Kreyling: Hadassah

The darkness grew around Hadassah, ominous, but comforting. Now the barbarians who had captured her family and hundreds of others wouldn’t be able to see her tears. The Babylonian had ravaged her home, destroyed her peoples’ most sacred shrine, and now were driving them out of Israel. The Israelites were a broken nation now.

Hadassah was walking with her father’s family. Her marriage had been a short one, her husband was dead from a Babylonian soldier’s sword. Hadassah’s frail body seemed incredibly ill-suited to the abuse of continued walking, her slender frame being heavy with her first child. Her father had been a Rabbi and was in mourning. Eliam the Rabbi was bowed with grief over the punishment of God. He knew the Babylonian takeover was God’s punishment for disobeying His laws and becoming a corrupt nation. Now he could only hope that one day God would lift them out of bondage as he had with Moses. Hadassah stumbled. She managed to catch herself before she fell, but the Babylonians still made jeers and catcalls in the torchlight. They shouted for her to sing one of her peoples’ songs to Zion. She couldn’t sing to God, not in an imprisonment, and she wouldn’t mock God. Her face burned crimson and her heart wept, but she wouldn’t let the hated slavers see her misery and terror. She was afraid for her child. Her mother, Raab, had been instructing her about childbirth, and Hadassah knew the baby could come anytime in the next few weeks. She did not want her child born on the road to a foreign place. How could God be with her and her child since He abandoned Israel? She prayed that God would lift her up and be with her child, and her family. " Into Your hands, I commit myself, Lord", she prayed.

Hadassah had almost no hope that she would be able to live in the land of Babylonia. The destruction of the temple showed God no longer cared for the Israelites. She had nothing to keep her from despair. Her husband was dead, she would hardly be able to care for her child, and the Babylonians might kill them all anyway. Hadassah felt abandoned and alone. Her whole life at the Temple had been one of love, and always the teachings of God’s love for the Israelites. But where was God now? She prayed, but wondered if God would even hear. Her little hope for the future came from a trust that God might hear. She might be terrified and miserable, questioning God, but she would still pray, and trust Him with her life. " Into Your hands I commit myself, Lord."

Eliam was handling his misery a little better. As a temple Rabbi he knew to look for meaning in God’s actions. He knew that God hadn’t abandoned them, but had allowed the Temple to be destroyed and the Israelites to be taken as a lesson. He realized that so many only worshiped with their mouths, and perhaps the place of worship itself had become an object of worship, sometimes revered more than God. The Israelites had to be brought back to God before God would let them go back to Jerusalem. Eliam didn’t know how that could be accomplished, but he knew he could continue to teach his family in secret. With God, anything is possible. History had shown them that. He knew that the suffering they went through had a purpose. Eliam kept his strength because God had shown him why this had happened and that it could be healed. Eliam had his own work for God. He prayed "Into Your hands I give my life. May You use it for your purpose."

For another week the Israelites continued their journey to Babylonia. Each day Hadassah was slower, heavier, and had more trouble. Eliam prayed for her. She was his only daughter, and one of the four of his children to survive the invasion. Her husband had been a God-fearing man, and Eliam hoped that Hadassah would be able to honor his memory and not be crushed by her grief. " Into your hands I give my daughter, Lord. May you shelter her from her sorrow."

When they got to the Babylonian city the Israelites were given labor for the king. Some were told, "Build a wall here." Others were told to cut this grain. Three quarters of all they grew was for the king. They were paid for their labor, but only enough to live on. The women were to make cloth for the palace, and keep their families healthy so the men could work. They gave water to their husbands, sons, and brothers in the fields. They worked picking grains, sewing, and weaving.

Eliam’s family was luckier than most. The Babylonian soldiers had heard he was a scholar, though not of what. The king commanded him to be a storyteller for the court. Nebuchadnezzar liked stories, and stories from other lands intrigued him. Eliam knew many stories, and had always made some up for his children’s entertainment. While most of the Israelites lived in separate housing, that wasn’t a collection of hovels, but had nothing lavish, Eliam and his family were given servant’s quarters in the palace. His wife and daughter were to be maids, and his sons were educated as well, they were given minor positions as scribes for the king and his clerks.
Hadassah’s labor was not too onerous, but it was hard enough on her body. During her pregnancy her duties would be to help the princesses dress. She found herself praising God that she could have resources to live in this land, and that her family had been blessed. The princesses were not hard to dress, and they did not take did not want to spend their time with an Israelite servant, so they left her in peace.

When it was time for her to give birth, Hadassah bore a son. She named him Benjamin. Her duties changed now that she was a mother. Hadassah now had to be a nurse to the queen’s newborn as well as her own son. Soon her body adjusted to caring for two children and her life became settled. " Into Your hands I commit myself. Praise my Lord who has granted me a son."

The king liked her father’s stories and was generous with Eliam’s family. His family had enough to eat and were even able to afford some luxuries, such as wine. But though her family was fortunate, they still had to practice their faith in secret, for King Nebuchadnezzar wanted his servants to worship his Gods, but that could not be for Eliam’s family. " Into Your hands we give our souls. Protect us against our enemies, Lord."

As Benjamin was growing up, Eliam taught him the stories, and teaching of God that he would have taught a young boy studying to be a rabbi. Hadassah had seen how the stories and their faith had kept her family together, and she prayed that her people could have the same faith and courage. She could see how the Israelites were losing their history, and their religion. Many of them couldn’t read, and the rabbis weren’t allowed to teach, so they lost whatever they had once had. The people became even more broken away from God. They were lost, some turned to the gods of the Babylonians, and most lost their identity as a people of God. They were scattered in a foreign land, and lost the roots of who they were. Only a select few, mostly the priests and rabbis were able to keep strength in themselves and faith in God. They, like Eliam, taught their children about God, about their history, and about their homeland. They would pray that the Lord protect them, their children, their people, and lead them back to Jerusalem.

When Eliam grew old, Benjamin took his place as the storyteller. He also was a wise man for the king, for the king had seen how Eliam and Benjamin seemed to know so much, and could foretell many things. In truth, Benjamin listened to the common people, and learned much from them. He could predict storms, or revolutions by listening to the people. The king valued his power, and trusted him.

As Eliam was old and could no longer work, he had plenty of time in which he wrote down the stories of his people. His sons, the scribes, could provide him with parchment and ink with which to tell the history of the Israelites. He wrote of the Israelites’ history, of their search for God, and God’s relationship with His people. Eliam wrote of God’s miracles, of morality, of the laws of the Israelites. He and some of the other rabbis in the palace began writing down the Torah. A book of history, and a book of God.

When the old King Nebuchadnezzar died, his son, Cyrus became king; the same son that Hadassah had nursed with Benjamin. Once in a while he would ask Benjamin to tell him stories of Benjamin’s people and their homeland. Benjamin told tales of God, of Moses, and of people important to Jewish history. His stories were about God helping in times of famine, in times where women couldn’t have children, and times where God just showed his love for the Israelites. He told funny stories, joyful stories, and sad stories. All his stories made Cyrus want to know more so Benjamin told him of everything he had been taught. He told about when God had punished them and rescued them, he told true stories about the Babylonian invasion and stories that illustrated men and women with great faith.

Cyrus wondered how a people so small could have kept going so long through so much, even the invasion. Benjamin would answer that with stories of faith and courage, and of people’s search for the meaning behind what seemed a catastrophe. The king grew sympathetic to the trials of the Israelites, and rewarded their faith with allowing them to worship their god, many of which had been doing so in secret. He erased his father’s decrees of punishments on any Jew practicing the Jewish faith. Eliam’s writing no longer had to be secret, nor his past calling as a rabbi. He was allowed to go out and teach his people. Hadassah saw all this and rejoiced that her prayers had been heard. She was now growing old too, but her heart was now light with joy. Her people could be a nation again. Hadassah would go out with her father every day and help him with his ministry. Her other two sons from a second marriage followed Eliam and spread his message. Thousands came to hear and the Israelites’ faith was renewed. Eliam and Hadassah lived to see their prayers answered with the renewal of Israelite faith. They died before they could see more. " Into Your hands we commit ourselves. Bless your people, Lord."

As Cyrus heard more stories of the Israelites faith and the joy at renewal of that faith, God opened his heart and gave him faith. He decreed that the Israelites could return to Jerusalem. He repaid all of the treasure that Nebuchadnezzar had taken and gave the Israelites leave to rebuild the Temple. The Israelites had been exiled for fifty years, but could now go home. However, only a small group chose to go, the rest being settled where they were.
Benjamin did not go, but his sons left to rebuild the Temple. They took with them Eliam’s writings and Benjamin’s stories. Others went, also, that had stories from the past. Only about 50,000 left, but they had such faith as could rebuild cities.

It took the Jews fifteen years to rebuild the Temple, but when it was done there was such rejoicing as hadn’t been heard for over fifty years. All the descendants of former rabbis collected and compiled the stories that each had heard. They made thousands of scrolls that a new group of priests could teach to the people. Though most Israelites remained in Babylonia they still looked to the Second Temple as a focus for spiritual strength. A nation was born a second time with the rebuilding of the Temple, and that nation rejoiced that God had forgiven and remembered them.

Later, one of Benjamin’s children, Ezra, gathered all the stories of his father, grandfather and other rabbis and compiled them into a single book. The book, Torah, became the Holy Book of the Hebrews and there was much rejoicing.

They sung joyful songs to Zion and praised God with glad hearts. Many nations heard their joy and their singing. Their suffering was over and the lesson had been learned. They had found meaning in their suffering and finally realized that God gives meaning to his blessings and punishments. Suffering has a meaning from God and well as joy, and they found the meaning for their suffering and exile. The all exulted and said Hosannas. " Into Your hands, Lord, we give our spirits. Praise the Lord who brought us again to freedom! Praise God!"