Joshua Valiant

by Brian Godawa

  Rahab felt her breath knocked out of her. She had taken her hood down to talk to the young girl, but had neglected to pull it back up to disguise herself.

  The woman stared at her. Her blind eye looked frighteningly into Rahab’s soul.

  “You are of the Habiru god,” said the sorceress.

  Rahab was genuinely shocked at the statement. She had certainly been drawn to the stories she had heard. She was definitely interested in learning more about these people and their invisible god. But this sorceress had perceived that newfound interest and interpreted it in the extreme.

  Before Rahab could process it all, the sorceress’s eyes widened with realization and she said, “I know who you are.”

  “What are you talking about, sorceress?” said Rahab with anger.

  “I know who you are.”

  She pointed a bony finger at Rahab. It felt like she was stabbing Rahab in the heart, and cutting her open for everyone to see.

  “You were with the Ob many years ago. He prophesied over you.”

  “You are mad, old lady,” said Rahab.

  But she would not back down.

  “The serpent seer prophesied that out of your womb would come forth a great and mighty warrior, whose kingdom shall overthrow all kingdoms.”

  Rahab was speechless. The sorceress was right. Rahab had sought to forget that horrible experience and its frightening implications. She was running from it as much as she was running from the Clan of the Serpent.

  And she had told no one about it.

  And now, this sorceress would surely expose her. Everything she had done to hide her identity and protect herself and her loved ones, all her years of fighting for freedom and seeking to start anew, would be burnt to the ground. She and her family would be found out and slaughtered.

  The sorceress grabbed Rahab’s arm. For an old woman, she had an iron grip that she could not pull away from. And then Rahab saw her good eye and the woman’s voice altered into a deep gravely growl.

  “The chosen seed must die.”

  She was possessed by a demon.

  Rahab flooded with panic. What could she do now?

  There was only one thing she could do.

  She reached in her cloak, withdrew her hidden dagger, and cut the throat of the sorceress.

  The sorceress released her grip on Rahab, grabbed her throat and faltered, gurgling blood.

  Rahab held her to keep her from falling. She whispered in the sorceress’s ear, “You will speak no more of this Ob and his rambling. And carry your silence to Sheol.”

  Rahab dragged the sorceress’s body to the side of the tent in the shadows where she would not be found until morning.

  She backed away from the tent and looked around the camp. No one had noticed their exchange.

  She had to get back to Jericho before anyone found out.

  Chapter 24

  The high place of Ba’al in Kiriath-arba was but a pale shadow of his palace on Mount Sapan in the far reaches of the north. But it would have to do for his base of operations in southern Canaan.

  It was on the highest point of the ridge, built near the ancient circular megaliths. It had an outer courtyard about one hundred feet square fenced in with brick. A stone altar of sacrifice stood in the middle of the courtyard. The holy place was a fifty-foot square brick and pillared vestibule that led into a holy of holies that was also fifty foot square but a hundred feet high. A staircase led to the top roof where another altar was placed for special ceremonies.

  Inside the holy of holies, Molech was frantic.

  “I could not get here any sooner. The archangels chased me to Ammon. Thank the gods there is a treaty between Yahweh and the sons of Lot, or I would have been chained in Tartarus right now.”

  Ba’al did not give a damn about Molech. He was a sleazy and slippery eel who could not be trusted. For all he cared, let the child eater rot in Tartarus.

  “But you are sure, they caught Ashtart and imprisoned her?”

  “She told me that when she vanquished the angels, she would travel to Kiriath-arba and join you in the war. She is long overdue. I had to wait until I knew the angels had left Moab and then I traveled a hundred miles circumventing the southern tip of the Dead Sea to get here. Ashtart would have been here by now.”

  Ba’al stared out into the distance. “They will come with the army of Yahweh. The Habiru have Yahweh’s covering.”

  “These archangels are ferocious,” warned Molech. “They laid waste an entire army of the undead. They did not stop coming at us.”

  “Let them come,” said Ba’al. “I will give them war like they have never seen.”

  • • • • •

  King Hoham and the Brothers Arba arrived at the temple of Ba’al. They had been summoned by the priests for consultation with the most high. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai waited outside the holy place for their commands. Inside the holy of holies, the king genuflected prostrate on the floor before the graven image of Ba’al, now inhabited by the deity. Molech was to remain quiet; seen, not heard.

  “I will prepare immediately, my King of kings,” said Hoham.

  “This is not a mere war of conquest,” said Ba’al. “This is the War of the Seed prophesied in ancient days.”

  Hoham quivered, “But they are so few, my god. We are like cedar trees before mere grasshoppers.”

  “Those grasshoppers wiped out King Og of Bashan, last of the Rephaim, and took the Transjordan. If you do not want to be last of the Anakim, you had better prepare for the battle of your lifetime.”

  Hoham filled with pride. “It will be the honor of my lifetime to exterminate the Seed of Abraham that sought to exterminate our Seed of Anak. These Habiru have conquered the Rephaim. But they have not yet faced the might and power of the Anakim.”

  Ba’al said, “I want you to send out two of your most trustworthy spies on a mission.”

  “Name it, my Lord, and I will obey.”

  “Find out who this general Joshua ben Nun is. He leads the Habiru forces for the aged Moses. If he is the promised seedline of Eve, then we will kill him. If they are trying to cut off the serpent’s head, then we will cut off the woman’s feet.”

  Hoham smiled. “With pleasure my Lord. Where are they now?”

  “They are quartered on the plains of Moab near Mount Nebo just across the Jordan from Jericho.”

  “That is hostile territory all around.”

  “The god Molech will guide your spies to Ammon, where they will be provided safe harbor and intelligence on the Habiru. If they confirm that Joshua ben Nun is the Seed, then I want them to strike. So the spies must also be your finest warriors.”

  “Excellent,” said Hoham.

  Ba’al said, “Bring me the head of this Joshua ben Nun.”

  Hoham said, “I have just the warriors for the task.”

  Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai rose from the floor when Hoham exited the most holy place.

  Hoham said, “The War of the Seed is rising. Ahiman, begin preparation of our forces for the apocalypse. Sheshai and Talmai, I have a special mission for you.”

  Chapter 25

  It took several days for Molech to lead the Arba brothers to Ammon on the eastern side of the Israelite settlement on the plains of Moab. They were in the area of Shittim, a fertile location of acacia meadows.

  The Ammonites received Sheshai and Talmai with some caution due to the fact that they had in previous years eliminated the Zamzummim giants from their land. But when Molech explained through his priests that the sons of Anak were allies seeking intelligence to defeat the Israelites, they were given all the help they needed.

  That help came in the form of two very important pieces of information.

  A scribe named Sudru led Sheshai and Talmai through the Ammonite palace library. He was tall and lanky, effeminate looking, with a nasally voice. Talmai wondered to himself why so many scribes seemed to be one of two constitutions: scrawny and effeminate or fat and soft. He was glad he did not learn much t
o read and spent his time instead in the art of war.

  Scribes were the keepers of knowledge and thus were most privy to all that pertained of importance to the priestly and noble classes. Sudru was explaining to them an incident that had occurred not too long ago as they followed him through the halls and the vaults of the library. It was as if he did not have the time to stop what he was doing in order to help them.

  “As you may know, the Habiru had taken over the lands that had once been Moab’s before King Sihon took them over. Well, a confederation of Moabite and Midianite tribes in the area had bound together in covenant led by the king of Moab, Balaak, son of Zippor. They wanted to curse these Habiru because they had become oppressive occupiers and they feared the Habiru would do to them what they did to the Amorites before them.”

  They entered the library area. It was a mundane series of shelves loaded with scrolls and tablets. It smelled musty to Sheshai’s nose.

  Sudru continued without pause, “So they sent for a Babylonian diviner, called a baru. His name was Balaam son of Beor, who resided in Pethor, a Mesopotamian city just south of Carchemish in the north.”

  All scribes seemed to be obsessed with petty details. It made Talmai impatient. But Sheshai was following closely because he knew that the gods were in the details.

  “Balaak paid Balaam a handsome fee to curse the Habiru three different times. But word has it that this Balaam ended up blessing the Habiru three times instead, claiming that he could only proclaim according to what the god had told him.”

  Sheshai interrupted his flow of talk, “What god is that?”

  “Allegedly, Yahweh.”

  Sudru was looking through the shelves. “Now where did I place those?”

  Sheshai said, “Were his blessings copied down?”

  Sudru stopped and looked up at Sheshai with an annoyed look. Then he quipped, “What do you think I am looking for, a children’s lullaby?”

  Sheshai was amazed at the arrogance of this little pipsqueak. He actually thought his access to knowledge gave him some kind of priestly superiority. Sheshai could crush him with one hand, and had they been in Kiriath-arba, he might have.

  Talmai was thinking the same thing. But Sheshai gave him a look not to. It would be foolish for them to respond with such flagrant disregard for their host’s gracious accommodations by pulverizing one of their privileged class.

  “Oh, here they are,” said Sudru. He had turned around and pulled out a few clay tablets from a shelf. “I accidentally put them on the shelf for astrological omens instead of divination.”

  He handed Sheshai the tablets, and said, “And please, be respectful of the clay. Do not treat it like it is one of your enemies on the battlefield.”

  Sheshai and Talmai looked at each other with more incredulity.

  “Do you need help reading it?” asked Sudru.

  “I speak and read four languages,” boasted Sheshai. “Which one is it written in?” He could not kill the scribe, but at least he could humiliate him.

  “Amorite,” said Sudru with raised brow.

  “Well, then, I will be fine.”

  Sudru harrumphed and muttered under his breath, “Educated barbarians.”

  It was loud enough for them to hear it. Talmai made a move toward Sudru. Sudru flinched in fear. Sheshai held Talmai back.

  “Wait for us at a safe distance, scribe,” said Sheshai, pointing a dozen feet away from them. “Unless you would like some education from a barbarian.”

  Sudru said with trembling, “I will be over there organizing shelves and manuscripts.”

  He quickly moved away from them to worry himself with the unending task of keeping the library in order.

  Sheshai smiled and pulled the tablets over to a table to read them. Though the new form of parchment writing was becoming more widespread, cuneiform on clay tablets was still the basic standard for recording many important writings.

  Sheshai began to eagerly read through the tablets. They were short. There were four oracles, one per tablet.

  Talmai said, “Well, what does it say?” He was not as educated as his brother. He just did not have the patience to study the details of language like his more intellectual sibling could. He preferred the rigorous vitality of physical exertion in battle practice.

  “Pretty standard oracle material. He calls the Habiru, “Israel” and “Jacob,” which fits with what we know of our ancient prophecy of the Seed of Abraham through the line of his son Jacob.”

  He looked at another tablet. “Praises for Yahweh. He blesses those who bless the Seed of Jacob, and curses those who curse him.”

  He turned another tablet. “Oh, this is interesting. A reference to Jacob’s seed being in many waters and his kingdom shall be exalted. He shall eat up the nations, his adversaries.”

  Talmai’s muscles tightened.

  Sheshai turned to the last tablet and was mesmerized.

  “What? What does it say?”

  Sheshai read as if in a trance,

  Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days.

  The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,

  the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,

  the oracle of him who hears the words of El,

  and knows the knowledge of Elyon,

  who sees the vision of Shaddai,

  falling down with his eyes uncovered:

  I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near:

  A star shall come out of Jacob,

  and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;

  it shall crush the forehead of Moab

  and break down all the sons of Seth.

  Edom shall be dispossessed;

  Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.

  Israel is doing valiantly.

  And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of cities!

  They were silent for a long moment.

  Then it hit Sheshai. He called for Sudru, “Scribe, do you have any records of these Habiru, any of their own writings?”

  Sudru came quickly and said, “I just may. Traders in the region are always looking to trade us manuscripts for food or materials which they foolishly consider of more importance.”

  Sheshai gave him a scolding look. Sudru said, “I will go check.”

  Seshai turned to his brother and said, “‘A star shall come out of Jacob.’ We know stars are deities. ‘A scepter shall rise out of Israel.’ So this deity will also be a king. He will dispossess and destroy everyone. He is also described as a lion in one of the other oracles. Who is this star, this scepter and lion?”

  Sudru arrived with a leather parchment wrapped in a bundle with a strap. “We got this from a very respected Amorite trader. It has been verified to be from the Habiru.”

  Seshai grabbed it from him and opened it up. He unrolled the leather and began to read it.

  “Very similar to the Edomite language.” Seshai kept reading. “This is a copper mine of information. It looks like a blessing from the patriarch Jacob over his sons, who appear to be the very tribes of these Habiru.”

  He kept reading, occasionally mentioning the name whose blessing he was reading, “Reuben… Simeon…”

  And then he stopped. He looked up at Talmai. “I found it, Talmai. I found the key.”

  He read the text out loud,

  “Judah is a lion’s cub;

  he crouched as a lion and as a lioness;

  The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

  nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

  until Shiloh comes.

  And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

  And then Sheshai said, “Lion and scepter. The kingly seed we seek is the line of Judah within Israel.”

  Talmai said, “One out of twelve tribes. But that is still not as specific as we require.”

  Sheshai turned to Sudru, “Scribe, have you any intelligence on the military leader of these Habiru; Joshua ben Nun?”r />
  “Well, why did you not ask me that?” said Sudru. “Of course we do. I have done the research myself on Joshua for the king.”

  Seshai could not believe his good fortune. This scribe was proving to be more useful than he had anticipated.

  “Is he from the tribe of Judah?”

  “No. Joshua is from the tribe of Ephraim.”

  Sheshai and Talmai were deflated. They had reached a dead end, only to discover that their dreaded enemy general was not the one they needed to kill for their long-term victory.

  Sheshai said, “We must return to Hoham and alert him of this revelation. It could change everything.”

  Talmai added, “We will have to send spies into the Israelite camp to find out who is in that lineage of Judah.”

  “You may not need to worry about any of that,” said Sudru.

  The brothers looked at him curiously.

  “The Habiru will not need to be defeated from without, because they are already being defeated from within.”

  “What do you mean?” demanded Sheshai.

  Sudru smiled deviously. “Apparently, this Balaam seer was conscientious about earning his money. So after he spoke the blessing of Yahweh four times in favor of the Israelites, he gave the Midianites and Moabites some advice on how to undermine the blessing from within.”

  “Indeed,” said Sheshai.

  “Seduce them with their women. As we all know, the way of man is such that if you please him sexually, he will give you anything and everything in return, even his soul. The Israelites have developed a liking for Moabite and Midianite women, and with them their local deities. Their god Yahweh is a jealous god who demands exclusive allegiance to him and the destruction of all other gods. One can only imagine the anger he now has toward his own people.”

  Sheshai and Talmai were following his words closely.

  “Word has it that this tyrant deity smote his own people by the hundreds and thousands when they rebelled against him in the desert. And now he is smiting them with a plague for their latest unfaithfulness.”

  Sheshai said with amazement, “We should thank this Yahweh then for helping us.”

  They all laughed.

  Then Sheshai asked, “What god are these Israelites sleeping with now?”