The writing absorbed me. I’d often walk in the king’s garden outside his windows. In contemplation, I strolled past beautiful trees and tall plants. I spoke with Melchizedek in the cool of the day, discussing various parts of my life’s story.

  Several weeks later, as I approached the dinner table of King Melchizedek, using a stone corridor that led from the garden, a man stepped out of a side hall.

  I noticed out of the corner of my eye. He moved with a furtive step and wore the garments of Knossos. He was a lean man with a scar across his left check and had hawk-like eyes.

  I stopped, looking up. To my astonishment, I recognized him as a fellow Athenian—a man called Cimon. The old Spartan had trained us both. The man before me had a gift with the knife. He had short dark hair like bristles and a clean-shaven chin. In that, he was like the Cretans. I knew Cimon to be a skilled assassin. That he should appear here like this in the shadows—

  Did he have a message for me?

  “Cimon,” I said, “What are you doing here? How did you get into the city? How did—”

  Cimon smiled at me in his crooked way. The smile was false, though. I don’t think he liked it that I recognized him. He headed toward me swiftly. I should have understood the moment I saw him. He wore an amulet of bull’s horns around his throat. I knew that meant—he was on a mission.

  His right hand moved behind him.

  I frowned and took a step back.

  Cimon jerked a long dagger from a hidden sheath. On it, a green substance glistened—poison, I think.

  I crouched in a knife-fighter’s stance, although I had no knife or dagger with me. My breath was ragged and my heart raced.

  “Cimon, be on your guard,” I warned him.

  He didn’t speak. His gaze was fixed on me. I knew him to be a deadly fighter, with his mouth a thin line of determination as he approached.

  Then, he lunged with the knife.

  I reached out to grab his wrist.

  He twisted his wrist free, punched with the other hand, hitting me in the face.

  I jumped back, disoriented.

  Cimon thrust again, a cunning blow. He stabbed me in the side, not deeply, but maybe enough. I cried out in surprise and agony. Then, I buffeted him. He grunted. There was blood on the tip of his blade. He had a red mark on the side of his face.

  “Cimon, why?” I said.

  “The Minotaur sends greetings, slave.”

  I blinked, feeling confusion and sluggishness in me. Had the poison already started to take hold?

  “Cimon,” I said, coughing.

  He snarled, with spit on his teeth. Then, he turned and ran, moving swiftly down the corridor.

  I staggered several steps and smacked against a wall. I leaned heavily against it, breathing harder.

  Somewhere, a gong sounded and soldiers shouted.

  I fell to the tiled floor, stricken.

  So began a lingering poisoning that would last for two agonizing weeks. Melchizedek attempted to heal me, using his masterful skills, but to no avail.

  I was dying. How had Cimon found me?

  Melchizedek gave me the answer later.

  By then, my breath was shallow as I lay on my bed. The Minotaur had sent Cimon to Sodom. From there, Cimon had learned my whereabouts from King Bera. The poisoned dagger was obvious revenge for my leaving the Minotaur’s dread service.

  “I’m dying,” I whispered. “I’ll soon be dead.”

  “I’m sorry, Damon,” Melchizedek said, as he loomed above me.

  I looked up at him. “I’m glad I escaped the evil of the Minotaur. I’m glad I serve Him Most High, if only for a short time. I’ll die free, a servant of God.”

  Melchizedek nodded solemnly. “Do you have any last requests?”

  “Yes. Could you bury my story, the clay tablets, with me in the burial place?”

  “You don’t want others to know your story?”

  “Please,” I said.

  Melchizedek studied me before nodding. “I’ll seal you in a secret cave. I’ll put your story with you, and who knows…”

  Melchizedek stared off into the distance, and it seemed as if he peered into the future. Soon, he looked at me sharply. “You’ve done well, Damon. You acted the part of a man of honor. We’ll bury you in a tomb of honor, and some day—your story shall be told.”

  Melchizedek rose soon thereafter

  I battled the wicked poison, but my strength flowed from me. I mumbled my last words so a secretary could add a postscript to the story of my life.

  These are the words, “I’d lived a short life. I’d fought hard. I’d been given a mission, and I was able to see the greatest of men in action.

  “I have been blessed indeed.”

  THE END

  To the Reader: I hope you’ve enjoyed The Sword of Abram. If you would like to see more stories like this, I encourage you to write a review. Let me know how you feel and let others know what to expect.

  APPENDIX “A”

  A WORD ON GIANTS, AND THE MINOTAUR

  The idea of many Goliaths of Gaths in the land of Canaan, many giants, during the time of Abram seems astounding. And yet, that is what the Bible suggests in more than one passage.

  The names of several of the tribes that Chedorlaomer faced are telling.

  Genesis 14:5-6 states: “And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mount Seir.”

  The word Rephaim means “strong ones.” The Rephaim are also identified with the Anakim. Both were called giants. Og king of Bashan, many generations later, was called the last of the Rephaim.

  The Zuzim are quite possibly the same as the Zamzummim as mentioned in Deuteronomy 2:21: “a people great and many, and tall, as the Anakims (ESV).” The Anakim were descended from Anak, the son of Arba, and were considered giants. Zamzummim meant “powerful ones.”

  Numbers 13:33 states, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim.) We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them (NIV).”

  Emim means “the terrible ones.” Deuteronomy 2:10 tells us that the Moabites eventually drove them out of the land.

  Lastly, the Horites means “cave-dwellers.” Deuteronomy 2:10 tells us that the descendants of Esau drove them out of the land.

  It was said that the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim. That, too, as noted above, is a reference to giants.

  The Nephilim are first mentioned in Genesis 6:4 before Noah begins construction of the Ark. In fact, they seem instrumental in bringing about the great apostasy of humanity that causes God to destroy the earth by flood. Genesis 6:4 states, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown (NIV).”

  The interesting line here is “and also afterward.” In my estimation, the giants in and around the land of Canaan, the Rephaim, the Zuzim, Emim and others, are clearly the Nephilim on earth after the Great Flood.

  The key question to me is this: why were there giants? What caused some men to grow to a great and terrifying stature? The answer, I believe, lies in the nature of the “sons of God” as spoken of in Genesis 6:4. The Hebrew word is bene elohim. The ancient Jews in the time of Jesus believed the bene elohim were fallen angels. In the book of Jude in the New Testament, in verse 6, it says, “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day (NIV).”

  Here, I believe, is the answer to why giants appeared on the earth. As a quick aside, the non-biblical book of Enoch also speaks of this. Jude quotes a portion from Enoch, perhaps validating much of what that ancient book said. In any case, we see that certain fallen angels left the heavenly abode. The Bible states that Satan was also cast from heaven, but he and his demons haven’t yet been chained in darkness for their misdeeds. What did the fallen angels in Jude do that caused such a swift and near final punishment, one that God refrained for the moment from handing out to Satan and his minions?

  Sodom and Gomorrah supply the answer. “In a similar way,” Jude says in verse 7. Those of Sodom and Gomorrah are notorious for their homosexuality, the very word sodomy coined from the ancient city.

  Additionally, those of Sodom were apparently notorious rapists. Genesis 19 tells of a visit by two angels to Lot in Sodom, after the events of this story. A great throng of “all the people of the city to the last man” surrounded Lot’s house and demanded Lot send out the two angels so they could be forced to have sex with them. Only the angels striking the mob blind saved Lot and his family.

  More interestingly, this behavior had something in common with what the fallen angels did in Jude 6—the homosexuality, and apparently the rape of whoever they wanted. It seems highly unlikely that all the “daughters of men” they fathered children upon were willing wives.

  Among other terms, the Bible calls homosexuality unnatural (see Romans 1:26-27). In a similar way, the fallen angels committed unnatural sex, but this time with the daughters of men as spoken of in Genesis 6:4. The fallen angels were heavenly or celestial beings having intercourse with earthly beings, something the biblical writers condemned. Despite that, Genesis 6:4 tells us their offspring “were the heroes of old, men of renown.”

  One need only consider the Greek myths to see what is meant by this. Zeus and other gods had relations with mortal women. Hercules was one such offspring, a hero. There were many others like him, Perseus and Theseus among them.

  Do the Greek myths attest to this ancient Biblical truth? Were the Greek gods in reality fallen angels aping the part of gods among gullible people? The Greek gods, like the fallen angels, were “divine” beings coming down from above, having congress with mortal women. It is my contention that the giants in and around Canaan during the time of Abram were some of these sons of the heavenly-earthly unions.

  I have also come to suspect that the Minotaur was another of those “heroes of old.” It would then make sense why he hated the acolyte of a strange god to such an extent that he sent an assassin.

  The Biblical account doesn’t give any indication that the giants in Canaan tried to harm Abram. That strikes me as odd. What caused the giants to delay? Why didn’t these demonized beings attempt to squash God’s man, given they were the sons, grandsons or great-grandsons of fallen angels?

  I don’t know the answer to this.

  There is one other point. The Children of Israel after escaping from bondage in Egypt slew giants in around the land of Canaan. Og of Bashan was one such prodigy. Deuteronomy 3:11 states, “His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide.” It also states, “Only Og was left of the remnant of the Rephaim.”

  Did Chedorlaomer in his conquest many hundreds of years earlier winnow the giants in and around Canaan in Abram’s time? Genesis 14 says that Chedorlaomer and his army of the East smote countless giants, seemingly slaying the vast majority of them.

  Here is my question. Was the smiting done through heavenly design? Did God send Chedorlaomer in order to destroy most of the giants that might eventually have sought to slay Abram and his children? Once again, I don’t know the answer, but I have begun to ponder the possibly that that was a hidden design behind the infamous invasion of the land of Canaan.

  APPENDIX “B”

  HISTORICALLY, WHEN DID THIS OCCUR?

  The key to placing Genesis 14 and King Chedorlaomer of Elam and Abram, for that matter, is Sargon of Akkad, sometimes known as Sargon the Great.

  Quite simply, after Sargon’s reign and that of his grandson Naram-Sin, the political landscape couldn’t fit in a Chedorlaomer of Elam.

  Sargon of Akkad created the first historically known empire, including most of Mesopotamia and parts of the Levant. The Levant includes Canaan, what is known today as Israel and Palestine.

  There are some recent archeological finds that help in understanding all this.

  One such has been the city of Ebla in present-day Syria. The city contained a great library that held more than 17,000 complete and fragmentary documents. These documents mention the city of Mari ruled by its own kings. That places Mari in the time before Sargon of Akkad conquered the city and demoted its former kings.

  Interestingly, the cities of Sodom and Admah, two of the cities of the Plain or the Vale of Siddim, are mentioned in an Ebla atlas. That would seemingly place Sodom and Adman well before the rise of Sargon of Akkad.

  The Elba documents have also allowed scholars to connect Mesopotamian chronology with Egyptian chronology. Pepi I of the Sixth Dynasty (Egyptian Old Kingdom) was named in the documents. The physical location of the particular document in ancient Elba showed scholars that it was in the palace library before the palace’s destruction, and that has proven critical.

  The palace in Elba was destroyed before or sometime during the Akkadian Empire created by Sargon of Akkad.

  Interestingly and critically, there is no mention of Akkad in the Elba documents, which together with the other items stated indicates that Elba is the key reference point to dating Chedorlaomer and Abram’s most likely timeframe. That was before Sargon of Akkad began his famous conquest and his grandson Naram-Sin continued it. Logically, someone like Chedorlaomer could have created his Eastern alliance before Sargon’s rise. During the Akkad Empire and afterward, the political landscape would have made such a thing impossible.

  It is also during this era that we know [due to the Elba data] that the cities of Sodom and Ahmad yet stood.

  Given these various points, it suggests that the time of Chedorlaomer and Abram was during the Early Bronze Age/Early Dynastic Period of Old Kingdom Egypt around 2400-2340 B.C.

  Sargon of Akkad ruled from 2334-2279 B.C.

  This date for Chedorlaomer and Abram is much earlier than many scholars previously believed, but it seems to fit better with the new data discovered from the archeology at Elba.

  END OF APPENDIXES

 

 

  Vaughn Heppner, The Sword of Abram

 

 

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