by Brian Godawa
Before they could go any further, two men jumped out from the rocks to block their way. They were naked from head to feet and unshaven, with long, ratted hair that made them look like animals. They both had shackles on their hands and wrists, one chained, the other broken clean.
Simon stepped near Jesus. He could smell their rank odor even from eight feet away. Then he saw why. They had smeared their bodies with excrement. Simon gagged.
The two men stood side by side, chests heaving like wolves ready to attack. Some of the disciples stepped back in fright, making sure they were behind the Rabbi.
Simon looked over at Jesus. The Rabbi was not afraid. But he was surprised and serious as he stared at the two men.
One of them cackled like a hyena. The other bellowed with the sound of a hundred voices laughing.
It chilled Simon to the bones. He now knew they were facing demoniacs. But he had never seen such a frightening presence in the possessed persons that Jesus had previously cast out in the villages. These two seemed different. It was as if something serious had changed in the air, in this spiritual war of the heavenlies. A small whirlwind encircled the two hairy demoniacs. Brush and leaves flew about, dust billowed up from the ground to create a small cloud. The eyes of the wild men had no whites. They were completely black, like the Abyss, and their stare burned into Simon’s soul. He could tell the other disciples felt the same way.
The cackling devilish fiend held up his hands. Simon noticed they were still shackled. He snapped the thick chain as if it was nothing. These creatures were mighty. Simon doubted that the entire group of disciples could withstand their fury.
The monster gurgled out, “I adjure you by the Living God, do not torment us!” It was a common phrase of magical incantation, used by exorcists for the binding of spirits. It was followed by gibberish words that Simon recognized from the Greek magical papyrus texts he had read in his past study of magic. These two creatures knew that Jesus meant to bind them, and they were trying to reverse that curse back upon the Rabbi.
It had no effect.
Jesus said to them, “You will leave these men.”
Suddenly, both of them screamed with the sound of a thousand furies, “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” They ran full speed at Jesus. Simon and the others stepped back in fear of the impact.
A moment before they hit Jesus, they stopped, as if they had collided with an invisible wall. They screeched again. The sound pierced Simon’s ears. Everyone clapped their hands over their ears, except Jesus.
Jesus stood still and firm, staring right back into the dark pools of eyes.
The demoniacs looked frightened. As if they had seen a ghost. They spoke in unison, “What have you to do with us, Son of El Elyon?” El Elyon meant “the Most High God.” It was the name that Ba’al had stolen for himself as the leader of the pantheon at Hermon.
“What is your name?” demanded Jesus.
Both of them jerked and twitched as if the spirits were losing control of their bodies.
They answered, “Legion.”
Legion? thought Simon. A legion was around six thousand armed forces. Could this be true? Could there be that many? Could they be lying spirits?
Evidently, Jesus knew they were not. He raised his hands and the two demoniacs froze like puppets in the hands of a puppetmaster.
One of them screeched like a child, “Please, we beg of you, do not cast us into the Abyss!” The other finished his sentence, pointing at the herd of pigs that passed them by during their altercation. “Send us into that herd of swine. Please!”
Jesus kept his eyes on the two of them and prayed.
The two fell to the ground and flopped around like fish out of water trying to survive. What the disciples saw next took several minutes but seemed like an eternity, as each of the multitude of demons exited the two men’s bodies like a small increasing whirlwind of souls.
Finally, after the last of the demons had left their hosts, the whirlwind moved over to the herd of swine and engulfed the animals like a rushing wind. The pigs squealed with their possession and reacted by stampeding their way to the edge of the cliff. The herdsmen ran after their animals, only to see them launch off the cliff to their deaths in the waters below.
The herdsmen glared angrily at Jesus, and ran back down toward the city.
Peter said with amusement, “You just ruined their illegal business, Rabbi. I guess that puts them in a real bind.”
Simon added with disgust, “Jews selling swine. They should be flogged.”
Jesus gestured to the two men, now laying on the ground awakening from their unconsciousness. “Get them some clothes and water.” Some of the disciples did so as Jesus sat down on a rock.
He looked troubled. Simon asked him, “What is wrong, Rabbi?”
Jesus stared out into the void. “The Gates of Hades have been opened. The Nephilim have returned.”
A wave of understanding washed over Simon. Of course, he thought. My obsession with separation and uncleanness blinded me to the spiritual truth.
Peter asked, “What does that mean, Rabbi?”
Jesus remained silent and distant.
Simon tried to help out by explaining it to Peter and the others who listened. “The healings, the exorcisms. They are not mere tricks of magic power intended to invoke awe, like a circus spectacle. The lepers, the blind and the lame—and sinners—are all those who are not allowed in the Temple because of their uncleanness. They are cut off from the privilege of Yahweh’s holy presence by Torah. By casting out the uncleanness, Jesus is purifying the land and the people of Israel. He is preparing us for our inheritance.”
The disciples remembered when Jesus had read the prophet Isaiah in synagogue and proclaimed its fulfillment. But now it was beginning to make more sense to them.
The Spirit of Adonai Yahweh is upon me,
because Yahweh has anointed me Messiah
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor.
“And what of the Nephilim?” asked Peter. “We have seen no giants since the days of King David.”
Simon explained, “Demons are the spirits of the Nephilim. You will remember the readings in synagogue from the Scriptures that in the days of Noah, the fallen Sons of God mated with the daughters of men. Their unholy offspring were the Nephilim, giant hybrid bastards of angel and human essence. This unholy mixing of heaven and earth, was a violation of the separation of creation. But it was also the attempt to corrupt the human bloodline of the promised Messiah who would crush the head of the Serpent.”
Peter interjected, “The Nephilim were killed in the Flood.”
Simon nodded. “Yes, but their seed rose again to occupy the land of Canaan that was promised as Israel’s inheritance by Yahweh. Joshua used the holy wars of Yahweh to cleanse the land from the evil filth of the Nephilim, whose descendants were the mighty Anakim and Rephaim. It was not until King David that they were fully subdued and wiped out.”
Peter asked Jesus directly, “Well, then what do you mean that the Nephilim are back, Rabbi?”
Jesus sighed. “The god of this world, and his principalities and powers know that I am here. So they have awakened the spirits of the Nephilim to occupy the Land. The holy wars of Yahweh are renewed in the heavenlies.”
Simon added for clarification, “Rabbi is cleansing the land for inheritance by Messiah.”
“In the synagogue,” said Jesus, “I did not quote the entire passage from Isaiah. I left out the last line.”
“What was the line, Rabbi?” asked Peter.
Jesus said somberly, “To proclaim the day of vengeance of our God.”
A silence swept over the men.
Simon felt sure that this was Jesus telling them to prepare for all-out war. So the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkne
ss was here after all. Sometime soon, the weapons of their warfare would be revealed.
Still, Simon felt something was missing. They may have had crowds of interested listeners and gawking grateful healed. But that didn’t constitute an army or even a regiment of reserve soldiers. Where would the gibborim come from, the mighty warriors?
All the disciples started talking at once. Suddenly, they were interrupted by a group of villagers from Gergesa arriving, led by the herdsmen.
“There he is!” one of the herdsmen shouted.
The crowd of fifty or so angry villagers arrived. A group of five Pharisees stepped out and pushed the herdsmen aside.
The lead Pharisee was an ugly, swine-looking corpulent man. Simon chuckled to himself, thinking that those pigs had more effect on the villagers than he had first realized.
The pig-faced one looked at the two men who had previously been possessed. Those men now sat at Jesus’s feet, clothed and in their right minds. But the Pharisee was as angry as the crowd with him. He spat out, “Those two men were possessed by the power of Ba’alzebul, the prince of demons. No one but Ba’alzebul would have such power to cast them out!”
Simon smiled. These conniving, little Torah-breakers. They were coming up with ridiculous arguments to hide the fact that Jesus just ruined the taxable income of an illegitimate swine business in the town.
Jesus responded, “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. If the Accuser casts out the Accuser, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?”
The Pharisees were dumbfounded. They had no answer. It made too much sense.
Jesus added, “But if it is by the finger of Yahweh that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Nice touch, thought Simon. “Finger of Yahweh” was a reference to the power that Moses used to bring the plagues, in contrast to the pathetic secret arts of the magicians of Pharaoh’s court.
Jesus continued to confound them. “How can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?”
The Pharisees remained flustered. The crowd from town became more agitated.
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, I am binding the strong man, and I am plundering his house. But I warn you. When an unclean spirit goes out from a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
Simon was amazed. Jesus was making the demon-possessed clean, and declaring the clean to be demon possessed. Could it be that judgment was not reserved exclusively for the Gentiles but for all those Jews who rejected him as well? It was not the house of Belial that was divided. In fact, it was the house of Israel that was divided, with all their factions squabbling over who was the true Jew, while missing the Messiah right under their noses. Was Jesus predicting that the house of Israel was going to fall?
The crowd burst out shouting for Jesus and his disciples to leave their town.
Jesus let his disciples walk ahead of him. He turned back for a last look at the graveyard of tombs. He saw the shadow of Belial watching him from amongst the dead. But there was something different about him. His gangly body was partly twisted in distortion, and he had what appeared to be organic roots growing upon his face so as to muffle his voice. His binding had begun, and with each victory of Jesus over the principalities and powers, with each exorcism, he knew that binding would expand to hold back the Prince of the Power of the Air.
“Rabbi?”
Jesus was brought out of his thoughts by Peter and Simon.
Peter said, “Are you coming?”
Simon looked to where Jesus had been staring. He saw nothing, but he imagined what he could not see.
Jesus said, “I saw the Accuser fall like lightning from heaven. And he was bound so that he might deceive the nations no more. That the Gospel would go forth and draw all nations to Mount Zion.”
Peter shook his head. Sometimes, Jesus sounded profound to the disciple, and sometimes he just sounded crazy.
Chapter 8
Marcus Lucius Longinus arrived at the prison in Scythopolis. His rank of centurion garnered him the attention of the entrance guard. He left his own guard of twenty outside the doors as he was introduced to the head of the prison, an optio, one rank below his own. The optio must have been intimidated by Longinus’ presence because his hands trembled and his voice quivered.
“I have been commissioned by Pontius Pilate,” Longinus told the nervous optio, “to ascertain the facts of the case and apprehend the seditious rebels who escaped. I expect a full accounting of what happened.”
“Yes, sir,” said the optio.
Longinus was tired of all this. He was forty years old, and felt like the last of a dying breed of quality officers in an army of sloppy, unprofessional morons. It was a wonder the Roman legions held the nations in their power. It was a wonder they maintained the order they did, with all the lazy irresponsible lawlessness he saw around him. It didn’t help that these Jews were such a rebellious lot of ingrates. Longinus knew of several bands of fanatical Hebrew outlaws that just increased the chaos and mess. Unfortunately, because of Longinus’ dedication to the law and to excellence, the prefect governor of the region, Pilate, called on him to clean up his messes, such as the one before him this moment.
The optio pointed out the front entrance. “Well, first off, they stormed the entrance with about a hundred armed outlaws.”
“One hundred?” repeated Longinus. It didn’t seem very feasible, considering how few dead soldiers there were: six, and two of the outlaws.
“Yes, sir. They tricked us by impersonating a centurion with a false Zealot prisoner.” He reached down and held up the centurion costume. “We found these in the latrine below.”
“Show me where,” said Longinus.
The optio led him down the stairs and into the long hallway leading to the holding cell, where two guards stood sentry.
They stopped at the latrine.
The optio explained, “The centurion freed the prisoner and the three of them exited through the latrine toilets into the sewage system below.”
“Did anyone follow them?”
“No, sir.”
“Why not?”
“Well, sir. In all the confusion, and the fighting above…,” the optio hesitated with shame.
“What, soldier? Speak up.”
“Well, sir, we lost track of them. They killed the two holding cell guards and their replacements. And by the time we made our way down here from the fighting above, well, they were long gone.”
Incompetents, thought Longinus. “Where is the holding cell?”
“This way.”
The optio led him to the cell at the end of the hallway.
Longinus asked, “Tell me, soldier, by the time your sharpened sense of logic figured out how you had been duped, did the idea ever cross your little mind to record a description of the imposters? Or was that just too much to ask, what with all the fighting going on above.”
The optio looked shamefully at the floor. “I did, sir. I will retrieve the drawing for you from the officer’s quarters. We believe one of them was the prisoner’s brother, a bestiarius from the arena.”
“What a pleasant surprise, optio. You did one thing right. Open the door.”
The guards opened the cell door. Inside were two prisoners in chains.
The optio said, “These were the two hoodwinked soldiers at the entrance.”
Longinus said, “Take them out and flog them in the yard.”
The two guards were tied to whipping posts in the center of the citadel yard. They were stripped completely naked in humiliation. Flogging was the prescribed punishment for dereliction of
duty. These two guards allowed an imposter to get through to the cells and kidnap their prisoner. Death by bastinado was the normal procedure for such failure, but because one of the outlaws had impersonated a centurion, the soldiers were not culpable for the breach with their lives.
Longinus was more infuriated with the intruders. Impersonating a Roman officer was a high offense punishable by crucifixion. Of course, that was only the conclusion of the series of tortures the law had in store for those miscreants. Longinus was a man of law. As much as he hated criminals, he did not relish their suffering under punishment. What he cherished was justice. What he treasured was the harmony of balance restored by law and order. The punishment should fit the crime.
Two soldiers unfurled their whips. They began their application of thirty-six lashes each upon the disgraced guards. The scourge, which the Romans called the flagrum, was a long-handled whip that branched out into multiple leather thongs a total of five feet in length. At the end of each thong was a knot with an embedded piece of iron or glass. The sharp material would rip the flesh from the victim in streaks of bloody gore down their backs. The soldiers tried to remain silent to maintain their dignity as warriors, but the scourge ripped their cries out of them. The good news was that the six thongs counted for six lashes with each hit. Thus, they only required six actual hits by the enforcers.
Good news.
Pain was cathartic. Law was pure and impartial. Even those responsible for peacekeeping required chastisement when they failed in their duty. A lawless world was the quintessence of evil to Longinus. Unruly barbarians and savages killing and eating each other like the animals. But Caesar created order out of chaos. He brought stern but just rule into a primitive cosmos. Longinus could understand the barbarians on the eastern frontier. They were like undomesticated beasts in the wild. But these Jews and their restlessness under Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, were simply without sense or reason. They had all the benefits of civilization and progress, yet their religion seemed so intolerant and easily offended by the rule of Roman law that provided that protection and abundance.