The Gospel According to the Son

8

Joseph used to say: "Where one plank is joined to another by a man who cares for the subtlety of the joint, the first piece will cleave to the second as in a marriage that is blessed. But boards joined by nails fall apart when the nail rusts; so, too, is marriage corroded by adultery." I do not know if it was for such a reason, but none of us were given iron implements until after we had served our first seven years with tools of bronze. Joseph would often speak of the trials of carpenters from ancient times and other lands: He would tell how the Egyptians fashioned small chests of much delicacy out of no better wood than acacia, sycamore, or tamarisk. Such grains were fibrous and often knotty, and each surface had to be finished with paint and gold leaf. Yet this work of the Egyptians, although limited by their bronze tools, had proved more beautiful than our own, and Joseph even owned a small Egyptian chest whose dovetailed corners were a wonder to him.

When we began to use iron tools, it was with caution, even fear. We all knew the visions of Daniel and how the teeth of the fourth beast are iron and terrible in their strength.

All the same, I learned. After a time, I could make good use of iron, and was able to work my tools upon woods from many lands: maple, beech, oak, yew, fir, lime, and cedar. Oak we would select as framing for a door, and maple, which was supple, for beds, keeping cedar, which was sweet-smelling, for chests. Wild olive, being very hard, was for tool handles.

I had friends in other workshops who could plate metal objects in gold and silver; some of us even spoke of traveling from Sepphoris to Rome so we might apprentice our skills to great masters. But this was no more than talk; we never failed to observe our daily acts of purity. And we knew that Rome was full of license. It was said that the emperor and empress indulged in lewd acts of which you would not wish to speak for fear that a vile sore might visit your tongue.

So my trade became my pride, and I knew respect for the tools in my box. A rasp, a plane, a hammer, an auger, a gimlet, an adze, a cubit rule, a saw, and three chisels for paring, as well as a gougeùall were mine. And my knowledge of how to treat wood became another tool.

When we used fir for flooring, we offered prayers that it not burn. For fire seemed attracted to fir. And other prayers were said over winter oak, which was liable to decay. Cypress was blessed; it resisted the worm.

Joseph also taught many ways to put up walls of stone for large buildings, and told us of a substance called pozzolana, an earth that came from the volcanoes south of Rome; this pozzolana, mixed with lime, became a cement. Such knowledge led me to think of the wisdom of the Lord, who knew the earth so well that heavy soil thrown far from its home by a volcano could find a new nature for itself and hold loose stones together. Often would I ponder on the substances of His Kingdom that we worked upon with our hands.