Singled Out ===The Most Amazing Night (Part !)

I, Abia, ben Dothan will now apply myself to writing down the memoirs of the shepherds’ visit to the newborn King. The night I am about to tell you about will always be fixed in my memory with the slightest detail as clear as if it had but recently happened.

        It had began as a typical night for us shepherds, although colder than some, and those  who were not stretched out on the grass fast asleep were huddled close to the fire chatting. Some of us had our young sons with us.

Zeke has a trusty old kelev (dog) that most of us appreciate very much as he can faithfully make the rounds by himself. To my right Aron was carefully pruning away on a twig in order to make a sharp point. For what purpose I knew not.

“So what do you think about the coming of the Mashiach, Judah?”  He asked.

Judah sighed heavily. “I only wish He would come. When the Yisraelites were in bondage to the Egyptians they were their slaves for four hundred years before deliverance came. How long is it now since the prophet Malachi plodded where we plod? Four hundred years? More? Yet the El’ Elohim is silent! We need another deliverer!” He glanced around quickly, then added, “The Roman taxes are too much to handle as it is, but” his voice lowered, “But it is the tithes that our religious leaders place on everything- absolutely everything that really bleeds us dry!”

        “But we want to serve His Name faithfully!” Aron protested. Judah was about to put him in his place with a heated remark, but I quickly tried to mollify him.

        “There was Judah the Maccabee, your ancestor,” I pointed out.

“Yea, and would to Ha Shem that he was here, now!” Judah snapped the stick that he had been peeling in half, and hurled both ends into the fire. “I would raise up an army myself, but it seems so futile. Many a revolt has flared up but those dastardly Romans quench it in no time! Their horrible crosses line the hills and roadsides.”

We all nodded soberly. Most of us were probably thinking about the disaster in Sepphoris not many years hence and were loathe to see it repeated. Judah’s chin jutted out, causing his thin, pointed beard to quiver as he glared at each one of us in turn. “Think not that I am a coward just because I am skulking around in these hills pretending to be a shepherd. They are ferreting out even son of the Maccabees as you well know so we have to be sly. The time is not right.”

None of us cared to disagree with him, not with those fiery eyes boring into us.

        We all fell silent. Some were inclined to lie on their backs; arms folded behind their heads and study the stars, other gazed meditatively at the glowing embers. I was watching the movement of the sheep. Gradually it dawned upon me that they were becoming increasingly agitated for such a quiet night.

too be continued...Part of Mary's Diary, the Life of Jesus through His Mother's eyes. Find it on line. Amazon, Abe Books and elsewhere! You can get a peek preview of Mary's Diary if you find my blog called Mary'am's Reflections. The book itself is available from www.abebooks.com/        www.iuniverse.com/ - United Statesand elsewhere.