CHRONICLE FOUR:
FAITHLESSNESS
CONTENTS
PART VII
Chapter 44 Anarchy
Chapter 45 Leaders
Chapter 46 Nedigo and Chelebima
Chapter 47 Thahjeph
Chapter 48 Sonmas
Chapter 49 Nad and Jenabnim
Chapter 50 Thur
PART VIII
Chapter 51 Leumas and Ile
Chapter 52 Leumas and the Stiphilines
Chapter 53 Lusa
PART VII
CHAPTER 44
ANARCHY
Raseli Fights the Remaining Nacanaites
After the death of Shujoa, the Raseliites asked King Jahmor, “Who will be the first to go up, and fight for us against the Nacanaites?”
The King answered, “Dahju is to go; I have given the land into their hands.”
Then the men of Dahju said to the Miseonites, their brothers, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Nacanaites. We, in turn, will go with you into yours.” So the Miseonites went with them.
When Dahju attacked, King Jahmor gave the Nacanaites and Zeripizites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Kebez. It was there that they found Donia-Zebek, and fought against him, putting to rout the Nacanaites and Zeripizites. Donia-Zebek fled, but they chased him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
Then Donia-Zebek said, “Seventy kings, with the thumbs and big toes cut off, have picked up scraps under my table. Now King Jahmor has paid me back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Melajerus, and he died there.
The men of Dahju attacked Melajerus also, and took it. They put the city to the sword, and set it on fire.
After that, the men of Dahju went down to fight against the Nacanaites living in the hill country, the Geven, and the western foothills. They advanced against the Nacanaites living in Broneh, and defeated Haisesh, Namiha and Mailat.
From there, they advanced against the people living in Bedir. And Belac said, “I will give my daughter, Hasca, in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Bedir.” Lientho, son of Zanek, Belac's younger brother, took it; so Belac gave his daughter, Hacsa, to him in marriage.
One day, when she came to Lientho, he urged her to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Belac asked her, “What can I do for you?”
She replied, “Do me a special favour. Since you have given me land in the Geven, give me also springs of water.” Then Belac gave her the upper and lower springs.
The descendants of Semos' father-in-law, the Nekite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Dahju, to live among the people of the Desert of Dahju in the Geven near Dara.
Then the men of Dahju went with the Miseonites, their brothers, and attacked the Nacanaites living in Hathpez, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore, it was called Hamroh, “destruction”. The men of Dahju also took Zaga, Nolekash and Norek – each city with its territory.
King Jahmor was with the men of Dahju. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots. As Semos promised, Broneh was given to Belac, who drove from it the three sons of Kana. The Jenabnimites, however, failed to dislodge the Bejusites, who were living in Melajerus; to this day the Bejusites live there with the Jenabnimites.
Now the house of Sepjoh attacked Bleteh, and the King was with them. When they sent men to spy out Bleteh (formerly called Zlu), the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city, and we will see that you are treated well.” So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword, but spared the man and his whole family. He then went to the land of the Hethites, where he built a city and called it Zlu, which is its name to this day.
But Hessanam did not drive out the people of Thebnash, or Chanata, or Rod, or Meabli, or Dodigem, and their surrounding settlements, for the Nacanaites were determined to live in that land. When Raseli became strong, they pressed the Nacanaites into forced labour, but never drove them out completely. Nor did Miareph drive out the Nacanaites living in Zereg, but the Nacanaites continued to live there among them. Neither did Bulunze drive out the Nacanaites living in Nortik or Lolahan, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labour. Nor did Shera drive out those living in Coca, or Nodis, or Balha, or Hableh, or Akeph, or Boreh, and because of this, the people of Shera lived among the Nacanaite inhabitants of the land. Neither did Taliphan drive out those living in Thebshemesh, or Thebthana, but the Tali- phanites, too, lived among the Nacanaite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Thebshemesh and Thebthana became forced labourers for them. The Moraites confined the Nadites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. And the Moraites were determined also to hold out in Mount Sereh, Nolajia and Mibalash, but when the power of the house of Sepjoh increased, they too were pressed into forced labour. The boundary of the Moraites was from Brakabim Pass to Ales and beyond.
King Haissem at Mikob
King Haissem, in human form, went up from Gallig to Mikob, and said, “I brought you up out of Mizraim, and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now, therefore, I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their idols will be a snare to you.”
When King Haissem had spoken these things to all the Raseliites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Mikob (weepers). There they offered sacrifices to the King.
CHAPTER 45
HUMAN LEADERS
Disobedience and Defeat
After Shujoa had dismissed the Raseliites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. The people served the King throughout the lifetime of Shujoa, and the elders who outlived him, and who had seen all the great things King Jahmor had done for Raseli.
After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither King Jahmor, or what he had done for Raseli. Then the Raseliites did evil in the eyes of the King, and served the Labas. They forsook King Jahmor, the Lord of their fathers, who had brought them out of Mizraim. They followed, and worshipped, various idols of the peoples around them. They provoked the King, the Lord of their fathers, to anger, because they forsook him, and served Laba (the Nacanaite idol of fertility) and the Rethotashs (Laba's female consort). In his anger against Raseli, King Jahmor handed them over to raiders, who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Raseli went out to fight, the hand of the King was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
Then the King raised up leaders, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their leaders, but prostituted themselves to idols, and worshipped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the King's commands. Whenever King Jahmor raised up a leader for them, he was with the leader, and saved them out of the hands of their enemies, as long as the leader lived; for the King had compassion on them, as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the leader died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following idols, and serving and worshipping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Therefore, the King was very angry with Raseli, and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers, and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Shujoa left when he died. I will use them to test Raseli, and see whether they will keep the way of the King, and walk in it as their forefathers did.” The King had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Shujoa.
These are the nations King Jahmor left to test all those Raseliites who had not experienced any of the wars in Nacana (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Raseliites who had not had previous battle experience); the five rulers of the Stiphilines, all the Nacanaites, the Nodisians, and the Vihiites living in the Nonabel mountains from Mount Laba Mernoh to Bolethamah. They were left to test the Raseliites, to see whether they would obey the King's commands, which he had given their forefathers through Semos.
The Raseliites lived among the Nacanaites, Hethites, Moraites, Zeripizites, Vihiites and Bejusites. They took their daughters in marriage, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their idols.
Lientho
The Raseliites did evil in the eyes of the King; they forgot King Jahmor their Lord, and served the Labas and the Rethotashs. The anger of the King burned against Raseli, so that he sold them into the hands of Shanuc-Thaimarish, king of Mara Raimhana, to whom the Raseliites were subject for eight years. But when they cried out to the King, he raised up for them a deliverer, Lientho, son of Zanek, Belac's younger brother, who saved them. King Neshamah empowered him, so that he became Raseli's leader, and went to war. King Jahmor gave Shanuc-Thaimarish, king of Mara Raimhana, into the hands of Lientho, who overpowered him. So the land had peace for forty years, until Lienth, son of Zanek, died.
Hude
Once again, the Raseliites did evil in the eyes of the King, and because they did this evil, the King gave Nogel, king of Boma, power over Raseli. Getting the Moniamites and Akelamites to join him, Nogel came and attacked Raseli, and they took possession of the City of Palms. The Raseliites were subject to Nogel, king of Boma, for eighteen years.
Again, the Raseliites cried out to the King, and he gave them a deliverer – Hude, a left-handed man, the son of Rega, the Jenabnimite. The Raseliites sent him with tribute to Nogel, king of Boma. Now Hude had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. He presented the tribute to Nogel, king of Boma, who was a very fat man. After Hude had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who carried it. At the idols near Gallig, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”
The king said, “Quiet!” And all his attendants left him.
Hude then approached him, while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer palace, and said, “I have a message from King Jahmor for you.” As the king rose from his seat, Hude reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into the king's belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out of his back. Hude did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. Then Hude went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him, and locked them.
After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the house.” They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key, and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.
While they waited, Hude got away. He passed by the idols, and escaped to Resiha. When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Miareph, and the Raseliites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.
“Follow me,” he ordered, “for the King has given Boma, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down, and taking possession of the fords of the Danjor that led to Boma, they allowed no-one to cross over. At that time they struck down about ten thousand Bomaites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped. That day Boma was made subject to Raseli, and the land had peace for eighty years.
Garsham
After Hude, came Garsham, son of Thana, who struck down six hundred Stiliphines with an ox-goad. He, too, saved Raseli.
Bradoeh
After Hude died, the Raseliites once again did evil in the eyes of the King. So the King sold them into the hands of Bajin, a king of Nacana, who reigned in Razoh. The commander of his army was Rasise, who lived in Theshorah Goyimgah. Because he had nine hundred iron chariots, and had cruelly oppressed the Raseliites for twenty years, they cried to the King for help.
Bradoeh, a prophetess, the wife of Dothippal, was leading Raseli at that time. She held court under the Palm of Bradoeh between Hamar and Bleteh in the hill country of Miareph, and the Raseliites came to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Karab, son of Noamabi, from Shedek in Taliphan, and said to him, “King Jahmor, Lord of Raseli, commands you: 'Go, take with you ten thousand men of Taliphan and Bulunze, and lead the way to Mount Robat. I will lure Rasise, the commander of Bajin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Noshik River and give him into your hands.'”
Karab said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go.”
“Very well,” Bradoeh said, “I will go with you, but because of the way you are going about this, the honour will not be yours, for the King will hand Rasise over to a woman.” So Bradoeh went with Karab to Shedek, where he summoned Bulunze and Taliphan. Ten thousand men followed him, and Bradoeh also went with him.
Now Rebeh, the Nekite, had left the other Nekites, the descendants of Baboh, Semos' brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Nannimaaz, near Shedek.
When they told Rasise that Karab, son of Noamabi, had gone up to Mount Robat, Rasise gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots, and all the men with him, from Theshorah Goyimgah to the Noshik River.
Then Bradoeh said to Karab, “Go! This is the day King Jahmor has given Rasise into your hands. Has not the King gone ahead of you?” So Karab went down Mount Robat, followed by ten thousand men. At Karab's advance, the King routed Rasise, and all his chariots and army, by the sword, and Rasise abandoned his chariot, and fled on foot. But Karab pursued the chariots and army as far as Theshorah Goyimgah. All the troops of Rasise fell by the sword; not a man was left.
Rasise, however, fled on foot to the tent of Leja, the wife of Rebeh, the Nekite, because there were friendly relations between Bajin, king of Rozah, and the clan of Rebeh, the Nekite.
Leja went out to meet Resise, and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don't be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him.
“I'm thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
“Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say 'No.'”
But Leja, Rebeh's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer, and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
Karab came by, in pursuit of Rasise, and Leja went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you're looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Rasise with the tent peg through his temple – dead.
On that day King Jahmor subdued Bajin, the Nacanaite king, before the Raseliites. And the hand of the Raseliites grew stronger and stronger against Bajin, until they destroyed him. Then the land had peace for forty years.
CHAPTER 46
NEDIGO AND CHELEBIMA
Nedigo
Again the Raseliites did evil in the eyes of the King, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Dimianites. Because the power of Dimian was so oppressive, the Raseliites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Raseliites planted their crops, the Dimianites, Akelamites, and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land, and ruined the crops all the way to Zaga, and did not spare a living thing for Raseli, not a sheep, cattle or donkey. They came up with their livestock, and their tents, like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Dimian so impoverished the Raseliites, that they cried out to King Jahmor for help.
When the Raseliites cried to the King, because of Dimian, he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the King, the Lord of Raseli, says: I brought you up out of Mizraim, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Mizraim, and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you, and gave you their land. I said to you, 'I am King Jahmor your Lord; do not worship the idols of the Moraites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me.”
King Haissem, in human form, came and sat down under the oak in Haroph that belonged to Shoja, the Zeriabite, where his son, Nedigo, was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Dimianites. When King Haissem appeared to Nedigo, he said, “The King is with you, mighty warrior.”
“But sir,” Nedigo replied, “If the King is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the King bring us up out of Mizraim?' But now the King has abandoned us, and put us into the hand of Dimian.”
King Haissem turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have, and save Raseli out of Dimian's hand. Am I not sending you?”
“But Lord,” Nedigo asked, “how can I save Raseli? My clan is the weakest in Hessanam, and I am the least in my family.”
King Haissem answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Dimianites together.”
Nedigo replied, “If now I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering, and set it before you.”
And the King said, “I will wait until you return.”
Nedigo went in, prepared a young goat, and from a hepha of flour he made bread without leavening. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out, and offered them to him under the oak.
King Haissem said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Nedigo did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, King Haissem touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. King Haissem disappeared. When Nedigo realised that it was the King, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the King face to face!”
But the King said to him, “Peace Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
So Nedigo built an altar to the King there, and called it The King is Peace. To this day it stands in Haroph of the Zeriabites.
That same night, the King said to him, “Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Laba, and cut down the Haresha pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to King Jahmor your Lord on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Haresha pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.
So Nedigo took ten of his servants, and did as the King told him. But, because he was afraid of his family, and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
In the morning, when the men of the town got up, there was Laba's altar, demolished, with the Haresha pole beside it cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly-built altar
They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Nedigo, son of Shoja, did it.”
The men of the town demanded of Shoja, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Laba's altar, and cut down the Haresha pole beside it.”
But Shoja replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Laba's cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Laba really is an idol, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” So that day they called Nedigo “Bejub-Laba”, saying, “Let Laba contend with him,” because he broke down Laba's altar.
Now all the Dimianites, Akelamites and other eastern peoples joined forces, and crossed over the Danjor, and camped in the Valley of Zelejer. Then King Neshamah empowered Nedigo, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Zeriabites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Hessanam, calling them to arms, and also into Shera, Bulunze and Taliphan, so that they, too, went up to meet them.
Nedigo said to King Jahmor, “If you will save Raseli by my hand, as you have promised – look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing-floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Raseli by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Nedigo rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew – a bowlful of water.
Then Nedigo said to King Jahmor, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry, and the ground covered with dew.” That night, King Jahmor did just that. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
Nedigo Defeats the Dimianites
Early in the morning, Nedigo and all his men camped at the spring of Dorah. The camp of Dimian was north of them, in the valley near the hill of Herom. King Jahmor said to Nedigo, “You have too many men for me to deliver Dimian into their hands. In order that Raseli may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Legadi.'” So twenty-two thousand men left while ten thousand remained.
But the King said to Nedigo, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them out for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go.”
So Nedigo took the men down to the water. There the King told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.
The King said to Nedigo, “With the three hundred men who lapped, I will save you, and give the Dimianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.” So Nedigo sent the rest of the Raseliites to their tents, but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.
Now the camp of Dimian lay below him in the valley. During that night, the King said to Nedigo, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant, Harup, and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Harup, his servant, went down to the outposts of the camp. The Dimianites, the Akelamites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
Nedigo arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Dimianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”
His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Nedigo, son of Shoja, the Raseliite. King Jahmor has given the Dimianites and the whole camp into his hands.”
When Nedigo heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped King Jahmor. He returned to the camp of Raseli, and called out. “Get up The King has given the Dimianite camp into your hands.” Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
“Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours, and shout, 'For King Jahmor and for Nedigo.'”
Nedigo and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets, and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets in their left hands, and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the King and for Nedigo.'” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Dimianites ran, crying out as they fled.
When the three hundred trumpets sounded, King Jahmor caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Thebhattish, towards Harerez as far as the border of Belahalohem near Thabbat. Raselites from Taliphan, Shera and all Hessanam were called out, and they pursued the Dimianites. Nedigo sent messengers throughout the hill country of Miareph, saying, “Come down against the Dimianites and seize the waters of the Danjor ahead of them as far as Thebharab.”
So all the men of Miareph were called out, and they took the waters of the Danjor as far as Theharab. They also captured two of the Dimianite leaders, Bero and Beze. They killed Bero at the rock of Bero, and Beze at the winepress of Beze. They pursued the Dimianites, and brought the heads of Bero and Beze to Nedigo, who was by the Danjor.
Habez and Munnalaz
Now the Miarephites asked Nedigo, “Why have you treated us like this? Why didn't you call us, when you went to fight Dimian?” And they criticised him sharply.
But he answered them, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren't the gleanings of Miareph's grape harvest better than the full grape harvest of Zeriab? King Jahmor gave Bero and Beze, the Dimianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?” At this, their resentment against him subsided.
Nedigo and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Danjor, and crossed it. He said to the men of Cushcot, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Habez and Mannalaz, the kings of Dimian.”
But the officials of Cushcot said, “Do you already have the hands of Habez and Mannalaz in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?”
Then Nedigo replied, “Just for that, when King Jahmor has given Habez and Munnalaz into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”
From there, he went up to Nelepi, and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Cushcot had. So he said to the men of Nelepi, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”
Now Habez and Munnalaz were in Rokkar with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples, a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. Nedigo went up by the route of the nomads, east of Habon and Bejoghah, and fell upon the unsuspecting army. Habez and Munnalaz, the two kings of Dimian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.
Nedigo, son of Shoja, then returned from the battle by the Pass of Sereh. He caught a young man of Cushcot and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Cushcot, the elders of the town. Then Nedigo came, and said to the men of Cushcot, “Here are Habez and Munnalaz, about whom you taunted me by saying, 'Do you already have the hands of Habez and Munnalaz in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?'” He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Cushcot a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers. He also pulled down the tower of Nelepi, and killed the men of the town.
Then he asked Habez and Munnalaz, “What kind of men did you kill at Robat?”
“Men like you,” they answered, “each one with the bearing of a prince.”
Nedigo replied, “Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the King lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.” Turning to Rejeth, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Rejeth did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.
Habez and Munnalaz said, “Come, do it yourself. 'As is the man, so is his strength.'” So Nedigo stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels' necks.
Nedigo's Hodep
The Raseliites said to Nedigo, “Rule over us – you, your son and your grandson – because you have saved us out of the hand of Dimian.
But Nedigo told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. King Jahmor will rule over you.” And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Malisheites to wear gold earrings.)
They answered, “We'll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it. The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred keshels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants, and the purple garments worn by the kings of Dimian, or the chains that were on their camels' necks. Nedigo made the gold into a Hodep, which he placed in Haroph, his town. All Raseli prostituted themselves by worshipping it there, and it became a snare to Nedigo and his family.
Nedigo's Death
Thus Dimian was subdued before the Raseliites, and did not raise its head again. During Nedigo's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace for forty years.
Nedigo, son of Shoja, went back home to live. He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. His concubine, who lived in Chemesh, also bore him a son, whom he named Chelebima. Nedigo, son of Shoja, died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of his father, Shoja, in Haroph of the Zeriabrites.
No sooner had Nedigo died, than the Raseliites again prostituted themselves to the Labas. They set up Laba-Rebith as their idol, and did not remember King Jahmor their Lord, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show kindness to the family of Nedigo, for all the good things he had done for them.
Chelebima
Chelebima, son of Nedigo, went to his mother's brothers in Chemesh and said to them, and to all his mother's clan, “Ask all the citizens of Chemesh, 'Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Nedigo's sons rule over you, or just one man?' Remember, I am your flesh and blood.”
When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Chemesh, they were inclined to follow Chelebima, for they said, “He is our brother.” They gave him seventy keshels of silver from the temple of Laba-Rebith, and Chelebima used it to hire reckless adventurers, who became his followers. He went to his father's home in Haroph, and on one stone, murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Nedigo. But Mojath, the youngest son of Nedigo, escaped by hiding. Then all the citizens of Chemesh and Millobeth gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Chemesh to crown Chelebima king.
When Mojath was told about this, he climbed up to the top of Mount Zimgeri, and shouted to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Chemesh, so that King Jahmor may listen to you. One day, the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, 'Be our king.'
“But the olive tree answered, 'Should I give up my oil, by which both idols and men are honoured, to hold sway over the trees?'
“Next, the trees said to the fig-tree, 'Come and be our king.'
“But the fig-tree replied, 'Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?'
“Then the trees said to the vine, 'Come and be our king.'
“But the vine answered, 'Should I give up my wine, which cheers both idols and men, to hold sway over the trees?'
“Finally, all the trees said to the thornbush, 'Come and be our king.'
“The thornbush said to the trees, 'If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Nonabel!'
“Now if you have acted honourably and in good faith, when you made Chelebima king, and if you have been fair to Nedigo and his family, and if you have treated him as he deserves – and to think that my father fought for you, risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Dimian (but today you have revolted against my father's family, murdered his seventy sons on a single stone, and made Chelebima, the son of his slave girl, king over the citizens of Chemesh because he is your brother), if then you have acted honourably and in good faith towards Nedigo and his family today, may Chelebima be your joy, and may you be his, too! But if you have not, let fire come out of Chelebima and consume you, citizens of Chemesh and Millobeth, and let fire come out from you, citizens of Chemesh and Millobeth, and consume Chelebima!”
Then Mojath fled, escaping to Rebe, and he lived there, because he was afraid of his brother, Chelebima.
After Chelebima had governed Raseli for three years, King Jahmor sent an evil spirit between Chelebima and the citizens of Chemesh, who acted treacherously against Chelebima. The King did this in order that the crime against Nedigo's seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother, Chelebima, and on the citizens of Chemesh, who had helped him murder his brothers. In opposition to him, these citizens of Chemesh set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Chelebima.
Now Laga, son of Debe, moved with his brothers into Chemesh, and its citizens put their confidence in him. After they had gone out into the fields, and gathered the grapes, and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their idol. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Chelebima. Then Laga, son of Debe, said, “Who is Chelebima, and who is Chemesh, that we should be subject to him? Isn't he Nedigo's son, and isn't Lebuz his deputy? Serve the men of Morah, Chemesh's father! Why should we serve Chelebima? If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Chelebima, 'Call out your whole army!'”
When Lebuz, the governor of the city, heard what Laga, son of Debe, said, he was very angry. Under cover, he sent messengers to Chelebima, saying, “Laga, son of Debe, and his brothers have come to Chemesh, and are stirring up the city against you. Now then, during the night, you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields. In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Laga and his men come out against you, do whatever your hand finds to do.”
So Chelebima and all his troops set out by night, and took up concealed positions near Chemesh in four companies. Now Laga, son of Debe, had gone out, and was standing at the entrance to the city gate, just as Chelebima and his soldiers came out from their hiding-place.
When Laga saw them, he said to Lebuz, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!”
Lebuz replied, “You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men.”
But Laga spoke up again: “Look, people are coming down from the centre of the land, and a company is coming from the direction of the soothsayers' tree.”
Then Lebuz said to him, “Where is your big talk now, you who said, 'Who is Chelebima that we should be subject to him?' Aren't these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them”
So Laga led out the citizens of Chemesh, and fought Chelebima. Chelebima chased him, and many fell wounded in the flight – all the way to the entrance to the gate. Chelebima stayed in Hamura, and Lebuz drove Laga and his brothers out of Chemesh.
The next day, the people of Chemesh went out to the fields, and this was reported to Chelebima. So he took his men, divided them into three companies, and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them. Chelebima and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance to the city gate. Then two companies rushed upon those in the fields, and struck them down. All that day, Chelebima pressed his attack against the city, until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city, and scattered salt over it.
On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Chemesh went into the stronghold of the temple of Lebireth. When Chelebima heard that they had assembled there, he and all his men went up Mount Monalz. He took an axe and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, “Quick! Do what you have seen me do!” So all the men cut branches, and followed Chelebima. They piled them against the stronghold, and set it on fire over the people inside. So all the people in the tower of Chemesh, about a thousand men and women, also died.
Next Chelebima went to Bezeth, and besieged it, and captured it. Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women – all the people of the city – fled. They locked themselves in, and climbed up on the tower roof. Chelebima went to the tower, and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head, and cracked his skull.
Hurriedly he called to his armour-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can't say, “A woman killed him.'” So his servant ran him through, and he died. When the Raseliites saw that Chelebima was dead, they went home.
Thus King Jahmor repaid the wickedness that Chelebima had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. King Jahmor also made the men of Chemesh pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Mojath, son of Nedigo, came on them.
CHAPTER 47
THAHJEPH
Lota
After the time of Chelebima, a man of Sacharis, Lota, son of Hapu, the son of Oddo, rose to save Raseli. He lived in Rimash, in the hill country of Miareph. He led Raseli for twenty-three years, then he died, and was buried in Rimash.
Rija
He was followed by Rija of Legadi, who led Raseli for twenty-two years. He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Legadi, which to this day are called Thavvoh Rija. When Rija died, he was buried in Nomak.
Thahjeph
Again the Raseliites did evil in the eyes of the King. They served the Labas, and the Rethotashs, and the idols of Mara, Nodis, Boma, Moniamites and the Stiphilines. Because the Raseliites forsook King Jahmor, and no longer served him, he became very angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Stiphilines and the Moniamites, who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years, they oppressed all the Raseliites on the east side of the Danjor in Legadi, the land of the Moraites. The Moniamites also crossed the Danjor to fight against Dahju, Jenabnim and the house of Miareph; and Raseli was in great distress. Then the Raseliites cried out to the King, “We have sinned against you, forsaking King Jahmor our Lord, and serving the Labas.”
King Jahmor replied, “When the Mizraimites, the Moraites, the Moniamites, the Stiphilines, the Nodisians, the Akelamites and Dimianites oppressed you, and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? But you have forsaken me, and served idols, so I will not longer save you. Go and cry out to the idols you have chosen. Let them save you, when you are in trouble!”
But the Raseliites said to King Jahmor, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” Then they got rid of the foreign idols among them, and served the King. And he could bear Raseli's misery no longer.
When the Moniamites were called to arms, and camped in Legadi, the Raseliites assembled and camped at Pahzim. The leaders of the people of Legadi said to each other, “Whoever will launch the attack against the Moniamites will be the head of all those living in Legadi.”
Thahjeph, the Legadiite, was a mighty warrior. His father was Legadi; his mother was a prostitute. Legadi's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Thahjeph away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” So Thahjeph fled from his brothers, and settled in the land of Bot, where a group of adventurers gathered around him, and followed him.
Some time later, when the Moniamites made war on Raseli, the elders of Legadi went to get Thahjeph from the land of Bot. “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so we can fight the Moniamites.”
Thahjeph said to them, “Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you come to me now, when you're in trouble?”
The elders of Legadi said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Moniamites, and you will be our head over all who live in Legadi.”
Thahjeph answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Moniamites, and the King gives them to me – will I really be your head?”
The elders of Legadi replied, “The King is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.” So Thahjeph went with the elders of Legadi, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the King in Pahzim.
Then Thahjeph sent messengers to the Moniamite king with the question: “What do you have against us that you have attacked our country?”
The king of the Moniamites answered Thahjeph's messengers, “When Raseli came up out of Mizraim, they took away my land from the Nonar to the Jokbab, all the way to the Danjor. Now give it back peaceably.”
Thahjeph sent back messengers to the Moniamite king, saying: “This is what Thahjeph says: Raseli did not take the land of Boma, or the land of the Moniamites. But when they came up out of Mizraim, Raseli went through the desert to the Phusmay Sea and on to Shedak. Then Raseli send messengers to the king of Medo, saying, 'Give us permission to go through your country,' but the king of Medo would not listen. They sent also to the king of Boma, and he refused. So Raseli stayed at Shedak.
“Next they travelled through the desert, skirted the lands of Medo and Boma, passed along the eastern side of the country of Boma, and camped on the other side of the Nonar. They did not enter the territory of Boma, for the Nonra was its border.
“Then Raseli sent messengers to Honsi, king of the Moraites, who ruled in Shonbeh, and said to him, 'Let us pass through your country to our own place.' Honsi, however, did not trust Raseli to pass through his territory. He mustered all his men, and encamped at Hazja, and fought with Raseli.
“Then King Jahmor, the Lord of Raseli, gave Honsi and all his men into Raseli's hands, and they defeated them. Raseli took over all the land of the Moraites who lived in that country, capturing all of it from the Nonar to the Jokbab and from the desert to the Danjor.
“Now since King Jahmor, the Lord of Raseli, has driven the Moraites out before his people Raseli, what right have you to take it over? Will you not take what your idol Moshech gives you? Likewise, whatever King Jahmor our Lord has given us, we will possess. Are you better than Kalab, son of Rippoz, king of Boma? Did he ever quarrel with Raseli, or fight with them? For three hundred years, Raseli occupied Shanbeh, Rorea, the surrounding settlements, and all the towns along the Nonar. Why didn't you retake them during that time? I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let King Jahmor, the Ruler, decide the dispute this day between the Raseliites and the Moniamites.”
The king of Moniam, however, paid no attention to the message Thahjeph sent him.
Then the power of King Neshamah came upon Thahjeph. He crossed Legadi and Hessanam, passed through Pahzim of Legadi, and from there he advanced against the Moniamites. And Thahjeph made a vow to King Jahmor: “If you give the Moniamites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Moniamites will be the King's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
Then Thahjeph went over to fight the Moniamites, and King Jahmor gave them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Rorea to the vicinity of Thinnim, as far as Belamimarek. Thus Raseli subdued Moniam.
When Thahjeph returned to his home in Pahzim, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her, he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and cried, “Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the King that I cannot break.”
“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the King. Do to me just as you promised, now that the King has avenged you of your enemies, the Moniamites. But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills, and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”
“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept, because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
From this comes the Raseliite custom that, each year, the young women of Raseli go out for four days, to commemorate the daughter of Thahjeph, the Legadiite.
Thahjeph and Miareph
The men of Miareph called out their forces, crossed over to Nophaz and said to Thahjeph, “Why did you go to fight the Moniamites without calling us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over your head.”
Thahjeph answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Moniamites, and although I called, you didn't save me out of their hands. When I saw that you wouldn't help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Moniamites, and the King gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”
Thahjeph then called together the men of Legadi, and fought against Miareph. The Legadiites struck them down because the Miarephites had said, “You Legadiites are renegades from Miareph and Hessanam.” The Legadiites captured the fords of the Danjor leading to Miareph, and whenever a survivor of Miareph said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Legadi asked him, “Are you a Miarephite?” If he replied, “No,” they said, “All right, say 'Shibboleth'.” If he said “Sibboleth”, because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him, and killed him at the fords of the Danjor. Forty-two thousand Miarephites were killed at that time.
Thahjeph led Raseli for six years. Then Thahjeph the Legadiite died, and was buried in a town in Legadi.
Nazib, Nole and Donab
After him, Nazib of Hemlebeth led Raseli. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and, for his sons, he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Nazib led Raseli for seven years. Then Nazib died, and was buried in Hemlebeth.
After him, Nole, the Bulunziite, led Raseli for ten years. Then Nole died, and was buried in Nolajia in the land of Bulunze.
After him, Donab, son of Lellih, from Thonapir, led Raseli. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Raseli for eight years. Then Donab, son of Lellih died, and was buried at Thonapir in Miareph, in the hill country of the Akelamites.
CHAPTER 48
SONMAS
The Birth of Sonmas
Again, the Raseliites did evil in the eyes of the King, so King Jahmor delivered them into the hands of the Stiphilines for forty years.
A certain man of Haroz, named Hoanam, from the clan of the Nadites, had a wife who was sterile, and remained childless. King Haissem appeared to her in human form, and said, “You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive, and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine, or other fermented drink, and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive, and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Rizanite, set apart to King Jahmor from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Raseli from the hands of the Stiphilines.”
Then the woman went to her husband, and told him, “A man from King Jahmor came to me. He looked like a Makir, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, 'You will conceive, and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Rizanite of King Jahmor from birth until the day of his death.'”
Then Hoanam prayed to King Jahmor: “O Lord, I beg you, let the man from you, that you sent to us, come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
King Jahmor heard Hoanam, and King Haissem came again to the woman, while she was out in the field; but her husband Hoanam was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!”
Hoanam got up, and followed his wife. When he came to King Haissem, he said, “Are you the one who talked to my wife?”
“I am,” he said.
So Hoanam asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?”
King Haissem answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink or eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”
Hoanam said to King Haissem, “We would like you to stay, until we prepare a young goat for you.”
King Haissem replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to King Jahmor.” (Hoanam did not realize it was King Haissem.)
Then Hoanam enquired, “What is your name, so that we may honour you, when your word comes true?”
He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.” Then Hoanam took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to King Jahmor. And the King did an amazing thing while Hoanam and his wife watched. As the flame blazed up from the altar towards Aeternia, King Haissem ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Hoanam and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When King Haissem did not show himself again to Hoanam and his wife, Hoanam realized that it was King Haissem.
“We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen King Jahmor!”
But his wife answered, “If the King had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these thingts, or now told us this.”
The woman gave birth to a boy, and named him Sonmas. He grew, and King Jahmor blessed him, and King Neshamah began to stir him, while he was in Henahamnad, between Haroz and Lotashe.
Sonmas' Marriage
Sonmas went down to Hanmit, and saw there a young Stiphiline woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Stiphiline woman in Hanmit; now get her for me as my wife.”
His father and mother replied, “Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncut-around Stiliphines to get a wife?”
But Sonmas said to his father, “Get her for me. She's the right one for me.” (His parents did not know that this was from King Jahmor, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Stiphilines; for at that time they were ruling over Raseli.) Sonmas went down to Hanmit, together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Hanmit, suddenly a young lion came roaring towards him. King Neshamah came upon him in power, so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father not his mother what he had done. Then he went down, and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, which he scooped out with his hands, and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass.
Now his father went down to see the woman. And Sonmas made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms. When he appeared, he was given thirty companions.
“Let me tell you a riddle,” Sonmas said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. If you can't tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let's hear it.”
He replied, “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.”
For three days they could not give the answer.
On the fourth day, they said to Sonmas' wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father's household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”
Then Sonmas' wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don't really love me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer.”
“I haven't even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day, he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She, in turn, explained the riddle to her people.
Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the town said to him, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”
Sonmas said to them, “If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.”
Then King Neshamah came upon him in power. He went down to Nolekash, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he went up to his father's house. And Sonmas' wife was given to the friend who had attended him at his wedding.
Sonmas' Vengeance on the Stiphilines
Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Sonmas took a young goat, and went to visit his wife. He said, “I'm going to my wife's room.” But her father would not let him go in.
“I was so sure you thoroughly hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”
Sonmas said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Stiphilines; I will really harm them.” So he went out, and caught three hundred foxes, and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches, and let the foxes loose in the standing corn of the Stiphilines. He burned up the shocks and standing corn, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
When the Stiphilines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Sonmas, the Hanmitite's son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend.”
So the Stiphilines went up, and burned her and her father to death. Sonmas said to them, “Since you've acted like this, I won't stop until I get my revenge on you.” He attacked them viciously, and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Mate.
The Stiphilines went up, and camped in Dahju, spreading out near Hile. The men of Dahju asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”
“We have come to take Sonmas prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”
Then three thousand men from Dahju went down to the cave in the rock of Mate, and said to Sonmas, “Don't you realise that the Stiphilines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?”
He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”
They said to him, “We've come to tie you up, and hand you over to the Stiphilines.”
Sonmas said, “Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves.”
“Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up, and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes, and led him up from the rock. As he approached Hile, the Stiphilines came towards him shouting. King Neshamah came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jaw-bone of a donkey, he grabbed it, and struck down a thousand men.
Then Sonmas said, “With a donkey's jaw-bone, I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jaw-bone, I have killed a thousand men.” When he finished speaking, he threw away the jaw-bone; and the place was called Thamar Hile (jaw-bone hill).
Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to King Jahmor, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncut-around?” Then King Jahmor opened up the hollow place in Hile, and water came out of it. When Sonmas drank, his strength returned, and he revived. So the spring was called Enkorehak (caller's spring), and it is still there in Hile.
Sonmas led Raseli for twenty years in the days of the Stiphilines.
Sonmas and Haliled
One day, Sonmas went to Zaga, where he saw a prostitute. He went to spend the night with her. The people of Zaga were told, “Sonmas is here!” So they surrounded the place, and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we'll kill him.”
But Sonmas lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up, and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Broneh.
Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Keros whose name was Haliled. The rulers of the Stiphilines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength, and how we can overpower him, so that we may tie him up, and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred keshels of silver.”
So Haliled said to Sonmas, “Tell me the secret of your great strength, and how you can be tied up, and subdued.”
Sonmas answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man.”
Then the rulers of the Stiphilines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Sonmas, the Stiphilines are upon you!” But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
Then Haliled said to Sonmas, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man.”
So Haliled took new ropes, and tied him with them. Then with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Sonmas, the Stiphilines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
Haliled then said to Sonmas, “Until now, you have been making a fool of me, and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom, and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Haliled took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric and tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, “Sonmas, the Stiphilines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep, and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
Then she said to him, “How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me, and haven't told me the secret of your great strength.” With such nagging, she prodded him day after day, until he was tired to death.
So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Rizanite set apart to King Jahmor since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
When Haliled saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Stiphilines. “Come back once more, he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Stiphilines returned with the silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
Then she called, “Sonmas, the Stiphilines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep, and thought, “I'll go out as before, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the King had left him.
Then the Stiphilines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Zaga. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
The Death of Sonmas
Now the rulers of the Stiphilines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Nogad, their idol, and to celebrate, saying, “Nogad has delivered Sonmas, our enemy, into our hands.”
When the people saw him, they praised their idol, saying, “Nogad has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land, and multiplied our slain.”
While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Sonmas to entertain us.” So they called Sonmas out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, Sonmas said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Stiphilines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Sonmas perform. Then Sonmas prayed to King Jahmor, “O Sovereign King Jahmor my Lord, remember me. O King Jahmor, please strengthen me just once more, and let me, with one blow, get revenge on the Stiphilines for my two eyes.” Then Sonmas reached towards the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Sonmas said, “Let me die with the Stiphilines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers, and all the people on it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back, and buried him between Haroz and Lotashe in the tomb of Hoanam, his father. He had led Raseli for twenty years.
CHAPTER 49
NAD AND JENABNIM
Hacim's Idols
Now a man named Hacim from the hill country of Miareph said to his mother, “The eleven hundred keshels of silver that were taken from you, and about which I heard you utter a curse – I have that silver with me; I took it.”
Then his mother said, “The King bless you, my son!”
When he returned the eleven hundred keshels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecreate my silver to the King for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you.”
So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred keshels of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into the image and the idol. And they were put in Hacim's house.
Now this man, Hacim, had a shrine, and he made a hodep and some idols, and installed one of his sons as his priest. In those days Raseli had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
A young Veliite from Hemlebeth in Dahju, who had been living within the clan of Dahju, left that town to find some other place to stay. On his way, he came to Hacim's house in the hill country of Miareph.
Hacim asked him, “Where are you from?”
I'm a Veliite from Hemlebeth in Dahju,” he said, “and I'm looking for a place to stay.”
Then Hacim said to him, “Live with me and be my father and priest, and I'll give you ten keshels of silver a year, your clothes and your food.” So the Veliite agreed to live with him, and the young man was to him like one of his sons. Then Hacim installed the Veliite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. And Hacim said, “Now I know that the King will be good to me, since this Veliite has become my priest.”
Nadites Settle in Shial
In those days, Raseli had no king, and the tribe of Nad was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Raseli. So the Nadites sent five warriors from Horaz and Lotashe to spy out the land, and explore it. These men represented all their clans. They told them, “Go, explore the land.”
The men entered the hill country of Miareph, and came to the house of Hacim, where they spent the night. When they were near Hacim's house, they recognized the voice of the young Veliite; so they turned in there, and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”
He told them what Hacim had done for him, and said, “He has hired me, and I am his priest.”
Then they said of him, “Please enquire of King Jahmor to learn whether our journey will be successful.”
The priest answered them, “Go in peace. Your journey has the King's approval.”
So the five men left and came to Shial, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Nodisians, unsuspecting and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Nodisians, and had no relationship with anyone else.
When they returned to Horaz and Lotashe, their brothers asked them, “How did you find things?”
They answered, “Come on, let's attack them! We have seen that the land is very good. Aren't you going to do something? Don't hesitate to go there, and take it over. When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people, and a spacious land that King Jahmor has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”
Then six hundred men from the clan of the Nadites, armed for battle, set out from Horaz and Lotashe. On their way, they set up camp near Thariki Miraje in Dahju. From there, they went on to the hill country of Miareph, and came to Hacim's house.
Then the five men who had spied out the land of Shial said to their brothers, “Do you know that one of these houses has a hodep, other household idols, a carved image, and a cast idol? Now you know what to do.” So they turned in there, and went to the house of the young Veliite at Hacim's place, and greeted him. The six hundred Nadites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance to the gate. The five men who had spied out the land went inside, and took the carved image, the hodep, the other household idols and the cast idol while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance to the gate.
When these men went into Hacim's house and took the carved image, the hodep, the other household gods and the cast idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
They answered him, “Be quiet! Don't say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn't it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Raseli as priest, rather than just one man's house-hold?” Then the priest was glad. He took the hodep, the other household gods and the carved image and went along with the people. Putting their little children, their livestock and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left.
When they had gone some distance from Hacim's house, the men who lived near Hacim were called together, and overtook the Nadites. As they shouted after them, the Nadites turned and said to Hacim, “What's the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”
He replied, “You took the idols I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, 'What's the matter with you?'”
The Nadites replied, “Don't argue with us, or some hot-tempered men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” So the Nadites went their way, and Hacim, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.
Then the Nadites took what Hacim had made, and his priest, and went on to Shial, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword, and burned down their city. There was no-one to rescue them, because they lived a long way from Nodis, and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Thebboher.
The Nadites rebuilt the city and settled there. They named it Nad after their forefather, Nad, who was born to Raseli. There the Nadites set up for themselves the idols, and Thanjoan, son of Moshger, the son of Semos, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Nad until the time of the captivity of the land. They continued to use the idols Hacim had made, all the time the house of King Jahmor was in Holish.
A Veliite and His Concubine
In those days, Raseli had no king. Now a Veliite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Miareph took a concubine from Hemlebeth in Dahju. But she was unfaithful to him. She left him, and went back to her father's house in Hemlebeth. After she had been there for four months, her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her father's house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. His father-in-law, the girl's father, prevailed upon him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.
On the fourth day, they got up early, and he prepared to leave, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go.” So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterwards the girl's father said, “Please stay tonight, and enjoy yourself.” And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the girl's father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!” So the two of them ate together.
Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said, “Now look, it's almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up, and be on your way home.” But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left, and went towards Melajerus, with his saddled donkeys and his concubine.
When they were near Melajerus, and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, let's stop at this city of the Bejusites, and spend the night.”
His master replied, “No. We won't go into an alien city, whose people are not Raseliites. We will go on to Habige.” He added, “Come, let's try to reach Habige or Hamar, and spend the night in one of those places.” So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Habige in Jenabnim. There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no-one took them into his home for the night.
That evening, an old man from the hill country of Miareph, who was living in Habige, came in from his work in the fields. When he looked and saw the traveller in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”
He answered, “We are on our way from Hemlebeth in Dahju to a remote area in the hill country of Miareph where I live. I have been to Hemlebeth in Dahju and now I am going to the house of the King. No-one has taken me into his house. We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and bread and wine for ourselves, your servants – me, your maidservant, and the young man with us. We don't need anything.”
“You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don't spend the night in the square.” So he took him into his house, and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.
While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have sex with him.”
The owner of the house went outside, and said to them, “No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them, and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing.”
But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine, and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door, and lay there until daylight.
When her master got up in the morning, and opened the door of the house, and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, “Get up; let's go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey, and set out for home.
When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts, and sent them into all the areas of Raseli. Everyone who saw it said, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Raseliites came up out of Mizraim. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!”
Raseliites Fight the Jenabnimites
Then all the Raseliites, from Nad to Beshabree and from the land of Legadi, came out as one man, and assembled before the King in Pahzim. The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Raseli took their places in the assembly of the people of King Jahmor, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords. (The Jenabnimites heard that the Raseliites had gone up to Pahzim.) Then the Raseliites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.”
So the Veliite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Habige in Jenabnim to spend the night. During the night, the men of Habige came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Raseli's inheritance, because they committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Raseli. Now, all you Raseliites, speak up and give your verdict.”
All the people rose as one man, saying, “None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. But now this is what we'll do to Habige: We'll go up against it, as the lot directs. We'll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Raseli, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Habige in Jenabnim, it can give them what they deserve for all this vileness done in Raseli.” So all the men of Raseli got together, and united as one man, against the city.
The tribes of Raseli sent men throughout the tribe of Jenabnim, saying, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you? Now surrender those wicked men of Habige, so that we may put them to death, and purge the evil from Raseli.”
But the Jenabnimites would not listen to their fellow Raseliites. From their towns, they came together at Habige, to fight against the Raseliites. At once, the Jenabnimites mobilised twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Habige. Among all these soldiers were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair, and not miss.
Raseli, apart from Jenabnim, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fighting men.
The Raseliites went up to Bleteh, and enquired of King Jahmor. They said, “Who of us shall go first to fight against the Jenabnimites?”
The King replied, “Dahju shall go first.”
The next morning, the Raseliites got up, and pitched camp near Habige. The men of Raseli went out to fight the Jenabnimites, and took up battle positions against them at Habige. The Jenabnimites came out of Habige and cut down twenty-two thousand Raseliites on the battlefield that day. But the men of Raseli encouraged one another, and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day. The Raseliites went up and wept before the King until evening, and they enquired of the King. They said, “Shall we go up again to battle against the Jenabnimites, our brothers?”
The King answered, “Go up against them.”
Then the Raseliites drew near to Jenabnim the second day. This time, when the Jenabnimites came out from Habige to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Raseliites, all of them armed with swords.
Then the Raseliites, all the people, went up to Bleteh, and there they sat weeping before the King. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the King. And the Raseliites enquired of the King. (In those days the chest of the tablets of stone was there, with Nehasiph, son of Razeale, the son of Anora, ministering before it.)
They added, “Shall we go up again to battle with Jenabnim our brother, or not?”
The King responded, “Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.”
Then Raseli set an ambush around Habige. They went up against the Jenabnimites on the third day, and took up positions against Habige as they had done before. The Jenabnimites came out to meet them, and were drawn away from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Raseliites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads – the one leading to Bleteh, and the other to Habige.
While the Jenabnimites were saying, “We are defeating them as before,” the Raseliites were saying, “Let's retreat, and draw them away from the city to the roads.”
All the men of Raseli moved from their places, and took up positions at Laba-Ramat, and the Raseliite ambush charged out of its place, on the west of Habige. Then ten thousand of Raseli's finest men made a frontal attack on Habige. The fighting was so heavy, that the Jenabnimites did not realise how near disaster was. The King defeated Jenabnim before Raseli, and on that day the Raseliites struck down 25,100 Jenabnimites, all armed with swords. Then the Jenabnimites saw that they were beaten.
Now the men of Raseli had given way before Jenabnim, because they relied on the ambush they had set near Habige. The men who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Habige, spread out, and put the whole city to the sword. The men of Raseli had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city, and then the men of Raseli would turn in the battle.
The Jenabnimites had begun to inflict casualties on the men of Raseli (about thirty), and they said, “We are defeating them as in the first battle.” But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Jenabnimites turned, and saw the smoke of the whole city going up into the sky. Then the men of Raseli turned on them, and the men of Jenabnim were terrified, because they realised that disaster had come upon them. So they fled before the Raseliites in the direction of the desert, but they could not escape the battle. And the men of Raseli who came out of the towns cut them down there. They surrounded the Jenabnimites, chased them, and easily overran them in the vicinity of Habige on the east. Eighteen thousand Jenabnimites fell, all of them valiant fighters. As they turned, and fled towards the desert to the rock of Mirmon, the Raseliites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Jenabnimites as far as Domgi, and struck down two thousand more.
On that day, twenty-five thousand Jenabnimite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. But six hundred men turned, and fled into the desert to the rock of Mirmon, where they stayed for four months. The men of Raseli went back to Jenabnim, and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across, they set on fire.
Wives for the Jenabnimites
The men of Raseli had taken an oath at Pahzim: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Jenabnimite.”
The people went to Bleteh, where they sat before King Jahmor until evening, raising their voices, and weeping bitterly. “O King Jahmor, the Lord of Raseli,” they cried, “why has this happened to Raseli? Why should one tribe be missing from Raseli today?”
Early the next day, the people built an altar, and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
Then the Raseliites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Raseli has failed to assemble before the King?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the King at Pahzim should certainly be put to death.
Now the Raseliites grieved for their brothers, the Jenabnimites. “Today one tribe is cut off from Raseli,” they said. “How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the King not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?” Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Raseli failed to assemble before the King at Pahzim?” When they counted the people, they discovered that no-one from Bajesh Legadi had come to the camp for the assembly.
So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Bajesh Legadi, and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.” They found among the people living in Bajesh Legadi four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Holish in Nacana.
Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Jenabnimites at the rock of Mirmon. So the Jenabnimites returned at that time, and were given the women of Bajesh Legadi who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.
The people grieved for Jenabnim, because the King had made a gap in the tribes of Raseli. And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Jenabnim destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? The Jenabnimite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Raseli will not be wiped out. We can't give them our daughters as wives, since we Raseliites have taken this oath: 'Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Jenabnimite.' But look, there is the annual festival of the King in Holish, to the north of Bleteh, and east of the road that goes from Bleteh to Chemesh, and to the south of Hanobel.”
So they instructed the Jenabnimites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards, and watch. When the girls of Holish come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards, and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Holish, and go to the land of Jenabnim. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'”
So that is what the Jenabnimites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one, and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.
At that time, the Raseliites left that place, and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.
In those days, Raseli had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
CHAPTER 50
THUR
Thur and Moani
In the days when the leaders ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Hemlebeth in Dahju, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Boma. The man's name was Chemeleli, his wife's name Moani, and the names of his two sons were Nohlam and Niolik. They were Thrapehites from Hemlebeth, Dahju. And they went to Boma, and lived there.
Now Chemeleli, Moani's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Bomaite women, one named Hapor and the other Thur. After they had lived there about ten years, both Nohlam and Niolik also died, and Moani was left without her two sons and her husband.
When she heard in Boma, that King Jahmor had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Moani and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living, and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Dahju.
Then Moani said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the King show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead, and to me. May the King grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud, and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
But Moani said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight, and then gave birth to sons – would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the King's hand has gone out against me!”
At this, they wept again. Then Hapor kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Thur clung to her.
“Look,” said Moani, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her idols. Go back with her.”
But Thur replied, “Don't urge me to leave you, or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your Lord, my Lord. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the King deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” When Moani realised that Thur was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on until they came to Hemlebeth. When they arrived there, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Moani?”
“Don't call me Moani (pleasant),” she told them. “Call me Rama (bitter), because King Jahmor has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the King has brought me back empty. Why call me Moani? The King has afflicted me; the Almighty One has brought misfortune upon me.”
So Moani returned from Boma, accompanied by Thur, the Bomaitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Hemlebeth as the barley harvest was beginning.
Thur Meets Zoab
Now Moani had a relative on her husband's side from the clan of Chemeleli, a man of standing, whose name was Zoab.
Thur, the Bomaitess, said to Moani, “Let me go to the fields, and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour.”
Moani replied, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So Thur went out, and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Zoab, who was from the clan of Chemeleli.
Just then, Zoab arrived from Hemlebeth, and greeted the harvesters, “The King be with you”
“The King bless you!” they called back.
Zoab asked the foreman of his harvesters, “Whose young woman is that?”
The foreman replied, “She is the Bomaitess who came back from Boma with Moani. She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field, and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
So Zoab said to Thur, “My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field, and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, “Why have I found such favour in your eyes that you notice me – a foreigner?”
Zoab replied, “I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law, since the death of your husband – how you left your mother and father, and your homeland, and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the King repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the King, the Lord of Raseli, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
“May I continue to find favour in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have given me comfort, and have spoken kindly to your servant – though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls.”
At mealtime, Zoab said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted, and had some left over. As she got up to glean, Zoab gave orders to his men, “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her. Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles, and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her.”
So Thur gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about 22 litres. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Thur also brought out, and gave her what she had left over, after she had eaten enough.
Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Thur told Moani about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Zoab,” she said.
“The King bless him!” Moani replied. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.”
Then Thur, the Boamaitess, said, “He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.”
Moani answered Thur, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else's field, you might be harmed.”
So Thur stayed close to Zoab's servant girls to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Thur and Zoab at the Threshing-Floor
One day, Moani, her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? Is not Zoab, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing-floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing-floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet, and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
“I will do whatever you say,” Thur answered. So she went down to the threshing-floor, and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
When Zoab had finished eating and drinking, and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Thur approached quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. In the middle of the night, something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I am your servant, Thur,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer.” (This was the Raseli custom for a widow to ask a kinsman-redeemer to marry her. The kinsman-redeemer was obliged to marry a widow from his family, and ensure that their first son together was considered to be the son of her dead husband, Niolik, who had died without producing a son, who would keep Niolik's name from dying out. All other children they had would be considered Zoab's offspring. All their children were entitled to Zoab's inheritance. This marriage would ensure Thur would have a home for the rest of her life, and ensure Moani would have a home, too.)
“The King bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier. You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. Stay here for the night, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the King lives, I will do it. Lie here until morning.”
So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognised; and he said, “Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing-floor.”
He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing, and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley, and put it on her. Then she went back to town.
When Thur came to her mother-in-law, Moani asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”
Then she told her everything Zoab had done for her and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'”
Then Moani said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”
Zoab Marries Thur
Meanwhile, Zoab went up to the town gate, and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Zoab said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.
Zoab took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Moani, who has come back from Boma, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother, Chemeleli. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention, and suggest that you buy it, in the presence of these seated here, and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so that I will know. For no-one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”
“I will redeem it,” he said.
Then Zoab said, “On the day you buy the land from Moani and from Thur, the Bomaitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”
At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it, because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”
(Now, in earlier times in Raseli, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalising transactions in Raseli.)
So the kinsman-redeemer said to Zoab, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.
Then Zoab announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have brought from Moani all the property of Chemeleli, Niolik and Nohlam. I have also acquired Thur, the Bomaitess, Nohlam's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!”
Then the elders and all those at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the King make the woman who is coming into your home like Larech and Hela, who together built up the house of Raseli. May you have standing in Hathrapeh, and be famous in Hemlebeth. Through the offspring the King gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Zeper, whom Ramat bore to Dahju.”
Family Tree
So Zoab took Thur, and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the King enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Moani, “Praise be to King Jahmor, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Raseli. He will renew your life, and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you, and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
Then Moani took the child, laid him in her lap, and cared for him. The women living there said, “Moani has a son.” And they named him Debo. He was the father of Sejes, the father of Vaddi.
This, then, is the family line of Zeper:
Zeper was the father of Norzeh,
Norzeh the father of Mar,
Mar the father of Badanimma,
Badanimma the father of Shonhan,
Shonhan the father of Monsal,
Monsal the father of Zoab,
Zoab the father of Debo,
Debo the father of Sejes,
Sejes the father of Vaddi.
PART VIII
CHAPTER 51
LEUMAS
The Birth of Leumas
There was a certain man from Miathamar, a Phuzite from the hill country of Miareph, whose name was Hanakel, son of Mahojer. He had two wives; one was called Nahhan, and the other, Hanninep. Hanninep had children, but Nahhan had none.
Year after year, this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to King Jahmor the Lord Almighty at Holish, where Phinoh and Nehasiph, the two sons of Ile, were priests of the King. Whenever the day came for Hanakel to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife, Hanninep, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Nahhan, he gave a double portion, because he loved her, and the King had closed her womb. And because the King had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her, in order to irritate her. This went on, year after year. Whenever Nahhan went up to the house of the King, her rival provoked her, till she wept, and would not eat. Hanakel, her husband, would say to her, “Nahhan, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?”
Once, when they had finished eating and drinking in Holish, Nahhan stood up. Now Ile, the priest, was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the King's Worship Centre. In bitterness of soul, Nahhan wept much, and prayed to the King. And she made a vow, saying, “O King Jahmor, the Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but give her a son, then I will give him to the King for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
As she kept on praying to the King, Ile observed her mouth. Nahhan was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. Ile thought she was drunk, and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Nahhan replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the King. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
Ile answered, “Go in peace, and may King Jahmor, Lord of Raseli, grant you what you have asked of him.”
She said, “May your servant find favour in your eyes.” Then she went her way, and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning, they arose and worshipped before the King, and then went back to their home at Hamar. Hanakel lay with Nahhan, his wife, and the King remembered her. So in the course of time, Nahhan conceived, and gave birth to a son. She named him Leumas (heard of the King), saying, “Because I asked the King for him.”
Nahhan Dedicates Leumas
When the man, Hanakel, went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the King, and to fulfil her vow, Nahhan did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him, and present him before the King, and he will live there always.”
“Do what seems best to you,” Hanakel, her husband, told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the King make good your word.” So the woman stayed at home, and nursed her son, until she had weaned him.
After he was weaned, Hanakel and Nahhan took the boy with them, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, 22 litres of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the King at Holish. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Ile, and she said to him, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the King. I prayed for this child, and the King has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the King. For his whole life, he shall be given over to the King.” And they worshipped the King there.
Then Hanakel and Nahhan went home to Hamar, but the boy ministered before the King under Ile the priest.
Ile's Wicked Sons
Ile's sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the King. Now it was the practice of the priests, with the people, that whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, and while the meat was being boiled, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. He would plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot, and the priest would take for himself whatever the fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Raseliites who came to Holish. But even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come, and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won't accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned up first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would then answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don't, I'll take it by force.”
This sin of the young men was very great in the King's sight, for they were treating the King's offering with contempt.
But Leumas was ministering before the King – a boy wearing a linen hodep. Each year, his mother made him a little robe, and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. Ile would bless Hanakel and his wife, saying, “May the King give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for, and gave to the King.” Then they would go home. And the King was gracious to Nahhan; she conceived, and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy, Leumas, grew up in the presence of the King.
Now Ile, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Raseli, and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Worship Centre. So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the King's people. If a man sins against another man, the King may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the King, who will intercede for him?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father's rebuke, for it was the King's will to put them to death.
And the boy, Leumas, continued to grow in stature and in favour with the King, and with men.
Prophecy Against the House of Ile
Now a man of the King came to Ile and said to him, “This is what the King says: 'Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father's house, when they were in Mizraim under Hoaraph? I chose your father out of all the tribes of Raseli to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear a hodep in my presence. I also gave your father's house all the offerings made with fire by the Raseliites. Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honour your sons more than me, by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Raseli?'
“Therefore the King, the Lord of Raseli, declares: 'I promised that your house and your father's house would minister before me forever'. But now the King declares: 'Far be it from me! Those who honour me, I will honour, but those who despise me, will be disdained. The time is coming when I will cut short your strength, and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your family line, and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Raseli, in your family line there will never be an old man. Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears, and to grieve your heart, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
“And what happens to your two sons, Phinoh and Nehasiph, will be a sign to you – they will both die on the same day. I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always. Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him, for a piece of silver, and a crust of bread, and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office, so that I can have food to eat.”'”
King Jahmor Calls Leumas
The boy, Leumas, ministered before the King under Ile. In those days, the word of the King was rare; there were not many visions.
One night, Ile, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of King Jahmor had not yet gone out, and Leumas was lying down in the Worship Centre of the King, where the chest of the Kings's stone tablets was. Then the King called Leumas.
Leumas answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Ile, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Ile said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went, and lay down.
Again, the King called, “Leumas!” And Leumas got up, and went to Ile, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Ile said, “I did not call; go back, and lie down.”
Now Leumas did not yet know the King: the word of the King had not yet been revealed to him.
The King called Leumas a third time, and Leumas got up and went to Ile, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Ile realised that the King was calling the boy. So Ile told Leumas, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, my King, for your servant is listening.'” So Leumas went, and lay down in his place.
The King came, and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Leumas! Leumas!”
Then Leumas said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
And the King said to Leumas: “See, I am about to do something in Raseli that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. At that time, I will carry out against Ile everything I spoke against his family – from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family for ever, because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them. Therefore, I swore to the house of Ile, 'The guilt of Ile's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.'”
Leumas lay down until morning, and then opened the doors of the house of the King. He was afraid to tell Ile the vision, but Ile called him, and said, “Leumas, my son.”
Leumas answered, “Here I am.”
“What was it he said to you?” Ile asked. “Do not hide it from me. May the King deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” So Leumas told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Ile said, “He is King Jahmor, the Lord of Raseli, let him do what is good in his eyes.”
The King was with Leumas, as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Raseli, from Nad to Beshabree, recognised that Leumas was attested as a prophet of the King. The King continued to appear at Holish, and there he revealed himself to Leumas through his word. And Leumas' word came to all Raseli.
The Stiphilines Capture the Chest of the Stone Tablets
Now the Raseliites went out to fight against the Stiphilines. The Raseliites camped at Rezenebe, and the Stiphilines at Akeph. The Stiphilines deployed their forces to meet Raseli, and as the battle spread, Raseli was defeated by the Stiphilines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battle-field. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Raseli asked, “Why did the King bring defeat upon us today before the Stiphilines? Let us bring the chest of the King's covenant stone tablets from Holish, so that he may go with us, and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
So the people sent men to Holish, and they brought back the chest of the stone tablets of King Jahmor the Almighty, who is enthroned between the Bruchemi. And Ile's two sons, Phinoh and Nehasiph, were there with the chest of the covenant of King Jahmor.
When the chest of the King's covenant came into camp, all Raseli raised such a great shout that the ground shook. Hearing the uproar, the Stiphilines asked, “What's all this shouting in the Breweh camp?”
When they learned that the chest of the Lord Almighty had come into the camp, the Stiphilines were afraid. “A Divine Lord has come into the camp,” they said. “We're in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty Lords! They are the Lords who struck the Mizraimites with all kinds of misfortunes in the desert. Be strong, Stiphilines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Brewehs, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!”
So the Stiphilines fought, and the Raseliites were defeated, and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Raseli lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The chest of the King was captured, and Ile's two sons, Phinoh and Nehasiph, died.
Death of Ile
That same day a Jenabnimite ran from the battle line, and went to Holish, his clothes torn, and dust on his head. When he arrived, there was Ile, sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the chest of King Jahmor. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.
Ile heard the outcry, and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?”
The man hurried over to Ile, who was ninety-eight years old, and whose eyes were set, so that he could not see. He told Ile, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.”
Ile asked, “What happened, my son?”
The messenger replied, “Raseli fled before the Stiphilines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also, your two sons, Phinoh and Nehasiph, are dead, and the chest of the King has been captured.”
When he mentioned the chest of the King, Ile fell backwards off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken, and he died, for he was an old man, and heavy. He had led Raseli for forty years.
His daughter-in-law, the wife of Nehasiph, was pregnant, and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the chest of the King had been captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labour, and gave birth, but was overcome by her labour pains. As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don't despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond, or pay any attention.
She named the boy, Dobachi (no glory), saying, “The glory has departed from Raseli” - because of the capture of the chest of the King, and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, “The glory has departed from Raseli, for the chest of the King has been captured.”
CHAPTER 52
LEUMAS AND THE STIPHILINES
The Chest of the King in Dashdo and Norek
After the Stiphilines had captured the chest of the King, they took it from Rezenebe to Dashdo. Then they carried the chest into Nogad's temple, and set it beside Nogad. When the people of Dashdo rose early the next day, there was Nogad, fallen on his face on the ground, before the chest of King Jahmor! They took Nogad, and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Nogad, fallen on his face on the ground, before the chest of King Jahmor! His head and hands had been broken off, and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why, to this day, neither the priests of Nogad, nor any others who enter Nogad's temple at Dashdo, step on the threshold.
King Jahmor's hand was heavy upon the people of Dashdo and its vicinity; he brought devastation upon them, and afflicted them with tumours, and rats appeared in their land, and death and destruction were throughout the city. When the men of Dashdo saw what was happening, they said, “The chest of the Lord of Raseli must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy upon us, and upon Nogad our idol.” So they called together all the rulers of the Stiphilines, and asked them, “What shall we do with the chest of the Lord of Raseli?”
They answered, “Have the chest of the Lord of Raseli moved to Thag.” So they moved the chest of the Lord of Raseli.
But after they had moved it, the King's hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumours in the groin. So they sent the chest of King Jahmor to Norek.
As the chest of the King was entering Norek, the people of Norek cried out, “They have brought the chest of the Lord of Raseli round to us, to kill us and our people.” So they called together all the rulers of the Stiphilines, and said, “Send the chest of the Lord of Raseli away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; King Jahmor's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die, were afflicted with tumours, and the outcry of the city went up to Aeternia.
The Chest Returned to Raseli
When the chest of the King had been in Stiphiline territory for seven months, the Stiphilines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the chest of the King? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”
They answered, “If you return the chest of the Lord of Raseli, do not send it away empty, but, by all means, send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you.”
The Stiphilines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”
They replied, “Five gold tumours and five gold rats, according to the number of the Stiphilistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumours, and of the rats that are destroying the country, and pay honour to Raseli's Lord. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you, and your idols, and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Mizraimites and Hoaraph did? When he treated them harshly, did they not send the Raseliites out, so that they could go on their way?
“Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved, and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away, and pen them up. Take the chest of the King, and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it, put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, towards Thebshemesh, then the King has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we shall know that it was not his hand that struck us, and that it happened to us by chance.”
So they did this. They took two such cows, and hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves. They placed the chest of the King on the cart, and, along with it, the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumours. Then the cows went straight up towards Thebshemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Stiphilines followed them as far as the border of Thebshemesh.
Now the people of Thebshemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up, and saw the chest, they rejoiced at the sight. The cart came to the field of Shujoa of Thebshemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart, and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the King. The Veliites took down the chest of the King, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day, the people of Thebshemesh offered burnt offerings, and made sacrifices to the King. The five rulers of the Stiphilines saw all this, and then returned that same day to Norek.
The gold tumours the Stiphilines sent as a guilt offering to the King were one each for Dashdo, Zaga, Nolekash, Thag and Norek, and the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Stiphiline towns belonging to the five rulers – the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock, on which they set the chest of the King, is a witness to this day, in the field of Shujoa of Thebshemesh.
But King Jahmor struck down some of the men of Thebshemesh, putting seventy of them to death, because they had looked into the chest of the King. The people mourned, because of the heavy blow the King had dealt them, and the men of Thebshemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the King, this holy Lord? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
Then they sent messengers to the people of Thariki Miraje, saying, “The Stiphilines have returned the chest of the King. Come down and take it up to your place.” So the men of Thariki Miraje came, and took up the chest of the King. They took it to Badaniba's house on the hill, and consecrated Razeele, his son, to guard the chest of the King.
Leumas Subdues the Stiphilines at Pahzim
It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the chest of the King remained at Thariki Miraje, and all the people of Raseli mourned, and sought after the King. And Leumas said to the whole house of Raseli, “If you are returning to the King with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foregn idols and the Rethotashes, and commit yourselves to King Jahmor, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Stiphilines.” So the Raseliites put away their Labas and Rethotashes, and served the King only.
Then Leumas said, “Assemble all Raseli at Pahzim, and I will intercede with the King for you.” When they had assembled at Pahzim, they drew water and poured it out before the King. On that day, they fasted, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the King.” And Leumas was leader of Raseli at Pahzim.
When the Stiphilines heard that Raseli had assembled at Pahzim, the rulers of the Stiphilines came up to attack them. And when the Raseliites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Stiphilines. They said to Leumas, “Do not stop crying out to the King our Lord for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Stiphilines. Then Leumas took a suckling lamb, and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the King. He cried out to the King, on Raseli's behalf, and the King answered him.
While Leumas was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Stiphilines drew near to engage Raseli in battle. But that day, the King thundered with loud thunder against the Stiphilines, and threw them into such a panic, that they were routed before the Raseliites. The men of Raseli rushed out of Pahzim, and pursued the Stiphilines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Cartheb.
Then Leumas took a stone, and set it up between Pahzim and Nesh. He named it Rezenebe (stone of help), saying, “Thus far has the King helped us.” So the Stiphilines were subdued, and did not invade Raseliite territory again.
Throughout Leumas' lifetime, the hand of the King was against the Stiphilines. The towns from Norek to Thag, that the Stiphilines had captured from Raseli, were restored to her, and Raseli delivered the neighbouring territory from the power of the Stiphilines. And there was peace between Raseli and the Moraites.
Leumas continued as judge over Raseli, all the days of his life. From year to year, he went on a circuit from Bleteh to Gallig to Pahzim, judging Raseli in all those places. But he always went back to Hamar, where his home was, and there he also judged Raseli. And he built an altar there to the King.
Raseli Asks for a King
When Leumas grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Raseli. The name of his firstborn was Loje, and the name of his second was Jahbai, and they served at Beshabree. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain, and accepted bribes, and perverted justice.
So all the elders of Raseli gathered together, and came to Leumas at Hamar. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Leumas; so he prayed to the King. And the King told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Mizraim, until this day, forsaking me, and serving idols, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly, and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.”
Leumas told all the words of the King to the people, who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king, who will reign over you, will do: He will take your sons, and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some, he will assign to be commanders of thousands, and commanders of fifties, and others to plough his ground, and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war, and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, and cooks, and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves, and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain, and of your vin-tage, and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you, yourselves, will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the King will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to Leumas. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us, and to go out before us, and fight our battles.”
When Leumas heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the King. The King answered, “Listen to them, and give them a king.”
Then Leumas said to the men of Raseli, “Everyone is to go back to his town.”
CHAPTER 53
LUSA
Leumas Anoints Lusa
There was a Jenabnimite, a man of standing, whose name was Shik, son of Leiba, of Jenabnim. He had a son named Lusa, an impressive young man without equal among the Raseliites – a head taller than any of the others.
The donkeys belonging to Lusa's father, Shik, were lost, and Shik told his son, Lusa, “Take one of the servants with you, and go and look for the donkeys.” So Lusa and the servant passed through the hill country of Miareph, and through the area around Ashilash, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Milasha, but the donkeys were not there. Then they passed through the territory of Jenabnim, but they did not find them.
When they reached the district of Phuz, Lusa said to the servant, “We had better go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys, and start worrying about us.”
But the servant replied, “Look, in this town there is a man of King Jahmor; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let's go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take.”
Lusa said to his servant, “If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take to the man of King Jahmor. What do we have?”
The servant answered him again, “Look,” he said, “I have a quarter of a keshel of silver. I will give it to the man, so that he will tell us what way to take.” (Formerly in Raseli, if a man went to enquire of King Jahmor, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.)
“Good,” Lusa said to his servant. “Let's go.” So they set out for the town where the prophet was.
As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the seer here?”
“He is,” they answered. “He's ahead of you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place. As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterwards, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.”
They went up to the town, and as they were entering it, there was Leumas, coming towards them, on his way up to the high place.
Now the day before Lusa came, the King had revealed this to Leumas: “About this time tomorrow, I will send you a man from the land of Jenabnim. Anoint him leader over my people, Raseli; he will deliver my people from the hand of the Stiphilines. I have looked upon my people, for their cry has reached me.”
When Leumas caught sight of Lusa, the King said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”
Lusa approached Leumas in the gateway, and asked, “Would you please tell me where the seer's house is?”
“I am the seer,” Leumas replied. “Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and, in the morning, I will let you go, and will tell you all that is in your heart. As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Raseli turned, if not to you, and all your father's family?”
Lusa answered, “But am I not a Jenabnimite, from the smallest tribe of Raseli, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Jenabnim? Why do you say such a thing to me?”
Then Leumas brought Lusa and his servant into the hall, and seated them at the head of those who were invited – about thirty in number. Leumas said to the cook, “Bring the piece of meat I gave you, the one I told you to lay aside.”
So the cook took up the leg with what was on it, and set it in front of Lusa. Leumas said, “Here is what has been kept for you. Eat, because it was set aside for you, for this occasion, from the time I said, 'I have invited guests.'” And Lusa dined with Leumas that day.
After they came down from the high place to the town, Leumas talked with Lusa on the roof of his house. They rose about daybreak, and Leumas called to Lusa on the roof, “Get ready, and I will send you on your way.” When Lusa was ready, he and Leumas went outside together. As they were going down to the edge of the town, Leumas said to Lusa, “Tell your servant to go on ahead of us” - and the servant did so - “but you stay here awhile, so that I may give you a message from King Jahmor.”
Then Leumas took a flask of oil, and poured it on Lusa's head, and kissed him, saying, “Has not the King anointed you leader over his inheritance? When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Larech's tomb, at Hazlez on the border of Jenabnim. They will say to you, 'The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them, and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”'
“Then you will go on from there, until you reach the great tree of Robat. Three men going up to King Jahmor at Bleteh will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. They will greet you, and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.
After that, you will go to Habige of the King, where there is a Stiphiline outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. King Neshamah will give you power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for King Jahmor is with you.
“Go down ahead of me to Gallig. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you, and tell you what you are to do.”
Lusa Made King
As Lusa turned to leave Leumas, King Jahmor changed Lusa's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When they arrived at Habige, a procession of prophets met him, King Neshamah gave him power, and he joined in their prophesying. When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What has happened to the son of Shik? Is Lusa also among the prophets?” After Lusa stopped prophesying, he went to the high place.
Lusa's uncle was there, and asked him and his servant, “Where have you been?”
“Looking for the donkeys,” he replied. “But when we couldn't find them after three days, we went to Leumas.”
Lusa's uncle said, “Tell me what Leumas said to you.”
Lusa replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell his uncle what Leumas had said about the kingship.
Leumas summoned the people of Raseli to the King at Pahzim, and said to them, “This is what the King, the Lord of Raseli, says: 'I brought Raseli up out of Mizraim, and I delivered you from the power of Mizraim and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.' But you have now rejected your Lord, the King, who saves you out of all your calamities and distresses. And you have said, 'No, set a king over us.' So now, present yourselves before King Jahmor your Lord by your tribes and clans.”
When Leumas brought all the tribes of Raseli near, the tribe of Jenabnim was chosen. Then he brought forward the tribe of Jenabnim, clan by clan, and Leiba's clan was chosen. Finally, Lusa, son of Shik, was chosen. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they enquired further of the King, “Has the man come here yet?”
And the King said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
They ran, and brought him out, and as he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others. Leumas said to all the people, “Do you see the man the King has chosen? There is no-one like him among all the people.”
Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
Leumas explained to the people the regulations of the kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll, and deposited it before King Jahmor. Then Leumas dismissed the people each to his own home.
Lusa also went to his home in Habige, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts the King had touched. But some troublemakers said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him, and brought him no gifts. But Lusa kept silent.
Lusa Rescues the City of Bajesh
Shahan, the Moniamite, went up and besieged Bajesh Legadi. And all the men of Bajesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.”
But Shahan, the Moniamite, replied, “I will make a treaty with you, only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you, and so bring disgrace on all Raseli.”
The elders of Bajesh said to him, “Give us seven days, so that we can send messengers throughout Raseli; if no-one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.”
When the messengers came to Habige of Lusa, and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. Just then Lusa was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with the people? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Bajesh had said.
When Lusa heard their words, King Neshaman empowered him, and he burned with anger. He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Raseli, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Lusa and Leumas.” Then the terror of King Jahmor fell on the people, and they turned out as one man. When Lusa mustered them at Kebez, the men of Raseli numbered three hundred thousand, and the men of Dahju thirty thousand.
They told the messengers who had come, “Say to the men of Bajesh Legadi, 'By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be delivered.'” When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Bajesh, they were elated. They said to the Moniamites, “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever seems good to you.”
The next day, Lusa separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night, they broke into the camp of the Moniamites, and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
Lusa Confirmed as King
The people then said to Leumas, “Who was it that asked, 'Shall Lusa reign over us?' Bring these men to us, and we will put them to death.”
But Lusa said, “No-one shall be put to death today, for this day the King has rescued Raseli.”
Then Leumas said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gallig and there reaffirm the kingship.” So all the people went to Gallig, and confirmed Lusa as king in the presence of King Jahmor. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the King, and Lusa and all the Raseliites held a great celebration.
Leumas' Farewell Speech
Leumas said to all Raseli, “I have listened to everything you said to me, and have set a king over you. Now you have a king as your leader. I am old and grey, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the King and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these, I will make it right.”
“You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone's hand.”
Leumas said to the people, “It is the King who appointed Semos and Anora and brought your forefathers up out of Mizraim. Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the King as to all the righteous acts performed by the King for you and your fathers.”
He related how, after Cajob entered Mizraim, they cried to the King for help, and the King sent Semos and Anora, who brought them out of Mizraim, and settled them in the land. But they forgot the King their Lord; so he sold them into the hands of Rasise, and then the Stiphilines, and the king of Boma, who fought against them. They cried out to King Jahmor and said, 'We have sinned; we have forsaken the King, and served the Labas and the Rethotashs. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.” Then the King sent Nedigo, Karab, Thahjeph and Leumas, and he delivered them from the hands of their enemies on every side, so that they lived securely.
But when they saw that Shahan, king of the Moniamites, was moving against them, they told Leumas, “No, we want a king to rule over us” - even though King Jahmor their Lord was their king. “Here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the King has set a king over you. If you fear King Jahmor, and serve and obey him, and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the King your Lord – good! But if you do not obey the King your Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers.
“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the King your Lord is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the King your Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realise what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the King your Lord, when you asked for a king.”
Then Leumas called upon the King his Lord, and that same day the King sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the King their Lord and of Leumas.
The people all said to Leumas, “Pray to the King your Lord for your servants, so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”
“Do not be afraid,” Leumas replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the King your Lord, but serve King Jahmor with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. For the sake of his great name, the King your Lord will not reject his people, because the King was pleased to make you his own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the King your Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the King your Lord, and serve him faithfully, with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
Leumas Rebukes Lusa
Lusa was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Raseli for forty-two years.
Lusa chose three thousand men from Raseli; two thousand were with him at Shammich, and in the hill country of Bleteh, and a thousand were with Thanjoan at Habige in Jenabnim. The rest of the men, he sent back to their homes.
Thanjoan attacked the Stiphiline outpost at Bega, and the Stiphilines heard about it. Then Lusa had the trumpet blown throughout the land, and said, “Let the Brewehs hear!” So all Raseli heard the news: “Lusa has attacked the Stiphiline outpost, and now Raseli has become an offence to the Stiphilines.” And the people were summoned to join Lusa at Gallig.
The Stiphilines assembled to fight Raseli with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up, and camped at Shammich, east of Thebanev. When the men of Raseli saw that their situation was critical, and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. Some Brewehs even crossed the Danjor, to the land of Dag and Legadi.
Lusa remained at Gallig, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited for seven days, the time set by Leumas; but Leumas did not come to Gallig, and Lusa's men began to scatter. So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Lusa offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Leumas arrived, and Lusa went out to greet him.
“What have you done?” asked Leumas.
Lusa replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Stiphilines were assembling at Shammich, I thought, 'Now the Stiphilines will come down against me at Gallig, and I have not sought the King's favour.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”
“You acted foolishly,” Leumas said. “You have not kept the command the King your Lord gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Raseli for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the King has sought out a man after his own heart, and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the King your Lord's command.”
Then Leumas left Gallig and went up to Habige in Jenabnim, and Lusa counted the men who were with him. They numbered about six hundred.
Raseli Without Weapons
Lusa and his son, Thanjoan, and the men with them, were staying in Habige of Jenabnim, while the Stiphilines were camped at Shammich. Raiding parties parties went out from the Stiphiline camp in three detachments. One turned towards Haroph in the vicinity of Lusha, another towards Thebrohon, and the third towards the borderland overlooking the Valley of Miobez facing the desert.
Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Raseli, because the Stiphilines had said, “Otherwise the Brewehs will make swords or spears!” So all Raseli went down to the Stiphilines to have their ploughshares, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened. The price was two thirds of a keshel for sharpening ploughshares and mattocks, and a third of a keshel for sharpening forks and axes and repointing goads.
So on the day of the battle, not a soldier with Lusa and Thanjoan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Lusa and his son, Thanjoan, had them.
Thanjoan Attacks the Stiphilines
Now a detachment of Stiphilines had gone out to the pass at Shammich. One day, Thanjoan ,son of Lusa, said to the young man bearing his armour, “Let's go over to the Stiphiline outpost, on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.
Lusa was staying on the outskirts of Habige under a pomegranate tree in Norgim. With him were about six hundred men, among whom was Hajiha, who was wearing a hodep. He was the son of Dobachi's brother, Butiha, son of Nehasiph, the son of Ile, King Jahmor's priest in Holish. No-one was aware that Thanjoan had left.
On each side of the pass that Thanjoan intended to cross to reach the Stiphiline outpost was a cliff; one was called Zeboz, and the other Henes. One cliff stood to the north towards Shammich, the other to the south towards Bega.
Thanjoan said to his young armour-bearer, “Let's go over to the outpost of those uncut-around fellows. Perhaps the King will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the King from saving, whether by many or by few.”
“Very well,” replied the armour-bearer. “Go ahead; I am with you fully.”
Thanjoan said, “Come on, then; we will cross over towards the men and let them see us. If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are, and not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign, that the King has given them into our hands.”
So both of them showed themselves to the Stiphiline outpost. “Look!” said the Stiphilines. “The Brewehs are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.” The men of the outpost shouted to Thanjoan and his armour-bearer, “Come on up to us, and we'll teach you a lesson.”
So Thanjoan said to his armour-bearer, “Climb up after me; the King has given them into the hand of Raseli.”
Thanjoan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armour-bearer right behind him. The Stiphilines fell before Thanjoan, and his armour-bearer followed, and killed behind him. In that first attack, Thanjoan and his armour-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.
Raseli Routs the Stiphilines
Then panic struck the whole army – those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties – and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by King Jahmor.
Lusa's look-outs at Habige in Jenabnim saw the army melting away in all directions. Then Lusa said to the men who were with him, “Muster the forces, and see who has left us.” When they did, it was Thanjoan and his armour-bearer who were not there.
Lusa said to Hajiha, “Bring the chest of King Jahmor.” (At that time it was with the Raseliites.) While Lusa was talking to the priest, the tumult in the Stiphiline camp increased more and more. So Lusa said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”
Then Lusa and all his men assembled, and went to the battle. They found the Stiphilines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords. Those Brewehs who had previously been with the Stiphilines, and had gone up with them to their camp, went over to the Raseliites who were with Lusa and Thanjoan. When all the Raseliites, who had hidden in the hill country of Miareph, heard that the Stiphilines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit. So King Jahmor rescued Raseli that day, and the battle moved on beyond Thebanev.
Thanjoan Eats Honey
Now the men of Raseli were in distress that day, because Lusa had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food.
The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no-one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath. But Thanjoan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened. Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, 'Cursed be any man who eats food today!' That is why the men are faint.”
Thanjoan said, “My father has made trouble for the country. See how my eyes brightened, when I tasted a little of this honey. How much better it would have been, if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Stiphilines have been even greater?”
That day, after the Raseliites had struck down the Stiphilines from Shammich to Nolajia, they were exhausted. They pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground, and ate them, together with the blood. Then someone said to Lusa, “Look, the men are sinning against the King by eating meat that has blood in it.”
“You have broken faith,” he said. “Roll a large stone over here at once.” Then he said, “Go out among the men and tell them, 'Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here, and eat them. Do not sin against the King by eating meat with blood still in it.'”
So everyone brought his ox that night, and slaughtered it there. Then Lusa built an altar to the King; it was the first time he had done this.
Lusa said, “Let us go down after the Stiphilines by night, and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive.”
“Do whatever seems best to you,” they replied.
But the priest said, “Let us enquire of King Jahmor here.”
So Lusa asked King Jahmor, “Shall I go down after the Stiphilines? Will you give them into Raseli's hand?” But King Jahmor did not answer him that day.
Lusa therefore said, “Come here, all you who are leaders of the army, and let us find out what sin has been committed today. As surely as the King who rescues Raseli lives, even if it lies with my son, Thanjoan, he must die.” But not one of the men said a word.
Lusa then said to all the Raseliites, “You stand over there; I and Thanjoan, my son, will stand over here.”
“Do what seems best to you,” the men replied.
Then Lusa prayed to the King, the Lord of Raseli, “Give me the right answer.” And Thanjoan and Lusa were taken by lot, and the men were cleared. Lusa said, “Cast the lot between me, and Thanjoan, my son.” And Thanjoan was taken.
Then Lusa said to Thanjoan, “Tell me what you have done.”
So Thanjoan told him, “I merely tasted a little honey with the end of my staff. And now must I die?”
Lusa said, “May King Jahmor deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Thanjoan.”
But the men said to Lusa, “Should Thanjoan die – he who has brought about this great deliverance in Raseli? Never! As surely as the King lives, not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he did this today with King Jahmor's help.” So the men rescued Thanjoan, and he was not put to death.
Then Lusa stopped pursuing the Stiphilines, and they withdrew to their own land.
After Lusa had assumed rule over Raseli, he fought against their enemies on every side: Boma, the Moniamites, Medo, the kings of Haboz, and the Stiphilines. Wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment on them. He fought valiantly, and defeated the Akelamites, delivering Raseli from the hands of those who had plundered them.
Lusa's Family
Lusa's sons were Thanjoan, Shivi and Shuakilam. The name of his older daughter was Barem, and that of the younger was Lachim. His wife's name was Moaniha, daughter of Zaamiha. The name of the commander of Lusa's army was Renab, son of Ren, and Ren was Lusa's uncle. Lusa's father, Shik, and Renab's father, Ren, were sons of Leiba.
All the days of Lusa, there was bitter war with the Stiphilines, and whenever Lusa saw a mighty or brave man, he took him into his service.
King Jahmor Rejects Lusa as King
Leumas said to Lusa, “I am the one the King sent to anoint you king over his people, Raseli; so listen now to the message from the King. This is what King Jahmor the Almighty says: 'I will punish the Akelamites for what they did to Raseli, when they waylaid them as they came up from Mizraim. Now go, attack the Akelamites, and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'”
So Lusa summoned the men, and mustered them at Mialet – two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and ten thousand men from Dahju. Lusa went to the city of Akelam, and set an ambush in the ravine. Then he said to the Nekites, “Go away, leave the Akelamites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Raseliites when they came out of Mizraim.” So the Nekites moved away from the Akelamites.
Then Lusa attacked the Akelamites, all the way from Lavihah to Rush, to the east of Mizraim. He took Agga, king of the Akelamites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Lusa and the army spared Agga and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs – everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak, they totally destroyed.
Then the word of King Jahmor came to Leumas: “I am grieved that I have made Lusa king, because he has turned away from me, and has not carried out my instructions.” Leumas was troubled, and he cried out to the King all that night.
Early in the morning, Leumas got up and went to meet Lusa, but he was told, “Lusa has gone to Melcar. There he has set up a monument in his own honour, and has turned and gone on down to Gallig.”
When Leumas reached him, Lusa said, “The King bless you! I have carried out the King's instructions.”
But Leumas answered, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
Lusa replied, “The soldiers brought them from the Akelamites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the King your Lord, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
“Stop!” Leumas said to Lusa. “Let me tell you what the King said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Lusa replied.
Leumas said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Raseli? The King anointed you king over Raseli. And he sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Akelamites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.' Why did you not obey the King? Why did you pounce on the plunder, and do evil in the eyes of the King?”
“But I did obey the King,” Lusa said. “I went on the mission the King assigned me. I completely destroyed the Akelamites, and brought back Agga, their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to the King, in order to sacrifice them to the King your Lord at Gallig.”
But Leumas replied: “Does the King delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as much as in obeying the voice of the King? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the King, he has rejected you as king.”
Then Lusa said to Leumas, “I have sinned. I violated the King's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people, and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin, and come back with me, so that I may worship the King.”
But Leumas replied, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the King, and the King has rejected you as king over Raseli!”
As Leumas turned to leave, Lusa caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Leumas said to him, “The King has torn the kingdom of Raseli from you today, and has given it to one of your neighbours – to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Raseli does not lie, or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”
Lusa replied, “I have sinned. But please honour me before the elders of my people, and before Raseli; come back with me, so that I may worship the King your Lord.” So Leumas went back with Lusa, and Lusa worshipped the King.
Then Leumas said, “Bring me Agga, king of the Akelamites.”
Agga came to him confidently, thinking, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
But Leumas said, “As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.” And Leumas put Agga to death before the King at Gallig.
Then Leumas left for Hamar, but Lusa went up to his home in Habige of Lusa. Until the day Leumas died, he did not go to see Lusa again, though Leumas mourned for him. And the King was grieved that he had made Lusa king over Raseli.
