by Brian Godawa
But this chaoskampf in the Bible is not the same as pagan versions of it, where there is a dualist equivalence between the combatants, and either one might win. For example, Genesis 1 depicts Leviathan very differently for its theological purpose. We read of God’s Spirit hovering over the dark “face of the deep” (v. 2), which is “without form and void,” or “an unfilled wasteland” (Hebrew: tohu wa-bohu ), an expression of that chaos that the sea tends to represent to the ancient world. The Hebrew word behind “deep” is tehom , which scholars argue is a linguistic connection to that sea dragon Tiamat. But in this context, there is no chaoskampf battle depicted. God simply speaks and order is established through the separation of things.
And then when a dragon appears, it is simply one of many sea creatures that God created to swarm in the sea.
Genesis 1:21
So God created the great sea creatures [ tannim ] and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm... And God saw that it was good.
The Hebrew word for “sea creatures” ( tannim ) is a word that is translated elsewhere as dragon . [19] Though Leviathan is not used here, the intent of the chapter is to demythologize the elements of the natural world that pagan cultures had divinized, including not only the sun, moon and stars, but the sea (chaos) and the dragons that resided there.
So, the imagery of chaoskampf , sea and dragon, are used poetically in some Bible passages to communicate the notion of God’s creation of order out of chaos, but in other passages, those mythopoeic symbols are tamed with ease and without a dualistic struggle because they are after all symbols in the service of their creator. [20] Leviathan has no chance of winning in the Bible as he does in pagan mythology. All things are subject to the sovereign control of Yahweh, even chaos and evil.
See my book, When Giants Were Upon the Earth (paid link) for more on the theological meaning of Leviathan and its interaction with other fantastical motifs in the Bible.
Chapter 2:
The Characters
The Story First
Many of my readers like to learn about the biblical and historical research behind my novels after they have read them. The fact behind the fiction. It helps bring context and explains some of the “stranger things” of the novels to those who are intellectually and spiritually curious. This booklet is a presentation of the research behind my novel, Qin: Dragon Emperor of China . But the truth is that the material in this book is so fascinating that it can be read on its own by those who hunger as I do to uncover the biblical background to history.
The novel begins in 220 B.C. in the Babylonian region of the Seleucid empire. The Greek kingdom of Antiochus the Great is crumbling with the winds of revolt. And in the midst of it all, mysterious mercenaries from the Far East slip into Babylon and kidnap a magus from the temple. Magi are the masters of both magic and science, but Antiochus doesn’t know why they were chosen as hostages.
So the king sends his bastard son and disgraced warrior Antiochus the Younger into the mysterious land of the Far East with two goals: find the magus and capture a mythical creature that will give the Greek king absolute power: a dragon.
Antiochus the Younger travels to that distant land, ruled by its first emperor, Qin Shi Huang di (“Cheen Shir Hwong Dee”). The Greek warrior discovers a world of both wonder and danger. A contrast and comparison of cultures. A clash of civilizations. Antiochus falls in love with one of the emperor’s concubines and he discovers the spiritual truth behind the mythological dragon that protects that world.
What’s worse, the emperor is seeking the elixir of immortality. He has forced his own alchemists and scientists to find it before the emperor dies so he can obtain eternal life and rule forever. And he will sacrifice anything and anyone to achieve his goal.
As Antiochus negotiates the treacherous politics of his presence in the land of Qin (spelled in the novel as “Ch’in” from where we get “China”), he also discovers there is a spiritual past to China that the emperor has suppressed. And that past goes back to the infamous Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, where God confused the tongues of the nations in order to stop mankind from the pursuit of divinity. The concubine has spiritual ties to that heritage and the emperor wants her eliminated.
Antiochus and the concubine find themselves on the run to the Great Wall of China where a revolt of slaves breaks out just as barbarians are at the gates of the wall, trying to break in. Unfortunately, the dragon is empowering the emperor’s armed forces and Antiochus and the concubine have only one chance to defeat the darkness. They must fight their way to the ancient Altar of Heaven to rekindle the lost power of Shang Di, the true creator God of China’s past.
A unique aspect of the novel is the depiction of the spiritual world. As I will explain in Chapter 2, the novel pulls back the curtain of the unseen realm. It depicts the “spiritual principalities and powers” that reign behind pagan Gentile nations and how they have influence on the course of history. The gods of ancient China are not mere myths without bite. They are actually demonic powers that are real and have their own agenda.
Thus the god Yu Huang, the supreme head of the Chinese pantheon of gods, seeks to maintain his power over the emperor and his land much like human mobsters might maneuver for power over their regions in a city under their control.
Though this is obviously fantastic and speculative, the principle of spiritual warfare is biblical. There are spiritual entities of power ruling over Gentile nations as depicted in Deuteronomy 32:8-10 and Psalm 82 (explained in chapter 1). The storyline of these spiritual powers is intended to reflect the mythology of pagans and how it reflects spiritual reality within a biblical worldview.
And that is the basic storyline of the novel Qin: Dragon Emperor of China . Historical fantasy based on spiritual fact. Now, enjoy learning about the historical and biblical research behind it all…
Xeneotas (Antiochus the Younger)
The protagonist of the novel is a Greek warrior general, Xeneotas, the secret bastard son of Antiochus III of Seleucia, known as Antiochus the Great. Xeneotas is a fictional character based very loosely on a real general of Seleucia of similar name. His family status is creative license.
Historically, General Xeneotas fought against the rebel Molon who launched his forces against the capital city named Seleucia on the Tigris River in 221 B.C. Xeneotas foolishly pursued Molon into an ambush and was killed in that battle, which resulted in the temporary loss of Babylonia for King Antiochus. It would take a year for the king to defeat Molon and quell the rebellion. [21]
In the novel, I make Xeneotas fail that battle in Babylon by the same trick of Molon, but instead of dying, Xeneotas survives and is sent off into the Far East on a secret journey from which he will not return. So his presumed death fits the “space between” the facts, fictional though it may be.
And Xeneotas’ fictional bastard status in the novel is not without historical precedent. Most kings, including Antiochus III had concubines and other wives. So making Xeneotas the first-born son of a beloved concubine would justify him claiming the name of Antiochus the Younger, should he win his father’s approval. Historically, there were many Antiochuses in the family line. Making The Younger’s personal journey one that was lost to history along with his identity, again makes it at least conceivable if not actually historical.
Xeneotas’ father Antiochus the Great as well as his military general Hermias, and their political struggles are based on true events.
The Magi
The Babylonian magi in the novel are also fictional characters, but drawn from the historical tradition of the prophet Daniel’s influence on Babylonia four hundred years earlier. “According to Herodotus, [magi] were members of a Persian priestly caste who specialized in astrology, interpretation of dreams, and magic.” [22]
During the time of the Babylonian captivity of Judah, the young Hebrew prisoner Daniel had been able to accurately interpret the troubling dreams of King Nebuchadnezzar when the “wise men” of the royal court c
ould not. Those wise men included “magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and Chaldeans” (Dan 2:2, 10). The Greek word used to translate “magician” in the Septuagint (LXX) was “magi.”
Daniel had made such an impression upon the king that he placed the Hebrew lad in power over those wise men, as well as over all of Babylon.
Daniel 2:47–48
47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
Daniel went on to also impress Nebuchadnezzar’s successors, King Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede. In short, the humble Hebrew prophet had achieved so much influence over his pagan captors’ own magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and Chaldeans, that by the first century of the Roman Empire, Babylonian wise men (“magi”) from the East had come searching for the Messiah based on their astrological teachings. They clearly got that information from Daniel.
This is not to say that the Babylonian system was fully Yahwist or that the magi of the Nativity story of Jesus were Jewish converts. But at least we can say that Daniel’s teaching of the coming Messiah lasted for 600 years within the Babylonian magi tradition.
And therein lies the connection with the magi of the novel Qin: Dragon Emperor of China . They too are looking for that Danielic Messiah, an apparent reflection of the Chinese search for the one who would unify all under heaven.
The dominant text of the Babylonian magi that shows up in the novel is the Enuma Anu Enlil , an astrological text for interpreting the omens of celestial movements. The astrology of the ancient Near East is not the same as today. Though the Babylonians did develop their understanding of the Zodiac as influencing life on earth, it was not so simple as the modern horoscope in the newspaper. It was a commonplace tradition in the ancient Near East that the stars were gods, and that the divine embraced the whole of what we would now call “nature.” [23] Therefore the effect of the heavens upon earthly destinies could be divined through understanding celestial mechanics. But it was first understood that astrology related to collective entities, political powers, nations and royalty. Only after 500 B.C. did it begin to be applied to individual lives of the lesser classes. [24]
The names of the magi in the novel are Balthazar, Melchior and Gaspar. The astute reader will recognize those names as the names of the three magi (or “wise men”) in church tradition who visited the child Jesus in Bethlehem. Though the biblical text does not say there were three magi nor does it give their names, western tradition has suggested there were three because of the three gifts brought: gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:11).
An even more astute reader will notice that those magi are 600 years before Christ, rendering them impossible candidates for a visit to young Jesus. Hopefully, the reader has already read the novel for the explanation of that historical anomaly. If you haven’t, I won’t ruin it for you by revealing the answer here.
Ch’in Shih Huang Di
The emperor’s name is pronounced in English as “Cheen Shure Hwong Dee.” This character in the novel Qin: Dragon Emperor of China was based upon the historical first emperor of China, the first to unify seven warring kingdoms under one ruler. The spelling used in the novel is from the older Wade-Giles translation of Chinese (Ch’in Shih Huang Di). I did this because it would be easier to read in English, and because it also hints at the origin of the name for China as the land of Ch’in (Qin). The more common spelling today would be Qin Shi Huang Di.
Before the Qin empire, the land which we now call “China” was divided into seven kingdoms and was named by her inhabitants Tianxia , meaning “under heaven.” [25] Like most ancient civilizations, the Chinese considered their land to be the center of the earth, or as they put it, Zhong Guo , the “Central Nation.” We now translate that as “Middle Kingdom.” [26]
The actual inspiration for empire came from the previous four hundred years of Chinese internicene warfare of kingdoms called The Warring States period. Seven major states (kingdoms) fought for dominance of the region until the Qin state achieved final conquest and united the seven kingdoms under one ruler, the emperor. That emperor was Qin Shi Huang Di.
The emperor’s historical origins have a rumor of suspicion behind them that is hinted at in the novel. Before he became emperor, his name was Ying Zheng. He was ostensibly the son of Yiren, the king of Qin. The queen, Ying Zheng’s mother, was also the secret lover of a merchant advisor to the king named Lu Buwei. There is significant historical evidence that points to Ying Zheng as the illegitimate son of the queen and Lu Buwei. [27]
When Zheng became the first ( shi ) emperor, he used his family name Qin and added the old Eastern term for supreme rulers, Huang Di . Thus he became Qin shi Huang Di, the first supreme ruler of the house of Qin ruling over all under heaven. But adding that “Di,” would prove to be a deliberate claim to divinity.
The will of God (Di) in the choice of government was called “The Mandate of Heaven” because the word “heaven” was often used as a stand-in for God himself. The Mandate would be similar to what the West called “the divine right of kings.” The emperor’s authority was derived from God, so the emperor was called “Son of Heaven.” If the emperor did not fulfill the divine mandate, he would be punished by heaven. [28]
But China scholar John Man explains that the word “Di” in the emperor’s name was a term of highest supernatural power. “Huang Di, often translated as August Emperor, thus declaring himself imperial ruler, god, sage and ancestor all in one.” [29] Like all tyrants of the world, the first Chinese emperor set a standard of divinity in the office that would continue for centuries.
Huang Di would become known for his peculiar pursuit of eternal life to maintain that divine status. He had ordered his magicians and scholars to create the elixir of immortality through alchemy, and he had sent explorers to find the mythical Isle of Immortals to bring back the elixir should they find it.
It was believed at the time by Daoists that certain metals and elements like gold, mercury (“quicksilver”), arsenic and others, if ingested in small amounts would lengthen life. [30] So, while waiting for his magicians to achieve their alchemic ambitions, the emperor had a regular diet of mercury and arsenic baked into small cakes for easy consumption. As described in the novel, one of the procedures of creating the elixir attempted by the Chinese “supernatural scholars” was that of turning a red crystal, cinnabar, into mercury. Metal poisoning is now widely considered to be the cause of the emperor’s perpetual sickness and ultimate insanity.
In the novel, Huang Di’s descent into bad health and madness was drawn from a sixth century’s record of observations of the effects of such metal poisoning, where the very ill effects themselves were ironically considered “evidence” of the purging of sickness:
After taking an elixir, if your face and body itch as though insects were crawling over them, if your hands and feet swell dropsically, if you cannot stand the smell of food and bring it up after you have eaten it, if you feel as though you were going to be sick most of the time, if you experience weakness in your four limbs, if you have to go often to the latrine, or if your head or stomach violently ache – do not be alarmed or disturbed. All these effects are merely proofs that the elixir you are taking is successfully dispelling your latent disorders. [31]
Huang Di’s pursuit of immortality also included a search for the mythical Isle of Immortals. In the novel he sends a Chinese “wise man” Xu Fu to find the magical Isle based on the explorer’s reports. This is based on historical fact. Xu Fu had told Huang Di about the Isle and about three spirit mountains where the immortals lived: Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou. But when pressed to find it, Xu Fu claimed that it was impossible for normal men to go there. Only wizards, or pure boys or maidens could approach it. He was then allowed to bring with him 1000 virgin b
oys and girls to find the Isle and bring back the elixir of immortality. [32] God only knows what Xu Fu really did to those innocent youth.
As in the novel, so in real life, Xu Fu returned and made an excuse for his inability to get to the Isle: It was guarded by large sea monsters. So the emperor took his counselor, Li Ssu and his youngest son, Huhai, and went off to kill the Great Fish with a large crossbow. By now, the emperor’s madness had taken him over on his impossible quest. He shot some fish in the sea and died on the road back to his palace. [33]
The novel covers this incident but adds a fantasy element of fighting the sea dragon Leviathan. The story retains the historical facts out of it: Huang Di dies on that trip, and Li Ssu and Huhai return with the intent to take the throne for Huhai. The fantasy genre becomes a way to picture the spiritual reality of what is going on in the earthly realm.
In fact, this was a common goal of mine as I wrote the story. All the fantasy elements were added in a way that would not contradict what happened historically, but rather support the facts with mythopoeic spirituality.
Miscellaneous Factoids
Many of the activities of the emperor described in the novel Qin: Dragon Emperor of China are rooted in historical facts. He is depicted as unifying all of China in terms of government, measurement systems, money and travel. He is responsible for completing the “Great Wall” of China, referred to as the “Long Wall” or “Long Cemetery” by his people. He did entomb the bodies of laborers into the Wall as the novel indicated. [34] He also burned all the books of previous history and philosophy, such as the Chinese Classics . He wanted to erase the traditional wisdom of Confucius and others and replace it with Legalism, a new Machiavellian political philosophy that rejected tradition and family legacy for power. He also murdered 450 of his “scholars” because of their disagreement with this revolutionary policy. [35]
