Letters from Adina - #11

Letter XI. A Discussion on the Prophecies

Rabbi Amos consults the prophecies

My Dear Father,

In my last letter to you, I spoke of our return from Jordan, to Gilgal, to the lodge in the wheat fields of Peniel, where Rabbi Amos sojourns during the two weeks of harvest.

At the house were assembled, not only John, the cousin of Mary, and the noble Lazarus, but likewise Gamaliel, and Saul, his disciple, of whom I have before spoken.

All of these were invited to sojourn with my uncle for the night. As we sat up late, conversing with deep interest upon the remarkable events of the day, an observation made by John, who said of the change in the face of Jesus, that ‘‘His visage was marred more than the sons of men,’’ led the venerable Gamaliel to say to us,

“Those are the words of Esaias, and are truly spoken by him of the Messias, who shall come.”

‘‘Let us search in Esaias, then, and see what further he hath said,’’ cried Rabbi Amos. ‘‘Mary, bring hither the roll of the Prophets.’’

My cousin Mary brought the book, and placed it on a small stand before him, for, we were all seated in the porch, where the evening breeze was cool. A lamp was then brought, I held it above the rolls of parchment, while my uncle found the portion of the prophet where the words were written.

‘‘Read aloud, worthy Rabbi,’’ said the philosopher Gamaliel. ‘‘We will all listen; for though, I do not believe this, young man, who was to-day baptized is Messias and Christ, who is to restore all things to us, yet I am prepared to reverence Him as a Prophet.”

“And,’’ answered. Rabbi, Amos, “‘if we find the prophecies fulfilled in him which we look for to meet in Messias when He cometh, wilt thou believe, venerable father?’’

“I will believe and reverently adore,”’ answered the sage, bowing his head till his flowing white beard touched his knees.

“Read Adina, for thy eyes are young,”’ said my uncle; and obedient, though embarrassed before such an assembly, I read as follows:

“Behold, my servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee, His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”

“How completely,’’ said John, “‘these words described his appearance as He stood on the verge of the desert.”

“But,” said Saul, Gamaliel’s disciple, “‘if this be prophesied of the Christ, then we are to have a Christ of humility, and not one of glory and power.”

“Read one part that you have omitted, maiden, and we will see that there are words that import a higher condition than that of this stranger, whom John the Baptiser himself confessed he did not know, nor had ever beheld before.”

Thereupon I read these words: ‘‘Behold my servant shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. He shall sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him: He shall lift up his, hand to the Gentiles, and set up his standard to the people. Kings shall bow down to Him with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of his feet.’’

“Such is our Messias!’’ exclaimed Saul.

When I heard this great and good man thus discourse, dear father, my heart sank within me. But my eye fell on the words that followed next, and as I read them I gained more confidence.

‘‘He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.”

“If the first part of this prophecy,’’ said Lazarus, his fine eyes lighting up, as he looked at Saul, ‘‘be concerning the Christ, as you have just now confessed, then is this last concerning Him likewise; and the fact that you reject Him, is but the fulfillment of this part of the prophecy.”

“Wait, I beseech you, learned Rabbi,” said Saul “until I read you another prophecy.” And he read :

“I have made a covenant with David.  Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous BRANCH.

Now you will all admit brethren, that these prophecies refer to Messias. He is, therefore, come of the lineage of David, and he is to be born in Bethlehem. Show me that this Jesus, the Nazerene, fulfills both conditions in his own person, and I will verily believe in him.’’

This was said haughtily, and with the air of one who cannot be answered.

But immediately Lazarus rose to his feet and said, ‘‘Although I remembered not this prophecy, that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem, yet I am overjoyed to find the fact respecting Jesus fulfills it. He was born in Bethlehem of Judah: This I have known some years; and—”..

Here, while my heart was bounding with joy, Gamaliel said sternly, ‘‘I thought this man was born in Nazareth?’’  

“He has lived,’’ answered Lazarus, “in Nazareth from childhood only.”

“During the days when Cesar Augustus issued a decree that all the world should be taxed, His mother, and Joseph, her husband, went up: to the city of David to be taxed, which is Bethlehem, and there Jesus was born, as I have often heard from her lips: But it recorded in the office of the Temple, and can be referred to there.”

‘‘Admitting, then, that he was born in Bethlehem,’’ said Saul, who, from his training in the schools, appeared to be much given to disputation, “‘you have to prove his lineage from David’s line.”

"Wherefore did His parents go to Bethlehem, David’s city, unless they were of the royal line’’ asked Rabbi Amos; ‘for none went to be taxed in any other city than that of their own family. The fact that they went there goeth far to show that they were of David's house.

“Everyone born in the city of David,”’ remarked Gamaliel, ‘‘is not of necessity of David's house; but it is marvelous if this Jesus really was born in Bethlehem.”

“But may not his lineage be learned without a doubt from the records of the tribes, and of their families, kept by the command of the law in the Temple?’’ I asked of my uncle.

“Without question. These books of the generations of our people are to be relied on,”’ he answered.

“In truth,’’ said Gamaliel, ‘‘they are kept with the greatest accuracy, and it is so ordained by God, for the very reason that when Messias cometh wé thay know whether he who claims to be such be of the house of David or no.”

I will examine the book of the Generations, and see if his mother and father come of the stock and seed of David.’’

“And if you find that they do," asked John, with emotion, ‘‘can’ you doubt any longer whether Jesus is the Christ. Will not the fact of his being born in Bethlehem, and of the lineage of David, not to speak of the witness of God’s own audible voice, heard by our ears this day — will not these signs lead you to believe that he is the Christ?’’

“They will prevent me from actually rejecting him,” answered the cold philosopher.

"What more can you ask for?’’ asked Mary, with feeling, for she believed as strongly as I did that Jesus was the Christ, and she was pained by so many doubts, and such subtlety of objection from those who. were ‘so learned in the Prophets.

But men reason and reason, while women simply believe.

‘‘Miracles?” answered the disciple of Gamaliel, glancing at the face of his master inquiringly.

“Yes, miracles,” answered the sage. “The Messiah is to heal the sick by a word, to restore sight to the blind, to cast out devils, and raise even the dead.’’

And here he desired Saul to read the particular prophecy ascribes the power of miracles to the Christ.

“If he restore the blind and raise the dead, I will doubt no longer,” answered Saul.

Thus, you see, my dear father, that even on the very day of these marvelous events there is much difference of opinion among eye-witnesses themselves, concerning Jesus.

The next morning, early, the people departed from the court where they had lodged.

Lazarus has returned to Bethany, wither his occupation calleth him. ; but his friend John, the son of Eliasaph, remains with us, having agreed with Lazarus that he would go forth  alone into the desert, and not give up his search for the divine Prophet Jesus until he had found Him; for both these young men feel as sad as if they had lost a beloved and honored brother.

Your daughter,  Adina

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