The wooden small cabines near the Temple had been used in the past for storing wide trunks. They were usually cut to pieces for burning in the fire, that would cook the priests’ meals, after they would sacrifice lambs and calves, brought by the people to the Temple. But now these sacrifices had been cancelled by Athaliah’s regime. The piegeons’ and other birds’ sacrifices, allowed by Athaliah, did not need a ‘thorough wash’ of their butchers. So Yehoyada ordered them to bring jugs filled with water at the temple’s entry. There they would wash their hands, after having been stained by the butchered birds’.
The soldiers who were searching the priests’ washing cabin – did not know that it had not been in use. When they arrived to that place they had no key to open it, so they broke its door…
The boy Elyakim was again hiding in the cave. This time he was alone, without the maid Nefertita, which he well remembered. She had left her duty when he became four years of age. Since then the High Priest began to teach him – together with his son Zakharia- in his house or in the Temple, telling the people that the boy had been a ‘foundling orphan’. But now everything had become dangerous again for the boy’s life.
Some daylight was penetrating from the hole of the “air chimney” over the boy. Also two candles were inside- which illuminated some fruits and a jug of water on a stones’ stool, that the High Priest supplied for Elyakim’s use.
The boy heard the noise of Athaliah’s soldiers’ breaking the lock. He also noticed their talk inside the chamber, but their voices were too weak for his ears to let him understand. However, he was aware of a danger. So, he fell prostrate on the floor and the candle lighted his face: In his dread he whispered a prayer that he remembered by heart. He was silently weeping in between the sentences: “I’ll give thanks to God,” he uttered Psalms’ words, “with the lyre, and praise him with the harp…I will prepare a table for him - against all my foes…”
The two guards of Athaliah were standing near the washing basin. They were gazing also at the heavy stones stool at the wall, and clapped lightly at it. After looking also at the floor, and knocking on it with a stick, they decided that it was enough. They returned to the front door with a feeling of boredom and left the place. They soon returned to the Temple’s coutyard, where they met the Queen’s group.
They saw Athaliah turning to the headguards’ Captain and asking him:
“Have you seen Baal Priest?” He shook his heads and said : No.
“Has he forgotten to return from my mission?… Bastard.” she murmured to herself.
Yehoyada’s family were near their home, gazing at the results of the fire. Yehosheva was shocked. Her body was trembling and she did not utter a word. The high priest told his son to whisper with him the prayer of Prophetess Deborah about the riots in Israel in her time. Zakhariah wanted to rush inside, and see if something had remained from his wooden horse and other toys. His father warned him and his mother grtabbed his little hand.
“There may be still embers at the area,” she told him, “you should be careful while touching everything.” Yehoyada himself went in first, while his wife and son still were staying at the front door, which had remained miraculously neat and uncoaled.
When the Priest was inside - he heard some noise. It was General Abner, who had just arrived and was talking outside with Yehosheva. But soon all came in.
Abner’s face looked very severe, while he was watching the coaled walls.
“A messenger has just told me,” he said, not mentioning that Mathan was that man, “about this terrible fire.”
Yehoyada abruptly opened the interim door, leading to his small library of scrolls. As both he and Abner went there, they immediately saw five damaged scrolls scattered on the floor. One ‘fully coaled’ scroll seemed to remain on a shelf of Yehoyada’s bookcase. As Abner touched it, it was crushed into ashes. All the others had been burned, and their heaps of ashes scattered along the shelves and on the floor.
Abner and the Priest were kneeling, raising two scrolls from the floor, that seemed only partly damaged. The men kissed them and saw they were only little coaled from outside. Yehoyada opened them and whispered that a miracle had saved most of their contents.
Meanwhile sobbing Yehosheva entered to the room with Zakharia. She had brought a sack- into which her husbnad put the rescued scrolls. All other ashes and remnants of scrolls scatterd there, were slowly gathered by her devoted hands, and she put them in an empty box. “We will bury them like babies,” she told her seven years aged son, “in the cemetary. That is our tradition to handle lost sacred books.”
“could you undertsand why now?” Abner cautiously inquired the High Priest, “What has made the Queen so angry on you? What has pushed her to this violence act against God, and against her own family?”
“She wants to adopt a child. A friend of my son. To make him - her puppy. We have hidden the boy – from the grip of the maddened Queen.”
“Is the boy so imprtant to our religion?” asked Abner, “Sometimes we have to sacrifice one person - and win safety for others.”
“You’ve seen that boy two days ago: He has a sharp brain and excellent memory...”
“and showing to be a promise,” added yehosheva, still concealing the whole truth about that boy, “to our people. We expect him to be a genius scholar, or...a leader.”
Abner was nervous and outraged. From time to time he touched the contaminated scrolls and his palms tried to remove the coal from the wall. He began walking to and fro in the room, deeply meditating:
“It isn’t just a question of the boy or of your life - or of this burnt property… These are ashes of our most holy books. She had finally declared a war on our most sacred things. We have enough with the crazy woman! We should take her life. Otherwise her sword will butcher everyone.”
“Abner- You are the Captain of Judea’s ship,” said Yehosheva, “But is this already the time for sailing?”
“I have spoken today with another commander, before I have arrived here. Hallely is a God believer, too...His wife was raped by Athaliah’s guards. He hates the Queen like hell.”
“We should be cautious, General,” said Yehoyada. “I can pray, but you should feel if the ground is fit for harvesting.”
“If I continue to stay dumb and blind, while seeing all the evils - I betray the Lord. I am decisive to act!”
“God will not neglect us,” said the High Priest, excitedly, “He has sent you to us, dear Abner! So I feel. I have waited more than five years for this.”
Yehoyada and Abner were embracing warmly, and Yehosheva tapped Abner’s back to add a cheer up to him, but she said:
“I still fear, how can we know, that many people will be ready to sacrifice their lives for God’s sake? Fifty Priests and Levitin are surely on our side, but about all the others we know nothing. And I know from my mothr- that less than half of the soldiers are now God’s believers.”
Abner grabbed the sack of the burnt scrolls.
“Athaliah’s heart has burnt,” he said, “with a strange fire: We will cause it to become ash, like these burnt books.”
“Are you so sure in our victory?” asked Yehosheva.
“Yes. And I suggest, that your own son - lady Yehosheva,” he looked at Zakharia, who even being a child, understood that they were dealing with a terrifying issue, “Your son will be crowned as our king, after we have won the battle!”
“No, No!” shouted both parents.”He is still a boy.”
Abner disregarded that and continued:
“We have to have a king, who is an offspring of king David. Your child has also Ahab’s blood in him, therefore Athaliah had not killed him. I have only recently understood how her murderous intrigues had been woven… I blame myelf too, being fascinated by her strong character for so long!”
“Not our son!” repeated Yehosheva, to stress her objection to Abner’s offer regrding her son’s crowning.
“God forbid!” exclaimed also the
High Priest.
“I wonder,” murmured Abner, “You should have now more belief in our ability to defeat her...In the past- I was the doubtful one.”
“We shall discuss all that - after our victory,” concluded the High Priest, “and we know it will be a bloody war.”
At that night Abner thought of submitting his resignation to Athaliah in a short letter. But as he appeared in the palace, he heard she was lying in her bed, not quite fully aware what’s going on around. Therefore he left his post in the camp, without telling anybody where he could be found.
There was a rumor that Athaliah had caught the flu. It was winter time. The weather became cool, and many fell ill on their beds. So, the common people had not heard yet about the Queen’s insanity. Mathan, who had known very well what was the queen’s real malady, stayed now secluded in his room at Baal’s renewed Temple, not far from the palace. He felt that the future would become deem.‘But you can’t do anything practical with feelings,’ he meditated, ‘if you are not the head of a regime, nor its high commander.’
CHAPTER 23