“You emptied the cities and the whole countryside against us,” Zicri said, his voice hushed for only the leaders to hear.
Eliab’s back arched at the sight of his defenders. “I do not have that kind of influence in Bethlehem.”
“We know one that does,” she whispered.
Her pulse raced as Judah’s horsemen approached. Not a one was God’s messenger. Where was he? As the riders neared, she grasped Eliab’s robe as if she were dangling from a cliff. The sight of the dark, bearded man in a turban coiled her stomach. The last time she had seen Sereb, he had stormed from Onan and Abigail’s home. Amram would not ride to Gibeah. Had these men decided to fight against Benjamin? Surround their own elders with warriors? “What is Sereb doing here? And Amram?”
Before Eliab could answer, Hamul popped his head from behind Sereb’s flowing robe.
“They would not bring Hamul if they meant us harm,” Eliab said.
She thanked God for that half-crazed man.
Judah’s elders halted a short distance away.
Onan’s horse pranced forward. The commander stretched his leather-banded arms wide and shouted, “Glad to have you, brothers.” Onan’s cocked head and wide-eyed stare made it seem that he too did not expect Sereb’s arrival.
“Why does Judah concern itself in Ephraim’s matters?” Zicri called across the clearing. “Do we not have authority when it comes to our people?”
“It concerns all of our people,” Onan shouted. He addressed all the fighting men as if they were his own. “We took an oath in haste. We let the blood of our kin taint our thoughts. Vengeance ruled and not wisdom.”
“Who has bewitched you?” Zicri asked. “You desire mercy for the wicked?”
“Yahweh has spoken.” Onan’s retort resounded over the armies.
Hearing the Lord’s name reminded Naomi that they were not alone.
Onan rode closer until he was within striking distance of a sword.
Mutterings fell silent.
“My men and I waited in the hills to show ourselves. I sounded the shofar. My fellow elder, Eliab, came from the east with his men.” Onan indicated Isa and his divisions with a sweep of his arm. “My men and I were struck blind by a light so bright it could only come from our God. We could not see until the last ram’s horn wailed.”
Manasseh’s leaders chuckled. “The sun blinded you and we are to be convinced it was God?” the eldest asked. “Rain pelted us. Perhaps you were struck by lightning?”
“You scoff?” Onan’s tone rose with disbelief. “Am I not an elder and a seasoned warrior? Would a flash of light render me useless?”
Sereb trotted his horse so it was nose to nose with Zicri’s mount. Hamul slid down and stood, arms crossed, face scowling, as if these elders were children needing a scolding.
“I cannot speak to Onan’s ordeal,” Sereb began. “I, for one, did not want to fight for Benjamin. But since the Sabbath ended, I have had no rest. I have heard the constant crying of a woman.” Sereb cast a glance at her. “This daughter from Shiloh challenged me to come and fight for the descendants of Jacob’s youngest son. She told me how Rachel would weep for her children.”
Rachel’s grief. A strange hum rang in Naomi’s ears. Did she believe her own words?
Zicri balked. “You ride against us because of someone’s trickery?”
“Because of that girl.” Sereb pointed her direction.
Hiding behind Eliab tempted her, but instead, she peered over Eliab’s shoulder and skimmed over everyone’s stare.
“As sure as I sit here, I heard the cries of Jacob’s wife and Benjamin’s mother.” Sereb’s face showed no humor. “Rachel had but two sons: the tribe of which you stand to destroy, and Joseph, the forefather of your tribes. God used the constant cries to beckon me to gather an army and follow the other leaders of Judah. My ears fell silent at the last horn blast. Is it by chance my ears quieted when Onan’s sight was restored?”
Zicri began shaking his head before Sereb had finished speaking. “Nonsense. Are we to believe this girl is a prophetess? The tribe of Benjamin has broken God’s Law. Why would God come to their defense?”
“You left us no choice but to break God’s Law.” Eliab matched Zicri’s arrogant elder-speak. “We stole because we had no women. No children. No future.”
Bickering began among the elders. Hamul strode into the huddle of leaders and whistled loud and long.
“Eliab does not lie.” Hamul grasped Eliab’s arm and patted him on the lower back.
At this moment, she would take any affirmation of her husband from an elder of Judah.
Hamul paced around the tribunal. “We left a tribe of Israel with no hope of survival. To beget heirs, they would have to marry foreign women. Is that not breaking God’s command?” Hamul shrugged and threw up his hands as if in worship. “Whether from a godly vision, or from my own absurdity, I am not sure, but I told Berek about the feast in Shiloh. I have known Ephraimites and Judahites who have married dancers and married well.”
“And what of the fathers?” someone yelled. Naomi knew her father’s voice. “Did you not think of their grief?”
She fought the tears pressing to be released. She had to stay strong for Eliab. For herself.
“What grief is that?” Onan asked. “That you had one less woman to feed or that no coin or livestock changed hands?”
“How dare you insult us?” Zicri’s face reddened.
“Let us call on Berek, the leader of Benjamin. He can tell us of his intent.” Onan positioned a hand near his sword. “We can kill each other’s sons or we can listen to an elder’s reason.”
Hamul walked toward his decorated mount. “I will summon Berek.” He reclaimed his horse from her father while angry voices rose among the ranks.
“Lord, show Yourself. Stop these insults,” she prayed.
“Rise! Silence this discord. I will speak the truth through you.” The answer roared in her ear.
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The elders continued to quarrel. Each leader shook a fist or pounded his chest as he shouted over the others, spitting accusations. Naomi knelt on Eliab’s mount and then stood. Placing a hand on each of Eliab’s shoulders, she willed her knees not to buckle. Eliab turned his head and regarded her with a confident smile as if he had been waiting for her boldness.
“Berek’s testimony should be heard.” She did not shout, but she took the tone of a ruler.
A few elders scoffed at her interruption.
“My father-in-law’s reasoning will not change my intention. I have found a God-fearing Benjamite, who I have chosen to be my husband.”
Rumblings continued among the circle of men.
“If I am willing to forgive my captor and start a life in this barren land, then shouldn’t the elders who taught me to forgive allow their brothers to rebuild this tribe? Even with their own daughters?”
“Who is this woman to lecture us?” a leader of Manasseh retorted.
“She speaks not only by my authority,” Eliab said, “but she speaks on her own accord. Does she not know firsthand about the abduction?”
Sereb clapped his hands. His decorated Judahite armor glimmered in the sun. “If she can challenge me in my house, she can challenge all of us in this council.”
Naomi’s skin heated like a refiner’s furnace as all elders observed her with renewed interest. “I not only seek what is best for myself, but I seek what is best for my fellow sisters. Many women wish to remain and rebuild this tribe. Do we not teach that we are one people, with one purpose? Will God not be served if I bear a child to worship Him in a land that once perverted His teaching?”
A loud whinny caused the leaders to turn away before anyone answered her challenge to let the women stay. Troops stepped apart, forming a path so the large animal and its riders could pass. Berek rode in on Hamul’s mount, with Hamul settled on the rump of the horse. Curious whispers buzzed in the Benjamite leader’s wake.
Berek acknowledged Eliab. Her father-in-law met the gaze of every e
lder. “I do not believe I could have said it better.” His calm yet commanding praise silenced the council.
“You must say something about the raid on my feast.” Zicri seemed none too pleased with her defense of the abductions.
Berek surveyed the leaders as well as the soldiers standing nearby. “I know what it is to lose a daughter. I lost two in the slaughter at Gibeah.” His voice faltered. “I also lost my wife and a son. I have seen my tribe cut down to six hundred men. What hope for a future did we have with no wives and no children?”
Hamul stretched his neck to be seen over Berek’s shoulder. “I meant no harm in sharing my thoughts on the festival. I gave comfort to Berek and myself.”
“With our daughters,” Zicri reminded the crowd.
Naomi bristled at her elder’s reprimand. “Those daughters are now wives and some are already with child.” The pressure in her chest threatened to burst her bones. “You did not break an oath, and I have formed a bond here in Benjamin. Do not force me to break it. For I will not.”
Her father elbowed his way into the circle of elders. “So you fled to Judah to force us to leave?”
Eliab placed a hand over hers. She longed for the turmoil to end. She longed to be his wife in every way. She longed for it sooner, rather than later.
“No, Father. I went to Bethlehem to keep my family from bloodshed. To save your lives.” She pressed her lips together, but they quivered all the more.
Berek twisted to face Zicri. “I sent my sons into your vineyards so my tribe would survive. And what of you, Ephraim?” He beheld Sereb. “And you, Judah?” He turned and faced the leaders of Manasseh. “And what of you, descendants of Joseph? Would you not do the same?”
Contemplative quiet fell upon the council. Elders talked, but in hushed tones.
She settled behind Eliab, encircling his waist with her arms. She did not need to steady her body, but his warmth helped to calm her nerves. Have I said enough, Lord? Berek was here to speak for his tribe.
Zicri’s mount angled forward. “Ephraim will not condemn our brothers if it means a war with Judah.”
“Neither will Manasseh fight.” A burly elder spoke for the group. He turned toward them. “Are we not all Rachel’s children? I do not sense a lawlessness in our brothers.”
Thank You, Lord.
Berek cleared his throat as tears streamed down his cheeks. “If there are women who wish to return, I will not stop them. I have not heard of such. Perhaps, when a man knows he has been blessed with a special gift, he loves with a heart of gratitude.”
“Yes, yes.” Hamul bobbed up and down. “That is why God spoke through me.”
“Father,” Onan said quickly. “You are not God’s mouthpiece.”
“I know He speaks through others.” Hamul gave her a knowing wink.
Had he seen the messenger on the cliff?
Hamul motioned toward some men amassed behind Sereb. A few faces resembled the fang-toothed masks Hamul had distributed. Golems? Or coincidence?
“Toda raba,” she mouthed to her small, scheming elder.
“The Lord has brought us to peace this day.” Berek’s voice rose over the crowd. “Let us sup together as one people. May you find hospitality in Gibeah once again.”
“Hear, O Israel,” Eliab began. “The Lord is our God. The Lord alone.”
Her spirit rejoiced as everyone joined in. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”
Her father came and stood a few feet from Eliab’s mount. His expression remained stoic. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He recited the phrase as if trying to convince himself to believe it, and then he drew closer. “Let it not be said the house of Heriah seeks vengeance.”
She slid from her horse and went to her father. She did not hug him as a young daughter would do, but with every ounce of strength she possessed, she held back and wrung her hands, willing herself to address him as a married woman. “I am a proud daughter. You raised me in wisdom and truth.” She could not stop a tear from cascading down her cheek. “I worry for Nadab. His heart is still hard.”
Her father’s brow furrowed, reminding her of all the rows her family dug together in the fields. “It will soften in time.”
She tried to smile, but her lips would not curve upward, and her tears would not stay hidden. Salty drops seeped into the gaps made by her mouth. “I believe hearts will soften. Someday.”
Eyes closed, Heriah bestowed upon her a half-nod.
Eliab came and faced her father. “There is not enough gold in Benjamin to pay you for what your daughter is worth to me. It would have been my honor to arrange a betrothal with you.” Bending at the waist, Eliab showed his respect. “When my land and my flocks are fruitful, I will remember you.”
“Elder.” Her father cleared his throat. “Your wife is a skilled weaver.”
A wellspring burst forth in her soul at her father’s praise.
“She will have a loom again, for the one I provided was lost in a fire.”
Naomi grasped her father’s hand. It was dry and calloused just as it had always been. “I will make you a robe of scarlet and indigo so everyone will take notice. Mother’s will be of many colors.”
“I cannot return to Gibeah.” Her father’s reply came out faint, but with a finality. “And you will have a family to tend to here.”
She struggled to breathe. An enormous ache overtook her chest as if it had been cinched with rope.
“But if you send a robe, I will wear it for all of Shiloh to see.” Her father’s gaze met hers.
For a moment she was his little girl, but only for that moment, for her heart told her otherwise. “Then I will send it.” Another rebel tear slid down her face.
With an acknowledgement of Eliab, Heriah turned and withdrew among his tribesmen.
She strained to watch her father’s retreat. She had seen this man almost every day of her life, and now she did not know if or when she would see him again. The dam of tears, waiting to be released, pulsed behind her eyes and behind her temples.
Eliab drew her into his chest and swept the wetness from her cheeks. “Come, after I am done here, let us go toward East Gibeah and see our home and what I need to rebuild.”
“Our home.” Holding his hands against her face, she said, “Let us see what we need to rebuild. Together.”
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“We should be heading south, not east,” Naomi said as she and Eliab rode toward what remained of their home. This time, she sat in front of Eliab, facing forward, his arms strong and tight around her waist. The night of the raid, she had despised the man she now called her husband. This day, she desired to show him her love.
Eliab rested his chin on her head. “I saw Isa heading to the Camel Road. He will not leave Jael alone.”
“And Cuzbi?”
“From what I have seen of my sister-in-law, she has most definitely stormed the city and complained to Ashbanel about her hardship.”
Naomi grinned. “How perceptive of you, my husband.”
Pulling their mount to a halt a short distance from the house of Berek, Eliab jumped from his horse. He helped her dismount and then traipsed toward the main building.
“The roof is gone and the rock is charred. I have rebuilt worse rubble.”
Even in the solitude, a pounding rhythm echoed through her skull. She hated the aftermath of war. She and Eliab had both seen death, but he was the only one to have seen destruction. Now it was her turn to view the shattered pottery and the possessions reduced to ash.
“Wherever you lay your head is my dwelling,” she said.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We shall lie together soon.”
The clop, clop, clop of hooves interrupted their embrace.
Her head snapped up.
The messenger approached on a horse as white as a polished pearl.
Naomi dropped to her knees. She urged Eliab to do the same. “He is from the heavens,” she whispered.
She bowed her head. “Lord, You answered my prayers and spared my family.”
“I am not the Lord, but one who does His bidding. Did you not do what I asked of you? You spoke your truth to the elders?”
She nodded, her throat as dry as desert dust. “Thanks be to God.”
The messenger dismounted and strode toward the two-story structure where she and Eliab slept. His armor glistened like chiseled gems. She blinked at the glittering display.
“Eliab ben Berek, your home is in need of repair. Is there not a shepherd’s pit nearby?”
“Not far,” Eliab said.
“And this is your wife?” The messenger fixed his gaze upon Eliab.
“We have had a betrothal period. Yes.” Eliab’s voice faltered.
“In Bethlehem, you both declared yourselves for each other in front of witnesses. Now, take your wife into the cave. Shield yourselves and wait for my call.”
Eliab grabbed her hand. For once, he shook and she did not.
They raced toward the sunken pit, the thud of their sandals filling the air.
As they entered the shadowy darkness of the cave, Eliab asked, “How are you known to him?”
Struggling to catch her breath, she placed a hand to her parched throat. “I saw him upon the cliff before you rode out to meet Onan. I thought he was a scout.” How did she describe his beauty?
“Until?”
“He stepped into a cave like this one and became like the sunrise. Bright. Beautiful. A sight to behold.”
“You did not speak of it?” Eliab seemed surprised and yet a rumble of disappointment kept his voice even.
She sighed and took his hands. “Would you have believed me? Or would you have thought I was Hamul’s daughter with a silly story?”
Somehow he managed to escape her hold. He pulled her close. “Yes.” His mouth brushed the side of her face. “And yes.” His breath bathed her lips.
The ground beneath her feet began to quake as if cattle stampeded nearby. She grabbed onto Eliab as the earth rocked like waves on the open sea. She dropped to her knees. Pebbles cascaded from crevices in the rock above. Eliab covered her with his body.
Building Benjamin Page 17