Malchus Ascending

By T. Michael Childs

Do you ever have your thoughts idly wander from topic to topic without any particular rhyme or reason? We all do. Some call it daydreaming, others woolgathering. One day, the author was just mentally idling when the scene from the Bible crossed his mind of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus has spent time in prayer alone while his disciples slept. Then a detachment of temple guards enters Gethsemane, led by Judas Iscariot and a servant of the high priest, Caiaphas, whom the Gospel of John identifies as Malchus. Judas approaches Jesus and kisses him, identifying him for arrest. The guards and the servant of the high priest come to take Jesus when the ever-impetuous disciple Simon Peter draws a sword, strikes Malchus, the servant of Caiaphas, and cuts off his ear. Ouch!

What happens next is the reason for this book. Jesus tells Peter to stop and drop the sword. Then you can almost see Jesus stoop to pick up the severed ear and reach out to the servant Malchus. Jesus gently places the ear back into its place, and when his hand withdraws, the ear is completely restored! One last miracle before the Cross by the miracle maker!

So who is this Malchus? This book gives life to a name and seeks to show how even a person in low social status can ascend both in this world and in the world to come. Hope you enjoy it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638142072

Book preview

Chapter 1

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged,

by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions,

even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

—Benjamin Franklin,

American polymath and founding father

Hill overlooking Ephesus Harbor, Roman province of Asia

AD 59

The 180-foot Roman cargo ship slices through the blue water under partial sail as it maneuvers toward the anchorage at the largest Roman port in Asia. White foam glistens in the sun as the water is parted and makes its way down the sides of the great ship. Soon the sail will be fully reefed, and the crew will drop anchor to end its journey from Tyre with six hundred tons of metals and stone. Here it will offload some of its cargo and fill up to capacity with some of the luxury goods coming on overland caravans from Bithynia and Galacia bound for the markets of Rome.

A white-haired man with a sun-wrinkled face watches its progress from a hillside southwest of the city overlooking Ephesus harbor. The port is busy with many more sailing ships from Alexandria and ports all along the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, loading and unloading cargos of spices, animals, grains, as well as more exotic cargoes. The city is an economic powerhouse fueled by the Pax Romana that has settled on the known world. Great Roman roads coming from east and west meet in Ephesus, creating a true melting pot of the Roman world.

The man sits on a large flat rock embedded in the hillside and stares out at the azure waters of the harbor. He can see to where the bay transitions to the deeper blue of the Aegean. As so many times in the past, he is amazed at the glory of God’s creation. His Jewish roots did not allow him, for much of his life, to name the Almighty; so for many years he knew the Creator as HaShem, which means literally the Name in his native Hebrew. But at one point in his life pilgrimage, he learned that HaShem wanted a closer relationship with him and other men, so he also uses the word God interchangeably with HaShem to refer to the one whose name was revealed to Moses so long ago, the great I Am. At the age of sixty-five, the man is getting old by the standards of his time; but he, in no way, regrets his age. In fact, he looks forward to the day his life ends on this earth. He knows that he will join his beloved wife, Rebekah, in the world to come, a world he is absolutely sure will be paradise.

The great love of his life died just six months ago and was buried with the support of a group of those who care for his family. In keeping with his boyhood training, he and his family honored the Shiva for his dearest Rebekah, spending seven days mourning with family and friends while contemplating their days together and the marvelous life they had.

He is glad his son, Joshua, is near with his dear family to offer comfort. Their daughter, Naomi, and her husband, John, never left Jerusalem, which broke both his and Rebekah’s hearts. The entire family was indentured to the House of Caiaphas in Jerusalem, but events caused Malchus to flee with Rebekah and Joshua with his family to avoid prison or worse. Malchus hopes Naomi and her husband are well but knows they are most probably well-treated since his childhood friend Yeshua is now the master of the House of Caiaphas. Yeshua Caiaphas is now a respected priest among the Sadducees, though he lives every day under the cloud of his father’s cowardly death. A year after Malchus fled, Joseph Caiaphas was replaced by the Romans as high priest and could not deal with the loss of position and power. In despair, he took his own life.

These things are dry facts making up the framework of the tableau of his life. But he begins to think about the road that got him to this hill far from his birthplace in Bethphage in far-off Israel and his growing-up home in Jerusalem. There have been many threads which God has woven into the work the world knows as Malchus. His years have been full, and there are no real regrets, for he knows he has been richly blessed.

In the distance, he spies two young boys chasing one another in a pasture situated on the hillside south of his perch. The boys appear to be about ten or eleven and are tasked with watching the sheep as the animals wander the hills and eat contentedly on the grass of the pasture. Obviously to pass a boring afternoon, the two have decided to have a contest of speed and strength…or perhaps they merely want to have some fun!

Their antics take his mind back to a day fifty-five years ago, the day when his life changed forever and his course was set, leading him to this hill at this time. Fifty-five years…so long ago…

Chapter 2

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

—George Bernard Shaw,

Irish dramatist/playwright

Bethphage, near Jerusalem

AD 4

The young boy trudges along the dusty path from the field his family has owned and worked from as far back as the time of Joshua and the heroes of Israel centuries before. Indeed, this land was assigned to his family by Benjamin himself, the youngest son of Jacob and the ancestor of King Saul, the first of the great kings of Israel. The land had been rich when it was allocated as part of the inheritance for the tribe of Benjamin after the Israelites crossed over the Jordan and drove out the people of Canaan. Now the field is tired and needs years of recovery the boy’s family cannot give it. Their very livelihood depends on the crops they plant and harvest here. But this year is not a good one. Drought has robbed the crops of the chance to thrive because there simply is not enough water!

Young Malchus has never seen it this bad in his admittedly short ten years of life. Where there should be life and growth, there is only dust. He has spent many days broadcasting the seed and tilling it, only to see insufficient moisture rob the seeds of the ability to thrive. Where there should be tall stands of wheat, there are thin stalks with a few kernels on each plant. But there is plenty of sun…too much sun pouring out a heat that drains both his young body and the land of all moisture. It seems as though he could spill a cup of water from waist high and it would evaporate before even a drop hit the ground! Carrying the buckets of water from the well to give the crop something to drink taxes him and dehydrates him. He is just tired!

Malchus walks over a small hill and sees the village of Bethphage. His hazel eyes lock on one building in particular on the outskirts. The house of Jerusalem stone where he was born and has always known as home comes into sight. The pale limestone blocks give the house a pinkish tint in the dying rays of sunlight. He is proud that their house is of stone and not of mudbrick as so many of his friends have. As he approaches this house built by his ancestors and now owned by his father, Saul ben Jacob, he hears his mother, Naomi, singing an ancient praise from the psalms of King David. Malchus recognizes it as one of the psalms called the Songs of Ascent used by his people to approach the temple on their holiest of occasions.

Her beautiful soprano voice caresses the words. Her words are clear and give his spirits a lift.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then they said among the nations,

The Lord has done great things for them.

The Lord has done great things for us;

we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

like streams in the Negeb!

Those who sow in tears

shall reap with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.

Malchus stands in the door of their house and soaks up the sight of his mother preparing the evening meal while she sings praise to HaShem, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He learned his lessons from the local rabbi well and knows his people do not call the name of God represented by the Holy Tetragram (JHWH). So even in his thoughts, he thinks of his Creator as HaShem, literally the Name.

As Naomi’s voice dies after the last words of the psalm, Malchus says, Mother, I never tire of hearing you sing! It is a joy to my heart. Naomi pauses her food preparation and looks with a smile at her fourth son. The boy is tall and strong for a ten-year-old, and the fieldwork has given his immature body a sinewy strength evident in his muscles. His brown eyes set off the golden-brown tone of his hair which is bleached light brown by the sun that is his constant companion during the day. His prominent Jewish nose caps the full lips of his mouth, which, in turn, tops a squarish, strong chin and jawline. There is promise there of a very strong and handsome man in the years to come, after the gangliness of youth passes him by.

As Malchus stares at his mother, he sees beyond the smile to the sadness that is in her eyes. Is something troubling you, Mother? You seem to be sad for some reason.

Naomi reaches up to wipe a tear from her eye and simply says, Your father needs to speak with you after the evening meal. Wait until then, my son. Now wash and help me get dinner ready like the good son you are! With that, she turns back to the bread she is making.

Malchus goes to the well that they are blessed to have and cleans the dust and dirt from his face and hands and washes his feet. As he dries them on the hem of his robe, he cannot help but let his mind run wild on what his father could possibly want to talk about that has made his mother so sad! All he can do is wait until the time his father chooses to speak with him.

An hour later, their dinner of cooked vegetables is finished, and Malchus’s three brothers depart the house on a few last-of-the-day chores, leaving their father Saul and Malchus at the table. While Naomi cleans up from the meal, Saul makes small talk with his youngest son, asking him about his day and how the crops are looking. Malchus knows full well that his father is intimately familiar with the sad state of the crops. Malchus dutifully tells his father his opinion on the crops and his belief that this will be a bad year. Finally, Saul turns his head toward the door, a very uncharacteristic action from the man who always looks people in the eye. He begins to tell Malchus about the family’s financial situation.

As the patriarch of their family, Saul handles all matters of finance and business by himself and does not share the details with the boys, or even with Naomi, on a normal basis. Now Saul paints a grim picture for Malchus. The poor crops of the past two years and the current crop that is no better (if not worse) have taken all the money the family has just to keep possession of the land. Saul tells Malchus that they have reached the point where the choices the family has are limited: first, they can sell the land. Malchus visibly blanches at this since the land is the inheritance of his father and precious to them as a Jewish family. HaShem, who freed their people from Egyptian slavery, had decreed this land would be theirs forever! How could they ever sell it?

But then Saul tells Malchus the other option. He has arranged with a certain Joseph Caiaphas, son-in-law of the high priest himself, to give the family money for living and for seed for next year’s crop. Malchus gets a confused look on his face. He is no genius, but why would someone give them money!

Father, I do not understand, he says. Why would this man give you money? What is the benefit for him?

Saul’s face drops, but a look of resolve comes over his face. In the background, Malchus hears his mother gently crying. This, more than his father’s face, gives him cause for dread. What could possibly be causing them so much anguish!

Malchus, my son, Joseph Caiaphas has a son about your age, and he needs a servant to come be part of their household and be a personal servant to the son, Yeshua. I have agreed that you will go and live with them for the next seven years, and in the seventh, you will be released from indenture, Saul states. This is a great sacrifice I am asking of you—that the family is asking of you—my son. But I see no other way to preserve the land our fathers have passed on to our care. If there were any other way, Malchus, believe me I would take it! But there is none.

Malchus sits and stares at his father with a dumbfounded look on his face. His father is selling him into servitude! As a ten-year-old, he is being asked to understand that this is necessary and make a sacrifice of his freedom! Slowly tears form in his eyes. He hears his father’s words and even understands them intellectually, but emotionally he cannot accept them. Father, how can you do such a thing? I am your son! How could you do this?

In the back of the house, Malchus hears his mother break into weeping. His father’s face falls, and Malchus thinks he sees moisture in his father’s eyes. But Saul’s face remains resolute and says, I trust that one day you will understand why this is necessary, Malchus. Know that Adonai, the One we worship, will watch over you and protect you, just as He did Joseph in Egypt, until the term of indenture is over. Your home is here, and you will always be welcome here.

Welcome! Then why do I have to leave? I will never return. Never! With those words, Malchus rises and storms out of the house to wander the fields and cry. He remains outside all night, and when morning’s sun breaks over the hill east of Bethphage, he goes into the house and gathers his few belongings. He kisses his mother; and then, escorted by his eldest brother Benjamin, he walks southwest toward Jerusalem and the house of a rich man named Joseph Caiaphas. His future, whatever it is, awaits.

Chapter 3

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change;

the realist adjusts the sails.

—William Arthur Ward, twentieth-century American educator and columnist

House of Joseph Caiaphas, Jerusalem

AD 4

With the sun beginning to fully shine on the city, Malchus and his brother Benjamin walk down from the Mount of Olives to cross the Kidron Valley and enter Jerusalem by the Water Gate near the Pool of Siloam. As they walk across the Lower City to the Essene Quarter, little is said. Malchus looks at his brother and asks, Why, brother, must it be me who is sold as a servant? What have I done wrong?

Benjamin does not answer at first but then turns to look at Malchus. Brother, you have done nothing wrong. It happens that the priest Joseph Caiaphas has a son your age, so who better to be his servant and companion than you? You have a great future ahead of you…much better than that of a poor farmer struggling to earn a living from worn-out land! That is my fate.

Malchus can barely believe his ears! "So I am blessed to be sold into servitude! Is it a great good fortune to give up freedom to serve some pompous rich boy? Is that truly what HaShem considers a great future for my life? No. I do not want to hear that!"

Benjamin says no more but walks the rest of the way with his eyes straight ahead as they approach the servant’s entrance of Joseph Caiaphas’s palace (for that is the only term which can apply to the grand house and grounds built into the cliff rising from the Lower City upward on the slope of Mount Zion to the Upper City). Knocking on the door, his brother waits impatiently until a man answers the knock. He explains his errand, and with a brief nod and bow toward Malchus, the older boy departs for Bethphage, just over a mile eastward back across the Mount of Olives. To Malchus, the home he has always known may as well be in Damascus, for he has no intention of ever going there again!

The man who answers the door has a kind face capped with white hair and the paler skin of one not used to working outside. His dark eyes silently appraise Malchus, and he nods as if he sees someone of whom he approves. He smiles. My boy, this is bound to be troubling to you, but don’t be afraid. Our master is kind and takes care of his servants very well, so I know, with time, you will be happy here. My name is Simon, and I am the head servant for the house of our master. Let me get you settled in, and we will go and meet the master and his son when they are ready for us. Come, come!

Simon shows Malchus to a small room with several bed mats laid out on the floor. It is really just a cave carved into the cliff over which the house is built, but it is clean and cool since it is carved into the earth itself. In fact, as far as Malchus can see, the palace is built on the surface of the hillside and extends into the sandstone of the cliff itself to gain its significant size. Rest here, my boy, while I inform the master of your arrival. I am sure he and Yeshua, his son, will see you before long. With that, Simon leaves and takes the hall toward some stairs to a higher floor.

Malchus places his meager roll of possessions on the only sleeping mat that does not have any personal items near it. He lowers himself to sit on the mat and with a sigh allows the tears he has held to come. How was he to deal with this! To him, he has been rejected by his family. Oh, sure, he heard his father’s and brother’s words, and perhaps to some extent, he even understands them. But the facts remain. He has been sold by his family into servitude for the next seven years! Seven years! Eighty-four new moons would come and go before he was once again free! This is the reward he gets for faithfully tending the crops in heat and dust all his life!

For the next hour, he lets the tears come and finally end. Malchus wipes his face when he hears footsteps approaching the room. Another boy several years older than Malchus comes into the room and says, You must be the new boy. I am Isaac bar John, and I am the oldest boy and thus am in charge here. You will do well to do as I say and not question me. All the boys are under my direction! Simon has sent me to get you washed and bring you to meet the master and his son. So please come with me.

Malchus rises from the sleeping mat and follows Isaac up the stairs. How long have you been here? he asks the boy.

Isaac replied, I have been in service here for two years now.

And what do you do? Malchus continues.

I do whatever Simon tells me to do, but usually, I work in the kitchen helping with the food preparation and service, Isaac replies. It is really quite easy work, and the family of the master is very kind. I think you will be happy here. Just stay in your place, and we will have no problems.

They stop at an alcove with a washbasin and a pitcher of water as well as folded cloths. Malchus quickly washes his face and hands and feet and wipes them on one of the cloths.

As they move down the corridor toward a stairway, Malchus says idly, I am to be the personal servant of the master’s son. Is he a good master?

Isaac stops in his tracks and says, "You are to be the servant of Yeshua? I thought I was to be given that honor! Why would they bring in someone like you with dirt behind your ears?" In anger, Isaac cuffs Malchus on his left ear and then storms up the stairs.

After climbing two sets of stairs, Isaac directs Malchus down a hallway toward a large door before stomping away. At the door stands Simon. Ah, Malchus, it is time to meet the master and the young master as well. Come, let me announce you and introduce you.

Simon knocks loudly on the sturdy wooden door and hears a man’s voice clearly say, Enter! Simon opens the door and precedes Malchus into the room beyond. Malchus’s eyes grow wide at the size of the room! It is two times larger than the house of his father. And this is just one room! Two other doors enter the room and rich tapestries hang from the roofline down to the floor on two of the walls. The price of just one of the tapestries would feed his family for a year; he is sure! In the center of the room is a low table with sitting cushions arranged around it. Seated there is a handsome man with dark black hair and a clear complexion. His eyes are an interesting shade of hazel set deeply on either side of his aquiline nose. This is the face of a leader, Malchus thinks. Beside him sits a boy who obviously is the son of the impressive man and appears to be about the same age as Malchus. He shares the same hair and eyes, and he holds the promise of growing into just as imposing a figure as the father.

Master, may I introduce your new servant. This is the son of Saul ben Jacob, the farmer from Bethphage with whom you have business dealings. The boy’s name is Malchus, Simon states. Malchus, may I introduce our master, Joseph ben Caiaphas, priest of the order of the Sadducees and member of the Great Sanhedrin? And this young master is Yeshua ben Caiaphas, heir and pride of our master.

Malchus remembers his manners and bows deeply from the waist to the master and the son. He does not speak but instead waits, as he should, until the master addresses him.

Joseph Caiaphas looks Malchus over and then, with a gesture of his hand, tells him to approach the table. Boy, your family has a good name in this city, and your father is a respected man known for his righteousness. I trust you will live up to his example in your service to my household. Welcome. You are to be the personal servant and companion of my son, Yeshua. Whatever he needs done, you will do. He is a good son, and I know he will treat you well. As a benefit to good service from you, I will allow you to sit in and listen to my son’s classes and to gain some education while you are here in our midst. You will also receive some training in the Torah so you can better serve our priestly house. So even if you think your indenture here is not something you desire, you will benefit from the years ahead and will find that good service brings great reward. Again, welcome. Your service with Yeshua begins with the dawn tomorrow. Simon, please instruct Malchus on all the duties he will be performing. That will be all.

Simon looks at Malchus and bows to the master, cluing the boy to do the same. The two back up to the door, and Simon leads Malchus out of the room. Outside in the hallway, Isaac waits.

Simon says, "Isaac, please give Malchus a tour of the palace and show him where the young master’s rooms are. It seems he will be spending a lot of time there! Then bring him