Yashar had promised Naboth he would look after Avi so he continued toward Ibleam where, just outside of town, he and Avi met up, shook hands and agreed to look past what had happened earlier. Though Avi seemed to have developed new respect for Yashar for not backing down, Yashar, whose jaw throbbed continually, would have preferred gaining his respect in some other way. Once in Ibleam they did as Naboth had asked, questioning several locals and even observing, at a distance, some of Ben-hadad’s retreating troops. They returned to the vineyard early the next day. Sara greeted them on the gate path with hugs. When Yashar smiled, Sara stepped back. “My poor darling,” she said, “what happened to your tooth?”
“He fell in the rocks,” Avi said, “behind Ibleam.”
Sara looked more closely. “And his face?”
“Rocks, all of it, tumbling.”
“Fell, you say?” Naboth stepped up and asked his youngest son.
“The footing along that high ground, Father, as you know, can be treacherous.”
“Is that so, boy?” Naboth asked Yashar. “Did you fall on the rocks behind Ibleam until they knocked out a tooth, blackened one eye and put a swelling on your nose?”
“No,” Yashar said, truth first, but he would say no more.
“Shame, sir, this is on you,” Sara told Naboth. “What sane man would send his precious sons into the path of a retreating army?”
Precious sons. Yashar fought tears, the phrase moved him so.
“Come with me, Yashar,” Sara said. “I have a surprise for you.”
“No,” Naboth said, “first we must hear all that these boys have learned while on their mission.”
*
It was a special, stop-work occasion. The family gathered at the pit and Yashar and Avi took turns telling what they had heard. It was common knowledge in Ibleam that, when Ahab regained his nerve and chose war, Ben-hadad had sent a message to Ahab saying…
May the gods’ punishment be on me if there is enough of the dust of Samaria for all the people at my feet to take some in their hands.
Ahab, no longer fearful, answered back, “The time for loud talk is not when a man is putting on his arms but when he is taking them off.”
Ben-hadad had been drinking with his kings when he heard Ahab’s answer. He ordered his armies into position to attack at once. Despite Ahab’s new courage, when Hadad’s armies deployed around Samaria, the soldiers of Israel grew fearful. They had remained so until a prophet approached the king and said, “The Lord says…
Have you seen all this great army? See, I will give it into your hands today, and you will see that I am the Lord.”
The inspired word of certain victory spread throughout the city in a flash. Samaria’s defenders, once hesitant, suddenly swelled with confidence. Ahab gathered the servants of the chiefs over the divisions of the land, two hundred and thirty-two in all, and assembled the people, seven thousand and, at midday they went out together to oppose Aram.
Ben-hadad, the story went, had continued to drink with his kings. When he heard that Samaria had attacked first, he said…
If they have come out for peace take them living. If they have come out for war also take them living.
The servants of the chiefs of the divisions of Israel had gone out for war. Each put his man to death. Ben-hadad, his kings and their armies fled the hills about Samaria in disarray. Yashar and Avi described having seen hundreds of them staggering through Ibleam.
Jezreel again chose to credit popular gods for Ahab’s victory. They flocked to the high places and built bonfires about tall, carved poles on the plateau. Avi abandoned the vineyard to join the celebrations and stayed away for days.
“Where could he be?” Naboth asked several times.
No one took his question seriously. They could all hear the embarrassing sounds of Jezreel’s celebrations, even while in their camp.
*
After the report, Sara took Yashar’s hand and led him to her tent to reveal her surprise. There, inside, Juttah sat up to greet him with a fluttering tail and bright eyes. “Shout, hallelujah!” Sara said when Yashar proved unable to speak. “By God’s mercy, yes, his shoulder has begun to heal. Yes, he will walk again someday. His fever is gone. His heart beats strong and his breathing is clear. He will run again in silly circles. He’ll jump fences and chase game.”
Yashar ran out and shouted as Sara had suggested. When the echo died he shouted again, thanking Sara and God repeatedly. Juttah had been all but dead.
“Healing comes more by prayer than herbs and ointments,” Sara told him afterward. “I learned the arts from my mother but in the end the gift comes from God.”
With Naboth and Sara’s permission, Yashar slept that evening on the ground in their tent beside his dog. Sometime before daybreak, Juttah awoke and licked Yashar’s face as he had that first evening in the Judean woods. The poor animal had lost much weight and strength but his spirit had again grown strong. Along the line of the gash that had nearly killed him, scar tissue had forced up a stiff shock of hair like a horse’s mane, making him look unnatural and fearsome, even in the dark.
*
Not long after Ben-hadad had been routed, a crier appeared in Jezreel crying…
Though Ahab followed his enemies with horses and war-carriages; though he had made great destruction among them, Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has escaped safely with his horsemen, on a horse.
And so Jezreel learned that Israel’s greatest enemy had lived to fight again.
A year later, Ben-hadad bypassed Jezreel a second time to attack Israel again. This time, he avoided the mountains of Samaria and met Ahab in battle at Aphek on the Plain of Sharon. There, with the Lord’s help, Ahab defeated Ben-hadad again. After the decisive battle, Ben-hadad went into hiding in Aphek. Ahab, against the Lord’s wishes, allowed him to live again.
Jezreel celebrated the second victory over Aram more faithlessly than the first. Avi, who had come and gone in the vineyard as he pleased, reappeared in Jezreel after the second war ended accompanied by a pagan bride. Her name was Girin, from Ashtaroth in the north.
Naboth, and even Sara, welcomed them, praying that the marriage might somehow change their son for the better, but Avi worked in the vineyard even less, with lower energy. He began wearing rings and amulets, pierced and painted himself and tied his hair in knots. One afternoon, after Avi refused to honor the Sabbath, Sara had had enough. She banished her son and Girin from the camp, saying in front of everyone, Avi is no longer my son.
But Naboth immediately reversed her. “Your mother is upset and rightly so,” he said, “but as the head of this household I say that you and Girin are always welcome here.”
Yashar made no judgments but Naboth, after bitterly disappointing Sara, seemed ruined by events. The old man began to heavily sample his own wine from a first, minimal harvest until he staggered every night, blaming Ahab, not Avi, for his discontent.
“I drink to salve my pain,” he said, “because the king of Israel disobeyed the Lord and freed Ben-hadad. Listen! It will not be long before God loses patience with us.”
As if to confirm Naboth’s words, another crier from Judah appeared at the citadel gates, proclaiming…
So say the prophets. The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord.
“Destroy Israel from the face of the earth!” Naboth repeated back in the vineyard. “Did you hear him? All Israel should be on her knees now rending garments and bathing in dust to entreat the Lord to forgive us.”
“Please tell me that you won’t be going to such extremes, Father,” Avi said. “Things are unpleasant enough in this gully as it is.”
“Israel has been doomed,” Naboth moaned, “by disrespect such as yours.”
“You embrace disrespect, sir,” Sara told Naboth, “by allowing your pagan son to live with us, speak disrespectfully and refuse to work.”
“He is your son too, cold woman,” Naboth sighed. “I cannot dismiss my own blood.”
“Where is your respect for my beliefs, Mother?” Avi asked.
Zach and the brothers tried to quiet Avi but he refused to stop. “I have spoken sincerely about the pleasant and positive nature of honoring Baal,” he said, “and of the blessings I believe follow. But you have never shown a willingness to discuss my views.”
“You ask me to weigh your markings and obscenities?” Sara asked. “I will not pretend to humor you like your father. Baal is evil. He prays upon men’s lusts. Tell me, Avi, when Girin bears your first child, will you offer him to Moloch?”
“Moloch is an old god,” Avi laughed.
“My Avi would never sacrifice his child,” Naboth said.
Avi’s wife, Girin, who had always remained silent in the past, jumped to her feet and screamed, “It is done to secure future blessings, you stupid old man.”
Naboth gasped, but Sara only shook her head.
“You would, then, daughter, kill your own child?” Naboth asked.
“On a holy altar,” Girin snapped. “I do not expect you stubborn people to understand.”
“God forgive me,” Naboth sighed after a long silence. “Pack your things, son, now, I say, and take this pitiful creature out of my vineyard with you.”
Avi and Girin rose and left the vineyard without another word. Poor Naboth was heartbroken. No sooner than they had gone, he began to doubt himself. “A man does not raise children to banish them for his mistakes,” he said. “If only I had been kinder to Avi, always such a dark boy and so fragile.”
“I lack your capacity for forgiveness, husband,” Sara said, “and I cannot justify it. With Avi in camp, refusing to work while mocking our beliefs, he and his wife had no hope. Now that you have stood firm we have either lost him forever or, by your courage, given God a chance to save him.”
Naboth looked from face to face around the fire. His sons and their wives all nodded in agreement with Sara. When his eyes met Yashar’s, Naboth asked, “And you, son? You have no history here, how do you see this?”
“You seem, sir, to believe that you love Avi more than his mother and brothers,” Yashar said. “It seems unlikely, to me, but it is not my place to say more.”
“You must promise, sir,” Sara said to Naboth, “now that you have done this hopeful thing, never to reverse yourself and allow that boy under our protection again unless, clearly, he has repented. Otherwise I fear he will remain lost and also destroy our marriage.”
“Destroy our marriage, you say, after all these years?” Naboth asked. “Woman, there is no chance…”
“Promise,” Sara said.
Naboth did so, weeping, but Sara made him swear aloud in front of his family two more times. “You must remain strong,” she said. “Avi has always preyed upon your affection.”
“Never again, my wife,” Naboth sighed. “I know in my bones you are right.”
While alone that evening Yashar prayed for the family, Israel, Elijah and for Juttah to never be hurt again. He also selfishly asked God to lessen his guilt for leaving home. Please, Father, his prayer went, comfort my mother, Adella, while I’m away and give me the words to persuade Naboth to teach me all he knows about making wine.
*
The heaviness following Avi’s banning lifted quickly. Two mornings later, the whole family sang at their work. Even so, Yashar saw new pain in Sara’s eyes.
“Poor Avi,” she explained when she noticed Yashar’s confusion.
“You miss him?” Yashar asked.
“No, I don’t at all,” she answered, “but I remain his mother.”