The King Nobody Wanted | Page 2

would be a
great day for the Jewish people, a great day for the nation that was
called by the glorious name of Israel! From all over the country the
men of Israel would rise up. They would come when their king called
them, and he would lead them to victory against Caesar. The Romans
would go back where they came from, and Israel would be free and
peaceful and rich and happy again. The Messiah would make Israel into
a great kingdom, bigger and more powerful than the Roman Empire
ever was. The Jews would rule the world. Everyone, everywhere,
would worship the God of Israel, and the Messiah would be King of all
the nations of the earth. If only he would come!
[Illustration]
It was hard to wait so long. They had waited for him a long time, and
their fathers and grandfathers had waited for him too. Sometimes word
would go around that he had finally arrived, and in great excitement
some of the Jews would get ready to drive the Romans out of Palestine.
But always it turned out to be a mistake, and the Jews would be
disappointed, and shake their heads, and say, "Will he ever come?"
But when they grew discouraged, they would remember what was
written in their Holy Scriptures. For it was surely written there that the
Messiah would come someday. There could be no mistake about it.
Someday he would come!
[Illustration]
And so it went on, month after month, year after year. The people
worked, and dreamed, and hoped, and prayed. The rains would fall in

October and soften the hard, dry ground after the heat of summer, so
that the farmer could do his plowing. And as he plowed the land, the
farmer thought about the Messiah, and wondered if he would come
before the harvest in the spring. Then spring would come, and the
wheat and barley would be growing up in the smiling fields, and all
down the hillside the grapevines and the olive trees would be full of
fruit. The Romans were still marching through the country, and still
there was no Messiah. But the farmer thought that maybe he would
come before the next fall rains.
The fisherman would go sailing across the deep-blue Sea of Galilee,
and while he waited for the fish to come into his net, he thought of how
long Israel had waited for the Messiah to come. The beggars in the city
streets, who were deaf, or blind, or crippled, would sit at the corners
and ask for money to buy food. They were wondering too if the
Messiah would ever come and help the poor folk of Israel.
The shepherds, out on the rocky hills where nothing would grow but
grass for sheep and goats and cattle, were also thinking of the Messiah.
In good weather and bad they were there, keeping an eye on their sheep,
and they had plenty of time to think. When the rain and the snow were
in their faces, the shepherds were thinking, When will he come? And
when the hot sun climbed overhead, and the heat was like a furnace, or
when the east wind came and blew dust in their faces, then too the
shepherds thought, When will he come and save us?
[Illustration]
Farmers, fishermen, shepherds--these were not the only people who
were thinking of the Messiah. Sometimes along the hot, lonely roads of
Palestine, where robbers and wild animals were hiding, a traveler
would have dreams. Or the dream might come to someone in sunny
Galilee, where camel caravans crossed with their loads of spices and
jewels and precious things from Far Eastern lands. But it was most
likely to come to a man when he was standing in the great, white,
gleaming Temple at Jerusalem, where all good Jews went to worship
God.

And the dream would be that the sky opened, and a great light blazed
down from heaven. An army came marching down out of the sky, led
by a shining warrior whose face was bright as lightning. From his eyes
shot flames of fire. His arms and feet shone like polished brass or gold,
and when he spoke his voice was like the shouting of ten thousand men.
It was King Messiah! "Destroy the Romans!" he would cry. "Burn up
their armies! Let not a single one escape!" Fire would pour down from
the skies when he gave the order, and the Romans would melt away to
nothing, as though they had never been.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Then the dream would fade away. The dreamer would just be trudging
along the dusty road, or watching the camel caravans go by, or standing
in the Temple with the crowds of unhappy people pushing all around
him.
It