Joshua Valiant (Chronicles of the Nephilim) (14 page)

But what happened next fascinated Caleb the most. The
second goat was kept alive. Eleazer took his bloody hands and placed them onto the live goat’s head.

Caleb
said, “He confesses the sins of Israel as a ritual means of transferring them onto the goat.”

Another priest then led the goat out
of the tabernacle and away from the camp.

Caleb
commented, “He is sending the scapegoat into the wilderness to send it to Azazel.”

The only thing
Caleb really knew of Azazel was that he was one of the fallen Sons of God who was supposedly bound into the earth in the desert. Why on earth would that monster be a part of Yahweh’s Day of Atonement?

Caleb reasoned that since the goat was not killed, but kept alive, it was not a
sacrifice to Azazel.

He continued to Achsah, “
The desert to us is
tohu wabohu
, a place of chaos that is unformed and unfilled. When we crossed the Red Sea, Yahweh had promised us that he would crush the heads of Leviathan and Rahab and create the heavens and the earth out of the chaos.” This was another way of saying that Yahweh would establish his kingdom covenant order out of the disorder and lawlessness that was Canaan.

S
ending the goat out into the desert to Azazel, was not an offering to the damnable goat demon, but rather it was a banishment of Israel’s sin to the realm of chaos outside Yahweh’s kingdom—the same realm of Azazel.

One could almost consider it a compounding of sins onto Azazel to magnify his judgment.

This high holy day filled Caleb with wonder and awe at the glory and beauty of Yahweh’s picture of atonement. It was his only hope for acceptance and inclusion into the Children of Abraham, and he prayed his daughter would cherish that hope as well.

Caleb’s tribe was originally the pagan Kenizzites who were descended from Esau, the cursed brother of Jacob. Yahweh had chosen Jacob over Esau to be the one to carry the seedline of the Children of Abraham. Even though Caleb’s entire tribe had converted and joined the Israelites, only blood atonement seemed to convince Caleb that he had any chance of being truly accepted into the family of Yahweh. That is why it was so beautiful to him.

It was
a holy sacrament of poetry, music, and art.

Joshua did not care for poetry, music or art,
so he began to snore. Caleb nudged him to spare him the embarrassment and Joshua jerked his head awake with a quick glance around.

“
It is over,” whispered Caleb. “You are forgiven.”

“Thanks,” Joshua muttered.
“I owe you.”

Caleb gave him a
scolding look and said, “It is not me you owe.”

•
• • • •

The people had returned to their daily lives
. One aspect of that daily life was the accumulation of manna every morning.

Joshua’s wife Hasina took their children out into the desert outside the camp to gather
the manna, along with hundreds of others. It was a fun time for the young ones as they trampled about trying to collect more of the “what is it” than their fellow rivals.

There were always a handful of warriors to watch over the women and children. Most of them stood bored at the
edge of the camp.

But
Hasina noticed that Othniel, who was one of the guardians today, was hovering over Achsah, giving her special attention. They were chatting and laughing and he even carried her basket for her.

Hasina could
see that Othniel’s tenderness and affection toward Achsah was an interest that was clearly more than guardianship. The only problem was that Othniel was just too shy to let his intentions be made known. Achsah was certainly of marrying age, but no doubt their age difference was an obstacle for Othniel’s confidence.

Hasina
smiled to herself and thought, Men. He is an accomplished warrior, but when it comes to love, he has not a clue.

Near the outer edges
was a small group of about six children racing around competing with each other. Joshua’s five-year-old son, Efram, was in the lead; his little bronze pot for accumulating the manna was almost full.

But he was getting too far away from the rest of the gatherers. Hasina noticed it and started to call for him.

“Efram! Efram, you are too far! Come back closer to the group!”

But
Efram did not listen. He was so intent on his mighty quest, that he kept scanning until he found the biggest bunch of manna he had ever seen. It was just near a ridge. He ran over to it and began to fill his pot. This would be it. This would be the winning batch!

The sun’s rising from the east
glared into his eyes as he grabbed and grabbed at the heavenly bread.

But then a shadow suddenly came over him and he could see more clearly. He smiled.

He looked up and saw the silhouetted figure of a tall man standing before him, blocking the rays of the sun.

He was a broad and burly man.

He was carrying a shield and spear.

He was a warrior.

But he was not an Israelite warrior.

He was a
Canaanite.

Hasina’s scream brought
Efram out of his stupor.

“
EFRAM! RUN!”

But when
Efram turned back to the warrior, a dozen other warriors suddenly surrounded him. They were coming up from below the ridge where he was.

He dropped the pot of manna to the ground, spilling out his winning
collection, now completely forgotten by him as he ran for his life back to his mother.

The warriors
were on horses.

There were hundreds of them.

And they went after the women and children.

The warriors
captured some of the innocents by using nets, and others, by simply picking them off the ground like a mighty bird of prey might do with a defenseless rodent.

The
Israelite guardians tried to fight on behalf of the children, but they were so overwhelmed, they were almost all slaughtered.

Joshua was leading battle exercises in the desert on the complete opposite side of the camp. The leadership under the general consisted of commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and of fifties. The basic fighting unit of Israelites was a five-man squad who trained together and fought together as a team.

Those squads were in the middle of practicing their skills when a
messenger came on horseback to give the news to Joshua of the Canaanite attack.

The soldiers
were already equipped and warmed up for a fight. But they were also on the opposite side of the camp, far away from the site of attack.

By the time they arrived, it was too late.

The Canaanites had killed hundreds and had
kidnapped two hundred others.

It was an atrocity.
A slaughter of innocents.

Joshua and Caleb sought to gather whatever intelligence they could before they went after the
raiders.

As they walked through the bloody carnage, surveying the hacked up and bludgeoned bodies of
women and children, a righteous anger welled up within Joshua.

Caleb could not h
elp scanning for his daughter. But she was nowhere to be found.

Some of the surviving women and older children told them about the men and their swords, and nets
, and merciless cruelty. There was nothing distinctive about them. They were Canaanite desert marauders, dressed in typical animal skins, leather armor, and they went north.

Tracking the monsters
would be the easy part.

Some of the soldiers had found their loved ones dead and were weeping over them.

Joshua was grateful he had not seen his family. That increased his chances that they would be hostages to be rescued. But he could not give in to his desire to complete his search, for that would place his personal interests above the nation, which was of greater importance.

He was about to announce
his command to pursue the Canaanite murdering kidnappers, when he heard the voice of Othniel shout out, “Caleb!”

Joshua jerked around to see
Caleb running toward a young girl kneeling on the ground holding the body of a woman and weeping.

The girl was Achsah. She was alive.

Othniel was standing over them with bloody sword drawn, nursing an arm wound.

Caleb grabbed her
and held her tightly.

Joshua approached the
three of them.

But he stopped twenty feet from them.

At his feet lay the body of a little boy.

Efram
.

A fireball of pain arose in Joshua’s soul and his knees buckled.
He felt dizzy.

But something in him told him he had to continue.

He picked up the broken body of his son and cradled him in his arms as he continued toward Caleb, Achsah, and Othniel.

They were now looking at Joshua with eyes of fear.

Joshua trembled as he drew near.

And when he arrived by
the three of them, he saw the two bodies on the ground that Achsah had been crying over.

They were Joshua’s daughter and his wife,
Hasina.

He stared down at them like stone.

He lowered the body of his son to group them together.

Caleb and Achsah moved back to give Joshua room.

Joshua arranged them together with stoic rigidity as Othniel explained what had happened.

“We were ambushed by a band of Canaanite marauders
. There must have been several hundred. The other guards were killed. Hundreds were kidnapped.”

Caleb knew his daughter was only alive and safe because of Othniel’s protection.

Joshua could not allow himself to break down. He was trembling holding back the tsunami of pain in his soul.

But he had to lead the armies of the Lord, and he could not fail his nation for his own personal loss. There would be plenty of time to grieve and wail later.

He grabbed the sleeve of his tunic and ripped it with gritted teeth. It was the act of grief most familiar to them all.

He could not stop the flood of
emotion that invaded his mind. This woman, this precious treasure, had brought such happiness and grace into his life. Despite the miracles of Yahweh’s presence and deliverance through all these years, she had been the most vivid proof of Yahweh’s shepherding concern for him. In her love, he understood love and was changed by it.

Her softness of body and
soul was completely alien to him, his complete opposite. Yet, in that way, she balanced him, kept him from becoming the cruel and heartless monster he knew he could become. Her precious smile and embrace made this warrior weak in the knees.

And these children, so young, the fruit of their love together.
He could remember cradling their frail little infant bodies in his arms when they were born. His hopes for them had been so high. His sorrow was magnified by the fact that he knew he was too hard on them, too demanding, too impatient. They were Yahweh’s way of pounding the selfishness out of his own soul. And in their youthful flaws he could see himself before his heavenly father. His own imperfection, his own selfish demands and need for guidance and wisdom. They taught him as much about his heavenly father’s love for him as any of the sacrifices could.

But now they were all dead
.

They were slaughtered by evil,
and along with them, Joshua’s love.

Joshua
got up from his knees and looked out into the distance in the direction of their enemies.

He announced to the
soldiers around him, “Commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds! Delay your grief, and let us hunt down these Canaanite cowards, rescue the hostages, and may Yahweh’s justice roll down like waters!”

The men
shouted and gathered for the chase.

But only
those next to him could hear Joshua’s next words.

“Yahweh,
if you will give this people into my hand, I will devote their cities to complete destruction. I will kill every last one of them, man, woman and child.”

Joshua looked over and caught Caleb staring at him. It felt to them both as if time itself had stopped and they saw into each other’s
being.

Caleb knew Joshua better than anyone, and he could see that
something inside of Joshua had changed.

It was frightening. Joshua had always been a warrior soul
of discipline and strength. But his family had been the love that anchored him in God’s grace.

Now, i
t was as if that only vestige of grace in his life had been murdered, ripped out of him.