The Harbinger, page 7
“I believe one of the first things we should commit to—with federal help that underscores our nation’s purpose—is to rebuild the towers of the World Trade Center and show the world we are not afraid—WE ARE DEFIANT.”11
“Is it about the leaders then?” I asked.
“No,” said the prophet, “not specifically.”
“Then about those making the proclamations?”
“No,” he repeated. “These are prophetic reenactments or prophetic manifestations, the first of many. And though they involve people, they’re not about the people involved. Those involved act unwittingly, without realizing what they’re doing, as representatives of the nation, agents of a national spirit. These are prophetic signs of and to a nation. So the campaign to rebuild was not about any one person or any group of people. It was the will of a nation, the manifestation of a national spirit. One journalist would describe it this way: ‘Rebuilding Ground Zero was going to be America’s statement of defiance to those who attacked us.’”12
“A statement of defiance, exactly what the ancient vow was . . . a statement of defiance.”
“Of defiance and boasting. From the commentaries:
“They rise upon the ruins of their broken homes . . . boasting that they will show the enemy, whether God or man, that they can ‘take it.’13
“Two and half thousand years later, the governor of New York would proclaim the same thing from the pavement of Ground Zero: ‘Let this great Freedom Tower show the world that what our enemies sought to destroy . . . stands taller than ever.’14
“From the words of the commentaries on Isaiah 9:10:
“They boasted that they would rebuild their devastated country and make it stronger and more glorious than ever before.15
“From the words of the mayor of New York in response to 9/11: ‘We will rebuild. We’re going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger.’”16
• • •
“These were all verbatim,” asked Ana, “actual quotes?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you think when you heard them?”
“It was eerie. Modern American leaders voicing the same things voiced in ancient Israel, and words that had to do with judgment. It was eerie.”
“And what else did he tell you?”
“He spoke of the difference between restoration and defiance.”
“Which is . . . ?”
• • •
“To replace bricks with bricks is restoration,” he said. “But to replace bricks with hewn stone is defiance. To rebuild what was destroyed is restoration, but to boast of rebuilding stronger and greater than before is defiance. The Fourth Harbinger is not simply about rebuilding what was destroyed, but it must specifically involve rebuilding bigger, taller, stronger, and better than before. That distinction is clear in the Scripture and in the commentaries:
“Since their houses had been destroyed, they would build bigger, better, and finer ones.17
“So too it came out in the words of those attempting to rebuild Ground Zero. One of the nation’s most prominent real estate magnates said this of the proposed project:
“ . . . we should have the World Trade Center bigger and better.18
“From the commentaries on ancient Israel:
“If they ruin our houses, we will repair them, and make them stronger and finer than they were before.19
“From the American magnate, on the rebuilding of Ground Zero:
“What I want to see built is the World Trade Center stronger and maybe a story taller.20
“You see, Nouriel, even if by just as little as one story, it was not about rebuilding—it was about defiance, just as it was in ancient Israel. From the commentaries on the meaning behind Israel’s rebuilding:
“They are determined to withstand God and rebuild on an even grander scale.21
“Now, in the words of one observer, the meaning behind the rebuilding of Ground Zero:
“The developer who holds the lease has vowed that the towers will rise again . . . it would show us defiant in the face of terror, unbowed, climbing again gleaming into the sky taller, bigger, stronger.22
“Notice the wording: unbowed, climbing into the sky, taller, bigger, stronger . . . defiant. In other words, the rebuilding of Ground Zero, the Tower, would be the embodiment of a defiant nation, just as in Isaiah 9:10.”
“He even used the word vowed.”
“Correct. It was a vow, and a boast. In fact, for a time, they even boasted that the Tower of Ground Zero would overshadow every other building on earth; Isaiah 9:10 to the extreme.”
“And what happened to that boast?”
“It would ultimately be thwarted. But that’s how it began. The rebuilding of Ground Zero was supposed to have resulted in the tallest building in the world.”
“A question,” I said. “I understand the Tower as a symbol of the reconstruction, but is there any place in Isaiah that actually speaks of a tower?”
“Centuries before the writing of the New Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek. The result was a Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures called the Septuagint. The Septuagint version of Isaiah 9:10 renders the rebuilding project in even more specific terms. It says this:
“The bricks are fallen down . . . but come . . . let us build for ourselves a TOWER.”23
“How does this happen?” I asked. “How does it all come together, the words of the leaders, the vows, the Tower? It’s amazing, as if it’s all part of some kind of reenactment.”
“The reenactment of an ancient drama of judgment,” he answered. “A reenactment in which none of the players have any idea they’re doing it.” With that he became silent, and we both gazed out into the vast expanse that surrounded us, now darker and more aglow with lights.
“And so,” he said, breaking the silence, “out of the ruins of the nation’s calamity emerges the Fourth Harbinger, the most colossal of Harbingers, a Tower—and the most soaring testament of defiance ever to stand on American soil.”
• • •
And again he became silent and just stood there on the deck in the wind, looking out into the lights and darkness of the cityscape.
“A strange beauty when you look at it from here,” he remarked softly. Then he opened his hand. “The seal of the Fifth Harbinger.”
I took it, examined it, then placed it in my pocket. “What can you tell me about it?” I asked.
“It’s a Harbinger of foundations.”
“Where do I find it?”
“Away from here.”
“You’re sure you’re not giving away too much information?”
“Far away from here.”
Chapter 9 The Fifth Harbinger: The Gazit Stone
So what was on the seal?” she asked.
“An irregular line . . . ascending and descending. I took it to be the top of a mountain.”
“And where did that lead you?”
“I looked at Isaiah 9, but there was nothing there about a mountain. I couldn’t find anything to connect the seal to the prophecy, much less to 9/11. Again I found myself at a roadblock . . . going nowhere . . . until I went deeper.”
“Deeper?”
“Into the prophecy. The last Harbinger focused on the word rebuild.”
“But we will rebuild.”
“Yes, We will rebuild, but with what? I focused on the next word.”
“But we will rebuild with hewn stone.”
“But I thought that was part of the mystery of the Tower . . . that they would replace what was destroyed with something greater and stronger than before.”
“It was. But the prophecy specifically speaks about a stone.”
“A hewn stone.”
“Yes, but it was originally written in Hebrew. That’s where I went deeper. I looked up the Hebrew behind the word stone.”
“And . . . ”
“The word is gazit. It could be called the Gazit Stone. It can be translated as, a hewn stone, a carved stone, a dressed stone, a smooth stone, a cut stone, or a quarried stone. The Gazit Stone was, most specifically, a stone quarried, chiseled, and carved out of mountain rock.”
“Mountain rock!” she said as if proud to have come up with the discovery. “There’s your connection!”
“Exactly. And after being quarried, it would be leveled, smoothed, and shaped into a block for use in building, a building block. After the Assyrian attack, the people of Israel would set out to rebuild. They would go to the mountains and quarries to carve, shape, and smooth the Gazit Stone. Then they would bring it back to where the bricks had fallen so the rebuilding could begin.”
“So you actually put the clues together correctly.”
“I believe it was the first time I did—a major accomplishment.”
“Where did it lead you?”
“Nowhere. It led me nowhere. I was able to connect the stone to the mountain, but nothing else. There was nothing connecting it to now . . . no connection to America. How many new buildings in this city do they build out of mountain stone? There was no link.”
“So what did you do?”
“I took a break. I took a break from trying to figure it out . . . and from the city. I went upstate; there’s a cabin there by a lake that I rent. I had several projects to work on. So I got away.”
“So you put the search behind you.”
“The search, yes, but not the seal. I didn’t want to leave that behind.”
“So what happened?”
“For the first two days . . . nothing. It was uneventful. Then, on the third day, I was out driving, to nowhere in particular, just a drive in the countryside. That’s when I saw it . . . on my left . . . in the distance.”
“That’s when you saw what?”
“A mountain.”
“There had to be a lot of mountains upstate.”
“But this one looked familiar. I pulled over and got out of the car. I reached into my pocket to look at the seal. And it matched.”
“The mountain matched the image on the seal?” she said, with obvious disbelief.
“It was the same shape, the same outline, the same mountain.”
“But I thought the seal was ancient, from the Middle East. How could it match a mountain in America?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was the image of another mountain, some mountain in the Middle East that happened to match the mountain I saw that day. I don’t know . . . but it matched.”
“But for that to happen, the image would not only have had to match the mountain but the view from which you saw the mountain. How could that happen?”
“How could any of it happen?” he said, as if expecting her to by now take such things for granted. “How could I keep meeting him each time? Some kind of destiny . . . or predestination . . . something. Anyway, it matched, or it appeared to match, the moment I first saw it, and from the very spot from which I saw it.”
“So you pursued it.”
“Of course. I drove up the mountain as far as I could drive then went on foot the rest of the way.”
“And what did you find?”
“I figured that whatever I was supposed to find would be on the mountaintop. But the mountain was long and rolling and was covered with trees. It was hard to know where to look, not to mention what exactly I was looking for. I was there for hours, from midday to the late afternoon. And then, in the late afternoon, I finally found what I was supposed to find.”
“Which was?”
“Him. I found him. The first thing I noticed was the coat . . . that long dark coat flapping with each gust of wind. He was standing there by one of the edges of the mountaintop, looking out into the distance.”
“He was often doing that . . . looking out into the distance . . . right?”
“Yes. And now it was into a vast open landscape of distant blue mountains, all different shades of blue blending into each other, something you’d see in a watercolor.”
“And he just happened to be there when you happened to be there. And you just happened to be there only because you just happened to be driving by that particular place that day, and you just happened to see the mountain from a view that just happened to match the image of the mountain on the seal.” She paused and stared at him with a light smile before adding, “It all just happened to happen.”
“That’s pretty much it,” he replied
“And how far away was the mountain from the city?”
“Several hours north.”
“How did he . . . ?”
“Don’t even try. So I approached him. I was within ten feet of him when he spoke.”
• • •
“So how was your vacation, Nouriel?” he asked, without looking back.
“You know, I promised myself I wasn’t going to ask how you do all this . . . but how long have you been here . . . on this mountain . . . on this spot?”
“Not long . . . just enough to be here before you came. I didn’t want to keep you waiting. That wouldn’t be polite.”
“But of course.”
“So you had a pleasant vacation?”
“I’m still in the midst of it, and I’m not sure.” I was now standing at his side near the edge, facing him. He would alternate his gaze between me and the light blue mountains in the distance.
“So what have you found so far?” he asked.
“On the Fifth Harbinger? Not a lot.”
“Then let’s start with the little . . . what have you found?”
“After the attack, the nation vows to rebuild, not with clay bricks, as before, but with stone. In the prophecy, the Hebrew word for stone is gazit.”
“Well done, Nouriel. You’re going deeper. That’s good. What else?”
“Gazit speaks of stone that’s been cut out, chiseled, in particular, quarried from mountain rock. Thus the mountain on the seal . . . a place from which the gazit stone is quarried.”
“That’s more than a little.”
“But it doesn’t lead me anywhere.”
“It led you here.”
“But what does it have to do with America . . . or with the Tower? It’s not as if New York City is about to build skyscrapers out of quarried stones.”
“Piece the clues together, Nouriel. Then we can see if there’s any connection to America. Where are we in the prophecy?”
“But we will rebuild with hewn stone.”
“So they vow to rebuild and to do so stronger than before . . . to replace the fallen clay bricks with the gazit stone. They quarry their stones, carve them into massive blocks, and bring them back to the ground of destruction, to where the bricks have fallen. The first stone of building is always the most important—the cornerstone. The laying down of the cornerstone begins the construction. It’s not just a necessary act, but a symbolic one. And in the case of Israel’s rebuilding, the laying down of the first gazit stone would be filled with symbolic meaning, signaling the beginning of the nation’s rebuilding and the fulfillment of its vow. May I have the seal?”
So I handed it to him, and he lifted it up as he revealed its meaning. “The Fifth Harbinger: The nation responds to the calamity with defiance in the form of stone. The stone is cut out of their mountains and bedrock. They chisel it into a block. They bring it back to the ground of destruction. The stone becomes a symbol, the embodiment of their vow, their confidence, and their defiance. Upon the stone they rest their plans of rebuilding and their vow of national resurgence. But the Gazit Stone is, in reality, a symbol of a nation’s rejection of God’s calling. When the sign of the Gazit Stone manifests, it’s a Harbinger carrying a warning of future calamity. The Fifth Harbinger: the Gazit Stone.”
“And what does it have to do with America?”
“They came here, Nouriel. They came here to find the Gazit Stone.”
“Here?” I asked.
“Here . . . to the mountains. They came here and cut it out of the mountain rock and brought it back.”
“Back?”
“Back to where the bricks had fallen.”
“To Ground Zero?”
“Yes. For the vow declares, ‘The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with quarried stone.’ So the rebuilding must begin on the same site of the destruction. So the Gazit Stone must be brought to where the bricks had fallen, to the ground of the calamity. Thus, the quarried stone had to be brought back to Ground Zero. And so it was.”
“And what happened at Ground Zero once they brought it back?”
“There was a gathering there, a gathering of leaders—the mayor of New York City, the governor of New York State, the governor of New Jersey, various officials involved with the rebuilding, other leaders, and a gathering of guests and spectators. They were all focused on a single object—the Gazit Stone. The Gazit Stone most often took the form of a massive rectangular block of cut rock, so too the stone that was laid on the pavement of Ground Zero.”
“A massive rectangular block of quarried stone . . . laid at Ground Zero?”
“A twenty-ton massive rectangular block of quarried stone. The stone was to mark the beginning of the rebuilding.”
“But we will rebuild with quarried stone.”
“Exactly. The stone of Isaiah’s prophecy was another symbol of national defiance. So too they made the Gazit Stone of Ground Zero into a symbol. They even gave it a name. They called it the Freedom Stone. It was created to be the symbolic cornerstone of the rebuilding—not just of Ground Zero, but of New York City and America. Its laying down was to be the first act in that rebuilding and the beginning of the Tower that was to rise up from the site. So, as in the last days of ancient Israel, the Gazit Stone would again become the symbol of a nation’s rebuilding and restoration.”
“Were there any such proclamations or vows spoken,” I asked, “when the Gazit Stone was laid at Ground Zero?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“Because the stone in Isaiah 9:10 was linked to the proclaiming of the vow.”
