“Not a thing, my husband.”
“I’m afraid your face betrays you. Your lips say to me, ‘nothing,’ but that smirk conveys a different message, does it not?” He was anxious, but too exhausted to take an exasperating tone. He returned the expression.
“My, you are the suspicious one.”
His eyes shifted to Shiphrah. “It’s hard not to be, what with Shiphrah wearing the same devious look?” The thought of the two women sharing a secret warmed his heart, for it signaled his wife had accepted Shiphrah as a member of the family. Gone were the girl’s silken robes and jeweled accessories, replaced by a more modest traditional wool tunic. And yet, no simplicity of dress could hide her physical beauty. Elisheva and Ariel were attractive enough. But by almost any measurement, Shiphrah, with her curved figure and fair complexion, was stunning, made more so by the astonishing tint of those green eyes.
“What do you think, Shiphrah? Should we tell him?”
“Please,” she said, “before I burst with laughter.”
“Husband, you said you could use another strong back,” Miryam said.
“I did indeed.”
Miryam’s nose twitched, and the skin stretched tight across her cheeks by a smile that could no longer be contained. “Well, if you think you can wait another seven months, I just might be in a position to grant you your wish.”
Though they hadn’t had children for some time, Noah knew exactly what Miryam was alluding to. “Another son?”
“Well, I guess there’s a chance it could be a girl, but given your natural proclivity for siring boys, I wouldn’t say it was a good one.”
Noah moved to embraced her. It was a tender moment marred only by the reality work on the ark would be greatly impacted by Japheth’s injury. Shem was an incredible worker, but even he didn’t possess the strength and endurance to fell trees by himself with the speed of his brother. Without Japheth, it meant the production of timber would be reduced by half, not one third. And what would the Lord think about that?
Chapter 13
In the 507th year of Noah . . .
Seven years into construction, Noah signaled from atop scaffolding supporting the thirty-cubit high stem post to his eldest son at the stern. Up close, Japheth’s four cubit and a handbreadth height and 230 pounds cut an imposing presence. But down the length of five massive sixty cubit timbers joined end to end to form the ark’s keel, he appeared an insect. He beckoned his son again with a wave to indicate an end to the day’s labor before descending the scaffolding.
Below, Shem pounded the last few trenails into the scarf-joint connecting the stem post to the keel.
To his credit, Shem had really stepped to the fore following his brother’s accident, often volunteering to work past daylight to compensate for the reduction in manpower. And though no one was to blame for his son’s illness, Noah could see in his face the guilt he carried because of Japheth’s injury. Fortunately, the other news from that fateful day had resulted in a much better outcome.
Five years ago, Miryam presented her husband with a strong, healthy son—whom they named Ham—an event for which Shiphrah had further proven her mettle by serving as midwife for the birth. But the delivery proved bitter-sweet, with Noah facing the likelihood Lamech would never see his third grandchild.
As a jogging Japheth reached them, Shem tossed his hammer, bouncing it off the keel. “How is it you have so much energy left?” Shem said, the distinctive sound of iron striking wood ringing in their ears.
“Just hungry, I guess.”
“I think we’ve all earned a good meal today,” Noah said. He and his sons wiped the sweat pouring from their bodies. When he was finished, Japheth let out a deep sigh and leaned against one of the support timbers.
Shem walked around the scaffolding and looked down the modest incline to the forest below. “Father, we’re too far from the woods. And the more trees we take down, the farther away we get.” He wiped his brow. “If we were building near the trees, we’d at least have some shade in the late afternoon.”
“Father explained long ago why we needed to build here,” Japheth said. “This was the highest grade in the area large enough to construct the ark, plus it required practically no clearing.”
“Yes, but building up here is costing us time and resources. It takes forever to drag anything up that grade, and one of the oxen collapsed hauling up the last keel timber.”
“Which is why we increased the team of oxen from four to six,” Noah said. “But believe me when I tell you, son, you’re not going to want the ark anywhere near those trees when the flood comes.”
“Why not?”
“The floodwaters are going to uproot those trees like a sickle cutting through wheat. And if one of them should come crashing down on the ark, well—having had some shade to work in won’t mean much then.”
“Which brings up another thing. We’re over eight hundred furlongs from the Eden River, and more than twice that from the Great Sea. Where will these floodwaters come from?”
“Do you doubt that with a word the Lord could cause the rivers or the seas to overflow? Or if He wishes, let loose the rains He restrains in the spring and at harvest?”
“Look around you.” Shem moved his arm in an arc parallel to the horizon. “How will the Lord flood so great a plain? And what of the mountain ranges to the north and east? Can even He raise the seas to cover them?”
“And Who was it Who gave them their height? How can you have been my son all these years and still your faith is small? Indeed, they are thousands of cubits high. And if He pleases, will the Lord not be swift to level them, or, as He has promised, drown them?”
“I don’t mean any disrespect, but I just can’t accept it. I—”
Noah raised a hand to quiet his son, more out of caution than to keep from hearing his words. The sound of pack animals coming up the opposite side of the hill grasped his attention. He, Japheth, and Shem moved back to the east side of the scaffolding where two men—one old, one young—arrived mounted on donkeys.
“Greetings,” the older man said, dismounting. “I have a farm about four furlongs on the other side of this hill. My son and I have heard your hammers and saws for some time, but seeing these timbers rise really piqued our curiosity.”
“Welcome,” Noah said.
“What are you building?”
“An ark.”
“An ark. Isn’t that like a boat or something?”
“Exactly.”
While the younger man remained astride his animal, the older man moved to rest his hands on the scaffolding, looking down the length of the keel. “A boat, huh? Here on the plain?”
“Yes.”
“Big boat. What’s it for?”
“Are you a son of our father, Seth?”
“Yes, my family is descended from the line of Seth.”
Noah glanced at Japheth, then at Shem, who shook his head. Several plausible explanations raced through his mind, but he realized the truth would become evident soon enough. “The God of Seth is bringing floodwaters upon the earth. We build this ark to save our family and a remnant of the earth’s animals.”
The older man remained still for three parts, like he didn’t hear, then dropped his hands from the scaffolding and turned to Noah. “A flood, huh? Must be a deluge if you’re building a ship this size.” He smirked, as though wise to some prank being played upon him.
“It will cover the earth.”
The man’s focus moved in succession to Shem and Japheth, but the sternness in their faces only reflected the gravity of their father’s declaration. The man backed away from the ark, his own smile fading. “Thanks for letting us take a look.” The man swung onto his donkey.
“Friend, you should reconcile yourself to God and make preparations.”
“Yes, well, thanks again.” The man and his son started back down the hill, striking their donkeys’ backsides to quicken their pace.
“See, Father? Even our neighbors think we’re cra
zy,” Shem said. “This is a waste of time. And we’re all fools.” He stomped away toward the house.
“Have patience with Shem, Father,” Japheth said. “Five years away from Eden has been hard on him.”
“So it has on us all.” Noah understood full well his middle son’s discontentment. Their family had been forced from a life of comfort, wealth, and respect in Eden, to one of hardship and loneliness here in the wilderness. Shem missed his friends, Japheth his grandfather. And Shiphrah. Her selfless act of warning them had changed the course of her life, one he hoped she wouldn’t come to regret.
“But more so for my brother. Shem was always skeptical of things confronting him in the natural world, much less the supernatural.”
“And you?”
“I admit, there are days when I question what we’re doing out here. But then I have something Shem is struggling with right now:”
“What’s that?”
“Faith.”
“Faith in the Almighty?” Noah’s voice boomed.
“Faith in you.”
Noah lifted a brow.
“Faith that as our father you wouldn’t ask us to do this thing unless you truly believed it was from God. And for me, that’s good enough.”
He took hold of his son’s upper arm. “I’ll tell you a truth I never even told your mother. When I first heard His voice, I thought I was hearing things. Shem was right. The wind does strange things to the ears.”
“So what convinced you otherwise?”
He paused. “There was something else. Something in addition to the voice.”
“What was it?”
“When YAH called my name, I not only heard it, I felt it.” He touched his finger to the center of his chest. “In here.”
“You felt it?”
“It’s difficult to explain. But it was like the message was being written on my heart at the same time the Lord was speaking in my ear.”
Japheth’s eyes widened.
“Having heard it once, I remember every word as if I’d memorized it. Five years later, I still do.”
“Without having written it down. How is that possible?”
“Because it’s written here.” He touched his breast again. “Not here.” He touched his temple.
Japheth shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“Son, you may find this hard to believe, but I don’t either. In fact, there are many things in this world beyond human understanding. But if I’ve learned anything in this life, it’s that we have to take some things, obedience to God for one, on—”
“Faith.”
Noah smiled. “That’s right.”
They turned and walked down the hill together.
Chapter 14
Shem remained silent through the evening meal, but Noah knew his son well enough to know the discussion begun at the building site this afternoon wasn’t over. He decided to lance the boil. “So, Shem, you think us fools?”
Shem looked up from a crust of barley and spelt bread and gazed into his father’s eyes. “I do not wish to sound impudent, but yes, I do.”
“Since I asked you to speak your mind, how could I consider your answer impudent?”
“All right. Five years, Father—five years we’ve wasted here when we could have used the time to recruit an army.”
“An army? For what purpose?”
“To retake the city, of course.”
“You think it possible to retake Eden?”
“Japheth said it the night we left. Grandfather had many allies in the city, men willing to stand with us and fight to defend his government.”
“And what do you suppose has become of those men now?”
“Who knows? If they’re not in hiding, they’re probably scattered across the countryside.”
“If they’re fortunate. Those who couldn’t be won over by Malluch are most likely dead or imprisoned.”
Shem stood. “Father. These aren’t strangers we’re talking about. These are friends—some you’ve known for hundreds of years—being killed and imprisoned.”
“Have you forgotten the Lord’s commandment to your father?” Miryam said.
“No, Mother. I only wish he’d forget it.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Forgive me, Mother, but Father asked me to speak my mind. This is how I feel.”
Noah rose to place his hands on Shem’s shoulders, softening his expression before speaking. “I forgive you, because I understand your feelings for our countrymen. But there is a reality you must face: these friends, the city, everything you knew there, have all been condemned. When the time comes, they will be wiped from the earth along with everything else.”
Shem’s ears reddened. “How can you stand there and say that and not want to do something about it?”
“Do you think I don’t pray night and day for the Lord to relent from His sentence upon the earth?”
“For all the good it will do.” Shem broke free of his father’s grasp. He took three steps before wheeling back around. “I still say our time would be better spent recruiting an army. It makes a lot more sense than building an ark in the middle of nowhere.”
Ariel rose to stand next to her husband. “I agree.”
“Suppose we did put together an army and succeeded in recapturing the city,” Noah said. “Don’t you see? It would all be for naught when the floodwaters come.”
“If they come.” Shem grabbed a full wineskin from a peg on the wall and marched out of the house.
“Father, you realize our neighbor out there today was only the beginning?” Japheth said. “There will be others.”
“Most assuredly.”
“You don’t seem worried.”
“I have no delusion about keeping the ark a secret, only this family’s whereabouts from Malluch.”
“Don’t you think discovery of the one will lead to the other?”
To reduce the risk of detection following their confrontation with the two soldiers, Noah had begun sending the women into the village for supplies. On occasion, he or one of his sons would enter the village in disguise after dark to procure a special need. “Has it not been five years since we’ve seen soldiers?”
“We’ve been lucky.”
“Or divinely protected,” Miryam said through thin lips set beneath olive cheeks and bracketed by slowly graying hair.
Noah nodded.
“Father, five years it’s taken us to fashion the keel alone,” Japheth said. “Which at this rate means we have a long way to go.”
A five-year old Ham rose from his seat next to Shiphrah, and joined his father. “When do I get to help with the ark?”
Noah placed a hand on top of his head. “Soon, my son.” He turned back to Japheth. “So what’s your fear?”
“Simply that the more time passes, and as the footprint of the ark increases upon the land, so too does our risk of being discovered.”
“Granted, the scope of the task is likely to make it a local attraction. But that doesn’t mean word of the construction will reach Eden.”
Elisheva stared out the window, looking toward the building site. “But what if Malluch does find out?” Her voice quivered. “It’s not as if we can just up and take the ark with us.”
“He’ll think the same thing our neighbor thought today,” Noah said. “Some crazy family is building a boat in the middle of a plain. He’ll scoff. Malluch wouldn’t travel over a thousand furlongs unless he thought there was some profit in it.”
“Or he knew you were still alive,” Japheth said.
The paleness of Miryam’s face confirmed her feelings about that supposition.
Noah often regretted they hadn’t traveled farther from Eden before settling. But then what would it matter? Malluch would pursue them to the ends of the earth to keep his vow. “We’ll just have to remain cautious and continue to rely on the Lord’s providence.”
“We wouldn’t have to rely on providence if it weren’t for her.” Ariel motioned to
Shiphrah. “Shem is right. We’ve wasted five years here, and why? But for the word of a stranger from that wicked city.”
“Ariel!” Miryam put an arm around Shiphrah. “I know you’re upset, but that doesn’t give you cause to attack Shiphrah.”
“My being upset has nothing to do with it. I’m sorry, Mother, but the only reason we’re in this wasteland is because she showed up at our door one night with a story.”
“It wasn’t a story,” Shiphrah said.
“Wasn’t it? Father said she saved our lives, but can any of us truly be sure? What if there was no plot to murder us? Suppose Shem was right and she was sent to frighten us into leaving Eden.”
Shiphrah lifted her trembling chin. “What I told you that night was the truth.”
“I thought I had effectively dispelled Shem’s theory the night we left, but possibly it bears repeating,” Noah said. “Had she been part of a conspiracy to scare us into leaving Eden, she surely wouldn’t have begged to come with us. She could have simply delivered the fraudulent threat and departed.”
“Maybe she was sent to spy on us.”
“I’m sure if Shiphrah were a spy, she would have stolen away a long time ago and made our whereabouts known to Malluch.”
“All right then, answer me this.” Ariel’s voice rose. “How did those two soldiers find us after only six months?”
“They didn’t find us. We were careless in allowing ourselves to be seen openly in the village.”
“Yes, but why were they in that village to begin with?”
“Probably part of a larger contingent patrolling the area.”
“She could have got word to them.”
“And just how did she accomplish that, considering she’s been with us every moment of the last five years?”
“She could have slipped out when we were all sleeping, gone to the village, and sent a message leading them right to us.”
Through tearing eyes, even Shiphrah smirked at that one.
“I think you’re reaching for pomegranates,” Japheth said.
“What do you mean?”
“He means your enmity for Shiphrah is affecting your perception of reality,” Noah said.
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