Faith does not always stay safely within walls. Sometimes it must walk unfamiliar roads. Having escaped King Herod’s palace, Tabitha, Adam and Darius find themselves racing against time along the highway to Bethlehem. What began as a warning becomes a battle for lives and for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Along the way, courage is tested, friendships are proven and unexpected allies appear. Shepherds tell of angels. Warriors clash on rocky ground. And in a humble stable, a king receives gifts fit for royalty. Part II of The Girl Who Guarded the King, written by Guy Johnson, follows the journey from danger to deliverance, reminding us that God often works through ordinary people willing to act when the moment demands it.
Read Part 1
Adam led Tab through several dimly lighted hallways, up and down several twisting stairways, moving always cautiously and without a sound. At last they came to the lavish guest rooms where Darius and the company of magi were staying.
At first it seemed that the rooms were empty.
‘Darius! Where are you?’ called Tab.
‘I’m in here,’ a drowsy voice answered. ‘What do you want? I’m trying to sleep.’
Tab and Adam followed the voice into the neighboring room where Darius was stretched out on a mountain of pillows.
‘Get up, man!’ Adam shouted. ‘We have to talk! Where is everybody?’
‘Well on their way to Bethlehem by now.’
‘We missed them. We’re too late!’ worried Tab.
‘They got a great send-off,’ continued Darius. ‘General Microbius was there, along with some other big wigs, promising them a great welcome when they come back with news of the new king.’
‘Why are you still here?’ asked Tab.
‘The General pointed out how rugged the terrain is between here and Bethlehem and suggested it would be better if I stayed here till they get back. I’m a special guest of King Herod.’
‘Hostage you mean,’ Adam put in.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You need to hear what Tab found out after the meeting yesterday. Tell him, Tab!!’
So Tab repeated all she had heard of the general’s plans and instructions. Darius was dumbfounded.
‘I’m not making this up, Darius. You and your Dad and his friends are in real danger.’
‘Something has to be done right away,’ added Adam.
‘Well, well, what is this? Three conspirators at work planning mischief? We can’t have that!’
Two armed guardsmen had come into the room.
‘What are we going to do with them, Captain? Should we get rid of them right now?’ asked one of them.
‘No,’ answered the Captain. ‘Our orders were to lock one young foreigner up for now, but not hurt him. It turns out we have three kids here. Two of them work in the palace. We’ll head back to headquarters for new instructions. We’ll just lock them in until we get back. They won’t be able to go anywhere-the walls are thick and there aren’t any windows. We don’t even need to tie them up.’
The guardsmen bolted the heavy doors behind them and went back to report their find, leaving Tab, Adam, and Darius to worry.
‘I couldn’t believe what you told me, Tab,’ Darius was the first to speak. ‘But it is all true. We’re doomed.’
‘There must be something we can do besides wait for them to come back,’ said Tab.
‘Listen and learn,’ said Adam. ‘I told you I know this palace. And better than those guards do. Tab, you and Ibrim work in the old part of the palace. When I bring you your supplies, I have to carry them up by hand. But this is the new part of the palace. I put boxes and trays on a shelf in a little cabinet in the kitchen wall, pull on a pulley, and the supplies arrive here on that shelf in the wall over there.’
‘In my country, we call that a dumb waiter,’ commented Darius.
‘Well, it’s modern technology here,’ went on Adam, ‘And we can use it to escape from this room before the guards get back.’
And so they did. The dumb waiter could accommodate them one at a time. Adam thought they should first go up to the room above them, which he knew was empty just then, and hide there till late at night when they could get down to the kitchen and make their way out of the palace without being caught.
While waiting for the time they could make their move, they tried to plan what they could do next.
‘We have to get to your Dad as quick as we can, Darius, and warn him about the ambush,’ said Tab.
‘Yes,’ said Darius.
‘That’s the most important thing to do first. Dad and the others need to get ready to fight. We had to fight off bands of thieves twice on our way to Jerusalem, so we know how to defend ourselves.’
‘Do we know how to find them?’ asked Tab.
‘I think I can locate the road to Bethlehem. But first we have to be extra careful getting out of the palace and the city. The dumb waiter will let us off in the kitchen. There won’t be many people there at midnight and most of them will be sleeping, but we can’t make a sound. When we get outside, the streets will be empty mostly, but we’ll have to be on the lookout for robbers. And we’ll have to hide near the city gate until dawn when it opens. Are here any questions?’
Tab decided to hold the many questions she had until later. Darius did the same. The three decided to rest as much as possible until it was time to put the escape plan in motion.
At the darkest hour of the night, they descended to the kitchen one at a time in the dumb waiter. The pulley creaked a bit but did not arouse suspicion. Several kitchen workers were sleeping close to their duty posts but none awoke and the three tiptoed by.
When they reached the great doors to the outside world, Adam noticed Tab looking at the row of woolen cloaks hanging on the racks. ‘One of those would make a good disguise when we’re on the road, and besides, it’ll be cold outside.’
‘I don’t think we should steal them,’ she said.
‘We could borrow them for a while,’ said Darius.
‘How will we give them back?’ Tab asked.
‘We’ll think of that later,’ Adam finished the conversation.
There was a small side door beside the great palace gates. They slipped through it and found themselves in the cold night air.
The empty streets were pitch black. The three kept close together and made as little sound as possible. Adam led the way to the city gate that opened on the road to Bethlehem and the sea beyond. The first light of dawn was just becoming visible when they made it out just ahead. They hid behind a stack of barrels while waiting for it to open. While the gatekeeper was enjoying the fresh baked bread brought to him by a friendly baker’s maid, Tab, Adam, and Darius slipped past him into the open countryside.
‘Where do we go from here?’ Asked Darius.
‘We have to get to Bethlehem to find your father as soon as we can,’ answered Tab.
‘Yes,’ said Adam, ‘they’re probably still hunting for us in the palace, but it won’t take long for them to decide to start searching the road to Bethlehem.’
‘We can’t go very fast walking. We need some horses,’ Darius said. ‘My Lightening can outrun any horse they have.’
‘Well, until we can get hold of some horses, we have to walk and do the best we can. It won’t be long until this road gets crowded with people. We’ll have to keep a sharp lookout and stay out of sight as much as possible,’ Adam said.
There was a low stone wall opposite the city’s gate they had just come through. It stretched ahead of them down the long rise on which Jerusalem was situated and bordered the highway to Bethlehem.
‘Starting right now I think we should start walking on the other side of that wall,’ suggested Tab. ‘It’ll be easy to hide there and even if we’re slow at least we’ll be doing something.’
The others agreed. It wasn’t hard to get over the wall. The shrubs growing wild by the wall were more of a problem, but the three forged ahead with determination.
No one complained as the morning advanced to midday and the temperature grew steadily warmer. Nor did anyone complain about bramble scratches, hunger, or thirst. Nevertheless, all three breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived at a level stretch of highway where a small village lay and where they saw a building that was clearly an inn.
While the others remained hidden outside, Adam went into the inn to test it and determine if it was safe for the others to come in. The inn was empty at that hour. It was still too early for a lunch crowd. Only the innkeeper, the oldest man Adam had ever seen, was in the main room.
‘Good morning, sir,’ Adam began.
‘Welcome, young man,’ answered the innkeeper. ‘Why don’t you ask your friends outside to come in, too. You are all welcome here, and in no danger.’
‘How did you know-‘
‘My grandson drove here from the city this morning and noticed you on the opposite side of the wall. From what he told me, I guessed you all are in some kind of trouble. You don’t look like dangerous cutthroats. Come in and have something to eat. You must be tired by now.’
Tab and Darius joined Adam in the dining room of the inn. The old innkeeper was so friendly they came to trust him completely. Darius told him why his father and the other magi had come to Judea.
‘Ah,’ said the inn keeper, ‘you came seeking the Messiah. All Israel is waiting for the Messiah. No wonder King Herod is frightened to learn he has been born.’
Tab went on to explain how she had found the prophecy that the new king was to be born in Bethlehem. Adam added that Tab had also discovered the general’s sinister plans but the magi had left the palace before they could be warned. Darius explained how they had escaped from the palace and how they needed to warn his father of his danger.
‘What you’re telling me explains what I saw yesterday and the day before,’ said the innkeeper. ‘Yesterday morning, a large group of foreign dignitaries passed by on the road to Bethlehem. It was quite an impressive group, many people, horses, and a number of camels. They were moving rather slowly. Camels can’t be rushed.’
‘That would be Dad and his friends,’ put in Darius.
The innkeeper continued, ‘The afternoon before, a fast moving group galloped by. They weren’t in uniforms but they had the look of Herod’s men.’
‘They must have been the ones the general sent ahead to ambush the magi,’ Tab exclaimed.
‘Well, they have had plenty of time to get in place, but they haven’t attacked yet. They’re way ahead of their proposed victims.’
The innkeeper’s son stepped into the dining room. ‘Dad! I see three horsemen galloping this way from the capital!’
‘Ah,’ said the old man. ‘Those will be your pursuers. It’s taken them longer than I expected to get their act together. Not to worry. Son, guide our guests to the upstairs room. Don’t worry, young people, you will be able to hear everything from there.’
Tab, Adam, and Darius had barely enough time to climb the stairs when the general’s henchmen burst into the inn. The leader quickly took note of the remains of a lunch on the main table.
‘We’re looking for three young runaways from the castle. I think you took them in. Give them up, if you want to go on living,’ he shouted.
‘Runaways, you say? There were three young men here not long back, but they were polite and didn’t seem dangerous at all.’
‘They’re traitors to the king! Where are they? Where did they go? If you protect them, it’s your blood that will flow.’
‘They were right here at the table when my son told us he heard your horses. I got up to get some food ready for you and when I looked around they had gone.’
The innkeeper’s son appeared in the doorway. ‘They might have slipped out the back way. There’s a field we didn’t plant this year back there. It’s all grown up with weeds. Lots of good places to hide there’, he said.
The guardsman called his team together and gave them the command to search the empty field.
‘Wait,’ the old man called. “You can’t take your horses in there. It’s not safe for them.’ ‘I’ll hold them for you,’ his son offered.
When the three king’s men disappeared into the overgrown shrubs on the field, the innkeeper called Tab, Adam, and Darius down from their hiding place.
‘Be quick now. Take those horses and ride to save your friends. When you find the little king, worship him for me. You aren’t stealing the horses, just borrowing them. You can leave them at the inn in Bethlehem.’
‘Thank you, sir. You’ve saved our lives,’ said Adam, and the others agreed.
‘Don’t waste time thanking me, get on your way! And give my son a bit of a rap on the head, so those government agents won’t blame him for your getaway.’
It was a light tap, but Darius did knock the innkeeper’s son out. Then he had to show Adam and Tab how to mount their new found horses. The three rode off at top speed, Darius elated at riding once again, Tab and Adam hanging on for dear life expecting to fall at any minute.
The general’s henchmen, humiliated at letting their quarry escape and losing their horses as well, concluded that the general would have them executed if they returned to Jerusalem. They decided to spend the next few years in Egypt.
It was just after midday when Darius rode up to the grassy field at the side of the road where his father and his companions had stopped for lunch and a rest. He had just begun to make an explanation of his sudden appearance when Tab and Adam rode up to join him.
Introductions were quickly made. Darius’s father Melchior greeted the newcomers warmly, as did his colleagues, Caspar and Balthasar. They listened attentively while the young people described what they had learned of the general’s plans to have the magi ambushed before they got to Bethlehem.
‘You three have made it here just in time’, said Melchior. ‘They must be hiding in the hill country just ahead. Because of your warning, they won’t get the better of us. They don’t know we’ve come hundreds of miles through deserts and mountains and fought off robbers and thieves more than once. We owe you a debt of gratitude.’
After finishing their meal, the group prepared to continue the trek to Bethlehem in battle formation. The camels laden with gifts for the newborn king were placed at the center. Melchior led the group on his camel with two guards on foot on each side. Caspar was stationed at mid left and Balthasar at mid right. Each was accompanied by three guards on foot. Darius rode with his father. Adam was with Caspar and Tab with Balthasar; they chose to walk having had all the horseback riding they could take on one day. The remaining five guards made up the rear of the party.
The attack came in the middle of the afternoon. The travelers were entering a stretch of the highway bordered by rocky formations with plenty of hiding places on both sides. Suddenly a horseman galloped from cover just in front of them. At the same time attackers emerged from the rocks at left and right.
To the surprise of the attackers the intended victims were ready to do battle. The fighting was intense. Adam and Tab did not have swords but had long staffs which they used to good effect. In a short time most of the thieves were rounded up and put in chains.
‘They are not carrying anything to identify them as king’s men,’ said Melchior. ‘We can treat them like the common criminals they really are and turn them over to the officials in Bethlehem for the appropriate punishment.’
All the travelers agreed this would be the best course, and all were relieved that none of their group had been injured in the battle. But when Tab and Darius searched through the crowd, they could not find their friend. Adam was nowhere to be seen.
When Adam opened his eyes, he realized the morning was well advanced. ‘I’ve never been this late,’ he thought. ‘The cooks will skin me alive!’ Then he thought again, ‘No, Tab and Darius and I were trying to get to Darius’s dad.’ Then he had a third thought, which was more of a question – ‘where am I?’ He sat up.
‘Well, boy, you’re finally awake? You had us worried there for a while. Welcome back to the land of the living.’
Adam looked around. He was in a tent. It was fairly large in area but hugged the ground. The flap which served as a door was pulled back to let in the morning light. Inside close to the opening was a small fire over which a kettle was steaming. An old man was sitting on the ground by the fire.
‘Yes, that was quite a blow on the head you took. But it looks like you’re going to make it.’ The old man smiled. ‘Are you wanting something to eat?’
‘Yes, sir. I think I am.’
‘That’s a good sign, too.’ He filled a small bowl with some of the stew heating on the fire. ‘Would you like to tell me your name and why you were fighting outlaws on the road to Bethlehem? You look like a city boy to me.’
‘I am a city boy. I’ve never been out of Jerusalem before. My name is Adam. I work in the kitchen of the king and always enjoyed what I was doing. Then my friend Tab came to work in the palace. He and his dad repair old books and they are fixing the king’s library.’
‘This seems to be a very long story.’
‘I suppose so, but I don’t know how to make it short. Tab and I got to be good friends. I showed him all the secret passages in the castle and he taught me how to read. Things were going along very well and then the magi came.’
‘Those are the strangers with the camels we saw in the battle?’
‘Yes, sir. They study the stars and told us of a great new star which foretold that a new king would be born here, a great new king who will restore the kingdom to Israel.’
‘The Messiah? They were talking about the Messiah? We have been expecting the Messiah since the time of the great prophets.’
‘They didn’t know where in Judea the new king would be born. They had assumed the present king could tell them.’
‘I doubt that King Herod would welcome news about a king who might take his throne.’
‘Tab had been working on a scroll of one of the ancient prophets and had learned where the little king would be born. The king passed on the information and asked the magi to return to tell him just where to find the baby.’
‘Certainly they know better than to do that.’
‘Tab and I discovered that the king’s general was sending a group of his men to ambush the magi. Along with Darius, the chief magi’s son, we managed to escape from the palace, and we caught up with them in time to warn them before they were attacked.’
‘You managed to save many lives but almost lost your own.’
‘I don’t know if I can remember just how things went. I remember we seemed to be winning. I saw one of the attackers running toward the horses trying to get away and get back to tell the king and his general what had happened. That’s all I can say for sure.’
‘Well, I know a bit more to tell you. You caught up with the man you were chasing and put up a good struggle to keep him from getting away. You were trying to pull him down from the horse when he kicked you off. You fell and struck your head on a rock and lost consciousness. You woke up just now.’
‘How did I get here?’
‘Two of my sons saw what happened. They had come down from the hill pasture hunting for some of the flock that had strayed. They saw the fight, the strangers in turbans and those outlaws going at it hot and heavy, and they saw you fall. You were unconscious and they saw you needed help. Your friends had all they could do fighting. So the boys brought you here for me to take care of while they went back to the sheep.’
‘I appreciate all you’ve done, and this stew is great, but I need to get back to the magi. The man I was trying to stop got away. He’ll tell General Microbius what’s happened and the general will send more troops against us.’
‘You don’t need to worry. Zeb and Zach will be along any minute and will take care of things. If you’re strong enough to walk, that is.’
Adam was eager to get back to his friends to warn them of danger on the way and to hear how the battle had turned out, but he was still feeling shaky and settled back to wait for the old shepherd’s sons. In just a few minutes, he fell asleep again.
Loud voices woke Adam. Two tall young men who looked remarkably alike had come into the tent.
‘You’re alive, after all! You had us worried! said one.
‘We knew Dad would fix you up!’ said the other.
‘This is Adam, boys, and he’s just about ready to get back to his friends,’ said the old shepherd. ‘Adam, these are my worthless twin sons, Zach and Zeb. They did do a good thing saving you though, I guess.’
‘Worthless? I think not!’ said Zach.
‘Angels don’t have conversations with worthless folks,’ added Zeb.
‘And angels do speak with us!’ said Zach.
‘At least they did last night,’ they said together.
‘I’ve told you more than once not to be disrespectful in sacred matters. What you’re saying is not acceptable,’ said the old man.
‘We’re sorry, sir. We aren’t being disrespectful.’
‘It was so weird-wonderful, but weird.’ ‘It is so hard to understand, to believe.’
‘And we were there.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘The angel. All the angels. What we saw and heard.’
‘It was the middle of the night. I was getting out the bread for a snack.’
‘I was trying to pull a lamb out of a thorn bush where it had got tangled.’
‘Then the whole hillside was suddenly full of light. I tried to look up but it was so bright above us that I couldn’t.’
‘Then we heard the voice telling us not to be afraid. It was an angel.’
‘There’s good news, the angel told us. The Messiah has been born in Bethlehem, the savior of all humankind. You can see him for yourselves; he is lying in the manger in the stable of the inn there.’
‘Before we could ask any questions-‘
‘We were too scared to ask questions-‘
‘Before we could say anything, there was a whole group of angels all singing. It was a song we had never heard before. The most beautiful melody you could imagine.’
‘I don’t know how long they sang, but when the angels had gone, we just sat there for a while stunned.’
‘But we finally roused ourselves and decided to go down to the town to see for ourselves.’
‘It was all just like the angel said. There in the inn stable was a young mother and her husband, and in the manger a tiny baby.’
‘I’ve never actually seen a baby before, but this child did seem special. It was as if a kind of golden glow surrounded him.’
‘We spoke a bit with the innkeeper and gave our good wishes to the parents and came here.’
‘We needed to check on Adam here and get him back to his friends.’
‘And we want to visit the young Messiah again.’
Zach and Zeb helped Adam up and made sure he was ready to make the trek down to Bethlehem. The old shepherd gathered together two loaves of bread and a jar of sheep’s milk. Then they set out on their walk to town.
The battle had been fierce and lasted until late in the afternoon. The general’s men had been surprised at the strength with which the magi’s guards had met their ambush and one by one the attackers had been subdued and put in irons.
Tab was exhausted but proud. She had fought like a real warrior and helped capture three of the ambushers. Balthasar had called her a good soldier. When camp was set up that evening on the outskirts of Bethlehem, she was ready to rest and fell asleep at once.
Darius had done a good job also, fighting alongside his father. He was too tired to eat supper and went to bed as soon as his tent was set up.
The next morning, everyone met for breakfast at the center of camp. Tab and Darius met as the group of magi and guards were assembling. The first question each had for the other was, ‘Where is Adam?’ Neither had an answer. Nor did anyone in the camp.
Melchior addressed the assembled group as they finished a hasty meal. ‘This morning, while many of you will enjoy a well-earned rest after yesterday’s strife-and you all did a fantastic job-Balthasar and I will go into the town and make an effort to find the newborn king we all came to honor. My son and his friend Tabitheus, who warned us of the attack we had to face and saved our lives, tell me that the friend who came with them is missing. Young Adam fought valiantly with Caspar’s team. While Balthasar and I are in Bethlehem, Caspar will take a small group back to the battle site and search for Adam. If there are no questions, you are dismissed.’
It was a short hike from camp back to the part of the highway where they had fought. Tab and Darius searched along one side of the road while Caspar and his men searched on the other. They found a few lost helmets and a broken sword but no trace of Adam.
‘Should we look farther off the road? Could he have gone up the hill there?’ asked Tab.
‘ I don’t think he would have done that,’ answered Darius.
When they all concluded that there was nothing there to be found, the group turned sadly to go back to camp. Tab was sorry to think she would not see her friend again.
‘Hey, stop!’ they heard a voice cry. They turned and saw a familiar figure limping down the hillside accompanied by three men they did not recognize.
‘Adam!’ shouted Tab and she ran to meet him. ‘I’m glad you’re not dead after all.” Darius added laughing.
When they all met at the center of the road, introductions were made and explanations given. Adam explained that he was trying to keep one of the enemy fighters from escaping when he fell and hurt his leg. ‘And his head,’ added Zeb, who went on to say he and his brother had carried Adam to their father’s tent. ‘You all were too busy fighting to help,’ put in Zach, ‘and we were afraid he was done for.’ ‘He’s up and about again now,’ concluded their father Ezra. ‘We were on our way to deliver him back to his friends, when we met you.’
Tab, Darius, and Caspar thanked their new friends heartily for saving Adam’s life. ‘Come with us to our camp for a dinner to celebrate,’ invited Caspar. ‘We hope to be able to celebrate even more soon when we find the little king who has just been born.’
‘You are seeking the young Messiah? You do not wish to harm him, do you?’ asked Ezra.
‘No!’ answered Caspar, ‘we bring him gifts. We seek to honor and worship him.’
‘May we tell him, father?’ asked Zach. ‘I think we should tell him,’ put in Zeb.
‘Perhaps it would be best to wait till we are with the whole group of seekers,’ decided Ezra.
And so it was. At dinner when all were gathered to celebrate Adam’s safe return, Melchior spoke first. ‘The Imperial Census Takers cannot help us. They are almost finished tallying up the descendants of David here but know nothing about a recent birth.’
‘Sir,’ Ezra spoke up. ‘My sons and I are shepherds who watch over a flock on the hillsides around Bethlehem. Just last night when I was tending young Adam’s wounds and they were out with the sheep, they had a strange experience. I will let them tell you what they saw and heard.’
The story the two young shepherds told astounded the magi and their men. When the dinner was ended, Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar went into Bethlehem with Zach and Zeb to visit the inn.
Tab, Adam, and Darius sat together in Darius’ tent and shared their stories of the battle.
Adam had felt a rush of excitement going into the fight. This was what it would be like to be a member of the royal guard, he had thought. He had traded blows with opponents enthusiastically and tirelessly at first. He had begun to tire, but when he saw one of the attackers make a break toward the horses with escape in mind he had rushed after him to stop him. That was about all he could remember till he woke up in Ezra’s tent, but he felt sure he was meant to be a soldier.
Darius said fighting to defend the magi was part of his life, but not the biggest part. Studying the stars, observing their motions, discerning the hidden meanings behind them-those were the joys of his life to come. He knew he was meant to be a man of science.
Tab had been surprised at how well she had handled a sword. Up to a point she had enjoyed fighting, something she had never imagined she would do. But on the whole she missed the books in the shop. The life she knew would be wrapped up in reading, creating, and restoring books, just like he father and uncle.
When the magi and shepherds returned from their visit to the inn, the whole camp was assembled to finalize plans for the following day. The morning would be taken up unloading the camels and preparing the gifts for presentation to the infant king. Then at about noon all would go into Bethlehem to the inn to present the gifts, worship the Messiah, and feast.
Early the next morning, when the magi and their men began unloading the gifts for the king, Tab and Adam decided to go on ahead to the town. Zach and Zeb offered to go with them and show them the way to the inn.
Bethlehem is built on a long, low-lying hill. Over the years the population had grown and its houses and shops now extended well outside the old city walls. The inn to which the youths were heading was near the highway that ran between Jerusalem and the sea. It was a large building built originally as a home for a well-to-do family but now was converted into a hostel, and since the announcement of the general census was crowded with travelers returning to their roots to register with Caesar’s officials.
As they approached the house, Zach and Zeb called out a greeting to the laughing older man who returned their shouts with a friendly wave. ‘Good morning, Mr. Simeon! How are your preparations going?’ asked Zeb. ‘We brought some friends along to help,’ added Zach.
‘Thank you, boys, for that. We need all the help we can get,’ replied Simeon. ‘The regular business of the inn has to go on, we have foreign visitors to prepare a feast for, and a newborn baby to help look after, to boot. I don’t know how it will all get done, but I know Hephzibah will manage.’
‘Well, Zeb and I are here, and here are two new friends, Adam and Tab. Tab, Adam, this is Simeon, the keeper of the inn. He’s the one who is keeping it running. His wife Mrs. Hephzibah is the one putting a feast together and helping to take care of a baby. She’s the one we’re actually going to help. She always gives us honey cakes when we come by,’ Zach explained.
‘Welcome, Adam and Tab, Glad to meet you! You two don’t look like visitors from Media. How did you get involved with these roughnecks?’ asked Simeon.
Zeb was quick to reply. ‘They’re from Jerusalem. They found out about the attack that was planned on the magi and rode here to warn them. They helped fight the ambushers, too, and did a great job.’
‘I took a bad fall in the battle,’ said Adam. ‘Zach and Zeb saved my life.’
‘It looks like you survived in good shape, so good for the shepherd boys! Let me take you around to the kitchen. I don’t know if there’s much in the way of honey cakes, but there’s plenty of work.’
The kitchen was a whirlwind of activity, and at the center of it all stood Hephzibah issuing orders in a firm voice of command which could not be brooked. Tab could see her basic good humor though and warmed to her at once.
Adam knew his way around a kitchen and was quickly set to chopping turnips for a stew. Zach and Zeb were sent back to camp to ask Ezra if the shepherds could spare a lamb or ram for the feast. Tab was given the chore of helping with the baby.
Hephzibah had known at once that a musty stable was not the right nursery for a newborn. She decided to move Mary, Joseph, and their child into the inn. Since the inn was filled to capacity, she chose to put the young family in the room she shared with Simeon. The innkeeper was not overjoyed to be sleeping in his kitchen on a mat, but he had heard the angels’ singing and agreed.
So Tab spent the morning with Mary and the young child, bringing food and fresh linen as needed and rocking the baby while singing to him the lullaby she remembered from her own childhood.
Just after midday all was ready. The magi and their men arrived with two wagons loaded with gifts. The horses which pulled the wagons were to be gifts also but were not brought into the large common room of the inn as the wagons were. They were to be gifts also.
The common room was crowded. Along with Joseph, Mary, and their child, the magi and their followers, Ezra and his sons were there, as were Tab, Adam, and the staff of the inn. After the most lavish feast the inn could provide, augmented by a lamb from the shepherds and Babylonian delicacies provided by the magi, the presentation of gifts began.
The first gifts were the ceremonial ones, suitable recognition of what was due a mighty monarch at the beginning of an illustrious career. Melchior presented gold, a symbol of wealth and power. Caspar gave frankincense, for worshipful reverence. Balthasar’s myrrh pointed to a universal truth-the greatest career ends in death.
Following ceremonial gifts came practical ones. Gold coins to provide the necessities of life, articles of clothing, preserved foodstuffs, wine, little things as well, luxuries perhaps but missed when not available, and to carry all these things and provide transportation home the wagons and horses.
Mary and Joseph graciously accepted these gifts for their son. The baby slept through most of the proceedings but was awake during the gift giving and rested quiet on his mother’s lap.
Guy Johnson