186
" The three of them lay over Edna’s body and wept. Wife, mother, servant of Elohim, she was now with her Creator. They buried her body near a large terebinth tree by the brook. Terebinth were sacred trees that were considered places of communion with deity. Edna had been a conduit of communion with Elohim for Methuselah. She was the most powerful proof of God’s presence and goodness to him. Through her he came to understand grace, goodness, strength, perseverance, and a faith that he did not have in himself. She had been both submissive wife and godly inspiration to him, his perfect ezer. He would never have known happiness but for her. He would never know happiness again without her. They laid the stones upon the resting place as a memorial, and prayed to Elohim, and wept and sang songs of hope. Then they ate a meal together. "
― Brian Godawa , Enoch Primordial (Chronicles of the Nephilim #2)
187
" All about her she saw that two thousand out of the horde had made it across the water. They were on the frontier of Eden. A mere two thousand combatants for the invasion of an impregnable fortress. Five out of six Nephilim had perished at the mercy of Rahab and her brood of Leviathan and the tentacled one. The devastation was inestimable. It could lose her the war. Still, she had two thousand warriors with her. They were on the shores of the entrance to the Garden that hid the Tree of Life deep in its midst. Thanks to the Cursed One, she knew exactly where that tree was. She looked for her Rephaim generals but could not find them. They had all been lost to the denizens of the deep. An earthquake rocked the land. It was deep, the precursor of something much bigger. “Now what?” Inanna complained. She looked onto the horizon of her destination. Black smoke billowing out of the mountaintops of not only Mount Sahand, but the more distant northern Mount Savalan. The earth rumbled again. She realized she did not have much time. She signaled for her Anzu bird, and called out to Utu, flying above them at a safe height. “SOUND THE CRY OF WAR!” she bellowed. Utu put the trumpet to his lips and blew with all his might. The war cry of Inanna echoed throughout the land. Her Nephilim gathered their arms and dashed toward the heart of Eden. Inanna mounted her thunderbird. She glanced out at the Lake. Rahab glided on the surface, its eyes watching her. It would not forget this day, nor the Watcher, who for one moment bested the sea dragon of the Abyss. • • • • • At the top of the Mount Sahand ridge, six thousand Nephilim prepared their sail-chutes. They waited for the call of war. When it came, they jumped off the cliff edge by the dozens. They opened up their sails to float down into the Garden. Handfuls of them failed and Nephilim plummeted to their deaths a thousand feet below. But most of them worked. The Nephilim drifted from the heavens into the pristine paradise. Right into the flaming whirling swords of the Cherubim. "
― Brian Godawa , Enoch Primordial (Chronicles of the Nephilim #2)
192
" The climax of the festival came on the fifth day. It was full of ceremonies, purifications, and rituals, including intercessory prayers, the building of a shrine, and an exorcism of evil spirits from the temple. But the most important event was the ritual humiliation of the king before Marduk. The humiliation of the king consisted of a sesgallu priest stripping the king of the symbols of his power, his mace, his scepter and crown. These elements were placed before Marduk in his throne room. Then the priest went back and slapped the king across the cheek, yanked his ears, and led him before the presence of Marduk, to kneel in supplication and prayer. It was indeed humiliating for Nimrod; a mere reflection of the sexual domination Marduk imposed on Nimrod in private chambers. It publicly reinforced the hierarchy of power. It represented a reversion to chaos followed by the renewal of order, a reiteration of the very fertility rite of the entire festival. Marduk then returned the emblems and insignia of kingship to Nimrod for one more year. "
― Brian Godawa , Abraham Allegiant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 4)
193
" Yahweh is a god who atones,” he replied. “Whatever was done to you is not your sin. And whatever you have done can be removed from you as far as the east is from the west. If righteousness were based on our own goodness, none of us would stand. None of us are worthy of his presence. We are all stained by evil. We are made clean by blood atonement.” She protested, “But I am not of Abraham’s seed. I was born under the cursed flesh of Edom.” “So am I. I was born a Kenizzite, a descendant of Edom as well. But Yahweh accepts those of any nation who turn from their idols to the living God of all flesh. It is faith that Yahweh wants, Rahab, not flesh.” A sudden silence penetrated their conversation. Rahab felt as if a great weight had lifted from her soul. The dark cloud that had followed her ever since she became a follower of Yahweh was dissolved in the cleansing of a spring rain. She smiled and said softly, tenderly, “Yes, I will marry you, "
― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)
195
" I submit that if Elohim is truly ‘sovereign over his creation,’” the Accuser said, his words dripping with venom, “then he is responsible for all the evil that exists in the world. If he is not so sovereign, then he is an impotent deity without the authority to back up his covenant.” The Accuser took a dramatic pause, pretending he was holding back a flood of empathetic tears. Then he finished, “A covenant is supposed to be constitutional, the very bedrock of truth and justice. This covenant is unconstitutional because its creator is a king who is a totalitarian oppressor, a cheat who makes the rules of the game to favor himself; a despotic dictator and tyrant who claims absolute ownership over creation; and worse, a genocidal emperor, who, mark my words, will soon kill everyone on earth who gets in the way of his imperialist empire! "
― Brian Godawa , Enoch Primordial (Chronicles of the Nephilim #2)
