Return to Me (The Restoration Chronicles, Book 1) by Lynn Austin

Author:Lynn Austin [Austin, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: FIC042030, FIC014000, FIC026000, Bible. Old Testament—Fiction, Exile—Fiction, Obedience—Fiction, Jerusalem—Fiction, Babylon (Extinct city)—Fiction
ISBN: 9781441262707
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2013-09-18T12:00:00+00:00

Chapter

23

This wasn’t what Zechariah had wished for. He may have longed to do something more besides study all day, but he never wished for his studies to stop altogether. But the day after Prince Sheshbazzar turned down the Samaritans’ offer to help rebuild the temple, the elders decided to close the yeshiva. Not only was there no way to safeguard the Torah and the other sacred scrolls except to lock them away in the treasury, there weren’t enough rabbis left to teach the students. The prince had conscripted every able-bodied man in Jerusalem to serve as a guard. The building supplies for the temple needed to be guarded day and night. The breeches in the walls and even the city streets needed to be guarded, and there simply weren’t enough men to go around.

The elders put Zechariah and the older boys to work as watchmen during the day. His post, overlooking the Sheep Gate on the north side of the temple mount, had a view of the distant Judean hills. Zechariah sat atop a partially toppled watchtower with a small shofar in his hand. He was supposed to blow it at the first sign of danger.

He perched on his pile of rocks all day, swatting flies and wilting beneath the dizzying sun. He easily stayed alert and vigilant at first, energized with the excitement he used to feel when he went exploring. Along with the excitement, he also felt an undercurrent of fear. Mobs of angry Samaritans might converge on Jerusalem at any moment, and he was responsible for sounding the warning. But neither the excitement nor his heroic daydreams lasted long as boredom and the sun’s heat wore him down. By the third day, he found himself wishing he was back in the house of assembly, exploring the Torah’s many mysteries beneath a shady roof. When his replacement arrived at the end of the third day, he handed over the shofar and hurried to meet up with his grandfather for the evening sacrifice. Their prayers were needed now more than ever.

Afterward, he and Saba stayed to hear the troubling news that continued to pour in. “Reports of property damage, thefts, and threats are coming in from all over the district,” the prince said. “It’s no longer safe to go anywhere alone. In some places, food is becoming scarce after the local villages closed their markets to Jews.”

“Our work of rebuilding the temple has been forced to halt before it barely got started,” the high priest said.

“Halted! Why?” Saba asked.

“All of our supply lines have been cut off, our caravans are being attacked, our building materials stolen before they reach us. We can’t continue to build without supplies.”

“Or workers,” one of the chief Levites added. “We relied on local workers for our manual labor, and they’ve all quit. And where is Mattaniah?”

Yael’s father still hadn’t returned home, and Saba’s friend Joel refused to serve with the other priests or speak to Saba. The three men had been such good friends and co-workers, and now this.

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