by Brian Godawa
They brought her down to the waters’ edge and started to disrobe her.
She pulled away from them and snapped, “Do not touch me, you reptiles. I will clean myself.”
The priests looked at each other. This was typical of Arisha.
The leader was Bodo, a gangly and sniveling weed of a man. He knew what was going to happen to Arisha, the humiliation, the pain and suffering. He actually felt sorry for her, despite her obstinate attitude.
He said, “Arisha, your willfulness will not be welcomed by the deity with the tolerance we have too often displayed toward you.”
She did not respond. She just stared at him defiantly.
He buckled. “Be sure to fully immerse.”
She walked to the edge of the water, turned her back to them, not allowing them the personal thrill of a glimpse of her frontal body. They had all taken from her in the past, but not this time. This time, she had some control.
She slipped off her robe and stepped into the water.
One of the priests licked his lips. They all became aroused. She was truly the most desirable female that had ever graced their commune, and now they would never have the opportunity to take her again.
What a pity, thought Bodo.
She dipped into the water up to her neck. She was breathing heavily. Hyperventilating.
Bodo thought that the water was cold or that this stubborn independent girl was finally beginning to face the consequences of her spirited pride.
Arisha then slipped below the surface.
She was in the habit of staying under a long time. It was her way of getting away from the community to be alone, of feeling in control. So initially, it did not alarm Bodo that she failed to return to the surface. She had hearty lungs and could stay down for quite a while.
But more time passed and Bodo began to be concerned.
She was not coming up.
It had been over five minutes.
Now, closer to eight or nine. Something was not right.
Bodo finally ordered the priests. “Get others. Spread around the shore of the lake. Make sure she does not surface and try to get away.”
He unclothed himself and walked into the water to search for her.
He dove in search of Arisha, expecting to find her body trapped in a crevice or ridge by suicidal intent. There were many in the deep cavernous lake.
He dove downward.
There was a special algae in the lake that glowed with iridescent light, thus giving him the ability to see in what would have been pitch-blackness.
But he could not find her.
He came back up for air and dove again.
Others surrounded the lake shoreline with torches to make sure she did not escape.
Bodo must have dove down a dozen times before he gave up from sheer exhaustion.
He had others dive as well. But they came up with nothing.
This was not good.
Nachash would not be happy.
• • • • •
Later that evening, Tannin, the high priest, had returned to the Nest to retrieve Arisha for Nachash. But he found Bodo and the priests cowering in fear of their lives.
“She what?” yelled Tannin.
“She drowned,” said Bodo. “We took her to the lake for cleansing. She refused our help and demanded to clean herself. You know how stubborn Arisha can be.”
“Yes, I know, fool!” said Tannin.
Bodo continued, “When she went under the waters, she never came back up. We immediately called for help and posted sentries all around the lake. She could not have escaped our net.”
“Yet, she is gone,” said Tannin with biting anger.
“Several of us dove down to try to find her body, but we were unsuccessful.”
“That was several hours ago when you brought her here. Why did you not alert me?”
The priests looked nervously at one another. Bodo whimpered, “We were afraid for our lives.”
“As well you should be. You failed to secure the god’s vessel for sacred marriage. You let her drown. And then you did not repent.”
The four priests fell to their knees. Bodo cried out, “We do repent, my lord! Please have mercy on us.”
“If I have mercy on you,” said Tannin, “then Nachash will have no mercy on me.” He turned to the other priests around them and barked an order, “Execute them now.”
The priests were immediately put to the edge of the sword.
As it turned out, Nachash had no mercy on Tannin either. He was cut down with the others when he brought the information to the god.
But Nachash also refused to believe Arisha was drowned unless he saw her bloated lifeless body before him. This female was too important to be so easily killed in a twist of fate or suicide. So he sent other divers to continue scouring the cavernous lake to find her.
It was a very deep lake with many rocky crevices and fissures for a body in which to be lost or stuck. They searched for a full day, but could find nothing. And they never did discover what happened to Arisha, the rascally spirited girl who had brought so much trouble into their commune.
She was dead and gone to them.
• • • • •
Arisha did not drown. She escaped. Her relentless curiosity had saved her again. For years she had known of a hidden underwater cave that led from their lake down to an underground river. But she had told no one, and kept it as her secret. It was her hideaway.
The way she found it was by chance.
She loved swimming in the waters as an opportunity to get away from the community and be alone. There were algae on the rocks that glowed with iridescent colors, creating quite a beautiful aura of an underwater world apart.
It was peaceful solitude for her to dive in deep water and explore. She performed exercises to increase the amount of time she could hold her breath, and had gotten to the point where she could stay under water for a full ten to twelve minutes.
One day she stumbled upon a small crevice that opened up to a larger tunnel. She could only make it part way down the tunnel and had to turn back. But when she looked up, she noticed bubbles at the ceiling of the cave. She learned that they were actually pockets of trapped oxygen where the water did not fill in. She then discovered she could suck the air out of those pockets which would enable her to go further.
That was when she discovered the underground river. And that underground river was where she had escaped her sacred marriage to the god Nachash.
Unfortunately, she had used up most of the air pockets on the ceiling and was no longer able to visit her secret river. But that night she did not care. And she did not need enough air to get back, so she sucked the last of them and barely made it to the river of deliverance.
And that was why they never found her escape route. They had found the crevice and the long tunnel, but several had drowned trying to explore the cave’s distance. They concluded there was no way that slender female could have gone further without additional air—the additional air they could never have found in the ceiling air pockets because she had used them all up.
Arisha let the river current take her wherever it would. She did not care if she would come out alive or not. As far as she was concerned, it was much more desirable to drown alone and untouched in a vast underground cave than be violated by a deity she did not believe was benevolent.
As it happened, the underground river did not go deeper, but instead emptied out onto one of their local rivers a couple miles away. She drifted all the way to the Sea of Chinnereth.
She found an old sailcloth along the shoreline and fashioned a primitive covering for her nakedness. Then she trekked around the shore of the lake and followed the Jordan River south.
She wanted to get as far away from Bashan as possible. And she decided she would cross the Jordan and find her way in the Cisjordan, hoping it might be a different world, maybe even the opposite of the Transjordan.
She eventually found a city not far from the Jordan that h
ad huge protective stone walls that seemed to reach to heaven. It was completely different from anything she had ever seen. It looked like they were built to protect its citizens from the brutality of the world outside its walls. It was a fort. It made her feel safe.
She had found the city of Jericho.
She decided to find a way to melt into this new world and never be found by her past again. She had yet another chance to start a new life with a new identity. Just how, she did not know.
But when the first person she met who asked her name awaited her answer, she realized she had not thought ahead and did not know what she should call herself.
She would not use Arisha for fear of being tracked down by her past. But she had to say something or she might be discovered as the fugitive that she was.
So she said the first name she could think of that came to her. It was the nickname she had been given by one of the priests in the Nest of the Serpent Clan.
“My name is Rahab.”
Chapter 11
Caleb strained to see inside the outer courtyard of the tabernacle. The drapes were pulled back for some of the congregation to see the ritual, but only those in front would really have a good sight on it all.
Providentially for Caleb, he was the Right Hand of Joshua, so he had a front row seat with his daughter Achsah and his brother Othniel. He was transfixed with wonder as he watched this highest holy day of the year enacted by the Levites in their ordained duty.
Joshua however had fallen asleep. He just did not value the beauty of what was taking place like Caleb did.
It was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
It was one of the only feasts they performed before entering the land of Canaan because of its sacrificial link to the tabernacle. To Caleb, it was the most significant of the feasts because it represented propitiation, the cleansing and atonement of the entire nation. He had learned many of the details of the tabernacle by watching them assemble the mobile temple and from annoying Joshua to describe other details he had seen from his assistance to Moses.
Caleb would watch the ceremonies and become absorbed into the beauty of Yahweh’s holiness. It was much more than just intellectually understanding the symbolic meaning of it all. It was a sacramental entering into the spiritual truth through the physical ritual displayed before them. He understood that spiritual reality came into contact with their earthly existence through the physical cult.
Since Yahweh was an eternal invisible spirit, unlike the finite visible pagan gods and their graven images, he was transcendent from his people and set apart. But also unlike the pagan idols, he was a shepherd and loving father who was very near and imminent with his people and set within.
The tabernacle was the symbolic physical display of that otherwise invisible presence. Thus it was both the physical center of the camp and the spiritual heart of the nation.
The outer courtyard was one hundred fifty feet long by seventy-five feet wide. Wooden poles holding linen curtains over seven feet high sanctioned it off. The Tent of Meeting, or holy place was set at the back end and was fifteen feet wide, fifteen feet high, and forty five feet long. It was divided into two sections, the holy place and the most holy place, the inner sanctum.
Normally, Israelites would bring their sheep, goats, turtle doves and other offerings to the gate to be sacrificed by the Levite priests for their various known and unknown sins as needed.
But today was different.
Today was the day when the high priest, now Eleazer, Aaron’s son, would perform special ceremonies on behalf of all of Israel. And the high priest was a most glorious display of the beauty of holiness to Caleb.
Achsah leaned in and asked Caleb to speak to her of the meanings of the various elements. She knew how studious he was of every detail and loved to see his passionate interest come alive as it used to with her mother. Othniel listened in with shared interest.
Caleb spoke like a running commentary as Achsah and Othniel watched the ritual before them.
Caleb whispered, “The high priest’s white linen undergarments represent righteousness.” It was a righteousness not encountered in pagan high priests that were often naked or half-naked in a display of savage uncleanness.
He continued, “His robe is a seamless blue garment trimmed with multicolored pomegranates and golden bells to symbolize the fruitfulness and call to worship.”
Over the robe, Eleazer wore the ephod, an apron. “The ephod,” said Caleb, “is made of golden wire and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; representing heaven, royalty and blood respectively.”
“On that ephod is a ‘breastplate of righteousness’ that contains twelve different gems. Jasper, sapphire, emerald, onyx, and others.”
“Emerald is my favorite,” said Achsah. She loved its bright green glow.
Caleb continued, “The precious stones represent Yahweh’s heavenly city as well as the twelve tribes of Israel.”
“But that breastplate is also called the ‘breastplate of judgment’ because it contains a pocket over the heart of the high priest, do you see it?”
“Yes,” said Achsah.
“In that pocket are the two mysterious elements called the Urim and Thummim.”
“Lights and perfections,” translated Achsah.
“Exactly,” said Caleb. These elements were used to seek divine counsel and guidance from Yahweh in special circumstances.
The headdress of the high priest was a thick linen miter wrapped around his head like a turban.
“See the plate of pure gold on his forehead? What is engraved on there?” He quizzed her.
“Holiness to Yahweh” she said.
“Excellent. You remembered what I told you.”
She gave a guilty glance at Othniel. “Actually Othniel recently helped me to memorize some of the details.”
Caleb gave Othniel a jealous look, “Well, did Othniel help you remember what purpose it serves?”
“To bear the guilt of the people and remind us of the ongoing need of having Yahweh in our minds.”
He said, “Now, if you could only remember your chores at home as well, we would have a better kept tent.”
“Father,” she complained. He smiled back. He could not be too jealous of his younger brother. Othniel had been born to a concubine of their father many years after their mother had died. Life in Egypt and the desert brought a high mortality rate, and many men found themselves starting over with new families later in life. Othniel himself had lost his family to plague years earlier, so Caleb would always find more in common with his brother than what divided them.
These elements of the high priest’s garments, as well as the other Levites’ wardrobe were for the purpose of glory and beauty.
But on this Day of Atonement, there was yet more glory and beauty at work. Eleazer first washed himself at the brazen laver that stood before the Tent of Meeting to cleanse himself for the ritual.
Caleb whispered, “Now comes the sacrifice.”
Eleazer took a bull and killed it for his own sins, letting the blood drain into a bronze basin. He would then clean the animal and burn it on the brazen altar of sacrifice that stood before the bronze laver.
Caleb quizzed Achsah some more. “And what is the purpose of the high priest sacrificing for himself first?”
She said, “He too is in need of forgiveness of sins to be able to represent his people.”
And herein lay a tension of paradox. For a high priest to sufficiently mediate between god and man, he would have to be sinless. But only a god could have such perfection. But a god could not represent man because he was wholly other, separate. Thus the repeated need for the high priest to be forgiven before he could perform his mediation. It was a weakness of the system that Caleb had thought could only be permanently overcome by a being of both deity and humanity, a kind of “god-man” that could become an eternal sacrifice. But he thought his imagination got away from him, for such a thing seemed impossible indeed.
Eleazer then took a
censer full of coals from the altar and brought it into the Tent of Meeting.
“Describe for me again what is inside the holy place,” she said.
“A seven-armed golden lampstand is perpetually aflame with holy oil to light the tent. It is shaped like a blossoming almond tree, a symbol of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden so long ago. But it is also considered the ‘light of the world’ that gives light to all men.”
She and Othniel had closed their eyes now, imagining in their minds what they could not see with their eyes.
Caleb continued, “Across from the lampstand is the table of showbread. It is three feet long and a half-foot wide and made of wood overlaid with ornately tooled gold. On it are twelve cakes of bread representing the twelve tribes of Israel, and they are replaced on the Sabbath. It is a meal for the priests to commune with the ‘bread of life’ of the presence of Yahweh.”
She could picture now the idea of eating bread and in their midst, the Shekinah glory cloud. It was stunning to her.
He interrupted her visualization. “Before the holy of holies, the most holy place, is the altar of incense, a gold-laden structure whose rising smoke represents the perpetual need of intercessory prayer on behalf of the people.” This was yet another need for the people that no human high priest could attain to.
Eleazer brought his censer from the sacrifice, whose smoke mixed with the altar of incense to protect him from what he was about to do next: Enter the holy of holies, the very presence of Yahweh. This was the only time each year that this could be done. If approached on any other day by the high priest or anyone else, Yahweh himself would strike them dead.
Caleb continued his vivid description of the holy of holies. “The veil encloses the most holy place, another colorful curtain made of the blue, purple, and scarlet of the high priest’s ephod. On it are artistically embroidered images of the cherubim, as symbols of the guardians of Eden.”
In fact, It was a curtain of separation, a barrier that kept humanity ultimately at a distance from Yahweh. Achsah imagined the impressive chimeric cherubim and what they might look like before the throne of Yahweh.