Rebekah's Treasure Read Online Free PDF

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    “I need to rest,” Esther says defiantly, but her chin quivers and tears streak her dust-coated face.
    “We’ll rest by Absolom’s Tomb.” I finally let go of her arm, and brush back the stray wisps of hair that stick to my forehead. And though Esther makes a sound with her tongue to tell me she’s irritated, she obeys. I push relentlessly, ignoring my daughter’s soft whimper when she cuts herself on a jagged rock, ignoring the sob that escapes her lips the further from the city we go, ignoring the breaking of my own heart over the terrible price we are all forced to pay. We trudge along in silent resignation, except for the donkey. He continues his braying, but not so often now. It’s as if he, too, is beginning to resign himself. And I allow no more stops until we reach the other side of the Kidron whereAbsolom’s Tomb rises from the brook bed at the foot of the Mount of Olives.
    Esther is the first to find shade and a place to sit. It’s a good enough distance from Absolom’s ornate tomb and away from the many passing travelers, so Aaron and I follow. While Esther and I sit, Aaron slips the goatskin flagon from his shoulder. It’s full of wine mixed with honey and water. It’s the only thing he carries that’s visible. Under his robe he conceals at least two weapons that I know of, plus food. Esther also carries hidden food. After we drink, Aaron passes out a handful of raisins and a piece of flatbread. So I sit quietly and eat, and watch passersby pile stones against the side of Absolom’s tomb in scorn as they curse the traitorous son of David.
    I tear large chunks of bread with my teeth and nearly swallow them whole. My haste is not due to hunger as much as my desire to put more distance between us and Jerusalem. In no time only crumbs fill my hand, and after taking a few more sips of our watered wine, I turn to Esther. “Come, it’s time to go.”
    “Oh, Mama, this is hardly the rest you promised!” Esther wails in frustration. But there’s a rebuke in her voice, too, as if implying she was not the only one who broke a promise today.
    “Mama’s right,” Aaron says, tucking his half-eaten bread back into the scrip hidden inside his robe. “We must continue. Our journey is long.”
    In one of the hills north of Absolom’s Tomb lies the family burial cave. We’ll place Uncle Abner’s bones in the ossuary, as we’ve said. But at dusk, we’ll leave the cave and go out under the cover of night to begin our real journey. Our destination is far—nearly as far as the Sea of Galilee. It’s to a place I’ve never desired to go. A place where blended Roman-Greeks study the entrails and livers of birds to determine the will of their gods, and pour libations to Charon, ferryman of the dead. It is the Gentile city of Pella.
    It was Ethan who said it must be Pella, and not Ashdod or Jabne—both refuge cities, declared so by Vespasian for those Jews refusing tofight him, and who seek the protection of his Roman army. I think Ethan insisted on Pella because many followers of the Way have gone there, and he knows their presence will be a comfort to me. But his insistence has a ring of foreboding, too. Didn’t the oracle tell Christians to flee the coming destruction of Jerusalem? And didn’t he tell them to go to Pella?
    Has Ethan come to believe destruction
will
come?
    I gather my thoughts like crumbs and sweep them aside. “Come, up on your feet,” I say, looking down at Esther.
    “My feet are as bruised as crushed grapes,” she groans. “Have pity and let me rest awhile longer.”
    I shake my head. We’re still too close to Jerusalem. Close enough for Esther to make her escape. Close enough to be overtaken by rebels. “You can rest when we get to Pella.” I pull at her arm to force her to rise. How had it come to this? When had the world turned upside down? My heart is like kneaded dough as I look back at my beloved city one last time.
    Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who slew the