The Parchment by Gerald T. McLaughlin

was a signal that the Romans were on the Temple Mount. There was little time left.
    When they heard the sound of the ram's horn, David and Zacharias ran to the easternmost courtyard where the women and children had gathered for safety. When they saw the Sicarii enter thecourtyard, the women wailed and hugged their children. Everyone knew what had to be done. Tears rolled down David's face, as he walked to where his wife Miriam and three-year old son Nathan sat. When Nathan saw his father, he ran to him and started rummaging through his pocket.
    “Abba, you promised me a present if I was good.”
    David threw his son up into the air as he did every day when he came home. When he put the child down, he pulled a brightly colored stone from his pocket. “I did not forget, Nathan.”
    Miriam embraced her husband for the last time.
    “Be brave, Miriam. This is the life we have chosen.”
    “When it is over, David, put Nathan's hand in mine. He may be frightened when he sees Yahweh.”
    Zacharias stood behind Miriam and unsheathed his knife. He looked at David and hesitated.
    “It must be done, Zacharias.”
    As he held his wife and son close, there was a flash of steel. David felt their bodies tighten and then go limp in his arms. He gently laid Miriam and Nathan on the ground and placed a stone on each of their bodies. As he brushed aside a lock of hair from his son's forehead, he put Nathan's tiny hand in his mother's.
    His robe wet with the blood of his family, David walked mournfully to where Zacharias stood. The dead lay all around them. For a second the two men's eyes locked. Zacharias covered his wife's face as David took out his dagger. It was over in a second. Zacharias gently lowered his wife's body to the ground and closed her eyes with his hand.

    A Roman tribune rode up to Titus as he watched the battle from the Mount of Olives. “There is still resistance, Imperator. The Jews fight so that you will not set foot in their Holy of Holies.”
    “They are brave, these Jewish dogs. I will honor their wish. I will not set my foot in their holy place.”

    When Rabbi Yohannen heard the sound of the shofer, he hurried to the sanctuary. High Priest Hezekiah was waiting for him. The priest took out a copper scroll from the folds of his robe.
    “Yohannen, here is the map to the cave and a list of what we have buried there. Show it to the chief rabbis of Jaffa and Antioch so they will know what we have done.”
    “Hezekiah, the plan must be changed. Roman soldiers are everywhere. If David and I are captured trying to escape through the tunnel, Titus will have the scroll. All our planning will have been for nothing.”
    “What else can we do?” The High Priest asked Yohannen.
    “Bury the scroll under the Temple. If David and I escape Jerusalem, we will not need the scroll to speak with the rabbis.”
    “And if you are captured?”
    “Yahweh has made an everlasting covenant with the Jewish people. We must trust in Him, just as our fathers Moses and Jacob did. The scroll will be discovered according to Yahweh's plan.”
    “Where will you bury it?” asked Hezechiah.
    “The Romans mocked our belief in life when they crucified eighteen of our people. We must reaffirm that belief, or our covenant with Yahweh will be at an end. Ben Hochba has hollowed out a stone under the Holies of Holies and marked it with the ‘chai. ’ I will put the scroll inside it. Someone with the eyes to see will find it.”
    “Who will have the eyes to see?”
    “That will be Yahweh's decision.”
    Hezekiah looked off into the distance as if searching for guidance.
    “Do as you must, Yohannen. We have no choice but to trust in Yahweh.”

    Rabbi Yohannen and Ben Hochba hurried down a staircase behind the sanctuary. After several minutes, the staircase flattened into level ground.
    “Here it is, Rabbi.” Ben Hochba pointed to a small “chai” chiseled into the face of an oblong stone along the right wall of the passageway. Ben Hochba took