The Bronze Bow

by

Elizabeth George Speare

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Bronze Bow makes teaching easy.

Joel bar Hezron Character Analysis

Joel is Daniel’s former classmate at the synagogue school in Ketzah. He becomes Daniel’s first and closest friend. Malthace is his twin sister. Their father, Hezron, is a wealthy, scholarly rabbi. When Joel meets Rosh by chance, he decides to join Rosh’s movement to fight the Romans. With Daniel, he also takes a vow to dedicate his life to God’s kingdom. Over time, he becomes a shrewd spy for Rosh in the city of Capernaum. When he gets caught by the Romans and sentenced to labor in the galleys, Daniel’s band of rebel fighters saves his life. Soon after, Joel decides he can better serve God’s kingdom by studying to become a rabbi in Jerusalem.

Joel bar Hezron Quotes in The Bronze Bow

The The Bronze Bow quotes below are all either spoken by Joel bar Hezron or refer to Joel bar Hezron. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love vs. Vengeance Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Up here, in the clean sunlight, Daniel bar Jamin, orphan, runaway slave, had found something to live for.

“All the mighty ones,” he said, remembering Rosh’s very words. “Joshua, Gideon, David, all of them fought on the soil of Galilee. No one could stand against them. It will be so again.”

“Yes,” breathed Joel. “It will be so again. God will send us another David.”

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Joel bar Hezron (speaker), Rosh
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Mark my words, boy. 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. I wish Joel to understand this, and I must forbid him to see any old friends who will turn his mind to violence. I ask you to go now, at once. Go in peace, Daniel, with a prayer that you may see the truth before that rash tongue of yours betrays you.

Related Characters: Rabbi Hezron (speaker), Daniel bar Jamin, Joel bar Hezron
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“Did you ever think that Rosh—that he might be the leader we are waiting for?” […]

“I know he is,” said Daniel.

They sat silent, trembling at the immensity of the secret they shared.

“He’s like a lion!” Daniel said, his confidence mounting. “He has no fear at all. Up there in the cave, whatever he says, the men obey him without question. If there were more of us—if we could only get enough—Rosh would drive every cursed Roman back into the sea!”

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Joel bar Hezron (speaker), Rosh
Page Number: 79
Explanation and Analysis:

“God is my strong refuge,
and has made my way safe.
He made my feet like hinds’ feet,
and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”

“It couldn't really be bronze,” said Daniel, puzzled. “The strongest man could not bend a bow of bronze.”

“No,” Thacia spoke. “I think it was really bronze. I think David meant a bow that a man couldn't bend—that when God strengthens us we can do something that seems impossible.”

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Joel bar Hezron (speaker), Malthace (Thacia) (speaker)
Related Symbols: Bronze Bow
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

For Daniel nothing could ever be the same. He had never admitted to himself that he was lonely here on the mountain. He had worshiped and feared Rosh. He had fought and eaten and slept side by side with the hard-eyed men who made up Rosh’s band. But the few days in Joel’s passageway had shown him a new world. He had found someone to talk to, someone who had shared his own thoughts, and who had instantly taken Daniel’s burden as his own.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Joel bar Hezron, Malthace (Thacia), Rosh
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:

The other mighty ones had lived and fought in distant ages. But Judas had lived in a time like his own, not two hundred years ago, when Israel was helpless, as it was now, under the foot of the heathen. Judas, with his heroic father and brothers, had dared to rise up and defy the oppressor, and for a time Israel had breathed the free again. […] This time—! There were young men everywhere who longed for such a chance again. Together, he and Joel would find them.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Joel bar Hezron
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Daniel’s control gave way. “You’d just use him and then let him go? Without even a try—?”

Rosh squinted up at him. “I’ve warned you before,” he said, his voice ugly. “There's a soft streak in you. Till you get rid of it you’re no good to the cause.”

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

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Rosh (speaker), Joel bar Hezron
Page Number: 199
Explanation and Analysis:
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Joel bar Hezron Quotes in The Bronze Bow

The The Bronze Bow quotes below are all either spoken by Joel bar Hezron or refer to Joel bar Hezron. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love vs. Vengeance Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Up here, in the clean sunlight, Daniel bar Jamin, orphan, runaway slave, had found something to live for.

“All the mighty ones,” he said, remembering Rosh’s very words. “Joshua, Gideon, David, all of them fought on the soil of Galilee. No one could stand against them. It will be so again.”

“Yes,” breathed Joel. “It will be so again. God will send us another David.”

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Joel bar Hezron (speaker), Rosh
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Mark my words, boy. 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. I wish Joel to understand this, and I must forbid him to see any old friends who will turn his mind to violence. I ask you to go now, at once. Go in peace, Daniel, with a prayer that you may see the truth before that rash tongue of yours betrays you.

Related Characters: Rabbi Hezron (speaker), Daniel bar Jamin, Joel bar Hezron
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“Did you ever think that Rosh—that he might be the leader we are waiting for?” […]

“I know he is,” said Daniel.

They sat silent, trembling at the immensity of the secret they shared.

“He’s like a lion!” Daniel said, his confidence mounting. “He has no fear at all. Up there in the cave, whatever he says, the men obey him without question. If there were more of us—if we could only get enough—Rosh would drive every cursed Roman back into the sea!”

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Joel bar Hezron (speaker), Rosh
Page Number: 79
Explanation and Analysis:

“God is my strong refuge,
and has made my way safe.
He made my feet like hinds’ feet,
and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”

“It couldn't really be bronze,” said Daniel, puzzled. “The strongest man could not bend a bow of bronze.”

“No,” Thacia spoke. “I think it was really bronze. I think David meant a bow that a man couldn't bend—that when God strengthens us we can do something that seems impossible.”

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Joel bar Hezron (speaker), Malthace (Thacia) (speaker)
Related Symbols: Bronze Bow
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

For Daniel nothing could ever be the same. He had never admitted to himself that he was lonely here on the mountain. He had worshiped and feared Rosh. He had fought and eaten and slept side by side with the hard-eyed men who made up Rosh’s band. But the few days in Joel’s passageway had shown him a new world. He had found someone to talk to, someone who had shared his own thoughts, and who had instantly taken Daniel’s burden as his own.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Joel bar Hezron, Malthace (Thacia), Rosh
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:

The other mighty ones had lived and fought in distant ages. But Judas had lived in a time like his own, not two hundred years ago, when Israel was helpless, as it was now, under the foot of the heathen. Judas, with his heroic father and brothers, had dared to rise up and defy the oppressor, and for a time Israel had breathed the free again. […] This time—! There were young men everywhere who longed for such a chance again. Together, he and Joel would find them.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Joel bar Hezron
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Daniel’s control gave way. “You’d just use him and then let him go? Without even a try—?”

Rosh squinted up at him. “I’ve warned you before,” he said, his voice ugly. “There's a soft streak in you. Till you get rid of it you’re no good to the cause.”

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

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Rosh (speaker), Joel bar Hezron
Page Number: 199
Explanation and Analysis: