Rebekah Redeemed (7 page)

“What about his father? Won’t he ask about me if I disappear?

Prisca frowned. “We will handle that problem if it comes up. Daniel is my son and his daughter was my granddaughter. You remind me of her. I couldn’t help her, but I won’t let the same fate befall you. You must go someplace Philip is not likely to look for you, someplace even I don’t know about for he may come to me when he sees you are gone and make me talk.”

After midnight, Prisca packed a small bag with some bread and a skin of water and sent the girl on her way. She co-opted Aaron, Daniel, Jael, and her husband into the conspiracy.

Where can I go? Where can I go?
These were Rebekah’s last thoughts as she fled into the night.

Later that night Rebekah found herself near the well in Bethany. The sun would not be up for a few hours. She needed a hiding place. She knew the penalty for a servant who ran away. What if someone recognized her and started asking questions? Then, as she passed one of the homes near the edge of the village, she saw a small shed. She could hide there until she could figure out where to go.

She found a donkey, two goats and a tiny kid nursing from its mother. The animals never made a noise after she crooned and fed them with her hand. The back corner of the little stable was covered with fresh straw. The young woman lay down exhausted; shivering even through it was not cold. She pulled her cloak over her and scattered some straw over it. The moment her head rested on the bag Prisca had packed for her, she went to sleep.

Rebekah never heard the woman come into the stable. She never heard the soft voice speaking to the animals, never heard her milking the goat. She didn’t hear a sound when Mary came to get some of the fresh straw for the mother goat and her kid. As Mary reached for the straw, it moved. Jumping back, she screamed. In an instant the sleeping form sat bolt upright, wide-eyed and pale.

Martha and Lazarus heard the screams and ran to Mary’s aid.

“Rebekah?” Mary murmured. “Rebekah, how did you get here?”

Rebekah recoiled in terror and drew up her knees, pushing herself back against the stable wall.

Lazarus called, “Mary? Mary! Are you alright?”

Then they saw Mary reaching out to the young trembling girl. Lazarus pushed past his sisters and reached his hand out to Rebekah. “Come, child. Come. I will not harm you.”

Rebekah slowly reached out and took his hand. He drew her from the straw and she looked down at her bare feet, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

Mary quickly threw her arms around the girl. “Are you hurt? Why are you here?”

Martha said, “Stop asking questions. Rebekah, come into the house. You must be hungry and thirsty.” Giving Mary a side glance, she took the girl from her and ushered her into the house.

Mary washed the girl’s feet and gave her some fresh goat’s milk. Then they all sat together for breakfast – bread, apples and more goat’s milk.

After she had eaten her fill Rebekah said, “I’m sorry I scared you, Mary, but I’m glad it was you and not a stranger or a friend of my uncle’s. I didn’t know where I was, but I needed to find a place to sleep. I discovered the small hole in the stable wall behind the tree when I tried to hide myself there, so I crawled through. I didn’t know where else to go.”

Martha said,” We heard your mistress sold you to someone in
Jerusalem
. If you’ve run away, there could be repercussions for my brother. We want to help you, but…”

Lazarus reached over and touched his sister’s hand, quieting her. “There is time enough to speak of these things. Can you tell us what has happened to make you run away? You said you have an uncle. I didn’t know you had any living relatives. I thought Benjamin bought you from a man just passing through
Bethany
.”

Mary put a protective arm around her.

Martha exchanged troubled expressions with Lazarus.

“I don’t want to make trouble for you,” Rebekah said in a soft voice. “I just don’t know where to go.” As if someone had broken down a wall, Rebekah told about her early childhood, her parents’ deaths, the time at Benjamin’s household where she lived the life of a servant. Then she told of how Mara sold her to Jacob who she found out was Benjamin’s older brother and also her uncle. She spoke of how no one wanted her, how she was passed from place to place and worked hard. Finally, she told about the celebration at the villa and how she managed to get away from Marcus, Philip’s friend. Everything had spilled out like a torrent of water in a sudden storm in the desert.

Mary rocked her in her arms. “You are safe here.” She led the girl to a small bedroom with two beds on shelves built out from the wall like the one Hannah had slept on.

“Lazarus will find a way that you can be redeemed. The Law of Moses says we must take care of orphans.” Mary left Rebekah alone.

Rebekah sat with her back against the wall, shaking, her mouth dry and beads of sweat on her lip. She waited for her friend to return to find out her fate. The more she thought about her life and the night before when she barely escaped rape or worse the more confusing her emotions became.
Am I sucha horrible person? No one loves me, they only use me.Am I really no better than a dog or a lame donkey? Or am I surrounded by evil people who don’t believe I am worth the price that they paid for me?
She beat her fists on the bedding until her hands and arms ached. Finally spent, she lay down and fell into a restless, nightmarish sleep.

Lazarus and Martha listened intently as Mary presented her case for finding a way to get Rebekah’s uncle to reinstate her to her family.

“No one should be forced to live a slave’s life in the house of her own relatives, but we cannot just keep her here. If she is found and she is treated as an escaped slave, it is against the law for us to shield her.” Martha had a way of getting to the point.

“Can we do nothing?” Mary asked.

Lazarus sat silent for a few minutes contemplating the law and the problem Rebekah created for them all, rubbing his bearded chin. His short, brown, curly hair and side locks bobbed back and forth. His brown eyes appeared intense.

“Well?”

“If I approach Jacob and offer to pay for her, it would only be a sale of a servant to him. I may be able to appeal to him that she is, after all, his niece. He has other servants.”

He contemplated quietly, rose and walked out into their small court yard and garden.

Martha said, “Come, Mary. We have work to do. Get some water at the well, and I’ll begin the bread while you are gone. Maybe Rebekah will help.”

“Oh, I don’t want her to think we will only work her as a servant like all the others have done to her. I’ll get the water.” She leaned over and picked up the water jar and left the house, stopping only for a moment to look in on the sleeping Rebekah.

As usual there was plenty of gossip at the well. Mary, deep in thought, quickly drew her water and left.

“What’s the matter with you today?” one of the gossiping women called to Mary’s back.

They all laughed and went on with their talking until they had to return to their homes and their tasks.

When Mary returned to the house she noticed that Lazarus had disappeared. She took the water to the kitchen and put it in the coolest corner. Her sister looked thoughtful as she needed the small round loaves of bread.

“Where is Lazarus?” asked Mary.

“He has gone to speak with his friend Joshua. He will be back by cena – by dinner time.”

“What is he going to do?”

“I don’t know. He spent a few minutes pacing and then grabbed his cloak and said he would be back. I don’t keep track of all his business. We have plenty of work to keep us busy.”

As the shadows lengthened Rebekah emerged. Lazarus’s house was larger than Benjamin’s. The courtyard was simpler. One small covered portico stood on one side of the open area. The kitchen sat at the back left corner. Four other rooms provided sleeping areas and an eating area. A staircase along the outside wall led up to the roof.
 
She realized that one room remained almost empty. In the corner lay several pallets stacked on a bed shelf. A tiny vegetable and herb garden bordered one side of the small stable she had used as her hiding place.

Everything was clean but humble. She stood gazing at the gate from the courtyard to the street. The wood planks in the gate had dried in the hot Judean climate, and through the cracks she could see people walking.

As she stood staring at the gate, it opened. She drew back and gasped involuntarily, clutching her clothing around her. Then she met the kind, strong eyes of Lazarus. She relaxed slightly and forced a smile. Her mouth felt too dry to speak.

Lazarus nodded to her and then rushed to his sisters.

“I have the answer. I talked with my friend Joshua, the Scribe.”

“We looked into some old family scrolls from mother’s family. We are of the same tribe as Benjamin and Jacob. Mother had a distant cousin who married into the family. We are kinsman.”

Rebekah stood in the background listening to Lazarus and his sisters discuss what they could do for her.
Will they take me in as a servant? If we are kinsman then what keeps them from treating me like a servant?

“I plan to visit Jacob privately and ask him if he is willing to redeem Rebekah. According to the law he can take her into his household as a daughter,” said Lazarus.

“What about his son, Philip?” asked Martha. “He may want to lay claim to her as a wife if he knows she is redeemable.”

“Philip cares little for our ways, sister. It is well known that he prefers the company of Romans and prostitutes over the life of an honorable Jew under the mitzvahs of Moses and Abraham according to the Torah.” Lazarus shook his head in disgust.

“Since I can now prove my right as a kinsman redeemer, no matter how small the connection, I can redeem her and take her as another sister.”

Mary jumped up and hugged her brother.

Early the next morning, Lazarus went to
Jerusalem
with his friend Joshua. They arrived at mid-morning and found Jacob conducting business at the city gate with other important men. Lazarus waited until the perfect time and said, “Jacob ben Joseph, I want to discuss your right as a kinsman redeemer.”

Jacob said, “And who would I be redeeming, as my house is filled with my children and kin already?”

“May we walk and speak in private?” asked Lazarus.

“Of course,” said Jacob.

They strolled down the street in close conversation with Joshua following close behind. “Your sister and her husband are dead and they left an orphan daughter. Did you know that?” asked Lazarus.

“My sister was disowned by our father, and we never spoke to her or saw her after that. It is a painful subject. What does their orphan daughter have to do with me?” Jacob’s face clouded over.

“She is a servant in your home who has been abused.”

“I do not abuse my servants. How dare you accuse me of maltreatment of someone I’ve never even seen!”

Lazarus raised his hand to encourage Jacob to lower his voice. “I speak to you in private to keep from shaming you in public.”

Shopkeepers and people in the street stopped and stared at the men for a moment and then went back to their own concerns.

“Lazarus, I know nothing of what you speak. Come with me to my home and we will get to the bottom of this.”

Several minutes later, the men closed themselves in a room off the main courtyard of Jacob’s home. “No one will bother us here. Tell me all you know,” said Jacob.

Lazarus related Rebekah’s story to him as she had told it. Jacob covered his mouth with his hand and listened intently. He looked stern and skeptical. Finally, he summoned his wife.

Tirsah floated into the room. “Yes, husband?” Then she saw Lazarus and Joshua.

“Where is the servant girl I purchased from Mara?” Jacob asked.

“She is of little consequence, my dear,” Tirsah said.

“Where is she?” Jacob’s voice sounded sharp.

“I didn’t need her so I sent her to the villa for Philip. He needed...”

Jacob cut her short. “Philip is spoiled and spends too much money on his frivolities. I want to see her. Today. Send for her.” The command in his voice was matched with command in his eyes and posture.

“But, husband… ” Tisrah stammered.

“I said send for her. Now!”

“Yes dearest.” She started toward the door.

“Lazarus tells me that she is my sister’s orphan. Did you not see her yourself?” Jacob was visibly upset with his wife and the entire situation.

“Yes, but you’ve forbidden any mention of your sister. Besides, how was I to know? Mara said she was merely a servant.”

“We will speak again in private.” Jacob dismissed Tirsah like a common servant.

Tirsah blushed and hurried from the room.

Lazarus said, “Joshua has shown me that there are only three kinsmen redeemers that we know of for Rebekah. You and your son.”

“Yes, but you said three.”

“Through my mother’s lineage we are distant cousins. I am the third.” Lazarus paused. “You will not find Rebekah at your villa, Jacob. I will bring her to the gate tomorrow and she will be redeemed.”

Jacob agreed, but he now realized that his wife had sent Rebekah, his own blood kin, away as though she were a Samaritan. He would settle with her later.

The next day, Jacob, Philip and Lazarus met at the same
Jerusalem
city gate. Lazarus presented his
 
lineage and how Rebekah’s related to his own. The other men and rabbis at the gate listened with interest to the transaction. Under the law, a male relative could redeem another member of his family from servitude. Every male relative, beginning with the closest one, could exercise his right to redeem anyone related to him by blood or marriage. The right of redemption passed to the next nearest male relative until someone was found who was both related to the bonded family member and willing to redeem him.

Jacob was visibly shaken when he saw his niece and her resemblance to his sister.

Since he was her uncle, Jacob had first choice of whether he would be Rebekah’s redeemer. “I must decline,” he said with pain in his voice. “A man must keep peace in his own household.”

Next, Philip had his chance to redeem Rebekah. “I care little what happens to her. She is nothing to me. I just want compensation for losing her.”

“You do not own her, Philip. I do.” Jacob glared at Philip with contempt.

Everyone conducting business at the gate stopped talking. Everyone sat waiting to see how this would finish.

Philip flushed, then turned to look for aid. Marcus and his troops would be best, but they weren’t there. Not one friendly face greeted him, and he stood silently with his head bowed.

“As her kinsman redeemer and closest male relative, I take Rebekah, daughter of Eleazar and Miriam, as my kinswoman,” said Lazarus.

Jacob and Lazarus removed their shoes as was customary when making an agreement. Lazarus paid Jacob the redemption price equal to what Jacob had paid for her as a servant. For the first time since her father died, Rebekah could walk with her head up. She had been redeemed. She had a family.