Unholy Empire: Chronicles of the Host, Vol 2: Chronicles of the Host, Book 2 (45 page)

Thus did Israel live at peace with their God…but only for a brief time.

“
Moses!
”

Moses looked up from the scroll on which he was recording the history and laws of the people of God, recognizing the Voice that had become so well known to him.

“Yes, Lord?” he responded.

“
For two years I have borne the offenses of these people. They have murmured against Me; they have complained when I provided food and water. Your own family, Aaron and Miriam, turned against you. Fire has come down and consumed many. You have interceded for these stiff-necked people, and I have heard your prayers.
”

“Yes, Lord,” said Moses, bowing low. “As the record here shows in this testament that I am writing, You have been more than gracious. I have recorded how You created the earth; how You planted a garden and turned it over to a man and a woman whom You made in Your own image; how this man rebelled against You and was cast out of Eden; how You promised that one day through the seed of the woman You would reconcile the broken fellowship.

“I have written how You caused the earth to be flooded and preserved the Seed in the family of Noah; and how You made a promise to our father Abraham that all the nations on earth should be blessed through him. I told of Your wonders in Egypt and how You delivered your people from the mighty hand of the pharaoh. And now, O lord, I am recording how You have given us Your instructions on worship and how we may approach You; Your directions on how to construct a tabernacle of meeting; Your design for an ark in which to store the testament; and how You consecrated Aaron and the Levites as a priesthood unto You. You are truly a glorious God!”

“
It is time to go forward into the land to which I have called you. Go now and send forth some men to spy out the land, for Israel shall soon enter into the land.
”

Moses found Aaron and told him exactly what the Lord had spoken. They welcomed the instruction, for it meant that they would soon leave the Desert of Paran and be in the land that had been promised to their fathers. Moses summoned the tribal leaders, the heads of all the families except Levi’s. Then he selected the spies who were to leave the Desert of Paran and explore the land that would soon be theirs.

As the men gathered for the instructions, many people milled about outside Moses’ tent. People listened with interest and excitement as Moses spoke, for they too were ready to move on and claim the land that was theirs. Moses told the handpicked men that they were to explore the land and report on everything they saw—cities, commerce, agriculture—everything that they could discover.

“Make note of the sort of fruit that grows. Record the number of cities you encounter. Tell us whether they are walled or open. Find out all about the people who inhabit the land. Give us a report on the soil. In fact, bring back samples of the land’s produce. I want you to discover everything you can about the land God has given to us.”

As the men set out, fully provisioned for the journey, an unseen figure loomed nearby.

If humans could have seen him, they might have made out the reddish bead in his eyes. He watched the men pass by without incident.

“Have no fear, Moses,” said the figure. “I believe they will discover much more than you realize!”

He then vanished to report to Kara on this newest development.

“Spies in the land?” repeated Lucifer. He looked at the council with a feigned concern and then said, “It sounds as if the Lord has taken a page from Kara’s strategy book!”

The council burst out laughing.

“Yes, we know about the spies, Tinius,” Lucifer continued. “Kara has already briefed us on all that.”

“And what shall we do?” Tinius asked. “Word is already getting all over Canaan that the Hebrews are approaching. The Canaanites know what happened in Egypt, and they are beginning to panic. I’ll not have the gods of Canaan cast down as the gods of Egypt were. I have worked too hard to create the Baals and the others and I’ll not give them up.”

Lucifer was amused at Tinius’s uncharacteristically bold outburst.

“Steady, Tinius,” said Lucifer. “They are merely looking around at this point. They have not yet crossed over as a people.”

“But what is to stop them, my lord?” asked Lenaes, echoing Tinius’s comment. “If Rameses could not stop them; if the sea opened up for them—what is to stop them from coming into Canaan?”

Lucifer surveyed room, scanning the faces of the angels who sat on his council.

“Nothing.”

“You said…?” asked Tinius.

“I said nothing will prevent the Israelites from entering the land that God has given to them. Ultimately they shall enter.”

“Then what hope have we to wage war?” asked Tinius, whose exasperated question was affirmed by many in the room. “If they return to the land of promise, the Seed is sure to emerge and then we are all finished!”

“If I may speak,” said Pellecus, rising from the table in the abandoned Hittite palace. “I have gone over this with Lucifer, and we have come to the conclusion that the introduction of the Hebrews into the land they are promised by the Most High does not necessarily mean that we are ‘finished,’ as you have put it, Tinius.”

Tinius sat down, still frustrated.

“Rather, we have seen in these people the uncanny and predictable pattern of self-destruction. Instead of worrying about their entry into the land, I suggest that we focus on the continued demoralization of their leadership.”

“How so, good teacher?” asked Kara. “I have been developing a seething core of wolves among those naive sheep for some time now. But they have no impetus to strike—no cause—nothing to bite into, so to speak.”

“We shall give them a cause,” said Pellecus, looking to Lucifer, who now stood to address the group.

“What Pellecus is saying,” continued Lucifer, “is that we shall introduce a…‘cause’…as you so eloquently put it, Kara, to the people.”

“I have no doubt about that,” said Kara, a bit disturbed that he was not included in this apparently previously discussed issue. “What cause shall we introduce that hasn’t already been tried?”

“You’re correct, Kara. We have been cultivating many attitudes among the people,” said Lucifer. “Dormant and seething attitudes, which I believe will eventually bear us much fruit. We have seen how delay caused the people to lose heart when Moses took so long on the mountain. We have seen how their appetites have caused them to murmur against the Lord when their rotten bellies were not full. We have seen how quickly they proclaimed another god when they felt abandoned by the Most High.”

“Yes, of course,” snapped Kara. “But what are you thinking of introducing now?”

“Fear.”

“Fear, my lord?” repeated Kara, a bit skeptically.

“Yes. Fear. It has been our experience that the fundamental human flaw—the greatest hindrance to their ability to hear from and follow the Most High—is fear. The fear of the unknown. Fear that robs them of reason and takes away their ability to trust in the Lord’s provision. The sort of fear that caused Abraham and Sarah to give birth to Ishmael, or that drove Jacob to rob his brother of his birthright.

“Fear is a great motivator, when used strategically. Therefore, I believe that the fear of the unknown in Canaan will strike terror in the heart of every man and woman.” He looked at the group, and smiled a knowing smile at Pellecus. “Such is the power of a terrifying report about the land.”

“A bad report about the land?” said Kara. He laughed a bit. “What shall they report about that shall frighten these people? What is there in Canaan to be afraid of that they did not face in Egypt…or in the desert, for that matter?”

“It isn’t what they have faced that matters, Kara,” said Lucifer. “What matters is what they have not faced—that which is housed in the minds of faithless men.”

Lucifer cocked his head back as if visualizing the scene in his mind. “When the spies return with news of giants, and walled cities; when they see some of Tinius’s Baal-like gods appearing to them in the night; when they hear of great warriors with whom they will have to fight—they will give a report so frightening that the people will surely rebel against Moses and the Lord will be finished with them once and for all!”

Joshua sat next to Caleb outside the tent that they shared. They were enjoying the final warmth of a dying fire. The other members of the exploration team had gone to sleep, and Joshua and Caleb remained awake for the night watch.

The excursion into Canaan was now in its twentieth day. They had just come through Hebron and were now headed toward the Valley of Eshcol, whose fruit was reportedly wonderful. Impressed by what they had seen already, Joshua and Caleb were encouraged by the land’s richness.

The angels listened as Joshua and Caleb discussed the sights thus far: the beautiful land; the cities and houses that would become Israel’s; the bountiful produce; and of course, the fierce people whom they would someday fight.

Caleb looked up at his friend. Joshua, called Hoshea by Moses, was of the tribe of Ephraim. The Ephraimites were very closely allied with his own tribe of Judah. He had seen how these tribes had taken a leading role in the affairs of Israel, and even now, on this trip, they seemed to be the ones encouraging and leading the other spies, who had grown less than enthusiastic about the mission.

“Joshua.”

Joshua looked at Caleb.

“I am hearing some talk from the others.”

“Yes, I have heard too,” said Joshua, stirring the little fire with a stick. “They are just weary and want to see their families.”

Caleb looked around to make sure that they were quite alone.

“I think it is more than that,” he said in a low voice.