"Well, son, he is young and strong. He is willing to work for us." He paused. "But I couldn"t help wondering where he came from."
"Did you ask him?"
"No. He wouldn"t answer questions about himself. But he knew fishing."
John shook his head.
"I don"t like it, father. Jews have no business working with gentiles.
And besides, if he is a runaway slave, we might get into trouble."
"Now look, son. Half the people in Galilee are gentiles. Every day we see them. What harm is there in working with them?"
"Here comes the other boat," said Simon. The sun was driving away the mist; Simon pointed to a fishing boat drawing closer to the sh.o.r.e.
"Did you do any better than we did, Gideon?" called Zebedee.
As the old farmer came toward them, the men could tell that his body was rugged in spite of stooped shoulders. "No better; maybe worse. It"s getting as hard to make a living on the lake as by plowing the land."
The newcomers sat down and hungrily ate the fish that Simon handed them.
"Zebedee says there may be riots if the wheat is poor," said Simon.
"What do you think of the crop, Gideon?"
Gideon squinted toward the hills as though looking at the fields that lay beyond them. "My guess is that there will be enough." He frowned.
"Enough, that is, if the landlords don"t grab it all."
James glanced at Simon, concealing a smile. Old Gideon never got tired of scolding the big landowners.
"Before I was forced off my farm we had plenty to eat, even in dry weather." He shook his finger. "And mind you, I had only five acres!
Now look what has happened!" He pounded his knee. "A man can hardly feed his family with ten acres. Why? Taxes and more taxes!" He counted on his fingers. "First, Herod takes one fourth of all our grain. That goes into the bellies of the Romans. Then there is the t.i.the. That takes enough to feed a hired man! Then we pay the Temple tax to feed the priests. They get the first-born of all the sheep too. When a man"s first son is born, he must make a big gift to the synagogue. Farmers have to give part of the wool at sheep-shearing; part of the wood at woodcutting; and the best of the fruit at harvest." He looked around and spat on the ground.
"On top of that we pay for the schools and synagogues! Is it any wonder we have hardly enough left to feed ourselves?"
"But religious taxes are paid for the sake of G.o.d, Gideon!" protested James.
"Yes, yes ... I know." Gideon couldn"t argue the point; for a moment he was silent. Then he looked sharply at James and snapped: "Do the landlords pay religious taxes? No!" His voice was bitter. "That tax-gatherer who bought me out knew ways to get out of paying the Temple tax!"
"Was it when you sold your farm that you became a fisherman, Gideon?"
asked James.
"Yes. I almost had to serve a term of bondage."
The gentile jerked up his head and said, "Were you a slave?"
"No, but my brother bound himself for twelve years," answered Gideon, looking at the gentile curiously.
"Do the bondslaves make much trouble here?" he asked.
Zebedee looked at him very closely. "In Galilee the slaves do not cause riots. The Jews do."
James explained. "In Palestine there are more free men than slaves.
Hunger causes most riots. But in a way, our whole nation is a slave to Rome." His eyes challenged the gentile and no one missed his meaning when he spoke again. "A nation can"t run away from its master the way a slave can."
The gentile started. He glanced swiftly around the group. The men were looking at him suspiciously.
"Are you a runaway slave?" demanded Zebedee point-blank.
The man flushed and spoke shamefacedly. "Yes," he admitted.
After a moment"s silence, Andrew said: "The Romans treat us all the same way. No one here will betray you." The man"s face showed his relief.
"Perhaps you will tell us where you are from," suggested Simon.
"I am a Greek; a fisherman from Corinth. I was taken captive and made the slave of a Roman soldier. We were sent to Sidon." He waved his hand toward the west. "I watched my chance and ran away. Here I want to work and remain unknown."
John said: "Will you come with us to the synagogue? If you are going to work with us, you should become one of us."
"I will worship any G.o.d who will give me a happy life."
"I can"t promise that G.o.d will do that," answered John. "Our nation has always suffered greatly." He looked at Andrew. "But we believe what John the Baptizer tells us: G.o.d is soon coming to save us."
The gentile shook his head. "I don"t understand."
"Perhaps he has not heard of the Prophet," Andrew said to Simon. He turned to the slave and said, "G.o.d has sent a Prophet to warn us to turn back to G.o.d."
"What will your G.o.d do for you?" asked the other.
Andrew spoke sternly to him. "G.o.d is not our servant! We are his servants! We obey him."
"John the Baptizer says G.o.d will soon set up his Kingdom," added John.
"I must say the Zealots make better sense to me," interrupted Simon.
"After all, you have to make some effort yourself. You can"t just sit and wait."
"Who are the Zealots?" asked the gentile.
"They are warlike patriots who are always staging riots against the Romans," explained Simon.
"While I was at Sidon, the Romans were busy hunting down bands of these people," observed the gentile.
"Many brave men have been killed by Rome. We seem to be defeated in every rebellion." Simon turned to his brother. "Do you remember Judah the Galilean?" Andrew nodded.
"Judah was a Zealot," continued Simon. "He gathered a group of brave young Jews and raided one of Herod"s forts. They took swords, spears, and money to buy food. At the Feast of the Pa.s.sover, they came out of their hiding places in the northern hills." He pointed toward the mountains where the snowy crest of Mount Hermon shone in the morning light. "They hid swords under their robes and joined the crowds going to Jerusalem. I was only a child but my parents took me to Jerusalem that year.
"The Zealots knew the Temple would be guarded by Roman soldiers, so they surrounded it. The Roman commander saw men with swords in the crowd of pilgrims filling the Temple and thought they were going to attack his men, so he ordered his soldiers to attack first.
"The Zealots were taken by surprise and the Romans gained the upper hand. Then Judah saw his chance. He rallied his men, and they climbed on the roof of the wooden buildings which surround the Temple courtyard.
From there they threw spears down on the Romans. It looked then as though they had a chance to win.
"To drive the Jews off these buildings, the Romans set them afire. They were dry as tinder and burned fiercely. The Zealots had to get down.