7 Secrets at Watering Holes
If you asked these men from Babylon about their journey out west, they probably would tell you about things that happened at several watering holes.
One Watering Hole: “Hathach’s Star”
Beorn had sensed in many different ways there was more to Hathach than met the eye. It was at these short rest stops Beorn was able to get to know Hathach a little better. He had told them that his ancestor had been a servant for the king of Shushan, and that he had heard about the protection of the Jews then.
However, it came out in one of the stops at the watering holes that that king’s wife, was named Esther—they had all known this—what they had not known was that her name meant “Star”. And she had been told, as Beorn and his family had been told, that Yahweh God would one day save His own people. His sign would be a star. And she was given that name at birth. Hathach was a mathematician, a scientist. Logic told him this had nothing to do with him.
Yet, there had been something inside him that said that there was one in a million chance that this Yahweh God really did exist; and perhaps He had sent a star as a sign; and for some reason, he let Hathach know about it so that they could be sent out on this journey? Was that not a possibility? At one watering hole, Hathach told his friends he had not been able to get away from these thoughts, and they had pushed him out on this journey. (You can talk freely about things at watering holes you wouldn’t dare talk about anywhere else.)
Melzar jumped in. “You mean when I mentioned Astrological signs pointed to a great King being born in Judea, you felt in your heart it was true?!” Tassie snuggled down quickly at Melzar’s side as if to say “let’s not get all excited. We’re in this together.”
“I had no way of proving it, Melzar.”
“But you felt it was true?” Tassie rubbed her face against his, saying, “I believe you; whatever it is.”
Beorn broke in. “That is why we must see the King with our own eyes. That will take care of everything.”
“My, those camels are fast. 15 minutes, and you’d think they drank up a tenth of the water in the world.”
Another Watering Hole: “Diamonds” & Stew
When it looked like it was the journey’s end and the trio could’ve turned into Jerusalem, Beorn looked at his two friends and asked, almost like a little boy, “A big favor…for me? It won’t do anything to help this trip…but I just want to see the wilderness where I grew up. Could we make a detour south for a week? No, even three days, two?”
Hathach and Melzar looked at each other and smiled.
They were this far from Babylon. If Beorn wanted to see his old backyard—and he’d gotten them through…how many sandstorms and terrible scrapes already?—they would by no means limit his time!
“Beorn, a week, two weeks, take all the time you want!”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Beorn almost cried, he was so happy. Tassie shook her tassels, and jumped over to Beorn’s side. “Thank you, Tassie!”
That desert was just as hot as Beorn remembered it. Hathach had studied about “Arabian Diamonds” on the desert floor that can be seen best at this time of day. There! And there! He saw them sparkling, glittering in the sun. Hathach gathered these rocks and put them in a small sack, amazed that something so beautiful could be just lying here for the taking.
Animal-lover Melzar, almost one with Teddy after his long ride from the east, had been on the hills of the place and delighted with the wildlife he found there. Tassie came flying to his side though, when he heard Melzar scream at the 2-foot-long lizard in the shadow.
Beorn came running; but threw his head back and laughed when he saw what Melzar had seen, then quickly apologized for making light of something that must’ve been frightening. Apparently, dhub stew is not an uncommon nomadic dish, which they had for supper.
“Chicken Stew…pretty good….you made this, Beorn?” Hathach said at supper. Beorn winked at Melzar.
“Yes, I made it” was all he said.
At bedtime, Hathach was told about the nomad “chicken” stew…what it had probably looked like before it had become stew. It was probably knowing that he had gathered a sackful of “Arabian Diamonds” that kept Hathach from getting in a bad mood, even when he found out about the giant lizard he’d been tricked into eating.
8 Foreigner's Gift
The last watering-hole of the journey, Beorn shuffled over to his two Babylonian friends, and although one was twenty years younger than he and the other twenty years older, he strangely felt he was addressing two brothers.
“I never dreamed I would hear myself say this,” Beorn said, and almost expected his own voice to sound awkward, but was surprised at how smoothly it came out, “but would you read this with me?”
Beorn had read from the sacred writings himself before. Most watering holes he did. He had spoken of them before. Many times. But Hathach and Melzar…would not laugh at anything in those writings, they would not treat them lightly; and something in Beorn told him Yahweh Himself said yes, let them have a look. This was the first time he had asked anyone to read along with him from the sacred writings.
“The prophets;’ sacred writings your mother let you keep? Oh, I would be so honored, Beorn! But I am just a eunuch. Would it not offend the great prophets to have a eunuch listen to their words?”
“”And I, Beorn—I am a foreigner. I respect, have high regard for this Yahweh God, but would there not be great wrath if I, a pagan, tried to read the writings of chosen holy men of your faith?
Instead of having the writings belittled, Melzar and Hathach had both expressed high regard for the words of Yahweh! Beorn felt a lump of joy building in his chest and throat, saying, “Something tells me Yahweh Who sees has heard and is not angry but pleased. Come--you must read with me today:”
Beorn explained to Melzar Isa. 56:3 said the eunuch didn’t have to think of himself as a dry tree; it also said to Hathach: even a foreigner could join himself to the LORD—they could together go in to Yahweh’s open arms to serve Him; He has promised to receive them and make His house a joyful house of prayer for all peoples! All this was clearly laid out in Isaiah 56:3-7, the portion Beorn was to read that day.
They once more read Isa. 56:3-7 then the verse following it:
“The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, yet will I gather others to him, beside those who are gathered to him.” (Isa.56:8)
There, the three men bowed their heads, humbly joining their minds and wills, asking Yahweh to accept their all and to show them the rest of the way…to their Hope, His promised Messiah. They did not understand it all, could only follow Him Who did. Would He not prove Himself to them?
Leaving that watering hole, Hathach asked Beorn for a special favor. He wanted to read that portion of the sacred writings they had read together—about the foreigner that joins himself to the Lord and about God gathering: this Yahweh God accepted him! He didn’t reject him as pagan but chose him…as Hathach himself had picked up those shining rocks off the desert floor!
By the time the wise men made camp that night, he had made up his mind: whatever gold those stones were worth, he would give no less to the One sent by this Yahweh God Who freely accepted this foreigner Hathach.
(The rocks Hathach found are called “Al-Qaysumah Diamonds”, of course not the same as diamonds mined from the center of the earth, actually semi-precious stones similar to Amethysts and Smokey Topaz, Citrine. But they’re still valuable so would be worth plenty to merchants passing through. Hathach’s research had told him the stones were on the desert floor, but his study did not tell him Al Qaysumah, where the quartz are most plentiful, is on the other side of the desert. It seems Yahweh stepped in and had sandstorms carry them his way.)
