Rising Darkness (10 page)

“But why were the people getting in trouble?” asked Joshua. “Weren’t they happy to be in their new land?”

Eli looked down at the little boy whose innocent question held so significant an answer. “Because the people of God tend to stray, Joshua. Sort of like these sheep. That is why we must watch over them, keep them, take care of them—just as the Lord is our great Shepherd.”

“But why should we stray if the Lord takes care of us?”

Several men averted their eyes from Eli, letting him know that he was entirely on his own in answering the boy’s question.

“Because we humans are bent on idolatry,” Eli said resignedly. “Truly it was a dreadful shame to see the people of God move into their land only to lose it to new enemies because of their choice to fail. And fail they did.”

He said this with a pause and a bit of melancholy. “Turning from the true and living God, the people corrupted themselves, preferring the sensual, earthy, bewitching gods of Canaan—the Baals.”

He spat with contempt after saying the name of Baal.

“And so, enemies like great storms would sweep in and defeat Israel—Moabites, Midianites, Amalekites and Philistines—and Israel would fall into dissolution and occupation.”

“Like the Romans,” mused Jarod quietly.

The eyes of the shepherds turned toward the boy and thoughts toward the Roman sentries in their town. Enemy occupation, it seemed, had become the rule rather than the exception. Many wondered if this boy might grow up in a free land, or if he too would spend his life under the heels of Rome.

“Yes, Jarod,” said Eli. “Like the Romans. But in the days of the judges the Lord Most High, ever tender toward His people, would respond to the cries of Israel and send anointed men and women to disperse the enemy and establish the Lord’s authority once more. And He shall do so again one day!”

“Who was the greatest judge of all?” asked Jarod.

Eli thought about it for a moment.

“I believe that the greatest judge of all was Samuel,” he said. “He was devoted to the Lord and a great example of how the Lord uses an ordinary man who is faithful to Him. Of course all the judges were ordinary men and women who were willing to be used by the Lord.”

Eli leaned back on his blanket.

“One of my favorite judges was a man who was quite afraid at first,” the old man said. “Did you know that the Lord is especially good at using men who feel they cannot do what He is calling them to do?”

“Who was he?” asked the boys in unison.

“Gideon. He didn’t want to lead the people and even tested the Lord’s decision. But the Angel of the Lord would not take no for an answer and used him mightily!”

Jarod wrinkled his nose as Eli spoke to them about Gideon. Eli chuckled at the boy’s obvious consternation.

“What’s the matter, Jarod?” Eli asked. “Gideon not hero enough for you?”

“Well yes, sir,” said Jarod somberly, as if caught in his thoughts. “But I thought the greatest judge was…well…Samson!”

Upon hearing the name
Samson,
Joshua, who had nearly nodded off, sprang to life. Eli smiled at the boys, as did the men sitting with them. Eli stroked his beard a bit.

“Ah yes,” said Eli. “Samson is every child of Israel’s hero.”

He sat back to get his mind ready for the story he was about to relate.

“Now Samson was a judge who began with great hope for Israel…whose ministry was assigned him even before he was born…whose strength became renowned throughout the land…”

He glanced at Daniel and added, “And whose petulance and passions eventually destroyed him…”

Dan, 1126 B.C.

“Why should the Lord be interested in this woman?” asked Dheer, who was with another angel accompanying Michael through the streets of the little town of Zorah in the western foothills of Canaan. All that the archangel had told them was that they were to be witnesses to a very special grace of the Lord. They had stopped outside a modest little house that seemed identical to all the little homes on the street.

Through the window the angels could see a woman on bended knees, praying aloud to the Lord. It was always moving to an angel to see a human pray to the Most High in complete humility. Dheer looked quizzically at Michael, wondering who she was and what their interest in her would be.

“This is yours, Dheer,” said Michael. “This woman—and her family.”

Dheer took a closer look at the woman to whom he had been assigned. She was an older woman, her hair tinged with gray and her hands leathery from years of hard work. She alternately cried aloud and spoke pleadingly, entreating the Lord on her behalf. She also had a deep compassion that was evident in her teary eyes.

Michael himself had escorted the two angels to this place, promising them that this was no ordinary assignment. But a woman crying alone in a room seemed fairly typical to Dheer. He continued studying the woman who was to become his charge. He watched her stand up slowly as if in just a bit of discomfort, and move over to the little cooking area, where a piece of meat was slowly roasting.

She picked up a small pitcher of water and brought it over to a table. She then put a piece of bread on the table along with some fruit, and sat down to await her husband. There was something about her eyes that struck Dheer—teary from anguish and yet with an air of determination—almost a defiant sort of faith that would not relent.

“Manoah?” she called out. “Is that you?”

The angels watched as the woman looked toward the doorway from where she thought she had heard something. Nobody was there.

“Now you will see that yours is no ordinary assignment, my brother,” said Michael.

“Manoah?”

She stood to investigate the noise she was certain she had heard.

Suddenly a man stepped through the darkened doorway into the room. The woman was so shaken she could not even scream. She fell to her knees and began to plead for her life. But the man only stood where he was.

“The Lord’s Angel,” said Dheer in astonishment. “Here!”

Michael indicated for him to stop talking and listen.

Overcoming her initial fright the woman looked up at the man who towered over her little frame. In an instant she knew—somehow knew—that the man intended her no harm. He was dressed in a white cloak that was strange to Zorah. His face was obscured by the darkness of the room, the only light of which was a small oil lamp in the corner. Finally the woman summoned the courage to look up, but could not ask the man who he was and what he wanted. Suddenly the man began to speak, saying:

“
Do not be afraid, for the Lord Most High has heard your prayers. And though you are barren and can have no children, yet shall you soon bear a son! And he shall be a Nazarite from his birth and shall deliver his people from the Philistines
.”

And just as suddenly as he had appeared in the doorway, he disappeared. Recovering from the visit, she leapt up to pursue the man, and ran into her husband, Manoah, as he was coming into the house.

“Woman, are you out of your mind?” he demanded.

Dheer and Michael smiled at the comical event. Dheer then turned to Michael and asked him, “Am I assigned to the woman, or to her child?”

“You are assigned to both,” said Michael. “The enemy will certainly want to destroy the child before he can fulfill the task of delivering his people.”

The two angels watched as the woman explained to her husband all that had happened. Manoah was completely baffled; he wondered if perhaps the woman had gone mad or had been drinking some of the local wine.

“No, I am not drunk,” she said. “I tell you the man came and said we were to have a son! And he shall be a Nazarite and…”

“Please!” he said. “Let me think this through.”

He sat for a moment in silence and then, looking at his wife incredulously, got onto his knees and began pleading with the Lord to send the man to him so that he might understand what was going on. Dheer watched as the man prayed and prayed and…nothing happened. Frustrated, Manoah rose from his knees and sat silently at the table, gnawing on the bread that his wife set before him.

“It seems that the Angel of the Lord will not come again this evening,” said Michael. He grinned. “Poor Manoah!”

“What a wonderful promise!” said Dheer excitedly.

“And an important assignment,” said Michael. “I told you that something remarkable was happening in Zorah!”

Far above them, hanging silently over the little town, a dark angel named Shawa was watching the entire episode unfolding. As one of Kara’s spies, he had been following Michael’s movements ever since he had entered the area, and had witnessed the whole affair.

He smiled and said quietly to himself, “You are right, Archangel. Something remarkable is
indeed
happening in Zorah!”

“I should think that Michael would have sent a more important angel to Zorah if there was indeed something of importance happening there,” said Kara, musing over the recent developments in Dan. He looked at Pellecus for a response.

Pellecus quelled the anger he felt rising in him toward Kara, who he thought was a posturing fool at times. For his part, Kara thoroughly enjoyed his role as interpreter of the information brought to him by his spies on the field. He believed that this made him not only powerful in his own right, but a valuable asset to Lucifer.

“The fact that Michael was in Zorah with Dheer is of little importance,” said Pellecus, who had been given explicit instructions by Lucifer to work with Kara in keeping abreast of any movement by the Lord in Canaan. “However, the fact that the Angel of the Lord was involved is quite telling and therefore the promise of another deliverer must be taken seriously.”

Kara looked at Pellecus and nodded in agreement with the angel in whom he had little trust but with whom he must now cooperate.

“I quite agree, Pellecus,” he finally said. “We need more intelligence on this.”

Kara smiled a knowing smile. “Have no fear, Pellecus,” he said. “I have ordered Shawa to remain close to the family of Manoah and report on whatever transpires.”

“I hope you have ordered him to stay clear of Dheer,” said Pellecus. “He may not be competent but he is no fool!”

“Do you really believe that the deliverer is about to be born?” asked Kara.

Pellecus smirked at Kara.

“He must be born one day,” he surmised. “If not this time, then some day. But the Angel of the Lord said he was to deliver his people from the Philistines. The Lord’s Angel does not appear to humans without purpose. Remember Hagar? And Gideon?”

“Of course,” said Kara. “And Gideon delivered his people from the Midianites. That cowering fool! It seems the Lord will use simply anyone—especially if they are incompetent or untrained!”

“That is part of His brilliance,” came a voice. It was Lucifer.

“My lord, we were just discussing the situation at Zorah,” stammered Kara. “I have ordered Shawa to keep an eye on the events there. We expect word at any moment.”

Lucifer ignored Kara’s usual pandering and walked up the ruined stone stairs of what had been a Canaanite noble’s house, before it was destroyed in one of Joshua’s campaigns years earlier.

“Joshua certainly made short work of this place, did he not?” said Lucifer, noting the charred stones that had tumbled upon one another. “Yes, Kara, I am aware of the Angel’s visit to Zorah.”

“It represents a disturbing pattern, my lord,” said Pellecus. “This raising up of leaders who deliver the people from the snares that we encourage among them through their enemies. I see it as a rehearsal of sorts for the True Deliverer who will one day arrive in this land.”

Lucifer looked sharply at Pellecus.

“A rehearsal?” asked Kara derisively. “For the Seed?” He began laughing. “Surely the Most High doesn’t need to practice for His invasion.”

“You miss the point, Kara,” snapped Pellecus. “I am saying that the Lord is a God of order and system. I believe He is establishing such a pattern to demonstrate to His people that in the end He will come to their rescue.”

“But only if they repent, Kara,” said Lucifer. “There is always a price to pay for the Lord’s favor.” He indicated the ruined city around him. “Or disfavor.”

“So what is He teaching them by coming to their rescue?” asked Kara.