Samuel - Chapter 9

Samuel, in his weakened state, has fallen and banged his head, meanwhile Jacob and Rachel witness Jesus being brought before Pontius Pilate …

Slowly he hobbled down as best as he could, amid shouted insults and constant heckling from many of those gathered below. A threadbare, purple cloak had been carelessly thrown over his back, but, far from making him look ridiculous, this actually had the opposite effect and lent him an aura of silent majesty. As he came ever closer to where they were standing, Jacob saw that a twisted cap of thorns had been wedged down on his head, causing thin rivulets of blood to trickle down his cheeks from myriad small puncture wounds. He also noted that his face was heavily bruised, his hair matted with congealed blood, and his tunic muddied and bloodstained, which made him realise that he had been tortured whilst being imprisoned. When Jesus was finally brought before him, Pilate stood up, and addressing the representative group of senators and chief priests who were standing nearby, he said to them in a loud voice, “Look! Here is the man!” But they stared insolently at him and shouted back “Crucify him!” And almost immediately, as if it had been rehearsed, this refrain was taken up by many in the crowd who repeated, with blood-curling shouts, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Jacob at once remembered his daughter’s dark and prophetic fears only a few days earlier, when Jesus had been making what seemed at the time his triumphant entry into Jerusalem to the acclaim of spell-bound crowds. He now became very disillusioned and angry at their irrational behaviour. Meanwhile, Pontius Pilate appeared to become increasingly nervous over the people’s violent reaction and so he addressed them again. “As you are well aware, I always set free a prisoner at this feast of Passover. So, which one do you want me to free for you? Barabbas, the bandit, or Jesus Ben Joseph, whom you call the Messiah?” The people then shouted over louder. “Barabbas! Free Barabbas!” Jacob saw that Pilate was getting really worried about the worsening situation, and this was borne out by his silent command to his soldiers to unsheath their swords and to draw nearer to where he was standing. In what appeared to be a trembling voice, he asked them, “What then, shall I do with Jesus Ben Joseph, the so-called Messiah? Without a moment’s notice they screamed back. “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate, apparently fearing that the whole thing might end up in a riot, sat down again, and ordering one of his servants to bring him a basin of water, proceeded to wash his hands ceremoniously, saying, “I am not responsible for the death of this man. This is your doing!” And with that he gave orders that Jesus should be scourged and be handed over to be crucified. Jacob and the others were aghast at this grave outcome. Apart from being completely confused as what to do next, they were also having to contend with the hysterical wailing of Mary of Magdala. To make matters worse, one of Mathias’ servants arrived just then, bringing them news that Samuel had disappeared without trace. Forgetting the Master’s predicament for the time being, and knowing that they were completely powerless to take any positive action, Jacob and his daughter dashed away and immediately commenced an exhaustive search for Samuel. Over the next few long hours, they trudged everywhere through the confused maze of streets and lanes of the Upper and Lower City, Mount Gihon and the Temple area, enquiring at all the shops and inns, looking into every single courtyard and doorway, but without success. The sudden violent storm, accompanied by torrential rain made them discontinue their search, and they returned, drenched and downhearted, to Bethpage with the fervent hope that they might find Samuel there waiting for them. However, unknown to them, at that very precise moment, Samuel was lying unconscious in a cellar after having been swept there by the force of the ferocious downpour whilst their beloved Master was breathing his last on a criminal’s cross on Golgotha, the ‘Place of the Skull’.

Chapter 10

Between bouts of incessant coughing and severe trembling, Samuel finally opened his eyes, and realising in bafflement that he was not tucked up at home in a warm bed, but lying on the damp dirt floor of a half-lit underground chamber. His head throbbed and he had difficulty in focussing properly, but what worried him most of all was that he could not recall how he had actually got there. All that he could remember was the pelting rain, and loud peals of thunder and, most especially, the torrents of muddy water pushing him down into total darkness. Slowly, other images came back to him, that of Roman soldiers marching, the beating of drums, of crowds of people jeering and, finally, of a wounded man in chains falling in front of him and staring helplessly at him. Now the details came flooding back to him and he remembered that the prisoner was, in fact, his friend Jesus and that he had fled from him when he most needed his help. Samuel got up and peered round the cellar which was full of barrels of fruit, sacks of grain and large, stoppered pottery vessels containing wine and oil. He also noticed that there was a little window or opening high up near the ceiling, which was letting in some light, but which seemed to be completely inaccessible. By a corner of the chamber he saw, in the gloom, some stone steps leading up to some kind of entrance. Immediately be rushed up and tried to open the heavy wooden door. But despite tugging and pushing it with all his might, he could not budge it and he assumed that it had been locked from the other side. He next tried kicking and banging it, but this made no significant difference and even screaming for help proved equally unsuccessful, only managing to make himself hoarse. What Samuel did not realise was that he had been lying unconscious since the previous day and that the building he was in was, in actual fact, a warehouse which was closed for the festival. Despite feeling very weak and dizzy, he was also quite hungry, so without another thought, he rummaged through one of the barrels until he found some fruit stored in one of them and grabbed an apple to eat. As he lay sprawled back against one of the sacks, he considered all that had happened to him and wondered how he was going to manage to get out of there. As he gazed up at the small window, he knew that this could be his only means of escape, although he was still uncertain how to reach it. Suddenly, he had a brainwave and immediately tossing away his half-eaten apple, he got up and started pushing some of the smaller sacks against the far wall, placing a number of empty crates haphazardly on top of them. To be continued…