A Gift For Havilah

“I do not want to sleep, Father,” Havilah said, still bright as she could be. “There is too much to think about. I love the stillness. Even the sheep are quiet now. It’s very peaceful the way Bethlehem looks, nestled among the fields and the low hills, wrapped in the night and lit only by the stars. Say, do you know anything about that star, the bright one that is shimmering? I noticed it only about an hour ago.”

Ephraim had noticed it. “It has only just come over the horizon. It is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Father, there has been something else on my mind tonight." This cheerful girl was also one who thought deeply about things. "When I look away from the town and over toward the fortress of Herod, the peacefulness of Bethlehem is shaken. Why does the Lord allow such wicked rulers to become so very strong?”

Ephraim spoke slowly. “When there are things I cannot answer, I return to the things I can know for sure. Wicked rulers come and they go. It is like Simeon said. Our people were oppressed terribly by the Babylonians. but that empire did not last. Neither did that of the Persians and Medes, and neither did that of Greece. One day that dreadful tower, too, will be nothing but a pile of ruins. In fact, Simeon has told us that perhaps Messiah will come even while Rome rules.”

“Even in the next few years, Father!” Havilah was not ready to say ‘perhaps.’ “Uncle Simeon said that Messiah will come before he dies!”

Suddenly, urgently and with fear, Ephraim cried out, “HAVILAH, COME TO ME! Something is happening! REUBEN! MORDECAI! Wake the others!”

Startled voices shouted, “WHAT?! WHAT IS IT? FIRE?”

“AHHHH! THE LIGHT! IT BLINDS!”

“WHAT MANNER OF VISION IS THIS?”