More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“I’m not troubled. On the contrary, I doubt there is any man in Babylon whose heart is more joyful than mine.” “You have a strange way of showing it, old friend. Your heart neglected to inform your face.”
If God desires a prophet for His people, He will provide one. For all we know, He may use you.”
In the Roman Empire an adopted son is given even more status than a natural-born one.”
You can no more change the circumstances of your birth than I can. If this ‘Most High God’ really exists, then he will look in your heart, not at your skin.” Roshan glanced down at Myrad’s leg. “Or your foot.”
you should be wary of those who offer the future against the present.”
How can the Messiah rule if the entire world has been crushed beneath the Roman heel?” “No,” Yehudah countered. “The choice was wrong. Daniel’s example was there before us. So was Nehemiah’s. Serve with humility.” He turned back to Myrad. “Gershom, like the rest of us, confused service with allegiance. He wanted to save the empire from Musa’s influence, but empires can’t be saved. They come and are washed away by the inexorable tide of history.
“There are gifts mentioned in the Torah, the symbols for God’s chosen.” “Gold,” Hakam said, his eyes burning. “For the king.” “Frankincense,” Harel said. “For our priest.” “Myrrh,” Ronen added. “For the prophet of the people.”
“Fear of such a mystery—such power—should be felt by any man with sense. God has touched His creation with His own hand. Who knows what will happen?”
A thought occurred to him. “If cavalry is so superior to foot soldiers and the Parthian bow so deadly, why haven’t we conquered the Romans?” “Because,” Storana said, “the Parthians spend too much of their time fighting themselves.”
“A little chance is better than none. Even great battles have turned on the success of unlikely risks.”
“I’ve forgotten what it is to be young. I think when a man grows old, the routine of unnumbered days has a way of dulling his sense of wonder.” He pointed at the star. “Then, when he comes across the opportunity, he fears instead.”
“It’s moving. All night long it moves against the current of the stars so that it appears to remain fixed in the sky.”
“In the pride of my knowledge I thought I understood the ways of the Most High God, the rhythm and melody of His creation. Now I am reminded the stars are nothing more than grains of sand in His hand. It’s unsettling to know everything can be upended in a mere moment.”
Just as the King’s star behaves differently from the rest of the stars, I hope that this King will be different as well.”
“A wise man courts his wife for the length of his life.”
“How can they not see it? And if they can’t, how can we?” “Your question can be debated but not answered,”
You can see it, but it is beyond your reach. You can’t touch it, but you see the evidence of its existence in our shared experience.”
“Stop dressing your fear in logic and arguments that don’t mean anything.
“For some reason, God has seen fit to reveal the King’s star to us but not to others. We don’t know if the star is real. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a figment God has planted within our minds, or He’s blinded everyone else from seeing it, the end result is the same, is it not? He’s communicated His message. It may be that everything we consider real is nothing but an image in the mind of God anyway.”
“That we can see the star is no credit to us,” Yehudah added. “And the fact Roshan can’t see it doesn’t mean there is anything unfit in your betrothed or God has found her lacking.”
I still ask God for explanations of what I don’t understand. I’ll let you know if He ever gives me one.”
When she looks at me, I see the man I want to be reflected in her eyes. I’d like to live up to that image . . . someday.”
If you’re lucky they put the sword to you. No one can say the Romans lack imagination when it comes to executing their enemies.”
I should be dead,” he said finally. “Abandoned in the desert, hunted by Phraates, caught in a flood. My prince, I can’t tell you why I’m not, although those with me would tell you it’s the favor of God.” Weak laughter caught him by surprise. “It doesn’t feel like favor, my prince.”
“Most of the time you look like anyone else, seeing things you’ve seen before that hardly hold your interest, but when you get angry, it’s as if you’re completely present and I see the real you.”
The only thing worse than disagreeing with the king is being right when you do it.”
“Knowing of a thing and knowing the thing are very different. Many people know of the Most High God. The Hebrews have been scattered across the world by conquest like the wind sowing drifting seeds of grass. Whatever foreign soil we’ve fallen upon, there we’ve taken root, bringing the knowledge of the Most High to those around us. Many know of Him, but few know Him. The two are vastly different.”
I hold a belief some may not agree with,” Yehudah said, “that the title Most High means our God is the God of all people, and that we have been conquered over and over again and taken away to Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Parthia, and Rome to take root and spread the knowledge of Him.”
Judea is a restless province beneath the heel of the Roman Empire, whereas Israel is the kingdom of the people of God. My hope is that the Messiah-King will restore Israel to its intended destiny, as a light shining to the world to bring all peoples into the knowledge of God.”
“If God can give us a star to guide us to the Messiah, then He can provide a direction for us once we arrive there. Imagine it,”
“The acts of God are difficult to understand before they occur, clouded as they are by our preconceived notions. Yet after they have happened, they seem obvious.”
“Hakam’s hatred of the Romans is poisoning his heart,” she said. “What would Gershom tell you?” “To honor God and not worry about what others say.”
“Remember, I chose you rather than the richest merchants in the empire, and God chose you as well.”
a man with a limited vocabulary is often more . . . forthright.”
“All empires are an abomination,”
Truth has never been popular or well received.”
How did one simply resume his life after coming into the presence of the divine?
“How will he ever be able to throw off the yoke of Rome?” Yehudah shrugged. “Alexander managed to conquer the entire known world in the blink of an eye. That’s a task for God’s anointed. Our job is to count the days.”
“Why does the Most High need us to keep the calendar? They have the prophecies in Israel. What do they need us for?” “Because they don’t understand,” Yehudah said. “After we left Herod’s palace, I went to the synagogue and spoke with the scribes and Pharisees.” He shook his head slowly. “They hope for the Messiah to come . . . and yet they’re not expecting Him to.”
“How can they not understand? They have the same prophecies you do. Did you show them the calendar?”
no amount of explanation could make him see.”
I have no wish to influence the course of empires. Can a man not serve God as a merchant?”
It’s almost as if God takes delight in accomplishing His ends in the most unlikely way possible.”
“Did that look like the coming of a king to you? The prophecy is intact. If the Most High is willing, we will live to see its fulfillment.”
How could a doubt-riddled man like himself have raised such a confident son?
“If your God hasn’t spoken to you since, perhaps it is because He doesn’t need to.”
The Most High God does not move in ways we expect. When you are old like me, you will learn the futility of your opinions.”
It occurred to him then that one’s expectations and hopes depended on what was wanted.
Concepts are like water, a certain volume but susceptible to influence by the language they are expressed in, the way a container molds the shape of the water.”
“The prophecies of God can be difficult to interpret, and Daniel has troubled more than one of us. When the Messiah comes, He will explain the books of God. He will interpret the words, the letters, and even the spaces between the letters.
