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1

When Yishak  was  seventeen  years  of  age  Lilith  set  about to complete  the task  that  had  been  laid upon  her  brother Melchizedek. Sha visited the town called Harran in  the land of Avraham's  kin and  gave har  name as  Eliez- er,  a servant  of Avraham,  who was  known  to  the townsfolk. Soon sha was  in- troduced to Bethuel,  the son  of Milcah  who was  the wife  of Nahor. And Nahor, in turn, was Avraham's brother.

In the household  of Bethuel  there dwelt  a young  woman named Rebekah. She was Avraham's great niece,  and therefore Yishak's first cousin once-re- moved. Eyeing her, Lilith told Bethuel it had fallen to har to find a wife for Yishak from among Abraham's kin. Lilith could, at  need, dis-  pense  of Avraham's  entire estate. For the purpose at hand sha had brought  as much as her ten mules could carry, as well as precious stones and jew- elry from Kemen itself. All these riches sha dangled before the eyes of Bethuel, which prompted  him to say,  "Rebekah, will  you go with this young man Eliezer?"

To the eyes of the Earth-born Lilith, as did  also har brother before har and all the elyonim of Kemen both  male and female, had the appearance  of  an adolescent  human  boy of  abnormal height. Sha had  no  beard,  and har  hair,  even  when  left unattended, could not grow to any great length.

When Bethuel posed his question  Rebekah was formally  asked to take her place  in the story set in motion  when Bat-El inserted herself into human history and bade Avraham to go to the land of Canaan. But the dis- play of  wealth did not sway  Rebekah. She wanted to know more about this Yishak she was bid to wed.

So Lilith spoke to Rebekah of  the time three years  prior when Yishak feared losing  his life  at the  point of  a blade. She remaining carefully vague about the fact that it was Melchizedek who had relayed  the kill  order from  the very  eloah who  was worshiped by Avraham as his deity. And Lilith told Rebekah how the incident caused Yishak to develop a more profound affection for his mother, while deliberately  neglecting to tell  her how Yishak in fact  almost never  left his  mother's tent  after he barely escaped being sacrificed to his father's god.

Lilith used all  the statecraft  sha  had learned  at the  foot of har  father  King  Melchiyahu. Yet Rebekah  did  not  make her decision on  the basis  of Lilith's  testimony of  Yishak's personal character. Lilith had presented hymself to Rebekah and her family as  courteous, humble,  and devout. The gifts were obligatory. Something still seemed a bit off, but she decided to proceed on a hunch. She judged Lilith to be a good  man, for a man she thought har to be.

Rebekah was very intelligent and it stood to reason that if the servant was a good man  then Lilith's masters, her  kin Avraham and Yishak, must be good men as well. So she answered her father Bethuel by saying, "I will go."

Then Lilith went south to  the oasis  at Beersheba and  put the hand of Rebe- kah in Yishak's hand. Yishak brought Rebekah into his late mother Sarah's tent and  took her as his  wife, and he loved her. So was Yishak comforted  after his  mother's recent death. Lilith, in  a  sense,  had provided  Yi-  shak  with  a replacement  mother. Rebekah sensed this  and  felt perhaps  a twinge  of  regret, but  she  was  an  honorable woman  who  had assented to the marriage sight unseen.

In the three and thirtieth year of the Covenant Avraham died and his son Yishak became High Priest of Bat-El. Yishak begat twin sons and named  them Esau  and Yakob. And when he was  of age Yakob, as the younger son by mere moments, took possession of a third of the livestock and  servants belonging to his father. He departed from the lands  north of Mount  Nebo in  modern Jordan where Yishak had  grazed his  flocks from  the time  his father Abraham died.

In the three and sixtieth year of the Covenant Yishak died. Esau buried him in the tomb that held the bones of his grandparents. He left his mother Rebekah in the keeping of his chief steward, then he went out with his flocks and his servants to search for his brother and tell him of the pass- ing of their father.

For three generations of men  Bat-El and Shemhazai  had carried out a test to see if one clan on Earth could maintain a covenant with the elohim  without any  intervention. At the command  of Shemhazai a  prince of  the city  of Adan  named Yisrael  made a journey to Canaan to see the place with hyz own eyes.

Yisrael took little thought for his  personal safety. Shemhazai had told him Yakob was more the son of his  mother than the son of his  father,  a  man  who  preferred  the  womanly  arts  of whispering and plotting to more masculine action on the field of the hunt or battle.

When Yisrael caught up  with Yakob his  animals and  family and servants were crossing the  Jordan River from  the east  to the west. Already his servants had crossed with  two hundred twenty goats, two hundred twenty  sheep, thirty horses,  fifty cattle, twenty asses, and ten foals, but Yakob hung back  with the rest of his flock as a rearguard against someone he  happened to see by chance.

Yakob hid himself amid thick vegetation near the place where the Zarqa River merged  with the  Jordan River. When the stranger approached, una- ware of  Yakob's presence, Yakob  assailed him without warning. There ensued a bitter fistfight  that changed into an legendary wrestling match.

The stranger kept grasping Yakob's clothing to hurl him around, so Yakob shed his  clothing and fought  entirely in  the nude. Then Yisrael  saw how  Abraham's  grandson  bore the  peculiar genital mutilation that Shemhazai had  demanded in his  bid to sabotage Bat-El's experiment. So Yisrael had the answer hy had come to Earth  looking for,  but there  was still  the growing matter of the ongoing tussle. As they fought Yakob kept asking, 'Who are you?' but Yisrael refused to identify himself.

As the night wore on hy grew dismayed how Yakob proved to be so tena- cious. Yisrael wrenched Yakob's femur out of its socket at the hip, causing intense torment, but Yakob refused to yield. At dawn Yisrael, a full cubit taller than Yakob, was at the end of hyz own resources and near exhaustion. Hy commanded Yakob to let hym go.

Yakob said, "I will not release  you until you tell  me who you are, and bless me."

The stranger said,  "No longer  shall men  call you  Yakob, but Yisrael, for  you have contended  with elyonim and men,  and you have prevailed. You have even wrested my name away, and taken it for your own."

Then Yakob unhanded the bruised ophan,  nameless now. Shemhazai cracked open a fold-door  little more than  a cubit  tall, just enough for the ophan nobleman to wriggle back into Kemen like a maggot.

Three of Yisrael's sons found their father beaten and unable to stand, with a  dislocated hip. Two of them held him down with a bit between his  teeth while the third popped it  back in place. With help he was able  rejoin his wives,  but he walked  with a limp for the rest of his life.

Esau drew near with his men. Yisrael put forth his four children with their two mothers, then passed in front of  them and bowed before his brother. Esau embraced and kissed him, and revealed the death of their father, and they both wept.

Yisrael begged his brother to accept the gift of herd animals he had al- ready sent to him, saying, "Take them  please, my lord, because God Most  High has dealt graciously with me,  and I have enough. More than enough!"

Esau accepted the gifts and assured Yisrael that none of his men gave Yisrael his  beating. Then he ventured  on ahead  because Yisrael had chil- dren and young animals and now a limp, and he could not travel very fast.

Yisrael would ponder the strange nighttime fight for the rest of his life, whenever his limp prompted him. Ultimately he drew the conclusion that God had sent  a thrall to  put him to  the test even as his grandfa- ther had been tested with an order to slay his father Yishak.

Yishak never felt much love for the one he  knew as El Shaddai, or God Most High, after his boyhood brush with  death, and this ambivalence seemed to breed true in Esau. Yisrael was the more devout son, made all the more so by the nocternal fight. Trained by his grandfather Avraham himself, Yisrael was the high priest who mediated the covenant, but  among his own progeny  only his third son, Levi, was willing to aid him in making the re- quired yearly sacrifice of the best animals.

Yisrael knew he could do a thing that would assure the fruit of his loins would  never dwindle in their devotion  to El Shaddai, simply by making it in the  best interest of his  son Levi, and Levi's sons after him, to maintain that devotion. This he did by forbidding them ever to own land.

Esau continued in all the ways  of a wanderer passed  down from his grandfa- ther Avraham to  his father Yishak to  himself. He traversed the land  with  his people,  and  his flocks  greatly increased. But Yisrael began  to  tarry  in the  hill  country between the river and  the sea where  few inhabitants  dwelt at that particular time.

On a hilltop Yisrael built an altar unto God  Most High, and he named  that place  Beit-El, or  House  of God. Yisrael and his servants built a courtyard  around the  altar, and  ringed this open area with houses of  mud brick laid on  stone foundations. And the hillside  was terraced  for crops. Trees were planted bearing olives and fruits,  but the animals  were set  to graze freely nearby.

Yisrael begat a daughter named  Dinah, and he begat  sons Levi, Judah, and Joseph. When he was of age Judah departed Beit-El and taking his inheri- tance of  servants and animals he  built the town of Hebron near the tomb of his grandfather.

When Joseph departed with his inheritance of servants beat down the tower of Rabbah, and the  men of that fenced  city came out before them, but God dicomfited them before  Joseph with stones of ice from heaven and he slew more of the males of Rabbah than Joseph and his servants did with the edge of  the word. And the servants of  Yisrael  who  dwelt  among  them  begat  sons  and daughters of  their own,  and  they  were  free, and  the  same intermarried with the children of Yisrael, and  they became one covenant people in the eyes of God.

Judah son of Yisrael took to wife Mahlah daughter  of Shuah and begat Zerah and Perez. The same Perez led a force that slew the Canaanites who inhab- ited Zephath, and killed of them a hundred men. And Perez begat Hezron,  who begat  Jerahmeel, who  begat Achar. The same Achar became chieftain of the tribe of Benjamin. And the Benjaminites  built the  cities of  Gibeon and  Ai, and seized Jericho and Gilgal. The tribe occupied the high country around Beit-El even  as far  as the  river in  the East  in the Valley of Salt.

Joseph begat Machir,  who built  the  town of  Socoh after  the manner of Beit- El. And Joseph also begat a son, Becher, who led a company to waylay the men  of Juttah, and smote  their horses and chariots, and slew the Juttahites with a great slaughter.

Yisrael's son Levi remained  in Beit-El and  was taught  of his father in all the ways of the Abrahamic Covenant, that he might become high priest  after the  passing of  his father. Yisrael lived to see his family  grow to  seventy persons, and  when he died there was no single  patriarch holding author- ity over all his descendants. But the seed of Levi scattered among their kin and became dependent upon  them for  necessities. The house of Levi became the the glue that united the clan.

Yisrael dwelt in Beit-El until the end of his days and he begat more sons and daughters. In the nine and ninetieth year of the Covenant he died and  was laid  in the  cave of  Machpelah that housed the bones of his ancestors.

2

Hamon came to Levi  in Beit-El  and said to  him, "I  am called Anush, a mes-  senger and servant of God Most  High. Rehearse in my hearing the Seven Words of the Covenant of your fathers." And Levi said to the one he knew as Anush:

Serve only God Most High

Make no images

Slay no innocent

Have no intercourse without a deed of marriage

Steal no property

Consume no blood

Every male of you shall be circumcised

Anush said, "You  have spoken  well. The  same words  you shall write in  a scroll. I am  bid to say Seven  new commandments God Most High now communi- cates to  you, and these you shall add to the scroll, for they and the com- mandments that come after them shall be binding upon all the children of Yisrael."

The office of high priest shall pass from father to son

The succeding High Priest shall make a new copy  of the Book of the Covenant

Make an ark of wood for the Book of the Covenant

On the Day of Atonement the children of Yisrael shall do no work and take no food or water

On the Day of Atonement kill a young bullock on the altar

On the Day of Atonement burn all the fat of  the bullock on the altar

On the Day of Atonement take the blood of  the bullock and draw it upon the  ark of  the  Covenant with  your finger  as a  sin offering

When Anush saw  that Levi  had faithfully  recorded all  these ordinances in  the  Book  of the  Covenant  he  departed  from Beit-El.

In those days Levi son of Yisrael took to wife Adinah of Harran. And the eldest son of  Levi was named  Kohath. Then in the one hundred seven and twentieth year of the Covenant Levi slept with his fathers and Kohath became high priest unto God Most High.

Zerah son of  Judah took  to wife  Parah daughter  of Avim  the Janumite. and he begat Zimri, who begat Seled and Onam. The same Onam smote the Ca- naanites of Metheg-ammah,  subdued them, and took the town out of their hands. Then Onam begat Abinadab, who took to wife Maachah daughter of Shion. The same Abinadab became the first chieftain of the tribe of Judah. The Judahites built the cities of  Eglon  and  Lachish, and  seized  the cities  of Jarmuth and  Jebus, but  the five strong  cities of  the Philis- tines that lay  on the  coast  they could  not possess,  namely Ashkelon, Gaza, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron.

Then Lilith came to  Beit-El and  gave har  name as  Sabaoth, a messenger of God Most High. Sha presented harself before Kohath the high priest and gave unto him a pouch of leather. Sha said, "Contained herein is the Urim, a white stone with black letters, and the Tumim, a black stone with white letters. They are smooth stones which are identical in size and shape, and indeed, if you reach into the pouch, which thing only the High  Priest may do, and that  only on the Day  of Atonement, it will  seem as though the pouch  contains only  a single stone.  Write ye,  then, this ordinance in the Book of the Covenant:

On the Day of Atonement  the high  priest shall inquire  of God Most High by means of the Urim and Tumim

Then Sabaoth said to Kohath, "To  inquire of God Most  High by means of the  Urim and the Tumim is a  signal honor, but attend most carefully that  you do not frame your words  in such a way as to mock the Lord. For God Most High will himself strike down that high priest who holds him in contempt."

With this warning Lilith  departed from Beit-El,  and discarded the name Sa-  baoth,  lest  the children  of  Yisrael take  the malakim, the  messengers  of  God Most  High,  to  be  immortal themselves and begin to fashion images of them.

On the subsequent Day  of Atonement Kohath  prayed to  God Most High, saying, "Lord, if the Ark of the Covenant  should be kept in a  Sanctuary, give  Urim, but  if not,  give Tumim." Then he reached into the pouch  and withdrew a  black stone  with white letters. Levi had his answer from God. This he wrote in the Book of the Covenant.

Build a Sanctuary for the Ark of the Covenant

Then was assembled  the Tent  of Meeting,  and the  ark of  the Covenant, which held the Book of the Covenant and  the Urim and the Tumim, were secreted within. In subsequent years five new commandments were conveyed to Kohath  by means of the  Urim and Tumim, but frequently his proposals were denied by the Lord God, and no more than seven new ordinances were conveyed to any high priest, which thing would tend to focus his  mind. These Bat-El re- vealed to Kohath:

The high priest alone shall enter the Sanctuary

Do not enter the Sanctuary outside of the Day of Atonement

Do not permit the Sanctuary to go unwatched

Do not enter the Sanctuary with torn raiment

No priest shall defile himself by contact with the dead

Hamon and Lilith judged  the arrangement  to be  excellent. The Covenant had  become a  living  thing  with both  humanity  and divinity in cooperation.

In those days Kohath took to wife Beriah daughter  of Libni the Shamirite and his eldest son was named Amram. In the one hundred eight and fiftieth year of  the Covenant Kohath slept  with his fathers and Amram became high priest unto God Most High.

3

Machir son of Joseph begat Heman and Gilead. The same Gilead and a brigade of men fell upon the Canaanite city of Beit-horon and smote three hun- dred  of the defenders  in battle. And Gilead begat Jeezer, who begat Izhar. The same Izhar became the first chieftain of the tribe of  Manesseh. And the Manessehites took possession of the coastlands at Dor. They held Tirzah and Gileed nigh to Mount Gilboa, and all that land from the river north to Megiddo.

Becher son of Joseph took to wife Jashiel daughter  of Eran the Bashanite, and he begat  Ahlai. Also Becher begat  Shelah, who begat Ozem and Caleb. The same Caleb as  captain led  a large company against Hannathon, and burnt  with fire a third  of the houses in the  midst of  the  city, and  smote a  third of  the inhabitants with the edge of the sword, and scattered a third of the inhabitants to the wind. And Caleb begat Azubab. The same Azubab became the first chieftain of the tribe  of Ephraim. The Ephraimites possessed the hills north of Beit-El  even to Mount Ebel and Mount  Geri- zim,  and the  Yisraelite city  of Shiloh waxed strong, but they did  not lay  seige to Shechem  when the inhabitants of that city paid five talents in gold as tribute to Azubab.

Heman son of Machir took  to wife  Tolah daughter of  Achar the Kenahite. He begat Eshean, who begat Azaraiah. Also Eshean begat Jether, who begat Abishur. The same Abishur became  the first chieftain of the tribe  of Naphtali. The Naphtalites overthrew King Jabin at Hazor and siezed the cities of Madon, Shimron, and Achshaph. They occupied all the  lands nigh to Mount  Merom and took tribute from all the towns  north of Lake Chin-  nereth as far as  Kedesh and Leshem. But they were ever assailed  by the Amorites from the east.

Ahlai son of  Becher begat  a  daughter, Zeresh,  and he  begat Shimma. The same Shimma became the first chieftain of the tribe of Asher. The same Shimma became first chieftain of the tribe of Asher. And Ahlai begat other sons and  daughters. The Asherites seized the city of Achshaph,  which name means  sorcery. Shimma named the city anew as Kisson. But that tribe did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko on the coast, and their men of war were turned away from the fenced city of Sidon.

Seled son of Zimri took to wife Keilah daughter of Mushi and he begat Bezaleel. The same Bezaleel became first chieftain of the tribe of Reu- ben. The Reubenities contended with  the Amorite King Shihon of the city of Hesbon for the lands nigh to the Salt Sea under Mount Peor and seized Jahaz and Dibon to the east. To the south lay Ammon, and the western fence was the lands of the tribe of Benjamin.

Ozem son of Shelah took to wife Hazah daughter of Shupham and he begat Uri. The same Uri became the first chieftain of the tribe of Simeon. The Simeonites grazed their flocks nigh to Beersheba even as Father Abraham and Yishak had once done, and built oasis towns in the wilderness  south of the  hill country,  yet their lands were entirely fenced in  by the  tribe of Judah,  and the Simeonites numbered the smallest  among all  the tribes  of the children of Yisrael.

Helek son of Gilead took to wife Abez daughter of Jaleel and he begat Oren, who took to wife Zibiah daughter of Ashnah. The same Oren be- came the first chieftain of the tribe of Zebulun. Oren strengthened himself,  and led  forth  valiant  men with  their chariots to the valley of Jezreel where they smote a thousand of the city  of  Shimron,  and  drove off  much  cattle. And the Zebulunites dwelt in all that land even unto Mount Carmel.

Azariah son of Eshean begat  a daughter, Hamutal, and  he begat Balah, who took to wife Jedidah daughter of Ishi. The same Balah became first chieftain of the tribe of Dan. The Danites were not able to dislodge the inhabitants of Joppa on the sea, nor Ekron with its many olive  oil presses, and  they remained  camped in tents amid the hills ranging around the vale of the river Sorek.

Gibeah son of Achar took to wife Taanath daughter  of Janum the Dumahite. And Gibeah begat Segub,  who begat  Jamin. The same Jamin became the  first  chieftain  of the  tribe  of Gad. The Gadites dwelt along the river Jordan from the Salt Sea north to Lake Chinnereth, and their chief  cites were Jaz- er and Succoth on the River Jabbok. The city of Ramoth- gilead lay fur- thest to the east of any possessed by the children of Yisrael.

Ethan son of Izhar took  to wife Azeakah daughter  of Nethaneel the Aphe- kite. He begat Hammath, who  begat Raddai. The same Raddai became the first chieftain of the tribe of Issachar. The Issacharites took possession of the roads and fields of the vale Jezreel nigh to Mt Tabor and the Hill of Moreh, yet the feet and chariots of many armies  crossed through,  and seldom  did they know peace. And the tribes  of  the children  of Yisrael,  ex- cluding the House of  Levi which  was scattered  throughout the land of prom- ise, numbered fully twelve.

Now these are the generations of  the men who were  high priest unto God Most High. Of old there was Avraham, who was called out of Harran. And Avra- hamn begat Yishak, who begat Yakob, who was called Yisrael. And Yisrael begat Levi,  who begat  Amram, who begat Aaron, who begat Eleazar,  who begat Phinehas,  who begat Abishua, who begat Bukki, who begat Uzzi, who begat Zarahiah.

And the children of  Yisrael had become  a great  nation, which thing was promised to Avraham by El Shaddai at  the time of the making of the Cove- nant. Then Sorath, a messenger of God Most High, came to  Zerahiah and  anointed  his head  with oil,  and declared him to be the first  judge over all the  tribes of the children of Yisrael.

Zerahiah the high priest begat Maraioth, who begat Amariah, who begat Ahi- tub. By Urim  and Tumim  were  the descendents  of Zerahiah also made judge over  all the children of Yisrael, even unto Zadok son of Ahitub.

By Urim and Tumim did  God Most High  assent to Ahitub  to have built a temple  to  fulfill his  original  promise to  Avraham, namely to make Canaan the per- manent home  of his descendants. The Lord commanded that his temple be built in  the city of the Jebusites newly occupied by David, the chieftain of the tribe of Judah.

In the three hundred  one and ninetieth  year of  the covenant Ahitub slept with his fathers, and Zadok son  of Ahitub became high priest unto God Most High  and he judged the  children of Yisrael.

In the sixth year of the high priesthood of Zadok the temple at Jebus, or Jerusalem as it  was renamed, was completed by Solomon son of David, who was chieftain of the tribe  of Judah. The ark of the Covenant was moved to the permanent Sanctuary consecrated there, and the Tent of Meeting was struck down.

4

When Ahimaaz, son of  Zadok, was  made high  priest he  was not chosen by God Most High to judge all the children of Yisrael in his turn. Then Jeroboam son of Nebat of the Ephraimites claimed that he had taken his place, and he had sufficent men under arms to give this claim the force of a decree.

Jeroboam built up his  capital first at  Shechem in  the saddle between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, but them  moved his court to Penuel east of the Jor- dan River where Yakob once fought the ophan Yisrael to a draw. To prevent the people from going down to the new temple in Jerusalem to worship there, Jeroboam set up a golden calf at Beit-El in violation of God's  command to make no images. Jeroboam held forth  that this  calf-image was,  in fact, the  image of  El Elyon,  the God known  to Yisrael  as El Shaddai. The feast days for the golden calf were carefully timed to coincide with the feast days in Jerusalem. But no descendant of Levi ever attended Jeroboam's cult as priest.

Hamon looked up the  timeline and  saw the  affront perpetrated by Jeroboam. Hy said  to  Lilith, "It  was  not sufficient  to communicate to the high priest only  one day out of the year and only by drawing lots by Urim and Tumim." Lilith took thought and said to her husband, "You should cause an oracle  to come to be in the land of promise where you  or I could appear from time to time and give utterance."

"Your counsel seems good," said Hamon,  "yet it i my  hope that such inter- vention  would not be necessary  in every generation of men."

But Lilith warned hym, "If the  shrine is not attended  at all times it will become the haunt of squatters. Servants should be tasked to  maintain it,  whether they be  drawn from  the local population or sent from Kemen."

To this Hamon agreed, but he said, "Such servants  must also be otherwise  occupied, for  it is  a small  thing to  maintain the shrine. With  no visible  means of support  thieves may  come to believe the oracle contains treasure."

In lands wherein dwelt the tribe of Gad, on the western shore of Lake Chin- nereth, Hamon  caused to  be built  a works  for the preservation of fish  by curing  them with  brine. Many of the locals who lived on the  shore of the  lake were hired  to work there, and others worked in the nearby hills to  mine salt, and still others  plied the  waters  to  catch  fish. The town  of Tarichee grew  up around the  pickling plant and taxes  began to roll out by the wagonloads to the chieftain of Gad.

Now the salting operation was built from a  framework of gopher wood import- ed  from Kemen,  which cannot  burn, and  this was covered with limestone slabs. Six more levels rose from the base such that the structure  took on the  appearance of  a ziggurat like those found  in the  east, yet  it was  not made  of solid blocks, but was  instead entirely  functional, and  well venti- lated. Seven floors the edifice rose, and in  the Syrian tongue the people called it Magdala Nunayya, the Tower of Fish.

In those days the Academy of the B'nei Hannebim, the Sons of the Prophets, first came to  be. This was the first  university to exist in either  world. There was much coming and going between Kemen and Earth, yet few of the locals knew  what transpired in the upper levels of the tower.

A number of years after the Tower came to be there was a man of the people named Iddo, a Gadite who was under instruction at the Academy, who came before Jeroboam in Penuel. He said the image of the calf was a most griev-  ous sin against the  Lord God of Yisrael. Iddo warned Jeroboam to  have the idol torn  down lest the judgment of God Most High come down upon him  as a thorn in his flesh that  would grow until it took his  life. But Jeroboam waxed wroth at the words of Iddo and ordered the messenger slain in his presence, and he plundered the corpse, and he took Iddo's ceremonial blade for his own, as  it was fashioned with  a hilt overlain with gold and was pleasing to the eye.

But Jeroboam did not remove the golden calf at Beit-El, and oft he fingered the blade of Iddo, or used it to dispatch subjects who displeased him, but slowly the hand Jeroboam withered such that he held it under  concealment for  the rest of  his days, which were few in number. When Jeroboam died and his son Nadab undertook to bury him he discovered half of  his father's body was covered by loathsome sores that he had  contrived to cover up. The blade of Iddo  did Nadab  bury with  the body  of his father. Then Nadab took up the scepter and laid claim to judge all the children of Yisrael.

When Nadab had ruled the children of Yisrael for a year in full a B'nei Elohim teacher from the Tower of Fish named Azrael, who was an elyon from  the city  of Rumbek  in Kemen,  had audience before Nadab and warned  him to  do away with  the cult  of the golden calf at Beit-El,  lest the  House of  Jero- boam  be cut short, but Nadab waxed wroth and turned Azrael away.

In his second year as the  usurper judge Nadab fell  prey to a plot among  the officers within his  own army. He was slain by Captain Baasha of the tribe of Issachar, who made himself judge over all the children of Yisrael.

Baasha had war with the tribe of Judah continually, and he did not remove the image of the  golden calf at Beit-El. In those days the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, was sent  forth from the Academy to travel from  city to  city among  the hills  of the children of Yisrael and say, "God  Most High has said  he will make an end  of the House of  Baasha, for he has  walked in the ways of Jeroboam and made the children of Yisrael to sin."

And these words came to Baasha, who recalled what he himself did to Nadab to come to power. And Baasha pulled down the altar to the golden  calf in that  city, but the  idol itself he  did not destroy, but caused to be moved to his palace, for it contained much gold. Then war with the tribe of Ju- dah ceased, and Baasha took up residence  in the  city of  Tirzah, and  he judged  the children of Yisrael until the natural end of his days.

Baasha was succeeded by his son Elah, but Elah  drank to excess and he  caused  the  altar  be  restored  in  Beit-El,  and  he reinstated worship  of the golden  calf in that city. Then Jehu came before Elah and gave  commandment to pull down  the golden calf lest his reign  be cut  short, but  Elah waxed  wroth, and banished Jehu from Beit-El. And Elah persisted in the  sin of Jeroboam.

In the second  year of  his rule  as judge  Elah was  slain by General  Zimri, who  commanded half  of his  charioteers. Zimri destroyed the whole  house  of Baasha,  leaving  no male  heir alive, and he declared himself judge over all  the children of Yisrael in  Elah's place. Thus the words of the  prophet Jehu came to pass.

5

When news spread that Zimri had set himself up in the office of Judge in Elah's stead, the army in turn proclaimed General Omri as the first  king  over  all the  children  of Yisrael. They marched from Gibbethon and  laid siege to  Tirzah for  a week. Zimri let his villa  burn down around  himself rather  than be captured alive. The new king, however, did not order the golden calf at Beit-El to be struck down.

In those days the teachers  and their disciples at  the Academy made ready to receive Hamon, and messengers went forth to Tirzah saying the Oracle of the Tower would speak, but the king did not come, nor did he send servants  to Tarichee to hear  the Oracle and give report.

Then Hamon came to the seventh  level of tower from  Kemen, and servants pre- pared hyz raiment  in the  sixth. He took up his throne on the fifth level, and the curtain was drawn aside, but Hamon saw only his  servants and  stu- dents. Nevertheless, he said, "The idolatry  at Beit-El  continues to  offend God  Most High. Therefore he  looks without favor upon the  House of Omri. I  counsel  the  man  who  names  himself  king,  therefore,  to immediately  cause  the  golden  calf  to  be  pulled  down  and destroyed, lest another man vie for the throne over the children of Yisrael."

And a student of the Academy named Sorath was  chosen by lot to carry these  words to Tirzah. But when King Omni received this messenger he waxed wroth at  the words  of the Oracle  and cast Sorath out from his presence.

In the  days that  followed  the  Yisraelites of  the  northern territories out- side of the tribes of Ephraim and Manesseh held forth that one Tibni was their king rather than Omri. Civil war broke out among the  children of Yisrael  and raged  four years until Omri at last heeded the Oracle of the Tower and caused the golden calf to be melted.

Then Tibni was slain by his own officers, and Omri made himself secure upon the throne. And the high priest Joash came up from Jerusalem to anoint Omri king, for he had learned  by Urim and Tumim that Omri was accepted by God Most High. After that Omri enjoyed a long peace even with Sidon and the Judahites.

But King Omri despised  the capital city  of Tirzah,  which had first been occupied by Zimri. He purchased a hill from Shemer, and there he  caused to  be built  a new  capital city  for the kingdom. Samaria became the  name  of both  the  city and  the greater kingdom that was ruled from the new capi-  tal. In time King Omri grew strong enough to make Samaria the greatest power that existed between the Nile and Euphrates rivers. He ruled for twelve years and when he  died he left  the kingdom to  his son Ahab.

In the first year of his reign King Ahab forged an alliance with the Phoe- nicians by  gaining the hand  of Princess  Jezebel in marriage. Her father Ithobaal was  king  of Sidon  and also  a priest  of the  fertility goddess  Asherah. Jezebel herself had been trained to  attend  to Baal,  who was  be-  lieved by  the Phoenicians to be the consort of Astarte.

Queen Jezebel needed a shrine to maintain her role as priestess of Baal so Ahab caused one to be made for  her in the capital. Ahab also agreed Baal should have  a shrine made for  his wife the goddess Asherah too.

The Phoenician shrines  multiplied in  Samaria, and  with them came their attendant priests and priestesses. There was a new prosperity that emerged from the alliance and the people became willing to accept the idolatrous practices of their new queen. But bringing over from Sidon the priests and  idols of foreign gods was too much for Bat-El to abide.

A certain Academy alumnus from the tribe of Judah  was known as Elijah the  Settler, for he  came up to  live in the  north. The name Elijah means "My God is Yahweh". This same Elijah was known to have taken his education at  the Tower and by  virtue of his great learning and the audacity instilled by the B'nei Elohim he easily moved  in high  circles  in  Samaria. Elijah frequently rebuked even King  Ahab  to  his face  about  his idolatry  and constantly re- minded His Majesty that his God was Yahweh alone, as El Shaddai had come to  be called by the  Judahites over the generations. The king listened  to Elijah  but never  actually heeded his words, even when Elijah warned that Yahweh would soon move to settle accounts.

King Ahab made  alliance  with Jehoshapohat,  chieftain of  the tribe of Judah, to recapture the city of Ramoth-Gilead from the Arameans. Ahab was laid low by a stray arrow  and died after he was carried back  to the capi- tal city. His son Ahaziah became king over Samaria.

King Ahaziah reigned one year and died after he fell through a railing from  the upper floor  of his palace. Then his brother Jehoram became king over Samaria.

Dowager Queen Jezebel grew tired  of the growing  insolence of Elijah and convinced her son Jehoram to bring matters to a head with a public  demonstration. Two altars were prepared  with slain bulls. The first priest who could get his god  to set a slain bull on fire would prevail. Jezebel thought it was likely that neither god would actually strike fire, in which case the arrangement was for Elijah to speak no more to the king of his Yahweh and allow the people to choose which would be their god.

Baal was much delayed  in setting his  bull aflame. His chief priest called in forty reinforcements to wail and plead and rip their garments and pluck hairs from their heads and beards.

Elijah called for jugs of water and completely dowsed his bull. Then Bat- El opened a tiny portal inside the bull and allowed a small burst of sun fire to  slip across. It was enough to kindle the fat in the bull  to burn  despite being entirely  soaked in water. Seeing this, the spirit of the crowd was raised such that Elijah was able to incite them to deadly vio- lence against the priests of Baal who were standing there.

King Jehoram tore down the pillar of Baal in Jezreel but to keep the people from making pilgrimmage  to the temple of  Bat-El in Jerusalem he  restored a  new golden calf  at Beit-El  very much like the one which had been set up in the days of Jeroboam.

Then the prophet Elisha, a disciple of Elisha,  came before the king and said the golden calf  idol was a great  sin before God Most High, and the Lord would chastise the king by bringing the army of Damascus against Sa- maria.

The seige did  indeed come  to pass,  and grew  strait for  the inhabitants of  the city,  such  that  the people  contemplated cannibalism. King Joram sent forth soldiers to  seek Elisha and drag him to his court that he might be put to death, but when he was in the presence of the king Elisha foretold that the king's death would follow hard upon his own. Then Jeho- ram repented of the beheading that he thought to do to Elisha,  and he swore to remove the idol at Beit-El.

Then the seige by the king of Damascus was  lifted and food was brought into Samaria. But Jehoram forgot his vow to Elisha and the golden calf remained in place at Beit-El. Then Elisha said to king Jehoram, "Be- hold, because you have sinned against God Most High, and have led the children of Yisrael to follow you in your sin, the Lord has said the pos- terity of the House of Omri shall be brought to an end."

King Jehoram waxed wroth and ordered Elisha to depart from his presence forever.

Then Jehoram made alliance with Ahaziah, the son of his sister Athaliah and chieftain of the tribe of Judah. He gave battle at Ramoth-gilead to take  back the  city  from Aram  even as  his father had  attempted to  do,  but  he was  soundly  defeated. Following the retreat of his army Jehoram  was assassinated by General Jehu at Jezreel.

Jehu stirred up a revolt and slew all the  male descendants of Omri and  Ahaziah in  a great slaughter. Jezebel the widow of Ahab he also ordered to be killed by her own eunuch attendants. Jehu then entered the palace at Samaria and declared himself to be king.

Jehu caused the golden calf at Beit-El to be  melted down, and the cult of priests that  served the  idol were put  to death. Never again while the kingdom of Samaria endured would the city of Beit-El be disfigured by idolatrous images.

King Jehu reigned for twenty- eight years but during his reign he was ever assailed by the Arameans in all  the lands held by the children of Yisrael east  of the river Jordan. Therefore to gain an ally Jehu paid tribute to the Assyrians in the form of silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin,  a staff for a  king and many spears.

Jehoahaz the son of Jehu ascended to the throne in Samaria upon the death of his  father and reigned  for seventeen  years. But King Jehoahaz per- mitted the people  to erect a pillar  to the goddess Asherah in the city of Samaria.

Then word came to the king  that the Oracle of  the Tower would speak again. And his servants recalled for him the days of King Omri, and the near miss that followed when that sovereign chose to hold the Oracle in contempt. So by order of the king servants were sent to Tarichee. When they arrived they were taken through the fish pickling operation on the first level of the tower, and through the quarters of the disciples and teachers on the second level, and through  the classrooms  on their  third level,  and through the hall on the fourth  level where the members  of the Academy took their meals, to the audience chamber  on the fifth level.

They found Lilith seated on har throne. Sha said, "The pillar to Ahsherah in Samaria is  exceedingly wicked in  the eyes  of God Most High. Return  therefore to the city and  report these words to Jehoahaz  king: If the pil-  lars are not torn  down the Lord will quickly  mete out chastisement even  as he has done  to the kings of Samaria before him."

But King Jehoahaz waxed wroth  at the message of  his servants and he did not cause the pillar to Asherah to be torn down.

After that the Aramean king Hazael assailed Samaria. In battles beyond count the army of Jehoahaz was steadily reduced to fifty horsemen, ten chariots and just ten  thousand infantrymen. Yet the heart of the king  was hardened,  and still the  pillar of Asherah was not torn down.

Joash the son of  Jehoahaz ascended to  the throne  in Samaria upon the death of his father and reigned for sixteen years. As he was growing up he had witnessed the slow humiliation of the kingdom and knew that God himself was at war against the pride of his father. Therefore he ordered his subjects to tear down the piller to Asherah in the  capital city and made  an end to all idolatry in the kingdom.

Then Adad-Nirari III, king of  the Assyrians, marched  with his chariots and armies to the great sea in the  west. He erected a statue of his lordship in  the city of  Sidon, which is  in the midst of the sea. He received two thousand talents  of silver, one thousand talents of copper,  two thousand talents  of iron, and three thousand linen garments with multicolored trim. All of these were tribute of Mari of  the land of Damas-  cus. He also received the tribute of King Joash the Samarian.

When Amaziah the chieftain  of the  tribe of  Judah set  up the idols of the Edomites in Jerusalem Joash advanced on that city. God Most High  himself caused  a portion  of the  city wall  to crumble. King Joash car- ried off the Temple  treasury and took Amaziah the Judahite chieftain prisoner.

And the idols of the Edomites were also carried off to Samaria. King Joash ordered them to be  stacked in the lowest  level of the palace  and he set  a guard  upon them, lest  the Judahites retrieve them  once more  and  fall  into their  grievous  sin against God Most High.

Jeroboam II ascended to the throne in Samaria upon the death of his father and reigned for forty-one years. During his reign the tribe of Judah ac- claimed Uzziah as their own  king, as it did not suit them  that  their broth-  er Joash,  even  one of  the children of Yisrael, should assail the temple of  God as though he were one of the foreign kings.

And a decree went out from King Jeroboam to  number Samaria. It was re- ported back to the king that the men of the kingdom able to hold a sword numbered more than three  and ninety thousands, with their  wives  and  men-  children  and  maid-children  and servants many more besides.

In battle  Jeroboam  prevailed   over  the  Arameans. He took possession of Damascus, Lodebar,  and Karnaim, and  he extended the boundaries of Samaria from Hamath on the river Orontes. King Jeroboam took the whole Jor- dan valley to the  Red Sea. But he did not give  glory  to God  Most High  for  his good  fortune. Instead he removed the idols of the Edomites from the depths of the palace where they had been  hidden by his father and ordered them set up throughout the city of Samaria, thinking it was they who had caused him to prevail on the field of battle.

Then one of the B'nei Hannebim named Amos of  Tekoa came before the king bearing word from the Oracle of the Tower. He said, "O King, you have caused the children of Yisrael to sin by setting up the idols of the Edo-  mites, even as did the first Jeroboam, your namesake of  old. Two years are appointed that  you may act to  remove the  abominations from  the sight  of God  Most High. Failing that,  at the end  of the  two years a  great earthquake shall smite many. And you yourself  shall die in this quake. And the king-  dom shall be  ripped from the  hands of your  son and given to another."

But Jeroboam waxed wroth and  sent Amos out from  his presence, and he did  not remove  the idols  of the  Edomites from  their shrines in the  city. When the two  years had  passed a  great earthquake struck the  kingdom, such  as had  never been  known before, and forty thousand  were slain, and  even the  Tower at Tarichee had  collapsed in ruin,  but none who made  their live- lihood there, and no members of the Academy were harmed, as they had been forewarned to stand in the open.

Zachariah the son of Jeroboam ascended to the throne in Samaria upon the death of this father. He did not remove the idols of the  Edomites, and  he  restored their  shrines  that had  been smitten by  God  Most  High himself  in  the  earthquake. But Zacharia reigned only for six months before an  officer of his army named Shallum son of Jabesh assassinated him and took the throne for himself.

But King Shallum did not tear down the shrines  of the idols of the  Edo- mites  in Samaria. And he reigned  only thirty  days before another officer of Zachariah's army, Menachem  son of of Gadi, rose up  and smote him in his turn. And Menachem took the throne of Samaria for himself. But the men of Tiphsah  did not give assent that  Menachem should  be their  king. So Menachem smote that city, the coasts thereof, and put all inhabitants to the edge of sword, slaying even the women were heavy with child.

And King Menachem heard a report that the tower at Tarichee was newly rebuilt following  the great  earthquake, and  the B'nei Hannebim were making ready to  receive the Oracle. So he tore down the shrines of the idols of the Edomites, and caused them to be melted down. And the king himself rode to Tarichee, the first ruler of the children of Yisrael to do so.

And to Hamon seated upon his throne the king said, "Behold, the idols of the Edomites are no more. Bless you,  then, my reign, in the name of God Most High  that I may live long and lead the people into all righteousness."

But Hamon said, "God Most High has judged, O King, that a great evil was carried out in Tiphsah, even to the  slaying of women who were  with child. Now Judah  has become the apple  of God's eye, and the Lord has sworn  to have nothing further to do with the king who rules from Samaria."

Then Menachem waxed wroth and departed from Hamon's presence.

And immediately upon returning to Samaria King Menachem exacted a head tax of fifty shekels upon every male in the kingdom that he might give tribute to King Tiglat of Assyria. He reigned for ten years in  Samaria, and  his son  Pekahiah ascended  to the throne upon his death.

Pekahiah reigned for two  years before word  came to  him that Elin of the B'nei Elohim, a servant of God Most High, was seen in the city. The king gave commandmnent this Elin should appear before his throne.

And Pekahiah said, "Behold, Menachem who sinned against God Most High has been dead these two years, and I have not walked in his ways, nei- ther have I set up idols that the children of Yisrael may be led  into sin.  Give  to me  the blessing  of the  Lord, therefore, that the  people may prosper in the face  of our foes the Aramites and the armies of Damascus.

But Elin said, "O King, as one of the Lord's malakim previously revealed to King Menachem, God Most High has vowed  by his own name to have  nought to do with the king  who rules in Samaria, and the Lord's vows are without repentance."

Then Pekahiah waxed wroth,  and taking a  spear he  thought to smite Elin,  but even as  his arm drew  back with the  spear he fell in  a faint, and  Elin departed  from the presence  of the king.

Then Pekah of Gilead, the son of Remaliah and  the king's chief lieutenant in the  army, slew  Pekiahiah as  he lay  before the throne of Samaria, and Pekah  took that throne for  himself and became king.

King Pekah made alliance with King Rezin of  Aram, and marched on Jerusalem to  levy troops  of King  Ahaz of  Judah to  turn against Tiglat of Syria, but they did not prevail.

Then Ahaz sent messengers to  Tiglat king of Syria  begging for succor, and with them sent he  also in tribute much  silver and gold from the temple, and from the king's own treasury. Then the Assyrians sacked Da- mascus and added the lands of Aram to their own territory. And King Re- zin was executed,.

King Tiglat assailed all the land of the tribe of Naphtali, and carried the  people thereof  captive  to  Syria. Then a  party favorable to  Assyria  appeared  in Samaria,  with  Hoshea,  an officer of  Pekah's army, as  its leader. This Hoshea committed regicide, and King Tiglat himself appointed Hoshea as king over the people of Samaria. He received from Hoshea ten tal- ents of gold and a  thousand talents of silver and had  these brought to his capital. Hoshea paid tribute to  Assyria every  year while King Tiglat lived.

When King Tiglat  died  his son  Shalmaneser  attained to  the throne. Then King Hoshea of Samaria sent ambassadors before the Pharoah in Egypt, and he  ceased paying the yearly  tribute to the Assyrians.

But nothing came to fruit after King Hoshea  made his overtures to Egypt. Much chastened, the king offered to resume paying the tribute to Syria, but Shalmaneser refused, and gave battle, and took Hoshea cap- tive in war. Shalmaneser's armies laid seige to Samaria and took pos- session of the city after three years.

King Sargon set eunuchs as governors of the provinces of Syria, that suc- cession  should  not be  a matter  of  blood. And he resolved  to end  the mili-  tary matters  left standing  by his predecessor.

King Sargon laid siege Samaria and recaptured the capital city. Twenty- seven thousand two hundred and ninety people dwelling in the midst of the city and in the land all about were carried off captive. And Sargon chose fifty of the best chariots for himself and distributed the rest among his army.

Then Sargon appointed a general  over the remaining  people of the land of  Samaria and collected the taxes  decreed by Hoshea their former and final king. And the fish pickling operation at Tarichee continued under local management, but the Academy was defunct for centuries thereafter, and the upper  levels of the tower became dwellings for the folk of the city.

By order of the Assyrian king the people of the tribes of Dan, Asher, Zebulun, Issachar,  Gad, Reuben,  and half  of Manasseh were relocated to  lands far  to  the east. The planning for the move took  longer than  the  march and  the execution  was without flaw. None marched under the lash, and  many even went willingly. The children of Yisrael were a lettered people, even to the boys among them, and the Assyrians had  need of them in the governance of their empire.

The exiles built new homes in locations chosen  such that when the time came for their sons to find wives  it was more likely they would find a foreign man's daughter rather than a daughter of their fellow exiles. None were compelled to intermarry, yet many of them did.

Twelve years later Sargon completed the conquest of Samaria. The remaining people of Manesseh and all of Ephraim  were exiled to Medea. At the same time captives from other  lands were settled in the lands once occupied by the children of Yisrael. Only the tribes of Simeon, Benjamin, Judah, and Levi  remained intact in the south. But many of the children of Yis-  rael who would not go into exile made their way  from Samaria to Judah  in- stead. After that the kingdom of Judah waxed strong even as the kingdom of Samaria once did.