Not Done in a Corner

By Dale Ferguson

Ecclesiastes 12:12 says, "Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body" (NIV). Is this just one more book? Maybe not. It could be like no other study and commentary. It is also a story.

Like many writers, I used my imagination to fill in what Scripture omits but have included many historical facts and discoveries to fill in those blanks. For example, who were the Wise Men? What kind of star did they follow? Its purpose was to communicate. The Wise Men never went to Bethlehem. Buy the book to find out where they went. You will be treated to a comparison between John the Baptist and Elijah. You will find out what Zechariah's writing tablet looked like. You will learn why Jesus got so angry at the money changers in the temple.

Sometime around 2007, I was attempting to prove that the Jews have no excuse for not knowing their Messiah had arrived, concentrating on events surrounding Jesus's advent, and emphasizing that they all happened in or were connected to the temple in Jerusalem. Soon, I realized that no one else has an excuse either. I call these events public agitations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639039685

Dale Ferguson

Dale C. Ferguson received the Ph.D. degree from The University of Arizona, Tucson, in 1974. He is currently the Lead for Spacecraft Charging Science and Technology with the Space Vehicles Division, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM. For nearly 40 years, he has been addressing spacecraft charging problems, first with the NASA and now with AFRL. He is the author of more than 200 publications. He has been the Principal Investigator on numerous spaceflight experiments, including the Wheel Abrasion Experiment on the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Rover.

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Not Done in a Corner

Dale Ferguson

ISBN 978-1-63903-967-8 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63903-968-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Dale Ferguson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Scripture take from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

To the memory of my dear wife, Phyllis. Without her support, this book would never have been published.

Introduction

The title of this book is taken from Acts chapter 26 where Paul, who had been taken prisoner for agitating the Jewish leaders, makes his defense before Festus, the local Roman governor, and King Agrippa. Paul said, "I stand here today testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come; how that the Christ must suffer, and how that he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light both to the [Jewish] people and to the Gentiles" (Acts 26:22–23 WEB).

And as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are mad; much learning has made you insane.

But Paul said, "I am not mad, most excellent Festus; but speak forth words of truth and soberness. For the king knows of these things, unto whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for they were not done in a corner." (Acts 26:24–26 ASV; slightly edited).

Paul must have been very convincing. He continues:

King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.

Then Agrippa said to Paul, You almost persuade me to become a Christian. (Acts 26:27–28 New KJV)

This book started out as a study sometime before 2007. I was attempting to prove that the Jews have no excuse for not knowing their Messiah had arrived, concentrating on events surrounding Jesus’s advent and emphasizing that they all happened in or were connected to the temple in Jerusalem. It didn’t take long for me to realize that no one else has an excuse either. I call these events public agitations, for lack of a better term.

Most of the Scripture quotes in this book are an integral part of the text. Therefore, I have omitted internal chapter and verse numbers to make the narrative flow. References appear with the quote. All scripture quotations are printed in italics, and the longer texts are taken from English versions which are in the public domain: the King James Version of 1611 (KJV), the American Standard Version of 1901 (ASV), and the World English Bible of 2000 (WEB). A few passages use the New International Version (NIV). Some passages have been edited at my discretion (for example: they marveled has been replaced with they were surprised).

I have been told that God doesn’t speak King James English anymore, but I refuse to update my writing to modern colloquialisms, like gonna, gotta, and wanna.

My most fruitful commentary reference has been The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim. It was published in 1883; he wrote long paragraphs and long sentences with lots of commas. He uses numerous footnotes but thankfully puts each one at the bottom of its referenced page.

This book is a story as well as a study and commentary. Like many other writers, I have used my imagination to fill in what Scripture omits but also included many historical facts and discoveries to fill in those blanks. Hopefully, I have not violated the accuracy of the biblical text. If any of my readers think I’m wrong, please tell me, but don’t be anonymous.

Our fictional character, Levi, will be appearing frequently, jumping in and out of scenes, writing, and telling people that the promised Messiah has arrived. By the time he meets twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple, he has observed seven public agitations surrounding Jesus’s advent, all observed by, or known to, temple personnel. These were certainly not done in a corner.

To separate fiction from fact and commentary, I have set the fictional story passages in indented margins. You’ll know it when you see it.

These public agitations created a wide variety of reactions and responses—fear and wondering (a lot of that), arguing (naming of John), enthusiasm (Simeon and Anna), the Wise Men who disturbed King Herod and all of Jerusalem, fury and anguish (Bethlehem), and amazement (Jesus at twelve). We will meet all these people later. After age thirty, when Jesus taught in the temple, He got the leaders so agitated that they wanted to kill Him.

Archaeology continues to verify the accuracy of the Bible. From 2010 to 2013, over four hundred writing tablets were found buried under forty feet of mud at the site of the Roman city of Londinium. A first-century writing tablet like Zechariah used in Luke 1:63 was usually a pair of wooden rectangles with raised edges. A thin film of beeswax was poured into this shallow tray. Writing was done with a sharp-pointed stylus. The other end was a chisel point used for erasing. For carrying, the tablets were tied together on an edge and folded to protect the wax and any writing on it. On the buried tablets, the wax was, of course, long gone, but scratches in the wood which were under the wax showed letters that could be deciphered. Most of the tablets contained business, legal, and personal communications. They were the first-century equivalent of notepads. Zechariah probably used a tablet frequently when he couldn’t speak.

Chapter 1

Finally, God Speaks

Levi was excited! He had just turned thirteen and was now eligible to participate in the temple worship. Added to his excitement was the fact that his uncle Zechariah had been chosen to burn incense in the holy place that day. Levi knew that his uncle had waited a long time for this opportunity.

The priests who ministered in the temple in Jerusalem belonged to twenty-four divisions. Each division served for one week in rotation. Each day, a priest was chosen by lot to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense but was allowed to do this only once in his lifetime.

Levi was the youngest son of Zechariah’s youngest brother. As a little boy, he was quite active and obviously curious. When he was old enough to talk, his curious nature was confirmed. He was always asking questions, many of them quite intellectual, and was frequently told, Go ask your uncle Zechariah.

Old Zack and his wife, Elizabeth, were happy to take over Levi’s education. They had been married many decades and had no children. At that time, the Jews in Israel spoke Aramaic, but Zack decided early that Levi would learn Greek and do it by copying portions of the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures called the Septuagint—later to be called the Old Testament.

When the time for the burning of incense came, Levi could hardly contain his excitement. His uncle entered the temple and walked up the steps to the holy place while a crowd of assembled worshippers prayed outside. Once inside, things didn’t go as planned. An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and [fearful]. But the angel said to him: "Don’t be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.

Many of the people of Israel will he turn back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and will persuade disobedient minds to accept the wisdom of faith, [and] to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:12–17 NIV)

It is quite possible that Zechariah’s excitement at finally being chosen to burn incense was tempered by his lack of children. He was at least sixty, and Elizabeth was probably feeling signs of menopause.

One of the writings of the old