Working on the Sabbath (Bible Women Book 5) Read online

  “It’s the Sabbath; you should not be working at all today, as you know. It’s a sin. No one should expect you to. Your customers can wait. This is important or I wouldn’t have run all the way here to fetch you.”

  “What is it?”

  “A man has come who is curing people like you.”

  “Don’t be silly. No one can cure me. Hozai told me so.”

  “What does he know? I tell you I’ve watched this man do it with my own eyes. Simia, the old blind woman who begged in front of the Temple, can see again. You know her. You’ve given her money often enough. What have you got to lose? Don’t you want to be cured?”

  “Of course I want to be cured!” Taliah roared. Then she dropped her voice and sobbed, “I just don’t think that it will ever happen. I’ve prayed to God over and over again, but my back is still bent. It’s not kind of you to try to give me false hope. Who is this man?”

  “They say he’s from Galilee. Certainly he and his followers speak like people from there.”

  “Another magician out of the desert,” Taliah scoffed.

  “Does it matter where he’s from? Listen to Simia if you don’t believe me. She’ll tell you.”

  So Taliah and Niv went to look for Simia. They found her easily. A crowd had gathered around her. She was eagerly putting faces to the voices she recognised from her years in darkness.

  “Speak to me,” she said to Taliah, “so I know who you are.”

  “Good morning, Simia.”

  “Ah, Taliah.” The woman bent down and twisted, so she to look up into Taliah’s face. Always before she had been sitting on the ground and Taliah peered down on her. Simia’s eyes were clear and no longer filmed with white.

  “That’s what you’re like. I wanted to know. You have been good to me over the years. Thank you for your gifts. They helped me when I needed help. Now I have my sight again, I want to repay you. Is there anything I can do for you?”

  “Tell her how you were healed,” Niv broke into their conversation, “so she can believe. Then I will take her to the Master.”

  “Is it true this man cured you?” Taliah asked.

  “Yes. You’ve seen my eyes as they were before and you’ve seen them today. Are they any different?”

  “They were white before, but they are clear now.”

  “You are wearing a brown tunic, with embroidered yellow flowers along the edge. Niv has a blue cloak. I am right, am I not?”

  “You are right.”

  “When did you ever hear me say such things before?”

  “Never. You used to ask me to tell you what I was wearing and feel the fabric. What did this man do to you?”

  “Yesterday, I was sitting by the Temple as usual. Some men came walking past me. They were strangers. I did not recognise the sound of their footsteps or their voices. I called out to them for alms, as I always did. They stopped. One of them stooped near to me. I could feel the heat of his body. Then he put something cold and wet on my eyelids. Mud, as I found out afterwards, mixed with his spittle. Then he wiped the mud away and told me to open my eyes. I looked up at him and I could see his face. For the first time in years I could see!” Triumph rang in the old woman’s words. “Taliah, you must go to him. Perhaps he can help you as he has cured me. I will go with you and ask him to do so.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Not far from here. He is teaching in one of the synagogues.” She raised her voice to the crowd, “Let us pass. We are going to the Master.”

  Simia led the way, while Niv took Taliah’s arm and followed behind. The people parted in front of them.

  “There,” Simia said. “There he is. Go and ask him to help you, Taliah.”

  “I’m afraid.” Taliah shuddered.

  “Don’t be. He’s a gentle man.”

  “He won’t be able to cure her today,” someone scoffed in the crowd. “It’s the Sabbath.”

  “Go!” Simia insisted. “You need his help. If he can’t now, he will remember you when you return tomorrow.”

  So Taliah and Niv shuffled forwards. She could see very little from her bent position, until she stopped in front of feet wearing sandals. Other feet stood nearby.

  “What do you want? Go away. You’re interrupting us,” an angry voice said, off to one side.

  “I am very sorry to do so,” Niv replied politely, “but my sister needs help. She has been bent in this position for eighteen years.”

  “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath,” the same voice spoke again. Niv took a step backwards; then stopped as a deeper voice said,

  “Come forward, Woman.”

  “Me?” Taliah asked.

  “You.” Taliah took a deep breath and shuffled nearer.

  “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Taliah felt the touch of his hands on her neck and her back. It was as if the cords which had held her crooked were suddenly cut. Slowly she began to straighten. Fearing a return of the pain with every second, she raised her head. She saw his tunic, his beard and then his eyes, looking at her with love and compassion.

  “Thank you, sir. Oh thank you.” She clasped his hand in hers and kissed it.

  “Thank the Lord our God.”

  “Thank you, oh Lord my God.” Taliah obediently raised her eyes to the blue sky. She looked with wonder at the white clouds that floated there. She had not seen them for over eighteen years.

  “You should be ashamed of yourself, working on the Sabbath,” someone hissed behind Taliah.

  The man who had untied Taliah’s bonds turned to those who surrounded him. “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” Everyone fell silent and several began to sidle away

  From that moment on, Taliah never ceased giving thanks for her deliverance. She constantly praised God and the man who had freed her from her purgatory on earth. At last she would be able to live the life she had dreamed about for eighteen long years.

  Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/23370518@N05/2625541464 Julie Belzie

  Copyright © 2014 by Michèle McGrath

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the author.

  Some characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Some are real.

  My books are fiction set in history.

  Written in English (UK)

  Published by Riverscourt Publishing

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  About Michèle McGrath

  Award winning author, Michele McGrath, was born on the beautiful Isle of Man in the middle of the Irish Sea. She has lived in California, Liverpool, France and Lancashire before returning home. Living in Paris and Grenoble taught her to make a mean ratatouille and she learned the hula in Hawaii.

  Michele is a qualified swimming teacher and manager, writing self help books on these subjects. Although she writes in many genres, her real loves are historical romance and fantasy. She has won numerous writing competitions, had second places and been short-listed many times. She has had tens of thousands of sales and downloads.

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  Books by Michèle McGrath

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  Learn to Swim even if you are Terrified

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  Manannan’s Magic: Manannan McLir flees from a blood feud in Ireland and finds a tragic love with a young Celtic girl, Renny. Betrayal, a Viking invasion and a narrow escape all feature in this novel.

  Niamh of the Golden Hair: Niamh is captured by Viking raiders and unexpectedly falls in love with her captor. When he is badly injured, she must find her father, Manannan, who may be able to cure his wound.

  Emer’s Quest: Emer, Manannan’s granddaughter, dreams that her father will be shipwrecked. She rides after him to prevent him leaving but she is too late. She persuades friends to follow him. On her journey she meets Atli, a trader who offers to rescue her father if she will marry one of his sons. Unfortunately his son Hari does not want her.

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  Gigi’s Guardian: A romp through an unusual sort of Heaven and Swinging Sixties London. Ariane helps Gigi choose the right man to marry, after many trials and tribulations. A comedy romance with serious overtones.

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  Duval and the Infernal Machine 1800: Rookie police agent, Alain Duval investigates the attempted assassination on Napoleon Bonaparte. The book features romance, terror and an unexpected ending.

  Duval and the Empress’s Crown 1804: Police Agent Alain Duval is tasked with finding the crown but time is very short and his suspects many. Present when the crown disappeared are Napoleon's sisters, Princess Elisa, Princess Pauline and Princess Caroline. Are they involved or merely witnesses? Aided by his wife Eugenie and his friends Lefebvre and Fournier, Duval sets out to unravel the mystery.

  Duval and the Italian Opera Singer 1805: Carla Cortini arrives in Paris claiming that her son is Napoleon’s child. She relates the story to Duval and enquiries seem to confirm that it is true. When Duval goes to tell her and take her to the Emperor, he discovers that the mother and son have been kidnapped.

  Duval at Waterloo 1815: The last Duval book. Duval travels to Paris and gets caught up in the preparations for Napoleon’s last battle.

  Napoleon’s Police: Box set of the first three Duval books published.

  Regency Belles & Beaux

  Lady Alice’s Dilemma: Lady Alice is enjoying her first London Season until her disgraced brother appears in disguise.

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  A Night at the Manx Museum: Meet Manannan, a Manx cat, the great deer and many more characters.

  Stories for Seven Year Olds: Three stories in one. A magical harp takes Shannon far away to a land of magic carpets and evil viziers. Rory is scared of heights, which is a problem because he is a robin who needs to learn to fly. Sun Sun Lau is a Chinese dragon who wakes up to find himself in the British Museum and has to escape from those who want to put him in a zoo.

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