The Aleppo Code (The Jerusalem Prophecies) Read Online Free PDF Page B

light flickering at the edges of Rizzo’s eyes, a sliver of that impish smile nudging the corners of his mouth. Life, struggling for space. For the first time in days, Bohannon felt hope.
    But Fineman’s words, about the origins of Aaron’s staff, seized Bohannon’s attention once again.
    “Rabbinical literature asserts that this staff was delivered into the hands of Adam when he was driven out of Paradise. The story is told that Aaron’s staff is a fragment of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, severed from the tree by God, for man to carry until the Messiah returns.”
    “You’re kidding, right?” Bohannon slid forward in his chair, holding the book in front of him.
    “Aaron’s staff was part of the Tree of Life?” asked Rodriguez.
    “No,” said Fineman, returning to the sofa and sitting next to McDonough. “There were two trees in the garden—the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was the latter that God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat. When they sinned and God exiled them from the garden, God severed the staff from the tree and gave it to Adam. From there it passed down through the ages in the hands of Israel’s leaders.”
    Bohannon looked at Fineman and McDonough. “Okay. So what does this Aleppo Codex book and Aaron’s staff have to do with us?”
    “Only half of the original Aleppo Codex remains intact,” Fineman said. “Over two hundred pages have either been lost or destroyed, including a segment from the book of Jeremiah. But the Masoretic notes surrounding what remains of the book of Jeremiah tell a story that Jeremiah was the last person known to have possession of the Ark of the Covenant, the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron’s staff. We know what happened to the Tent. We don’t know what happened to the staff or the Ark.”
    “Aye, and there’s the rub,” McDonough cut in. “For a long time, I wondered why there were so many recurring images of a budding shepherd’s staff in all the messages and clues left behind by Jeremiah on the mezuzah, in the grotto, and in his tomb. The purpose or meanings of the other symbols—the Tau symbol, and the scorpion and the others—have all fallen into place. But why the shepherd’s staff? What did Aaron’s budding staff have to do with finding the hidden Temple, or uncovering the burial place of the Tent of Meeting?”
    “Which is where we come in,” said Rizzo.
    “So where … I’m sorry,” said Bohannon, “but I still don’t see how the codex or Aaron’s staff is involved in the search for the hidden Temple, or the Tent of Meeting.”
    Rizzo grabbed a sandwich off the plate on the table and pulled a red-handled Swiss Army knife out of his back pocket. After carefully cutting the sandwich in quarters, he turned to face Bohannon, wiping down the blade with a napkin.
    “Before Doc was killed,” he said, “he was in his room, talking with the old man we met in the library of St. Antony’s Monastery. When I gave up and went to bed, they were going through an old book. The two guys from the Temple Guard who rescued me grabbed that book and brought it with them. It was an incomplete version of the codex. This Aleppo Codex thing is what got Doc killed.
    “Here’s what I think,” said Rizzo, taking a bite and chewing heartily. “Hey … Missus Fineman! This is great. Thanks.” He turned back to the group. “I think Jeremiah was trying to tell us something. I think there was a third message on the mezuzah, a message from Jeremiah, something about Aaron’s staff. That’s what the guys with the Temple Guard believe—what they told me the Prophet’s Guard believes. That Jeremiah was the last guy with this awesome weapon and that somehow—whether through the scroll, the mezuzah, or the scribblings in the margins of the Aleppo Codex—they will find the clues to reveal what Jeremiah did with the staff, where he hid it. Jeremiah was big into hiding stuff. Why wouldn’t he hide the staff, too?”
    An