Queen of the Jews by NL Herzenberg

sword followed this man whose only weapons were faith and word. Could the little orphan girl be given to Ramah to raise as her own? This way she could have a daughter without taxing her womb yet again, she said.

Although he wielded the double power of high priest and king, John was powerless when his wife wanted something very much. It wasn’t clear yet how much she wanted the little orphan girl, but if his wife persisted in asking for her, he would have to give in. The girl could be a servant in the eyes of the world, Ramah’s little play-daughter at home. He thought of finding a way to have the two of them meet without drawing unnecessary attention, and he came to the conclusion that it was safer to have the girl brought to the palace than to have Ramah visit the girl.

When John Hyrcanus was alone with his thoughts, the humiliating terms of the truce with Antiochus VII Sidetes stood in front of him like arrows aiming at his heart.

What did he pay those three hundred talents of silver for? For the countryside around Jerusalem, looted by Antiochus’s men during their year-long siege? For refugees from the Judean defense effort who were not allowed to pass through Antiochus’s lines and were trapped in the middle between the two armies? And if only the silver from the Tomb of David had been enough! The terms of the truce were very specific in their intent to humiliate him personally and Judea generally: break down the battlements on the walls of Jerusalem; fight alongside Antiochus in the Seleucid war against the Parthians; recognize the Seleucid control over Judea. He agreed to all of it. There would have been no truce if he had rejected even one term.

Ramah’s voice interrupted his thoughts. ‚The priest’s servant is waiting, Yohanan. He wants to know if you wish the girl brought here today.‛ ‚If you want her to be brought today, tell him so.‛ He didn’t know how to say it, that her will was law inside the palace, and that the little girl was definitely an inside-the-palace matter, so it had to be what she wanted, not 140