed lightness and joy.
Deborah had silently retired. Reb Isaac, a dark and heavy figure, was leading the way to the gardens, walking with a resounding step between the beaming white columns, and Hillel was following him, and Saul in turn followed his father. Prayer shawls had appeared, apparently from the air. Aristo was alone with David ben Shebua. The Greek, as a freedman, waited for the other to speak, for David was looking at him gravely. Then David smiled and gestured slightly and went to a distant door and opened it and closed it behind him. At the final moment a dagger of sun had lit up his one jeweled earring and for some reason Aristo thought it pathetic.
Aristo went into the portico and half stood behind a pillar, to observe. The gardens were lambent with mingled gold and scarlet light, and there was an illuminated mist caught in the branches of the trees, and the palms rattled softly in the evening wind. Beyond, started those incredible red mountains, but now the sky was coldly green behind them and in that greenness stood one single star. In the east a crescent moon revealed itself faintly, like a woman’s pared fingernail painted with pearl. Birds held their
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