Simon Peter was given Elijah’s mantle and, although he completed its unfinished task of bringing in the Gentiles, he did not go on to turn the hearts of the grafted-in children to their fathers in the faith.

Mary Magdalene was given Joseph’s mantle but she was quickly dispossessed of her inheritance. The memory of her actions was excised from the ending of Mark’s gospel and from Paul’s epistle to Corinth. (Have a read of the list of the witnesses to the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8, if you doubt that statement. Since this list is unlikely to have originated with Paul himself, it indicates the general attitude towards the women witnesses.)

Now, if you’ve inherited Elijah’s or Joseph’s mantle, this is vital information—because herein lies part of the unfinished assignment you are called to advance towards completion.

Similarly, Nicodemus wasn’t able to fulfil the calling he inherited along with Moses’ mantle. He advanced it a long way by supplying water without dishonouring God, himself or those in authority, and by supplying myrrh for the wedding of the Bride of Christ. But, as for food, that was problematic.

It wasn’t his fault by any means. Once again, it’s necessary to turn to the Talmud for details not supplied by Scripture.

The war with the Romans had started and Nicodemus was a member of the so-called Peace Party. This group pressed for a singularly innovative strategy—not to fight, but not to surrender either. To shut up Jerusalem and to withstand the anticipated siege for as long as it took. To this end, Nicodemus and two of his wealthy friends stockpiled sufficient grain to supply the entire city for ten years. They planned for a war of attrition—they would wear the legions out, confident that, with barbarians at the borders and an entire empire to defend, the emperor couldn’t afford to commit too much of the army indefinitely in Judea.

Unfortunately we’ll never know if this would have worked because the Peace Party was betrayed by a faction within their own people. The Zealots, determined on war at any cost, burnt all the stockpile. The last stand of the Zealots was not in Jerusalem, but at the fortress of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea. At the end of the siege there, all except a few women and children who went into hiding died by suicide. But they left a stockpile of grain to show they had not been starved out. It was a witness to the Romans, but it was also witness against them.

And so here’s the rub: the unfinished assignment for the inheritors of Moses’ mantle is to forgive the in-house betrayers who destroy resources to promote war. That applies on a spiritual level as well as a physical one: there are those who destroy the sustenance God has given us in His Word by manipulating it to serve their own ends and preserve their own power.

This is Grace Drops and I’m Anne Hamilton. May your forgiveness of betrayal always be tempered with a gracious call for repentance.

Thank you to Lorna Skinner of www.riversofmusic.co.uk for the background music.

Elijah’s mantle is discussed in The Elijah Tapestry: John 1 and 21: Mystery, Majesty and Mathematics in John’s Gospel #1.

Joseph’s mantle is featured The Summoning of Time: John 2 and 20: Mystery, Majesty and Mathematics in John’s Gospel #2.

Moses’ mantle—and Reuben’s mantle—will be featured in The Lustral Waters: John 3 and 19: Mystery, Majesty and Mathematics in John’s Gospel #3. Available late 2024.