Passover Promises: A Sequel to Promises

By Susan A. Perkins

Onnua and Zaccheus and Eunice and Amos have met Jesus. Now He turns His face to Jerusalem, Passover, and the final work He must do for our salvation.

As these two families prepare to celebrate Passover; how is Jesus influence mirrored in their celebrations? Onnua and Zaccheus believe Jesus is the Messiah. Amos does not believe; but his family is searching for answers.

However Amos Uncle Caiaphas believes Jesus is a threat to the people and the peace. If Caiaphas makes sure Jesus dies, that will be the end of it. Wont it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467874083

Susan A. Perkins

Dale Herron has been illustrating books for over 20 years. He is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design and lives with his wife and son in Circleville, Ohio. Dale highly enjoys a good tale to illustrate. He is also passionate about the relevance of Biblical truth to contemporary life. Dale continues to provide work for a growing list of independent authors, illustrating adult, teen, and complete children’s books. To see a gallery of his work, please visit www.daleherron.com

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Contents

Dedication

Synopsis of Book One Promises

The Cast of Characters

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Dedication

For Alice Hischke, My Mother,

On the 100th Anniversary of Her Birth

For Max Hischke, My Father

On the 100th Anniversary of His Arrival in America

With Thanks To:

Mary Jane Dean

Hazel Zun

Barbara Davis

Michael Lefkowitz

And My Lord

Synopsis of Book One Promises

In book one, Promises, we meet Onnua and Eunice who were friends for most of their lives. Eunice and Onnua are complete opposites. Eunice is small, tiny-boned and beautiful. Onnua is tall, large and plain. But they share a deep bond of affection.

Eunice marries young Amos the son of a Pharisee. She has two sons and a daughter.

Onnua marries a short but kind tax collector, Zaccheus. Her son dies shortly after birth. Thereafter she is childless.

Eunice’s family forbids her contact with her old friend even though they live next door to one another.

One day, the Teacher Yeshua comes to dine at the home of Zaccheus and Onnua. It seems Zaccheus climbed a sycamore tree to be able to see Yeshua and now they are dining together. Zaccheus pledges the Master that he will give half of all he owns to the poor and if he defrauded any man of anything he would pay him back four times as much.

Later that day Eunice breaks the rules and visits Onnua in her home.

Now the two families look forward to Passover… but it is the Passover when Yeshua goes up to Jerusalem on His Father’s business. What will this mean to the families of Eunice and Onnua?

The Cast of Characters

In Jericho:

The household of Zaccheus

Zaccheus: A tax collector

Onnua: Zaccheus’ wife

Bernice: Onnua’s grandmother

Mydia: Their servant and a former slave

Hiram: Mydia’s husband and a servant

Kezia: Daughter of Mydia and Hiram

Cricket: The old cat

The household of Zebulon

Zebulon: A Pharisee

Mara: Zebulon’s wife

Amos: Zebulon and Mara’s son

Eunice: Amos’ wife

Bartemaus: Oldest son of Amos and Eunice

Silas: Second son of Amos and Eunice

Clovese: Youngest daughter of Amos and Eunice

Athanacia: Servant in the Zebulon household

Other Jericho residents

Dorah: The widow of Rathan, mother of Eunice

Zipporah: The widow of Titus, mother of Onnua and Leah

Leah: Sister to Onnua, wife of Laban and mother of Olivia and Laban

In Jerusalem:

The Household of Caiaphas

Caiaphas: The High Priest of the Temple, brother to Zebulon

Rona: Caiaphas’ wife

Annus: Caiaphas’ father-in-law

Malchus: The servant

Becca and Nathan: Second cousins to Bartemaus, Silas and Clovese

Other Jerusalem residents:

Eve: Former neighbor of Bernice

Rachael: Mother to Lydia

Lydia: A girl of ten

Cleopas: A young man

Anna Elsbeth: Cleopas’ aunt and her family

Lana Elsbeth: Cleopas’ mother and her family

Joseph of Arimathea: A follower of Yeshua

Nicodemus: A follower of Yeshua

Hasmic: Nicodemus’ wife

Pilate: Roman Governor of Jerusalem

Claudia: Pilate’s wife

The Magistrate: The chief tax collector

Darcia: Mother of Judas

Yeshua of Nazareth: The Lord and His Disciples

Prologue

The dust hung heavily in the air over the old city Jerusalem. The day was warm and the sun bright. The noises of the city were a cacophony of sounds: donkeys braying and the owners cursing to get them to move. Sheep, brought into the city for the Passover, were protesting that they were not on the cool hillside. Merchants were hawking their wares each one trying to offer a more tantalizing bargain. The smells of the city were a varied combination. Some of the odors were rancid, from human and animal waste. Others were heavy of spice from the cooking smells emanating from the many open doors and open air stalls. Then there were the mysterious, heady, almost intoxicating smells when one would walk past a seller of exotic oils and spices.

Passover had clogged the arteries of the city and made some of the smaller byways nigh unto impassable. Eunice pushed her way through the press of the crowd. She was in a hurry, but if one had asked her where she was going she could not tell them. She only knew that she was getting away from where she had been. And where she had been had her so angry and confused that she could not think straight. She wished with all her heart that she was home in Jericho and could go to the stream where the air was cool. She wanted to stretch out in the grass and dangle her feet in the cold water. There in Jericho by the brook, she had always been able to think more clearly. And Onnua would be by her side. And that friendship would make her spirit heal.

The more she walked the angrier she became and then the tears started. She could not check their flow. They splashed from her face onto her tunic and left mud-like little trails on her dusty face. She knew she must look dreadful. She also knew that her husband, when he saw her, would scold her for appearing in public so, but she did not care. For more than twenty years she had been the perfect wife and mother. She had been a careful, devout, and silent part of the Pharisees’ home. But today, things had gotten out of hand. She had seen a side of her father-in-law and her husband that she did not like. How could they be involved in that which she had just witnessed? The faster she walked, the more she raged inside herself. And when she lost her footing and fell she was even more upset, for now she had torn one of her best tunics and bloodied her knee. So now she was limping and crying.

The trip to Jerusalem was supposed to have been a time for the family. They had planned to travel and visit relatives in the city, and spend Passover as a large extended family. That had been the intent. Eunice knew and liked the family they were staying with although she found them nearly as stuffy as her father-in-law and her husband. They had come here often throughout the years of her marriage. This was to have been a happy time. She had hoped it would be a time of reconciliation. Her husband, Amos, and she had had a terrible quarrel just a few weeks earlier and she had hoped that this family time and the feast would put things back together. Amos had wanted them put back as they had been. But the angrier she became, the more she realized that ‘the way they had been’ had not been a good thing. She had hoped that this trip to Jerusalem would give them time to see what they needed in their lives. He was a Pharisee, learned in and bound by the law. He was also a very skilled jeweler. Eunice wished that Amos had been just a jeweler. No, he was a Pharisee first and she had always wished that he could see the spirit of the law. She hoped that while they were in Jerusalem he would have the opportunity to meet The Prophet. But would Amos have listened to anything He had to say? She was not aware that Amos had already met Yeshua and had not heard anything He had said. Yeshua had met with Amos the day He had eaten at the home of the tax collector. Amos had been furious. That was the day that she and Amos had had the fight and she had visited her oldest and dearest friend for the first time in too many years. Eunice’s friend Onnua was married to that same tax collector.

Now it was too late. If The Prophet was not already dead, He would be soon and with Him, her hopes that her family would be able to be put right. What could a dead man do to heal the wound in her heart and in her family? And it was her family that had been partially responsible for the Prophet’s death. Her father-in-law, his brother, Caiaphas, Caiaphas’ father-in-law, Annas, and her husband; they had been part of the terrible events she had just witnessed and was now running from.

Eunice stopped near a well to catch her breath. She leaned heavily on the cool stones. How could the people she thought she loved and knew so well do a thing such as this? And yet the more she thought on the things that happened, the markers had been there all the way. She saw it coming and never believed that it could really happen… .

Chapter One

How happy they had all been as they approached the big city just six days ago. Even her mother-in-law, Mara, usually so reserved, was bubbling with enthusiasm. They would be staying with Caiaphas, Annas and their families. Mara enjoyed being with the other women and although their homes were as strict about the law, they had a more animated meal time. And the Passover feast was always a celebration.

As usual the crowds were already streaming into a city that was overcrowded to begin with. Everyone came to be with family. As they were settling in everyone remarked about how grown up all the children were. The question of Bartemaus taking a bride was raised more than once and caused him to blush. He looked a lot like his father, people said. Eunice thought that he acted more like herself. Clovese and Silas tended to look more like their mother. Eunice was still petit, with flowing dark hair. Her hair was a little gray at the temples, bespeaking her nearly thirty-five years. Her lines were not from work, for she lived a relatively work-free life, but rather from the stress of living in her father-in-law’s very strict home. She had learned over the years to say less and less and put up with more and more. All the children endured the kissing from aunts and the good-natured sense of family togetherness that flowed naturally from this side of the family.

And The Prophet was a topic of conversation among the adults: Who does He think He is? And among the children: Have you seen Him? Have you heard Him speak?

Actually, the adults were upset about what had happened while on the way into the city. Their passage had been delayed because this man, Yeshua, had decided to make a grand entrance into Jerusalem just as they were arriving. The crowds, many of whom had heard him speak on the hillsides outside of town, were excited about His arrival for the Passover. Zebulon and Amos had been disgusted by the show of homage the people displayed for this man. Many were being blasphemous by calling out Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Clovese was excited when she saw children waving palm branches and had wanted to join them. Amos had forbidden it. Zebulon had stepped forward and demanded of The Prophet that He rebuke His disciples and these people. Yeshua had replied that if He silenced the people the stones would cry out. At that point, Zebulon began to hate this man in his heart.

The Jerusalem kin had already chosen a lamb without blemish and, as was the custom, it was living in the home that became more crowded when Zebulon’s family of seven arrived. Clovese, Eunice and Amos’ youngest child and only daughter, had adopted the lamb immediately and named it Buckwheat. Father Amos warned her not to get too attached to the animal and to remember that it was to be their sacrificial lamb for the feast. Clovese’s cousin Becca thought it a splendid name and called the lamb Buckwheat also.

At dinner that evening, which Mara and Eunice had helped prepare, the discussion revolved around an incident in the temple. Bartemaus and Silas, who were older and, as Eunice said, harder to keep track of, had sneaked away when they entered the city. Now they told what they had seen. Yeshua had ridden the donkey He was on to the Temple. When He had gotten off, He had wept and then said that the enemies would destroy the Temple. I think, said Bartemaus, that He said the Temple would be destroyed because, ‘ . . . you did not recognize the time of your visitation’. What do you suppose that meant?

But the best part, put in Silas, was when he started turning over the tables of the money changers. Coins rolling everywhere and beggars diving for them and He with this righteous look crying out, ‘My house shall be called a house of Prayer’. Silas was making the sounds and using a big voice like The Prophet.

Sit down, Young Man! intoned Zebulon.

Well, it was the best part, said Silas contritely sitting back down.

We found Great Uncle Caiaphas then and came home with him, finished Bartemaus.

The adults had grown oddly quiet concerning this discourse. It was finally Annas who spoke. He was Caiaphas’ father-in-law. He was considered the head of the household because of his great age and wisdom. I fear that we must watch carefully what develops concerning this Teacher. The people like Him. The people are not always right about where they put their loyalty. Yet this man speaks with authority. Bartemaus asks what is meant by ‘our visitation’. It would seem the Man believes Himself to be more than a man. Annas sighed a deep sigh and shook his head. Perhaps he will go the way of many other would-be Messiahs. Perhaps not. But the Roman government has been in our land for many years. It would not be wise to oppose them. They could easily crush us.

But would the Lord allow that? It was Mara’s small voice asking the question.

Zebulon eyed her as he always did when she said something out of line. But it was Caiaphas who answered her question. The chief priests throughout the centuries have had the awesome responsibility of conveying God’s will to the people. It is through the office I hold that sacrifice is made to God on behalf of the people. The Romans have not terminated our Temple business. I believe that they know as long as we are able to function as a people we are less likely to rebel. Our ancestors were under the whip in Egypt. We could not offer sacrifice to God in a heathen place. The Roman’s allow us the sacrifice. The Pharisees have helped us to see the law as it helps the people to moderate their lives in a Godly way. All of these things are well and good. But we must tread carefully so that the delicate balance we have established is not tipped. And in life, and during Passover especially, we have learned that the lamb must die to protect the people.

Clovese, whose arm was around Buckwheat, clutched the lamb closer. She wanted to protest but knew that she must not speak during the adult conversation.

Sometimes it is expedient for one man to die, a man like the Zealot Barabbas perhaps, so that the Romans do not slaughter all the people, finished Caiaphas.

So, Brother, spoke Zebulon, you believe that if we throw the Romans a bone occasionally they will leave the rest of us alone?

Annas answered, We live in troubled times. But it is always sound policy to keep the rulers happy, either making bricks or paying taxes.

Silas blurted out suddenly, But Yeshua says that…

Bartemaus gave him a look but Zebulon silenced him, We will speak no more of this man who speaks of God and eats with sinners. He was referring to the day that Yeshua had the noon meal with their hated neighbor Zaccheus, the tax collector. So the conversation was over, all but the silent one that passed between the brothers Silas and Bartemaus.

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On the second day of the week, Bartemaus asked if there was any marketing that he could do for his mother, grandmother and aunt to help their preparations for the Passover. They were all pleased that he had volunteered to do this and prepared a list. While the women discussed exactly what they needed, Eunice looked at her eldest child. He was no longer a child. He was the age Amos, his father, had been when he sought and won Eunice’s hand in marriage. He was tall and handsome and strong. And she knew how the girl’s in Jericho looked at him. She had looked at Amos the same way. But she tried to believe that he was more like her in spirit. She had certainly tried to teach him to be more spontaneous and to catch the joy of unexpected moments. Silas was tall too, but he had her cheek bones and coloring.

As the women finished the list for Bartemaus, Silas came and realized that his brother was being allowed to leave. Silas suspected that in reality Bartemaus just wanted an excuse to get out of the house. So Silas said, I’ll go with him, and Bartemaus shot him a dark look, to help carry the items.

Bartemaus protested, I can get everything we need without your help.

But Eunice, suspecting the real reason Bartemaus wanted to go out, said, Take Silas with you. And stay out of mischief. Then she thought to herself, as much mischief as Onnua and I stayed out of. And then she thought again of her dear childhood friend and how wonderful it had been that day to be welcomed again in her home after all those years. Those had been lonely years when Amos had forbidden her to even speak to Onnua, the wife of Zaccheus the tax collector. And then there had been the terrible fight. Eunice had disobeyed him and gone to visit her friend. Her reasoning