Scroll 1 – Before the First Morning
In the thirty-third year of King Cyrus of Persia, when Babylon rested beneath the quiet weight of its conquered glory, I, Nabu-shumu-ukin, a student of the scribal house, undertook a task most unusual. My name will not be remembered among the great astronomers or lawgivers of our time, but I was present to record the words of one who outlasted empires. This is his scroll, not mine. Yet I begin with my own account, for every scroll must reveal its hand.
I was born into the House of Iddin-Nabu, a family of respectable lineage among the scribes and omen-readers of the Esagila temple complex. From youth, I was trained in the signs of the heavens and the laws etched into clay. I learned to read the entrails of sheep, to watch the stars for the god Nabu’s will, and to recite the sacred epics of our forebears. But knowledge does not always bring clarity. As the chants of Marduk echoed through the corridors of stone, I found myself speaking words that stirred nothing in me. The temple smoke no longer veiled mystery—it merely stung the eyes.
Continue next week…
Scroll II
I Heard There Was an Old Hebrew
Ronnie Harmon 