by Brian Godawa
Everyone recognized the reference from their time with Adam and Havah. It was the seed of the Woman at war with the seed of the Serpent, Nachash.
Lamech was stunned. His bloodline would bear a redeemer?
It perturbed Methuselah “When am I going to see one of these visions?” he asked. “You would think that Elohim would confirm such crazy ideas with one or two others of us, if they were so important to the future of the human race.”
Enoch flushed red with righteous indignation. “Methuselah, you speak as an ignorant child who would not want the very thing he whines for should he receive it.”
Methuselah went silent, properly scolded. Enoch walked up to him, slowly explaining himself. “You have fought giants, and have faced the gods, it is true. But you have no idea the terrifying holiness of Elohim’s temple and divine assembly of his holy ones.”
With every word, Methuselah’s confidence waned.
“Are you so sure you want to see what I see? Do you desire to tremble and fall at your feet stiff like a dead man? Do you want to be utterly naked and entirely exposed in your sinfulness before the Lord of hosts and before his holy ones who surround his throne crying, ‘Holy, holy, holy’? Let me give you just a glimpse of the frightening awe of the heaven of heavens into which you so desperately long to look.”
Methuselah had become very still.
Enoch spoke with barely a breath, “In the midst of piercing light is a structure of crystals, and between those crystals are tongues of fire, encircled by rivers of living fire, over which are the sleepless ones who guard the throne of Yahweh’s glory, the Seraphim, the Cherubim, and Ophanim, the archangels, Mikael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel and ten thousand times ten thousand of countless holy angels, all bowing before the Ancient of Days and the one to whom belongs the time before time, the Son of Man, with head as white as wool and an indescribable garment, to whom belongs righteousness and with whom righteousness dwells, the Lord of Spirits, who will remove kings and mighty ones from their comfortable thrones and shall loosen the reins of the strong and crush the teeth of sinners, who shall depose the kings from their kingdoms who do not extol and glorify him and neither do they obey him, the source of their kingship, and he says, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’”
It was the longest run-on sentence Methuselah had ever heard, and it frightened him deeply. But he would not tell anyone that. And he would never again ask to be given a vision of Elohim and his holy ones. No one else on the team would either, as they were all duly terror-stricken. Edna trembled.
Methuselah mumbled, “Father, forgive me for my impertinence. I am an unclean man with unclean lips.”
Enoch could not believe it. Methuselah had actually apologized.
Methuselah’s relentless curiosity interrupted even this moment. “But help me to understand why Elohim would equip us to be giant killers only to have you walk alone and unarmed right into the hornet’s nest of invincible death and destruction?”
“He will not be alone,” a voice said behind them.
Everyone turned to see Uriel the archangel at the entrance of their room, standing with arms crossed in assurance.
It did not assure Methuselah. “I mean no disrespect, mighty one, but there may well be hundreds of Watchers on Mount Hermon, and you are but one archangel.” The battle with the Nephilim at the Tigris River came to his mind. “And if I remember correctly, you are not even the largest or strongest one.”
Uriel rolled his eyes. Why does everyone always have to point that out to me? he thought.
“Oh mouthy one,” Uriel retorted with his signature touch of sarcasm, “I will not be the only one accompanying Enoch. Mikael, Gabriel, and Raphael will all join us when we are in range of our destination.” The presence of the four highest archons of Elohim’s throne room signaled something big to everyone in the room.
Methuselah said, “Forgive me, high prince Uriel, but that is still only four. It seems to me that fighting Watchers will not be quite as easy as fighting Nephilim.”
“Who said we were going to fight them?” asked Uriel with a smile.
It baffled Methuselah and the others. Enoch would walk into the midst of the Watchers’ hideout with the help of four high archangels and preach a sermon, and these rebellious sons of Elohim were going to just listen to them?
The only one it made any sense to was Ohyah, who chose to remain silent.
Uriel chuckled. “Before I explain the elementary principles of faith and obedience to my hardheaded companion here, I think we have a wedding to celebrate.” He looked with joyful eyes upon Lamech and his betrothed Betenos.
Chapter 32
Lamech and Betenos had a brief wedding ceremony. Its brevity was inspired by the fact that the team of giant killers was about to embark on the final leg of its journey to Bashan. They allowed the new lovers several days to discover themselves in all their god-given intimacy. At last, Lamech understood what his father meant when he said that making love to his wife was an act of worship to Elohim. It embodied the kind of union that transcended their physical existence. Grandfather Enoch, with his passionate way with words, had often spoken of the love of Elohim for his people being like that of a bridegroom with his bride.
If that is true, thought Lamech, then I am most honored to have had this small taste of so great a love.
For all her royalty, Betenos had never experienced loving tenderness in her family. Barakil had been a protective father to her, but he was also the clan elder, so he could never be vulnerable with his family. He could never put aside his responsibility for his tribe’s safety and justice to play with his children or caress his wife. As a result, Betenos had experienced stern discipline and mature responsibility, but she felt as if she never had a childhood. She did not know how to have fun, how to let loose and just release her voice into the wind with abandon.
She did that now, thanks to the dexterity and precision of her husband’s fondling, informed by a father most agreeably inclined to a spiritual appreciation of sexuality.
Diya al Din, whose name meant “brightness of faith,” proved to be an ally of inestimable worth. He had not only saved their rear ends from the Earth Goddess and her demonic minions, but also helped them plot their final course into Bashan. Though his people had never been inside Bashan, Diya knew the best and speediest route to get there. He showed them on a map, with Enoch, Methuselah, Edna, Uriel, and Ohyah clustered around the table.
Diya said, “It will only be a short distance west from the Thamudi fortresses before the topography will change and become the foothills of the Sirion mountain range. You will find the lone river Pharpar that will take you in all the way to Bashan and ultimately to the foot of Hermon.”
“Do you have information about specific packs or hordes of Nephilim in the area?” asked Methuselah.
“We just do not know,” apologized Diya.
Lamech and Betenos skipped into the room together with giggles of delight and playful grabs. Everyone turned to look at them. They stopped, blushed, but got down to business.
“Betenos is going with us,” Lamech announced.
“It is too dangerous without Karabu training,” responded Enoch.
“Grandfather, do we really have to go over this again? Has Betenos not proven herself worthy over and over?”
“This is different. We do not know how many packs we may encounter in Bashan,” said Enoch.
“All the more reason to have a healer,” said Lamech. “And I do believe she has bested you in target practice more than once.”
Methuselah snapped, “Shooting targets is not the same as shooting Nephilim warriors.”
“You are newlyweds,” added Edna. “Stay here and get to know one another. There will be time later for responsibility.”
“Mother, if I recall, it was Elohim who said that marriage was a leaving and a cleaving. I am not under your authority, I am now responsible for my own family, and we have decided that the time is now.”
In one of the rare instances, Ohyah spoke up. “A healer would be beneficial. I fear we will not return from Bashan unscathed.”
Uriel studied Ohyah with curious interest. “The giant is correct,” he said. “It is a lawless territory. Fiefdoms of war chiefs. What few small towns are there, Ugarit, Jericho, and others, are not friendly.”
“So, what you are saying,” said Methuselah, “is that we are entering a lawless province of criminals, that willingly hosts the Watchers, universally hates our god, unanimously despises our people, and will joyfully kill us where they find us.”
“Exactly,” said Uriel.
Methuselah concluded, “But it is also the hideout for the scurrilous Rephaim Thamaq and Yahipan that killed our parents and tried to annihilate our family line.”
“When do we leave?” said Lamech.
Chapter 33
The fellowship of giant killers gathered on dromedaries given to them by Diya al Din. These amazing creatures possessed the ability to store nutrients in their large humps, enabling them to travel long distances at quick paces. They had not yet become universally domesticated, but Diya believed they would be eventually because they were so advantageous.
Enoch’s team had been with the Thamud for a month or so, but Methuselah knew they had made lifelong friends. He hoped one day to return in less troublesome times, but suspected those times might not come during his life.
After much customary hugging and kissing, Enoch’s band set out on their way: Enoch and Uriel, Methuselah and Edna, Lamech and Betenos, and Ohyah.
It only took one day of vigorous travel to reach the Pharpar river. They followed it toward its source fifty leagues upriver, about a three-day brisk ride. Half way to their destination, they were met by three new fellow travelers, Mikael, Gabriel, and Raphael. They each rode a new beast of burden called a horse.
These horses were powerful animals, similar in structure to a wild ass, but twice the size, and pure muscle. They had smaller ears and could run like the wind. It was no surprise that the heavenly archons were the first to seize this opportunity of newly domesticated travel. The archangels riding on the majestic creatures appeared like a new kind of Cherubim.
The angels would ride ahead on their horses, their heavenly senses highly tuned to sense approaching danger. Ohyah took up the rear on foot, his earthly spiritual senses almost as acute as those of the angels.
Enoch rode ahead to travel with the archangels. He discussed the secrets of heaven with the spiritual beings. Methuselah watched with curiosity, wondering what they were saying.
The Naphil could hear them. If he concentrated hard enough and pointed an ear in the flow downwind, his preternatural aural sense could pick up snatches of their private dialogue. They had long discussions on the heavenly luminaries, animal visions, the Chosen Seed and a “Son of Man.” He gathered that of the group of archangels, the small one was sharp tongued and the mightiest one a bit overly confident. They all seemed to bicker and pick on the small one. It amused Ohyah the kind of servants Elohim chose for his purposes. It was so opposite of the ways of the Nephilim, which was based on power.
They did not spy their first giant until they were in the foothills near Mount Hermon. The sun set on the horizon. The team set up early camp on a hill overlooking the wide expanse of the Sirion range. They ate some dinner of dried ibex meat. They were hidden within a thicket of coniferous pine trees to avoid detection. Ohyah stood lookout.
Enoch and the angels huddled, discussing the route they would take further west to Mount Hermon.
Ohyah quietly alerted them.
He spotted two Nephilim less than half a league down in the valley. They appeared to be headed north toward a destination somewhere around a rocky butte.
Enoch told Methuselah, “It looks like this is where we part ways. The archangels and I will continue on to Hermon. You may want to stay low and seek out information before you start attacking any giants. Remember, you do not know the land yet.”
“You are right. We would not want to just march right into the headquarters of evil and announce our presence,” retorted Methuselah sarcastically. “That would be suicide.”
Enoch scowled at Methuselah for venting his pain. They both knew in their hearts that they would never see each other again on this earth. No matter how different in nature father and son were, no matter all the arguments they had been in through the years, they loved one another with fierce devotion.
“You will live to a long fruitful age, my son,” said Enoch.
Methuselah thought, Why does everyone keep saying that? Havah, now father.
Enoch added, “But you have already made me the proudest father on earth. Elohim be with you.”
“Elohim be with you,” said Methuselah.
They kissed and embraced.
Enoch lingered longer with Betenos and Edna. “My two precious flowers. You have brought much needed grace to this pack of slovenly brutes. You are too good for my sons.” Everyone’s nervous laughter broke the somberness.
Enoch continued, “I love you more than my own daughters.” They hugged and kissed and cried.
Enoch turned to Lamech and held his face in his hands. He said, “Lamech ben Methuselah, out of your line will come a Chosen Seed who will end the rule of the gods and bring rest upon the land. Tell no one until God himself does.”
“Yes, grandfather,” said Lamech, and they hugged.
Enoch stopped at the giant. “Ohyah, you have surprised me, and humbled me.” He paused for a second, then continued.
“I want to tell you this one thing. The judgment in your dream is fast approaching the earth. And the water you saw in the vision, it is not symbolic. It is real water. It is cleansing water.”
Ohyah was not sure what to make of that esoteric statement, but he hugged Enoch.
“Thank you for believing in me,” said Ohyah.
They had no more time to delay. They all mounted their dromedaries and stallions and went their separate ways: Enoch, Mikael, Uriel, Gabriel, and Raphael, west toward Hermon; and Methuselah, Edna, Lamech, Betenos and Ohyah, north after the traveling Nephilim. If they moved quickly, they might be within close observation range by the time the giants pitched camp.
Chapter 34
The sun set over the great sea. Enoch and his four companions rode solemnly toward the base of Mount Hermon a mere league away. Enoch was about to face the ultimate challenge of his life, but he felt safe in the presence of these mighty angelic warriors. He knew they would have no problem getting safely to the cosmic mountain. The real danger was getting inside the infernal meeting place where the fallen Watchers assembled for their diabolical planning.
Angels could not die like humans. They were spiritual beings that could suffer and even be overcome, but they could not die. They were only four archangels facing as many as two hundred Watchers, if all were in attendance. Despite their exalted status, these four would be easily overcome and tortured. They would probably be bound and cast into the earth where they would live forever in a prison of stone. They saw no way that Enoch would get out of this alive. There was no way the angels were going to get out of it at all.
Enoch had come to realize over the years that he had been running from his calling. Elohim commissioned him to pronounce judgment on the Watchers and their progeny the Nephilim. But he had turned that calling into a hammer of his own justification. When he lost his Edna, he lost all interest in this earth. Killing the Nephilim became an expression of his desire to escape the physical world that held him prisoner and stank of corruption. But in hating the physical world that Elohim created, he misunderstood the faith that was required of him. Now he exercised that faith by obediently fulfilling the calling he had been given. Enoch had been an instrument of judgment on the giants. Now he was to be an instru
ment of Elohim’s judgment on the Watchers. He was to pick a fight he would not win, because Elohim was going to win it on his terms.
Methuselah was right. It was suicide. But Enoch reasoned that Elohim could raise the dead, so what did it matter that Enoch was riding to his death? The interaction of his comrades in arms broke through his solemnity.
Uriel was the talkative one, a bit rascally, and witty. Gabriel countered his fellow wisecracker with his own whimsical and energetic humor. Raphael did not speak much, but he thought and observed plenty, so Uriel and Gabriel often competed to win a smile or even a nod from “the quiet one” as they teasingly referred to him. Mikael took his responsibility as the prince leader with serious determination. So like the bigger brother, he would always have to “break it up” when it got out of hand. But even he could not help but smile at a well placed verbal barb.
“Did Uriel tell you, Enoch?” asked Gabriel, “He was chosen by Elohim to be the guardian of the Chosen Seed when he should carry out his calling.”
He paused, and then delivered the punch line, “Elohim wanted to make it very obvious that the Chosen Seed was protected not by strength nor by might, but by faith.”
Enoch snickered. “Very funny,” said Uriel. “You mean the faith that killed six Nephilim to your four in the battle at the Tigris river, to which Enoch was witness?”
“Five and a half to four and a half,” protested Gabriel. “I remind you of the one we did together.”
“You mean the one I killed?” said Uriel.
“That I helped you kill,” said Gabriel.
“Before you dropped your sword,” said Uriel.
“I did not drop my sword!” said Gabriel. He felt frustrated at getting trapped in the same argument as before.
