THE NOVEL – Following the son of man
The birth
It was a hot summer. The New Year was celebrated a few days earlier with the Yom Kippur fast. It was the month of Tishri but the town was too small and poor to be able to spend time on celebrations.
The shepherds were in the fields watching over their flocks. They looked after their animals or processed wool, milk and cheese. The families of the village who did not own animals, had gone to collect the first olives. Silence reigned among the houses. Not even the cicadas could be heard this morning. Those few villagers who remained, were busy in their homes carding wool or preparing for the olive harvest.
Even the town midwife, Dina, had remained but she was busy with other preparations. She had promised his neighbor Mariàm to help her with the birth which was now imminent. It was the first time for Mariàm who was only 13 years old. She was scared but Dina told her that she was with Yoseph. They would help her get through this first experience. Yoseph was a man with a calm character and Mariàm had a body already mature enough to be able to give birth without major complications. Dina was happy that Mariàm and Yoseph had followed the advice not to undertake the long journey to Bethlehem, which the town’s Levite priest Nicodemus and some families in the town had done. The belly was heavy and the risk to the mother and the unborn child was too great. Being in the last month of pregnancy, Mariàm would probably have lost her baby by riding on a donkey and walking for more than 30 hours under a hot sun.
Dina, the midwife, sat on an olive trunk stool that Yoseph had given her and observed the silence in the little house while thoughts whirled in her head. She thought about the danger for Yoseph and Mariàm due to the malicious rumors that were circulating in the village about the maternity of Maryan. How would the other children in the village welcome this new baby? Gossiping is a pastime for many who have nothing else to say.
No voices could be heard outside. The dogs that normally bark between the houses were together with their owners outside the village. Dina listened to the rhythm of her breathing and heartbeat when suddenly a strong hand knocked on the door. It was Yoseph. He shouted in an anxious voice:
“Mariàm is about to give birth!”.
Dina almost jumped off her stool in fright and hurried towards the door. “I’m coming!”.
Yoseph was panting. Dina picked up a dozen pieces of fabric that she had placed next to the entrance.
“Let’s go and don’t worry,” she said in his typical, firm and calm voice. They left at a fast pace towards the house of Mariàm and Yoseph, who were on the other side of the square. Near the house, in the shade of a gigantic Benjamin ficus, stood a small group of women whispering. Dina knew these women and said in a powerful voice
“Please, go and get fresh water from the well!”
She hoped to make them do something useful instead of gossiping.
Yoseph and Dina entered the house. The women remained outside, continuing to whisper ignoring the midwife’s request.
Shortly afterwards some people with their dogs appeared in the square. They came from the olive grove with baskets full of olives. Some women came with baskets on their heads.
They were talking and seemed happy. They approached the group of women to ask what was going on. The dogs chased each other while the children teased each other. The adults said to the children to keep quiet and still, whereupon they all stopped.
It didn’t take long until a woman’s scream was heard in the square.
The people looked into each other’s eyes and soon after there was a shrill cry. The silence in the square became total. The dogs also stopped and pointed their ears toward the house of Mariàm and Yoseph. One of the children asked “What happened?”
An adult replied “Mariàm’s baby has been born”.
Dina cut the umbilical cord with the obsidian knife and wrapped the newborn in the swaddling clothes she had brought.
Dina said to Yoseph: “Rinse your little finger and let the baby suck its tip.”
“Mariàm needs to rest for a couple of hours.”
Yoseph had never done anything like this. He sat on the ground with the unborn child in his arms. He was impressed by how strongly the newborn sucked the tip of his finger. The father and his newborn son exchanged their first glances. This first glimpse of his newborn brought tears of joy to his eyes. He now felt great pride as a father and that he loved Mariàm who had given him this beautiful son. He was happy that they got a boy because the work with the wheels, yokes, plows and rakes was hard. He earned little. Maryam preferred a girl because working with sheets paid a lot but it was difficult without help. Her sheets were in great demand in the village and by the Romans. With an extra helping hand in the family, they could live better and perhaps afford more trips to the temple in Jerusalem.
Now that the Highest had given a male child, Yoseph hoped to have other boys with Mariàm.
He peeked outside to see if there were people who wanted to see the child but there was no one left in the square. ‘What were those women thinking?’ thought Yoseph.
The name of the unborn child
Yoseph sat on the ground for a few hours with the unborn child who was sometimes sucking and sometimes seemed to be sleeping. Mariàm was sleeping. But the very loud thunder of a storm woke her up. The thunder and the splash of the water on the stones outside shortly afterward had no effect on the sleeping baby. He continued to sleep peacefully. Yoseph and Mariàm looked into each other’s eyes, smiling in the soft light of an oil lamp. Yoseph told Mariàm with his eyes that the baby was sleeping. Yoseph approached her and asked whispering in her ear what name to give to the baby. Mariàm remained silent thinking. After further lightning and thunder, she said with a smile “Jehoshua, Yeschuah, or Yesha”.
“Why this name?” Yoseph asked.
“Yeshuah means savior.” Mariàm invited him to come closer to her and explained:
“When my blood stopped flowing two moons after the visit to the well, Dina explained that I was pregnant and that I was expecting a child that had to be yours.”
“I thought then that the child I had in my womb perhaps one day will be our salvation. Yesha is simpler than Yeschuah. That’s why I want to call him Yesha. Maybe he will save us too one day.”
Yoseph nodded and after a moment of thought, said:
“It seems like a good choice to me, Mariàm. Let’s hope that the baby will also save us from the bad rumors that are circulating about you.”