Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

In my last posting, while encamped in the wilderness of Judea, Yeshua reminisced about the time when he was 12 and what happened at the fabulous city of Jerusalem.

The family had been in Jerusalem for about a week. Because of the tens of thousands of visiting pilgrims in the city for the festival, they weren’t able to go to the Temple yet to offer their sacrifice. They were staying with relatives at the old quarter, northwest from the Temple Mount. From the roof of the house, Yeshua could just make out the top of Temple’s tallest edifice with its shining golden crown.  Instead of playing with the other children, he would wait patiently on that roof praying. Then he heard his abba calling from below, saying that they were finally going up to the Temple. Yeshua gleefully whooped out loud as he raced down the steps. 

Two hours later, Yeshua and his mother were waiting in a slow abating line into the main Temple complex. Yosef joined them with a white lamb in his arms. Yeshua and his imma saw that he was thinking hard about something.

“What is it, husband?”

Yosef faced her. “This lamb – I purchased as sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.” Mariam shrugged her shoulders questioningly. “It is appropriate for you, I, even the children… that we left at home…” Her eyes widened in comprehension. Together, they both turned to look at Yeshua. 

Yeshua chuckled at the memory. He bundled his robe into a pillow then laid down.

The line moved up and the family came before the priests at the gilded entry gate, where they inspected the animals to see if they were acceptable. Yeshua the boy confidently walked through not waiting for the priest’s permission. He slowly treaded the goldish marbled threshold under a columned portico, then came before a large enclosed plaza.

‘The Court of Israel,’ Yeshua mouthed as he looked around in awe. It was the only part of the complex where only those who were true Israelites were allowed. A man of Israel would have their genealogy recorded with the priests and scribes. His abba told him that his line went as far back as the famed King David. But then his abba Yosef did tell him that he was not truly sired by him. So, he approached his imma’s father, Heli, and learned that his lineage also went by David but through another branch. Yosef’s wing went by Solomon, while Heli’s went by David’s other son, Nathan. 

“Come along, Yeshua, we must turn over our offering at the gate of Nicanor,” Yosef said as he guided him through a throng of praying pilgrims. His imma had to stay segregated with the other women at the court of women. The lamb was handed over to one of the waiting priests who promptly brought it to where it would be ritually slaughtered. As his abba went back down to join the other men in their loud prayers, Yeshua lingered by the gate to watch their lamb offering be humanely dispatched. He saw that the lamb was quickly hung so as to let the blood drip into a round shallow vessel. After a few minutes, the lamb was brought whole to the massive altar where the priest carried it up 9 steps to the top. He then took some of the collected blood and sprinkled it on the four horns that protruded from corners of the altar. Then, the priest returned to southside of the altar, facing north, he lifted the lamb high calling out to Adonai to accept the offering, then he dropped the carcass in the center where Yeshua only saw the flames flare up. 

Yeshua then looked a little to his left at the tall massive Temple doors with its ornate gilded carvings. They were flanked by two equally massive bronze pillars which were named Boaz on the right and Jachin on the left. Through those doors was the Holy Place where only elevated priests could enter to either maintain the ten golden menoras, replace the holy bread on the golden table for the bread of Presence, or to offer fragrant herbs on the golden altar for incense. But what interested Yeshua more was what was located deeper in the nave behind a thick veil, the inner sanctuary which is reverently called the Most Holy Place. In there is the holiest object of all Israel, the Ark of the Covenant. No man can touch it except the chosen few Levites tasked to transport it and the High Priest. However, once every year, only the High Priest would enter this chamber carrying the collected blood of the sacrifices, sprinkling it on the golden lid of the Ark, thus securing another year of forgiveness for the nation of Israel. Interestingly enough, it was said that when the High Priest enters this holiest of chambers his robe would be ringed with tiny bells and a long rope would be tied to his ankle. Holding the other end of the rope are priests tasked to listen for the tinkling of the bells. If the bells stopped for a lengthy period of time, then they must assume that the High Priest was struck down by Adonai because he was ritually unacceptable and they would pull his dead body out of the sanctuary. This was a rare occurrence but the fear was there. A thought sprung up. Somehow, he knew that he need not fear entering and wondered if he might grow up to take up the mantle of the High Priest. But before he could think on this some more, a priest shooed him away to join his praying abba.

At the end of the day, he learned much from his observation on what went on at the Temple. Seeing the words of Moses being exercised before his eyes brought much clarity to the point that these rituals point to a profound expression of the Almighty Adonai’s love. He was happy and he so wanted to talk to the many rabbis he saw teaching among the colonnades that encircled the vast court of the gentiles. He didn’t want to leave. Besides, he had yet to hear his heavenly father’s voice. He had to come back tomorrow. But tomorrow, they leave for Nazareth.

He was up before the sunrise and he was resolute in what he had to do. His cousins were asleep under a lean-to on the roof of his imma’s relatives. He quietly descended the steps but then found himself hesitating by the front door where his parents were still asleep within. After staring at the door for what seemed like forever, he took a deep breath and walked toward the Temple Mount. It was about the second hour when Yeshua entered through the western gates. The vast court was already streaming with people. Money Changers were just setting up their booths. In a corner booth, a merchantman carried in 2 large cages with several white birds in them. Animals from sheep, goats and a few oxen were herded into pens. Then Yeshua saw a stout rabbi, finely dressed, leading a group of boys to a columned alcove.  

The rabbi sat himself on the top of the steps while the students sat below him. Yeshua stood at the bottom listening. The rabbi was giving an account of the Lord Adonai commanding the patriarch Abram to cut in half a heifer, a goat and a ram. Then he described how Abram arranged the halves to be opposite of each other, causing the spewing blood to pool in the middle. One of the boys asked him why. The rabbi explained that in the old days, when two rich men made an important agreement, they would both walk through the blood to seal the covenant. Yeshua saw that the boys looked even more confused. The rabbi then told them the reason for the blood. That if any of the two, failed to live up to their part of the agreement, then their own blood would be exacted. Then, he continued the story on how Adonai caused Abram to fall into a deep sleep where he saw in a vision, a burning altar and a lit torch floating in-between the halves, consuming them in flame and billowing smoke.¹

“What did it all mean?” the rabbi asked. “Why did Adonai cause Abram to be asleep?”

“It was because Abram was never meant to be part of the covenant,” Yeshua answered. 

“Very good, student! Can you tell all of us here, why?”

“Because the Promise that the Lord Adonai gave to Abram when he left Ur to come into Canaan could never have been fulfilled if Abram had any part in it.” Yeshua saw that the rabbi was astonished. “I mean rabbi, that this covenant of blood always meant that only Adonai and Him alone will execute this covenant, guaranteeing its ultimate fulfillment.”

There were murmerings among the students. 

“Rabbi?” Yeshua asked. “I believe that the altar represents the Adonai. Could the torch be the Messiah?”

“Why do you ask this, student?”

“Would not the Messiah bring light when he makes an appearance?”

The rabbi blinked. “I… er… I think we must stop for this day, for I must meet with the other teacher…”, the rabbi said as he stood up and walked off, glancing back questioningly at Yeshua a couple of times. 

That whole day, Yeshua wandered in and out of the Temple complex, up and down the lengthy corridors amongst the columns. Whenever a group gathered whether a discourse by an orator or a lively debate among rival factions, he was there asking poignant questions. The sun had risen and set three times and Yeshua waited. Interestingly enough, he did not suffer from starvation, for food and drink were provided to him by strangers. 

It was on the third night that his parents found him being the center of attention to a group of impressed priests and teachers of the law. It was Yeshua that noticed them from a distance. He slipped away while they were whispering among themselves. When he reached them, they quickly guided him behind a massive column. 

His imma was the first to talk, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Did you not know I had to be here in my Father’s house?”  

“My son, tell us why you had to do this?” So, he told them his longing. ²

His mother understood and asked, “Did He?”

Yeshua shook his head. She reached out her hand, touched his face and gently said, “He will in His own good time. I am sure of it.” 

Yosef, who was looking out, said, “Those priests are looking for you! Come! We must leave lest they discover…” 

His eyes opened to popping sounds that came from the fire pit. He was on his side. He did not even recall when he laid down. His fire was down to glowing embers. He pulled his robe tighter around his shoulders then closed his eyes thinking back when he was twelve, he had not really heard what his Father in Heaven sounded like. He smiled just as he was dozing with this thought, ‘Well, eighteen years later… I do now!’

TO BE CONTINUED

Footnotes: [1] Genesis 15; [2] Luke 2:41-50

In my next posting, we will go (one last time) back a few days before Yeshua went into the wilderness.

      <PREV                                        NEXT>