Chapter 12
The Desert Tabernacle ~ continued from Chapter 12 | Ark of the Covenant
For a soldier who fought constantly for survival the real power came from the fear that the Ark generated. The acacia wood box was two and a half cubits by one and a half cubits and was gold plated inside and out.
The common soldier did not read or write and if he did read it was Aramaic and not the Hebrew spoken by the upper classes or the priestly caste, the tribe of Levis. A soldier was fearful of touching the Ark on pain of blindness or death. He wanted it close but not too close and he wanted the Ark as a weapon against his enemies. The Ark was a symbol of fear.
A soldier standing beside Abner’s tent came up to the group.
“Follow me.”
He walked toward a group of tents and turned to Shimea as he said, “You can all stay here.”
The tent was larger than the rest and had a wooden table with a bowl of fruit. The makeshift beds were brought as they opened the tent flap and stood inside.
“Rest,” the guard said as he walked away.
A small, slender woman lit a fire inside the tent and placed a heating plate over the fire. Another woman brought in plates of food and began to prepare it.
David and Shimea huddled around the fire while Yazan and Aron stretched out on the beds.
“Opportunity,” David whispered to Shimea.
“What? To be killed by Philistines or blinded by the Ark?”
Shimea warmed his hands by the fire.
“I don’t see opportunity here.”
David was quiet and watched the fire heat the rabbit on the hot plate.
Shimea turned and whispered to David, “I see death here.”
“Who are we, a group who doesn’t belong?” Aron said.
“We have to make our way in the world.”
David peeled an apple from the bowl. “Don’t we?”
“Like this.” Shimea moved closer to the fire. “On a mission like this.”
David bit into the apple.
“Think of this as a scouting patrol, nothing more.”
“Nothing more.”
“Of course.”
David threw back the hood from his soaked robe, allowing his red hair to fall to his shoulders. He took the last few bites of his apple.
“About the Ark of the Covenant,” Shimea whispered loudly.
David turned on Shimea, “Stop worrying so much.”
“What?”
“Did you ever think that we are alone now? Let the priest worry and carry around our anxieties and failures and raise them up through prayer. We have to live our lives, not huddle in the corners waiting for the next pronouncement from on high which may never come.”
They both looked into the fire that spat and hissed with the meat on the spit.
“I miss Bethlehem,” Shimea said.
“So do I,” said David as he yawned and shook himself.
Before dawn, David and his small group of men made for the Wadi es-Suweinit, which was 10 miles north from Gibeah. Their horses’ breath trailed off in the morning air as they trotted toward the rugged pass at Michmash. On either side were high, jagged mountains that fell 60 feet to the pass below.
“Slowly,” Aron said as he took the lead.
He whispered as they approached the deep gorge. He looked down and over at the pass carved out of the rock.
“I wouldn’t want to be caught going through there,” said Aron as he stopped his horse and looked behind at the others.
“It’s too dark,” Shimea said.
“Do we wait till light?” said Yazan as his horse whinnied and pawed at the ground.
“I see firelight above the pass,” Aron said.
“The Philistines are camped above,” David said as he dismounted.
“Tie up the horses here,” Aron whispered.
The men tied up their horses and began a quick run across the barren trails until they reached the outskirts of the war camp on the rugged hillside. They hid behind the rough brambles and bushes that fought to survive on the rugged mountain pass.
Two oxen attached to a wagon bellowed in the morning.
“We need that wagon,” David whispered.
“Why?” Yazan said as he slunk below the bushes.
“That’s not firelight,” said David pointing to the light beaming steadily from the camp.
“Wait here,” said Aron as he moved out from the bushes and ran towards the light.
The others waited in silence, the rain and wind whipping at their faces. The light seemed to flicker and then fade among the mountain paths. But then it became stronger and beamed warmth towards the men.
“The Ark,” Shimea said.
Silence played upon the craggy mountain as light and dark fought over the trails and muddy paths that led down toward the valley. Dawn would soon break but now only faded light was scattered across the deep gorge.
“We need to move before daybreak,” David said.
Aron returned breathing heavily with his robes soaked with rain and matted with dirt.
“It’s buried in a shallow gully,” he breathed. “One guard is standing, no, sitting half asleep with his helmet off.”
“What do you mean?”
“He is sitting but he is as tall as we are standing. He is a mountain.”
“How far away from us?” David asked.
“Five hundred yards.”
Aron wiped his face from the rain and mud.
“No other guards?” Yazan asked.
“Not that I could see,” said Aron who continued to breathe heavily.
“So we kill the guard and take the wagon, yes?”
David looked at the other men.
“I’ll drive,” Yazan said as he tightened his belt against his robe.
“I’ll get close and first use my sling then slit his throat.”
David took out his sling.
Shimea looked at the hillside as the morning broke.
“I will follow you and kill this giant once you have hit him with your stones.”
Aron stood up quickly.
“I’ll show you the path and then go with Yazan.”
The group crouched low and ran toward the Philistine camp and the light that was breaking over the mountains.
David ran as close as he could get to the Ark and wagon and hid behind some brambles and bushes. There in the rain on the hillside as morning broke he lowered himself to the ground with a good view of the giant.
He closed his eyes and let the world slip away. All he heard was his breathing and all he felt was the wet, rough earth below him. The mountain faded, the rain slowed and the wind dropped so that all he heard was his heartbeat.
From his mountain perch high up on the hillside he gathered a pile of stones and then took the largest and rubbed it with his forefinger. He blew out his breath and slowed his heart again. The giant was sitting on the ground and was leaning to one side as if half asleep.
David took aim and fired. He hit his mark and then fired more stones until his pile was empty. The mountain of a man uttered a small cry and then slowly tried to rise to his full height. He came to his knees bellowed like a wild animal then slipped in the mud. His robes were wet and heavy and the giant struggled to move. He was slobbering and wiping away blood at his mouth.
Shimea came and stood over the mountain man and buried his sword in him as the sun came up over the mountains. Yazan led the oxen by the reins while Aron jumped onto the wagon.
Continue reading… Chapter 12 | We Attack Here
[…] Chapter 12 The Desert Tabernacle ~ continued from Chapter 12 | The Mountain Man […]