Jesus: The Egypt Years

Jesus the Egypt years

femi Martin

Published by femi Martin, 2023.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

JESUS THE EGYPT YEARS

First edition. August 15, 2023.

Copyright © 2023 femi Martin.

Written by femi Martin.

I dedicate this book to my mother, Thank you mum for all your support.

Jesus

The Egypt Years

Jesus

The Egypt Years

Femi Martin

Copyright © Femi Martin 2023

All places and characters in this story are solely imaginary.

Although the story is about real places and real people in real time.

The whole content of the story is solely the author’s imagination

and it’s written to give glory to God.

All rights reserved.

With all rights under the copyright reserved. No part of this book

may be reproduced, stored or introduce into a retrieval system or transmitted

in any form and by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording

or otherwise,) without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Coverpage design by Candice Broersma designs for Author

Edited by Elizabeth Smith

Typeset by Iram Allam

Development Editing by Oksana Marafioti

Proofread by Sugandha Gupta

First published online by Femi Martin 2023

For my mother

Chapter 1

Arriving in Egypt

We’ve got to answer one question, and the question is, why doesn’t the holy family settle down in one place in Egypt? As we know Egypt is a different country where King Herod has no power. But they travel down the coast to the south. They arrive at the time, in Pelusium in the night without any money or property, just the clothes they’re wearing. And the presents the three wise men gave to baby Jesus.

Pelusium at that time is a bustling city with daily trades flowing through its large port. At night, the city takes to the inns that remain open. When ships dock at the port, shipmates and traders need accommodations, this keeps the city open through the night. Pelusium is the largest city outside Jerusalem and is close to Israel, so it houses many Jews who live in Egypt.

Entering the city at night, Joseph walks the donkey that Mary and baby Jesus are riding. Mary is breastfeeding baby Jesus as they go along. She worries about leaving Bethlehem in haste and making the journey. She feels sad and a tear falls from her eyes. She wipes it off with her headscarf then sees houses before her, instead of the desert land they’ve been travelling through. She calls to Joseph realizing that they’ve finally entered Egypt.

Where will we stay for the night? she asks. Her weariness from the journey shows on her while she tries to concentrate on feeding baby Jesus.

Let’s go into the inn there, Joseph replies, pointing to an inn on the road.

He knows Mary has seen the inn before she asked. Joseph is still worried, even near to paranoia, about the new baby. Even the woman he’s married to worries him. If not for the warning from the angel of God, he would have divorced Mary.

We might find a bed there, he says.

We have no money, Joseph, says Mary.

Joseph stops the donkey and looks into the bag containing the presents the three wise men gave to baby Jesus. He takes out the frankincense.

This should pay for our stay.

When the innkeeper sees that they have a baby with them, he takes compassion on them, especially when Joseph says they’ve been travelling all day with the baby. He looks at the frankincense and sees that it’s of superior quality. He’s instantly amazed.

Where did you get this? he asks as suspicion grows in his voice.

It’s a present given to our baby when he was born. Since we have no use for it, can we trade it in for a room and some food? Joseph says as he senses suspicion.

Cocking his head to the side, the innkeeper looks them up and down. Mary gets down from the donkey and comes closer, bringing her baby into view. Seeing the baby, the inn keeper goes in and comes out with drinks for them. He invites them inside and signs them in.

My name is Al Hamond Gosham. You can call me Gosham. Everybody does, he says seeming overjoyed by something. Stay as long as you want, he adds while giving them a key.

He keeps bowing his head down to the baby as they walk away to their room. Before they’re settled in their room, food and clothing arrives from Gosham. They learn they’ve been given one of the best rooms at the inn. Mary gives baby Jesus a bath while Joseph goes into the city.

Coming into the city, he sees the port still busy and shipmates unloading their boats. He walks by the harbour and arrives at the port. Joseph is a carpenter, trained for in Galilee, but on this occasion he’s open to any job on offer.

As he walks, Joseph is pondering on the angel’s message that Herod sought to kill the baby. He believes it will only be in Bethlehem, being the place where baby Jesus was born. However, upon reaching the port a surprise awaits him. They did travel by land but to his surprise he’s seeing Jewish people arrive by boat in hundreds. He’s surprised and baffled at the same time, so he wants to learn more. He walks close to a family. The mother seems to be in tears and the rest of the family sombre.

Hello, friends. Joseph says. The father stops and yells at Joseph.

Can’t you see we’re in sorrow?

I’m sorry. Joseph says. But why are you in sorrow?

It’s Herod, the man continues. He has gone mad. He’s killing all the male children in Bethlehem. He killed my son. He was only a year old. He burst into tears.

Joseph immediately hugs the man. He feels sad for their loss knowing at once that he and Mary only might have missed Herod’s men by a few seconds. That’s the reason, the angel of the Lord had sent them out into Egypt in the middle of the night.

He grows fearful, knowing the extent of the damage Herod has caused just to kill baby Jesus. He allows the family to go while he walks down into the port. He meets more Jewish people bearing the same horrible story of King Herod’s massacre. When he reaches the harbour, he tells a foreman there that he needs a job to take care of his family.

What can you do? the foreman asks.

I’m a carpenter by trade, Joseph says. Right now, I will do anything.

Good, the foreman says. It just happens that we need some carpentry done on the boats. Come with me.

He takes Joseph into a boat and hands him a set of tools before he shows him damaged places around the boat that he wants fixed. For the past three months they’ve been traveling, Joseph had taken time to think about why Herod wants baby Jesus dead. Of course, he believes the angel of the Lord, but as a human he wonders anyway. He’d not imagined something this big. He never thought King Herod will go to such extreme lengths to have baby Jesus killed.

Joseph thinks about what he’d just heard. Although he wants to run back to the inn, and pack and leave the city with baby Jesus, yet he stays, knowing they will need every penny he can make. What frightens Joseph most is the fact that their enemy is King Herod, and in his fear, he forgets that God is greater than the king.

The room on the boat where the crew eats is in a big mess with most of the desks and benches broken. Joseph begins to fix them, seizing the opportunity to associate with the boat crews.

At the end of the night when Joseph returns to the inn, Mary is asleep while baby Jesus lies in a cot beside the bed. Joseph sees that the innkeeper has supplied everything they need. But he doesn’t want to take advantage of the situation because he doesn’t know how much a frankincense is worth. He doesn’t know how long or how far the reach of the inn keeper’s hospitality will go, so he wants to be cautious.

Joseph had decided to marry Mary when she was pregnant knowing that the baby is not his. He knows that he has taken on a great responsibility to act as earthly father to Jesus. He eats and falls into bed beside his wife till the break of dawn when Mary awakes.

Mary wakes up to baby Jesus’s soft cries. She knows he’s hungry and prepares for his breakfast. She sees Joseph still fast asleep and wonders what he was up to when he went out last night. She continues to care for her baby. By noon when Joseph wakes up, she gets to hear everything. She’s playing with baby Jesus with a soft toy when Joseph wakes up.

Mary, you have to hear what I heard at the port yesterday, he says.

Then he tells her about the families coming into Egypt from Bethlehem and what news they brought with them.

That’s why I know that God is with us, he says. His angel told me to go into Egypt because Herod seeks to kill the child. How were we to know that King Herod will go this mad? It’s crazy, a complete madness, killing all these children just to get to your son.

What about his spies? Mary says. She’s quickly thinking ahead now that she knows. He has spies everywhere. They will talk to him if they see us.

Joseph knows she’s right. King Herod has spies everywhere and he pays them well enough for them to tell him anything they see. In the meantime, he thinks they should be safe where they are. He doesn’t want to run again and since he hasn’t heard from an angel telling them to leave, he feels they’re safe while they’re in Egypt. Joseph doesn’t want to lose his job at the port especially, when he’s making good money.

We’re in Egypt, Joseph says. His spies won’t come here.

He dresses up and goes into the city to buy some things. Having earned hundred debens, Egyptian currency at the time, makes him proud of himself. He buys clothes and nappies, which are woollen cloths cut into squares and held in place with pins. Joseph buys provisions and even clothes and flowers for Mary,

his wife.

Mary tries to keep baby Jesus out of sight because she’s worried someone might recognize him. However, once Joseph presents her with the gifts he’d bought for her, she lets go of her worries and accepts his offer to take her out with baby Jesus. They follow the street towards the sea before they choose a path along the sea and walk for a while.

Joseph is looking here and there at different restaurants. Then, Joseph asks Mary to turn back and return to the inn. The city of Pelusium is still busy as they walk on, and people pass them. He stops in front of a restaurant and speaks.

This is it. This one will do.

Mary looks up at the sign on the door and sees that it’s a Jewish restaurant. A worried look sets on her face.

Joseph, the baby. They will recognize him in there.

But we’re in Egypt. All that crazy stuff was in Bethlehem and the whole of Judea. Come on let’s go in. I promise you if anyone says anything about the baby we’re leaving.

Mary thinks it over, standing there on the pavement for a long time. Her push comes when she looks up and down the road laid with cobble stones. Some carriages are passing at that time, a high-ranking Egyptian official’s carriage and other carriages stop along the way. Mary with the baby in her arms, rushes towards the restaurant in panic. She fears every authority since Joseph told her of Herod’s massacre. She knows the fear is not a holy fear, but it serves to protect her baby. She is afraid that any authority will want to seek her baby’s death. Her back is turned, and she stands at the door of the restaurant as the carriage passes.

Joseph doesn’t waste time in leading her inside. A line of benches