The Parchment by Gerald T. McLaughlin

Author:Gerald T. McLaughlin [McLaughlin, Gerald T.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781621511021
Publisher: Lindisfarne Books
Published: 2005-04-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XII

THE CPPER SCRLL

EDOUARD WAS RIGHT. As Gerard stood before the ruins of Herod's Temple, he realized that no one person would ever be able to search through this vast and bewildering subterranean world and discover something so small as a scroll. The only clue was that the scroll was buried in the ‘stone of life’ under the Holy of Holies. Yet the Romans had so devastated the Temple in 70 A.D. that it was virtually impossible to trace the original boundaries of the Sanctuary.

After hours of walking through endless corridors, however, Gerard noticed something peculiar. Regardless of which direction he took, he invariably found himself back at one particular passageway. Gerard saw that the floor of the passageway had been worn smooth from heavy use. In his mind, the condition of the passageway floor could be a clue of sorts. Once the Temple caught fire, the Jews would have had little time to bury the scroll. Most likely they would have hidden it quickly in an easily accessible place.

Gerard lit a torch and began to examine the stones along the walls of the passageway. After weeks of painstaking work, he discovered a stone marked with the faint outline of what appeared to be a chai, the Hebrew character for “eighteen.” At the abbey, Gerard had learned that in Hebrew chai also meant “life.” Because of its association with life, the Jewish people believed that the number eighteen had a mystical significance. Edouard had told Gerard to search for the scroll through the eyes of faith. When the Rabbi said the scroll was buried in the “stone of life,” could he have meant that the scroll was hidden in a stone marked with a “chai”? With his knife, Gerard pried the stone loose from its place in the passageway wall. As he was lowering it to the ground, the stone slipped out of his arms. It struck the ground with a crack and split apart, revealing a small wooden box sealed with red wax. Gerard's body tensed as he broke the seal. Inside was the copper scroll that had been buried by Rabbi Yohannen more than a thousand years earlier.

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