THE STORY OF
JUDITH
It was true: Judith was a “Daddy’s girl.” How she wished she was a boy so she could go with him into the woods. He chopped down trees, then used saws to turn the wood into usable lumber. He wasn’t a carpenter. He was a lumberjack. He sold his wood to all the local carpenters. And Judith felt that her Abba was the strongest and bravest and best Abba in the whole world.
Every night after dinner, Abba would spend time swinging her around. Sometimes she would do backflips by walking up his legs while he held her hands tightly. She always felt safe in his arms. They made up new routines while her mother fussed that she was getting too old for such antics. She was only eight years old, but her mother said she should be behaving more like a lady and less like a monkey.
Judith knew that Abba loved all five of his girls, but she also knew that as the oldest, she was his favorite. She tagged along with him every chance she got.
Tonight would be special. Abba was chopping down trees in a new forest and would be extra hungry. Mother had let Judith make the bread all by herself. She had spent most of the day preparing it: mixing, kneading, and letting it rise. Now it was in the outside oven and would be perfect when Abba arrived for dinner. But her Abba didn’t come.
Mother fed the little girls and encouraged Judith to eat, but Judith was old enough to know that something was terribly wrong. Mother said that the wagon had probably broken down and not to worry — but Judith could see that Mother’s face was pale and she was trying not to show how worried she was.
Mother told Judith to watch her sisters so she could run to Uncle Nirel’s house and ask him to check on Abba. It wasn’t far and she was back quickly. She assured the girls that Uncle Nirel would go and help Abba get home. It was a long wait. Judith helped her mother get the little girls to bed, but Judith couldn’t sleep. She brought her blanket into the living room and lay down, but sleep would not come. Now that the little girls were asleep, she and Mother both began to cry. But then they would wipe away their tears and say something like, “It’s probably just a broken-down wagon. That wagon is really old.”
It was after midnight when Uncle Nirel and three other friends carried her Abba into the house. A tree had fallen the wrong way and pinned him to the ground. He was in a lot of pain and they carried him to a blanket on the floor in the living room so that Mother could keep an eye on him. They had given him some strong wine to help ease the pain. Only time would tell whether his back would heal, and he would be able to walk again. There were no doctors back then who could help.
Mother sent Judith to bed and brought her own blanket to be beside her husband. She took care of him all though the night and prayed that God would heal her husband. How can I raise five girls without a husband? And if he lives, will he ever be able to walk again? So many questions, such a long night.
But that night turned into weeks and then into months as Mother and Judith took turns nursing him. They took turns rubbing his legs and exercising them, but his legs continued to shrivel and grow weaker and his pain just seemed to get worse.
Judith had always been close to her Abba, but now she spent as much time with him as possible. He seemed to be in less pain when she would entertain him with stories or questions. One day she asked, “Abba, where was God when that tree fell on you? Why didn’t he protect you?” And even though she was so young, he answered her as honestly as he knew how.
“Judith, I think that God was in Heaven just like he always is. He could have stopped that tree from falling, but I believe that both good and bad things happen, and we shouldn’t blame God for them. I was the one who was careless and cut into a rotten tree so that it fell the wrong way. That’s not God’s fault.”
“But why didn’t he protect you?”
“Maybe he did! The tree could have landed on my head or my neck, and then I wouldn’t be here listening to your questions, and your mother would be raising you girls all alone.”
Another question that Judith asked during this time was, “Abba, what did you do to deserve this? Did you do something bad? Some of the ladies at the well told Mother that you must have done something bad for God to cause this to happen.”
“Oh, Judith, I’m sorry that you and Mother have to put up with the gossips at the well. I don’t think God caused this to happen. It was an accident. You need to not listen to those people. I hope you’ll grow up to love God and know that he loves you.”
Abba often entertained the girls with stories that he had learned at Hebrew school. He told them stories about God’s love for his people Israel. He told them about Noah, and Abraham, and Joseph, and Moses, and Daniel. And he told them that someday God would send a Messiah to help them understand him better.
Judith loved learning about God and asked more and more questions. Her Abba didn’t always know the answers, but he tried to help her understand that God loved her and cared about her. He cared about what was happening in their lives.
One way that Abba said he knew that God was watching over them was through their four closest friends. If it had not been for Uncle Nirel and Abba’s three carpenter buddies, Mr. Haran, Mr. Mica and Mr. Isaac, Mother would have gone crazy with worry. But these four men and their wives would drop off food and provide help around the house. They took turns visiting Abba just about every evening and tried to cheer him up.
Abba had quite a bit of wood stored in his back yard that was ready for sale. The men sold it for him as he needed the money.
One morning, when Judith arrived home from the well, she found all four men talking with Mother. She knew that it was a workday, and she was terrified that Abba had died. She screamed for them to tell her what was going on. They assured her that they were just discussing a possibility for her Abba. They invited her to sit down and join the discussion.
Mr. Haran and Mr. Mica told Judith that they had gone to hear the new prophet Jesus yesterday. They listened to his teaching and were amazed that he had healed many, many people. So now they were trying to convince the others that if they could somehow transport her Abba to where Jesus was teaching, that Jesus would heal him. Mr. Haran and Mr. Mica had called them all together to talk with Mother and Abba. They needed Abba to decide what they should do.
Abba said he was willing to try anything. Mother was less supportive since every little movement seemed to make Abba’s pain worse. The four men reminded her that they were running out of options since all the wood had been sold and there was no more income. When she reluctantly agreed, the next question was how to transport him.
The men decided the safest way would be to carry him on his blanket. They would use two or three blankets since he was a large man, and they didn’t want the blankets to tear. Then each would carry a corner like a stretcher.
First, they needed to find out where Jesus was teaching that day. Since Mr. Haran and Mr. Mica knew who they were looking for, they set out to find where Jesus was. They quickly located him and came back to report that the house where Jesus was teaching was just a little more than a mile away.
The four men helped Mother stack three blankets so they wouldn’t tear under his weight. Then the men lifted her Abba onto it. Judith covered her ears because she couldn’t stand to hear her Abba scream out in pain. Then the four men lifted him up by the four corners.
“I’m going with them,” Judith called to her mother. She didn’t wait for a response. She walked alongside her Abba as the men carried him carefully on his blanket. Mother stayed home with the younger girls.
When they finally reached the place where Jesus was teaching, the house was packed and the yard was full. There was no way they could get close to Jesus. They laid the blanket down in the dirt and sat down to try to figure out the next step. Mr. Haran lay down to stretch out his back (carrying a full-grown man for over a mile was hard work — even for a carpenter). They could hear Jesus teaching inside the house.
Just then, Mr. Haran sat up and yelled, “I’ve got it!” The crowd around them all turned and stared, and he apologized for being noisy. He whispered, “Mica, your shop is closest to here. Do you have some rope? We would need four pieces. Each piece would need to be about 15 to 20 feet long.”
“Yeah, I should have. Why?”
“Do you see that roof up there?” It was a flat roof where families would go to sit in the evenings. “I think we could tear out the tiles and let Ezra down through the roof. We’re carpenters — we can fix the roof easily and there’s no way that Jesus can miss seeing his need.”
“Let’s do it!” all four of them agreed. So, while Mr. Mica ran to his shop to find the ropes, Mr. Isaac, Uncle Nirel and Mr. Haran pushed their way through the crowd to the stairs and started quietly making a hole in the roof.
Judith stayed with her Abba. She wanted to cheer him up but couldn’t think of anything to say because the movement had really made his pain much worse.
Finally, she asked, “Abba, do you really think this man could be the Messiah?”
“I don’t know, Judith, but Mr. Haran and Mr. Mica think so, and they said that they saw him healing lots of people yesterday. I just know that I feel hope and I’m trusting that God is guiding us to the right place.” That made Judith feel better.
When Mr. Mica got back with the ropes, he and Judith tied one to each corner of the stretcher. They tied it as tightly as they could, but it still looked like the blankets would slip off when they lifted her Abba. After some experimenting, they made it secure by tying the corners of the blankets around the ropes so that there was no way the blankets could slip off.
When the hole in the roof was large enough, the men came down and began to carry Judith’s Abba up the stairs. That was the hard part! It was difficult to keep his bed level and every jolt was very painful. Then they very carefully let him down into the hole with the ropes. Judith had followed the men up the stairs and was peeking down into the hole.
She heard the crowd gasp when they realized that a man was being let down on a blanket. She watched as they began to push out of the way so that there was a place for him to land. When the blankets hit the floor, her Abba screamed in pain. Judith held her breath as Mr. Jesus stepped toward her Abba and said:
.... “Get up, take your mat and go home.”1
Judith and her Abba’s friends watched in amazement as he stood to his feet. He leaned over and picked up the blankets and ropes. He hugged Mr. Jesus and then the crowd parted to let him walk through. Everyone was amazed.
Judith raced down the stairs with the men close behind her.
“Abba, Abba, are you okay?”
“Okay?” Abba grabbed Judith and swung her around. “Yes, precious Daughter, but I’m better than okay!
“Come on, let’s go tell your mother!”
Uncle Nirel and Judith tried to keep up with Abba as he practically ran home. Mr. Mica, Mr. Haran and Mr. Isaac went back to repair the roof before they joined them.
Judith and her little sisters were dancing and singing. Everyone wanted to hear over and over what Mr. Jesus had said and done. It was hard to believe that only hours earlier Abba had been in such pain and his legs so shriveled that it was impossible for him to stand. Now he was dancing with Mother.
It was decided that instead of working tomorrow, the entire family and the four friends and their families would go and listen to Jesus teach. They had questions about this prophet who could heal so completely. But Judith knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this man was sent by God to heal her Abba.
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