PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM
By
NORBERT MERCADO
Also by Norbert Mercado
NOVELS
72 Hours in Moscow
Cambodia's Children of Sorrow
The Children of Mars
Even the Grass Bleeds
I Don't Need A Throne
The Korean War
The Last Romanov
In The Shadow Of The Roman Empire
Farewell Darkness!
The Roman Governor of Judaea
Morning Glory
Love Is Beautiful
Prepare For Eternity
Dulce Extranjera
BOOKS IN THE ENSOMO SERIES
Pilgrims To Jerusalem
The Burning Of The Fields
A Year Without Summer
For more information on Norbert Mercado, visit
https://norbertomercado.blogspot.com
PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM
Norbert Mercado
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except in cases of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014
All rights reserved. This book is sold, subject to the condition that is shall not, by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ISBN: 978-1-311-21464-5
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
VERSION: 2017-04-27-2130
To my daughter
Dr. Jerusalem Angela M. Mercado, M.D.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Last Chapter
Dedication
A Historical Novelist For Peace
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. . . CHAPTER . . .
1
“Life is more exciting if there is a dream,” Jonathan Abraham told Gene Ensomo as the cruise ship Queen Virginia plied the Mediterranean Sea on a cold night. The ship was on its way to Port Haifa in Israel.
Jonathan Abraham, and his wife Ruth, were Jews who were born in Australia. Their parents escaped from the Netherlands to the Philippines during World War II when the German leader Adolf Hitler began the horrifying persecution of the Jews in Europe. This persecution resulted in genocide: the killing of more than six million Jewish people.
Philippine Commonwealth President Manual L. Quezon gave the escaping Jews a safe haven from Hitler and his henchmen. Jonathan’s parents, as well as Ruth’s, escaped from Europe to Manila in a ship from Rotterdam which first made its way to Port Said in Egypt. Then, they took another ship which sailed to Singapore, and then another to Manila, Philippines.
After the Second World War, they settled in Sydney, Australia where some of their relatives and friends, who were also from Europe, escaped to and settled in.
Jonathan and Ruth were both born in Sydney, Australia. Jonathan’s parents, Menachem and Sarah Abraham and those of Ruth, Baruch and Golda Meir, were close friends since their years in the Netherlands. Jonathan was an only child. Ruth has two sisters, Mary and Liv.
Ruth will not readily admit that she already loved Jonathan even before they were married. She would sometimes tease that she was forced into it. Their parents still practiced the custom of an arranged marriage since this was done by many Jewish parents even after World War II. But unlike Ruth, Jonathan professed his undying love for her with every given opportunity. And since they were married, their love for each other has grown tremendously.
“Life has vibrant colors if we have a dream,” Ruth said supportively of her husband.
It would seem uncanny for the couple to be so optimistic once you’ve found out that they still had no children.
“Until now, we still dream of having kids. Ruth is forty-three years old, and I am forty-five. It is still possible for us to have children for nothing is impossible with God. Do you remember the story of Abraham and Sarah?” Jonathan asked Gene Ensomo.
Gene loved the Bible and knew that story well. He remembered that Abraham and Sarah were childless for an even greater number of years than Jonathan and Ruth. And yet Abraham trusted God when He promised that he would have a son. Gene encouraged Jonathan to tell the story.
“Sarah was barren. But God promised Abraham that his wife would bear a child even in her old age. And that’s what happened. And we, the Jewish people today, are the great, great, great grandchildren of Abraham and Sarah,” Jonathan said.
“That’s why your family name is Abraham,” Gene Ensomo said.
“Yes, Gene. Our lineage began with Abraham of Ur and continues until now to the Abraham family in Sydney. It’s a very long journey and it has taken a very long time. Thousands of years have passed, and the descendants of Abraham are still here on earth,” Jonathan said.
“God is faithful to His promise to Abraham,” Gene said.
“The Lord is faithful to everything He promised to our father Abraham. The Lord God told him, Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your descendants be. And Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord regarded his faith as righteousness,” Jonathan said.
“And Isaac was born later on,” Gene said.
“Abraham was about one hundred years old when Isaac was born. He was ninety-nine years old when the Lord appeared to him and said, I am God Almighty, walk before Me, and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous. As for Me, this is My covenant with you; you shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you, says the Lord. That’s His promise to Abraham, Gene. And God is always faithful to His promises,” Jonathan said.
“And his wife Sarah was ninety years old when she bore Isaac. It’s amazing for a woman to conceive at that age. But when God promises something, it will be fulfilled in God’s perfect time,” Ruth, who was beside her husband, added.
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. . . CHAPTER . . .
2
The evening breeze in winter was very cold at the deck of the Queen Virginia. It was almost ten in the evening, but Jonathan and Ruth were still at the deck. Gene wondered why they were not yet in their room in the luxury ship.
“It is very cold out here, Sir. Don’t you want to be in your room already?” Gene asked Jonathan.
“We like the evening breeze. It’s soothing to feel the wind when it blows across your face. It also allows us time to rest our minds,” Ruth explained.
“Oh, I see,” Gene said.
“You see, Gene, Ruth is a Christian writer. She writes novels. Most times, she’s just in front of her laptop, typing away. I’m even jealous that she spends more time with that machine than w
ith me. I’d like to pull her away from that device from time to time, and have her all to myself,” Jonathan said with a grin.
Gene was surprised to hear that Ruth wrote Christian novels. Gene knew that Jews and Christians have major differences in theological beliefs.
“Are you not Jews, Sir?” Gene asked.
“We are. But we are Messianic Jews. So, we are Christians,” Jonathan replied.
Gene was confused. He scratched his head.
Jonathan was used to people getting confused about their beliefs. He talked about their faith in Christ.
“Gene, Ruth and I believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, Lord, and God, even though we are Jews. Christians believe in Jesus Christ as the Promised Messiah, the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. Jews on the other hand do not believe in Jesus. Even until now, they are still waiting for their coming Messiah. Ruth and I, even though we are Jews, believe that Jesus Christ is the Promised Messiah. He is the sacrificial Lamb mentioned by the prophets of Israel. He is God incarnate, the God who took the form of a man in the person of the baby Jesus, and who grew up in wisdom and stature. He was crucified for our sins, and the sins of all mankind, so that we may all be redeemed from sin and hell. Jesus is the Redeemer of mankind, and He is coming again. That’s what Ruth and I believe.
We are Jews by physical birth and Christians by spiritual birth. That’s what the Lord Jesus meant when He told the Jewish rabbi Nicodemus that unless a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Man cannot be saved by his religion. What Nicodemus initially had was religion. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the highest religious body or religious court in Israel during Nicodemus’ time. The Sanhedrin served as the final interpreter of the laws of God handed by the Lord to Moses. Nicodemus was a strict follower of the laws of God. And yet, Jesus told him that merely following the laws of God would not save him from hell. Nicodemus must be born again to be saved from hell,” Jonathan explained.
“So, Jews can be Christians?” Gene asked the couple.
“Yes. Of course! The first Christians were Jews. Remember that the apostles of Jesus were Jews – Peter, John, Bartholomew, Matthew, and the rest were Jews, but they became followers of Christ. That’s what the word Christian means. The more than five hundred disciples of Jesus who saw Him rise from the grave were all Jews. Saul of Tarsus, the former arch-enemy of Christians because he persecuted them for their faith in Christ, was a Jew. Later on, he became Paul the Apostle when the Lord Jesus stopped him on his way to Damascus to arrest early Christians there. All of the early Christians were Jews. We are like those early Christians, Gene,” Ruth explained.
“I see. It is clearer now… May I ask another question?” said Gene.
“Go ahead. What is it?” Ruth asked.
“God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. Besides the nation of Israel, what other nation came from Abraham?” Gene asked.
“Well, practically all Christian nations came from Abraham because when we speak of a nation, we refer not only to the genes of its people, but to its faith and its culture. And when we say culture, we refer to the mental and spiritual background or upbringing of a people. We refer to the soul and the spirit of a man. Most of the laws of Christian nations today emanated from Jewish laws, like the Ten Commandments of God. The United States of America was founded by God-fearing men and women who based their faith in God and in the Holy Scriptures which is composed of the Old and the New Testaments. So, it is not just the nation of Israel that came from Abraham, but all nations that believe in and worship the God of Abraham. God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled,” Ruth explained.
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. . . CHAPTER . . .
3
“I want to add to what Ruth has said. May I, Honey?” Jonathan asked his wife.
“Sure…,” Ruth replied.
“We often forget that Isaac is not the only son of Abraham. Ishmael was also Abraham’s son with the slave-girl of Sarah named Hagar. Ishmael had twelve sons according to the book of Genesis, in chapter twenty-five. And in the same chapter, it is written that Abraham re-married after the death of Sarah. His wife after Sarah was Keturah. And she bore him six more children,” Jonathan said.
The deck of the ship was dimly lighted during that evening. Jonathan asked Gene if he had a penlight he could borrow. Gene took out a small flashlight from his pocket and gave it to Jonathan.
Jonathan fiddled with the pockets of his winter jacket until he was able to pull out a compact Bible. He turned its pages to chapter twenty-five of the book of Genesis.
“Let me read that chapter for you, starting from verse one:”
Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim. The sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.
These are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, one hundred and seventy-five years. Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. It came about after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived by Beer-lahai-roi.
Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham; and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; twelve princes according to their tribes. These are the years of the life of Ishmael, one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. They settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives. (Genesis 25:1 to 18)
“And Isaac had twin sons with his wife Rebekah. Their names were Esau and Jacob. And the twelve tribes of the Jewish people came from the twelve sons of Jacob, whom God later called Israel,” Jonathan said.
Gene nodded and appreciated the reading of the Holy Scriptures by Jonathan. He understood better this time.
“God also promised Israel that nations and kings would come from him,” Jonathan said as he turned the pages of his Bible to Genesis chapter thirty-five, verses eleven and twelve. He read it to Gene and to Ruth with the aid of the penlight.
God also said to him,
“I am God Almighty;
Be fruitful and multiply;
A nation and a company of nations shall come from you,
And kings shall come forth from you.
“The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I will give it to you,
And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”
It was already past eleven o’clock in the evening. The couple decided that it was time to rest.
“Let’s rest, Gene. Tomorrow, we will be in Jerusalem,” Jonathan said.
“Okay! See you two tomorrow,” Gene replied.
The couple left Gene at the deck and went to their room in the cabin suites below.
The Queen Virginia would dock at Port Haifa by six o’ clock in the morning of the following day.
Gene was left on the deck alone. The deck was his room. He wanted to sleep there because, he, too, liked the evening breeze. He asked a ship office
r earlier if he could sleep there, and the officer granted him permission to do so. He borrowed one of the ship’s folding beds from a Filipino crew member that he knew. There were more than twenty Filipinos working in the cruise ship either as cooks or cleaners.
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. . . CHAPTER . . .
4
Breakfast was served starting at five in the morning. Jonathan and Ruth went to the dining hall of the luxury ship ten minutes later. They were still earlier than most of the other passengers who could have availed of the meal that was part of their travel package.
“Did you have a good rest, Sir?” a familiar voice asked.
Jonathan turned around and was surprised to see Gene. “Gene, you’re working here? I thought the deck was your assignment,” Jonathan said.
“That’s where I sleep, Sir. Here in the ship, we are given various assignments on a rotating basis. Sometimes, we work as cleaners. At other times, we carry supplies. Today, I’m assigned in the mess hall as a waiter,” Gene explained.
“Oh, that’s good. At least you get to broaden your experience,” Jonathan said.
“Yes, Sir. That’s true. By the way, what would you prefer, Sir? Coffee or Tea?” Gene asked.
“I’d like brewed coffee,” Jonathan replied.
“Certainly, Sir. And what about you, Ma’am?” Gene asked Ruth.
“Tea, please… Thank You, Gene,” Ruth replied.
Gene walked away for a while to arrange for the couple’s food and drinks.