The Lost Scriptures.

The Story of Ahikar

“THE story of Haiqar the Wise, Vizier of Sennacherib the King, and of Nadan, sister’s son to Haiqar the Sage. 2 There was a Vizier in the days of King Sennacherib, son of Sarhadum, King of Assyria and Nineveh, a wise man named Haiqar, and he was Vizier of the king Sennacherib. 3 He had a fine fortune and much goods, and he was skilful, wise, a philosopher, in knowledge, in opinion and in government, and he had married sixty women, and had built a castle for each of them. 4 But with it all he had no child by any of these women, who might be his heir. 5And he was very sad on account of this, and one day he assembled the astrologers and the learned men and the wizards and explained to them his condition and the matter of his barrenness.

6And they said to him, ‘Go, sacrifice to the gods and beseech them that perchance they may provide thee with a boy.’ 7And he did as they told him and offered sacrifices to the idols, and besought them and implored them with request and entreaty. 8And they answered him not one word. And he went away sorrowful and dejected, departing with a pain at his heart. 9And he returned, and implored the Most High God, and believed, beseeching Him with a burning in his heart, saying, ‘0 Most High God, 0 Creator of the Heavens and of the earth, o Creator of all created things! 10 I beseech Thee to give me a boy, that I may be consoled by him, that he may be present at my death, that he may close my eyes, and that he may bury me.’

11 Then there came to him a voice saying, ‘Inasmuch as thou hast relied first of all on graven images, and hast offered sacrifices to them, for this reason thou Shalt remain childless thy life long.

12 But take Nadan thy sister’s son, and make him thy child and teach him thy learning and thy good breeding, and at thy death he shall bury thee.’ 13 Thereupon he took Nadan his sister’s son, who was a little suckling. And he handed him over to eight wet-nurses, that they might suckle him and bring him up. 14 And they brought him up with good food and gentle training and silken clothing, and purple and crimson. And he was seated upon couches of silk. 15 And when Nadan grew big and walked, shooting up like a tall cedar, he taught him good manners and writing and science and philosophy.”

The Story of Ahikar is a good example of wisdom literature – it is an ancient story. Ahikar is considered to be wise – he is, after all, the Grand Vizier to Sennacherib, the King of Assyria (c. 681 BCE). The Wise Ahikar is the hero in this story. He has married sixty women, and he is still without a child. He decides to raise his nephew Nadan as heir to his fortune. But Nadan does all that he can to get his uncle condemned to death. Before he is executed, the swordsman in charge of his death recognized Ahikar as one who had earlier saved his life. Ahikar goes on to solve the nation’s problems. The rest of the story follows this moral: “He who digs a pit for his brother shall fall in it.” 

I encourage you to “Google” this story and read it for your own enjoyment.  Wisdom literature is important for nothing else than the intrigues, the moral condemnations of the traitors, and the virtuous wise men and women who provide the moral proverbs that help us see the evil and the good of our world through the actions of others. Even the ancient stories can provide us lessons for life.

Pastor Dave

The Lost Scriptures.

The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

A number of young catechumens were arrested, Revocatus and his fellow slave Felicitas, Saturninus and Secundulus, and with them Vibia Perpetua, a newly married woman of good family and upbringing. Her mother and father were still alive and one of her two brothers was a catechumen like herself. She was about twenty-two years old and had an infant son at the breast. (Now from this point on the entire account of her ordeal is her own, according to her own ideas and in the way that she herself wrote it down.) While we were still under arrest (she said) my father out of love for me was trying to persuade me and shake my resolution. ‘Father,’ said I, ‘do you see this vase here, for example, or water pot or whatever?’ ‘Yes, I do’, said he. And I told him: ‘Could it be called by any other name than what it is?’ And he said: ‘No.’ ‘Well, so too I cannot be called anything other than what I am, a Christian.’ At this my father was so angered by the word ‘Christian’ that he moved towards me as though he would pluck my eyes out. But he left it at that and departed, vanquished along with his diabolical arguments. For a few days afterwards I gave thanks to the Lord that I was separated from my father, and I was comforted by his absence. During these few days I was baptized, and I was inspired by the Spirit not to ask for any other favor after the water but simply the perseverance of the flesh. A few days later we were lodged in the prison; and I was terrified, as I had never before been in such a dark hole. What a difficult time it was! With the crowd the heat was stifling; then there was the extortion of the soldiers; and to crown all, I was tortured with worry for my baby there.”

The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity accurately reflects the life situation of the African Christian community at the beginning of the third century. Perpetua and Felicity were part of a group of five catechumens apprehended in Carthage in 203 A.D. for practicing their faith.  Perpetua was a well-educated twenty-two-year-old married mother with a nursing infant, and Felicity was her servant, herself seven months pregnant.  Together they and their companions were imprisoned and roughly treated by the soldiers as they awaited their martyrdom.

Perpetua’s brother asked her to ask G-d in prayer if they would be released or if the imprisonment would result in death.  Perpetua was given a vision of a golden ladder laden with iron weapons leading to heaven with a dragon crouching at the bottom.  The two ascend successfully in the vision, and after Perpetua related this to her brother, they decided that it meant that this imprisonment would lead to their martyrdom and not their release.  Perpetua writes, “We understood that it was to be a passion, and we ceased henceforth to have any hope in this world.”

We all want to have hope in the world – we do. We hope that love and joy wins out over evil and death. Having faith will not keep us from experiencing our own mortality – but hope in Jesus will secure our eternity. 

Pastor Dave