Читать книгу Their Father’s Heirs - Cynthia Ekoh - Страница 9

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Zelophehad entered his tent still very heavy, weighed down by his own thoughts. After he’d left his farmland he had visited with his brother Baruch not wanting to face his mother too soon. They had taken a walk around the camp and talked. As they walked past the tent of meeting, they had noticed a bevy of activity around the tent. The Levites were standing at different posts, guarding the sacred tent to prevent anybody from coming too close. Inside the courtyard were the council of elders and the priests in a meeting with Moses. There was a palpable air of anxiety all around the camp. As they walked the camp they saw anxious faces, men in groups discussing the same thing—the ongoing meeting. The whole camp was a quadrangle set up in division of threes while the tent of meeting was erected in the center. To the west of the tabernacle were the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. To the east were the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. To the south were the Reubenites, Simeonites, and the Gaddites. To the north were the camps for the tribes of Dan, Naphtali, and Asher. The tent of meeting was erected in the heart of the camp with carefully measured distances between it and the tents around it. The tent of meeting was a place prohibited to everyone except the spiritual leaders. The Levites were camped around the tabernacle as a protective edge to keep the people away. To the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, were the tents belonging to Moses and those of Aaron and his sons right in front of the tent of meeting. With their increasing numbers they found themselves requiring more and more land space as they travelled from place to place in the wilderness. Since they had embarked on their journey after crossing the Red Sea, they had had the presence of YHWH lead them in the form of a cloud of smoke in the day and in the form of a cloud of fire at night. Whenever and wherever the cloud overhead them stopped, they camped there, and whenever it lifted they moved on. The cloud was currently settled at Paran, south of Canaan, and Zelophehad, like many others, was dying to move again. There had been too many delays. The old amongst them were tired of moving while the young were only too eager to move just as they arrived at a place. Before they embarked on this journey, Moses and men knowledgeable about the geography of the region had studied and predicted that this journey should take them no longer than two months. Since then he had married and produced four children. His wife had been no older than their first daughter, Mahlah, when they had began this journey. It was about the twenty-fifth year now and there was no Canaan in sight. If only they could turn back the hands of time. Disobedience and rebellion has cost them almost three decades on a journey that should have taken them three months. From the talks in the air, the ongoing solemn meeting was about another possible mission to Canaan. Over twenty years ago, shortly after they had entered the Desert of Sinai, Moses had instructed the heads of the tribes to elect one man each from their tribes for a mission to the promised land. The twelve men had been sent as spies into Canaan. Zelophehad had thought it too dangerous and not a wise move then. “Why risk lives and the possibility of being discovered by the Canaanites?” But now he had a different mindset. He was desperate for this journey to end. Should he be picked this time around if that were possible, he would gladly go. At least he would see the land for himself, he thought. He thought of his late cousin Gaddi who was one of the spies that had been sent to Canaan. He had not particularly cared for Gaddi when he lived. But now he felt sorry for the miserable way he had died along with all the other nine men. The twelve spies had returned from Canaan after forty days bearing two contradicting reports. Joshua and Caleb, the only two of the twelve spies still alive today, had brought a good report. They had reported that Canaan was just as YHWH had said—filled with good things. They were the only two among the twelve spies who had believed that they could take the land. The other ten men, including his cousin Gaddi, had given a contrary view that caused many of them to fear. “A land filled with giants!” they had reported, and that had been the genesis of their troubles. The news had resulted in fear, dissension, and rebellion. The ten spies with all their supporters had been struck down before their eyes by a terrible plague from YHWH. He winced as memories of those dreadful events flooded his mind, making everything look bleak. He hoped that Moses would have some good news for them after this meeting. They were bound to hear from Gamaliel, the head of their tribe, very soon. If it is another mission to Canaan, he was sure he could never convince Gamaliel and his tribesmen to make him their representative. They all appeared to overlook him these days, the reason was not lost on him. It was the same reason why he was not actively involved in their warfare. He was a strong and skilled soldier, better than his six brothers who were high ranking officials in the army. He had been celebrated for his exploits during the war with the Amalekites years ago. That was a war to remember. They had been led by Joshua who was the captain then over the whole army of Israel. They had fought their hearts out and returned drunk with victory only to learn that it was Moses who fought and won the actual battle. YHWH had instructed Moses to raise his rod while they fought, and as long as his rod was raised they had the upper hand. When his arm went down they were overcome by the Amalekites. And so Moses had to raise his rod up for almost three days while they fought. He could not eat, drink, or move. At a point, they had to support his arms with stones and help him stand as he grew tired and weak. It was like a beautiful flower whose beauty is seen and appreciated by all, but the root which draws water and nutrients from the soil for that beauty is not seen. They had countless such exciting spiritual operations recorded. Coming out of the past into the present, he looked out for his wife as he entered into his tent knowing very well that she would be anxiously waiting for him after all that had happened earlier with his mother.

He entered his tent and his wife came straight into his arms in a comforting embrace. She touched his forehead as if to erase the frown he was wearing. “My lord you are at it again, worrying yourself to death. Come and sit. Your food has been on the fire waiting for you. Eat, ease your mind and share with me all that plagues you. I have stories of our daughters to share with you too. You would not believe how intelligent these girls are at their young age.” He knew his wife was trying as always to get his mind off his worries. He was always telling her that worrying was part of life. It was a man’s lot to worry as long as he continued to live in the land of the living. He recounted to his wife the speculations about another mission to Canaan. He told her about Kish. He told her about the mildew attack on their vine. She offered him words of encouragement as he talked until he told her how much he would love to represent his tribe on the mission but feared he was overlooked because of you know what. She argued that his feelings about being left out for lack of sons were not justified. Even though this was one of the qualities that made his wife appealing, for the moment he resented her “holier than thou” attitude. You could never get her to criticize anybody or anything that had to do with their leadership. It was one of the reasons he felt his mother was able to get away with things with his wife. She was too respectful, too humble, and would rather suffer in silence than speak out. And this was not because she did not know her rights. She was one who would rather give up her rights for peace. It amused him that she, however, had chosen to admire the influential and outspoken Miriam. Rumors abounded that Miriam had a great degree of control over the men in her life, a little too much for a woman. Even though she was seven years older than Moses and four years older than Aaron, she was still a woman. Everyone considered her a woman that knew how to make things happen in their nation. Miriam’s son Hur had recently been ordained to work closely with Moses and Aaron even though his father was not of the tribe of Levi. Could Hur be under training to perhaps take over Moses leadership some day? He wondered but refrained from sharing this thought with his wife. Between Miriam and his wife, he would choose Miriam anytime for his daughters. He prayed that they would grow up to be more like Miriam rather than their mother even though he loved his wife’s sweet and gentle spirit. He decided to end the political discussion with his wife, planning to visit his friends Helon or Enan the next day. Helon was one of the non-Israelites who had followed them out of Egypt where he had also been a slave. Enan was an Egyptian who had joined them by virtue of marriage to a Hebrew woman. The non-Israelites among them were condescendingly referred to as “rabble” and were known to initiate and cause most of the troubles in the camp. They were always the first to grumble, standing up to the leaders on many occasions. There was the time when they had instigated a near riot in the camp because of meat. They had complained about the miraculous manna they receive every morning and demanded meat. The manna was their lifesaving bread that started to drop from the sky at a time when they would have died of hunger in the desert of sin. He marveled at their act of ingratitude and repented for the thousandth time. What came over us then? He still could not understand how the same people who nearly died from lack of food would dare complain and reject the only available food. Oh how they had infuriated Moses. Yet at the end of the day, the same Moses had interceded for them and YHWH had given them quails for meat for forty days. For over twenty years now the manna had continued to fall like dew every morning except on Sabbaths. On the eve of every Sabbath, each family was allowed to gather twice the stipulated portion. It was a miracle no one could explain. Every morning, you gathered no more nor less than the stipulated quantity of manna no matter how much you hoarded. It remained one omer per person. By noon, when the sun waxed strong, the excess or uneaten manna simply melted away. When they left Egypt over twenty years ago, they had brought with them their herds and flocks of livestock, but then as they continued to journey in the arid desert of Sinai for so long, their livestock quickly dwindled away. It was a different story now, as they had been able to replenish their livestock from spoils of wars over the years. They now reared some of the finest cattle and sheep thanks to their nomadic lifestyle. As if she was in his thoughts, she stated rather than asked, “You got that young bull from Helon, didn’t you. I wish we knew how he was always constantly able to make his animals reproduce so quickly.”

He knew his wife, just like his mother, did not like his close association with the likes of Helon and Enan, but they were good friends. They were the only ones he could discuss plainly with, without feeling condemned. His mother was always lamenting this and making nasty comments. She had told him more than he cared to count that one day he would get into trouble by virtue of his relationship with his rabble friends. His mother had little tolerance for the foreigners in their midst no matter that they were no longer regarded as foreign but as part of them. She called them “the grumblers,” refusing to accept them as Israelites. Zelophehad, turning his attention again to his wife, asked about what she wanted to tell him about his daughters. He knew he had mixed feelings a lot of times about his daughters, but he could not deny his love for them. He loved them and had hopes and dreams that they would grow up to be relevant in their time. Hearing about his daughters reminded him of his promise to begin to give them some lessons in self-defense. If they had been boys, this would have been the time to begin their military training. All the males in the camp from the age of twenty were trained soldiers, ready for war at any time, with the exception of the Levites and the aged. He listened with a smile as his wife told him about Mahlah’s analytical mind and reminded him that in a couple of years she would become Bat Mitzvah. He liked the part about her brilliant mind, commenting on that but ignored the part about Bat Mitzvah. He was proud to hear how intelligent and articulate his nine-year-old Noah was. He frowned when told that Hoglah, who was seven, was overly emotional. He wondered how the baby Milcah will turn out. He wished strongly in his heart though that the next one they would have would be a boy. “Lord, just one fine, strong boy!” he mouthed without a sound, looking up with a plea. “Amen,” responded his wife who knew he had just made a request when he rolled his eyes upward. She assumed his request was for their daughters. She herself made requests all the time for her daughters. She prayed that they would grow up unmatched in beauty and be godly women. She prayed that they would find men like their father as husbands to love and cherish them.