The Bronze Bow

Summary

The Bronze Bow is set in Galilee in the years of Jesus' public ministry, under Roman rule. Its hero, Daniel bar Jamin, is eighteen and has lived for five years with an outlaw band in the hills above his village of Ketzah, near Capernaum. When he was eight, his uncle was seized by the Romans over unpaid taxes, and his father and other men who tried to free him were crucified; his mother died soon after, and his little sister Leah has been so terrified ever since that she will not leave the house, and the villagers say she has a demon. Bound as an apprentice to Amalek, a cruel blacksmith, Daniel ran away to the mountain, where the rebel leader Rosh took him in. Daniel lives for one purpose, to drive the Romans out and avenge his father. On the mountain he meets Joel bar Hezron, a former schoolmate whose father is a learned Pharisee moving the family to Capernaum, and Joel's twin sister Malthace, called Thacia. The three swear an oath together to fight for God's victory, and Daniel takes as their sign the verse from the Song of David about hands trained for war and arms that can bend a bow of bronze. Joel becomes Rosh's informer in Capernaum. Daniel also acquires a huge foreign slave, Samson, taken by the band from a caravan, who attaches himself to Daniel with silent devotion. When his grandmother falls ill, Daniel must come down from the mountain to care for her and Leah; Simon the Zealot, an old acquaintance who has left his forge to follow Jesus of Nazareth, gives Daniel his blacksmith's shop in Ketzah. There Daniel works, organises a secret band of village boys, and repeatedly hears Jesus teach, drawn to him yet unable to accept a kingdom that does not come by the sword. After his grandmother dies, Daniel gradually sees Rosh as a mere bandit, and the break comes when Joel is arrested and Rosh refuses to help. Daniel's own boys ambush the soldiers taking Joel to the coast and free him, but Samson, who breaks Joel's chains and holds off the soldiers, is killed, as is the boy Nathan. Meanwhile Leah has secretly befriended Marcus, a lonely young Roman soldier, and when Daniel discovers it and drives him off in fury, Leah sinks into a dangerous fever. Desperate, Daniel goes to Jesus, who comes to the house and restores Leah. Daniel understands at last that hate is the enemy and that only love can bend the bow of bronze, and he invites Marcus into his home. Speare's novel was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1961 and won the Newbery Medal in 1962.

Plot or Argument

• The mountain (opening chapters)

  Daniel, living with Rosh's band, meets Joel and Thacia on the mountain, tells them his story, and the three swear their oath; the band seizes a caravan and Samson joins Daniel.

• Capernaum and the Teacher

  Daniel visits Joel in Capernaum and hears Jesus of Nazareth preach; Simon the Zealot has become one of Jesus' followers.

• Return to Ketzah

  Daniel comes down to care for his ailing grandmother and Leah, takes over Simon's forge, and begins to gather village boys into a secret band.

• Doubts about Rosh

  Rosh's raids on fellow Jews and his contempt for the villagers make Daniel question him, while Jesus' teaching unsettles Daniel's hope of a warrior Messiah; his grandmother dies.

• Joel's rescue

  Joel is arrested; Rosh refuses to help; Daniel's boys free Joel on the road, at the cost of Samson's and Nathan's lives.

• Leah and Marcus

  Daniel discovers Leah's friendship with the young soldier Marcus and drives him away; Leah falls gravely ill.

• The bow is bent

  Jesus comes to the house and heals Leah; Daniel lets go of his hatred and welcomes Marcus in.

Characters

• Daniel bar Jamin, protagonist

  Eighteen-year-old blacksmith and rebel consumed by hatred of Rome after his father's crucifixion.

• Leah, Daniel's sister

  Gentle, fearful girl who has not left the house since her father's death.

• Joel bar Hezron, Daniel's friend

  Scholarly son of a Pharisee who becomes Rosh's informer in Capernaum.

• Malthace (Thacia), Joel's twin sister

  Spirited, warm girl who shares the oath and comes to love Daniel.

• Rosh, rebel leader

  Commander of the hill band who claims to fight for Israel but acts as a robber.

• Samson, freed slave

  Giant, speechless foreigner devoted to Daniel; gives his life in Joel's rescue.

• Simon the Zealot, blacksmith turned disciple

  Leaves his forge to follow Jesus and gives it to Daniel.

• Jesus of Nazareth, teacher

  Preaches in Capernaum and Ketzah, speaks patiently with Daniel, and heals Leah.

• Marcus, Roman soldier

  Lonely, fair-haired young legionary who befriends Leah.

• Hezron, Pharisee and scholar

  Joel and Thacia's father, a strict teacher of the Law.

• Daniel's grandmother, guardian

  Poor old woman who has kept Leah through the years; dies while Daniel is home.

Lessons

• Hatred is a master, not a weapon

  Daniel believes his hatred of Rome gives him strength, but it drives him to cruelty toward his own sister and blinds him to Rosh's character. The novel shows hatred as something that rules the one who carries it, and Daniel is freed only when he gives it up.

  • What does Daniel's hatred cost him in the course of the novel?
  • Why does Daniel's fury at Marcus hurt Leah more than it hurts the Roman?
  • Is there a difference between hating injustice and hating people? Where does Daniel cross that line?

• Choosing whom to follow

  Daniel serves two leaders: Rosh, who promises a sword, and Jesus, who will not take one up. By watching what each man does to the people around him, Daniel learns to judge leaders by their fruits rather than their slogans.

  • When does Daniel first suspect that Rosh is not what he claims to be?
  • Why does Rosh refuse to rescue Joel, and what does that reveal?
  • Why is Daniel drawn to Jesus long before he accepts him?

• A different kind of kingdom

  Daniel and many in Galilee expect a Messiah who will lead an army. Speare shows Jesus gently refusing that role and speaking of a kingdom that begins with forgiveness, which Daniel finds harder to accept than any battle.

  • What kind of king did Daniel want, and what kind did Jesus show himself to be?
  • How does the meaning of the bronze bow change between the oath on the mountain and the last chapter?

• The cost of loyalty

  Samson's silent devotion and death, and Joel's and Thacia's faithfulness to the oath, show loyalty as something costly. Daniel learns that those who love him pay for his choices, which makes his choices weightier.

  • Why is Samson so loyal to Daniel?
  • How does Daniel feel about Samson's death, and how does it change him?

Context

The story is set in Galilee in the late 20s or early 30s AD, when Judea was governed by Roman prefects and Galilee by Herod Antipas, with Roman soldiers garrisoned in the region. Resentment over taxation and foreign rule produced bands of armed rebels, and the first-century historian Josephus describes the Zealots and other resistance movements that culminated in the Jewish revolt of AD 66-70. Speare sets her fictional Ketzah near Capernaum, the town on the Sea of Galilee where the Gospels place much of Jesus' ministry, and draws Simon the Zealot from the list of the Twelve.

Composition

Speare, already a Newbery medallist for The Witch of Blackbird Pond, wrote the novel after research into first-century Palestine. The title and the oath come from the Song of David in 2 Samuel 22:35 (also Psalm 18:34). Houghton Mifflin published it in 1961.

Reception

It won the Newbery Medal in 1962 and has remained in print as one of the most widely read novels for young people about the time of Jesus, frequently assigned in middle schools and in Christian schools.

Comparisons

• the-jewish-war

  Josephus's history of the revolt against Rome describes the rebel bands and Zealot movements that Rosh's outlaws anticipate a generation earlier.

• the-bible

  The novel's Jesus speaks in words drawn from the Gospels, and its title comes from the Song of David in 2 Samuel 22; Simon the Zealot appears in the Gospel lists of the Twelve.

• the-sign-of-the-beaver

  In Speare's later novel a boy learns from a people he first misjudges, as Daniel finally learns to see Marcus as a person rather than a Roman.

• johnny-tremain

  Both follow a young craftsman embittered by his past who is drawn into a resistance movement against an imperial army and learns what the cause truly asks of him.

• the-count-of-monte-cristo

  Dantès and Daniel both build their lives around revenge for a father's or their own ruin; Dumas and Speare reach different verdicts on whether vengeance can be satisfied.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The oath Daniel, Joel and Thacia swear on the mountain, and the sign of the bronze bow they choose. Keep asking what each of them thinks the oath means.
• Rosh's actions as opposed to his speeches: whom he robs, how he treats villagers, and what he does when Joel is taken.
• Each time Daniel hears Jesus speak, in Capernaum and in Ketzah, and what Daniel hopes or fears Jesus will say.
• Samson, who never speaks, and how his loyalty to Daniel is shown only through action.
• Leah inside the house: what she will and will not do, and how she changes after Marcus begins to visit.

Key terms and names

Zealot

A Jew who believed Israel must be freed from Rome, by force if necessary. Simon the Zealot once held this view, and Rosh's band claims to act on it.

Ketzah

Daniel's home village in the hills near Capernaum, where his grandmother and Leah live and where he takes over Simon's forge.

Capernaum

A town on the Sea of Galilee where Joel's family moves and where Daniel first hears Jesus preach.

Pharisee

A member of a Jewish party devoted to strict keeping of the Law. Joel's father Hezron is a learned Pharisee who disapproves of rebellion.

Legionary

A soldier of the Roman army. Marcus is a legionary stationed in Galilee, far from his own home.

The bronze bow

The image from the Song of David that becomes the friends' secret sign. At first it means strength for war; by the end Daniel sees that only love can bend it.

Crucifixion

The Roman form of execution by which Daniel's father died. The memory of it shapes both Daniel's rage and Leah's fear.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What happened to Daniel's father, mother and sister when Daniel was eight, and how did Daniel come to live with Rosh?
2. Comprehension Why does Daniel come down from the mountain and take over Simon's forge in Ketzah?
3. Comprehension How is Joel rescued, and what does the rescue cost Daniel's band?
4. Interpretation Daniel admires Rosh for years and then turns away from him. Which events change Daniel's mind, and why does it take him so long to see Rosh clearly?
5. Interpretation Daniel keeps returning to hear Jesus even though Jesus will not lead an army. What draws him, and what holds him back?
6. Interpretation Why does Daniel react so violently when he learns about Marcus and Leah, and what does his reaction reveal about him?
7. Interpretation Thacia and Joel stay loyal to Daniel even when he is harsh. How does their friendship help him change?
8. Big Question Daniel finally understands that only love can bend the bow of bronze. Can love really be stronger than force against an army like Rome's? What would Daniel say, and what would Rosh say?

Faith Connections

• 2 Samuel 22:35; Psalm 18:34 (Scripture)

  David praises God who trains his hands for war so that he can bend a bow of bronze. Daniel first reads the verse as a promise of military strength; by the end he learns that the strength God gives is the strength to love an enemy.

• Matthew 5:43-48 (Scripture)

  Jesus commands love for enemies and prayer for persecutors. Daniel's welcome of Marcus, a soldier of the army that crucified his father, is the novel's picture of obeying this command.

• John 18:36 (Scripture)

  Jesus tells Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world, or his servants would fight. Daniel spends most of the novel wanting Jesus to be the fighting king this verse refuses.

• Augustine, Confessions IX (Church Fathers)

  Augustine describes the slow loosening of his own will and his release from the bondage he could not break alone. Daniel's surrender at Leah's bedside follows a similar pattern of resistance long held and suddenly given up.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Daniel assumes that Israel's freedom must be won by force and that hatred of Rome is a virtue. But force in Rosh's hands turns into robbery, Daniel's hatred injures his own sister, and the rescue of Joel, though successful, costs the lives of Samson and Nathan. Jesus' healing of Leah shows a power that force cannot match. Therefore the true enemy is hatred itself, and only love can bend the bow of bronze.

Rhetorical device: symbol. The bronze bow from 2 Samuel 22:35 appears first as the sign of a warrior's oath and returns at the end transformed, so that a single image carries Daniel's change from vengeance to love.

Debate: Resolved: Daniel's rescue of Joel was worth its cost.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Compare Rosh and Jesus as leaders, using at least three scenes from the novel, and explain why Daniel finally chooses to follow Jesus.

Comparison with Johnny Tremain: Daniel and Johnny Tremain are both young craftsmen drawn into a revolt against an empire. Compare what each boy believes the cause demands of him at the start and what he learns by the end.

Medical Lens

Leah's condition is the novel's most interesting thread for a psychiatric reader. Since witnessing the arrest and crucifixion of her father at about five years old, she has stayed indoors, frightened of strangers and of the outside world, and the village calls her possessed by a demon, which is how first-century Galileans would have framed such a state. A modern reader may see something like a trauma-related fearfulness or agoraphobia, but that is an interpretation; Speare presents her within the period's religious understanding and resolves her illness through Jesus' healing. Daniel's mother is said to have died of grief, a cause commonly given in older narratives. Leah's later collapse into a wasting fever after Daniel drives Marcus away links emotional shock with physical illness. Wounds from skirmishes, the grandmother's last illness, and the household nursing that falls to Daniel complete the medical texture.

• Opening chapters

  Daniel tells Joel and Thacia how his father was crucified, his mother died of grief, and Leah has been afraid to leave the house ever since.

  Grief Trauma Shell Shock Neurosis Anxiety
• Middle chapters, Ketzah

  Daniel returns to nurse his failing grandmother and look after Leah, and his grandmother dies.

  Nursing Caregiving
• Rescue of Joel

  The ambush on the road in which Samson and Nathan are mortally wounded freeing Joel.

  WAR Wounds
• Final chapters

  Leah falls into a high, wasting fever after Daniel drives Marcus away, and Jesus comes to the house and restores her.

  Fever Infection Neurosis Anxiety

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Write the scene from Marcus's point of view: a young soldier far from home who finds a girl at a window in Ketzah.

• Dialogue

  Write a conversation between Daniel and Simon the Zealot at the forge on the day Simon gives it away to follow Jesus.

• Classroom

  Track every mention of the bronze bow in the novel and explain how its meaning changes from the oath on the mountain to the last chapter.

Further Reading

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare

  Speare's 1959 Newbery Medal novel, set in seventeenth-century Connecticut.

• The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare

• The Jewish War, Flavius Josephus

  The first-century account of Roman rule and Jewish revolt in Judea and Galilee.

• Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, Lew Wallace

  1880 novel of a young Jew seeking vengeance on Rome in the time of Jesus.