Josiah, The Boy King Chapter 11 Part 2

Josiah, the Boy King  Chapter 11  Part 2

           

            When Josiah finished reading the words of the holy books he handed them back to the priests to return to safe-keeping in the temple.  Then he stepped out again in front of all the people and spoke in a commanding voice.

            “This day, do the people of Israel make a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all their hearts and with all their souls.  This day do I, Josiah the king, and all the people of my kingdom covenant to perform all which is written in this book.”

            Josiah paused and gave a long searching look over the crowd before continuing.  “Now, all these here present who will make this vow to God and covenant before Him to keep  His word, stand and shout with your king—Jehovah, He is God!  Jehovah, He is God!”

            All across the great courtyard, before the king’s words had even vanished away, a mighty response rose from the hearts and lips of the people—“Jehovah, He is God!  Jehovah, He is God!”

            In the small room above the steps the prince and his friends heard the shout of the king and the response of the people.  The eyes of all the young boys were focused on Jehoahaz.  If he stood, they would stand, but they weren’t about to do anything He didn’t do.

            Finally the young prince of Judah jumped to his feet.  “I’ll stand,” he shouted.  “I’ll stand on my head.”  He promptly suited action to his words on top of one of the pillows.

            Quickly all of the other boys followed him, trying to stand on their heads, tumbling all over the pillows and laughing the entire time.

            That day was only the beginning as far as Josiah was concerned.  He read the book every morning and every evening, just like he had promised he would.  Everything he read was put into practice in the kingdom and in his own life.

            “Hilkiah, listen to this.  ‘Keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God, for in the month Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.”

            “We need to keep the Passover, Hilkiah.  Have our people ever kept the Passover”

            “Not that I can remember,” said the priest.  “Perhaps it has never been done since the day of Moses.”

            “Well, we need to keep the Passover.   That’s what the book says.  Call a meeting of all the priests.  We’ll need the help of all of them on this one.”

            So on the fourteenth day of the first month, a great feat day was held.  All the priests gathered from the villages where they had gone to live when there was nothing to do in the temple.  They read the books and found out what their jobs were to be.  Most of them had never offered a sacrifice in their entire lives so they had to be taught the proper methods for offering lambs.

            All the people were informed that the Passover was going to take place and that the book said each one was to bring an offering.  Josiah was a little worried about making everyone bring a sacrifice because it had been so long since any of them had given anything to God.  With the announcement he told the people that he would personally donate 30,000 lambs the people could use.  Beyond that he would give 3000 bullocks for sacrifice as well.

            When some of the godly leaders heard what the king had done, they gave animals for sacrifice as well so there were plenty of sacrifices available even for those who could not afford to bring a lamb.  It was possible for everyone to come and worship God.

            And what a day it was.

            Very early in the morning the priests began killing the lambs and pouring the blood onto the altar.  As fast as one priest could lead a lamb up to the altar it would be killed, it’s blood poured out, and its body passed on to another waiting priest.  Certain parts of the lamb would be burned on another altar, but most of it was placed into large pots and cauldrons over an open fire.  There the meat was roasted in preparation for the great feast later on in the day.  By mid-morning men were lined up all across the temple courtyard bringing lambs and bullocks for sacrifice.  The priests worked as quickly as they could, but it didn’t look like they would ever get all the sacrifices offered before the day was done.

            About noon the first of the meat in the pots was ready.  The Levites were called in and they began to carry the meat outside for the feast.  There wasn’t room to set up tables for everyone who had come to Jerusalem so each family spread a blanket on the ground in the courtyard or the street outside the gate.  The meat was distributed quickly and since there was plenty for everyone so one worried about whether or not they were the first to be served.  Everyone was so happy to be doing what God had told them to do that a good mood prevailed throughout the entire huge crowd.

            While the people were eating, the temple choirs came out and began to sing.  What beautiful voices they had as they sang songs which their fore-father Asaph had written especially for the Passover in the days of David the king.  It was just a perfect day, feasting and listening to the songs of praise to God.

            But that was just the first day.  For an entire week the feasting and worship continued.  For seven days the people at of the animals which had been given for sacrifice.  For seven days they picnicked and visited and fellowshipped, sleeping under the stars at night and listening to the temple choirs by day.  Everyone said that no other king of Israel had ever led such a Passover celebration.  Nothing like this had happened since the days of the prophet Samuel.

            The next few years were peaceful in the land of Judah.  Josiah saw to it that the people kept their promises to serve the Lord.  No one was allowed to worship idols.  And as far as the king knew his commands were being obeyed.  Benjamin and Shaphan tried at times to tell him their suspicions about Jehoahaz, but he wouldn’t listen to them.  He just wouldn’t listen.

            “Everyone likes Jehoahaz,” he said to his friends.  “He studies with his tutor from the temple and always gets a good report from him.  Sometimes he even goes up to the temple on his own to read the holy books.  You don’t have to worry about my son.”

            “But he is so careless about obeying the books, Josiah.  We’ve heard that he even makes fun of people who are serving God.”

            “What do you mean?  Do you have any proof of that?”

            “Well, not really.  But we were told that at Hilkiah’s funeral he and his friends were seen playing dice while you were delivering the eulogy.”

            “Who told you that?  Did they really see him or is this just another lie by those people who didn’t like his mother Hamutal.”

            “Josiah, listen to us.  We’re your friends.”

            “You are.  But it was friends like you who made me lose the only woman I ever really loved.  Well, it won’t work with her son, I tell you.  It won’t work.”

            If Josiah had not had that argument with his friends about Jehoahaz he probably would have listened to them a little later and not made the terrible mistake he made.  But the argument had taken place and he continued to avoid meeting with the two men who had been his greatest counselors.

            Things had been peaceful in Judah for so many years that it was really a surprise when the messenger burst into the courtroom that day.

            “King Josiah.  King Josiah.  Pharoah-Necho, king of Egypt is marching this way with thousands of soldiers.  I’ve just come from the Negev and have seen them with my own eyes.  The clouds of dust hang over the roads for miles on end.”

            It ad been years since Josiah had used either his sword or his bow and arrows, but the words of the messenger immediately reminded him of those days when there had not been a better swordsman in all the land of Judah then young Josiah.

            “Call the captain of the host.  Have him gather all the men who serve in the army here in Jerusalem.  Send out a message to those who serve in other parts of the land as well.  Pharoah-Necho will not be allowed to take one inch of the land of Judah.”

            It actually took several days for the army to assemble.  They were not really ready for battle.  Finally a large enough force was mustered and Josiah set off at the head of them to lead them into battle against Pharoah-Necho.  The first day they traveled about ten miles and camped in a valley near the village of Mizpah.  It was there that soldiers brought an Egyptian to Josiah’s tent late at night.

            “We found him on the edge of the camp.  He says he has a message for you from Pharoah-Necho, but he might be a spy.”

            Josiah stood tall in front of the Egyptian.  “And what is this message which you claim to carry from your king?”

            Instead of being scared, the Egyptian soldier stared right back into the king’s eyes.  “He said to tell you that his quarrel is not with the king of Judah.  He is not marching against your land.  He is marching through to battle with the king of Assyria.  He says he will march through without destruction and will fight against Carchemish and not against Jerusalem.

            Josiah thought to himself, “What if the messenger is telling the truth?  What if Pharoah really was going up to fight Assyria.  That wouldn’t hurt him, Assyria was also his enemy.  But then again, what if it was a lie?  How he longed to ask Shaphan and Benjamin for advice, but they were back in Jerusalem.  Who could he turn to?”

            Suddenly he realized that someone else had come into the tent.  It was his oldest son Jehoahaz, now 23,  and a handsome young man.

            “I heard it all, father.  He’s lying.  Besides, if you don’t fight Pharoah now, do you suppose he will leave you alone after his battle with Assyria?  If he gets beat he’ll be looking for someone to pick on when he comes back through here.  If he wins he will feel like to owns the world, us included.  Let’s go fight.”

            Josiah wished again that Benjamin and Shaphan were there, but he nodded agreement.

            “Yes, let’s go fight. Guards, take him away.”

            ‘But hear me yet this word,” said the messenger before the guards could grab him.  “Pharoah says he will not fight with you. He has given commandment to all his soldiers not to harm the king of Judah.  He says that your God, the God you call Jehovah, has told him not to fight with you.”

            Again Josiah paused, but Jehoahaz was right there with an answer.

            “Since when has God been speaking to heathen kings, father.  He’s just trying to trick you.  I wouldn’t trust him farther than I could throw an Egyptian chariot.”

            “Nor I,” agreed Josiah.  “Take him away.  And spread the word, we march for Megiddo in the morning.”

            Early the next day, even before the sun came up, the road from Mizpah to Megiddo was crowded with Jewish soldiers.  Some of them were excited, especially the men who had never been in battle.  Many were scared, but all of them were determined to fight for their king against the forces of Egypt.  They marched all day, determined to catch Pharoah by surprise if possible.  When they camped that night they were just over the ridge from the valley of Megiddo where there Egyptian army was encamped.  There were no campfires lit that night, the men just lay on the cold ground and waited for the morning.

            “What if he won’t fight me?” Josiah asked Jehoahaz as they discussed their battle plans that night.  “How can I lead my people into battle if the Egyptians  refuse to fight?”

            “I have an idea,” said the prince.  “They’ll expect you to ride into battle under the king’s banner, wearing the royal robes.  That’s the only way the Pharoah would even know who you are.  But if you go into battle disguised as a common soldier they’ll have to fight.  They wont’ know whether it is you or the Assyrians attacking.”

            Somehow that sounded almost cowardly to Josiah, but by this time it was too late to back down. “All right.  That’s what we will do.  We’ll leave all the flags here, and the banners.  I’ll borrow a regular uniform and we’ll hit them by surprise as soon as the sun comes up.”

            When the sky began to brighten the next morning, the Judean army sat poised on the hills above Megiddo ready to attack.  They surprised the Egyptians all right, but they were in for a surprise themselves.  The archers in the Egyptian army always slept with their bows and arrows beside them.  As the soldiers began to rush down the hill they were met by a barrage of arrows that nearly wiped out the first row of attack.  One of the first men hit by an arrow was the disguised King Josiah.

            Quickly his bodyguards picked up the wounded king and carried him back over the hill to where the royal chariot stood waiting.  Loading him into the chariot they took off posthaste in the direction of the capitol.  The army, left without leadership fell into a disorderly retreat, abandoning the attack and allowing the Egyptians to continue on their way to advance against the Assyrians.

            The trip back to Jerusalem was hard.  They hadn’t been able to remove the arrow and every time the chariot hit a bump the sharp point cut deeper into Josiah’s flesh.  He had lost a lot of blood and just as his chariot reached the gates of the beloved city, King Josiah took his last breath and collapsed on the floor.

            The word that the king had been wounded had already reached Jerusalem before them.  With the news of his death the people began immediately the days of mourning accorded to a king who had been greatly loved.  But even over the top of the crying came a call from the highest wall of the palace.  A herald blew the shophar and shouted at the top of his lungs.  “Jehoahaz reigns.  Long live King Jehoahaz.”

The  End

Josiah, The Boy King Chapter 11 Part 1

Josiah, The Boy King  Chapter 11  Part 1

            “Jump,” yelled Buz.  “We’re going to crash.”

            And crash they did.  As Buz and Huz rolled off the wagon and landed ker-plunk on the road, the wagon slowly tipped toward the edge of the road which dropped off into the valley of Molech.  Gathering speed as the statues swayed in that direction, the entire load of gold-encrusted idols of Baal crashed into the burning fires of the valley.

            Jekameamshobab turned his horse around and headed back in the direction of Jerusalem, but one of the king’s guards was right behind him and in no time at all the merchant and his two companions were in chains.

            That was pretty much the end of opposition to King Josiah from the followers of Baal.  At least it was the end of outward opposition.  There were still plenty of people who worshipped Jehovah with their lips but their hearts were far from Him.

            One of those was the king’s son, Jehoahaz.  He arrived at the palace to live with the king at the end of the second week just as Hamutal had promised.  The horsemen from Libnah delivered him right to the throne room where he was announced just like any other guest.  Josiah could see that he was a good-looking boy and that pleased him, but beyond that initial visit he didn’t pay much attention to the lad.  Kings had too many things to worry about besides raising children.

            “Jehoahaz, welcome,” he had said when the doorkeeper announced the arrival of the prince.  “You have been assigned to my old rooms in the west wing of the palace.  There you will study with a tutor I have chosen for you.  Your meals will be taken with the women unless I specifically call for you to join us at the royal table.  You are dismissed.”

            Jehoahaz’ tutor was a young scribe from the temple, a good student who had also studied with Shaphan.  He taught the young prince just what Hilkiah and Shaphan had taught him, and as far as he knew, Jehoahaz learned what was taught.  At least he was able to repeat the answers. But what he didn’t know was that Jehoahaz really didn’t believe anything he was being taught.  His mother had for seven years told him stories about Baal, while at the same time telling him to hide what she was doing from his father, the king.  So when Jehoahaz heard the lessons about Jehovah, he would remember them and give the right answers, but he didn’t believe them.  His heart remained stone cold toward the words of the Lord.

            On the fifteenth day of the twelfth month the great assembly was held in Jerusalem.  Everyone was curious about the books which had been found so they came from all over Judah and Israel to hear them read.  For several days before the fifteenth the streets were full of people and there was no room for any more people in the inns.  People rented out rooms in their houses and still there were those who had to simply wrap up in blankets and sleep out on the hills at night.

            The morning of the fifteenth dawned bright and clear as people began to gather even before daybreak in the great courtyard in front of the temple.  A sea of humanity formed as more and more crowded into the square to hear the Word of the Lord.  At nine o’clock the king stepped out of the great doors of the temple, followed by Hilkiah and Shaphan and all the other priests.  A great hush fell over the crowd.

            “We have gathered today to hear the word of Jehovah-God,” Josiah began.  “For many years our nation has been without this book, and we have suffered greatly because we did not know what God had said to us.  But now the book has been found.  We have read the book and will read it to you today.  But it is one thing to hear the Word of God and it is another to obey it.  At the end of our reading today, I am going to make a covenant with God.  I am going to promise on behalf of our nation to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and all his statutes.  I want all of you to join me in that promise.  Our only hope for continued existence as a nation is to obey the Word of the Lord.”

            For the next six hours Josiah read to the people from the holy books.  He read the account of the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt; how God brought the plagues on the Egyptians and caused Pharoah to let God’s people go.  He read about the death angel and the application of the blood of the lamb for safety.  He read about the crossing of the Red Sea and the wandering in the wilderness because of disobedience.  Josiah sometimes wept as he read, but always he spoke in a clear, loud voice, making certain that all of the people in the vast audience could hear.  Although they were standing and had been standing all day, there was no noise or shuffling around.  They were awe-struck by the force and power of the words from God.

            Finally Josiah came to the portion of the holy books which had brought such conviction on him the first time he had read it, those words which had caused him to rend his garments.

            “Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here this day…lest there should be among you man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, lest there be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood…”

            When the king read those words he paused and looked over the crowd.  He couldn’t see individual people, but there were those in the crowd who thought he was looking right at them.  They had idols hidden back in their houses and they knew God was talking about them as the “root that beareth gall and wormwood.”  Some of them decided right then that they would destroy their idols as soon as they got home because God didn’t want them to have them.  But other just glanced around to see if they had really been discovered.  When no guards came to take them away, they just hid in the crowd and decided they weren’t about to do anything to their idols.

            “The Lord will not spare him,” read Josiah.  “But the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smite against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.”

            Jehoahaz was not in the crowd at the temple.  As one of the king’s sons a special room had been prepared for him which had a balcony overlooking the steps where the king was standing.  There he sat with a small group of close friends.  It hadn’t taken Jehoahaz long at all to find some boys around the city who would follow him in what he wanted to do.  They weren’t followers of Baal, that was too much to expect.  But they didn’t mind making fun of those who were serious about worshiping Jehovah, and that fit Jehoahaz’ ideas just fine.

            “Oh, I’ve been smitten,” Jehoahaz gasped to his friends in mock terror as his father read from the book.  Grabbing his chest he fell back on the cushions which were spread around the floor.  “Help me!  The curses of the Lord are lying on me.  Pull them off quick.”

            The prince’s friends laughed hilariously and began to pile up the cushions on top of him, all the while shouting, “The curses are piling up on you Jehoahaz.  The curses are piling up on you.”

            They were so noisy that the people down below the balcony started to look up in that direction, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.  Benjamin, who was standing with the priests on the steps, also heard the noise and knew immediately it was coming from the room where Jehoahaz was watching.  Bounding up the stairs two at a time he burst through the door of the room.

            “All right, what’s going on in here.”

            Immediately a deathly quiet fell on the room.  The boys who had been cheering and shouting fell on the pillows with their mouths shut.  From under the pillows Jeohahaz emerged still shouting, “The curse.  The curse.  The…”

            He spotted Benjamin in the middle of a shout and without even missing a beat his laughter changed to tears.  “The curse!”  Oh, Benjamin, is it really true?  Is the curse of God really going to fall upon our land?  I am so scared.”

            Benjamin didn’t know Jehoahaz well, but somehow he didn’t trust him.  Yet, he seemed so obviously shaken up by what he had heard.  Maybe the Word of God was working on his heart.

            “All right, Jehoahaz.  It will be all right.  Just go back out on the balcony and listen to your father.  And try to keep it quiet.”

            As soon as Benjamin shut the door behind him, the boys broke out in stifled giggles.

            “Oh, Jehoahaz, that was quick thinking.  You kept the curse of Benjamin away for sure.”

            And then they were all laughing again.

           

Josiah, The Boy King Chapter 10 Part 2

Josiah, The Boy King  Chapter 10  Part 2

            The men went directly from the college to the palace and were immediately ushered into the throne room. The king listened intently as they shared with him the message of the prophetess.  When they were done he called for one of his scribes.

            “Write this down, Lamech and have your assistants make many copies.  Send this proclamation to every city and village in the land.  I want everyone, man and woman, boy and girl, farmer and merchant, rich and poor to hear what I have to say.”

            Quickly Lamech unrolled a blank scroll and dipped his quill pen in an inkhorn which was slung over his shoulder.  He knew the king didn’t like to repeat himself, so he had to get the message right the first time it was spoken.

            “Josiah, king of Judah and servant of the most high God Jehovah.  To all the tribes in all the lands of Judah and Israel.  Be it known unto you this day the command of the king.  On the fifteenth day of the twelfth month there will be an assembly in front of the temple which is in Jerusalem.  Your king will himself share with you the words of Jehovah God contained in holy scrolls lost for over one hundred years.  Everyone must come, by command of the throne and the power it represents.  The word of God must be heard by all the people.  The king has spoken.”

            When the message from the king arrived in the villages throughout Judah and Israel it produced a great deal of excitement, but none more than in the city of Jerusalem itself.  None of the people, even the very oldest, could ever remember hearing the words of God Himself.  They all knew that He had spoken to Moses and David and other great men like that.  But that had been hundreds of years before.  Could it really be possible that God could speak to them?  Could it really be possible that He had put His words into a book?  And if so, what would He say?

            Some of the people who still had idols of Baal hidden in their basements went out to their gardens in the middle of the night and buried them.  They were afraid God might tell the king about their idols, after all, wasn’t God supposed to know everything?

            Jekameamshobab had been buying images of Baal secretly ever since his other idols had been confiscated by Josiah’s soldiers and destroyed.  He had them hidden in a secret room under his house, but now he decided that they weren’t safe and would have to be moved.  He wasn’t about to take any chances with this book Josiah was about to read.  He had heard about the visit to Huldah and he figured that if God could tell her everything about men she had never met, He could also tell the king where all the idols in Jerusalem were hidden.

            But Jekameamshobab knew he couldn’t move all those statues by himself in a single night.  He needed help.  And it had to be someone he could trust.  Almost everyone was worshipping Jehovah now.  At least, they were pretending to even though the merchant suspected that many of there were no more sincere than he had been when he put his money in the box at the temple.  But even so, he couldn’t trust just anyone.  A lost of people would help him if he paid them, but then turn around and tell the king where the images were hidden.  He could think of only one person he could really trust—Buz.

            It had been several years since Buz had been hired by King Amon to tutor the young Josiah.  But his loyalty to Baal was still the same.  Buz had a son by the name of Huz who could be counted on to help also.  So it was that as soon as the sun went down one dark night in Jerusalem a large wagon pulled up in front of the merchant’s house on the Tyropean Way.  Two very large men climbed down from the front seat.  (Huz weighed even more than his father did.)  They knocked on the door.

            “Shh!” whispered a voice from within.  “We must do this quietly or all is lost.”

            Tiptoeing isn’t easy for two 300 pound men, but Huz and Buz followed Jekameamshobab as quietly as possible down a long hallway and then down some stairs to a cellar.  There the merchant set his lamp in a holder on the wall and pushed on a narrow set of shelves full of clay pots.  The shelves turned easily, revealing a larger room completely full of beautiful statues of Baal.  The light from the candle gleamed off the gold and sparkled from the jeweled eyes.

            “Be careful now,” whispered the merchant.  “We need to take them up and place them in the wagon before daybreak tomorrow.  Then we will cover them with straw and be out of town before anyone can see us.”

            Buz nodded agreement and stepped to the door made by the moving shelves, but it was too small.  He couldn’t get through.

            “What’s the matter.  Let’s get going.”

            “I think I’m stuck.”

            Huz and Jekameamshobab could see right away that if they shoved him on into the room he would never get out, so they grabbed an arm and began to pull.

            “Hey, take it easy.”  It took several huge jerks, but finally Buz was out of the door.

            “Here, let me try,” offered Huz stepping around his father.

            “No way,” said the merchant.  “We’ve wasted enough time already.  I’ll hand the images out to you and you carry them out to the wagon.”

            The entire project took much longer than the merchant had planned because Huz and Buz couldn’t pass each other on the stairs and they couldn’t meet in the hallway or in any doorway.  They finally figured out that if they each took a statue and stayed together all the way up and all the way back that was the only way they could keep from running into each other.  There were still a number of Baal images left in the room when the night began to disappear.

            “All right fellows, that will have to do.  Let’s get that wagon covered and get out of here.”

            “It’s a good thing,” huffed Buz.  “I’m not sure there’s room for another thing in that wagon anyway.”

            Jekameamshobab, who had been down in the basement handing out statues all night, didn’t understand what he was talking about until he came out of the house.  Instead of laying the images down and stacking them like firewood, Huz and Buz had stood them up in the wagon.  Then when they ran out of room to stand them up, they had turned them upside down and stuck the heads of the idols down between the shoulders of the first layer.  So here were all these feet sticking straight up into the air.

            “Straw will never work,” he muttered.  “We’ll have to cover them with a cloth.”

            So back into his shop he went.  But the only cloth he had big enough to cover the wagon was a piece of very expensive bright, blue silk.  Complaining to himself all the while, he brought it out, threw it over the back of the wagon and watched Huz and Buz tie it down.  Then Buz began to climb up onto the driver’s seat.

            “Wait, stop!” Yelled Jekameamshobab.  “It’s top heavy.  You’re going to turn the whole thing over.”

            Sure enough, as Buz climbed up one side of the wagon the load shifted and looked like it was indeed going to slide off the wagon and into the street.

            “I’ve got it, Dad,” said Huz.  “Let’s both climb up at the same time.  One.  Two.  Three.”

            On the count of three Huz and Buz puffed their way up on to the seat of the wagon from either side, and they were on their way.  The sun was just coming up over the Mount of Olives as they passed through the gates of city and headed out through the valley of Molech toward Hebron.  Jekameamshobab had a shop there as well where he figured his precious idols would be safe from the soldiers of the king.

            The valley of Molech had at one time been the site of the greatest of all Baal worship.  In that valley had stood the huge image with the burning fire where kings and others had offered their children in sacrifice to the false god Baal.  When Josiah had become king he had not only destroyed the great image, but had turned the entire area into a garbage dump.  A big fire was kept burning in the valley at all times.  People from the city would drive out on the road with their garbage and throw it over into the valley to be burned up.  There was always plenty of garbage to keep the fire burning.

            The road from Jerusalem to Hebron ran right along the edge of the valley of Molech.  Huz and Buz with their blue-silk covered cargo headed out on the room followed by the merchant on horseback, watching over his cargo like an anxious mother hen.  They were moving very slowly because every time they hit a bump the top of the load would shift from one side to the other.  As they came alongside the great garbage dump, who should they meet but several of Josiah’s soldiers who had been out on a night patrol, guarding the road against robbers.  The solders were tired and anxious to get back to town, and they probably would have passed by the merchant and his wagon without giving it a second glance.  But just as they met, the wagon hit another bump and shifted yet again.  As it did, one of the feet of an idol caught on the silk and ripped it.  Suddenly a hole appeared with a pair of golden feet sticking up through the blue silk.

            “Halt,” shouted one of the soldiers.  “What have we here?”

            Buz, who hadn’t realized what was happening, started to rein the horses.  Jekameamshobab, who had seen the entire episode from behind, spurred his horse up past the wagon and tried to get the horses to run.  Huz, who had also seen the feet sticking up through the silk, turned around in the seat and leaning as far over as he could, grabbed the silk where it had torn and tried to hide the golden feet.  But that unbalanced the wagon and it began to tip and roll right toward the fire burning in the valley.

            “Jump,” yelled Buz.  “Jump!  We’re going to crash.”