Naaman and Hannah

By Ethel McMilin

When Mara was very young, her mother warned her that the Israelites would be punished for their idol worshipping. Later, when the Armenia Army invaded Israel, she remembered what her mother had told her. When Hannah was captured by Captain Naaman, Mara was devastated. But Hannah was a strong believer in her Jehovah God and her belief had a subtle affect on both Naaman and his wife, Abigail. Their lives were different from the first time that Hannah stepped into their home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 16, 2008
• ISBN: 9781467869522

Ethel McMilin

Ethel and Jack have been married 58 years. They have 5 children, 16 grand-children and 20 great-grand children. Ethel retired from the Bureau of Land Management as a computer specialist and took up the hobby of writing. She has 17 novels published. www.mcmilinchristiannovels.com lists the names of her novels and information about them. Some of the novels have been converted to E-books as well. One novel with its sequel is about Alaska where the McMilins lived for 14 years. If you want to know about the great state of Alaska, read the novels.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

MARA’S FAMILY

Mara walked through the tall trees that surrounded her home. She loved this walk as it was a time when she could commune with her God. It was also a time that she could remember the past. No one else was around and the solitude encouraged her to think about the happenings of her youth. She thought back to the time when she was very young and her mother told her why she had named her Mara—a name that meant bitterness or sorrow.

You will suffer mightily because of Israel’s sins. God will not allow the Israelites to worship idols forever. The prophets have warned us over and over and yet the priests and Levites who are our leaders are worshipping at the shrines of other gods. God will punish our nation. When you are grown, Mara, your life will be bitter so thus I have named you Mara. Mark my words, my daughter, and remember them. Even though all of Israel worships other gods, you worship the God of our Fathers—the God that made the heavens and the earth—Jehovah God.

Another time Mara could remember her mother saying, Those foolish Israelites are even sacrificing their first born sons to the god Baal. The gods they worship are false and in their minds their god demands the sacrifice of their children. Serve the God of our ancestors always, Mara, no matter what happens to you. He will direct your life and watch over you. Never even go near any of the false gods. You do not want to be tempted to do as so many Israelites are doing these days.

Mara obeyed her mother and never went near the idols. She prayed for her friends who tried to talk her into going to see the god Baal at least once. Again and again they invited her to go with them, but she refused.

You will love the Baal god, Mara. Come with just one time. How can you be sure that our god is false if you do not ever visit him? Once you see our god Baal you will know that he is the right one to serve. Just come with us this time and we shall never ask you to come again.

I need not go to see any strange god and especially one made of wood and stone. The God of our ancestors is the God I worship and will always worship. He made the heavens and the earth. He even made the people of the earth. Jehovah God will take care of me as long as I worship him, Mara countered adamantly.

How can you say that? Habasha asked. You do not know for sure that our ancestors really worshipped the right God. You are foolish to follow Him. If He was a real God, He would not have let all this trouble happen to the Israelites. Look how we are treated by our enemies. No, He is not a God who listens to His people. Baal listens to his worshippers. You are so foolish to follow an ancient and an unknown God. You are even more foolish not to worship Baal.

It was hard for Mara to understand Habasha’s thinking. She would tell her one more time why God was punishing His people. He is not an unknown God. He has always been the God of the Israelites since Abraham’s day. The prophets have told the Israelites over and over that if they kept worshipping the false gods, Jehovah God would punish them. Elijah preached to the people to repent of their sins and turn to Jehovah God, but they did not listen. That is why our life is so hard. I will never turn away from the God of my ancestors.

If your God was real and loved you He would never let you suffer, snapped Habasha.

We live here in this place where most of the people have turned away from God. He will take care of us but we will go through some hard times because of where we live. I feel sorry for you worshipping some piece of wood that some man made. It cannot talk, walk, or hear what you say. No, you are the foolish one to reject the true and only real God, the God of our ancestors, and the God that brought our ancestors out of Egypt to the promise land. I will serve no other and especially not a man-made god that cannot even hear the prayers I pray.

Mara, now a grown woman, often remembered what her mother said. She also remembered what her friends had told her. Now those same friends were gone—moved away or passed away. Slowly Mara walked back to her house. She loved her home with Josiah. He was a kind man. So many of the Israelite women had married men that were cruel but Josiah was a Godly man and she thanked Jehovah God for him.

Located in one of her rooms was a big chair that was very comfortable. It was stuffed with wool and a person could sleep all night in that chair. Mara sat down and relaxed as she tried to determine what she should prepare for the evening meal.

She had barely sat down when Josiah entered the room interrupting her train of thought. He came over and kissed her. May we have our meal earlier today, Mara? I have an appointment in town with the governor. I need to leave as soon as possible. You know when the governor sends you a message you have no choice but to go. Just fix something quickly.

Of course, I will have it ready in just minutes. Sit down, Josiah, and rest a bit. You work too hard and now the governor demands you go to see him. Just when are you supposed to get the work done on your land if you have to travel all the way to the city to talk to the governor? Mara knew that Josiah was an important man in Israel but he was one of the few who still worshipped the God of his ancestors. But it upset her that she was alone so much. He wouldn’t be back for at least three days. The governor always kept him at least that long or longer.

It bothered her that the man asked for Josiah’s opinion on different matters, but he rarely took the advice. Only if Josiah’s advice agreed with his own opinion did the governor make use of what Josiah said to him. The governor was not a good man, but it appeared that he realized that Josiah was and he knew he needed some Godly advice now and then. Mara knew that was why he was called to the governor’s palace so often.

I may be able to help the governor do the right thing, Mara. Once in a while he does change his mind and he always listens politely as I talk about Jehovah God. I think that is why he asks for me. I encourage him to worship the true God, the God of our ancestors. He has sacrificed his first son to Baal and he is very upset about it. He thinks that Baal demands too much.

Josiah didn’t say anything for a minute and then continued. I told him one day that Baal could not demand anything of him because he was a piece of wood. It was the false prophets of Baal that demanded the first born son of every Baal worshipper be sacrificed. It was at that time he asked me to leave. If I was right, then he sacrificed his son for nothing and he could not live with that idea. But he keeps calling me back. He knows the difference between the true God and his god. Yes he knows but he does not want to admit it. He is afraid that he will loose face with the people that follow him. Unfortunately, most of his followers are Baal worshippers.

It rather puts you in the middle of things does it not, Josiah? I wonder if he has ever read God’s Word, Mara stated.

No, he does not allow God’s Word to be in the palace. If he finds anyone who has a book of the laws that God wrote, he takes it away from them and sends them to prison. Then he has a celebration. He conducts a burning ceremony and burns Jehovah God’s Word. But yet he calls for me and listens to me knowing that I firmly believe in God’s Word and that I have the book of God’s laws. Sometimes I wonder how long it will be before he puts me in prison since he is so quick to imprison other people who believe differently than he does.

God directs our lives, my husband. Do not worry about what has not as yet happened. I am sure since we live in Israel, we will not totally escape what is happening to our nation. When the enemy takes over Israel, no telling what will happen. We just have to remember that Jehovah God will be with us and He is in control, not the conquering nation.

You are right, my wife. Whatever happens, our God is in control. Oh, I forgot to ask you, Mara, how are you feeling. Is that baby you are carrying moving much, Josiah asked with a smile—a proud smile.

He is very active and moves most of the time. He is a strong boy, she answered laughing.

And just when did you become a prophetess that you know you are going to have a boy? teased Josiah.

You wait and see. It will be a boy and I want to name him Josiah. Will that please you? She knew she didn’t need to ask. It would please him.

I will have a son named Josiah. Yes, of course that will please me to have a son named after me. But Josiah will not be a good name for a girl. What will you call the baby if it is a girl?

I will have a girl sometime, but this one will be a boy, Mara said definitely. You just have to be patient and wait for your son to arrive. It will not be much longer now.

Josiah kissed his wife goodbye and headed for the governor’s palace. He hated leaving Mara alone when she was so close to having the baby, but her friend lived next door and she was a midwife. She promised to take good care of Mara and watch out for her. She promised to check in regularly to see if Mara was having any labor pains. She would be there when his wife went into labor, she promised the worried man. That gave Josiah great comfort.

One thing for sure, Josiah did not like the idea of delivering his wife’s baby. Many men had to but he hoped that God would let the midwife do the delivering even if he was at home at the time of delivery. He was a farmer and owned a great deal of land and that was what he liked to do. He didn’t even want to learn how the midwives delivered babies. The whole idea made him shudder.

Whenever he had to leave his land and his animals, he didn’t worry. Josiah had a lot of confidence in his servants. He treated them well and in turn they accomplished a lot whether he was on the property or not. He had talked to them often about God and some of them had become believers, but there were some holdouts who still insisted on worshipping Baal and the other gods. It was his goal that in time he would show them the true God and each one of his servants would become believers. He prayed each day for his servants.

It was a good feeling to know that he had Godly men working for him. As he traveled through the town, he wondered how long the governor would keep him this time. The trips were beginning to be tiring for him as he didn’t seem to accomplish anything. But he had no choice. When the governor called for you to come you obeyed. It didn’t matter if you had other things that needed to be done.

He often wondered what the governor really thought of him. Did he ever think about Jehovah God when he wasn’t talking to him? Was he interested or just trying to be polite? Josiah thought that at times he appeared really interested and other times he just didn’t want to hear anything about God. The governor was a strange man. Josiah felt that the man was afraid of what the men in the palace would think if he agreed with him. When no one else was around to listen to the talk about Jehovah God, the governor was much more responsive to him.

Would he ever be able to get him to worship the true God? It always amazed Josiah that someone could worship a piece of wood, some man-made thing that had eyes but couldn’t see, ears but couldn’t hear and a mouth but couldn’t talk. How foolish could they be? Yet most of the Israelites were worshipping the idol Baal which was made out of a piece of wood. How very foolish.

He shook his head and hurried on his way. He wasn’t particularly interested in arriving too soon, but perhaps the sooner he arrived at the governor’s palace the sooner he could return home to his wife to be there when the baby was born. He would feel a lot better about the trips if he was really needed and the governor listened to and took his advice.

As he rode along, he thought about all the fine horses he had in his pastures. Some of them were worth a great deal of money. Eventually he would have to sell a few but he hated to. They were his horses. He had them since they were young colts. Josiah often stood and watched the young colts play in the pasture. He sure didn’t want to lose any of them. He had given strict orders for his men to take good care of his animals.

Then he turned his thoughts to Mara. She would have that baby soon and he would be a father. It was hard for him to believe that he was actually going to have a son and his wife wanted to name him Josiah. He smiled.

CHAPTER 2

A VISIT FROM NAAMAN

Naaman was a young man who loved being in the king’s army. He worked hard to impress the leaders who were over him. He thought back to the time that he had joined King Aram’s army. It was five years ago and he never regretted a day of service. He did enjoy being a warrior. Not once did he think he had made a mistake in joining the king’s men. He enjoyed getting up in the morning and seeing just what plans the king had for him that day.

He held up his new badge and looked it over for some time. He was pleased that he had earned another step toward being a captain. That was his goal. Everyone looked up to a captain and they would some day look up to him. He would be the best captain the king ever had. He never once doubted that he would reach his goal. He could tell how pleased King Aram was with him. The king was not stingy with his compliments and praise for him and he usually complimented him when there was a group of men around to hear. Naaman appreciated that.

As he looked out the doorway, he noticed a pretty young woman walking along the road. Who was she? He didn’t remember ever seeing her before. He would never forget such a beautiful woman as that. He had to think of some excuse to talk with her. My but she was so very beautiful. He hurried out the door and soon was walking beside her but he said nothing. He wanted to see what she would do when she realized that he was escorting her through town.

The young woman looked up at him and smiled. You are Naaman, are you not? We just moved here not too long ago but I have already heard about you and heard your name mentioned several times. You are someone important are you not? the woman asked while watching him closely.

Naaman laughed. I am not too sure how important I am, but I am glad that you think so. Yes, my name is Naaman, but I do not know what your name is. It has to be a beautiful name since you are so beautiful.

The young woman blushed and then laughed. I had not heard that you were so forthcoming with your compliments. My name is Abigail, daughter of Josephus. We live in the house on the hill not too far from here. Mother sent me to buy some lentils for dinner. I should hurry home and give them to her.

Well, it does look as though you bought some fine lentils. Will you cook them yourself or will your mother cook them? Naaman watched the young woman carefully. He was taken with her from the time he saw her through the doorway. He had never met anyone like her or any woman so pleasant to look at.

Our servant will cook the meal, she replied rather stiffly.

Oh, oh, he made a mistake. Now how could he reconcile his error? I am sorry that I was so careless in what I said. I was trying to find out if you did any cooking at all. He stumbled through the apology hoping she wouldn’t be too offended at what he said. He sure wanted to be on good terms with her.

Abigail laughed. Of course I can cook. Our mothers always teach the girls to cook but I am not a servant. I am a daughter of the house of Josephus and therefore do not toil or labor. Only when I am learning something, do I work. Our servants prepare the meal for us.

You are too pretty to even labor at anything, he said and winked at her. He liked to see her blush and she accommodated him with a red face.

Do you not think that you are a little brash to make such a statement to someone you do not even know? asked Abigail.

Why, we know each other, Abigail. Naaman stated. We just introduced ourselves just a few moments ago. We are now friends and neighbors. We must get acquainted with our neighbors, is that not right? Is that not what we are taught from a child?

You seem to have an answer for everything, Naaman. Now I must hurry home so the servant can cook these lintels. If you wish, you may come with me and meet the rest of your neighbors—my mother and father and grandparents, Abigail remarked and smiled. She liked this brash young man and she knew he liked her.

Abigail wasn’t quite sure what her parents would think about a man accompanying her home, especially a strange man she had never met before. But this was Naaman, a very important man, and even her parents had heard his name and some of his accomplishments. That should pave the way for him to be accepted by them when she introduced him.

I shall come with you if I may. I would like to meet your family. Since they are my new neighbors it is the right thing to do. What is your father’s occupation? Naaman asked.

He is a herdsman and is often away looking out for his cattle or selling some of them or even trading with other herdsmen. But he is home tonight. I am quite sure he would like to meet his neighbor. He moved us into town because he had to leave us so often and there were some rough scoundrels that moved into our old neighborhood. It was no longer safe outside of the city.

Yes, that is true. I have heard rumors about those men. It is good that you moved away. Naaman glanced at the house as they approached. So this is your house. It looks very much like a home that I would imagine that you would live in. May I open the door for you? he asked and proceeded to do so.

Abigail