The Crown and the Cross: The Life of Christ Read Online Free PDF

protested.
    Elam shrugged away that objection. “The shops of the town will soon be open. With what I will pay you for the cloth, you can buy another and still have money to spare. Hurry and name a price, man. I must get to Jerusalem early.”
    Joseph shook his head. “The cloth was a gift, the first gift to the baby. It is not for sale.”
    “A gift?” Elam’s eyes narrowed and he looked quickly around the stable. Obviously no one there could afford such a gift. “Who gave it?” he demanded.
    “I—I cannot say, sir.”
    “You mean it was stolen, don’t you?” Elam seized upon the advantage Joseph had given him. “Then it is my duty to impound the cloth and hold it for the rightful owner.” Elam knew that if the carpenter did not divulge the name of the owner now, the cloth would probably never be claimed and in due time it would become his property at no cost.
    “Joseph did not steal the cloth, master,” Jonas said. “I gave it to the child.”
    “You!” Elam wheeled upon his servant. “Where would you get such a fabric as this, Jonas?”
    “I wove it myself. Nights, after my work was finished.”
    “You stole the wool from me, then.”
    “It was made from scraps that had been thrown away. I carded and spun the wool into thread myself, and wove it upon a loom I made with my own hands.”
    “You were going to sell the cloth in Jerusalem and keep the money for yourself!” Elam accused him.
    “No, master.” Jonas realized fully that he was inviting harsh punishment at Elam’s hands for contradicting him. “It was to be a gift to the temple for an altar cloth.”
    “If it was intended for the temple, why did you let such a valuable fabric be used for swaddling a baby?”
    “The child—it was cold,” Jonas stammered. “I thought it needed the cloth more than the priests.”
    Elam snorted indignantly. “You were a fool to soil such a fine piece of fabric. Especially as it belongs to me.” He turned to Joseph. “Unwrap the child and give me the cloth. I am a generous man, so I will still pay you enough to buy another, though this one is mine by right.”
    Joseph shook his head. “Jonas has explained to you that he wove it after his day’s work was finished, from wool that had been cast aside. The cloth was his to do with as he chose.”
    “The work of a servant belongs to the master,” Elam insisted. “That is the Law.”
    “You Pharisees speak much of the Law when it is to your own benefit,” Joseph said firmly. “Let us take this question before a judge and see who is right. These men here in the stable will witness that you covet a cloth which Jonas gave the child and seek to get it for yourself.”
    “I will gladly be a witness for Jonas,” a burly fellow bystander offered, glowering at Elam. “It will be good to see a Pharisee feel the weight of the Law on his own neck for a change.”
    When several others pushed forward to offer themselves as witnesses, Elam hesitated. If he took this dispute before a judge, the ruling would probably be in his favor, since it would be the word of a wealthy man against his servant. On the other hand, much of the “Oral Law” governing the conduct of the Jews was not set down in writing, and each judge could interpret it according to his own conviction. If the ruling should go against him, Elam would not only lose face—an important thing to a man of his sort—but he would have failed to reach the shops of Jerusalem early and might be forced to hold his bales until tomorrow’s market.
    Characteristically, the Pharisee turned his anger and frustration upon one who could not resist. “Strip to the waist,” he ordered Jonas and, going to the wall, took down a leather strap hanging there. Elam had no fear that anyone would try to keep him from flogging Jonas, for the right of the master to punish a servant was undisputed.
    Jonas’s face was pale as he dropped the upper part of his robe, baring his back and shoulders. He flinched as the strap