Josiah, The Boy King Chapter 2, Part 2

JOSIAH, THE BOY KING   CHAPTER 2, PART 2

            “One week out of every year my father would travel up to Jerusalem and take his turn keeping watch outside Isaiah’s house.,” Jedidah told her little son.  “Many of his friends did the same so someone was there watching all of the time.  Bar-Abel knew about that and so he came up with an evil plan.”

            “One day, Bar-Abel came rushing into King Manasseh’s throne room without even stopping at the door to be announced.  It wasn’t supposed to be done that way, but Bar-Abel was able to get away with it.”

            “Manasseh!  Manasseh!  I have a message for you straight from the gods.”

            “A message for me?  Another vision?  Tell me quickly, and make it a good story. I’m bored.”

            “Yes, a vision.  The most unusual, magnificent vision I have ever received.”

            “Well hurry up.  What are you waiting for.”

            “I was lying on my bed in the middle of the night.  All around me the room was dark except for one candle which I always keep burning in a holder on the wall.  Suddenly a hand grabbed me by the hair on the back of my head and lifted me out of bed and right up through the ceiling.  Out in the night the moon was shining brightly and I could see that all around me were strange creatures.  Each of them had three sets of wings, one on their feet, one at their waist and one on their shoulders. Each had the face of a lion and the body of a sacred bull.  The invisible hand which was holding me up suddenly let go and I fell, landing on the back of one of the creatures.  Wings flapped all around me and I began to fly rapidly above the earth.”

            “Awesome,” muttered the king.

            “It seemed as if we flew forever and yet it was still by the light of the same moon that I saw the next part of my vision.  Rising up into the sky before us was an enormous man, larger than Mt. Hermon.  The moonlight glinted off his body which was clothed in a robe of solid gold.  Like a flash of lightning the creatures dropped to the earth and formed long lines in front of him.  The lines stretched away backward as far as my eyes could see.  And from the magnificent being, the most beautiful being my eyes had ever beheld, came a voice like the sound of many waters rumbling over a cascade.”

            “Be it known to all who dwell upon the earth, and to all the kingdoms of their dwelling that I am Baal-zebub, god of gods, supreme above all creation, Lord of the flies.  This I have beheld in all the earth and my eyes have seen.  There is a man—Isaiah by name—who has opposed me and exalted above my name those who are not gods.  He has declined to listen to my prophet Bar-Abel.  He has refused to honor and obey his sovereign king, my servant Manasseh.  It is this man Isaiah who is the cause of every trouble and every woe which has descended upon the kingdom of Manasseh.  It is this man Isaiah who is weakening the hands of the people and encouraging the enemies of the land to come upon Mannaseh’s kingdom.  Therefore, Isaiah must bear the consequences of his actions.  Isaiah must be destroyed.”

            Bar-Abel paused in his story and looked at Manasseh to see if he was getting his point across.  Since the entire story was a big lie it was very important to him that Manasseh listen and believe him without checking up to closely.  Apparently he was good liar.  Manasseh was listening to every word and an evil glint was already beginning to show in his eyes.

            Jedidah stopped telling her story for just a minute and looked right into the eyes of her son.

            “Josiah, never become a liar.  Once you start lying and become good at it, you will find that it is very easy to do.  But the truth is always better.  Never, never, never, tell a lie.”

            Tears came into Josiah’s eyes when he thought about some of the little lies he had already told to his nurse Zephorah and even to his mother.  He knew they made his mother sad, and he knew that they displeased God as well, even if they weren’t as big as the lies Bar-Abel was telling.  He was very quiet as his mother went on with the story.

            “You see, Josiah.  Manasseh was glad to hear Bar-Abel say that Isaiah had to be destroyed, because he was upset with the prophet as well.  Since he had chosen to worship Baal and the god Molech by sacrificing his oldest son in the valley, Isaiah had been telling all the people that he was not a good king.  The people, on the other hand, had praised him and called him a wonderful king and a great religious leader.  There had been a celebration with feasting and dancing and music in honor of the king.  The entire party had been organized by the priests of Molech.  They were all having a wonderful time when right in the middle of feast the doors opened up and Isaiah came marching into the hall followed by seventy men who still loved Jehovah God.  It wasn’t supposed to happen that way, but none of the guards were brave enough to stop them.”

            “There is no soundness in you,” Isaiah yelled over the top of the noise.  “You are full of wounds and bruises and putrifying sores.”

            When they realized what was happening, the musicians stopped playing and the dancers quit dancing and everyone stopped talking.  They could all hear Isaiah clearly.

            “Your country is destitute.  Your cities are burned with fire.  Strangers devour your land.  You are a sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, descendents of evil doers, corrupt children who have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger with your backsliding.  Hear me, ye people of Israel.  Zion will be redeemed with judgment.”

            Just as quickly as he had entered the room, Isaiah and the seventy men disappeared.  Bar-Abel signaled the musicians to strike up the band, the dancers began dancing, and the people turned back to the food on their plates, but the party was ruined.  King Manasseh knew down in his heart that Isaiah was right.  But he had gone so far from God that he blamed Isaiah for the trouble in the country rather than himself.  So when Bar-Abel came and told him about the vision, he was quick to react.

            Isaiah was very old by this time, and when the soldiers knocked on his door he went along with them without a struggle.  My father was one of those watching Isaiah’s house that night, but there were so many soldiers that the men who were watching had no opportunity to provide any defense for the old prophet of God.

            According to the instructions from King Manasseh, Isaiah was taken outside the city of Jerusalem into the very valley where he would so often go to preach.  There he was tied to a log with his hands stretched up over his head and his feet tied tightly as well.  Then two of the soldiers took a huge saw and standing on either side of the log they prepared to saw the log—and Isaiah—in two.