11 Slave's Gift
On the way to Bethlehem, Hathach thought, “Me—a foreigner—and Yahweh still chose to deal with me! No matter what others say, This Yahweh will be MY KING!” He felt in his clothes for the sack carrying the gold the merchants had given him for the “diamonds” he had been able to gather.
Melzar was beside himself with happiness. “But I never dreamed that I would see a great God get a lowly eunuch his mother’s smell—how gentle Yahweh is!”
Beorn felt he had failed the group. He hadn’t gotten them to Bethlehem before dark. But perhaps the innkeepers wouldn’t be too cross about travelers wanting to stop in at night.
As the camel caravan plodded over the sand dunes, and they saw the town of Bethlehem…the King Star shone brightly in the sky again.
It was Melzar--whose mother had given a love for astrology--who saw it first. “Beorn, the Star! The Star!”
And Hathach, knew that stars, which were actually far, far away, had to be guided by a powerful God in the Heavens for one to look to the human eye like a bright light moved across the night sky then stopped over one house.
“Quick, Beorn,” he said; “what were you reading in the sacred writings when you saw the King Star from your window in Babylon?”
“I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near; there shall come a Star out of Jacob” (Num.24:17)
“It is your God Yahweh Who has sent us His Messiah;” Hathach said. And while his mouth kept moving, his eyes never once left the bright spot in the sky. “And as a sign for us mortals, He has sent a Star.”
In one smooth move, he took out a big sack carrying what the merchants had given him. “Yahweh is MY KING; and HE WILL HAVE ALL MY GOLD.” To an open-mouthed Beorn, brief stories were told of how Hathach gathered gems in the desert then sold them in Jerusalem.
“And Yahweh is MY KING!” Melzar shouted, not to be undone. And, as if throwing the words out real hard, laughing and crying at the same time, he said, “and HE WILL HAVE ALL MY FRANKINCENSE!”
No matter what his friends said, Melzar would not be talked out of it. The God of the Universe Who loved, thought of, and even spoke of eunuchs in the sacred writings--why, Melzar couldn’t give Him anything less.
The star led the foreigner, eunuch, slave-turned-prince to the very house where their greatest hopes lived, smiling at Mary and Joseph as they played with Him.
The wise men knocked at the home, hardly daring to believe they had found the King, then they went in to see Him.
“Oh Mother! I have seen him! I have seen him!” Beorn cried out, but then he began to really cry. He felt Hathach and Meltzar had gifts for the King but he did not; he had nothing to give, there had been no time for him to get anything. Then he noticed a lump in his things.
The time after he had saved that officer’s girl, the mother had given him a small bottle, told him to keep it and sell it only when he really needed money. It would bring in much, she had said. Beorn had forgotten about it until now. What was it? He reached for it, held it up to the light.
Hathach, our scientist-mathematician, saw the shape of the container Beorn had picked up and let out a gasp.
“Beorn!...Where did you get that? You have a vial of …MYRRH!”
Myrrh. When a tree is wounded, it “bleeds” a resin which is then used to make the base of many medicines. For a man who’s been wounded but wants to give every bit of his soul to Yahweh yet desperately needs His healing and freeing, could there have been a better gift to offer? (Myrrh. Expensive medicine, and Hathach may’ve known, as the Chinese do, myrrh can purge stagnant blood from the uterus so is ideal to give new mothers.)
“What is that you have in your hand…” (Ex.4:2) Beorn said under his breath.
“What?” Hathach asked. “I can’t hear you.”
“Nothing. It’s just that when we come before Yahweh and tell him we can’t do something great, He often says, ‘I don’t want you to do something great; just give me what you have in your hand.’ That’s what He said to a prophet called Moses.””
“So, YAHWEH IS MY KING too, and I WILL GIVE HIM WHAT IS IN MY HAND: MYRRH!”
Yahweh had given Beorn the gift he was to give back to Him…and Beorn didn’t even know it!
12 HE LIVES
Melzar’s lips trembled a little, then pressed tightly together. Hathach saw the old Melzar right away—this was not good. Going back to Herod’s place would open the scars of trauma.
“We are not going back to Herod;” Hathach announced. “Yahweh has sent a dream warning us; we cannot go back.” Almost visibly, Melzar relaxed. “We’ll go on west to Egypt—where Beorn looks like a native anyway—and get on a ship back across the Great Sea to go home.”
“By sea?” Melzar’s eye grew wide.
“I don’t want to chance meeting Herod’s men scouting the desert between us and Babylon. Do you, Melzar?” Hathach had quickly, surely, thought through this one.
And when he looked over at Beorn, —since it was to Beorn Herod had spoken—it looked like Beorn had been wanting an excuse not to go to the castle; he was already turning his camel around.
Hathach rode up to Beorn. “That was simple enough. I expected you to give me a hard time—at least ask why we weren’t going to Herod’s.”
Beorn looked straight ahead, and with a smile answered, “Melzar.”
“Melzar?”
Beorn nodded, pat his camel beneath him. before continuing. “He went to the castle--altho’ at first he didn’t want to—and found Frankincense. He tied up Tassie even though he thought it was cruel, and that led to selling him--well, that was unthinkable—but…”
Here, Beorn had to stop his camel. “He told me that was the only way to get a gift worth giving the King of all his heart. He said the smartest thing was to do whatever Yahweh said.”
The men rode on in silence.
The silence was broken by Melzar’s cry: “Someone’s coming!”
Herod’s men? Already?
But no, as the three strained their eyes, they could see it was not a group of soldiers but a man and wife…Joseph and Mary!
Joseph explained to Hathach, “I too had a dream last night, warning me to flee from Herod, telling me to take the family to Egypt. Last night, you didn’t say where you were going, but I was wondering if you…if this gentleman”—he said, looking towards Beorn—“I am sorry if I am wrong, but if he might be…”
The three couldn’t help smiling at Joseph’s embarrassment. “Quite all right. Many people think I am an Egyptian. And we are headed there anyway.” Beorn told them.
“Won’t you join us? I think Herod’s men might be after us too, so we’ve no time to lose,” Hathach offered.
“Yahweh has sent you for us,” Joseph said, and Melzar smiled happily as he and Mary with her little bundle joined the group.
That “little bundle” gave new life to our Babylonian caravan; everything the men learned from their desert travels, they now threw into getting Jesus safely to Egypt.
Hathach showed surprising leadership, knowledge of the stars, and even hidden medical knowledge the rest of that trip. Yahweh had told them to keep baby Jesus safe, and that seemed to give life to anything Hathach did and make him a new man.
Melzar rode up to where Mary was and spoke kindly with her then played with the baby. Between watering holes, Melzar looked after animals—thirsty, tired, or hurt. And Joseph and Mary couldn’t get over how he seemed to understand them—even the wild, dangerous ones.
Beorn, seemed to know everything about desert life. Sandstorms, wildlife, finding water, various danger/beauty… Joseph and Mary had no way of knowing he was a former nomad from Arabia. They found out he wasn’t an Egyptian; he was a prince… from Babylon? Now they were totally confused. But Beorn was just the person to help the family set up living once they got to Egypt.
When Herod realized he was “stood up” by the wise men, he got furious. Tassie had died of a strange disease, leaving nothing to encourage Herod to be warm or temperate. He ordered a slaughter of male babies 0-2 yrs. old. But the life he was really after—Jesus--was alive and well out in Egypt!
The wise men, saw YAHWEH as a Living, Powerful, Wise, Gentle, Loving God; He had sent His Son Jesus in the form of a little baby so that we could bond with Him. They loved Him and had to let others know: “Yahweh wants to be on a first-name basis with YOU.” (Yes, even eunuchs or foreigners; it doesn’t matter what has happened to you or whether others say you belong; He wants to know you!)
Melzar bonded best with children or older folk. And he ended up doing a lot of simple “goodwill” things people today don’t do anymore since they’re not tied into neat group activities. Melzar was never a society person from the beginning, but moved around by himself in the shadows; that never really changed.
Hathach found that his love-bond made him teach. Teaching must never be just to stand for truth but be burning with passion and adoration for Him Who is Truth. (ICor.16:22). As with the Apostle Paul, Hathach too, said, “The love of Christ constrains us” (IICor.5:14) to do all we do. It is known Hathach taught until he died, but no one knows anything more specific than this.
Beorn, bonded with Joseph, Mary, and Jesus in Egypt for a few years. Seeing Herod was dead and they were all right, they returned to Palestine. There, they said goodbye, and the family went up north to Galilee, while Beorn went down south to the Wilderness of Paran.
Back in Babylon: Arla, Beorn’s mother, had been called in for an experimental surgery. Because she was “just a slave” and she “did not have a family”, she was seen as a life worth risking, a human guinea pig. However, when she was told about what the doctors wanted to do, she was told she would be given her freedom after the operation, even if it failed. To be totally honest, doctors thought the patient would die if it failed, but they didn’t tell the patient this. However, she survived the surgery with only the temporary loss of her eyesight; so she was given her freedom as promised and sent to her homeland, the Wilderness of Paran.
Beorn, when he reached his birthplace, saw an elderly woman dismount a camel in front of his home. It couldn’t be…could it? Voice trembling, he said, “Arla?”
Dare she believe her ears? That was Beorn’s voice! Always the strong one--she nodded, “Hairoi!”
END
This is the end of the story, but tomorrow’s Christmas post will include a simplified version of the entire story for those who already have read this as well as an epilogue to the story.
Thank you for reading all of this. It was originally written for my sisters or some close friends from college, who have already heard all the stories about Daniel, Esther and Shushan, anything to do with the Babylonian captivity, David’s encounter with the lion, Naboth’s vineyard, Christmas and the slaughter of the babies, Moses and “What is that in your hand?” etc…, so I didn’t retell a lot of those stories here. It wasn’t originally going to be put on a blog!
Following posts are related to "Desert Stew" but not necessarily part of the story nor must be read for the story to be understood. They're just extra.
ALMOST FORGOT: MERRY CHRISTMAS. Isn't it unthinkable a God of Heaven would find a way to make us His children?! That is astounding yet wonderful! HALLELUJAH!
