by Brian Godawa
He was free enough to reach the dead bodies of the guards. He found the keys to free himself from the boulder and manacles.
He gathered a dagger and two swords from the other dead warriors in the hallway. He sighed. If this was the Amalekites breaking him out, he had a thing or two to teach those incompetent barbarians. He made his way out of the dungeon.
• • • • •
When Lahmi reached the forest outside Gath on foot, he was met by a raiding party of fifty Amalekites. Five of them were giants. They were painted for war with camouflage. They had crazed eyes. They twitched and spasmed their muscles as if they were being afflicted or manipulated by spirits. Lahmi had always considered them too bizarre to deal with, but now that they were aiding him through Bisha’s political machinations, he decided to take advantage of their offer.
The leader of the tribe greeted Lahmi. He patterned himself after the memory of the infamous Agag in every way, including his dress and name.
“Greetings, gibborim. I am Agag the Second. Your brother’s greatness has not been forgotten by my people. We seek a common goal: the destruction of the Seed of Abraham.” His eyes and neck twitched.
Lahmi was familiar with the original Agag. Though it was not unusual in the world for royalty to take on previous names in honor of their lineage or greatness, Lahmi thought it lessened the king’s own glory to mimic another rather than to carve out one’s own destiny. But they did share in common a hatred for the Israelites and their abominable presence in Canaan, as well as a desire for revenge upon the murderers of their kinsmen.
“From the river to the sea,” said Lahmi. By “river” he meant the Jordan River. “I will fight until these Hebrews are driven into the jaws of Leviathan.”
“Into the jaws of Leviathan,” repeated Agag. “Let us go. A search party is already after you.”
Strange, thought Lahmi, Agag’s voice sounded like it became another person.
Lahmi turned to see a party of fifty gibborim on horseback and ten Rephaim on foot leaving the gates of Gath.
The Amalekites and Lahmi disappeared into the foliage of the forest on their way to their camp, miles in the southern Negeb.
Chapter 69
The tribe of Amalek camped on the north side of the Besor Brook about fifteen miles south of Ziklag. This was an outlier military post as the other few Amalekite tribes were across the brook, deeper in the Negeb.
Joab and Abishai had scouted out the camp. They told David the population of three hundred were all warriors, so David took a contingent of four hundred of his own with him.
Jonathan the Mouse had wanted so badly to help David kill Amalekites that when he wasn’t chosen for the raiding party, he caused a ruckus of complaint. David had to punish him with incarceration. Ittai stayed and watched over his apprentice, teaching him the finer points of obedience to their commander.
David watched from his vantage point on the ridge, overlooking the encampment of Amalekites. The desert tribe performed their worship of Azazel, the satyr goat god of the desert, the realm of chaos, while the sun set behind them on the orange horizon.
They beat drums with a chaotic pulse and danced around as a group. If dancing was what you could call their frenzied and jittering jumping and shaking. Howls filled the air from the participants, signaling their abandonment to forces beyond them.
“Siyyim and iyyim,” said Benaiah next to David. “The howling demons of the desert wasteland. It appears their entire tribe is inhabited with them. They are evil spirits that dance destruction upon the graves of the dead.”
“This is not going to be easy,” said Abishai. “They are stronger by such possession. Harder to kill.”
Without taking his eyes off the ritual below, David said, “Then we will kill them harder.”
Night fell. In the camp of Amalek, the warriors quieted down and rested from their ritual dance. Everyone feasted on the flesh of human beings captured from surrounding communities. Some gorged themselves, which was providential for David and his band of three hundred gibborim. Bellies full of meat would make them more sluggish in combat. David’s men concealed themselves on the periphery of the camp in the bushes and gullies.
When David blew his war horn, they rose and attacked the Amalekite camp as one man.
They rushed their opponents, catching many off guard. By the time the Amalekites had gathered to arms, David’s warriors had swept into camp and were cutting, stabbing and slicing their way to a quick victory.
But the Amalekites were possessed by a legion of evil spirits.
They howled and fought with fury. The noise pierced the eardrums of the Israelites. It caused some of them to falter. The Amalekites pushed back, gaining ground.
Benaiah and the bodyguards fought next to David. Amalekites ran at them like crazy, screaming banshees.
Benaiah cut off the arm of one, but he kept attacking. He cut off the other arm, and the Amalekite still kept coming. He thrust him through the gut and the cannibal tried to bite him, until he finally dropped. Benaiah withdrew his blade.
Abishai was near him. He shouted out, “I told you this would not be easy.”
“Five!” yelled Joab. “You are getting behind, Abishai!”
Joab and Abishai were competitive even on the field as they sought to keep up with one another in terms of body count.
Abishai joined his brother and increased his ferocity to catch up.
The demonic Amalekites howled and fought like a pack of hyenas mad for blood.
But these were David’s finest warriors, his gibborim, his mighty men. They cut through the sons of Amalek like wheat. It just took a little longer for the harvest, because they were not typical enemy combatants.
When the dust settled, they had slaughtered the Amalekites to a man.
“No survivors!” David yelled as he saw an Israelite pulling up a wounded Amalekite. The warrior heard his lord’s command and cut his enemy’s throat.
David looked out across the Besor Brook, with his commanders by his side. “Now, we gather all the booty, animals, gold and silver, and we bring it to Achish as our first of many raids on ‘Israelite’ settlements.”
Benaiah, Abishai and the others smiled with understanding. He never intended to kill his people after all. It was all a pretense.
David added, “No survivors, no evidence.”
• • • • •
David and an entourage of fifty men arrived at Gath with their wagon loads of booty from the several raids they had made in the Negeb on the Amalekites and other Canaanite tribes. They were ushered into the Lord and Lady’s presence to examine the loot.
“Impressive,” said Achish. “Do you not agree, my lady?”
Bisha looked over the spoils seized by David from a raid on Israelite tribes. But she did not look at the gold and silver so much as the jars and containers that carried the gold and silver.
She said, “Hmmmm,” with a kind of detachment that made David grateful she was no longer eyeing him as a prize of her battle.
She said, “How many raids did you say these spoils are from?”
David answered, “Three. All of them were Israelite settlements in the Negeb: Judahites, Jerahmeelites and Kennites.”
She picked through a pile of stolen garments. “Have you encountered any hostile forces in the desert? Bands of outlaws? Giants?” She deliberately avoided using the word ‘Amalekite’ so as not to lead him.
“No, my lady,” replied David. “But I expect them eventually. We will be equipped to deal with them.”
“You kill them all, do you?” she queried, looking at some jewelry.
“The Israelites? Yes,” David answered. “If word were to get out that I am against my countrymen, it would jeopardize our strategy.”
“And your reputation,” she added, looking accusingly at David. “Nobody likes a traitor, do they?”
“No, my lady.” He stared right back at her. “The only thing worse than a traitor who betrays their own is a usurper who seeks t
o take what is not their own.”
Bisha tightened. She knew he was directing her accusations right back at her, and Achish had no clue what was going on, the ignoramus.
“Perhaps that is why we get along,” she said. “The house of Achish and the house of David have a common enemy and a common ethic. Unlike, say, the Amalekites who seem to have nothing in common with anyone.”
David stiffened. Could she tell? Was she hinting to him that she knew what he was doing?
She continued, “Who knows but that one day, our gods may find common ground, that we might finally have shalom.”
She deliberately used the Hebrew word for “peace.” David thought to himself, We have nothing in common, you slave of Dagon. And one day, I will impale you on a pike and kill every last Philistine as my god commands.
Finally, Achish joined the conversation. He had been musing this whole time, considering an option that he now decided upon. “David, I want to appoint you captain of my bodyguard.”
Bisha looked with shock at her husband. “What are you talking about? He is in Ziklag. He cannot be the captain of your bodyguard from such a distance.”
David chimed in, “Lord Achish, it would be an honor, but Lady Bisha is right. It would divide your interests.”
“Not in the least,” said Achish. “I am going to follow David’s counsel and invade Saul’s northernmost region in the Jezreel Valley. It is a perfect battlefield for our chariots. David can guard me in the battle against King Saul and when we have vanquished the Israelite king, David can return to his duty in Ziklag.”
Finally, thought David. My opportunity has arrived. I must feign disinterest. He said, “Can you not use the Sons of Rapha?”
“No. I have other plans for them. You and your men can go with me into the battle. It will no doubt draw Saul himself out into the open.”
“Yes,” Bisha jumped in, eyes locked on David. “Since David has displayed such skill at killing Israelites, this would provide for him even more opportunity for us to see what he can do.”
Achish looked eagerly to David for his response. David took a deep breath as if considering his choice. Then he said, “Very well. I will go out with you. And you shall know what your servant can do. I will retrieve my men from Ziklag.”
They had no idea what David was about to do. No one, with the possible exception of Bisha.
• • • • •
After David left for Ziklag, Bisha called upon her Amalekite spy, Arkos, and met with him in secret in the queen’s privy.
Earlier, when she had examined the spoils from David’s alleged victories over Israelite tribes, she had noticed a contradictory witness to his claims. She was quite familiar with the decorations and fashions of the various inhabitants of Canaan. She could see that the garments and pottery David had seized were clearly Amalekite, not Israelite. She had figured out that he was lying about his battles to Achish. He was not killing Israelites. He was killing Amalekites and other desert tribes. David had not betrayed his people after all. He was on course to betray Achish. Lahmi must attack David when he returns to Ziklag and kill him before he has a chance to move north to the battle against Saul.
She handed a sealed scroll to Arkos and whispered, “Take this to Lahmi in the westernmost tribe of Amalek, across the Besor Brook. It is of life and death importance. Do not fail me.”
“Yes, my lady,” said Arkos, and left immediately.
Chapter 70
By the time Arkos the messenger reached the Amalekite tribe where Lahmi was hiding out, it was too late to catch David at Ziklag. David had quickly gathered all six hundred of his fighting men and left the town to join Lord Achish at Aphek with the rest of the Philistine forces. He would need his full force for what he planned to do.
Unfortunately for Arkos, he was captured by one of David’s own scouts on his return to Bisha.
Unfortunately for David, Arkos told the scout only that he was on his way to report David’s movements to Bisha.
• • • • •
The armies of the Philistine pentapolis had assembled with Achish and his Gittites at Aphek, thirty miles south of the Valley of Jezreel. Saul’s forces were staged at the spring of Jezreel near the eastern edge of the valley near Mount Gilboa.
The Philistines mustered to prepare for their final march through the Carmel pass into the valley. The Lords of the other four cities had arrived with their forces of two thousand apiece, for a total of ten thousand armed Philistines. They were Dothan of Ekron, Tarhunda of Gaza, Mutallu of Ashdod, and Suwardata of Ashkelon. Ishbi and Runihura led two battalions of several hundred Rephaim total.
Dagon, Ba’alzebul, and Asherah scouted ahead to find out how many of the heavenly host would be fighting on behalf of Israel and King Saul.
What they found shocked them.
“There is not a single archangel or member of the host guarding Saul,” said Ba’alzebul, as the three of them gazed down from Mount Gilboa upon Saul’s army and the surrounding area.
“Where are they?” asked Dagon.
“How should I know?” spit Ba’alzebul.
“You are the emerging leader in this campaign,” said Dagon with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. He relished the idea of Ba’alzebul making a tactical fool of himself. He may be a mighty storm god, but the strategies of war required more mental power than mere muscle-bound brawn.
Asherah was not distracted by their squabbling. She stared out toward Gilboa and said, “Has the entire ascendancy of David to the throne been a mere ploy?”
Dagon added, “An alternate scheme of Yahweh.”
• • • • •
Down by the spring of Jezreel, Saul’s encampment of six thousand prepared for combat; sharpening their swords, practicing their battle moves, and praying to Yahweh. A messenger had arrived with intelligence on the Philistine forces.
“God almighty El Shaddai!” exclaimed Saul. “It keeps getting worse. Now David is fighting with the Philistines against me? Yahweh mocks me.”
“No, father,” said Jonathan. “I do not believe it.” He and his two other brothers, Abinadab and Malchi-shua, were with Saul’s advisors. They were leading regiments of Israelite warriors for the battle.
Jonathan had not been in contact with David for a long time. But he knew David’s heart. He knew he would never lift a hand against Saul. He had multiple opportunities to do so through the years and never once seized upon it. No, Jonathan did not believe David would fight against Israel, no matter what it may have appeared to the eyes of others.
Jonathan added, “I beg of you, father, consult the Urim and Thummim. Find out what Yahweh’s will is in this matter.”
Saul barked back, “You fool! Yahweh has not spoken to me in many years. The Urim and Thummim, the prophets, and my dreams are all mute. I have given up on them long ago. How often do I have to tell you? I am godforsaken!”
Jonathan and the other ten advisors cringed. They hoped that Saul was not about to explode into a rage again. The evil spirit in him could do so at any given moment. They tried not to aggravate him.
Saul looked out onto the valley before them. “The Philistines will be here on the morrow. We do not stand a chance against their chariots. Tell the men we are moving position to the heights of Mount Gilboa.”
• • • • •
David and his gibborim marched behind Achish’s forces at Aphek. His hopes had finally found opportunity. Achish was leading the Philistine armies into battle against Saul.
But Saul was Yahweh’s anointed, and David would never forget that. He had successfully fooled Achish into thinking he had been killing Israelites in the Negeb, when in fact he had been killing Amalekites, Geshurites and Girzites. He had built trust with Achish to the point where the foolish Lord had exclaimed that he wanted David to be his bodyguard for life. David knew Lady Bisha was skeptical of his loyalty, but he had Achish in his hands.
As David marched with Benaiah by his side and his commanders of the Thirty and the Three, he mused over
his plans for the battle. As Achish’s bodyguard, David and his men would stay near the rear of the battle guarding Achish and therefore not confronting Israelites directly. But if and when the fighting got closer to Achish, David would find his opportunity to skewer Achish with his sword or javelin, just in time for Israelites to see and report back to Saul his deed of loyalty to the throne. The betrayal would no doubt turn the tide of war and secure Saul’s victory over the Philistines. Saul may have been oppressed by an evil spirit, and out to kill David, but Achish was herem, cursed by Yahweh to total destruction.
Damn Achish to Sheol, thought David.
• • • • •
“Are you trying to damn me to Sheol?” complained Achish in the tent of Lords.
A general council of the five Lords of the Philistine pentapolis had been called. Several of them had noticed David and his men marching behind Achish’s forces and had demanded to know what the Hebrews were doing in his army. Ishbi and Runihura were in the meeting as well.
Dothan of Ekron said, “This David is the man of whom it was said, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, David, his ten thousands.”
“It is a woman’s song,” said Achish. “Female sentiment.”
“And it was a woman’s song about Jael who nailed the tent peg into Sisera’s skull that gave Israel victory over the Canaanites.” Lady Bisha had just entered the tent. “I believe we are all familiar with that ‘female sentiment.’” Her contempt was biting.
Achish resisted her. “Since he deserted to me from King Saul, I have found no fault in him to this very day. He has killed hundreds if not thousands of Israelites for me to prove his devotion.”
“He has killed Amalekite tribes and told you the spoils were Israelite,” countered Bisha.
The statement took Achish by surprise. She had been keeping the revelation for just the right moment.
Bisha continued, “My lord and love, I know Amalekite fashions and decorations when I see them on garments, jewelry and pottery. The spoils David brought you were not Israelite. David is a liar.”
