The Bronze Bow: Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis

Daniel receives a message for Joel from Rosh. Hours later, he’s huddled in the passageway of Joel’s home with the twins. When Daniel first got the message, he felt a bit jealous. But he’s beginning to see the reasoning behind Rosh’s bigger plan.

Daniel explains to Joel that Rosh needs certain information: King Herod is hosting some Roman officials at the imperial city, Tiberias. The group will be coming to Capernaum to inspect the garrison. A rich Jew named Mattathias will be throwing a banquet. Rosh wants Joel to find out the names of the guests and the precise time of the banquet. Joel eagerly speculates about the best way to do the job. Thacia suggests that he pose as a fish merchant. He can get some fish from Jesus’s disciples Simon and Andrew and peddle them to the servants in Capernaum’s wealthy houses. Seeing the twins’ excitement, Daniel begins to worry about the danger involved. Daniel is a nobody, but Joel has a future to consider.

Suddenly Thacia has an idea. She suggests that she dress in some of Joel’s clothes, as they sometimes did when the twins were little. Then she and Daniel can be seen going out of the city together, so that people will think—and can testify if needed—that Joel was seen leaving Capernaum. That way Joel won’t be suspected when he pretends to be a fish peddler. Daniel agrees. The next morning he meets the twins on the shore and is startled by Thacia’s transformation, thanks to a carefully wrapped turban, into “Joel.”

As Joel heads off with his basket of fish, Daniel and Thacia start heading out of Capernaum. Daniel wants to stay to hear Jesus, but Thacia declines, preferring not to be seen. Finally she admits that she doesn’t want Jesus to catch her in an act of deception. Daniel argues that, in this case, Jesus would understand the need for a lie—such things are necessary in war, after all. But Thacia doubts this. For one thing, she isn’t sure that Jesus intends to make war at all. She thinks Jesus means that God’s kingdom will come in another way.

Thacia goes on to say that Jesus’s teaching has helped her understand something—that people don’t have to wait for the kingdom in order to know that God loves them. God cares for each person right now. Perhaps even Romans can come to understand this. Daniel is appalled at the suggestion—how could God love the Romans? Thacia agrees it seems unlikely, but doesn’t Jesus say we have to love our enemies? Daniel angrily says that a girl can’t understand these things, though deep down, he wonders the same thing.

As Daniel and Thacia leave Capernaum, Daniel sees two Roman soldiers resting by the road. Before they can turn back, one of the soldiers gestures to Daniel to carry his pack. Daniel is furious. It’s legal for a Roman soldier to make this command, but he refuses to comply. But when Daniel contemptuously spits on the ground, the soldier hits him across the mouth. Then Thacia quietly shoulders one of the packs. Filled with shame, Daniel joins her by picking up the other man’s pack.

After they reach the milestone and are relieved of their burdens, Thacia scolds Daniel for almost getting them in trouble. As they make their way toward Ketzah, though, she admits that she was proud of Daniel’s courage before the soldiers. Daniel has never been praised like this before, and he’s happily caught off guard. When they get back to Ketzah, Leah and Thacia enjoy visiting together. At the noon meal, Daniel admires Thacia’s attitude about the modest meal. She acts just as natural as she would in her own, more luxurious home.

At one point, Daniel sees Leah looking out the front door, blushing at the sight of the blond Roman soldier. Daniel angrily slams the shop door. As the visit draws to an end, Daniel takes Thacia aside. Because she has given Leah so many gifts, he explains, he’d like to offer Thacia one. He takes out the little brooch shaped like a bronze bow. She chose the symbol, Daniel continues, and to him, it’s come to symbolize everything they stand for. Daniel sees Thacia shaken for the first time as she accepts the gift. She tells him he should be a silversmith one day.

As Daniel and Thacia head back toward Capernaum, Thacia once again disguised as Joel, she tells him that Leah is blossoming from one week to the next. Daniel gratefully tells Thacia that this transformation is her doing. Thacia asks if a physician has ever examined Leah. Daniel explains that a traveling magician once claimed that Leah had demons which made her afraid, and that these are the hardest to expel—especially since Leah did not want to be healed. Thacia considers this—when Jesus visits with the sick and lame, he sometimes asks them if they wish to be made well. She can’t understand why anyone would say no.

Daniel has wondered about this, too. He sometimes wonders what healing accomplishes for such poor people. Is a blind man happy to see his ragged and sickly children, for example? Neither of them knows the answer. But Thacia thinks that Jesus should come to Daniel’s house someday to see Leah—she knows he’d be willing. Daniel wonders if this world is worth it for Leah. Thacia gestures to a flock of cranes flying over the lake and says that life in Galilee is beautiful. Daniel gazes at her, and they briefly hold hands before they both blush and hurry onward.