Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6) QUOTES

1 " 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)

2 " I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. Yahweh is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my god, and I will praise him, my father’s god, and I will exalt him. Then Rahab turned back and faced Caleb again, and recited, Yahweh is a man of war; Yahweh is his name. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

3 " Caleb and Joshua stopped and watched the prophets. The three of them were staring at Rahab as if they saw something in her that they did not quite understand. Then a shudder and a gasp of breath seemed to flow from one to the other. Everyone in the room saw it. It was like a rushing wind that penetrated their bodies, but only their bodies, no one else’s. It was the Spirit of the living God. One of the prophets spoke up, “Thus saith Yahweh, behold this woman before you will bear a child in the line of Judah.” The second spoke as if continuing the sentence like they were all three connected in spirit. “It will be a royal bloodline from which a king of Israel shall arise. A gibborim warrior.” And the last one finished, “The Seed of Promise shall issue forth who will crush the Seed of the Serpent.” A strange peace came over Rahab. It was as if Yahweh’s spirit rested upon her as well. It was as if he were comforting her, clearing away all her doubt, and all her years of pain and anguish in search of one true love. And now she had found it. She kept clinging to Caleb. The prophets then lost their breath and looked at one another. The Spirit that had come over them was now gone. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

4 " They kept the prophecy hidden. They emphasized the levirate nature of the marriage in order to stress its legal side. It would be hard for the scribes to argue with the Torah, the revealed law of Yahweh. The first order of business was business. Caleb signed a contract, called a ketubbah, with Rahab’s father. This was the transfer of authority from father to husband and was the legal foundation of the marriage. Caleb then paid a dowry to her father of fifty shekels, according to their law. This was the customary money held in faith by the father should a wife’s husband forsake her through divorce or death. The next order of business was for the wife to give an inventory accounting of her assets that would be transferred to her husband’s estate. Since Rahab had left everything behind but her family when Jericho was destroyed, she had nothing. To Caleb that sacrifice was more than he could ever offer her. The next stage in a normal wedding with a virgin was not the celebration, but consummation. The husband and wife would go to the father’s home and consummate their union in the marriage bed. A white cloth would be placed beneath the virgin so that there would be a discharge of blood with her first carnal knowledge of a man. The cloth would then be taken to the celebration feast to prove her virginity and a priest would pronounce a benediction over them. But this was not a normal wedding with a virgin. Because of the shame of this lack of virginity, Rahab requested that they perform the ceremony and celebration before they would leave to consummate. This way, attention would not be drawn to her shame. Caleb graciously agreed. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

5 " as he read through the Levitical laws, he received a vision of Yahweh’s holiness so pure and intense, it was like a blinding light that pierced his soul. Israel was a royal priesthood of Yahweh’s perfection. And he understood again that Yahweh’s laws were not restrictive, but freeing. They were the boundaries for experiencing the best that the creator offered to humanity. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

6 " The Son of Man stood before the throne of witnesses and began his legal defense of Yahweh’s War. Mikael waited impatiently in his place, knowing that he was needed by Israel as soon as they could get this ridiculous restraining order thrown out of court. Unlike the Accuser, the Son of Man would follow protocol and properly give honor to the Judge of all things. “Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Yahweh, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh? Who among the gods is like Yahweh, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O Yahweh Elohim of hosts, the heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. You have taken your place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods you hold judgment. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

7 " Yahweh Elohim retreated with his divine council to deliberate the verdict. When he returned, he announced to the lawyers at the bar, “I declare the defense righteous in standing. The Accuser has failed to provide proof of his charges against Yahweh’s right to eminent domain, and his use of Israel as his instruments of justice.” “Your honor,” spouted the Accuser, “I demand a court order for a stay of execution. This is a capital trial and I think we need to reexamine the evidence in light of the extreme sentence.” “Motion denied,” said Yahweh Elohim. “The iniquity of the Amorites is complete. Canaan has filled up the measure of its guilt. Israel shall commence its possession of the land immediately. Court is dismissed. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

8 " Joshua and Caleb had been anticipating for forty years. They stood side by side with the people of Israel behind them. They followed Yahweh’s very specific directions in how they would cross the river and enter into Canaan. They watched the priests carry the Ark of the Covenant to the water’s edge and step their feet just into the bank, waiting for a miracle. The miracle would have to deal with the fact that this was the springtime, when the river was flooded with a stronger current. At this location it was about one hundred and fifty feet wide and about twelve feet deep. Crossing thousands of people in riverboats would take many days. But Yahweh had promised a sign that he would be true to his word that he would not fail to drive out the inhabitants of the land before them. That sign began seventeen miles north of their location near the city of Adam. An earthquake shook the earth mounds around the river and a large landslide of debris tumbled down causing a temporary damming of the Jordan river. The water stopped flowing southward and dried up the riverbed where the Israelites were standing with the Ark. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

9 " The people buzzed with excitement and were amazed. Caleb watched it all with his poetic eye. He had seen how Yahweh was establishing Joshua as a new Moses to lead the people. This water crossing was reminiscent of the crossing of the Red Sea during the exodus under Moses. Joshua’s coronation occurred after coming down from the mountain much like Moses came down Sinai with the tablets of the Law. And now Yahweh talked to Joshua almost as he had talked to Moses. The priests carrying the Ark now walked out onto the dried up riverbed and stood with it in the middle as the people crossed over in procession. According to Yahweh’s own commands, twelve chosen men, one from each of the twelve tribes, pulled twelve large stones out of the riverbed from around the priests. They carried them to where they would be camping that night and placed them in a pile as a memorial of this day. At the same time, twelve others gathered a stone each and placed a pile of those stones in the center of the riverbed where the priests were standing. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

10 " After the people had hastily crossed over, the priests took up the Ark and left the pile of stones in the riverbed. As soon as they had made their way onto the dry land, the waters of the Jordan began to flow again and the river renewed its course to the Dead Sea. The people made camp at a location they called Gilgal. They set up metal forges to immediately begin manufacturing more weapons for the Yahweh Wars before them. Forty troop units came over for battle with the people. But not all of Israel came over with them that day. The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh had begged Moses before he died to give them the land east of the Jordan as their inheritance. It was where they had conquered Sihon and Og, and it was a rich fertile area that the tribes desired. He had granted it to them on the condition that they would send their warriors across the Jordan to fight with the rest of the tribes in Canaan. Only after they had secured their victories would they be allowed to go back and build their lives with their tribes in the Transjordan. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

11 " But the ceremonial preparations were not yet finished. Ever since the exodus, the Israelites had failed to perform the sign of the Abrahamic covenant on their sons: circumcision. Circumcision was the act of cutting off the foreskin of the male genital organ of Israelite boys at the eighth day after birth. It was the badge of covenant that marked the Israelite commitment to Yahweh. Some believed it was a physical picture of spiritual cleansing from a sheath of corruption. Others believed it was a symbol of Yahweh’s blessing upon Abraham’s fathering of a multitude of nations. Yahweh never explained. But explanation was not required for obedience. And obedience was not a badge of the grumbling and complaining exodus generation. By the time that generation had died out, no one was circumcised in the entire nation of Israel. Joshua had the priests make flint knives and they circumcised every male in Israel. There was much pain and crying by men throughout the camp, but they had healed within a week and were ready for battle. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

12 " One last element remained for the consecration of the Children of Israel. On the fourteenth day of the first month of Nisan the people all kept the Passover meal in their new base of operations at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho. The Passover was a feast that commemorated God’s tenth and final plague on Egypt, the death of the first-born. Before their exodus from Egyptian slavery the Israelites were commanded by Yahweh to slaughter a lamb and brush its blood over the doorposts of their homes. The Destroyer then came to kill the first-born of every family in Egypt, but passed over those with the blood on their lintels. It was the last plague that Yahweh sent on Pharaoh to bend his will. When Pharaoh’s own son succumbed to the Angel of Death, it did not merely bend Pharaoh, it broke him, and he let Moses and his people leave the land of the Nile. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

13 " their entrance into the Promised Land of Yahweh be accompanied by the first of their Feasts that marked their exodus, an event that would forever be etched into their souls like the permanent markings on the monuments of Egypt. From Gilgal they would launch their campaign of military conquest of the land. On that day, they ate of the produce of the land of Canaan, their unleavened cakes and their parched grain. And on that very day, the manna ceased from heaven. They were now in the land of milk and honey. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

14 " His voice bellowed with strength and courage, “People of Israel, Yahweh has spoken to me and has told me to be strong and courageous, for we will inherit this land that Yahweh had sworn to our forefathers! But we must be careful to do according to all the law that Moses commanded us! We must not turn from it to the right or to the left, and only then will we have success wherever we go! The book of the Law shall not depart from our mouths, but we shall meditate on it day and night, for Yahweh our Elohim is with us wherever we go!” The people applauded. Caleb beamed with honor. They had been through so much. They had survived thirst and starvation in a desert land, the death of loved ones, rebellion, plagues, famines, and wars. And now, finally, finally they were about to gain their inheritance. Their eternal wandering would be over. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

15 " Joshua finished his charge to the people, “We are about to face a land of people more numerous than us, a land of giants, of cities with walls that reach up to heaven! But again, I say, be strong and courageous and fear not! For we battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in high places! But we are surrounded by an army of Yahweh’s heavenly host, ten thousand times ten thousand strong! We will triumph! Our god will triumph!” The congregation burst out in applause again. This time, it must have been heard across the plains in the very first city targeted for destruction: Jericho. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

16 " Are you for us or for our adversaries?” he asked. “No,” said the figure. Caleb said, “No, you are not for us, or no, you are not for our adversaries?” The figure said, “Neither. I am the commander of the army of Yahweh.” Joshua whispered under his breath, “The Angel of Yahweh.” He was the Son of Man in an earthly presence. Joshua and Caleb dropped to their knees and worshipped the Angel, who said, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are is holy.” Joshua and Caleb obeyed. Caleb knew in his heart this was another connection to Moses who had removed his sandals before the burning bush of Yahweh’s presence. The Angel spoke with a calm assurance, “I would wager you are wondering how in the world you are going to assault the mighty walls of Jericho.” Joshua said, “The thought had crossed our minds, my Lord. You would not happen to have any secrets about its weaknesses that might help us?” “No,” said the Angel. “But be strong and courageous this day, for I will tell you how you will conquer the city by the power of Yahweh. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

17 " We what? Walk around the city seven times in seven days and blow our trumpets? Forgive me, my Commander, but what is that going to do, kill them with laughter?” The other commanders snickered. Joshua chose not to be angry. He thought it was rather silly himself. “Our god has quite a sense of humor, does he not? But nevertheless, he did tell me that is what we should do. So, unless you have a better idea than Yahweh, Salmon, I suggest we obey him and see his salvation.” Salmon was duly chastised. “Forgive my offense, commander.” Joshua said with a smile, “You are forgiven, Salmon. You are too good of a spy.” Caleb was impressed with Joshua’s temperament. His sense of holiness would normally be offended at remarks like that. Perhaps he was beginning to appreciate Yahweh’s sense of humor after all. Joshua ended his remarks, “And remember, Commanders, avoid the home with the scarlet rope. Caleb and Salmon, you will be responsible for Rahab’s deliverance. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

18 " The Israelites marched quietly in line about five soldiers wide. They circled the city in some kind of ritual procession to the sound of constant ram’s horns creating a kind of marching order. Then she saw in the middle of the train a group of seven priestly looking men dressed in white garments. They blew the ram’s horns whose sound seemed to penetrate the city walls and into her very bones. Behind those seven were another four priests carrying a strange looking gold box on poles like a kingly carriage. Behind those were three monkish men who looked like they may be prophets. She could see the box’s golden surface glinting in the sun, and could only surmise that it was some kind of graven image of Yahweh, their deity—now, her deity. A shiver went down her spine. She had become so absorbed in the sight before her that she had forgotten her sister was still with her. When Yasha spoke, Rahab jumped with fright. “Who do you think they are? Are they bad men come to hurt us?” “No,” said Rahab. “They are not bad men, Yasha. Go get mother and father and your siblings. I am calling a family meeting in the tavern. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

19 " Tomorrow will be our victory.” He gave an angry look at Caleb and added, “But it will be a holy victory. For Yahweh has declared that the city and all that is within is herem, devoted to Yahweh for destruction.” The men gave each other somber looks. Joshua continued, “Only Rahab the harlot and all her family with her in her house shall be spared because she has helped Israel. All items of silver and gold, bronze, and iron are to be brought to the tabernacle. They shall be cleansed and placed in the treasury of Yahweh. But every living thing, men and women, young and old, as well as the oxen, sheep, and donkeys shall be put to the sword. There can be no compromise in this herem. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)

20 " The seventh time around, the Israelites stopped in their procession near the south walls of the city. The priests stopped blowing their horns. The priests toted the Ark away back to camp, followed by the prophets. The soldiers closed in the gap. Joshua then rode out on his horse and yelled at the top of his lungs, “SHOUT, FOR THE LORD HAS GIVEN YOU THE CITY!” With that, the sound of several thousand Israelites yelling a war cry reverberated all the way up to the Commander’s post. It was also accompanied by the ram’s horns again. But this time it was a long blow that lasted the length of the battle cry. And then all was silent. Alyun waited for something to happen. But nothing did. "

― Brian Godawa , Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 6)