The Harbinger, page 8
“There were. There were such proclamations. And as in the ancient case, their proclamations joined the nation’s rebuilding to the quarried stone. Their words were, in effect, a modern paraphrase of the ancient vow. On Ground Zero the American leaders declared that they too would rebuild with quarried stone. The stone, they declared, would be the beginning of the nation’s rebuilding. It would:
“ . . . forever remain a symbolic cornerstone for the rebuilding of New York and the nation.1
“As it was in ancient Israel, the act of rebuilding with quarried stone was intended to send a message. So the governor of New York would proclaim:
“By laying this magnificent cornerstone of hope, we are sending a message to the people around the world.”2
“A message of defiance.”
“Yes, a message of defiance. On one hand, a defiance of the calamity; but on the other, beneath the surface, something much deeper . . . a much deeper defiance . . . just as it was with ancient Israel. One commentary explains it this way:
“Far from being humbled and becoming repentant as a result of the chastening judgments of the Lord, they are resolutely determined to withstand God and rebuild on an even grander scale: ‘The bricks have crumbled, but we will rebuild with stone cut out of the quarry . . . ’”3
“Stone cut out of the quarry—just as the rebuilding of Ground Zero and of America involved the stone cut of the quarry . . . here.”
“Yes. And even the New York governor would allude to the stone cut out of the quarry as he spoke his proclamation over the stone:
“Today we take twenty tons of Adirondack granite, the bedrock of our state, and place it as the foundation, the bedrock of a new symbol of American strength and confidence.4
“As it was with ancient Israel, the quarried stone would become the embodiment of a nation’s misplaced confidence in its own power to emerge stronger than before. And the act of laying down the quarried stone would be a manifestation of what the commentaries call the spirit of defiance:
“The bricks may have fallen down; it was of no consequence—they would build with hewn stone. . . . Thus they breathed the very spirit of defiance.5
“The nation . . . determines to act in a spirit of defiance . . . it will turn its fallen bricks into massive stones.”6
“The spirit of defiance . . . Why is that significant?”
“On the day that America officially began its rebuilding by replacing the fallen bricks of 9/11 with the Gazit Stone, the governor of New York would make a proclamation from the floor of Ground Zero. Listen to the words:
“Today, we, the heirs of that revolutionary spirit of defiance, lay this cornerstone . . . ”7
“He used those exact words?”
“Those exact words.”
“The same words . . . and the same act—the quarried stone and the spirit of defiance.”
“Joined together.”
“Unbelievable . . . the whole thing is so . . . ”
“It is . . . but it happened. The ancient drama reenacted on Ground Zero.”
“And what happened after,” I asked, “after the stone was laid?”
“What happened after was especially striking. The rebuilding of Ground Zero had already become tangled in a continual stream of controversy, confusion, obstacles, dissension, and conflict. Even after the stone was set in place, the tower’s construction would be challenged, halted, redrawn, renamed, and reversed. The plans to rebuild Ground Zero would be frustrated for years. Eventually they would remove the stone from Ground Zero altogether.”
“Strange,” I said. “They removed the cornerstone, and after all those words.”
“Strange and not so strange. The plans of ancient Israel to defiantly rebuild itself would likewise be frustrated. It would ultimately lead the nation to the point of destruction. The laying down of the Gazit Stone was one more link in a chain of judgment. The commentary goes on to reveal what it all leads to:
“It will turn its fallen bricks into massive stones that will not fail . . . it was to be followed with fearful penalty . . . to be pressed on every hand by its enemies . . . to be prepared for still impending miseries.8
“The defiance of God shuts out immeasurable good.”9
“It’s a replaying . . . it’s all replaying itself, the whole thing. It’s so . . . uncanny. And they had no idea what they were doing.”
“That they were reenacting the ancient prophecy? No. And yet they each ended up stepping into the ancient footsteps. It was a prophetic act, taking place according to the mystery.”
“So what does it all portend for America’s future?”
“If those who came to Ground Zero that day to issue their proclamations had realized what it all portended . . . they would have stayed home.”
• • •
He reached into his coat pocket and gave me the next seal.
“The seal of the Sixth Harbinger,” I said. “And this is . . . ?”
“The image is clear enough,” he said, “as is the prophecy. This one shouldn’t be hard to uncover.”
“Still, some help would be appreciated.”
“The Sixth Harbinger appeared the same day as the first . . . and in the same place of the one that came after it.”
“Well, that really clears everything up,” I replied. “And to think I was worried you wouldn’t be specific enough this time.”
“Nouriel.”
“Yes?”
“Have a great rest of your vacation.” And with that, he left me there . . . standing at the edge of the mountain.
“I’m sure I will,” I answered in a raised voice.
“Try to get some rest,” he responded as he walked. “Rest is good.”
“And, of course, I’ll be sure to bring you back a souvenir,” I shouted.
“Just the seal, Nouriel. Just bring back the seal.” And with that he disappeared into the woods.
Chapter 10 The Sixth Harbinger: The Sycamore
He said the image was clear. So what was it?” she asked.
“A tree,” he replied.
“A tree as in the prophecy?”
“Yes . . . as in the very next words of the prophecy.”
“So the Harbingers were being revealed to you in the same order as they appeared in Isaiah 9:10.”
“In the exact same order,” he said. “The prophecy moves from the stone to the sycamore:
“But we will rebuild with quarried stone. The sycamores have been cut down.”
“So the tree on the seal, it was a sycamore?” she asked.
“That’s what I assumed.”
“And so where did it lead you?”
“I went deeper, as before, into the original language to find the Hebrew behind the word sycamore.”
“And you found . . . ”
“Shakam. The word translated as sycamore is the Hebrew shakam. It’s also known as the fig mulberry tree.”
“How do you get sycamore from that?”
“The Greek word for fig is sukos, and for mulberry is moros. Put them together and you get sukamoros or . . . ”
“Sycamore.”
“Its Latin name is the ficus sycamorus . . . a wide-spreading tree that reaches a height of about fifty feet. In biblical times they grew in Israel’s lowlands and along the roads and highways.”
“So you did your homework.”
“And I pursued it. I even took my quest to the New York Botanical Gardens . . . but it didn’t lead me any closer to the mystery of the Sixth Harbinger. In fact, it led me farther away. The more I learned about the sycamore, the farther I was from the answer.”
“Why?”
“What could the cutting down of a sycamore tree possibly have to do with America or 9/11? The ancient Assyrians may have been interested in cutting down sycamores, but not the terrorists of 9/11. They targeted cities, not forests or farmlands. How could the cutting down of a sycamore tree have anything to do with it? There was no connection. That was my first problem. But the second was fatal.”
“Which was . . . ?”
“It doesn’t grow here, not in the American Northeast, not naturally. The ficus sycamorus is native to the Middle East and Africa. It doesn’t grow in climates with frost. The only way you could keep it alive in New York or in Washington DC is to keep it inside or wrapped up in blankets and plastic. And some people actually do that. But it’s a novelty. The sycamore of Isaiah 9:10 is alien to the American Northeast.”
“So 9/11 had nothing to do with trees, and the sycamore has nothing to do with the Northeast. So what did you do?”
“After a few more dead-ends, I gave up trying. I figured that, somehow, whatever I was supposed to know, I would end up knowing.”
“And did you end up knowing?”
“I ended up in Central Park, on the lake, in a rowboat. It’s something I do when I need to clear my mind. There’s a bridge there, a walking bridge, which stretches over the water in a long arch. If you’re in a rowboat you can pass underneath, which is what I did . . . twice—the first time going out, the second time coming back in. It was the second time, just as I was emerging from underneath, that I noticed a man on the bridge as I looked up. He was standing in the middle of the bridge with both hands resting on the railing and looking down . . . at me, I think, but I wasn’t sure.”
“The prophet?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t see him the first time you passed under the bridge?”
“I don’t even know if he was there when I first went through.”
“So what happened?”
“I stopped rowing and shouted up at him, ‘Is that you?’ I just wanted to make sure.”
• • •
“Who else could I be but me?” came the response.
“It’s definitely you,” I said softly.
“And how’s your search going, Nouriel?” he asked.
“How does it look like it’s going? I’m in a rowboat . . . on a lake . . . in Central Park. Not very well.”
“But you’re in a place of trees.”
“Is this the place of our next meeting?”
“I guess it is.”
“Then how do we meet?”
“Either you get out of the boat and join me on the bridge, or I get off the bridge and join you in the boat. I’d recommend the latter.”
So he came down from the bridge while I navigated the boat to the side to find a place from which he could get in—which he did. It was now me and the prophet . . . in a rowboat . . . on a lake . . . in Central Park. There were several other boats in the water that day, but from the moment he joined me, everything else faded into the background as the focus turned to an ancient mystery and the future of a nation. We could have been anywhere.
• • •
“And you continued rowing as you spoke?”
“Yes . . . as we spoke . . . and as I recorded.”
• • •
He was quiet for a time. We both were. As the boat neared the middle of the lake, the prophet broke the silence. “So, Nouriel, what have you found so far?”
“The Sixth Harbinger is the sycamore from Isaiah 9:10:
“But we will rebuild with quarried stone.
The sycamores have been cut down.”
“And why do you think the sycamores would have been cut down?” he asked.
“It had to be the Assyrians in their invasion . . . part of devastating the land.”
“And why would a fallen sycamore be significant?”
“That’s as far as I got.”
“If the fallen bricks foreshadowed the nation’s future collapse, what did the fallen sycamore foreshadow?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s a sign of uprooting . . . the uprooting of a kingdom. Do you have the seal, Nouriel?”
I gave it to him. He held it up as he began to reveal its meaning.
“The Sixth Harbinger: The destruction isn’t limited to buildings. The enemy’s attack causes the sycamore to be cut down. The fallen sycamore is a sign of warning and, in the ignoring of the warning, becomes a prophecy of judgment. The Sixth Harbinger: the sign of uprooting—the Sycamore.”
“But what does it have to do with America? The agents of al Qaeda weren’t interested in sycamores. And the sycamore of Isaiah 9:10 grows in the Middle East and Africa, not anywhere near the events of 9/11.”
“That’s true,” he said.
“So I don’t see how anything could connect. The chances of . . . ”
“The chances of don’t mean anything.”
“What do you mean?”
“In the last moments of the calamity, the North Tower began to collapse. In the midst of that collapse, it sent debris and wreckage through the air toward a plot of land at the border of Ground Zero. It was unlike the other properties surrounding Ground Zero in that it wasn’t covered with concrete, steel, or asphalt . . . but with soil and grass.”
I stopped rowing and let the boat glide. He paused for a moment, before continuing.
“The wreckage hurled by the falling tower struck an object.”
“An object? What kind of an object?”
“A tree.”
“No . . . ”
“After the cloud of dust began to clear, police officers, rescue workers, and onlookers gazed at the little plot of land at the edge of Ground Zero. There in the middle of the ash and debris that covered the ground was a fallen tree. It would soon become a symbol of 9/11 and of Ground Zero. And it was a symbol . . . but one much more ancient than anyone there could have realized, and one carrying a message no one could have fathomed.”
“What tree was it?” I asked.
“The tree that was struck down,” he answered.
“What kind of tree was it?”
“It was a sycamore tree.”
“The tree at Ground Zero that was struck down on September 11 . . . ”
“ . . . was a sycamore tree.”
“But how?” I asked. “How could it? . . . They don’t grow here.”
“When the American leaders declared, ‘We will rebuild,’ the same words of Israel’s ancient vow, did they proclaim it in ancient Hebrew?”
“No, of course not,” I replied.
“And why not?” he asked.
“Because American leaders don’t speak ancient Hebrew, and who would have understood it?”
“Exactly. In each case, the ancient and the modern, the leaders speak in the tongue of their people and nation. The Harbinger is translated into the context of the nation in which it appears and to the people to whom it is directed. So too with the sign of the Sycamore. It was a translation.”
“A translation . . . how?”
“The tree matches the nation . . . the land. The tree of Isaiah 9:10 was endemic to Israel. So the tree of 9/11 was endemic to America.”
“But you said it was a sycamore.”
“It’s classified under the genus platanus. But it’s known by its common English name . . . sycamore. It was a sycamore.”
“But . . . ”
“Yes, you were right, Nouriel. The Middle Eastern sycamore doesn’t naturally grow in the American Northeast. But there exists a version of the sycamore that does—the English sycamore.”
“The English sycamore . . . a translation of the Harbinger.”
“And it was the English sycamore that happened to be growing on the little plot of land at the border of Ground Zero.”
“And it was named sycamore because . . . ”
“Because it was named after the Middle Eastern sycamore.”
“So the tree that was struck down on 9/11 was named after the tree of Isaiah 9:10?”
“Yes. The ancient Middle Eastern Harbinger was translated into Western form . . . into an American tree bearing the same name of the Middle Eastern tree of Israel’s judgment.”
“And it just happened to be standing there on the corner of Ground Zero on 9/11.”
“Just as with everything else,” he said, “it just happened to be.”
“But the Assyrians intended to cut down the sycamore tree—the terrorists of 9/11 didn’t.”
“The terrorists had no idea of Isaiah 9:10, no idea of the Harbingers, no idea of the sycamore tree growing at the corner of Ground Zero, and no idea that their attack would cause it to fall or that its fall was connected to an ancient prophecy. They had no idea . . . but still it happened.”
“And what happened after it fell?” I asked.
“It became the focal point of interest and attention. It was transformed into a symbol.”
“Just as with the Harbingers before it.”
“The Harbingers are, among other things, symbols. So the Sycamore became a symbol of 9/11. It was labeled the Sycamore of Ground Zero. Articles were written about it. It was placed on public display. Crowds gathered around to see it. But they had no idea of the message it carried or how far-reaching that message was. Nor did they take note of the small object entwined in its roots.”
“Which was . . . ”
“A brick,” he replied. “The bricks have fallen . . . and the sycamores have been cut down.”
“The whole thing is . . . I can’t even put it into words . . . everything replaying itself . . . everything following the details of an ancient prophecy . . . now even inanimate objects . . . the Tower . . . the Stone . . . the Tree . . . and with nobody orchestrating it.”
“With nobody orchestrating it because it had to happen. The Harbingers manifested because they had to manifest . . . as signs . . . as prophetic messages.”
“And what message does the sign of the Sycamore hold for America?” I asked.
“It’s a sign of a fall . . . of a cutting down . . . an uprooting . . . an end. When it appeared in ancient Israel, it prophesied the nation’s downfall and the end of its kingdom.”
“And now it reappears for America. So does that mean that there has to be an . . . ”
“It’s a warning,” said the prophet. “It all depends if the warning is heeded.”
“And if it’s not heeded . . . ?”
“If a tree falls to the ground and no one hears it . . . does it make a sound?”
