by Brian Godawa
They found their horses and untied them, walking them through the side streets toward the northern end of town.
Gestas said, “So you believe he is merely a magician?”
Demas evaded him, “Do you believe he is the Messiah?”
“I do not know what I believe at this point, Demas. But feeding five thousand people with four loaves and two fish is no magic trick. That is a miracle.”
“Five thousand people is a crowd large enough to hide the presence of secreted food stores.”
“No magician can heal a man born blind, or a lifelong paralytic and then forgive his sins.”
“Claim to forgive his sins. And why did he not heal the boy that we met with the hair lip? Is that not spectacular enough for his reputation?”
Gestas sighed. “Some people will just find any excuse not to believe.”
Demas smirked. “And some people will just find any excuse to believe.”
They got on their horses at the edge of town and galloped off to their new destination, the Phoenician city of Tyre on the sea.
Chapter 10
Elohim has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”
Arise, O Elohim, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!
— A Psalm of Asaph
Simon the Zealot mused over the text that Jesus had explained to the disciples before he left them to visit the southern island of Melqart that was part of the island port city of Tyre. The twelve were familiar with the words of the Second Book of the Law of Moses about the principalities and powers that ruled over and through the nations. At Babel, Yahweh separated the seventy idolatrous nations who had sought to make a name for themselves and become as gods. He placed them under the authority of the remaining seventy fallen Sons of God.
When El Elyon the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the Sons of God.
But Yahweh’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
These gods of the people were given the responsibility of administering justice. But they were corrupt, every single one, in their rebellion against Yahweh’s justice. And the nations followed them in their defiance and abominations. On earth as it is in heaven.
The gods took pleasure in ruling wickedly and fought for dominance of the earth. Thus, Yahweh Elohim was visiting the earth to judge them and take away their inheritance. The principalities of the nations would fall in unity with their human princes, as they did in the time of Daniel’s vision.
Peter had asked when the legions of heavenly host would join them, and Jesus said, “When you see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power, coming on the clouds of heaven.” That made everyone more confused. “Coming on the clouds” was a common poetic phrase that indicated an earthly judgment of cities or nations. On earth as it is in heaven. Canaanites had used the term “cloud-rider” of their god, Ba’al. But Ezekiel had used it of Yahweh when he judged Egypt, Nahum used it of Yahweh when he judged Nineveh, and Isaiah had used it when Yahweh judged Edom and even Israel.
Simon, being learned in the scrolls from Qumran, asked Jesus if he was referring to the prophecy of Joel that had yet to be fulfilled.
Blow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the Day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
A day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness.
Jesus simply said, “Yes,” but offered no more. It drove the curious scribe up a stone wall. He wanted answers. He wanted to know the plan. But Jesus seemed to want it kept hidden. What kind of Messiah keeps such things hidden? The only thing Simon could figure was that somewhere, maybe in heaven, an army of heavenly host was preparing for a surprise assault. And why not? A single angel of Yahweh killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians in the days of King Hezekiah. Elisha’s servant had his eyes opened into the heavenlies to see a mountain full of heavenly host on horses and chariots of fire surrounding the evil Syrians.
But how would Messiah gather the Sons of Light together for their war against the Sons of Darkness? The War Scroll from the Community said that Edom, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, and Philistia would join the Roman Kittim as the army of Belial against the true sons of Israel exiled in the desert—in other words, the Essenes—but that “the great hand of God shall overcome Belial and all the angels of his dominion, and all the men of his forces shall be destroyed forever.” The way Jesus was violating all the principles of holiness and separation, if he was Messiah, he certainly didn’t fit the Community’s definition in the scrolls.
A Canaanite woman had come before Jesus in this very city of Tyre, pleading for him to cast out a demon from her daughter. Jesus told her that his ministry was to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, not to the Gentiles who were like unclean dogs to Jews. Yet, after she told him that even the dogs got scraps of food from the master’s table, he cast out the demon as she originally requested.
The Community would never have accepted such a thing.
But was he the Messiah of the Pharisees or Sadducees either? The Jews had been waiting for Yahweh to come and free them ever since their exile in Babylon. Though they were back in their Promised Land, they were still under the principality and power of Rome, the god of this world, Belial. On earth as it is in heaven. They were still slaves in spiritual exile waiting for their promised deliverance. Yahweh had gone silent on them for four hundred years since their last prophet Malachi.
Malachi had foretold that Elijah would return before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord. But Jesus had then told them that John the Baptizer was Elijah preparing the way. He had spiritualized the prophecy that they thought was literal. But the Baptizer was now in prison at the fortress of that treacherous fox, Herod Antipas. It seemed to get more confusing the more any of their questions were answered.
So much of their Scriptures was poetic and figurative language, like Jesus’s parables about the kingdom of heaven. When Simon asked him why he spoke in parables, he quoted Isaiah about how the people’s hearts were dulled and their eyes blinded by their own sin. So Yahweh would keep the secrets of the kingdom of heaven from everyone except those who repented. How much more of their hope and understanding was darkened by such hidden language from Yahweh?
Simon’s curiosity burned within him. Jesus had ostensibly taken the disciples to this island to get away and get some rest from all the crowds in Galilee and Judea. But Simon knew there was more to this trip than a vacation getaway to a Gentile port city of wickedness. The Master had already cast out a dozen demons, in addition to the Canaanite child, as if he were preparing for something bigger. Simon suspected Jesus was here to take down the gods of Tyre: Ba’al, Asherah and Molech.
Those heavenly principalities and their little island fortress had an important spiritual history. Tyre was an island, in the shape of Ba’al’s war mace, just off the coast. Centuries earlier, Alexander the Great had conquered the island stronghold by building an artificial land bridge from the mainland to the island, where his forces could cross and besiege the city
.
Legend had it that Alexander heard there was a temple of Melqart on the island. The Jews called Melqart Ba’al, but the Greeks called him Hercules. Alexander wanted to sacrifice to Hercules at the temple of Ba’al, but the king would not allow it. So Alexander besieged the city’s walls, slaughtered the army of Tyre, subjugated the king, enslaved its people, and got his sacrifice at the temple of Ba’al at the end of it.
But this island and her sister city, Sidon, just twenty-five miles north up the coast, had a far more dark and fascinating spiritual significance than mere Greek imperial expansion. The gods of the Phoenicians, Ba’al, Asherah and Molech, constituted a trinity of wickedness that shadowed Israel through much of her history. The Seed of Abraham never seemed to fully eradicate this Seed of the Serpent from their land. These gods seemed to have their talons dug deep into the soul of the nation.
Molech was a despicable deity with an evil taste for little children. As the original abomination of the Ammonites, Molech’s human sacrifice required passing their sons and daughters through the fire. He eventually settled in the valley of Hinnom where Solomon had acquiesced and built him a high place. The Phoenicians had adopted his ways into their multicultural pantheon.
Ba’al had risen to become the most high god of the Canaanite pantheon, and the Phoenicians worshipped power, so they had embraced him eagerly. Asherah was known in Phoenicia as Asherah of Tyre, goddess of the Sidonians. “Sidonian” had become the generic name for the Phoenicians along the coast from Byblos and Ugarit above Sidon all the way down to Tyre.
The downfall of the northern tribes of Israel began in the days of the divided monarchy. King Ahab of Israel had married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Tyre for political and economic gain. Jezebel built temples to Ba’al and Asherah all throughout the land and persecuted the prophets Elijah and Elisha. The righteous Jehu had killed Jezebel and Ahab’s line and destroyed the Asherim and temples of Ba’al. But the talons of idolatry were never fully released from the soul of Israel.
Tyre and her rulers became a symbol of recalcitrant evil in Israel, warranting a curse by the prophet Ezekiel that reflected the very essence of Adam’s original sin that led to the Fall and to Babel’s pride.
The word of the Lord came to me:
“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord:
“Because your heart is proud,
and you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,’
yet you are but a man, and no god,
though you make your heart like the heart of a god—
Some scribes and rabbis recently had begun to interpret the Prince of Tyre as an analogy with the Shining One, Nachash, in the Garden. Simon saw in it a mockery of Ba’al’s elevation to the throne of the Most High that results in the casting of the king to the ground or underworld.
“Thus says Yahweh Elohim:
“You were the signet of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of Elohim;
every precious stone was your covering…
From the day you were created,
I placed you with the cherub on the holy mountain of Elohim;
in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created,
till unrighteousness was found in you.
In the abundance of your trade
you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of Elohim,
The cherub has led you out,
from the midst of the stones of fire.
Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
in the sight of all who saw you.
All who know you among the peoples
are appalled at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
and shall be no more forever.”
Simon knew that the subjugation of Tyre was important because the gods Ba’al, Asherah and Molech would have to be bound and judged as part of the reclamation of the Promised Land for Messiah’s inheritance. But Jesus was not letting them in on his clandestine activities.
Jesus left his disciples on the north area of the island near the Sidonian harbor for the evening. He walked the mile down to the southern harbor. The stone walls of the fortress city towered overhead. They acted as fortification against both armies and sea storms.
He reached the causeway bridge to the smaller Island of Melqart. This peninsula was only a third the size of the main island and had no fortification walls. The Tyrians considered it sacred space. They built a Temple of Ba’al upon the high place of Asherah in the center of the peninsula.
At the gateway of the bridge, Jesus met seven cloaked figures who were not very good at hiding the fact that they were paladin warriors, with strange looking armor beneath their covering cloaks.
They were the archangels, Mikael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Saraqael, Raguel, and Remiel. It would take an extremely serious and difficult task for these seven mightiest of heavenly warriors to meet together like this.
They walked across the large stone bridge to the peninsula.
Jesus asked Mikael, “What did you find at Sapan?” Mount Sapan, the cosmic mountain, stood some two hundred miles far north of Tyre. Generations ago, Ba’al had built his palace headquarters there with the construction help of Kothar-wa-Hasis and the political lobbying of Asherah. The archangels had journeyed to the sacred mountain, fought Ba’al, bound him into the molten liquid earth, and destroyed his palace. They had never anticipated that the earth would vomit him back out in the volcanic eruption of Thera, and launch his return to the pantheon in the days of King David.
Mikael answered Jesus, “Ba’al’s palace is still in ruins as we left it. He has never returned. And we could not find the Tablet of Destinies.”
“Then it must be here,” said Jesus. “He relocated to Tyre with Asherah and has been here ever since.”
The Tablet of Destinies had a long tortured history that led back to antediluvian days. In ancient Sumer, the Tablet contained the universal decrees of heaven and earth, including godship, kingship, war, sex, and music, as well as magic, sorceries and occultic wisdom. Guardianship of the tablets had become a mark of favor in the pantheon of gods. It represented the sovereignty of the divine council. The hands that possessed it were the hands of the patron deity of the ruling city. The ancient yearly Akitu festival would climax with the presentation of the Tablet of Destinies by the holder who would lead the gods in deciding the fates of earthly rulers for the coming year. Ba’al had been the latest in a long line of guardians to hold the Tablet in safekeeping. Jesus intended to wrest it from his grip.
“Don’t look, now,” said Uriel, “But we have a spy following us.”
The others had already spotted the dark figure hiding behind a pillar of the bridge, watching them.
“It’s Simon ben Josiah,” said Jesus. “He has been following me since I left the disciples by the northern harbor. He’s zealous. Reads too many scrolls. Unquenchable curiosity. Leave him be.”
“He could get hurt,” said Mikael.
“Not if you do your job,” said Jesus. “Uriel, why don’t you watch over him for me.”
“Jeeeesuuuus,” whined Uriel. “Why always me?”
Gabriel teased, “Because you’re small enough not to intimidate a human.”
Uriel was the smallest angel of the lot, a full foot smaller than most. But he made up for it with his wits and will power. No one could match his double swords in speed or technique or his mighty tongue. “But Gabriel, you are more homely and plain looking, so you won’t scare him either.”
Jesus said, “Uriel, stop whini
ng. Did I not have you watch over Noah?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Was he not the first of my chosen line to protect?”
“Yes.” Uriel felt like a scolded teenager. “But he was a grump at first. You have to admit.”
Jesus said, “The greatest among you shall be your servant.”
Gabriel added, “Unless you become like a little child—with the emphasis on little—and child.”
Jesus said, “Shut up, Gabriel.”
They now stood before the temple of Ba’al. It was a huge stone architectural wonder with exquisite Phoenician craftsmanship. The entrance was flanked by two huge pillars, one of gold, the other of emerald, shining brilliantly even at night. It reminded Jesus of the two pillars of Solomon’s temple, crafted by the Phoenicians as well, and named Jachin and Boaz. These pillars should be named Resheph and Qeteb, after the demon gods of plague and pestilence.
Jesus suddenly stopped, as if aware of a presence. He looked out to sea. It was a clear night with a near full moon. Nothing approached on the horizon. Nothing visible. He said, “On second thought, I will stay with Simon.”
Uriel grinned with the hope of a hungry warrior.
“Instead, Uriel, I want you to find the Tablet of Destinies.”
Uriel gave a snide look at a pouting Gabriel. Like a couple of children these two were.
Jesus was not afraid of facing the gods. They could not touch him. But human operatives of the enemy could. Uriel wondered what portent the Son of Man foresaw. Were the priests of Ba’al and Asherah sworn to kill him?
Jesus said, “Molech is in his valley of Gehenna at Jerusalem. Ba’al and Asherah await us here.”
“Archangels,” said Mikael, their leader, “let us go bind us some gods.”
Jesus said, “Gabriel, Uriel.”
They stopped before leaving.
“Remember, you are fighting the enemy, not each other.”
He gave them a smile. They both said simultaneously with a sense of shame, “Yes, Lord.”
