The Edge of Darkness Page 25

  Levi hesitated. “I don’t know if we should all go in. It might be good for Gideon to remain outside and watch our backs.”

  “I agree,” said Gideon. “I think I’ll go check out those three cars and talk to the workers in the olive orchard. After that, I’ll return and guard the opening while you and Dr. Murphy do some exploring in there.”

  Murphy led the way through the rock wall and Levi followed.

  “This is not a cave,” said Murphy as they shined their lights around. “It’s a passageway that leads into the hillside. It must have taken many men to build this tunnel.”

  They followed the passageway as it sloped at a slight downward angle. They also saw metal rings in the side of the wall about every thirty feet.

  “I’ll bet those rings held torches to light up the passageway.”

  “I would prefer electric lights,” Levi responded. “Remember the last passageway we were m, we almost lost our lives.”

  “Well, at least I’m not dragging your body along this time. It looks like the passageway angles off to the left.” Murphy tried to get his bearings. “It seems like it might be going under the olive orchard on the low hillside.”

  Shining their lights on the floor of the passageway, Murphy and Levi could see a number of footprints on the dusty floor.

  “It looks like this has recently been a popular spot.”

  “Maybe it’s for underground rave parties,” said Levi with a smirk.

  It wasn’t long before they passed under an archway that led into a large chamber. Murphy shined his light around.

  “I’ll bet you this was some kind of secret room that led from the Temple of Dagon.”

  Murphy paced off the room. “It’s about forty feet long … twenty-five feet wide … and about twelve feet tall.”

  Levi shined his light on some amphora jars in a corner. All of them were empty.

  “What do you think this room was used for, Michael?”

  “It was probably some type of storage chamber for the temple. I don’t think anyone would live in this room. There’s not much ventilation.”

  “Do you think that this is the room that Methuselah wanted you to find?”

  “I doubt it. There’s no king’s head to push in this room.”

  They began to carefully explore the floor and walls.

  “Look over here, Levi. The walls have been recently chipped like someone was trying to break through them.”

  “It looks like it didn’t do them any good. Those walls seem very thick.”

  “They must have been looking for something. I wonder what it was?”

  Suddenly Murphy and Levi froze in their tracks. And listened. They could hear muffled popping sounds.

  Murphy turned toward Levi. “What do you think that is?”

  “Those are gunshots. They’re coming from the other side of the wall!”

  “There has to be a way in there,” shouted Murphy. “Quick, look around some more.”

  Murphy and Levi began to survey every inch of the thirty-foot-long wall. Nothing seemed to be out of place.

  “Michael! Look!”

  Levi’s light was shining on the carved head of a lion. Murphy shined his light across the wall and saw eight-inch carved lions’ heads about every six feet around the entire room about five feet off the floor.

  “So?”

  “Come on, Murphy! You’re the archaeologist. Didn’t Methuselah tell you to press the king’s head? Maybe he was talking about the king of the jungle.”

  Murphy’s eyes widened.

  “That’s it! Start pushing those lions’ heads.”

  Murphy was at the next-to-last head on the wall when it gave way under his pressure. There was an echoing sound like a large stone rolling and then part of the wall began to slide slowly backward. Both Murphy and Levi shined their lights on the opening and then looked at each other in amazement.

  FIFTY-SIX

  The wheat field of Beth Shemesh, 1083 B.C.

  PHUVAH AND HIS FELLOW servants had been in the wheat field of Beth Shemesh harvesting since early dawn. The sun was now almost at half day and sweat poured from his body. He paused for a moment to straighten up his tired back and wipe his brow. As he mopped his forehead with the sleeve of his tunic, something curious appeared in the distance.

  He stared at the cart being drawn by milk cows with no one driving them. The sun reflected off of something on the cart so bright and shiny that he had to avert his eyes. He yelled to the other servants, who stopped their work to see what the commotion was about. They all stood speechless.

  Phuvah finally realized what he was looking at. Although he had never seen it before, he had heard enough descriptions to recognize the Ark of the Covenant. He also knew that the Philistines had captured it in the battle of Ebenezer. Was it truly being returned? His heart leaped with joy. He began to run in the direction of his master.

  The wheat field of Beth Shemesh had been in Joshua’s family for three generations. It had always been a very productive valley because of the year-round stream that ran through it and the canals that had been constructed.

  Joshua was at the head of the canal talking with one of his workers when Phuvah ran up all out of breath.

  “Master, you must come at once!”

  “Has someone been injured, Phuvah?”

  “No! No! It is something wonderful!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Look, Master! Look at what is coming into the valley!”

  Joshua turned in the direction that Phuvah was pointing. His heart almost stopped beating. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He and all of his workers began to run toward the cart.

  The two milk cows had stopped when they reached the edge of the wheat field, as if they were just waiting for the workers to come.

  Joshua yelled at the workers as he was running. “Do not go near the cart! Do not touch it or the cows! It is sacred and holy. We must not defile it in any way!”

  Everyone stopped about a hundred feet from the cart. They stood for a moment and just stared at the Ark. Then, almost in unison, they all fell to their knees and bowed before it.

  After a long silence, Joshua called to Phuvah. “Run as quick as you can and summon the Levites. They are the only ones who can touch the Ark.”

  It was around two o’clock when the Levites arrived. They danced for joy when they saw the Ark and then led the cart to a large stone in Joshua’s wheat field. They had the workers gather smaller stones and the Levites made an altar. They took the Ark of the Covenant and the chest off of the cart and placed it on the large stone next to the altar.

  The Levites broke the cart into pieces and placed the wood under the altar. Then they offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. Everyone bowed and gave thanks for the return of the Ark.

  Hidden behind rocks on the hills above Beth Shemesh were the lords of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. They were watching to see where the cows would go and what would happen to the Ark. They observed the Israelites slaughter the cows and offer them in sacrifice. They then noticed the Levites leaving and the field workers being stationed as guards around the Ark.

  One of the lords, a giant from Gath, finally spoke.

  “Their ways are certainly odd. Our god is so big and mighty. Their God is in a box. How great can He be? He certainly didn’t give victory in battle to the Israelites. Our enemies now have their cursed Ark back. Let us return to our cities and see if the plague has been lifted.”

  All nodded in agreement and began their painful journey back in silence. An hour into the trip, the lord of Ashdod ventured a comment.

  “I think we made the right decision.”

  They all stopped and looked at him.

  “Why do you say that?” asked the lord of Ekron.

  “The pain from my tumor is not as severe. I think it is shrinking.”

  Joshua had placed Phuvah in charge of the workers guarding the Ark. He had assigned them to afferent shifts so that someone wou
ld be awake at all times throughout the night.

  Half a dozen of the workers had gathered around the fire to keep warm and talk about the Ark.

  “What do you think is inside the chest along with the Ark?” asked one of the men.

  “A good question. And what do you think is inside of the Ark itself?” responded another.

  Their inquisitiveness grew until at last Phuvah looked at all of them and said, “Let us make a pact of secrecy. Let us agree to look inside the chest and the Ark, but we must agree to tell no one what we have done. Agreed?”

  They all knew that the Ark of God was sacred and only the high priest was allowed to touch it. But their curiosity was greater than their fear, and they all agreed to the pact.

  Excitedly they made torches and approached the large stone. The light from the torches reflected off the Ark in a distorted and ominous fashion.

  “Let’s open the chest first,” said Phuvah.

  Carefully he lifted the lid. They all held their torches over the chest and peered in. Phuvah reached his hand in and pulled out one of the golden emrod tumors.

  “What is it?” asked one of the workers.

  “I have no idea,” said Phuvah. “I know only that it is pure gold.”

  He then pulled out one of the golden rats.

  “Look at this! It must be an image of one of their gods.”

  The whole group broke into laughter.

  Phuvah continued. “There are five of the golden rats and five of the globs of gold. It must symbolize the five great fortified cities of the Philistines. They’re all rats!”

  Again the group broke out in uncontrollable laughter.

  “Let’s look in the Ark,” said another worker.

  Carefully four of the men took off the lid and set it on the stone. They lifted their torches and looked inside. Phuvah started to grab for something in the Ark….

  It was early the next morning when Joshua arrived at the field of Beth Shemesh. He could not believe his eyes. His workers were all dead and lying in strange positions. A look of terror was frozen on each of their faces.

  As he approached the large stone in his field, he looked at the six bodies lying around the Ark. He recognized the body lying closest to the Ark as Phuvah’s. Joshua fell to his knees and put his hands over his eyes attempting to hold back the tears. “They knew better. They knew they shouldn’t touch the Ark. Oh, my servants, how needless your deaths.”

  He could see Phuvah’s right hand and arm were blackened, as if severely burned in a hot fire. The lid was off the Ark and the lid to the chest was also open. Next to the chest were two golden objects. One of them looked like a rat. He stayed about thirty feet from the large stone.

  “I must get help from the Levites and priests!”

  When Joshua arrived at the village where the Levities stayed, he found women and children in the streets weeping and wailing. The smell of death was in the air.

  He approached one of the women. “What has happened? What is wrong here?” She did not respond. Even as he uttered those words he saw the dead men covering the ground. There were too many to count.

  When he reached the home of the chief Levite he found that the door was open and he could hear noises inside. Peering in the door he saw the chief Levite on his knees, rocking back and forth, uttering prayers.

  “Sir, what has happened?”

  The Levite turned at the sound of a male voice.

  “Joshua! You’re alive. Oh, praise God. All of the men in the village are dead. Only the male Levites are alive. Levite runners from the other towns and villages around Beth Shemesh have reported the same thing. It is estimated that over fifty thousand men have suddenly been struck dead. No one has any idea why.”

  “I think I know why.”

  “Tell me, Joshua. What has gone wrong?”

  “This morning I came back to the wheat field and the large stone where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. All of my men were struck dead and the lid of the Ark was open. I think they must have tried to look inside and see what was in the Ark.”

  “Then why didn’t you die with them?” the Levite asked.

  “I don’t know why. Perhaps because I knew the Ark was holy and anyone unclean should not approach it. That’s the only thing I can think of. The slaughter of my servants must be God’s punishment for their disobedience.”

  “You may be correct, Joshua. Who can stand before a holy God? We must send Levite messengers to the town of Kirjath Jearim. It may be that they would be willing to take the Ark and put it into protection.”

  It took two days before the Levites of Kirjath Jearim arrived to transport the Ark. The process was quite involved as the men put cloths on their hands to pick up the lid of the Ark and put it into place. They were quite careful to not look inside the Ark during the process. They next covered the entire Ark with a scarlet cloth and then put it onto a cart drawn by oxen.

  The Ark and the golden tumors and golden rats were taken to the house of Abinadab, who lived high in the mountains. It was there that his son Eleazar was consecrated to keep the Ark of the Lord.

  One week had passed since the Ark of the Covenant had left Ashdod. All of the people had been healed from the plague. Their pain was gone and they had returned to their normal activities. Everyone except the priests of Dagon.

  Kadmiel had gathered the priests together.

  “Dagon has fallen to the earth twice. The second time his head and hands were knocked off. That is a terrible sign of doom. We will close and seal the doors of the temple. Our worship will be transferred to the underground building not far from the temple.”

  One of the priests asked, “What about the two items taken from the Ark? What will become of them?”

  “We will carry them to the new place of worship. I think they may have great magical powers and could prove useful in the future.”

  FIFTY-SEVEN

  LEVI TOOK his automatic out of his holster and carefully moved toward the opening. Both he and Murphy held their breath for a minute. They couldn’t hear anything. All they could see was a flickering light dancing with shadows on the floor.

  Levi cautiously entered the room, followed by Murphy. The structure they entered had a high ceiling of about twenty feet. It seemed much larger than the room surrounded by lions’ heads. Along two sides and one end there were three rows of marble benches. They formed a horseshoe that focused toward the front of the room, where there was a large marble altar.

  On two of the walls there were torches hung in rings protruding above the marble benches. They cast weird shadows. As Murphy and Levi shined their flashlights around the room, they could see four bodies on the floor. One was in front of the altar, two were close to the center of the room, and one was lying near what looked like a passageway that led out of the room. All of them were dressed in gray robes and lying in pools of blood.

  Levi went to the two men in the center of the room and felt for a pulse. Their bodies were warm but they were both dead of gunshot wounds. Murphy checked out the man by the passageway and the man in front of the altar. They were also dead.

  Murphy shined his light on the robe of the man by the altar. It had a patch sewn onto the front just above the heart. On the patch there was a symbol of a half-man, half-fish.

  “These men must have been priests or worshipers. They all have the symbol of Dagon sewn on their robes,” said Murphy. “There must be another entrance to this room. Whoever killed them is not far ahead of us.”

  Levi searched the bodies for identification while Murphy walked to the altar to examine it. There was nothing on top. As he shined his light and looked more closely, he could see that the top of the altar was covered lightly with dust except for two areas in the center. The impression left was a round circle about six inches in diameter. The other impression was a straight line about six feet long and an inch and a half wide.

  Murphy was both excited and exasperated. They seemed to have discovered the location of the rod and the jar, but too la
te. Whoever killed the men took the items from the altar.

  Levi turned to Murphy.

  “None of these men have any identification. Did you find anything?”

  “Yes. Two items were on the altar. Unless I miss my guess, Methuselah was correct. The round impression in the dust was probably the Golden Jar that held the manna. The long straight line was most likely Aaron’s Rod. These men must have been protectors of the two articles. I’m not sure how they got them but that’s certainly why they were killed.”

  “There’s nothing we can do for them, Michael. Let’s go after whoever killed them.”

  “‘Whoever’! You know as well as I do that it’s got to be Talon. We’re not far behind him. I wonder how he found out about the Golden Jar and Aaron’s Rod?”

  They stepped over the body of the man by the passageway and entered the dark corridor. They hadn’t gone very far when they discovered two more bodies dressed in gray robes. As they shined their lights on them, they found that one of the men was still alive … but only barely.

  Murphy leaned over the man. “Do you speak English? Do you understand me?”

  The man only groaned.

  “Do you know who did this to you?”

  The man tried to speak but was unable to. Blood trickled from his lips and covered his chest.

  His lungs must be filling, Murphy thought.

  The man moved his arm and began to write in the dust with his finger. He barely finished two letters when his fingers stopped moving and he breathed his last. His brown eyes stared lifelessly at Murphy. Murphy shook his head gravely. It was never pleasant to see anyone die. He reached down and closed the man’s eyelids.

  He then shined his light on the two letters. They spelled T U.

  I wonder what that means? It doesn’t spell Talon.

  Levi bent down and began to search the dead man. He found a wallet and examined the man’s identification.

  “His name is Karim Nandar. Nothing else here but a little money and a couple of pictures.”

  Murphy looked at the pictures. One was a group of seven men.

  “Look, Levi! The man in the center with the dark mustache is Talon.” He scrutinized the other faces. “The others are the dead men we just found. Either Talon is getting sloppy or he’s in a hurry. It’s not like him to leave evidence like this around. You can see in the picture that they’re standing at the back end of a car and you can make out the license plate. Do you think you can get a trace on it?”