The merchant says, ‘Friend, you have now spoken to me in full and true wisdom and told me what I have only too often felt within myself. But I do not understand why you insist so strongly that I should tell you what I take you, and especially him, to be. When I said what I took him to be from the beginning, you said he was not that, but much more! But how someone, without being a god, can be more than an earthly god of humanity, that is, an emperor, I do not understand. Jehovah alone is more, both in earthly and spiritual terms, than the earthly god, the emperor. But surely he cannot be that?’
Jonael says, ‘I tell you: look a little more closely at our company; perhaps something about it will strike you after all! What do you think of the many glorious young men you see in our company? Look at them, and then speak!’
The merchant says, ‘Until now I have taken them for the emperor’s pages and sons of Rome’s patricians, although, because of their delicate white skin and complexion, they might rather be disguised girls from the farther reaches of Asia Minor. For truly, I have seen much beauty of this kind, since in earlier times I traded in such wares to Egypt and Europe, particularly to Sicily, for the great Romans so devoted to every luxury of life. Yet I have never encountered figures of such unspeakable splendor! Do tell me who they are and where they come from. Your daughters too are figures of great beauty; but compared with these figures, which one could rightly call magnificent, they still fall far short. Since you surely know them better than I do, tell me who they are and where they come from!’
Jonael says, ‘It is not for me to tell you that, but only for Him who stands here among my daughters. Turn to Him; He will give you the right explanation!’
Here the merchant turns fully to Me and says, ‘Lord of these multitudes, who in my view follow you as lambs follow their shepherd, do tell me with whom I have the high honor of speaking in your exalted person. For I was asked, and guessed at the highest earthly rank; but I was told that I had been mistaken! Now I no longer know what to say, so consider me worthy of learning something more about this rank!’
I say, ‘You too are one of those who do not believe unless they see signs. But when they see them, they say: “Look, this is either a disciple of the Essenes, or a magician from Egypt or even from the land watered by the river Ganges, or a servant of Beelzebub!” But what can one do then? Yet if I tell you plainly who I am, you will not believe Me!
‘You expressed your opinion, and it was wrong. When Jonael told you that I was more than your earthly god, you said: “Jehovah alone is greater than an emperor,” and silently guarded yourself against accepting that I could be more than an emperor of Rome. At bottom you acknowledge him as the highest on earth merely from fear of his earthly power, while in your heart you despise him more than a plague, and his power more than swarms of locusts.
‘But today is already the third day that I have been staying in Sychar, and from here to the city it is only a pleasant walk of a few field paths. I should be very surprised if you had received no news of Me from your colleagues in the city!’
The merchant says, ‘Ah, so you are the one of whom I was told yesterday and today that he was the Messiah and bore witness to this through wondrous deeds! You are said to have remodeled the old house of the beautiful Irhael and furnished it in a wonderfully royal manner. I was also told of a sharp sermon you gave on the mountain, at which many took offense, since it was said to have been certainly anti-Mosaist!
‘Well, well, so that is who you are! I am glad you have visited me, and I hope to get to know you better. You know, I am not averse to this idea and firmly believe that the Messiah will and must come. By my reckoning, to speak plainly, the time would be about right! For the oppression of the Romans is almost unbearable now. And why should you not be the expected Messiah? Oh, I can accept that quickly and easily.
‘If you are conscious of your strength and properly understand how to present yourself everywhere as such, I am at your service with my entire great fortune. These swine from the heathen lands of the West shall soon clear out of the land of our fathers! For look, from my youth I have devoted all my strength solely to amassing the greatest possible riches for the sake of the expected Messiah, so that good pay might buy a mighty force of the bravest, most daring and cunning warriors. I have already entered into correspondence with several of the bravest peoples of the farther reaches of Asia, and it would take only a few messengers, and in a few months a terrible force would stand in these regions! But now no more of this; we shall discuss it further in my very spacious house.
‘But the midday meal will now already be ready for all of you, so come, all of you, and eat and drink to your hearts’ content!’
I say, ‘Well then, let everything be quite well and good up to that point; we shall then discuss and settle everything else fully. So lead us all into the great hall; but leave those men at the very back here. They do not belong to Mine, but purely to the world.’