THAT same day in that southern part of Israel’s land, another resident of the region was determined to leave for elsewhere.
But this resident shifting base wasn’t a community of people. That his vacation of space would mean a thing to the people of Dan desperate for a city.
No, it was Jonathan thinking to move from his resident town in Bethlehem. It was just someone looking for greener paths and pastures.
Jonathan stood up from where he’d been sitting since noon. But evening was fast dusking on that field; yet he wasn’t fagged out by staring at the plains all day.
He got up to his feet with a settled resolve. All the scattered thoughts in his head seemed to have found a home.
And now he was sure he’d found the way up. The way to better his life.
Jonathan happened to be the son of Geshom from the tribe of Levi. And Geshom happened to be the son of Moses, the man of God.
Yes, the Levite tribe was the priestly stock of Israel’s twelve. For it was that tribe that God Himself chose to be His minister, following the priestly order of Aaron the brother of Moses.
Jonathan knew what the rewards were. The rewards of serving as God’s ambassador. He also knew the cost. The cost of being among the few who represented Him.
And just as priests of God were called to modest and worthy lives, Jonathan had led a graciously modest life in that town of Bethlehem.
But this was only as the eyes could see. For further down on his inside, the pious man only followed through his religion as a means to an end.
Indeed, the young priest hoped to someday get near the corridors of wealth and power by his good deeds. And there attract patrons and benefactors.
Then he’d be able to make a good merchandize of his gifting, he’d planned.
But Jonathan hadn’t got his desires granted through the years. And now he was desperate to grant them himself. And by every means possible.
So today, the young man got up from a long contemplation in the fields and decided to leave that valley town of Bethlehem.
He turned round and took a long gaze at the low grass covering the plains. They looked to him now like the story of his own life.
And he couldn’t take his eyes off them.
‘Here’s the valley land,’ mused the young man. ‘But there are lofty peaks elsewhere looking for me!
‘In fact, there are peaks with more sumptuous treats. More than this valley town can get me!’
And as that Levite glanced around surveying the plains, he knew now that nothing could ever stop him.
Yes, not the promising blooms of the fields. Nor the bountiful yields of that land, were enough prospects to keep Jonathan in the town.
For he was no longer content with the crops and livestock the people brought him in abundance – while only seeking his blessing in return.
No, he was no longer content. For the young priest wanted more.
Yes, Jonathan wanted to be the one who called the shots. He wanted to be that person who decided. He wanted to know what it meant to spend.
He wanted more. He wanted money.
The Levite priest despised the way he’d been called to live. And soon he lost interest in the people he was pasturing.
Now he sought a new flock in another pasture elsewhere. He sought a new path in a new people.
It was to be a people who wouldn’t honour him with willing gifts.
Or honour the Almighty through him with the commanded tenth-part of their proceeds. Or with the required firstfruit of their yield or increase.
No, Jonathan wasn’t seeking those kind of worshippers as congregants. But those who would pay for the grace of God on him.
And now the young soul decided where to find himself gold and silver. Where to find people who could pay him for every prayer he offered.
And that, he told himself, was the remote mountains of Ephraim.
Now he laughed aloud at that discovery.
‘Ha-ha, Ephraim hills! Where their springs are silver and their grasses gold!’
He threw his hands apart and turned himself around in a wild spiral, as a heavy breeze poured round his twisting frame.
‘Ha-ha-ha! I’ll be paid in gold! Ha-ha, Jonathan’s earning real gold!!’
Then the young man picked himself up again and ran about in a wide circle.
But he halted too soon and looked up at the dusking night. And then he girded his flowing robe at once and ran all the way home.
For the next day, the man would set out towards the mountains of Ephraim up north.
In search of greener pastures.
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