The KT OLLA Web Stories

THE day finally came that everyone should gather by En Rogel. That running spring in the south plains of Jerusalem named the Kidron Valley. Adonijah’s guests gathered that early dawn, everyone he invited heeded his call. The men were prepared to crown a prince as king, as they’d found out what the boy wanted. Yes, they were ready to witness the coronation of the Fourth Heir; but they wore the garb of a holy congregation of elders. King David was still in the palace, served by his young new wife. But away from him were most of his nobles, as well his princes. Almost everyone had followed the young aspiring king. As the plains by En Rogel were packed full with campaigners in the guise of worshippers. Adonijah offered sacrifices at the altar called the Stone of Zoheleth. That rock settled rather idle by the quiet spring that ran across the adjacent valley. The aspirant king sacrificed a lot on that stone altar. He offered a burnt offering of sheep, oxen, and fattened calves. He went on sl...

THE Fourth Prince’s letters were soon dispatched around. And when the recipients got the notes, they knew what the young one was scheming; even when he’d got it shrouded in the guise of worship. They remembered Absalom and how he got many people on his side among the nobles. But times had changed; so they thought themselves smarter than those folk who sacrificed their lives for the boy. Now those nobles caught this new boy in his game indeed; but they weren’t cross with him at all. For right there, they were ready to play along, and even guide him where he knew nothing. And so, when the men opened their letters and saw the content, they cleared their throats and went into their secret chambers to read. ‘It isn’t a bad idea to watch things play out,’ some reasoned. ‘And if things fail, we back out immediately.’ Yet some others were more willing. ‘We can stake our ambitions on this small boy. He looks easy, so we can drive him ourselves.’ Now the letter went as follows. Revered Elders of...

THAT moment was one of hesitation for the associate priest. And in that moment that Abiathar thought to stop things, he took a long gaze at Adonijah. He saw the young man confidently seated, with all the poise and composure. Then he queried his own stand a bit. Can he really be wrong? Can Adonijah be wrong with all this confident air all about him? Yes, he’s got the words. Well, with scriptures to back them also. Or hasn’t he got things to challenge what we know? But can he simply be wrong? Or not know where he’s going? Now Abiathar began to doubt his own stand on the matter. Then his interest grew further in what the young prince had to say. And so, he sat back and just listened. Adonijah kept shooting words nonetheless. ‘Why do you think God created the woman out of the man? ‘It is only because the man wouldn’t naturally have believed in God. And so God created the woman out of him, so he would see Creation happen again, and then believe!’ A slight grunt of thoughtfulness escaped his...

ADONIJAH’S talk with Joab was a smooth one. The captain had always been waiting for the valiant among his master’s sons. The one who’d be the rebirth of the mighty king. As he felt within himself that the war champion was dead. Therefore, when the Fourth One met with him, it was quite easy for Joab to change sides. He vowed to support in every way possible. He also went on to win men for him. That day that the two folk talked, the old soldier lent him his wise counsel. He advised the young man to involve his brothers also, the other sons of David. He wanted Adonijah to win the princes over, so none of them would rise to rival him. So the man took the counsel, and followed it through. Even still, there was one among the king’s sons whom Joab had told the boy to be wary of. And even Adonijah knew that that one had better be left out. Yes, the Fourth Son knew of a brother whose existence itself was a threat to his great ambition. That ruddy young man was the First of the sons by the queen...

DAVID had been reigning for about forty years already. And in those years of his reign in Israel, soldiers have stood and fallen for him. The warlord had conquered lands, conquered nations. He’d taken territories, subdued enemies. Yet as the monarch grew older and nations bowed to him, there remained no wars to fight; and so his valiant men had nothing doing. His soldiers settled in families and kept livestock. They became shepherds and keepers of vines. The great ones among them got involved in public duties and administration. Still, there were a few who didn’t change with the changing tide. And chief among them was Joab, commander of the army. No, it wasn’t that the man didn’t settle down with family or other civil matters. But Joab wasn’t quite settled enough when it came to his heart and attitude. The old man had been quite loyal to David through the long years. But ever since the time that wars were done with, he had lost his sense of purpose. Joab wasn’t all that interested in n...

THAT midnight, Adonijah got a piece of note and listed the names of the ministers in the council of the nobles. Those ministers he would love to win along with the two. He was going to write a letter to the people in that list. He would send the dispatch to everyone at the same time. But that note of listed names didn’t include everybody. The prince had excluded the name of Joab, Commander of David’s Army; along with Abiathar’s name, Associate High Priest of Yahweh. Those two names were precious to the young schemer. He wanted to have the men as his chief conspirators. And so, he was going to meet them in person and win them with convincing words. Yet those were not the only names that were missing in the man’s list. For he never scribed down Benaiah’s name, nor would he send him an invite. Again, he didn’t think to call on Nathan the prophet of God, who had prophesied everything that had happened to David during his third son’s revolt. No, he wouldn’t ever write those names down, as t...

ADONIJAH woke up the next day and told himself he must work if he must win the king’s wife. So he went back to the roads and resumed his parade all about town. This time, however, the man extended his tour beyond the borders of the capital. He went touring the hinterlands also, alongside neighbouring cities and towns. He’d do his parade all day long; and by night he’d lodge somewhere on his journey and study the scroll more. The parchment scroll that S’alom wrote. Yes, Adonijah did this hard work to win the throne and own Abisha. He did this for about four long months. Then at the end of that tour throughout all Israel, the Fourth Prince returned home one night to study the parchment script. He spent time and energy interpreting the map to understand his next move. Well, after a bit of time he was able to untangle the knots... Now he realized he was after nothing if he was only after a girl. That he was chasing the wind if he wouldn’t race to own David’s men, too. So that midnight, his...

THAT night, Adonijah returned home from parading the streets of Jerusalem. He returned quite tired; but still a tiny joy kept him up. And it was the face of the girl he saw. It was the thought of Abisha. All day long, he’d held on to that picture in his head. It was beautiful and refreshing. And he’d wondered who that girl could be. But the forty-something hadn’t stayed still. He hadn’t just watched the damsel leave when he sighted her earlier that day. Instead, Adonijah had ordered one of his horsemen to follow her trail and find out everything about the caravan girl. And he’d waited all day long for news about that beauty. Now as he reclined for the day, he got a call at his gate. And it was his messenger back with reports about her, the beautiful angel that caught his master’s eyes. ‘What took you so long?’ asked the prince, as he let the servant inside. ‘Master, I couldn’t stop on the trail till now! The more I followed, sire, the more I learned there was more to her! So I couldn’t...

THE young queen’s ride into the palace was a quiet one. There were no horns and trumpets. Like there were when David wed his first, the wife of his youth. No, there were no drums and dances, sparkles of a lavish nuptial. Like it was the case in the days of Michal daughter of Saul. Like it is with the first of someone’s love. But then the young new bride shone that whole day like the moon appears and brightens a night. For when she appeared in front of David’s palace, even the stone walls found their life. Fair Abisha arrived in the royal caravan and the glister in that procession was this damsel so beautiful for any man to own. Everyone stopped and looked, and wondered why she was just arriving. Why she wasn’t born when their king was her age. And even Abisha marvelled that she was born for this. The young beautiful bride was led out of the gilded cart, and she walked a palms bounded lane into David’s court. Her steps were showered with costly spikenards as she walked up a path she’d n...

PRINCE Adonijah turned about; then he beckoned to the leader of his fifty. The man rode closer to his side as the prince spoke to him. ‘Loud it; let the boys sound my praise! Sound it so loud that the deaf will say they heard! Come on, loud it more!’ He spoke the words in the man’s hearing, as he motioned him to get going right away. Yet while his aide left to dispatch the order, he couldn’t stay quiet and so he pestered the men himself. ‘Loud it, boys! Loud the praise of Adonijah, the Fourth Prince! Make it break my ears, come on!!’ But the man didn’t know he’d gone so audible. As he wanted his standing to impress the old man in the convoy, in order to win him for his campaign. Yet now that he was being so loud, Benaiah wasn’t impressed—to say the least. So then, as the soldiers joined their voices with the crowd, and the chants of Adonijah’s praise was bursting the eardrums, Benaiah only looked their way and chuckled. Then he sent a signal to their pilot horsemen to hasten on. As he ...

BENAIAH along with his travel company arrived the city square, where the prince’s parade had already taken centre stage. Their regal convoy, which had been hastening towards the palace, slowed down all of a sudden – as the returning nobles were too curious to see the show. It was Benaiah’s wagon which first dragged on its wheels, as the man was suddenly surprised to see the Fourth Prince parade himself. It had been ages since his nation witnessed a scene like this.  When Prince Absalom had strutted a convoy through the lengths of town. But that ride… that ride of the Third Prince had ended in woe, he mused. So he was pretty sure no sane person would want to follow that path again. The man, therefore, was caught by surprise when he saw the Third Son in the Fourth Prince. So he had to doubt that this was the very case. Benaiah’s wagon slowed down; and the queen’s carriage followed, too. Then the pilot horsemen cantering ahead observed this and applied their bridles. Everyone saw Adon...

 IT was at the city square in the heart of Jerusalem. The chants and praises for the Fourth One soared aloud with high pitches. ‘Hail the Prince, the Fourth Son!’ ‘Hail the Prince, the Fourth Son!’ Those words were the chant each people met when they joined the flowing crowd. And the songs, they were those the prince’s men told them to sing. The praises were loud and bustling, so much that the new queen’s convoy could hear it from a distance. So that party hastened their pace to see what the shouts meant. Adonijah had taken advantage of the king’s condition to win the centre stage. He’d chosen the city square around the palace as the platform that’d host his first outing. He made the dare that winter morning, knowing the monarch had fallen weak. For he’d thought this—that David was no longer David. Now the elders were ready to watch the son of David. But that was only how far they wished to go. They were not ready for another father-son battle. Or a clash between brother enemies vy...

NOW, since Adonijah had chosen to ride a high horse rather than walk the way of wooing people, he soon bought himself a royal convoy. He bought himself an entourage of fifty men skilled with the sword. And a fleet of chariots and horses that’d always announce his arrival. It had been about a week since this heir presumptive concluded his thoughts on the parchment scroll. So he’d gone forward to prepare for his parade. And this day was his first. Yes, the wintry day was brighter that morning; the sunshine being just as good to clear some fog. The Fourth One mounted a golden chariot. Then his brand new convoy rode with him to the heart of town, there in Israel’s capital. Adonijah styled himself in the same fashion that the Third Heir, the King’s loved but lost son, had strutted his fame. His stately stand and confidence also reminded watchers of the prince they once loved. Everybody trooped out of their houses as he passed through streets, and quite so many couldn’t resist the urge to fo...

THAT same morning, Benaiah was set to leave Shunem with the new found queen. The need was urgent and so the nobles could not wait; they had to take the king’s wife to him already. But that journey back to Jerusalem would take them a time. They’d gone combing the hinterlands for weeks. So it would take an equally long time to return with their find. In that case, they’d got to set out fast. And there they were, ready to go. Abisha was dressed up in a white flowing garment, prepared for her by the court chamberlain – custodian of the king’s household and servants. Now the woman along with two nurses had followed the band which travelled there. All night long, the new queen had been washed in fragrant petals, adorned with jewelled ornaments and treated to meals. She’d been served and pampered by women who catered for the greats. So, garbed in the finest laced dress she’d ever seen; her scented hair itself sitting a wreath of lovely greens… she couldn’t believe this was her story. Now that...

NOW Adonijah was done with the study of the Third Heir’s parchment. It had taken him many nights to untie knotted things, understand the game and be ready to fight. And now that he was done, nothing would stop him. Yes, it was still winter cold on this quiet day dawning with fog. The Fourth Prince sat at his study table and scrabbled through choices. He was about to stall on the thoughts on where to begin – where to start to launch his great revolution. Then something struck his mind as he found another way. Indeed, the Fourth One knew from the master scroll that his first step was to win Israel’s hearts… as Absalom spent years at the city gate doing. But no, Adonijah wasn’t the man to cherish patience. Particularly if there was another way. And since the day he seized that precious scroll, he’d found no reason to stall. For he’d got in his grasp all he needed to rule. And so he spoke to himself: ‘I cannot wait four years kissing hands and listening to people cry like the Third One did...

ABISHUM wasn’t done speaking. So she picked up on the matter as things were bound to change. She spoke: ‘See, it was a bedroom cry for Aleph. But not until the day things were shoved in her face… ‘And that day she gave up on hoping! ‘Well, what Aleph thought was the reason why Beth couldn’t marry, was different from what it was with people. ‘She used to think it was because there was no man in her house to ask the daughter from. As is our customary practice in Israel.  ‘But when a drunken man shoved it in her face one night, it hurt her too much what people say. ‘“No one will marry your daughter, woman! Why will anyone do? When death hides in her bosom like it hid in yours. Or why did your husband die? ‘“Look, if you don’t know it – your family is cursed! You only have one child in a nation of plenty. ‘“God has prospered Israel with many children like the sea sand. But what do your family bear? Only one! ‘“So, who will want your cursed daughter for his son to love? You really don’t...

BENAIAH opened the talk with a brief about their mission. About the King’s matter that brought them touring those parts. He did let their host know also what sort of lady they were seeking. Now he hoped Abishum would help; but her eyes wandered from him to the nobles seated there. And he was almost chiding himself for asking a loner for help, when the woman broke the silence and spoke. ‘Well, your maidservant is only a common woman, who is no worthy at all to take the King’s matters on her lips... ‘Let alone talk of a big thing as finding a queen for him. ‘So I have lingered until now. But since am I requested to speak, I will say just what I know.’ Benaiah could see it that the woman knew someone. And since he loved her for her uncommon grace, he nudged her on. ‘Oh let us hear it, good woman. ‘You have honoured the King’s servants, and offered us shelter and food. I ask of you, please speak to your heart’s content. ‘We shall give heed, I assure you.’ The woman sat up before the listen...

IT was evening when Benaiah reached the region of Issachar. So he stopped at Shunem, a small town situated there by the Jordan. He reached the bank of the river and stopped by the last house there. That house, poor and rickety, sat a little away from the rest. Then it faced the waters like it was hiding from people. Like it sheltered a cursed household. The old noble wanted to spend the night; then continue on his way again. And so, he sought to lodge and rest. Now, Benaiah gave a small knock on the door; then he waited patiently for response. He took a step back, looked away and stared at the darkness. After a little while, he knocked again a few times, and waited again. So his party wondered whether a living soul dwelled inside. At last the door opened with a lazy crack. And it was a woman who stood as their host. ‘What can I do for you?’ her soft voiced cooed. The standing party were amazed. Particularly for the touch of warmth borne with the casual question. Benaiah spoke in respon...

BENAIAH chose to beam his searchlight on just one place. He decided to go up to the northern tribe of Israel and comb through the land. It was the Israelite tribe of Dan that occupied the northern borders of the country. They were a small, quiet tribe. They were also the last of Israel’s tribes to find a place to claim in Canaan. The elder chose that quiet territory of the Danite people as the last hope for everyone. He had reasoned along this line. ‘If the Danites are a remote quiet people, living their lives far in the hinterland… ‘Then they may very well have a maiden who was never betrothed to a man unlike others everywhere. ‘Why, they barely have anything to do with our sons living their lives about towns. So there may be, at least, one young maiden who hasn’t found a man growing up. ‘Yes, there should be one girl waiting for us!’ Therefore, the man set out towards Dan in the far north. He led a caravan of a few court officials, along with palace retainers. It was a stately party ...

THE search for a beautiful one for David proved difficult. As in those times, women were betrothed to men from when they were girls. So, every girl was a wife to be. And every boy was a husband in the works. Therefore, finding a woman was like finding the morning glory blooms at night. Everyone called beauty was already taken. Benaiah was the one who chose the search team. The man had been loyal to David in every aspect of work. And he knew so well that the king wouldn’t want a betrothed woman from him. Yes, that man was familiar with the king enough to know a story like this. He recalled the case of Uriah’s wife. A woman David had taken from her husband before killing him. That woman rose to be King David’s favourite queen. She became his flower bloom, placing behind his other wives. She budded and blossomed, and became so fruitful. So her sons grew up to be heirs apparent. But this queen was now old, like petals sag when the day dusks. And no matter how she tried, she couldn’t stop t...

THE Fourth Prince stepped out of the house at last. Out of the study chamber he’d shut himself in for days. It was a new dawn after many nights, at least for a man buried for so long in books… as the sun rose in the sky and thawed the heaps of snow. Days had passed since Adonijah found the parchment he called treasure. And every night since that scroll fell in his hands, he had used his bedtime for study. His daytime wasn’t also free from contemplations. Now it was dawn after another long night. The prince opened his locked doors and stepped in his small open yard. He was stuck on a point in his study. So he stepped out while the day dawned. He wanted to catch some light and breathe. But soon after the stressed man was out to bask, he found himself reasoning again. Like it was two men talking in his head. Now I know why S’alom failed. I know what he did. Or, what he didn’t do! The Third One had set out on a wrong foot. So it was the launch that ruined everything. He spoke up now – like...

THAT night that the prince stole the scroll and burned the trace, even things changed in the house of power. A shifting season changed the times, too. It was the onset of winter in Israel. And before that night had dawned into day, the lingering summer had turned to winter. So Adonijah stayed in to study the scroll. This was the time in ancient Israel, when proud hills used to be covered in snow. Those chilly times that called for a cloth of wool for cover. So in those days, everyone braved the weather with the usual and moved on. Yet there was this man who wouldn’t be warmed up by anything. Be it cloth. Or fire. Or a hot sauce. It was David of Israel. It was the King in his old age. King David was well advanced in age, and the weathers took a toll on him. The warrior lay in bed, all limp and frail. And not a thing could liven him. Now the ministers of his court couldn’t bear to see him down. So they decided to rejuvenate their king. And they held a council for opinions. Yes, it was cl...

ROOTED in front of that dangerous place, the Fourth Prince sounded his order. And even the walls caved in. ‘Now tear down those doors!’ he roared. Then a throng of men crashed into those planks that marked the farmhouse shut. And within a moment the pieces fell apart. Now the men stepped aside for their master to march in. The stout one looked in their eyes, and he could tell he needn’t tell them to stay out. For even the newly bought ones among his slaves seemed to have caught on so fast. That he always did his search himself. Particularly when things came to that time of the year. So, the prince stepped into the hall alone, dark and haunted as it was. And his servants kept the watch outside the place. The search in that building began when it was noon, but nobody could leave there until night fell. The watchers outside lit their torches to stay on guard. Then their master came out only to get one when evening came. The place was haunted. Cobwebs and darkness masking the prince’s star...

SEVEN thousand days had passed like it was just seven years. But the fire that grazed the Marble Seat had not passed without scarring men. It was twenty solid years since the Third Prince fell in war, as he battled for the throne by the fire in his eyes. But here already he was back and faster. He returned as a fierce sweeping wind. And people called him Adonai, the Fourth Heir. For he was the Wind that the Fire caused.