The Bronze Bow

“Joel’s eyes met his in a brief salute, and between the boys something flashed, a wordless exchange that was both a farewell and a beginning.” 

Daniel has never before had a person whom he could call a friend. The shared hatred for Rome and idolization of Rosh help create a bond between Daniel and Joel. Their brief salute foreshadows the further development of their bond.

“Everything he cared about and worked for was threatened by that small helpless figure.”

Daniel cares for nothing except his hatred and desire for vengeance. Ironically, Daniel sees the love he feels for the helpless Leah as a threat to his purpose when his stubborn hatred is the actual threat. 

“Now! Daniel leaned forward. Tell us that the moment has come! Tell us what we are to do! Longing swelled unbearably in his throat. But Jesus went on speaking quietly […] What had the man meant? He said liberty for the oppressed. Why didn’t he call them to arms against the oppressor? Repent, he said now. Repent. As though that could rid them of the Romans. Disappointed and puzzled, Daniel leaned back. The fire that had leaped up in him died down. The man’s voice had been like a trumpet call. Yet where did the call lead?” 

Jesus’s presence calls to Daniel, igniting the fire of his passion for liberating Israel. However, Daniel doesn’t understand how they could be liberated from the oppressed without fighting the Romans. Still, Jesus’s call tugs at him as he wonders where it may lead. 

“The Zealots have thrown themselves against the conquerors time and time again, and what have they to show for it? Rows of crosses, and burning villages, and heavy taxes. […] To a power that holds the whole world in its grip what is a swarm of reckless Zealots? Buzzing mosquitos to be silenced and forgotten […] Israel has one great strength, mightier than all the power of Rome. It is the Law, given to Moses and our fathers. When the last Roman emperor has vanished from the earth, the Law will still endure. It is to the Law that our loyalty must be devoted.” 

Joel’s father, Hezron, offers a different perspective on Israel’s struggle for freedom. He sees the outlaws’ skirmishes as impractical and having grave consequences. As many other scholarly Jews, Hezron believes firmly in staying loyal to the Law and that the Law alone can save them—a stark contrast with the outlaws’ dismissal of it.

“‘Then we will make a new vow,’ he said. ‘The three of us together. We’ll swear to fight for Israel—for—for—’ He hesitated. ‘For God’s Victory,’ said Thacia swiftly.” 

Daniel, Joel, and Malthace make a vow that binds them together for the rest of the story. Though they swear to fight, they never once mention Rome. Malthace’s addition foreshadows a future differentiation between God’s Victory and fighting Rome. 

“He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze […] I think it was really bronze. I think David meant a bow a man couldn’t bend—that when God strengthens us we can do something that seems impossible.” 

Malthace aptly suggests the bow of bronze in the Song of David refers to God strengthening them to do something impossible. The main symbol of the story, the bronze bow represents the struggle for God’s Victory and coming to terms with what that might mean. 

“The memory of the pact they had made glowed like a warm coal in the heart of the forge.” 

Back at Rosh’s camp, Daniel’s perception of the cause has drastically changed. He no longer relies entirely on hatred and is unaware that the newfound warmth in his heart is actually the love and companionship that his bond with Joel and Malthace has given him. 

“Compared to his own sister, Thacia was like a brilliant scarlet lily, glowing and proud. He could count on her loyalty to Joel; in all else she was unpredictable. The very thought of her was disturbing. He tried to shut her out of his mind, as he tried to shut out the thought of Leah. Both girls, so utterly unlike, seemed in some way to threaten his plans.” 

Daniel does not understand the two girls in his life because he doesn’t understand his feelings of love. The thought of Malthace and Leah is a threat to his vow of vengeance. What Daniel doesn’t realize is that his love for Malthace and Leah slowly saving him from a life of hatred.

“Rosh looked at a man and saw a thing to be used. Jesus looked and saw a child of God.” 

When Daniel starts doubting Rosh’s morality, he compares the way Rosh and Jesus look at people. This comparison is meant to distinguish the qualities a leader should and should not have. Though Rosh is selfish and sees others only for their benefit, Jesus selflessly sees others as precious to God, no matter their usefulness. 

“Through all these years when he had thought of the village, he remembered the poverty, the dinginess, the quarreling and meanness and despair. He had forgotten there was kindness too.” 

The years of fueling his hatred on the mountain have narrowed Daniel’s perception of his village people to focus only on the negatives. What he forgot, however, was that there is humanity and kindness even in the most unfortunate places. Despite the weight of their own misfortunes, the villagers look out for each other. 

“With a shock Daniel saw that he was very young, certainly no older than Joel. The beardless cheeks and chin scarcely needed a razor. His skin was white, mottled and peeling from exposure to the sun, so that he could not have seen service long under Galilean skies. The eyes that stared back at Daniel were a clear bright blue.” 

When Daniel first sees Marcus, the Roman soldier, he is shocked that Marcus is just a young boy. His understanding and hatred of the construct of Rome blinds Daniel from the fact that even Romans are humans. The entrance of Marcus into the story provides a humanized perspective of Rome, proving Romans are not otherworldly but rather just like everyone else.

“He rolled out and sharpened a slender bronze pin which could pass down like an arrow between the bow and the fine wire of its string, so that the bow became a brooch such as he had seen the city folk wear to fasten their cloaks. Then he hid his experiment away, half ashamed of it and half proud. He would keep it to remind him of his purpose.” 

As Daniel slowly allows love to enter his life, he starts crafting things that are pleasing to look at. Just as he no longer forges only crude, practical things, he no longer relies solely on his hatred. He is ashamed to have forged something beautiful and delicate because it goes against his hatred, but he is proud because he desires good things and love. 

“‘Haven’t you ever wondered,’ he attempted, ‘what good it is for them to be healed, those people that Jesus cures? They’re happy at first. But then what happens to them after that? What does a blind man think, when he has wanted for years to see, and then looks at his wife in rags and children covered with sores? That lame man you saw—is he grateful now? Is it worth it to get on his feet and spend the rest of his life dragging burdens like a mule?’” 

Daniel opens his heart to Malthace, sharing his deepest ponderings about whether it is worth it to be healed. Daniel assumes that life can never be beautiful enough to be appreciated and that no matter what good happens something negative will always accompany it. 

“Now, at the end of the day, he felt dull and let down. This, then had been the reason for Joel’s enterprise? A wholesale looting of rich men’s houses. Somehow both boys had expected something more noble, more worthy of the cause. What did Joel think of it? Was it worth the hours lost from his study, the danger?” 

Daniel is disappointed with Rosh’s use of Joel’s risky endeavor and intelligence report, especially since their efforts involved such noble intent and passion. Rosh’s wholesale robbery adds to Daniel’s doubts about Rosh’s moral system.

“To him many of the exploits they boasted seemed childish. It had been his plan to wait, to train, to grow strong, and then to strike. This activity was like a fire lighted too soon. Would it burn itself out before the day had come?” 

When his boys start attacking whomever Rosh deems a traitor, Daniel starts to despair. He didn’t want to strike with childish attacks at his own people but to quietly grow an army and be rid of Rome. The exploits that once excited Daniel now discourage him—evidence of Daniel’s increasing maturity and slow journey away from hatred and towards love.

“The red mist of anger cleared suddenly from Daniel’s mind. He looked at the man who was his leader. He saw the coarsened face with its tangle of a dirty beard. He saw the hard mouth, the calculating little eyes. He saw a man he had never really looked at before.” 

When Rosh refuses to save Joel from the Romans, Daniel finally sees Rosh for who he is, and he is able to choose companionship over the anger that once guided his every action. Rosh is a selfish, calculating man who believes a desire for companionship to be a weakness to be removed. 

“Daniel had not questioned the words. To live by the sword was the best life he knew. To take the sword for his country’s freedom and perish by it—what better could a man hope for? But something he had not reckoned on had happened. He had taken the sword but Samson instead had perished by it, who had no freedom to gain, and Nathan, who had left behind a bride.” 

Daniel believed wholeheartedly that dying for his country’s freedom is a noble cause. He doesn’t realize until it is too late that it is not he but those close to him who perish when he takes up the sword to fight Rome. Samson had nothing to gain, while Nathan had everything to lose. 

“Can’t you see, Daniel, it is hate that is the enemy? Not men. Hate does not die with killing. It only springs up a hundredfold. The only thing stronger than hate is love.” 

Jesus explains the story’s core theme—that Daniel’s hatred is his enemy, not the Romans he hates so fiercely. Even if Daniel ends up killing hundreds of Roman soldiers, doing so will never quench his hatred—it will only increase it. The only thing that can rid him of his hatred is to learn to live with love. 

“She stood, straight and proud, with her face lifted to his, and did not try to hide from him what his words had done. The deep shining happiness was like a lighted lamp, glowing brighter till it threatened to blind him.” 

When Daniel watches Malthace dance with her friends on the Day of Atonement, Daniel is tormented by the feeling that he does not belong there and that there is no room for love in his life of vengeance. When he inadvertently professes his love, Malthace responds by proudly displaying her happiness. The possibility of love and happiness with Malthace threatens to blind him from the bitter truths he has accepted, just as he believed the love of Leah and Malthace threatened his goals.

“On the floor of the room the spilled fruit lay in the dust. Leah sat in a corner, a wilted blossom still clinging to her hair. When Daniel came in, she did not raise her head.”

Leah’s state after Daniel cruelly scolds her signals the return of her demons. After months of learning to enjoy life and grow, the sword meant for Rome in the form of the Roman soldier instead strikes Leah. Where Leah would normally lift her head in anticipation to hear what Daniel has to share with her, she has now lost all her hope and wonder.

“Jesus has taught us that we must not be afraid of the things that men can do to us […] He says that the only chains that matter are fear and hate, because they chain our souls. If we do not hate anyone and do not fear anyone, then we are free.” 

Daniel is angry that Jesus will not lead them against the Romans despite being the Messiah. Simon admits that Jesus will never fight Rome and that the true things that chain them are their fear and hatred. Daniel himself is trapped by hatred and cannot reach God’s kingdom as Simon has until he lets go of it. 

“He flung himself away from Simon and stumbled ahead into the darkness. He could not see his way, but he knew that from now on he was alone. There was no friend to fight beside him. There was no leader to follow. There was nothing left to him but his hatred and his vow.” 

Daniel refuses to accept Simon’s statements, stubbornly stumbling into the darkness. The imagery in the passage portrays just how lost Daniel is. He is not only alone and lost without a friend or leader, but he is in such complete darkness that he can’t even see the way. 

“In the stillness the words came back to him. Can you repay love with vengeance? Leah had loved him, with a simple trustful heart, as Samson loved him. But vengeance was all he had to give. It was better than nothing. Leah, like Samson, had perished by the sword he had meant for Rome.” 

Daniel lies by a dying Leah, thinking back to Jesus’s words. He understands too late that his vengeance caused both Samson and Leah—two people who have shown him love—to perish. When he tried to repay love with vengeance, he only created more suffering.