Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Bolt: To secure, or to flee (10/02/25)
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TITLE: Running For Life | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
10/06/25 -
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“Asa?” Eliab knelt in the dust, cradling his friend’s head. Crimson darkened the soil beneath the curls. “Asa, please-open your eyes.”
Nothing but emptiness looked back.
An involuntary wail escaped his throat, followed by a whisper: “Ha’shem, I didn’t mean it.”
Shouts arose across the field – Asa’s brothers. They had witnessed the accident from the ridge. “Murderer!” one yelled. The word shot like an arrow into his heart.
Eliab rose and stumbled backward. “No! It was an accident!” But the fury in the brothers’ eyes as they ran toward him, sickles raised for judgment, meant one thing. Flee to live.
He tucked up his tunic and ran.
The grass tore at his sandals as he fled toward the valley. His lungs burned, his heart hammering so hard he thought it would burst. The law of Moses declared clearly – if a man killed another unintentionally, he could flee to a city of refuge, but if the avenger reached him first, his life was forfeit.
He was younger than the brothers, but the voice of the oldest still reached him. “Eliab, son of Caleb! You will not escape!”
He bolted through the wadi, a trickle of muddy water winding through the reeds. His gasping for air sucked in the scent of iron and dust. His tunic, slick with sweat, clung to his back. On his knees, he splashed his face and looked westward. There was one chance. He had to reach Kadesh, two days away across the hills of Naphtali.
“Give me strength,” he prayed.
He slipped out through a maze of boulders as the moon lit up his path. Branches whipped at his face; stones bruised his feet. His breath rasped loudly. The stars blurred overhead, cold and distant.
At dawn, he reached a small village. The marketplace stirred with merchants laying out woven mats, the smell of barley loaves rising from an oven. A woman drawing water noted his stumbling. “Friend, you’re bleeding,” she said.
He wiped the gash on his cheek with his sleeve. “Which way to Kadesh,” he blurted out, ducking behind a vendor’s tent.
“North, beyond the ridge,” she answered, pointing.
A shout at the edge of the marketplace echoed past. He ducked into a narrow alley between stone walls. Reaching a small house, he pounded on the door. In the name of Ha’Shem, open!”
The door opened to the face of a young man, his eyes wide. “What is it?”
“Hide me, I beg you.”
The youth looked over his shoulder, then pulled Eliab inside. “This way.” He barred the door and led Eliab to a small storeroom. “Stay quiet.”
The aroma of grain filled the air as Eliab leaned against the wall, chest heaving. Through the shutters, he saw riders dismounting in the street. The avengers had horses. What chance did he have?
One of the brothers shouted, “Search every house! The killer is close.”
Three houses were searched before the heavy blow shuddered the front door of the youth. The bar creaked under pressure. “Open, or we break it!”
The youth knelt before Eliab. I’ve bolted the door. Take this wineskin and bread. Out the back while there’s time. Go!”
Eliab slipped out the storage room window into the blinding daylight, sprinted across the courtyard, vaulted a low wall, and plunged into the olive groves beyond. Shouts continued to sound out as the brothers entered the home behind him.
Crushed leaves and rich earth added their welcome, but a flock of doves burst upward as he ran through. A brother must have noticed. “In the grove,” a voice shouted.
Eliab didn’t look back. His heart beat like a war drum. Thoughts of Asa’s laughter during harvest days surfaced in his mind, and a sob erupted as he sucked in air and raced for the hills. The gates of mercy were unbolted just ahead. The promise of mercy, tempered by grace, pressed him onward. Every breath was fire, every step filled with pain, but he kept running, driven by guilt and hope and the fierce will to live.
Among the rocky and rutted paths, the voices faded behind him. In the wind, a whisper drew him forward. “Run, son of Israel. The Lord sees the heart. Run for your life.”
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