Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: IRONY (10/26/23)
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TITLE: How to Make a Prophet | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
11/02/23 -
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“If that doesn’t defy all logical expectation and belief,” he muttered to the potter in the next stall. “That madman stumbles into town frothing at the mouth about some deity who is going to wipe us all out and there he is ranting at the all-powerful One while we’re on our faces shivering in terror. Something doesn’t seem right with this picture.”
The potter tipped back a gourd, sipping the tepid liquid inside. “It makes sense when you hear his story.”
The carver laid aside the silver figurine he was polishing. “All I know is that the king has forced us all to wear sackcloth and to fast. Apart from that bleached appearance, what do we need to fear about this man?”
“I hear he’s been resurrected twice already.”
The carver shoved the polishing cloth into a crevice of his robe. “What?”
“Yeah, the butcher on the next street over used to be a soldier connected with a general who visited the land of the god who is threatening to wipe us out. He said they have a prophet named Elisha who raised this fellow from the dead when he was a boy. A widow’s son, he was.”
“Powerful sorcerer, was he?”
“I heard he cured an Aramean general of leprosy, anointed kings, and helped the nation regain its territories. He was twice as powerful as the one that went before him.”
The carver unfolded a piece of cloth and took out some flatbread. “And now, they send us this bumbling fool.”
“Don’t be thinking of him that way. His god devastated Egypt with plagues, he wiped out the Canaanites and half the other nations in that area. It’s not the man, it’s his god you have to fear.”
He wrapped the bread. “If he’s the god of Israel, why is he bothering with us?”
“Maybe he’s planning on taking over so he sent us a warning.”
“Doesn’t look like he sent much of a warning. Maybe he should have sent us the other prophet.”
The potter emptied the last drop and eyed the vessel longingly. “Thing is, this fellow is that conjuror, Elisha’s anointed heir. What they say, happens!”
“You think this prophet might be twice as powerful as the one before him? Do you think that’s the way this god works?”
“If I didn’t know who he was I wouldn’t have believed the story I heard.”
The carver laid his head back. “What story did you hear this time?”
The potter pointed across the way. “You see how he’s so pale?”
“Yeah, what of it?”
“Got swallowed by a fish and vomited up.”
“Now, that’s a story I’ve got to hear.”
“Seems our reputation didn’t please the all-powerful one and he sent the old man to preach judgment on us. Instead, the man fled by boat, got tossed overboard by the crew because of a storm, got swallowed by a fish for three days and then spit up on land. He was given a second chance and here he is.”
The carver struggled to his feet and stomped the dust underfoot. “Still say he doesn’t look like much. What’s he ranting at over there, anyway?”
“Seems some plant grew up over him, he hid in its shade, then it died. He’s mighty upset that the all-powerful one might be giving us a second chance as well.”
“Seems ironic that he’d be upset over our second chance if he got a second chance.”
“Yeah, the butcher says the old man knows we are going to wipe out his people some day soon and he was thinking that the all-powerful one wouldn’t be compassionate and gracious this time.”
The carver picked up the silver figurine he’d been polishing earlier. “It seems ironic that the all-powerful one would get upset at us just because our war gods have to get their blood somehow. I’ve made a good profit off of these images. Do you think he’d stop his judgment if I melt this and take away his competition?”
“I think the king has us in sackcloth for a reason. Ignore the mouthpiece. Even if the prophet doesn’t want to give us a second chance, we better take it while we can.”
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