Chapter 19

Soon after supper, Peter had retired to his room, and when the women awoke in the morning he had already gone. They ate their simple breakfast in moody silence; and, after the household chores had been disposed of, Esther slipped out of the house and walked briskly up the hill to talk with David the Sadducee.

By some means the old lawyer had already learned of Jesus’ decision to attend the Passover in Jerusalem. He greeted Esther soberly, and his replies to her anxious queries were anything but reassuring. David, of the ancient House of Zadok, knew more than the Big Fisherman about the conditions to be faced—by any popular prophet who might appear on the streets of the Holy City at the time of the Passover.

‘Yes, my dear,’ said David, ‘our friend Simon has good reasons to be apprehensive. The most influential men in Jerusalem—the bankers, the lawyers, the rich merchants—cannot take the risk of a scramble on the part of the people. This Carpenter has talked quite freely, to great multitudes, about fair dealing, good measure, just weights and balances in the market-place. He has had much to say about exorbitant rents and usurious rates of interest. He has told stories of poor men who died of starvation on rich men’s doorsteps.’

‘That is true, sire,’ put in Esther, ‘but he has been equally critical of the greed and ill-will among the poor themselves. He has not tried to set the poor against the rich. He only wants everyone to be kind and charitable to everyone else.’

‘Yes, yes, dear child, but the thing that Jerusalem will remember best is his bold denunciation of fraud and wickedness in high places. Even the Temple has not escaped his criticism!’

At that, Esther wanted to know how much influence the Temple was able to exercise, seeing the city was governed by the Romans. David proceeded to explain. It was a long and involved story.

Yes, he said, the Romans governed all Palestine and their will was supreme. In any clash with the Sanhedrin, the Insula would have the last word; that was true theoretically.

‘But the Romans,’ he went on, ‘want no clash with Jewry now. They are deliberately preparing for the day when they will take full possession of this country, looting it and enslaving it. They could do it tomorrow if their armies were not engaged in the recovery of their losses in Gaul. When they are ready, they will strike. Until then, they want no friction. Pontius Pilate makes a gaudy show of authority, but he is under strict instructions to keep the peace of Jerusalem, whatever the cost to his personal pride. When Caiaphas, the High Priest, speaks, Pilate listens!’

David seemed to be talking to himself now. After a long, silent interval, he mumbled, ‘Pilate scowls and squirms—but he listens. When there’s any sign of unrest among the people, the merchants confer with the bankers and the bankers confer with the Sanhedrin, and the Sanhedrin confers with the Procurator.’

Esther had many questions she wanted to ask, but hesitated to interrupt the wise old man’s monologue. Turning about to face her he asked, ‘Did they tell you about Rabbi Ben-Sholem of Capernaum?’ Without waiting for her response, David continued. ‘It seems that some months ago a great crowd was waiting in the plaza for the Carpenter to speak. The Rabbi, beside himself with indignation, appeared on the porch of the Synagogue to denounce the throng, and he was reviled and ridiculed. His Regents failed to support him, and he has retired to Jerusalem. Ben-Sholem and the old High Priest were schoolmates…You may draw your own conclusions, Esther. The Rabbi is not a man to forget or forgive an affront to his dignity.’