Doras, the cruel master
Landowner in the northwest of the Esdrelon plain, at the foot of the hill of Sepphoris. Influential member of the Sanhedrin and personally related to High Priest Anna, his relative.[1] He is a harsh master who exhausts Jonas, one of the shepherds of the Nativity, to deathdeath.
"He has the richest lands of Israel... but, I swear to you: they are fertilized by the blood and the tears of his servants".[2] However, Jesus blesses his lands to spare heavy toils for the peasants.[3] The harvests are then abundant. Despite this, Doras beats his servants because the harvests of previous years were not as good.
This cruel man makes his servant Jonas become his slave, like many of his other servants, through subtle and dishonest tricks:"This is how Doras operates, and he is not the only one in Israel: when he discovers a good servant, he leads him by a subtle trick to become a slave. He charges him with inaccurate amounts that the poor man cannot pay, and when it reaches a certain sum, he says: 'Now you are my slave for debts.' Jonas, as long as he had savings, could pay... then... One year it was hail, another drought. The wheat and the vine yielded little, and Doras multiplied the loss by ten and then by ten again... Then Jonas became ill from overwork. And Doras lent him a sum to get treatment, but demanded twelve for one, and Jonas, having no way to repay, added it to the rest. In short: a few years later, he became a slave for his debts. And he will never let him go... He will always find reasons and new debts".[4]
Despite his abundant harvests following Jesus’ blessing, Doras knowingly deceives him when he comes to redeem old Jonas.[5] After several serious lies, including one in the name of God (perjury), his lands are then cursed by Jesus.
Doras goes to the Baptist to have the anathema removed. He is harshly rejected and sent back to Jesus, then at the "Beautiful Water". "If he heals me and removes the anathema from the lands, dug as if by war machines by armies of moles, worms, and mole crickets that empty the seeds and gnaw the roots of fruit trees and vines, because there is no way to overcome them, I will become His friend. But otherwise... woe to Him!"
Doras will die publicly in dramatic circumstances at "Beautiful Water"[6], "struck down like Nadab and Abihu, by the fire of the divine anger".
Character and appearance
"Mocking jackal, cruel and harmful" says Lazarus about him, forced to negotiate Jonas' freedom.[7] "He is an old man with the hard profile of an old raptor. An ironic look, a mouth like a snake that sketches a false smile in his beard, more white than black. Small, somewhat stooped, parchment-like, in his robe of an impressive breadth and abundance of fringes."
Apostolic journey
Jesus gives a spiritual portrait of him during his preaching, the day after his violent death, on the theme "Do not tempt the Lord your God".[8] The dramatic circumstances of his death excite the fear and resentment of the Pharisees.[9] This will be the cause of the first proscription of Jesus who will drive him out of Beautiful Water at the end of the first year of public life.[10] His son Doras will take up the implacable hatred that Doras bore against Jesus.
Where is he mentioned in the work?
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