David Ascendant

by Brian Godawa

  The Ob relaxed.

  Asherah snapped her neck and threw her body in the flames of the bonfire. She said as she walked out of the cave, “We cannot afford a single leak of our plan.”

  Ba’alzebul commanded, “Gods, prepare for battle.”

  Chapter 73

  On the third day of their return, David and his men were within miles of Ziklag when they saw a plume of smoke rising in the distance from where their town was. Panic filled David and they raced the rest of the way to their destination.

  They made record time. They broke over the ridge and saw the razed and pillaged ruins of their town before them. Many of the homes were already burnt to the ground, others smashed to pieces. Ziklag had been raided.

  David screamed out as they closed the distance to the city limits. The six hundred warriors raced through the rubble and flames to find their families. No one was there. It was a ghost town. The few old men that remained told David they had been attacked by a tribe of Amalekites one day earlier. The attackers had ridden south, toward the Besor Brook, with the Israelite families as captives; all the wives, sons, and daughters.

  “But they did not kill any of them,” said one of the four old men that stood before David and his generals.

  Relief flooded all the commanders.

  Ittai teared up with the hope of his Ummi being spared. But if she was touched, or hurt, he feared he would go berserk and lose all constraint in a bloodbath of Amalekite carnage.

  For David, Ahinoam and Abigail were alive. Thank Yahweh they were alive.

  “Is there anything else you can tell us?” said David.

  One of the other old men spoke up, “They were led by a Rephaim Gittite. Over eight feet tall. Red hair.”

  Ittai stepped forward. “How do you know he was a Gittite?”

  “I know the armor used by Gittites. Much as your own.”

  Ittai said, “What was his weapon?”

  “A scimitar,” replied the old man. That was not as common. But it was the signature of the Sons of Rapha.

  “Was he right or left handed?”

  The old man thought for a moment. “Left handed.”

  Ittai turned to David. “That is Lahmi, brother of Goliath. When he escaped from Gath’s dungeon, he must have ended up with the Amalekites.”

  David gritted his teeth with vengeance. That son of Belial was going to pay for this evil. His older brother got it quick and easy. This one, he would make suffer.

  At that moment, the generals noticed that the other warriors were drawing near with anger.

  One of them cried out, “What has happened to our families?”

  David yelled out to the lot of them, “Amalekites have taken them hostage! But they are not dead!”

  Another one shouted, “Our families as slaves and breeders for Amalekite scum!”

  A mutinous rumble went through the crowd.

  Someone else bellowed, “If we had not been licking Philistine toes, we would have been here and this never would have happened!”

  The crowd became more restless.

  Someone yelled, “We should stone the man responsible for this!”

  Shouts of agreement rose up.

  David’s generals tightened their circle around him.

  Benaiah drew his sword and stepped in front of David.

  Ittai pulled a battle axe. The Mouse nocked an arrow. They were ready to defend their lord against mutiny.

  David moved out from behind his protectors and quieted the crowd down.

  He proclaimed with courage, “Men of Israel! You are right to be distraught and bitter! For I am distraught and bitter at losing my family as well! I do not blame you! I share your wounds!”

  David turned to his generals and found Abiathar the high priest standing to their side. He gestured him to approach.

  As Abiathar stood next to David, he proclaimed, “Mighty gibborim of Yahweh! I will waste no time in consulting the will of Yahweh for our families this very moment!”

  “Right here?” said Abiathar. “Right now, in front of them all?”

  “Right here in front of them all,” repeated David. He knew that the only way to stop the rising mutiny was to do something drastic. He needed something that would impress each and every one of them with obligation before Yahweh, and break the spirit of rebellion. Using the ephod was a sacred private endeavor that usually happened within the priestly tent. Only in times of community tradition and influence such as a coronation would it be used publicly to induce unanimity. The result was a holy fear that swept through the masses as they stood before the very tangible visible expression of Yahweh’s will. David needed that now, or he would find himself stoned to death by the mob.

  He told Abiathar to prepare the ephod. One of the other priests scrambled and brought the ephod forward to place on the high priest.

  The crowd of warriors knelt in the dust before the scene. David then cried out, “Oh Yahweh, I inquire of you, shall I pursue after this band of Amalekites? Shall we overtake them?”

  The crowd had gone silent.

  The high priest drew the lots and David had his answer. He raised the affirmative lot up to the crowd and pronounced, “Thus saith Yahweh, the Lord of Hosts! Pursue the Amalekites and you shall overtake them and rescue your families!”

  The mutinous attitude turned to righteous faith and the six hundred cheered with a war cry.

  David yelled, “Mount up, oh Men of God!”

  The gibborim gathered for war.

  Chapter 74

  War already raged in the north on Mount Gilboa. Saul’s forces had taken the heights, so the Philistines could not use their chariots. Saul was outnumbered two to one, but the Israelites were superior fighters in the hills. They had perfected the art through generations of disadvantage on the plains.

  But numbers were still numbers, and the Philistines pressed the Israelites upward under sheer power.

  Samuel’s curse and prophecy had changed Saul. Rather than cowering in fear of his destiny, he had resigned himself to his fate. He realized that if he was going to die, he was going to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it any longer. He was tired of fighting Yahweh after thirty years and had given up all hope in his heart. He decided that he would die in a blaze of greatness and glory and try to achieve some heroic deed in his death.

  He engaged the Philistines head-on near the forefront of battle, with his armor-bearer fearfully following him into peril. To his soldiers, it was insanity. But they had grown used to Saul’s momentary lapses of reason over the years and considered it one more crazy, desperate act by their crazy, desperate king.

  Jonathan did not accept it though. He fought near his father to keep an eye upon him. After all the years of abuse and contempt, Jonathan remained loyal to his father. He did so with an accurate and efficient use of the bow. With his string-launched missiles, he kept many at bay, preventing them from getting within striking range of his father.

  Saul’s bodyguard was not up to the task of adequately defending their king. They were quickly winnowed down under the flashing heat of iron against bronze. Israelite weapons had gotten better over the years, but Philistine smithery was still superior, and it seemed that David had drawn all the best gibborim to himself.

  Saul felt his time arriving as Philistine warriors pushed closer to him in the fray. He was fairly skilled with his sword. But he was very old now, about seventy years of age, and both speed and skill had deteriorated with that age. He turned to his armor-bearer and switched to javelins.

  A fresh wave of Philistines started for Saul. He breathed a sigh of relief that it would finally be all over. Jonathan moved to his aid, nocking, aiming and releasing arrows one after another. He even pulled arrows from dead bodies to unleash them back upon the Philistines.

  It would be of little help. There were just too many of them.

  Suddenly, three warriors, about eight feet tall bounded into the clash.

  Saul and Jonathan thought at first that they were Rephai
m who would surely kill them both.

  But they were not.

  They began to fight on Saul’s behalf!

  They stopped the flood of warriors like a dam. One of them was huge and muscular. He bludgeoned and smashed dozens with a deftly handled mace. The second was less impressive, but used a battle net and, strangely, a trident to skewer and impale dozens of others. The third was a female warrior. She was built as a battle maiden should be, and she cut through Philistines with her sword effortlessly.

  There was only one thing that Saul and Jonathan thought they could be: archangels. But why? After years of rejection, after divine prophecy of sure destruction through his prophet Samuel, why would Yahweh change his mind and send archangels to protect him? Had his favor changed? Was there hope finally in this last moment turn of events? And why did one of them have horns like a bull?

  There was no time to fiddle with such time-consuming questions. Saul and Jonathan fought for their lives behind these saviors, these wonderful heavenly saviors.

  On the Philistine side, a counter force of three paladin warriors appeared, of equal strength and skill, though smaller of size to Saul’s rescuers. They did not kill Israelite warriors, but avoided them on their way toward the three savior archangels. These, Saul believed were the territorial demons of Philistia, evil spirits embodied in flesh to fight the archangels and bring death and destruction upon the Seed of Abraham.

  They were in fact the archangels Saraqael, Raguel, and Remiel. They had come to make sure that Yahweh’s will was carried out in full. They exploded with force upon the gods Ba’alzebul, Dagon, and Asherah, who were protecting Saul.

  Chapter 75

  David and his men had arrived at the Besor Brook on their expedition against the Amalekites. They had run at full force, and some of the men were exhausted. David decided to keep two hundred of them at the brook, with Ittai and several other commanders to watch over them.

  That meant the Mouse would have to stay behind again with Ittai. He fumed with anger.

  Ittai complained to David apart from the others, “My lord, you must not do this. You must bring me with you.”

  “I must not do anything,” said David. “You are my subject.”

  “But I have known Lahmi since we were children. I know how he thinks, how he fights. You need me to defeat him. Do not steal from me my one opportunity for revenge.”

  David looked compassionately upon Ittai. Of all his warriors, he was among the most trustworthy and devoted. Even more than Abishai and Joab, if that were possible. But he could see Ittai’s weakness. He could see it in his eyes and in the words that gave him away.

  “That is why I am not taking you, Ittai. You are crippled by your need for revenge. But ‘Vengeance is mine,’ saith Yahweh.”

  Ittai’s face went red with fury. He held it back and gritted his teeth, but he did not respond, because he knew David was right.

  David put his hand on Ittai’s shoulder in camaraderie. “My dear Ittai. I do not speak from the lofty heights of perfected holiness. I too have been ravished by vengeance. I too have failed to understand its fine distinction of separation from justice. It is only because I have seen the damage of my own vengeance that I am keeping you from this fight. You are not ready. Pray and beseech your Adonai, Yahweh, for understanding.”

  “It is not fair.” The voice came from the Mouse, who had snuck up on them in discussion. “I have been waiting to kill giants forever. My lord, I can take down this one you seek with my arrows before he even gets near you.”

  David glared at Jonathan. “Not now, Mouse. I have not the time for your squeaking.”

  David turned away to organize his forces.

  Jonathan was stunned, humiliated. David had never called him that before. Only the other warriors ever did. He must have pushed his commander too far. Now he got angry with his own stupid pride.

  Ittai said to him, “I guess we both have more in common than just our size. We have to accept Yahweh’s choice and Yahweh’s timing for our lives.”

  “What do you mean, our size?” said Jonathan. “You are not small.”

  “That depends on what standard you are using,” replied Ittai to a curious look on Jonathan’s face. “Never mind. It is a long story,” he concluded.

  Still, Jonathan wondered if he would ever get to kill one of those evil serpentine no-good giant bastards.

  And that was why Ittai knew he could not tell Jonathan his real identity.

  • • • • •

  The Israelite warriors had found an Egyptian servant left for dead in the desert by the Amalekites who led David to the location of the enemy. David and his generals climbed a hill overlooking a vast plain of desert below them.

  The Amalekites were spread out upon the plain, feasting and celebrating their recent spoils from Ziklag, as well as several other Judean and Philistine towns.

  Benaiah pointed out the corral built at the center of the camp, where the seven hundred Israelite captives and a few hundred others were kept. Because the Amalekites were cannibals, they often ate their hostages, but David knew Lahmi would not have allowed it until he drew David into his trap.

  Abishai whispered to David, “There appears to be about fifteen hundred of them. And a squad of a dozen giants.” A squad of giants was like a small army in and of itself.

  David had only four hundred men.

  But David’s men were gibborim warriors, many of whom had performed amazing feats of valor on behalf of Yahweh and his messiah seed. Besides Benaiah’s mighty deeds against the Egyptian Rephaim and the Lion Men of Moab, Abishai had first won his name by conquering three hundred men with his javelin. The chief of the Three, Jashobeam, wielded a spear against three hundred men at one time and came out victor as well. He swore it was eight hundred, but most thought he was just trying to one up Abishai. The second of the Three, Eleazar, as well as another gibbor, Shammah, both single-handedly held separate plots of ground against entire battalions of Philistines. Eleazar’s fighting was so fierce, his hand had frozen to the hilt of his sword as if the weapon was an extension of his very arm. Yet of all of these leaders, Joab, was the fiercest and most ruthless. And he was looking for his opportunity at mass slaughter to prove his worth to his lord.

  Fifteen hundred bloodthirsty, savage Amalekite cannibals against four hundred Mighty Men of David.

  “Easy odds,” murmured Joab.

  • • • • •

  King Agag sank his teeth into the hip bone of an Edomite woman carcass. Tendons got stuck in his teeth, blood spurted out of the joint, getting in his eyes and dribbling down his chin. He laughed and wiped his eyes.

  “I prefer the softer flesh of the female, but with it comes an excess of juice and fat.”

  Lahmi sat next to him, holding back his disgust for these barbaric brutes. Their manners were despicable, their dress was juvenile with its animal skins and horn pieces, and their body piercing practices were simply foolish. Ears, cheeks, nipples and other body parts were pierced with metal rings and rods that just made it easier for an enemy to grab or maneuver in a fight. Even their war paint was primitive by the more sophisticated Philistine standards of artistry. They looked like children who splashed mud and chalk on their faces rather than warriors inspiring terror with frightening designs.

  Lahmi got up and returned to the squad of giants set apart from the others. Rephaim felt superior to normal warriors and tended to separate unto themselves. They ate goat meat. Lahmi had given up human flesh because he had discovered the madness disease that seemed to plague cannibals and drive them to wild displays of screaming and fits. The Amalekites thought it empowered them with the vital life force of their victims, but it really just turned them into deteriorating maniacs.

  Lahmi kept an eye to the horizon. He knew David would arrive soon in search of his captured people. Lahmi did not want to be caught unawares with a belly too full of meat and a mind too dulled by much wine.

  No, vengeance was his drink. It empowered him with constant
bitter readiness.

  The moon was obstructed by a cloudy sky and visibility was low. Lahmi thought to himself, This is a dangerous night. These stupid boors are all drunk on alcohol and delirious with the strange weed they burned in censers around the camp.

  Though he was ostensibly one of several leaders under Agag, he in fact manipulated Agag like a puppet. He thought to himself, Tomorrow, I will tighten the reins. I will take over more outward control and slap these buffoons into shape with my Rephaim. They have no idea who they are about to face. They have no…

  The sound of a war horn broke the darkness. At first, it blended into the loud music and chaotic drums leading the celebration. Nobody paid it any attention.

  Lahmi recognized it. It was an Israelite horn of war. He threw down his goblet and yelled at Agag, “We are under attack!” He ordered his giants beside him, “Rise up, Rephaim.”

  It took a moment for Agag to realize Lahmi was right. Lahmi and his squad of giants were already up, strapping swords on backs and hefting shields and javelins.

  Agag yelled to his trumpeter to call to arms.

  Lahmi heard the pounding music stop and saw the confusion around him. The Amalekite horn bellowed through the camp. He barked a command to his warriors and ran to his tent to gather a most precious weapon he had saved for this very moment: Goliath’s javelin. He had taken it from his dead brother’s headless corpse in the Valley of the Terebinth and had saved it, with the intention of using it to impale Goliath’s own murderer: David ben Jesse of Israel. That puny Hebrew rodent will bleed out with my javelin piercing his belly.

  Lahmi snatched up the javelin. He dashed from his tent, and scanned the landscape to see from which direction they were being attacked. But he could see no charging force, no battle line approaching. He only saw strikes from all around, as if the Israelites had surrounded the camp and were attacking from every side, squeezing in. It seemed like it was a large force. Had they conspired with Philistines? Lahmi looked for the fiercest concentration of fighting, guessing that David would be the most protected in battle.