The Magic Circle Katherine Neville (top 100 novels of all time TXT) 📖

heavy one, I should like to begin with a more inspiring topic. There has just returned to us, as you see, the most wandering of all our nomadic brethren—Joseph of Arimathea.”

The men at the table turned to gaze at Joseph. Many nodded in his direction.

Gamaliel continued, “One year ago today Joseph of Arimathea agreed, upon private assignment from the tetrarch of Galilee, Herod Antipas, and myself, to attempt a secret mission to Rome in behalf of the descendants of Israel. This mission was to be embedded within his ordinary travel plans, his merchant fleet engaging in trade as usual in Britannia, Iberia, and Greece. But when the order was given for the expulsion of Jews from Rome, we asked Joseph instead to go directly to Capri—”

No sooner had Gamaliel mentioned Capri than a buzzing of whispers was set up, as the council members turned with excitement to their neighbors.

“I will not keep you in suspense, for most of you have guessed what I am about to say. Through the instrumental assistance of the emperor’s nephew Claudius, who’s known the Herods well from early times, Joseph of Arimathea secured a meeting with the emperor Tiberius at his palace on Capri. During this meeting, and aided greatly by the timely death of Lucius Sejanus, Joseph of Arimathea was able to persuade the emperor of the wisdom of approving the return of the Jews to Rome.”

There was an unusual outburst of pounding on the table, and a few hearty squeezes of Joseph’s arms from those seated nearby, including Nicodemus. All the council members had heard months ago of the favorable Roman edict. But until now, with Joseph returned safely from his voyages, his personal involvement had remained a closely held secret.

“I realize my request will seem rather unusual,” Gamaliel continued, “but as Joseph of Arimathea has performed us so great a service, and in view of the unique nature of his relationship with Jesua ben Joseph of Nazareth, I should like to begin by asking how he would like this meeting to proceed. Joseph is the only one among us here today who may be unaware of all the circumstances that have led up to the crisis.”

He did not glance at the high priest Caiaphas, who was scowling behind his back at this change in procedural policy. But the others were nodding their heads in assent, so Joseph replied.

“I thank you all warmly, from my heart. I’ve just arrived this morning before dawn, and as we sit here, my fleet will not yet have completed entry into port, nor have I had time to sleep or bathe or dress. That is the urgency with which I approach the matter before us. Indeed, I’ve had no time to learn what is the matter before us, only that Jesua, the Master—whom, as many of you know, I regard as my entire family—is in some deep and serious plight involving us all.”

“Then we must tell you the story,” said Gamaliel, “and each of us must speak out in turn, for most of us have had a share in a part but not all. And the telling shall begin with me.”

THE TALE OF THE MASTER

He arrived alone last autumn in Jerusalem, at the Festival of Tabernacles. It came as a shock to everyone who knew him. The disciples had asked him three times to come down with them from Galilee, to spread the word of God as he did at all holy events, and to perform healings for the festival crowds. He refused thrice, and sent them off without him. But then he came down secretly by himself, arriving suddenly, unexpectedly, in the outer courts of the temple. He seemed strange and mysterious, not at all like himself—as if following some inner pattern of his own.

The Festival of Tabernacles during the autumn equinox, celebrating that first tabernacle of acacia boughs ordained by God in our exodus from Egypt, also commemorates the crude tabernacles or tents constructed in the wilderness and lived in during that pilgrimage. At the festival last autumn, each garden, court, and private park in Jerusalem was filled as always with hastily improvised tents of boughs festooned with flowers, through which the stars can shine, breezes blow, and rain sprinkle upon our families and visitors that live and feast all week, until the festival ends with the last chapter of Torah, the death of Moses, being read aloud in the temple to mark the end of an old cycle, just as Moses’ death did for our people.

At the close of the eighth night feast, when the host rises from dinner in each court or garden, the prayer he recites is the oldest in haggadic tradition, older than the festival itself. What does he pray for? He asks one favor from God for having “lived in a booth” for a week: that next year, he might be counted worthy to sit in the booth of Leviathan. And what does the booth of Leviathan signify? The coming of a new age, the age of the messianic kingdom that begins with the appearance of a mashiah, an anointed one who will defeat the sea beast, using its hide for the booth of the righteous and its flesh for the messianic banquet. He will release us from bondage, unite us under one kingdom, bring back the ark and glorify the temple like David and Solomon. As the natural successor of these mighty princes, he’ll lead the Chosen People to glory and bring about the golden dawn—not just of a new year, but of a new aeon.

As you see, it could therefore be no accident that the Master came down from Galilee, alone, to attend this specific festival.

It was in the garden of Nicodemus that he appeared that eighth night, for the Simchath Torah. Nicodemus’s park was large and well stocked with trees. As always on this occasion, there were many tents of boughs and flowers, and torches illuminated the feast so the gates might remain open for