The Harbinger, page 5
He stopped walking and pointed upward to the figure above him on the relief . . . a giant Assyrian archer.
“And now, the same sign that signaled the judgment of ancient Israel two and half thousand years before reappears in the modern world—no less dark and no less threatening—the sign of the Assyrian, the attack of the Terrorist.”
“And what does it mean for America?” I asked.
“That is the question,” he replied, “isn’t it?”
• • •
With those words I sensed that our meeting was drawing to a close. And I was right. He handed me the next seal—the seal of the Third Harbinger.
“And what was on it?” she asked.
“Shapes . . . unrecognizable shapes.”
“This one may be a bit more challenging for you,” said the prophet in a voice conveying both caution and sympathy.
“So help me out,” I replied.
“A word,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll need a word to decode it.”
“What kind of word?”
“The word that you need.”
“Do you enjoy being so mysterious?” I asked.
“It’s not a matter of enjoyment,” he explained. “It’s the nature of the job.”
“Do you realize you’ve never even given me your name?”
“Would that make a difference, Nouriel?”
“No, I guess not. But shouldn’t a journalist know who his source is?”
“And you don’t know who your source is?” he asked.
I didn’t answer. I suspected it was a loaded question. He resumed his studying of the ancient figures on the stone relief. I did likewise, but not for long. When I turned again to ask him for something more to go on, he was gone. I looked around in every direction, but there was no sign of him. I was alone again . . . just me and the Assyrians . . . in whose presence I was growing increasingly uncomfortable. I left the museum in search of the Third Harbinger. But it would be a search that would lead me to far more than I was expecting.
“What you do mean?” she asked.
“It would lead me to the key that would unlock the mystery of all the Harbingers.”
Chapter 6 The Oracle
Icouldn’t make any sense of what was on the seal. It was some sort of composite shape . . . mostly rectangles . . . joined together in a chaotic jumble. I decided instead to focus on the clue.”
“On the word?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Pretty vague for a clue.”
“Yes, but it was the only other thing I had to go on. So where do you find words?”
“In a book?”
“And where do you find books?”
“In a library?”
“So my search took me to the library, the New York Public Library, the one with the two stone lions standing guard outside and millions of books and resource materials inside. I was there virtually every day for weeks, going on any lead I could think of, searching for anything that would match the puzzling image on the seal.
“And did you find something?”
“No. But one day I was searching through a book of symbols in the Main Reading Room, sitting on a wooden chair against one of the library’s long wooden tables by the light of a reading lamp, under a massive window and a chandelier. I took a break to look up from the page, and there he was.”
“The prophet?”
“Sitting on the other side of the table, directly across from me. Silent . . . just watching me. I had been so engrossed in the book I never saw him sit down.”
• • •
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“A few minutes.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I was waiting.”
“So this is the place of our next meeting. I wasn’t sure I was on the right track.”
“You’re not,” he replied. “And this is not the place of our next meeting.”
“If this isn’t the place of our next meeting, then why are you here?” I countered. “And why am I here? And why are we meeting?”
“I would call this an intervention. I’m intervening. You’re off track, and you need help.”
“Then the word isn’t in this place?”
“It is in this place.”
“Then how can I be off track?”
“It is here, but you didn’t have to come here to find it. In fact, you didn’t even have to leave your home.”
“But if it’s here, I don’t understand how I can be off track or why you would have to come to intervene.”
“I came to help you find the Third Harbinger and to give you the key to unlock all the Harbingers.”
“I’m listening.”
“The Nine Harbingers, what are they?” he asked.
“Signs . . . warnings . . . given to a nation in danger of judgment.”
“And to whom did they first appear?”
“To the people of ancient Israel.”
“And when did they first appear?”
“At the time of the breach, the first invasion.”
“So then that’s where you need to look, Nouriel. In 732 B.C. when the Assyrians invaded the land, that’s where the word is.”
“What does that mean?”
“A word was given, a prophetic word.”
“The word I’ve been searching for?”
“Yes.”
With that, he reached into the inner lining of his coat and pulled out an object . . . a roll. He placed it on the table and carefully began unrolling it under the incandescent glow of the lamp. It appeared to be an ancient parchment on which were written words of an ancient-looking script.
“It looks like a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” I said. It was the nearest thing I could think of to describe what I was seeing.
“It does,” he replied.
“But it’s not a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
“No, but close.”
“What is it?”
He didn’t answer. But, passing his finger over the parchment, he began reading aloud the ancient words. “Davar, Shalakh, Adonai.”
“Which means what?” I asked.
“Davar . . . a word; Shalakh . . . has been sent.”
“‘A word has been sent,” I repeated.
“Adonai . . . the Lord.”
“‘A word has been sent . . . Lord?’”
“A word has been sent by the Lord,” he said, correcting my translation. “Davar, Shalakh, Adonai. The Lord has sent a word. B’Yaakov . . . to Jacob; and it has fallen upon Israel, and all the people will know it. Ephraim, and those who dwell in Samaria who, in pride and arrogance of heart, say . . . ”
“Say . . . what?”
“What I’m about to read, Nouriel, is the message given to ancient Israel in the days after that first attack. In this lies the key to unlock all the Harbingers.”
“How?”
“By revealing their mysteries—the key to the nation’s future.”
“The future of ancient Israel.”
“And the future of America.”
Once again he began passing his finger over the scroll and reciting its ancient words: “This is the message,” said the prophet. “Listen carefully:
“L’vanaim—The bricks
“Nafaloo—Have fallen
“V’Gazit—But with hewn stone
“Nivneh—We will rebuild
“Shikmim—The sycamores
“Gooda’oo—Have been cut down
“V’Erazim—But with cedars
“NaKhalif—We will plant in their place
“The bricks have fallen,
But we will rebuild with hewn stone;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will plant cedars in their place.”1
• • •
“It wasn’t what I expected him to say,” Nouriel said.
“What did you expect?” she asked.
“Something relevant, something of significance. What did bricks and sycamore trees have to do with America—or anything? And I told him.”
• • •
“I don’t understand,” I said. “I don’t even know what it’s saying. How is it the key?”
“This is Israel’s response to that first invasion, the first calamity. These are the words that sum up the nation’s spirit—a spirit of pride, defiance, and arrogance in the face of the calamity.”
“And why is it significant?” I asked.
“Because these are the words that seal the nation’s course and foretell its future.”
“I’m not seeing it.”
“What exactly is it, Nouriel, that they’re really saying?”
“In the aftermath of the invasion they’re going to rebuild.”
“And why would that be significant?”
“I have no idea. It’s what you do when something’s destroyed—you rebuild.”
“Look deeper, Nouriel. What’s the larger context? A nation is turning away from God. Its hedge of protection has been removed. Why?”
“To cause them to turn back, to wake them up, to save them from a greater judgment.”
“And what are they doing in light of it? Or rather, what are they not doing?”
“They’re not returning to God?”
“Exactly. Instead of listening to the alarm, instead of turning back, instead of even pausing for a moment to reexamine their ways, they boast of their resolve. It wasn’t about rebuilding at all. It was about ignoring the warning and rejecting the call to return.”
“So they missed their warning.”
“They did more than just miss it. They defied it. Notice the words. They weren’t vowing just to rebuild what was destroyed, but to make themselves stronger than before, to become invulnerable to any future attack. So what they’re saying is this: ‘We will not be humbled. We will not search our ways or consider the possibility that something could be wrong. Instead, we’ll defy the calamity. We’ll beat it back. We’ll rebuild. We’ll undo the damage as if it never happened. Not only will we not change our course—we’ll pursue it now with even more zeal. We’ll come out of this calamity stronger than ever and rise to even greater heights than before.”
“They were saying all that in those few words?” I asked.
“That’s exactly what they were saying. That’s exactly what it means. The alarm had sounded, and they were vowing to silence it. And what happens, Nouriel, if you silence an alarm?”
“You keep sleeping.”
“And if the alarm was to warn you of a danger . . . what then?”
“Then the danger becomes even more dangerous . . . because now you have nothing to warn you that it’s coming.”
“Exactly. So they kept sleeping. They nullified the alarm that was meant to wake them up . . . to save them. And it was all there in the vow:
“The bricks have fallen,
But we will rebuild with hewn stone;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will plant cedars in their place.
“These are the words that seal a nation’s destiny.”
“The fate of an entire nation hanging on so few words?”
“And in the original language, even fewer . . . eight words.”
“But how?” I asked.
“The vow was a sign, a manifestation of the hardening of their hearts, the rejection of God’s calling, the sealing of the nation’s defiance and its course—and thus the sealing of its end. So the vow itself is a sign of judgment.”
“Question . . . You told me that the word I was looking for wasn’t just here in this library, that I didn’t have to come here to find it. How could I possibly have found that parchment without you showing it to me?”
“It’s not the parchment,” he answered, “It’s the word. And the word is from a book, from the book of a prophet . . . ”
“A prophet?”
“ . . . who lived at the time of the invasion . . . and through whom the word was given.”
“And the prophet was . . . ?”
“Yishaiyahu.”
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“You have, you just didn’t know his real name. You know him as Isaiah.”
“Isaiah.”
“The word is from the Bible . . . from the Book of Isaiah . . . the ninth chapter . . . Isaiah 9:10.”
“Isaiah 9:10. So it’s known.”
“Not really. It’s a very obscure verse. Even most of those who read the Bible every day would have little idea it even existed.”
“So what does all this have to do with America?”
“The prophecy, in its context, concerned ancient Israel. But now, as a sign, it concerns America.”
“How?”
“It’s the sign of a nation that once knew God but then fell away, a sign that America is now the nation in danger of judgment . . . and now given warning and the call to return.”
“So it was originally given to Israel, but now it’s given as a sign to America?”
“Yes. So if that same prophetic message, that same warning of judgment, once given in Israel’s last days, should now manifest itself in America, it will be a sign—a sign that America is now the nation that once knew God but then fell away and is now in danger of judgment and now given warning and a calling to return.”
“So if that word should be manifested in America, it becomes a harbinger of America’s future?”
“A harbinger,” he answered, “and more than one.”
“The Nine Harbingers.”
“Yes. The Nine Harbingers—each one joined to the ancient prophecy, each one joined to this word, and each one carrying a revelation. If these harbingers of Israel’s judgment should now reappear, along with this prophetic word, then the nation in which they reappear is in danger.”
“And you’re saying that they have reappeared.”
“Yes.”
“All of them?”
“All nine.”
“And they’ve all reappeared in America?”
“Yes.”
“And they all concern America?”
“Yes.”
“And Isaiah 9:10 is the key to all of them?”
“Yes. It’s the key that unlocks each of their mysteries and joins them all together. Each of the Harbingers is connected. Each, when joined together with the other eight, forms a prophetic message. Each mystery is itself a puzzle piece in a still larger mystery.”
“So two of the Harbingers you’ve revealed. What are the other seven?”
“Ah,” he replied, “that would be telling. It’s for you to find them.”
“And it’s for you to help me.”
“I have. I just gave you the key.”
“You could give me a little more to go on.”
• • •
He paused, as if carefully pondering every word that was about to proceed out of his mouth. Then just as carefully and deliberately he began to speak.
“Two of the nine you already know, the Breach and the Terrorist. These form the context. As for the other seven, one is of stone; the other is fallen. One ascends. One is alive; the other once was. One speaks of what is; and the other speaks of what would be.”
There was a long pause before I ventured a response.
“You know,” I said, “I’m not telling you how to do your job, but this would all be a lot easier if you just gave me a map and a few subway tokens.”
“You don’t need a token; you have the key.”
“And what do I do with it?”
“You use it to find the Third Harbinger.”
Chapter 7 The Third Harbinger: The Fallen Bricks
We got up from the table, left the reading room, and made our way down and out the library’s front entrance.
“So this time he didn’t vanish at the end of the encounter,” Ana observed.
“No. Either that or it wasn’t the end of the encounter. We started down the front steps. That’s when it hit me. We were standing right under one of the lions when I realized it. That’s where I stopped to take out the seal and look at it once more.”
• • •
“I have it!” I said.
“You have what?” he asked.
“The Third Harbinger. I know what it is.”
“And what is it?”
“It’s the bricks from the prophecy . . . from Isaiah: ‘The bricks have fallen.’ That’s how it begins . . . the image on the seal. That’s what is in ruins . . . fallen bricks . . . a pile of fallen bricks.”
“Very good, Nouriel. Now tell me what it means.”
“It would be the ruins left in the wake of the Assyrian invasion.”
“Correct. When the Assyrian attack was over, the people of Israel began surveying the damage. What they found were the ruins of collapsed buildings, heaps of rubble and fallen brick. The bricks had fallen. They were fragile to begin with, bricks of clay and straw and dried in the midday sun. Any building made of these would be especially vulnerable to destruction. So the pile of fallen brick became the most visible sign of the calamity and of the fact that the nation’s existence now rested on shaky ground. It was now vulnerable and in danger. The breach had been made, and the destruction, though limited, had begun.”
“So the ruin heap of fallen bricks was a sign,” I said, “not just of what had happened, but of what would happen if the nation didn’t change its course.”
“Exactly . . . the sign of collapse, the collapse of a building, the collapse of a kingdom, and then of a civilization.”
He asked me for the seal, and then, lifting it up, he began to explain its meaning. “The Third Harbinger: Enemies enter the land and cause destruction. The destruction leaves the nation traumatized. But the scope and duration of that destruction are limited. The most visible signs of the attack is the ruin heaps of fallen bricks, stone, and rubble where once had stood a building. ‘The bricks have fallen.’ The Third Harbinger: the Fallen Bricks.”
“Ground Zero.”
“As the dust of September 11 settled on New York City, people emerged to survey the damage. The World Trade Center had collapsed into a colossal heap of ruins. As Americans watched on their television sets and computer screens, the image of the colossal ruin heap at Ground Zero became the most visible and identifiable sign of what had happened . . . a strange image, several stories high, surreal, and haunting. In the days and weeks that followed, the image would be seared into the nation’s collective consciousness—a sign of destruction, though, as with ancient Israel, a destruction limited in scope and duration. And yet, as in the ancient case, the ruin heap would serve as a sign against the nation’s sense of invulnerability. America was now vulnerable. The breach had been made. The stones were coming undone. And the nation’s security was resting on shaky ground.”
