The Lord was with us that night, Ehud. Your father led his men and mine between
Arbok's patrols and Monument City, and Gedawr brought many of his men to help
them. They had been waiting for my signal and setting traps for Highborn when
they saw the all the ravens and crows gathering like smoke over the city and
then the flames of Arbok's hall.
Gera arrived long before Arbok's troops, and after we took the city, we camped
outside Debir to lie in wait for the Highborn patrols. They came in the dead of
night, but we attacked them from behind when they set fire to the Canaanite huts
outside the city and tried to enter the city. We trapped them between ourselves
and the Canaanites.
After that, the rest of Arbok's army just ran away, even though they far
outnumbered us. They all went down to serve the kings of cities on the coastal
plains because they had nowhere else to go.
Arbok died a few days later of the sickness that made him so yellow. Rifaz told
me he had a wasting disease of the liver. When Caleb came to see the city ten
days later, he said it was the Lord's judgment. We let Arbok's woman go free
after taking her gold and jewels.
I can't tell you of my relief that Gera brought my own clothing with him to
Monument City. It was a delight to wear real clothes again and a cap to shield
my head from the sun. Even after the summer's heat has passed in this land, the
sun still scorches a bare head.
Gedawr and Kenabi had gone to tell Caleb about the battle, and he came to see
Monument City for himself, bringing families who were ready to settle. We had
already thrown down Anath's treaty stone and the other standing stones, forced
our captives to smash them, and cast the pieces outside the city walls. The
prisoners wanted to heap the pieces on Arbok's grave, but I wouldn't let them. I
didn't mind letting his wretched bones rest in peace but I wouldn't let them
keep his memory alive or the memory of any of the other sons of Arbah.
"Well, my son," Caleb told me after he had seen Monument City and heard all the
battle stories, "You have won a bride, and she has already picked out her dowry.
She went down into the Southland to find a piece of arable land not far from
here. When she came back, I knew by the way she jumped off her donkey that she
wanted something more.
"I said to her, 'What do you want, my daughter?'
"She said to me, 'Father, do me a special favor! Since you have given me land in
the Southland, give me springs of water also.'
"Now, my son, don't you think it's well that your bride knows the worth of
water?"
My heart swelled with joy to hear Caleb. Not only did he mean to keep his
promise and grant me his daughter, but Acsah herself had agreed to his promise.
She was already looking ahead with more foresight and wisdom than I had to
beginning a new life!
I didn't dare ask Caleb how he answered Acsah, so I mumbled, "Praise the Lord!"
"She spoke wisely, my son, and we stopped to look over her land on the way here.
I have given her the water rights to the two best springs in that valley.
They'll never run dry"
I felt my heart racing as I asked, "Did you bring Acsah with you, sir?"
Caleb laughed. "No, my son. Her brothers Kenash and Gedawr have escorted her
back to Hebron. She'll be safe with them, and she has a feast to prepare."
"A wedding feast? Already?" I asked. "But what about my--?"
"How long do you think your Benjaminite friends can wait for you to grow a new
beard, my son? Don't they have families, fields, and flocks waiting for them?"
"I'd forgotten them," I admitted.
"We should never take our friends for granted," Caleb reminded me. "I'm glad
that Gedawr has become your friend, too. He has been a different man ever since
you rescued him from the Highborn. He's more like a wise old dog than a puppy
now."
"Do you think Kenabi can also change?" I asked him. “We ought to be friends;
we're the last of my father's house."
Caleb made a face. "Well," he admitted, "the fellow still thinks my daughter
belongs to him."
"How could he?" I asked, feeling myself flush with anger. "He'd be dead now if
we hadn't saved him!"
"There now, my son," Caleb said as calmly as he could, "I know that you and your
friends captured Arbah City, but Kenabi says it was only your place as his
brother to help him and that he fought as hard as anyone against the Highborn.
He says that as the elder son of your family he has the first claim on Acsah."
"What gall! You won't let him do that, will you, sir?"
"The Lord forbid, and Acsah too, my son. That won't keep Kenabi from making
trouble, however. He's probably pleading his case to every elder he can find."
My day had turned grey and bleak, and I felt something crushing my insides.
"Othniel, my son, you’re too grim for a bridegroom. My daughter has no use for
any man who lets hate and anger rule him. You must never get your brother's
blood on your hands, no matter what he does. Besides losing everything, every
man will be against you for the rest of your days."
He paused and turned to look me in the eye, laying a hand on my shoulder.
"No, my son, if your heart is clean, you will trust this matter to the Lord. He
will be with you, and so will I and all my house. Do you believe me? Will you
trust me?"
Everything inside me ached to rush off in search of Kenabi. At the same time, I
knew I couldn't. I felt weak and shaky. Only the weight of Caleb's hand helped
me to decide.
"The Lord has brought me this far," I told Caleb. "I'm in His hands."
Caleb crushed me with a hug of joy. "You're a son after my own heart," he told
me. "Praise the Lord!"
Two days later Caleb and I returned to Hebron with Rifaz, Gera's men, and my
men. Instead of a welcome at the gateway, we met Kenabi and a crowd of his
friends. They had all been drinking and had worked themselves into an ugly
state. Kenabi looked as clean and well groomed as if he had never faced death as
Arbok’s prisoner, and his words were just as smooth and polished.
Kenabi stood in Caleb's way and demanded Acsah without even a word of greeting
to him. "I'm in the right, and I appeal my case to the elders of Judah. I will
have justice, sir, and they must hear me."
His friends made loud and threatening noises and almost rioted on the spot.
"If you weren't my sister's son, I would thrash you," Caleb answered.
"Nevertheless, you shall have your justice, no matter whose son you are. Come
here at sundown!"
Caleb called for all the elders and leaders of hundreds in Hebron and nearby,
and they came to witness the gathering outside the gateway while dusk settled on
the land and the stars took their places. I hadn't yet seen Acsah and wondered
where she was. Rifaz found out that she would stay out of sight until the
wedding feast, as brides should do. "They say it's bad luck for you to see her
until her father gives her away," he warned me. I wondered if I would ever see
her again as I waited for the council to begin.
The elders and leaders of hundreds sat with Caleb in a circle in the open space
outside the gateway, quietly talking and enjoying their barley cakes and strips
of roast mutton when Kenabi strode into their midst. His friends waited in a
group on one side of the circle. Rifaz, Gera, and our men waited with me on the
other side. We watched as Kenabi flung one of his sandals down before the
elders.
"I cry out to you, O Israel;
Hear my cause, elders of Judah!"
Everyone waited in silence, stunned by Kenabi's lack of manners. One elder
beckoned to Kenabi to sit down with them.
"I cannot sit down with the wicked," Kenabi answered, "Nor can I pitch my tent
among evildoers."
A Levite spoke up and told Kenabi to sit down or leave. "If you have a just
cause, speak, but you may not presume to stand in judgment over us," he warned.
Kenabi made a face but sat down anyway, satisfied for the moment with insulting
Caleb and me. He began speaking in a gentle voice that built slowly in strength
and feeling. "I have come before you to claim the hand of Acsah bit Caleb,
according to the promise of Caleb ben Jephunneh which he freely gave to my
brother Shabab. Caleb promised Acsah to him in return for the capture of
Monument City. Shabab died in battle, but we of Shabab's house have given
Monument City to Caleb, and I come before you as his heir and the inheritor of
the promise.
"Caleb has not kept his promise and he wants to give his daughter to another man
who has bribed him!
"Hear my plea, O Israel,
and let my cause find favor in your eyes.
O elders of Judah, be gracious to me,
for I walk before you in truth on level ground."
Kenabi's men shouted their agreement.
Caleb closed his eyes and bowed his head for a moment before answering in a calm
and level voice:
"My brothers in Israel, you've heard the twisted words of an angry man whose
bitterness has overcome his reason and hidden the truth from him. Now hear this,
I never go back on my word. Are there not seventy times seven men in Judah alone
who can bear witness? Moreover, I made no covenant with Shabab. I said these
words in the hearing of all the people: 'I will give my daughter Acsah in
marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.' I made an open
promise.
"Next, all of you know that neither Shabab nor Kenabi overcame the Highborn or
captured Monument City. Every man here also knows that Kenabi takes his place
here before you only because Othniel freed him from the Highborn. Othniel has
never lifted his hand against Kenabi, nor did he withhold his hand when he could
have let the Highborn slay him."
Caleb paused as the men murmured in agreement.
"You have heard the truth, and you know that the Lord is my witness before all
Israel. You know that Kenabi has no claim against me. He has inherited nothing
and won nothing. Let no man ever dare to say that Caleb ben Jephunneh goes back
on his word or that he takes bribes. I place my cause in your hands."
Kenabi's men shouted in anger until the Levite told them to be silent while the
elders spoke among themselves. They obeyed, though still muttering and
grumbling, until the elders rose to give their judgment.
"We find for Caleb," they declared.
Kenabi's men began shouting again before the elders could say another word, and
they started to surround them, but Caleb made a sign and Kenash and Gedawr led
their men in holding them back.
Caleb raised his hand to command silence. "Let there be no uproar," he said.
"Let's do all things among ourselves with peace and fairness, as befits those
who serve the one Lord God who has given us just laws to live by."
My men and I joined everyone in shouting our approval. Kenabi was still with
Caleb and the group of elders and leaders. His eyes glittered with menace and he
shook with fury as he told Caleb, "You have cheated me. This judgment cannot
stand."
Caleb tried to soothe him. "Threats will gain you nothing," he warned Kenabi.
"Be calm and hold your tongue while you still have friends in Israel."
Kenabi only grew angrier. "Who needs friends like you?" he yelled. "I curse the
lot of you--and your daughter and her lapdog!"
He turned and stalked away with his friends, who were shouting drunken threats
with a lot of loud and raucous laughter.
"Your brother came close to a stoning," Caleb told me later. "Your father and my
sister would grieve to know they brought such a rebellious son into the world.
At least, they could never find fault with you, Othniel. They would be proud of
you. Let the wedding feast begin."
The music and dancing began that night. I didn't see Acsah until the next
afternoon. Gera, Rifaz, and all of our friends came to the house where I had
bathed myself and dressed in borrowed finery. They carried me on their shoulders
towards Caleb's tent outside the city, and Gera walked beside me. Most of them
had brought their spears and other weapons and were alert for trouble.
Caleb had pitched his camp in the terebinths grove by the well. I saw a canopy
of colored cloth pitched in an open space. All the unmarried girls walked out of
the camp to welcome us, singing and shaking their tambourines in joy. One girl
placed a wreath of jasmine on my head, and others sprinkled me with perfume
until I sneezed.
"You need those flowers. May they last until your hair grows back!" Gera
laughed.
When we came to the canopy, my friends put me down and Caleb came forth from his
tent with my bride. She was dressed in the brightest blues and greens I had ever
seen and draped with so many veils she had to hold tightly onto Caleb's arm to
keep from stumbling. A chain of gold bound a wreath of lilies to her head, and I
could tell she was laden with bracelets and necklaces. It was too wonderful to
be true. Was she really Acsah? I greeted her,
"Who is this that appears like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
and majestic as the stars in procession?"
Acsah laughed softly and teased me by replying, "Who's this that appears like a
shorn lamb?"
Acsah drew aside her veils and held out both hands to me. I'll never forget the
sweetness of her voice and her loveliness as she looked at me and declared for
everyone to hear,
"This is my beloved, the one my heart loves,
O daughters of Israel.
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine."