Fishers of Men
Gerald N. Lund
The Kingdom and the Crown
The Complete Series
Gerald N. Lund
© 2012 Gerald N. Lund.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Shadow Mountain®. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of Shadow Mountain.
Table of Contents
Fishers of Men:
Kingdom and the Crown, Volume 1
Preface
Maps
List of Major Characters
Glossary
Pronunciation Guide for Names
Prologue
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
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Bibliography
About the Author
Come Unto Me:
Kingdom and the Crown, Volume 2
Maps
Preface
Synopsis of Volume One
List of Major Characters
Glossary
Pronunciation Guide for Names
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
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Bibliography
About the Author
Behold the Man:
Kingdom and the Crown, Volume 3
Maps
Synopsis of Volume One
Synopsis of Volume Two
List of Major Characters
Glossary
Pronunciation Guide for Names
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
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Bibliography
About the Author
Fishers of Men:
Kingdom and the Crown, Volume 1
Lund, Gerald N.
Fishers of men / Gerald N. Lund.
p. cm. — (The kingdom and the crown; v. 1)
ISBN 1-57345-820-1
ISBN-10 1-59038-667-1 (paperbound)
ISBN-13 978-1-59038-667-5 (paperbound) 1. Bible. N. T.—History of Biblical events—Fiction. 2. Jesus Christ—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3562.U485 F57 2000
813'.54—dc21 00-056281
Printed in the United States of America Banta, Menasha, WI
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Preface
Jesus of Nazareth.
Messiah. Redeemer. Savior. The Lamb of God. The Son of God.
No other single life has so profoundly changed the course of history and influenced humanity.
Thousands upon thousands of books have been written and are still being written about his life and teachings.
Some of the greatest artistic masterpieces in art, literature, and music have been inspired by him.
Even our basic division of time into two great eras is marked by his birth.
Numerous wars have been fought in his name.
Christianity today, with its hundreds of different churches, is the largest of all world religions. More than half of the world’s population is at least nominally Christian.
The book that contains the story of his life and the most complete summary of his teachings is the bestselling book of all times. For instance, the American Bible Society alone has distributed more than five billion Bibles since its founding in 1816; and it has translated at least portions of the Bible into more than five hundred languages.
With all of this, it isn’t hard to understand why my decision to write a historical novel set in New Testament times was not made lightly. In addition, it would be folly to assume one could write a novel that would embrace all interpretations of the faith and please all Christians, or even a small portion of them. And yet it is fascinating to think about those first days. . . .
To wonder what it must have been like when there were no “Christians.”
To try to imagine how it must have felt when the word first began to leap from mouth to mouth about a carpenter from the obscure village of Nazareth.
To sit at his feet and hear his new and astonishing doctrines for the first time.
To stand just feet away from him and personally witness as he healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, restored the crippled and maimed, raised the dead.
And perhaps most important, to ask oneself the question, “How would I have responded if I had been there?”
The following brief observations may be helpful to readers as they begin The Kingdom and the Crown. Writing a novel based on the life of Jesus Christ as told in the New Testament created some interesting challenges and dilemmas. My commitment in writing historical fiction has always been to represent both the history and the time period as accurately as possible. In this case, that became a particularly challenging task. In the first place, we are two thousand years removed from that time. Second, the only dependable historical record we have of the life of Christ and those he influenced is found in the New Testament. And the four accounts written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were never meant to be histories or biographies. They are eyewitness testimonies of his life and ministry. This leaves many of the details required by a novelist woefully lacking. A third challenge comes in interpreting what those events and teachings mean for us today—a question that has been answered in a thousand different ways.
Without trying to suggest that my answer to that very difficult question is the right one, and without trying
to “convert” the reader to my way of thinking, here in brief summary are some issues I wrestled with and how I resolved them. This, I hope, will help the reader better understand the story contained in this book.
There are now dozens of “versions” or translations of the Bible in English alone. Which text to use when presenting the teachings of Jesus posed a dilemma. The King James Version (often called the Authorized Version) is still the queen of all translations, not only in the numbers sold but in its influence on other translations and the art and culture of our civilization. Therefore, I chose to use the King James Version as the text I would follow.
Whole books have been written on the exact date of Christ’s birth, with the greatest consensus placing it between 7 b.c. and 4 b.c. However, our calendar assumes he was born in 1 b.c. Since this is a novel and not a scholarly examination of this question, I have chosen to use 1 b.c. as the base for dating in the novel. I did this simply because most readers will find it easier to think of Jesus as thirty years old in a.d. 30, rather than having to mentally add or subtract dates.
By the same token, though the Hebrews had their own calendar with different names for each of the months, and even though the primary characters in the novel are Jews, I chose to use the Julian calendar, which gave us the names of the months we still use today. Again, this allows the reader to know what time of the year it is when a date is given.
The cultural setting of Israel in New Testament times was very diverse. The common people in the Holy Land spoke Aramaic, but their scriptures were in classical Hebrew. Latin was the language of the Romans, but Greek was the lingua franca, or the language that was spoken everywhere in business and commerce. To accurately portray this diversity in the dialogue between characters could be very tedious. So while I remind the reader from time to time of this fact, I have deliberately avoided trying to be perfectly consistent because such an approach would soon become confusing.
In a similar vein, the problem of names becomes a challenge as well. Jesus is the English form of the Greek, Hee-ay-sous. In Hebrew the name was Yeshua, which is the same as the English form of the Old Testament Joshua. Moses is actually Moshe (MOH-sheh) in Hebrew. John is Yohanan. After some internal debate, I determined that I would use what “felt” authentic for fictional characters but stay with the more recognized forms of the names of actual people. So in the novel it is “John the Baptist,” not “Yohanan the Baptist.” It is “Jesus of Nazareth,” not “Yeshua of Nazareth.” One fictional character is named Moshe, but I never refer to the Law as “The Law of Moshe,” even though in actuality that was Moses’ name in Hebrew. This does create a few places where we have Jewish people explaining Hebrew names, which of course they would not have done. While it may not be entirely logical, I hope it lessens the confusion for the reader.
The name of God in the Old Testament is written with four consonants—YHVH. No vowels are given in the original. The King James translators and other versions have rendered this as Jehovah (the Y often becomes J in English). In recent times it has become more common to translate this as Yahweh or Jahveh. I chose to follow the more traditional form given in the King James Version.
The New Testament gives us four records or testimonies of Christ’s life. The four Gospel writers wrote to different audiences and had somewhat different purposes. Much of the material is common to more than one author, but each account has unique elements as well. Many scholars have attempted to create a “harmony” of Christ’s life, putting the recorded events in a logical order of occurrence. Few of these harmonies agree in every respect, and even the four Gospel writers do not agree on some minor details. A historical novel generally follows the sequence of events as they occurred. In this case, that is impossible to determine with complete accuracy. Therefore, while I have tried to follow the basic structure of Christ’s life—not taking things from late in his life and putting them in the first days of his ministry—in many cases it really doesn’t matter exactly when certain events happened. I therefore took some minor liberties in the sequencing of events and combining some of his teachings.
However, I did not feel free to take liberties with what Jesus taught. Though some minor changes in punctuation and sentence composition were necessary to put his teachings into dialogue form, I have not changed what he said. It is my firm conviction that what he said is sacred. We are free to interpret those sayings for ourselves but not to alter them as they were given. It was not possible in the novel to have Jesus say only what is recorded in the New Testament. The gospel writers did not record the casual, day-to-day interactions that surely were part of his life. But I kept these “fictional conversations” to a minimum and never used them to have Jesus teach something that is not part of the scriptural record.
It has been my privilege to travel to the Holy Land more than a dozen times, the last visit being in the summer of 2000. As part of that experience my wife and I have made numerous friends who are Israeli and Jewish. Through such associations and through my studies, I have become a great admirer of Judaism, its rich traditions, its long history, its symbols and rituals. These have not only profoundly influenced Christianity, but they still carry significant spiritual meaning today. I am not Jewish, but I have tried to accurately portray Judaism in all its richness and diversity. If I have fallen short of doing so accurately and sensitively, it is because of lack of personal experience, not lack of respect and admiration.
I have used notes at the end of each chapter to accomplish two purposes. First, the notes provide some information that will be helpful to the reader but that does not naturally fit into the flow of the novel. Second, I have given scriptural references so readers can easily find the original accounts in the New Testament and read them for themselves.
In conclusion, I must say that I have worried long about whether this “picture” of Jesus, and those who first heard and accepted him, appropriately represents reality. I have the greatest reverence for Peter and Andrew; James and John; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and all the other real people who were part of those foundational years. The scriptural record simply does not provide the detail needed to have them become fully fleshed-out characters in the novel. It is my deepest hope that in giving them personality and character, I have not misrepresented what they actually were and the contribution they made to the history of Christianity. That is especially true of the Savior himself.
People in the world have many different feelings about Jesus. Some say he was a great teacher but nothing more. Others accept him as a prophet but not divine. Some modern Bible scholars question the miraculous elements of his life, assuming they were added by later generations of Christians to enrich the story and heighten Christ’s stature. But many millions have believed and do now believe that he was literally the Son of God.
It will quickly become clear as one reads this novel where I stand. I accept the scriptural record as true. I believe with a totality of heart that the four Gospel writers were men of honesty and integrity and that they accurately portrayed what actually happened. I believe Jesus was the greatest man to ever live on the face of this earth. And more! I believe and accept the testimony of these first Christians who saw him nailed to the cross and then three days later saw and felt his glorified, resurrected body. This was what changed their lives forever. This was what changed the history of the world.
One day in northern Galilee Jesus asked his disciples, “Whom do men say that I am?” Two thousand years later, Peter’s answer still rings with power. His answer also perfectly reflects how I feel about Jesus of Nazareth and how I have tried to portray him in this book. Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:13, 16; emphasis added).
Alpine, Utah
July 2000
Maps
List of Major Characters
The Household of David ben Joseph, Merchant of Capernaum
David: Simeon’s father, 461
Deborah bat Benjamin of Sepphoris: Simeon’s mother, 44<
br />
Simeon: Second son of David and Deborah, ardent Zealot, 21
Ephraim: Simeon’s older brother, 25, married to Rachel
Rachel: Ephraim’s wife, 22
Leah: Simeon’s sister, 15
Joseph: Simeon’s youngest brother, 10
Esther: David and Deborah’s granddaughter, daughter of Ephraim and Rachel, 4
Boaz: David and Deborah’s grandson, son of Ephraim and Rachel, almost 2
Aaron of Sepphoris: Deborah’s brother, Simeon’s uncle, a dedicated Pharisee, 39
The Household of Mordechai ben Uzziel of Jerusalem
Mordechai: Miriam’s father; leader of the Sadducees, member of the Great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem, 42
Miriam bat Mordechai ben Uzziel: Mordechai’s only daughter, 18
Livia of Alexandria: Miriam’s servant and friend, 20
The Household of Yehuda of Beth Neelah
Yehuda: Simeon’s friend and partner in the Zealot movement, a farmer, 24
Daniel: Yehuda’s younger brother, also a farmer, 22
Shana: Yehuda’s sister, 17
Other Prominent Characters
Jesus of Nazareth: Carpenter and teacher, 30
Mary of Nazareth: Mother of Jesus
Marcus Quadratus Didius: Roman tribune, 25
Sextus Rubrius: Roman centurion, about 50
Moshe ben Ya’abin: Bandit and thief
Pontius Pilate: Procurator of Judea
Azariah the Pharisee: Leader of the Jerusalem group and titular head of the Pharisees, 50
Simon Peter: Fisherman, one of the Twelve Apostles called by Jesus
Andrew: Simon Peter’s brother, one of the Twelve
James and John: Sons of Zebedee, partners in fishing with Peter and Andrew; both apostles
Matthew Levi: A publican in Capernaum; called to follow Jesus, also one of the Twelve
Amram the Pharisee: Leader of the Pharisees in Capernaum, about 50
Nicodemus: A leading Pharisee in Jerusalem, member of the Great Sanhedrin
Gehazi of Sepphoris: A leader of the Zealot movement, mid-50s
1 Ages are given as of a.d. 30.
2 Ages for actual Bible characters are not given here since they are not known (other than the age of Jesus), though suggestions about their age may be included in the novel itself.
