David Ascendant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 7) (36 page)

The sacrifices of Elohim are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O Elohim,
you will not despise.

The fifth and last act of the enthronement ritual had the king receive the high officials of the state, who declared their fealty to his throne and to the kingship of Yahweh Elohim over all the earth. As each member knelt before him, David reminisced over their impact on his ascendancy to kingship over the years.

Benaiah, son of Jehoiada of Kabzeel, bent his knee and pledged his heart and soul to the king. This Judahite from the desert was his most trusted warrior. He had the kind of holy devotion that reminded David of Jonathan. He had saved David’s life from the Lion Men of Moab and the Egyptian giant who sought his head. He had an obsessive mistrust of non-Israelites and all things foreign, which made him a harsh taskmaster of the Cherethite and Pelethite bodyguard under his command. He had purified the ranks of soldiers, but David worried that his rigid righteousness was so excessive that he failed to understand faith and how it played into a convert’s identity.

And David knew that Benaiah was driven by his guilt for having been betrayed by his Edomite lover in his past. Though he was a thoroughly devoted man of Yahweh, he had yet to discover a faith somewhere between complete suspicion of man’s evil and naïve trust in man as the image of Yahweh.

The brothers Joab and Abishai, sons of Zeruiah, bowed the knee with their fealty to David. These two brothers from the very start had been the most fierce and ruthless in their devotion to David. They were competitive, trying to outdo each other in everything, whether deeds of greatness or acts of loyalty. Unlike Benaiah or Nathan the prophet, who challenged David all the time regarding his own obedience to Yahweh’s Law, these two were unquestioning in their own obedience to their earthly lord. Which actually disturbed David. For men who did not question their king by a higher law were men who could do much evil should their king become lawless. Without a loyalty to something higher than the king or the state, what would stop them from disobeying a god for the sake of their king? They tended to act in the name of the king before receiving royal approval, which caused David much trouble. And they seemed to have a secret between them, an oath of some kind that hid their past, hinted at by the scar on Joab’s face. It was as if their display of loyalty was an energetic attempt to redeem themselves from some shame they would never speak of.

When David first became king of Judah, a civil war had been initiated by Saul’s General Commander, Abner, by crowning Saul’s son Ishbaal as king over Israel. Many battles for superiority ensued between Judah and Israel as the house of David and the house of Saul. Abner eventually deserted Ishbaal for David. Ishbaal was killed, resulting in David being the one king over all the tribes of the land. But in the course of these events, Abner had killed the youngest brother of Abishai and Joab. The brothers refused to believe Abner’s loyalty, and killed him in revenge for their brother’s death. David was so vexed that he cursed the house of the two brothers with perpetual sickness and violence. But he would not execute them. They had become so critical to his success and greatness that he overlooked their lack of goodness. David had succumbed to favoritism and it haunted him.

When Ittai the Gittite bowed before David, the king considered him an ironic contrast with the two brothers before him. Ittai’s past was thoroughly confessed to David in all its excruciating detail. Ittai’s honesty and repentance made him as trusted as Benaiah. David had given Ittai command of a squad of six hundred Philistines who had joined David from Gath. They were affectionately referred to as the Gittite Brigade.

The real tragedy was the Gittite’s own inability to believe he could be redeemed. He regretted the miserable accident of his birth as a Philistine. He showed more faith in Yahweh than any in all of Israel, and yet, his presumed identity as a Rephaim born of Nephilim blood caused him to have returning grief and doubts of his own atonement. Despite this unjustified fear, he had given up everything to follow Yahweh, even the joy of offspring with his beloved wife Ummi in order to stop his cursed bloodline. What more could illustrate the faith of a redeemed Seed of Abraham, and not the damnable Seed of the Serpent? Ittai’s mother was the Rapha, not his father, and the seed came from the father. Ittai’s genealogy was not everything he had first thought it was. What David did not tell Ittai was how much he had learned from the doubt-wracked Ittai about true believing faith.

The rest of the Gibborim commanders and other ministers of state pledged their lives to the king in order. It was a long and torturous affair where David barely managed to stay awake. But when it was done, he felt a new surge of excitement. The coronation and enthronement was followed by a feast, where he would finally get a chance to play his lyre again with the musicians before the court. He had gotten much out of practice over the years of running and hiding and fighting. He had written during this time of painful anxiety, but did not have the opportunity to play his instruments. Now that he was ensconced in the throne, he had every intention of getting back to playing the music that soothed his soul and filled his difficult life with shalom, the peace of wholeness.

Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to Elohim with loud songs of joy!

For Yahweh, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.

He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.

He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah

Elohim has gone up with a shout,
Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to Elohim, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For Elohim is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!

Elohim reigns over the nations;
Elohim sits on his holy throne.

The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the Elohim of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to Elohim;
he is highly exalted!

David would have a hard time enjoying the celebration, because his next plan preoccupied his thoughts. It would be a bold move that would require spending much money and the enlistment of the pagan king Hiram of Tyre to help him.

Phoenician laborers, carpenters, and stone masons filled the streets of the City of David. Large logs of cedar from the forests of Lebanon were carted to a work area along with quarried stones to build the palace of King David. The city of Tyre was known throughout the world for its master craftsmen and architectural artistry. Their buildings were the finest in all of Canaan, so David wanted the very best of designs for his own palace residence.

It was a perfectly political agreement between the two kingdoms. Hiram of Tyre wanted safe trade route access to Anatolia in the north, Mesopotamia in the west, and Egypt in the south; David wanted quality Phoenician craftsmanship and access to the greatest port of sea trade in all of Canaan. The Phoenicians worshipped Asherah and Ba’al and other deities, but artistic design was not in itself evil. Yahweh had given a Canaanite temple design for the Tabernacle to the Israelites in the desert, complete with outer sanctuary and holy of holies, just like the pagan peoples Israel was to annihilate. Even their sacrifices were similar. But Yahweh did not curse the creativity of the idolaters. Though morally corrupt, the Sea People were still imagers of Yahweh with their artistic imagination. An aesthetic style was only evil when it was used for evil purposes. But it was morally sanctified when used for righteous purposes.

David had been overseeing the day’s construction when he received scouts from the surrounding area. They told him a gigantic force of Philistines was amassing just outside the Valley of the Rephaim.

He knew this day would come. He knew that once he established a united kingdom of Judah and Israel, those monsters of Dagon would eventually mount an offensive to try to wipe him out before he could fortify and expand that rule. They wanted to invade his kingdom before he invaded theirs.

He called for an immediate war counsel.

              • • • • •

The Lords of the Philistines had chosen the Valley of the Terebinth as their gathering point to muster armed forces for a march on Jerusalem. They had chosen this site as a symbolic launching point because of its historical notoriety as the location of Goliath’s defeat at the hands of David a generation earlier. They were going to reverse that infamy with an all-out assault on Israel’s king and her new capital and they were going to feed the vultures in that same valley on the corpses of King David and his Hebrews.

All five cities of the pentapolis lent six thousand soldiers to the effort, for a total of thirty thousand Philistine warriors that converged just outside the city of Gath. Lord Achish of Gath was again appointed General Commander because of his previous success with destroying King Saul’s forces. The five Lords met in the war council tent to discuss their stratagem with the Sons of Rapha, Ishbi ben Ob and Runihura. They looked over a map of the area.

Achish pointed to the map. “We will traverse the Valley of the Rephaim to Jerusalem, twenty-five miles. The brook is dried up because it is summer, so we will not have to deal with that inconvenience.”

“Whose forces will lead the attack?” asked a dubious Dothan of Ekron.

“Yours,” said Achish.

“Why?”

“Because I had decided that whichever Lord asked first must be the most anxious to fight Hebrews, and therefore deserved the honor of first kill.”

The opposite was the case. Dothan cursed himself for speaking up so hastily. He was vying for his own soldiers’ safety, but to admit such would be considered weakness or worse, cowardice, so Dothan tried to hide his miserable frown.

But Dothan still had questions. “What about the Sons of Rapha? Their stature makes them more capable of scaling the walls of Jerusalem and their power makes them capable of wiping out the Hebrews before they even get their armor on.”

“No,” said Achish. “You know full well that casualties are high for scaling attacks. Your men will build battering rams to break through the walls.
Then
we will send our Rephaim forces through the breach. Ishbi, what are your numbers?”

“Six hundred troops,” said Ishbi. It was an ironic reflection of David’s six hundred gibborim. He added, “And our secret weapon.”

He and Runihura smiled. Everyone knew the secret weapon was Argaz, their fifteen foot tall, twelve hundred pound colossus killing machine, held back for just the right moment of mass terror followed by mass devastation.

What Ishbi did not say was that he, Runihura, and Argaz had remained true to the original pact of the Sons of Rapha to assassinate the messiah King David. They had been disbanded years before by Achish when he had accepted David as an ally. When David became king of Judah in Hebron, Achish left him alone, as long as he remained at war with the northern Hebrews of Israel. A house divided could not long stand. Let the Hebrews kill each other to prepare the way for Philistine dominance.

It was too much for Achish’s pride to admit that David had lied about killing Israelite tribes in the Negeb when he was at Ziklag. And then came the dirty Hebrew’s bid to unite Judah and Israel from Jerusalem. If Achish reconstituted the Sons of Rapha, it would be tacit admittance of his failure. Besides, he wanted to conquer this messiah king through the command of his armed forces, not allow these pompous giant braggarts to steal his glory.

The Sons of Rapha, on the other hand, were going to lead their Rephaim forces in battle to hunt David down and kill him. They saw this as their last stand, and they were determined to accomplish their blood oath at any cost. They were even prepared to kill their own if their own got in the way.

              • • • • •

The assembly of seventy gods gathered in the divine council room at Mount Hermon. Zeus led the deliberations from the throne before the black lake of the Abyss.

“Mastema refused to come this time, so he sent me in his stead,” said the impatient father of the Greek gods. “He said you wasted his time with your last scheme years ago on Mount Gilboa regarding King Saul. And I am inclined to agree with him.”

Mumblings of agreement went throughout the seventy.

Ba’alzebul stood angrily with his horns held high, next to Asherah, Dagon, and a slinking, duplicitous Molech. He returned the impatience with impertinence. “We were deserted by our fellow council members without fair warning.”

Grumbling turned to insult in the crowd.

Asherah touched Ba’alzebul’s arm to restrain him, and jumped in. “My dear, divine comrades, I think that what Ba’alzebul is trying to say with a rather inappropriate attitude”—Ba’alzebul stared at her, betrayed—“is that the three of us were not able to keep King Saul alive, but with all your help, we could have. And that is why we need the support and involvement of the entire divine council for this task which is surely as significant and as difficult as anything we have attempted before.”

Osiris from Egypt knew the plans of the Philistines because they were still allies of Egyptian rule. He got to the point. “The Philistines are amassing for battle against the Israelites and you want us to join the battle?”

“No,” said Asherah.

Osiris and the others were thrown.

She continued, “We want you to help us capture Yahweh-of Hosts-who-sits-enthroned-upon-the-Cherubim.”

A moment of silence swept over everyone as they considered the shocking words.

That descriptive phrase about the ark was a reference to the fact that it was effectively an earthly symbol of Yahweh’s throne in heaven, and as such it had spiritual unity with that heavenly seat. When the ark was in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle of Yahweh, he would meet with Moses as a king would meet with his subjects sitting upon his throne. Since Yahweh was not physical or visible, it could only be symbolic, but it was no less real. Yahweh no longer spoke to man face to face as he did with Moses, but the ark remained the holy seat upon which Yahweh was enthroned on earth as god of Israel. Capturing the ark would be a crime of infinite offense against the infinite Creator by his fallen heavenly host.

Marduk of Babylonia clarified, “The Israelite ark of the covenant has been stored at Kiriath-jearim unmolested for the past twenty years.”

“Yes,” said Asherah. “That past dreadful incident of the tumors and diseases has stuck in the minds of the Philistines like a lion’s claw. So the ark sits virtually unattended because everyone is simply too afraid to go near it.”

Zeus said, “I do not think we would fare any better if we tried to confiscate it.”

Asherah looked at Ba’alzebul with a gesture for him to resume with more calm. It was, after all, his plan.

He said, “You are correct, mighty Zeus. But I beg the indulgence of the assembly to hear us out.”
Mighty Zeus, my ass,
thought Ba’alzebul.
I could wipe the floor of this cavern with that golden Greek oaf.
He hated having to show respect to other deities when
he
was the mightiest of them all. Except for that snake, Mastema.

Dagon jumped in, trying to grab some credit. “According to
our
plan, Yahweh would never expect us to try to capture the ark, and that is why he has not guarded it more cautiously….”

Ba’alzebul jerked Dagon forcefully back behind him and took the floor again. “But once our plan is discovered, we will need this entire assembly with us to fend off the response sure to follow.”

Asherah added, “For this to work, we must have all of you with us — unlike at Mount Gilboa. If you do not show up, we will fail.” She licked her lips and added with spicy delight, “But if you do show, the Seed of the Serpent will crush the Seed of Abraham.”

The council members brightened with smiles and agreement. They were hungry to hear the details.

Zeus said, “I think I know where you are leading with this. You Philistine gods are quite the masters of strategy. I am impressed.”

Idiots
, thought Asherah.
Now I know why Ashtart was unwelcomed by this pantheon of divine imbeciles
.

“As king of the Philistine gods,” said Dagon trying to steal the credit again, “I salute you, magnificent Zeus, for your insight.”

Asherah rolled her eyes at the undisguised flattery.

Zeus said, “If what I am thinking is your plan, your Sea People may end up ruling Canaan after all.”

Dagon lifted his chin high with prowess.

No
, thought Ba’alzebul.
I will rule Canaan after all
.