Rising Darkness (28 page)

“Isaiah?” responded Rugio. “He has been prophesying since Uzziah’s time. Nobody has taken him seriously.”

“These prophets!” fumed Kara. “Always stirring the people up to some such nonsense. When will they learn that the people never listen?”

“Perhaps they will listen one day,” said Lucifer, with a faraway look in his eyes. He was imagining the Lord Himself, speaking to the nation, talking to them as one human might speak with another. “Many prophets of the Lord have come and gone,” he continued. “And we have managed to surround the kings with prophets who speak what their deceived ears wish to hear. Perhaps it shall be the same with this one. These people are hardhearted and stiff-necked…”

“How can we possibly contest this?” complained Kara. “If Immanuel is God Himself, how can we intervene?”

Lucifer smiled at Kara’s typically panicked response.

“While it is true that the prophetic voices pose a real threat, it is also true that they give us a vital clue to Immanuel’s arrival,” reasoned Lucifer. “In short, the Most High has given it all away.”

“Another lapse of judgment on the part of the Lord,” said Pellecus proudly.

“How does this help us?” asked Kara.

“By sending these swaggering, browbeating prophets to Israel and Judah, the Lord has also given information about this Immanuel,” said Lucifer. “As always the Lord has left Himself open. I believe that what we have learned from the Lord’s prophets will help us to prevent the Seed from ever being safely delivered.”

Kara and Rugio both looked at Lucifer incredulously. Could it be that there was still a way to win this never-ending war? Lucifer smiled and indicated to Pellecus that he should continue the briefing.

“As our prince Lucifer said, the Lord has sent many prophets to His people,” said Pellecus, in a lecture stance. “Many of them have been sent away, murdered, or otherwise ignored. However, what we cannot ignore is that thus far they have proven accurate—whether or not the people listened. The prophets said Israel would be destroyed if the people refused to repent. Well, they refused…and were destroyed.”

“Neither did Ahaz listen to Isaiah when this very prophecy was given. Rather than trust the Lord he made a deal with the Assyrians—and Judah became a tributary of theirs.” He grinned at the others. “We are destroying Judah by inches!”

“So Rugio’s stirring up of Assyria was actually working in complement with the Lord’s prophecy of destruction,” reasoned Kara. “Now that is interesting.” He glared at Rugio. “You are the Lord’s executioner, Rugio.”

Rugio began moving forward as if he were about to lunge at Kara, but, looking at Lucifer, relented and settled back in his position.

“Whether or not we are instruments of the Lord’s justice is no matter,” said Lucifer sharply. “The point is that Israel was destroyed.” He picked up a piece of a broken candlestick. “The Most High is a prisoner to His own ethic. He must destroy the nation that He threatened to destroy, or be called a liar. If He dispossesses Himself of both Israel and Judah, then He will become a forgotten light—like this ruined candlestick!” He tossed it aside. “What matter that He orchestrates the destruction so long as our enemy is destroyed?”

“Nevertheless, we must look ahead,” said Kara.

“We must also look behind,” Pellecus interrupted. “We must be mindful of what the prophets have spoken. Hosea is telling the people that this Messiah—this Anointed One—shall be a person of great love, desirous of mercy, which is His choice—but punishing sin, which is His character.

“And Micah? He has even given us the place of this Child’s eventual birth—Bethlehem—the city of David.”

Pellecus stroked his chin as if in great puzzlement. “I must admit that the idea of childbirth threw me until Isaiah cleared it up. Isaiah speaks of a virgin giving birth to this Child who shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, and all that other nonsense. So you see, the prophets are giving it all away whether or not the people are understanding it.”

“This is wonderful intelligence,” said Kara. “But what are we to do with it?”

“We will use it against the remaining nation,” said Lucifer. “If this Child shall one day be born in Bethlehem, which fits in nicely with the prophecy of the house of Judah—David’s tribe, David’s city—then it is reasonable to assume that should Judah cease to exist there will be no kingdom of David for the Seed to enter.”

“Excellent!” cried out Kara. “So how do we defeat him? It is impossible to stop the Lord Himself.”

“True,” said Lucifer,” we may not be able to stop the Lord—defeat the Seed, as it were. But perhaps we can rob the Seed of the soil it must have.”

Kara and Rugio looked at each other.

“Once more the Lord has given away His plan,” said Lucifer. “The prophets speak not only to God’s people—they speak to us as well. Hear me: The child must arrive during a period of time when a kingdom ruled by a stem of Jesse is in place. For now, Judah, the kingdom founded by David, son of Jesse, thrives and waits for the introduction of the Seed into its national womb…”

“But,” said Pellecus, picking up the thought, “should the kingdom cease, the threat is removed—because there is no kingdom of David in which to introduce the Seed!”

“Exactly,” said Lucifer. “How can this Coming One reign on David’s throne and over David’s kingdom if neither of them exists? How can he be born in Bethlehem of a virgin womb if Bethlehem is occupied by an idolatrous empire?”

Lucifer relished the effect of his words upon the Council. A sense of hope was building among his leaders as he had not seen in some time. Perhaps the war was shifting in their favor after all.

“And with Assyrian proximity to Judah at this very moment,” Lucifer continued, “it seems advisable to mobilize them against Hezekiah and destroy Judah immediately. I feel another war coming on!”

Rugio grinned at the prospect of the Assyrians—the nation under his authority—being involved in the final destruction of their enemy. His would be the greatest name in the new order—second only to Lucifer should he successfully bring the same destruction upon Judah. Lucifer looked intently at Rugio.

“Sennacherib is a king with an appetite, Rugio,” said Lucifer. “His army is well trained and tested. I suggest that you fan his desire for glory a bit more to the south to subdue the rebellious tributaries that are seeking to break away from his grip. Judah is leaning toward joining this pack of rebels.”

Rugio nodded in understanding.

“As for Hezekiah, he is no Ahaz,” commented Pellecus. “Hezekiah has a heart for the Lord that is disturbing. His reforms under Isaiah’s guidance have proven disastrous for us. He has abolished the worship of other gods that we labored for so vigorously. He has repaired the temple, which had begun to fall into ruin. He has abolished the shrines, smashed the high places, and cut down the Asherah poles.”

“If only we could cut
him
down,” muttered Rugio.

Lucifer smiled at the thought of Rugio tearing the poor king into pieces.

“Indeed he has a different spirit than his fathers,” Lucifer continued. He turned to Kara. “Therefore we must work to separate his heart from his head. I am particularly concerned with these prophets of the Lord who currently haunt the Judean court.”

The three angels looked at Lucifer with hope for the first time in a very long time. Lucifer looked at the three angels who were his chief princes on earth.

“We must see to Judah’s destruction,” he said. “We must go at once to Jerusalem and begin a rampage of fear of the Assyrians among the people in anticipation of Rugio’s inducement of Sennacherib to invade. Part of Rugio’s work is already done. Hezekiah has crossed Sennacherib by agreeing to join this ridiculous coalition of kingdoms in rebellion to Sennacherib’s authority in the region. Kindle that pride.”

“Yes, my prince,” said Rugio.

“Kara, you and Pellecus shall begin the fear among the people while Rugio inflames Sennacherib. And I shall work to persuade Hezekiah. Perhaps together we can introduce a seed of a different sort in the kingdom of David—a seed of destruction!”

Chronicles of the Host

The Assyrian camp at Lachish was a small city. Thousands of tents dotted the landscape like cattle, and smoke from the campfires billowed into a haze that drifted all the way toward Jerusalem. Proud and cruel, the army under Sennacherib had undertaken a new campaign to put to rest once and for all the rebel nations who resisted his authority.

Inside Sennacherib’s royal tent, the military commanders met to discuss their response to Hezekiah’s decision to call upon Egypt for help rather than to submit to Assyrian dominance in the region. Hezekiah had already paid a fortune to the king, but Sennacherib was not satisfied. He now wanted Hezekiah’s complete and abject humiliation because of the appeal the king of Judah had made to the Egyptians.

Kiriam, Sennacherib’s finance minister, bowed and came before the king, who was sitting on a couch in the tent. The generals were pouring over a map toward the front of the huge tent. Sennacherib was in good humor. He cheerfully invited Kiriam to approach him with his report.

“Is that the tribute of Hezekiah?” the king asked, while eating some fruit that a steward had just presented to him.

“Yes, majesty,” said Kiriam. “I have the complete list. These items are on their way back to Nineveh to await your return from your victorious campaign.”

“Let me hear it,” said the king, closing his eyes and sitting back in the couch so he could drink it all in.

“We have from the king of Judah thirty talents of gold, eight hundred talents of silver, precious stones, antimony, large cuts of red stone, couches inlaid with ivory, nimedu chairs inlaid with ivory, elephant hides, ebony wood, boxwood and all kinds of valuable treasures, his own daughters and concubines…”

“That will do,” said Sennacherib. “I have heard that this king, who is so enamored with his god, actually stripped the temple of its gold to produce the required tribute!”

“Truly you have humbled him, O king,” said Kiriam.

Sennacherib stroked his beard in contemplation. Had he? This same Hezekiah who pledged tribute on one hand also was making diplomatic correspondence with Egypt. Was that the mark of a humbled man…or a crafty one?

“Kiriam, you trust too much in gold and ledgers,” said Sennacherib. “I believe that Hezekiah’s attempt to buy me off was only to put me at a disadvantage later on. That is why my generals and I are looking at other possibilities.”

A commander entered the tent and whispered into one of the official’s ears. The official approached the king and bowed low.

“Well?” said Sennacherib.

“The army awaits your command, majesty,” said the official. “Your delegation to Jerusalem with your latest offer to Hezekiah…”

“Excellent, commander! Begin at once.”

After the commander left, the king turned to his ministers.

“Horse, foot, chariots, archers, elephants, battering rams—more than one hundred eighty-five thousand of the greatest army in the world! This shall be quite a delegation to Hezekiah—a little diplomacy can be quite fruitful!”

The ministers laughed with their king as they heard the trumpets sounding and the orders being given to move out of Libnah toward Jerusalem.