Free Secret of the Scroll (Greg McKenzie Mysteries) by Chester D. Campbell

on his ample midriff like the Buddha on his desk. When I finished I handed him the container.
    Welch cleared off his desk, opened the can and gingerly removed the parchment from it. He laid it on the wooden surface and began to weave his head back and forth above it, performing a thorough examination without ever touching it. Some of the edges were ragged where small pieces had broken off.
    “I hope we can unroll it without doing too much damage,” he said, musing out loud. “I suspect it’s been flattened out and re-rolled several times already.” He looked up at me. “And you have no idea where it was found?”
    I shook my head. “No.”
    He placed a heavy metal strip across the open edge, then slowly began to unroll it. “Hebrew reads from right to left,” he said as he studied the faded writing. “This is fascinating.” A smile tugged at his broad mouth.
    I stood up to look but all I could see was row after row of strange characters without a break. “It looks like all one word,” I said.
    “This is classical Hebrew,” he explained. “They didn’t bother to separate the words or use any punctuation. It also has no vowels. That really makes it challenging. It starts off identifying the writer with the kabbalists, a student of esoteric Jewish mysticism.”
    “You’re getting over my head,” I said, frowning.
    “It concerns the mystical or symbolic meaning of various biblical texts. Mostly from the Torah, the Book of Ruth and the Song of Solomon. It was first documented late in the first century A.D. by Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai. He was a kabbalist, supposed to have written much of the Zohar , meaning ‘Book of Splendor.’ It’s the classic text about Jewish mysticism.”
    He fell silent for a bit as he examined the document, then unrolled it to the second page of characters. “This writer–he never divulges his name–says he was a member of a group of Jews, maybe Zealots, I don’t know. Anyway, they journeyed to Babylon after receiving word that some stolen treasure from Solomon’s temple had been found hidden there.”
    “Isn’t Babylon in present-day Iraq ?”
    “It’s on the Euphrates River about fifty-five miles south of Baghdad . What’s left of the ruins, that is. Nebuchadnezzar hauled off all the sacred objects from the Temple in Jerusalem , most of it made of gold or silver. That was when he sent the Judeans into exile back around 587 BC. His dynasty didn’t last too long, though. Babylon was pretty much done for by 275 BC. That’s when the Seleucids moved the population to their new capital on the Tigris .”
    He read a bit more, rubbing his chin. I was getting impatient. “What’s it all about?”
    “According to this fellow, they found the ten lampstands, called golden candlesticks in the King James Version, and carried them back to Jerusalem .”
    “Lampstands?”
    “Menorahs, the seven-branched candelabrum. They held oil lamps in Solomon’s Temple and stood on each side of the Sanctuary. Only the priests were allowed in there.”
    I nodded, remembering the tour. “We saw a model of the Temple at the Holy Land Hotel.”
    “That was the one Herod built. It was on a little more grand scale than the first Temple . But Solomon was no slouch. His place of worship was a sight to behold. Let me show you.”
    He pulled a small brown Bible from a shelf and opened it to reveal a model of Solomon’s Temple and a plan of the grounds. Then he flipped a few pages and said, “Here’s your candlesticks.”
    I read:
     
    The Golden Candlestick was fashioned of pure gold, containing a central shaft and ornamentation of knobs, flowers, and bowls. There were six branches extending outward, three from each side. The branches were ornamented identically with the shaft. The bowls were shaped like almonds. A lamp with sufficient oil and cotton to burn through the night was mounted at the top of the shaft and on each branch.
    The text of Exodus gives no dimensions for the candlestick.