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| Sholem Asch |
I finally decided to embark on the task of reading another
of Sholem Asch’s tomes on the life of major Jewish biblical characters. The Apostle is a fictionalization of the
life of Paul of Tarshish. The edition I’m reading was translated from the
Yiddish by Maurice Samuel, consists of 754 pages and published in 1943 by G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, New York. It is the first of Asch’s books that I own that came
with a table of contents. Although most of his novels are quite long the style
of the writing makes reading them effortless.
A fictionalization goes beyond the exposition of facts as
would a pure biography. Sholem constructs personality and character around his
subject that takes what is known and deduced about Saul and weaves him into the
plot that consists of the description of the culture and mores of the world at
the time of Saul; the close association of the Jews daily life and the covenant
with their God. The book is populated with people who are acutely aware of
their history and the promises their God has made to those who are faithful to
him.
Of, course readers who seek an accurate picture of the culture
of the time will constantly be asking whether or not what they are reading is
fact or fiction. For them researching the material presented can provide an
education that is well worth the time. If you are, however, just looking for a
pleasurable reading experience, Sholem’s presentation will satisfy your desire.
He treats the religion of the Jews as well as the new sect of Yeshua with
respect and reverence. The culture of the times is presented through the
personal experience of the characters, making the story engaging.
When we read novels we tend to associate the plot and
character development with the person of the author. I believe that after
reading three of his novels on the Bible I’ve come to know the author well
enough to call him Sholem.
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The time is about two months after the crucifixion of Jesus and
Joseph bar Naba (the Barnabas referred to in Acts 4:36 and 14:14) is sitting in
the courtyard of his sister Miriam. He is in the company of Zipporah. A woman
which the text intimates is romantically involved with him. In this passage we
get a sense of how closely intertwined are the earthly life and the spiritual
life of these people. In stark contrast, the last paragraph displays the
harshness the Pharisetic rule over the people.
Sholem Asch describes
the scene:
‘The whole world lay wide open to the grace of God, and
Joseph bar Naba sat hand in hand with the loveliest of the daughters of
Jerusalem, Zipporah.
An urgent warmth breathed out of the night. The plants which
had been gathering the heat of the sun all day were overloaded with sweetness,
which they spilled out on every hand as if afraid that the desert winds might
come and rob them of it; and the body of the night was like a human body which
had attained ripeness. The silence was filled with a mute, disturbing hunger.
Still bar Naba gazed at the deep glimmering heavens where they bent over toward
the desert of Jericho, and he did not know that Zipporah’s hand was in his. A
long time their hands remained together, and it was as if something flowed from
one to the other, stilling the thirst of their youth. But they were aware only
of the night, and it seemed to them that they had been drawn into the urgent
warmth and silence of the night.
“Why has the gift of prophesy been withdrawn from Israel?”
asked Zipporah, suddenly. “Why do not prophets appear to us, as they appeared
in the olden days to our forefathers? Wherein are we worse than our
forefathers? Why is God silent?”
No one answered her question, nor did Zipporah seem to
expect an answer. The sound of her voice was like that of a bell set in motion
under water, spreading its tones along the waves. And Zipporah went on talking
to herself, more in dream than in waking:
Sometimes I feel that the time is near when He will pour out
His spirit upon all flesh, even as he promised the Prophets. I feel the time is
near when prophesy will be renewed in Israel, and He will send His spirit not
only to His chosen ones, to the learned and the wise, but also to the simple of
heart. And upon us, too, upon us women, the spirit will fall like a refreshing
dew. It will cover the whole land, and the scales will fall from our eyes; then
we shall see all things in another light, and our hearts will be filled with
another spirit. Sometimes it seems to me that I am seized with an incomprehensible
strength. I am filled with power as a fruit is filled with ripeness in the
summer. Like Hannah, the mother of Samuel, I am drunk, not with wine, but with
the power that fills my inward parts, so that they cry out and tear my li ps open. Then words issue from my lips, and I
know not their meaning and their content. They pour out at my lips, as water
pours out from a spring. I know that God is speaking through my lips.”
“All of us burn with the thirst of the deliverance, and all
of us long for the word of God as for a drink,” answered bar Naba.
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| The Apostle cover |
“Like Deborah the Prophetess I long at times to lift up the
banner of my people and sing the song of triumph and deliverance. Sometimes the
spirit is so strong on me that I believe I can conjure down salvation from the
heavens. It fills my heart with the loveliness of the upper worlds, and I hear
the beating of wings, though I do not see the angels; and it seems to me that
in another moment a door will be opened for me and I will be admitted into the
innermost mysteries. And then a voice will issue from the locked wall, and a
message will descend from heaven in fiery letters and rest upon my eyes, and I
will drink in the fiery script and I will cry out the salvation of all Israel.”
Bar Naba was suddenly aware of Zipporah’s hand in his, hot
as a flaming brand. He looked into the girl’s face. Her eyes blazed like the
stars which covered the heavens, and like those they sent forth a mystic fire
which filled him with bliss and terror.
“Zipporah! How lovely thou art! It is as though Deborah had
risen in thee and thou with thy word wilt light a new hope in Israel!”
“Since when does God have recourse to the help of a woman?
Only the idol worshipers have sibyls. Woman is an impure vessel and the God of
Israel will not make use of it. Her heart is painted, even like her lips and
her cheeks, and her one desire is toward man.” The voice came from a corner
steeped in darkness, but its hardness revealed the presence of the young man
Saul of Tarshish.' pp.24-25
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