EZRA

XV. Ezra

9 5Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God 6 and prayed:

“O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.

8 But now, for a brief moment, the LORD our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. 9 Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem. 

Ezra: Chapter 9:5-9 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

In this chapter we continue the story from chapter 9-1 Samuel-where we left Mrs. Martha Matombo being raped by David, whom she had regarded as her future son-in-law.

1

When David had “finished with her”, Martha continued to lie down on the carpet, still sobbing and in great disbelief that she had actually been a victim of rape committed by somebody she had trusted completely as a future son-in-law. After a period of almost an hour, she got up and went to the bathroom to clean herself up. She scrubbed herself so hard and for such a long time as if such action would undo the horrible act she had been forced to be part of.

The thought of contacting the police did not occur to her at all. All she was thinking of was what she was going to say to her daughter, Elizabeth. What was she going to say to her? She had no choice, really, but to tell her daughter that her fiancé had raped her. What was Martha going to say to the people at the church? The shame of it! Would some people, knowing their close relationship at the church choir, think that she had somehow encouraged him and eventually led him to act in the way he did?

She thought about her predicament for a long time and finally decided that she was not going to say anything to anybody. She could not bear the thought of people knowing that David had raped her. By extension, she decided she was not going to say anything about this to her daughter. Although Elizabeth deserved to be aware of something as grave as this involving somebody she had been going out with, Martha resolved that she would not tell her daughter.

2

Elizabeth came home from work that evening before her father did. Despite her resolve, Martha started sobbing the moment she saw her daughter.

“What is the matter, Mama? Why are you crying?” Elizabeth asked her mother. Martha kept on sobbing without saying anything. Elizabeth, on her part, without knowing what was wrong with her mother, also started crying. So mother and daughter hugged each other, both sobbing but the daughter doing so without knowing why her mother had started crying.

At last, Martha stopped sobbing. “It was David...David”, she sobbed. “David! What about David? What has happened to David? I did not manage to speak to him today. Has something happened to him? Is he hurt?” panicked Elizabeth.

“No, no. He is alright,” Martha said. “He came to see me this morning and said he was breaking off the engagement. He said he has been seeing some other girl and he wants to marry this other girl. He could not bring himself to tell you and came to me. I am sorry, Liz but he was adamant that he no longer wants to see you,” Martha finished.

Elizabeth looked at her mother in disbelief. “Why would he do such a thing? What other girl? We have been seeing each other almost on a daily basis. What other girl, Mother? Why didn’t he come to tell me himself?”

“I don’t know, my dear but this is what he said to me this morning,” Martha lied to her daughter.

“I am going to call him now, Mother. How dare he break off the engagement in this manner? Why come to talk to my mother? Is there something you are not telling me, Mother? Is David ill? Is he sick? Yes, that’s it, isn’t it Mother? David is sick. Is he HIV positive? Is that what he actually said to you, Mother?” Elizabeth rambled on and on.

“No, no, don’t call him. He was adamant about that. It’s probably best this way, my dear. You will get over him.”

This was all a bit too much for Elizabeth and she rushed out of the room and ran to her own bedroom where she locked herself in.

3

Martha sat alone in the lounge, thinking. Now why had she made up all these lies? What if David was still determined to continue seeing Liz? No that was unthinkable. Not after what he had done that morning. In fact, Martha was going to ensure that David did not come anywhere near her daughter again. She was also going to make sure that David did not come to church as well. Yes, that was what was going to happen after she, Martha, had talked to him and demanded all these things. He would be grateful that she had not decided to report him to the police. He would do whatever she wanted? Yes, she was going to call him now.

When Martha got through to David, she was shocked to hear him pretending that nothing had happened that morning. In fact, he had the gall to talk about the wedding arrangements. The “stupid, foolish man” was pretending that he had not come to the house where he committed a despicable act. He was now actually asking to talk to Elizabeth! Martha was beside herself with fury.

“David, how can you pretend that you did not come to this house this morning? I want you to do what I am telling you to do or I will go to the police,” Martha shouted into the phone. On the other end, David sounded quite calm and said, “I don’t know what you are talking about Mother. Did somebody do these terrible things to you? You really should have reported the matter to the police if it actually happened. You say it happened in the morning. Even if it actually happened, which I doubt, the police will wonder why you are only reporting the matter now. Are you okay, Mother? Is Elizabeth there? Let me speak to her. Does she know about all this you are telling me?”

Martha was apoplectic with rage. Who did this man think he was? He cannot get away with this? But what really was she going to do about it? If David continued to pretend that nothing had happened that morning, then what could she actually do? People will think she is the one who is mad, especially after making up the crazy story she had told her daughter. David could prove that there was no other girl and wonder what had gone into Martha’s head for her to come up with such a story?

Honestly, what would she do about it? What could she do?

The next chapter-Nehemiah- will be published not later than Sunday, 3 April, 2011

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