by Brian Godawa
Methuselah thought back to what Ohyah had told them. He wondered what was happening in Elohim’s court of principalities and powers. Would the Watchers’ heavenly scheme delay Elohim’s response to the earthly crisis? The implications were staggering.
Chapter 41
The Throne of Yahweh Elohim gleamed in the holy temple in the heavens above the waters, unapproachable, a chariot enthroned above the Cherubim and beneath the Seraphim. The Seraphim were a different breed, created exclusively for God’s own guard. The Cherubim were sphinx-like, but these had four faces and four wings, and they sparkled like burnished bronze. Their faces were those of human, lion, ox, and eagle. Beside each one was an object that appeared to be a wheel within a wheel of gleaming beryl, that moved with the living creature as they moved.
The Seraphim above the throne were equally as glorious and awesome. Their humanoid yet serpentine bodies had six wings. With two they flew, two covered their feet, and two covered their faces. And all of them proclaimed the trisagion, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.”
The heavenly host presented themselves around this throne, the bene ha Elohim, or Sons of God, ten thousand times ten thousand of his holy ones, the divine council. Their presence flashed like lightning that would burn out the eyes of any human being in the flesh.
The satan was not impressed by any of this. A transformed seraph himself, his plaintiffs were all Sons of God as well. His opposition did not intimidate him at all. He and Semjaza, along with almost two hundred Watchers, presented themselves across from the array that dazzled less for lack of the company of Watchers. They considered the throne-circling adversaries to be a mob of sycophants, yes-men and sell-outs, puppets and tools.
The satan, Semjaza, and their fellow Watchers were just as divine, and maybe even more powerful than their enemies because at least they exercised free will — real free will — iron will. That will did have to bend to the sovereignty of the Judge, however, to the use of their original heavenly names of Semjaza, Baraqel, and Zaqiel instead of their Shinarian deity names of Anu, Enlil, and Nanna.
They assembled before the throne of heaven to prosecute a lawsuit with the help of the rebel Watchers who fell to earth. This would not be like any other lawsuit the satan had ever litigated. This was a covenant lawsuit against the very judge himself, Yahweh Elohim, the maker of heaven and earth, the Lord of Hosts, the Suzerain King of kings.
The ancient form of covenant treaties between sovereign or suzerain king and subservient vassal contains five basic parts that bound the two parties. First, there is a preamble that identifies the Lordship of the great king, his transcendent sovereignty and jurisdiction over territories. Second, the historical prologue that recounts the previous relationship of the king and his subject appears, along with an establishment of hierarchy and authority. The third section lays out the ethical stipulations or laws required by the king for the subject to maintain his status as protected vassal. The sanctions or listings of blessings for obedience and curses for violation of the covenant come fourth, providing for the continuity of the covenant relationship with succeeding generations. The fifth and last section calls for divine witness of the gods or the heavens and the earth.
When Yahweh Elohim had created Adam and Havah, he had enacted a covenant that essentially reflected this pattern of Preamble, Prologue, Laws, Sanctions, and Witnesses. Adam as primogeniture of the human race had violated that covenant and the world now experienced the negative consequences of that covenant violation.
The satan had filed a third party class action complaint on behalf of Adam and Havah and the entire human race, claiming that Yahweh Elohim’s covenant with the human race was in fact unjust at every single one of the five points. The satan’s “equitable remedy” involved among other things, an award of damages and a permanent injunction and restraining order against Elohim from the Garden and the presence of mankind.
To make matters worse, the satan intended to pull every trick of legal hairsplitting, explore every petty technicality, and appeal every tedious legal procedure that he possibly could, in order to drag this thing out as long as possible. He felt confident and prepared as he took his place as prosecutor in the court.
A battery of defenders stepped out, across from the satan and Semjaza’s Watchers. They took their places to counter the accusations of the lawsuit. They were the prince archangels: Mikael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel.
Then the voice of Yahweh Elohim cried out, “Whom shall I send? Who will speak for us?” The silence of the throne room penetrated all beings present. The arrival of the final member of the defense team broke the silence: Enoch ben Jared, prophet of God.
“Here I am, send me,” said Enoch. He approached the defense team and joined them. They smiled their approval.
At the sight of Enoch, Semjaza wanted to jump out of his seat and strangle the little meat sack. Enoch caught his eyes and rage rose up inside the Watcher. The satan saw it. He leaned over to Semjaza, whispering, “Do not be a fool. We have a higher cause here. Suppress your instinct. It is weakness.”
Semjaza sat back and took a deep breath.
Enoch saw Semjaza’s rage. He sat down in his defense position before the throne with a sense of righteous indignation. He remembered the saying Diya al Din had told him back at the Thamudi fortress, “Let justice roll down like waters.” It felt apropos to this scenario.
A cloud filled the inner court, and the sound of the wings of the Cherubim swept through as far as the outer court. The Seraphim spoke as one. Their voice thundered like the sound of many waters. “Elohim has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, he holds judgment.”
Everyone fell silent.
This lawsuit would be different from all others because of the legal procedure to be employed. Normally, plaintiff and defendant would stand in the bar before the Judge and make their arguments, calling forth testimony and producing evidence upon which the Judge would rule. But since the Judge himself was being charged by the satan, there would be no need of additional testimony or cross examination. The satan would make the complaint, and Enoch would speak in defense of Yahweh Elohim. After presentation of all oral arguments, the Judge would make a righteous summary judgment. Special circumstances dictated special procedures.
Yahweh Elohim pronounced, “Hear O heavens, give ear O earth, listen O mountains of God and the heavenly host. I call the sun, moon, and stars as witness today.”
The satan and Enoch stood beside each other before the throne.
Yahweh Elohim said, “Accuser, what are your motions?”
“Going to and fro on the earth,” answered the satan.
“What are your legal pre-trial motions?” said Yahweh Elohim, correcting the deliberate misconstrual of his words.
He was a wily one, this satan, looking for every opportunity to twist, spin, and undermine the system and procedures to his advantage.
The satan said, “I petition the court for a change of venue on the grounds that this heavenly court places the defense at great advantage and the prosecution at great disadvantage. I petition the court for jury nullification on the grounds that the myriad of heavenly host are incapable of impartial witness because of overriding prejudicial bias in favor of the defendant. I petition the judge to recuse himself on the grounds of conflict of interest as he is the defendant in his own trial and therefore cannot be impartial and unbiased. And I petition the judge for the removal of the defense attorney next to me on the grounds of his lack of legal qualifications for this case.”
This was going to be a long trial, thought Enoch.
Yahweh Elohim responded, “There is nowhere in the universe that can contain the heavenly host outside of this throne room. First motion dismissed. The Sons of God are divine council, they do not render verdicts. Second motion dismissed. I am the origin of impartiality and objectivity. I do not change and I do not violate my character, so all my judgments are true and just even in refer
ence to my own actions. Third motion dismissed. Enoch ben Jared has stood in the divine council and therefore has met the qualifications for prophet of God and lawful defense attorney. Fourth motion dismissed.”
“Well, in that case, your mighty eminence of unbiased objectivity and impartiality,” said the satan sarcastically, “I ask for seven days to finish discovery, since I was surprised by the unreasonable volume of documents that deluged my council. These tablets of unending toledoth are time consuming.” He was referring to the clay tablets that contained the genealogies of the heavens and the earth as well as those of Adam’s descendants.
The gall of this rascal amazed Enoch. He could turn everything into an accusation, even against Yahweh Elohim.
The satan continued, “And you really have to admit that this endless list of animal names is quite tedious and would fatigue any staff, much less my own of less than two hundred Watchers.”
After a deliberate delay, he added, “Your magnificent majesty most high.”
This list of names was a record of those that Adam gave the animals in the Garden as an expression of his covenantal dominion, the authority that the namer had over the named.
“You have two days,” said Yahweh Elohim.
Enoch knew the satan had no intent of reading the genealogies and names. But even in the face of this obvious stalling tactic, Yahweh Elohim went out of his way to be fair and impartial, even to his own disadvantage.
Chapter 42
The team of giants and giant killers fell asleep on the flight over the vast desert. At this height, the air was cold, but the feathers of the Anzu kept them warm. The giant birds flew smoothly.
Methuselah awoke to the sunrise directly in front of them. He saw they were already leaving the arid environment of the desert, flying over the fertile Mesopotamian plain.
But something was not right. They were heading into the sunrise. The sun should be to their right.
He recognized the river course below him. It was a part of the Euphrates just north of his own city of Sippar. They were headed southeast. They should have been traveling northeast toward the Aratta mountains and Eden. But they were going southeast toward Shinar and the Zagros.
He got the attention of Edna and the others. They all recognized their change of route. But their Anzu flyers would not catch up to the two giants in the lead. It was as if the birds had been ordered to stay back and not allow the contact. Methuselah could only assume that they were now captives of their rescuers. He could not imagine where they were being taken and for what purpose.
• • • • •
The Nephilim horde had run most of the day. They only set up camp for a three hour sleep. Before the sun rose again, they were already up and trampling the ground. Fortunately for Yahipan, Rephaim generals rode on the new four-wheeled chariots drawn by teams of horses. Otherwise, his doubly wounded legs would have dangerously hampered him. He needed more time for healing.
They made good time, following the Sirion Mountain range along the curve of the fertile crescent to avoid the deadly desert. The Euphrates lay a few leagues before them. They would head due east, cross the alluvial plain of northern Mesopotamia and enter the Aratta mountains just below their target point.
Inanna calculated that if they could keep this pace up, they might shave another day off their journey. So a few hundred would die of exhaustion or dehydration. What was that to her? Countless thousands would perish in the final battle anyway. Nephilim were expendable. She expected to lose most of them in the first wave of attacks establishing a breach in the Garden. Elohim’s forces would not be fighting for their lives, they would be fighting for their eternities. It would actually be quite a relief to lose tens of thousands of mouths to feed and lusts to satisfy. These hybrid offspring were a voracious consuming mass of flesh and bone. Like a plague of locusts, they stripped bare the life of every territory where they encamped or passed through.
She liked to call it “the circle of life,” the way of all things on terra firma: eat or be eaten, only the fittest survive. Morality and all its self-righteous proclamations of right and wrong were reducible to the will to power. Might made right. She would have to craft that into a myth one day. It would be a useful tool to obscure the Creator and justify all kinds of atrocities.
If a man could convince himself that morality was not a matter of humanity being created in Elohim’s image, but rather was a construct of society, in order to maintain arbitrary control over the masses, then there would be no end to the genocides and holocausts that could be unleashed when man would take that belief to its logical end. Even more devastation than that accomplished by the religions she and her fellow gods “revealed” to these pathetic mud-pies of Elohim.
That was an idea whose time would come. But now was not that time. Inanna grinned with self-satisfaction. I will indeed craft that myth for when ancient religion will have run its useful course.
• • • • •
By the end of the second day, the Anzu birds arrived in the Zagros Mountains, just northeast of Erech and the South Sea. As the giant birds descended, Methuselah saw a large ring of steep mountain buttes surrounding a plush forested valley. This secluded crater basin might have been a second Paradise. It looked just that rich, green and flowing with streams of waters. The ring of cliffs were like a wall of rock protecting a pristine lost world. It did not look like there was any way in or out, except by air. The Anzu landed inside the Edenic crater.
Methuselah, Edna, Lamech, and Betenos got off their mounts. What else could they do? Their carriers were obviously in the service of Ohyah and Hahyah. The Anzu birds took flight to the north. They had been double-crossed by the giants they had trusted, whom they had considered to be redeemable. Methuselah was not yet sure for what purpose they had been betrayed.
“Why did they not kill us?” asked Lamech. “Drop us from the skies to our deaths over the desert, never to be found again?”
Edna added, “And why in this lush, beautiful, secret valley?”
It certainly seemed safer than the rocky lands outside Eden, where war was approaching.
“Do not be deceived by appearances,” said Betenos, looking around at the trees of gorging fruit. “Poison can be as outwardly beautiful as medicine.”
“First, we must make some weapons,” said Methuselah. “Then, let us get to the walls and explore the perimeter. There may be some hidden exit through a cave or a climb.”
They only had three knives among them, taken from the bodies of guards they overcame on their escape out of Baalbek.
Chapter 43
“I have already addressed the partiality of the divine witnesses in this case,” said the satan. “So let me move on to my next charge.”
The trial had resumed. Yahweh Elohim had summoned the prosecution, and the satan came out with serpentine eyes and bronze body blazing. His skill as accuser was quickly proving to be of the highest marksmanship.
The satan continued, “Regarding the covenant preamble, we have this difficult matter of the sovereignty of the Creator. Really, is not the sovereignty of the suzerain the foundation of the entire edifice? If this cornerstone is rejected, do not all other bricks crumble to the ground?”
He brilliantly used leading questions. Enoch thought to himself how he would like to see the cornerstone fall on the accuser and crush him.
The satan’s voice rolled on. “Now Elohim’s covenant begins with a claim to sovereign jurisdiction: ‘In the beginning, when Elohim began to create the heavens and the earth, etcetera, etcetera.’ Is this not a clear case of tyranny and colonialism? Elohim claims to ‘create’ and ‘own’ all things as a tyrannical justification to colonize the land. He wants to demand a certain land goes to a certain people, in this case, the Garden to Adam and Eve, and no one else has the right to it. And then he kicks everyone out. What next? Will he claim a land that already has a people residing there as his own, and just wipe the indigenous inhabitants off the face of the earth to make room for ‘his peo
ple of choice?’ Will he ultimately claim the whole earth as his own and allow some clan of meek people to inherit it over those strong peoples who built up its richness? What kind of a suzerain does such a thing? I will tell you what kind: A despot and a tyrant.”
Zealous anger filled Enoch. Not only was the satan making outright blasphemous accusations at Yahweh Elohim as defendant, he was also cunningly undermining his authority as Judge by deliberately using the shorter non-covenant name Elohim in place of the judicially proper Yahweh Elohim. The satan earned his name with the ability to accuse on every level of his language.
Still, he was right about one thing: suzerains did claim their right to the land by claiming their gods as creators of it. The difference in this case was that Yahweh Elohim really did create all things and the gods were incomparable in his presence. They existed in his universe. But the satan was only beginning. He would build his case upon a mountain of bitterness built up over the millennia.
The satan carried on his argument. “But this covenant maker is not merely a tyrant, he is a totalitarian puppet master who is the author of evil. What kind of creator makes earthquakes that demolish entire cities and kills the populace under mountains of rubble? Or a hurricane that drowns shiploads of sailors and devastates port cities under tsunamis of water.”
It did not bother the satan that his comrade, the god Enki, had claimed the same powers to make the earth tremble and quake, or that Enlil claimed to be the source of hurricane storms and lightning and thunder. Consistency was not the satan’s strong suit, emotional appeal was.