only two articles, namely, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. One thing is sure, things have changed a lot. Once, the lord would appear to us in person, in the
flesh so to speak, and even took a
certain satisfaction in showing himself
to the world, just ask adam and eve, who benefitted from his presence, or ask cain, although that was in less fortunate circumstances, we refer, of course, to the murder of abel, when there was little cause for contentment. Now, though, the lord conceals himself in columns of smoke, as if he preferred not to be seen. As mere observers of events, we are of the view that he feels ashamed of some of his less palatable actions, for example, those innocent children in sodom devoured by his divine fire.
Chapter
9
The place is the
same, but the present has changed. Cain sees
before him the city of jericho, which, for reasons of military security, he has not been allowed to enter. The
attack by joshua's army is expected at any
moment, and, however vehemently
cain assured them that he was not an israelite, they continued to deny him access, especially since he could give no satisfactory answer to the question, What are you then, if you're not an israelite. When cain was born, there was no such thing as the israelites, and when, much later, they came into existence, with the sometimes disastrous consequences with which we are familiar, the censuses carried out omitted the family of adam. Cain was not an israelite, but neither was he a hittite, an amorite, a
perizzite, a hivite or a jebusite. He was
saved from this lack of definition by a farrier from joshua's army, who fell
in love with cain's donkey, That's a fine animal
you've got there, He's been
with me since I left the land of nod and he's never let me down yet, Well, in that case, if you agree, I'll take you on as my assistant on a bed and board basis, on condition that you let me ride your donkey now and then. Cain thought this a reasonable proposal, but asked, And afterwards, After what, asked the
other man, After jericho falls, Oh, jericho is just the beginning, afterwards there'll be a long war of conquest during which farriers will be as necessary as soldiers, In that case, I accept, said cain. He had heard
tell, from those who had known her, of a
famous prostitute who lived
in jericho, a certain rahab, whom he longed to meet so as to refresh his blood, for he hadn't had a woman under him since the last night he spent with lilith. And despite
not being allowed into jericho, he
still did not give up all hope of
sleeping with her. The farrier informed the necessary people that he had taken on an unpaid assistant, and thus cain became a member of the support services of joshua's army, entrusted, under the watchful eye of his boss, with the task of treating the saddle sores of donkeys and asses, donkeys and asses and nothing else, you understand, for a cavalry worthy of the name had not yet been invented. After what seemed to everyone an excessively long wait, they were told that the lord had finally spoken to joshua, to whom he had said the following, word for word, For six days, you and your soldiers will march round the city once a day, and seven priests will go ahead of the ark of the covenant, bearing seven ram's horn trumpets, and on the seventh day, you will march round the city seven times and the priests will sound their trumpets, and when they sound a much longer blast, the people must shout with a great shout and then the walls of the city will fall down. Contrary to what a perfectly
legitimate scepticism might expect, that is exactly what happened. On the seventh day of that never-before-tried tactic, the
walls really did fall down and the
soldiers poured into the city through
whatever opening lay before them, and jericho was taken. They destroyed everything, putting to the sword men and women, young and old, even oxen and sheep and asses. When cain finally entered the city, the prostitute rahab had vanished with all her
flesh so to speak, and even took a
certain satisfaction in showing himself
to the world, just ask adam and eve, who benefitted from his presence, or ask cain, although that was in less fortunate circumstances, we refer, of course, to the murder of abel, when there was little cause for contentment. Now, though, the lord conceals himself in columns of smoke, as if he preferred not to be seen. As mere observers of events, we are of the view that he feels ashamed of some of his less palatable actions, for example, those innocent children in sodom devoured by his divine fire.
Chapter
9
The place is the
same, but the present has changed. Cain sees
before him the city of jericho, which, for reasons of military security, he has not been allowed to enter. The
attack by joshua's army is expected at any
moment, and, however vehemently
cain assured them that he was not an israelite, they continued to deny him access, especially since he could give no satisfactory answer to the question, What are you then, if you're not an israelite. When cain was born, there was no such thing as the israelites, and when, much later, they came into existence, with the sometimes disastrous consequences with which we are familiar, the censuses carried out omitted the family of adam. Cain was not an israelite, but neither was he a hittite, an amorite, a
perizzite, a hivite or a jebusite. He was
saved from this lack of definition by a farrier from joshua's army, who fell
in love with cain's donkey, That's a fine animal
you've got there, He's been
with me since I left the land of nod and he's never let me down yet, Well, in that case, if you agree, I'll take you on as my assistant on a bed and board basis, on condition that you let me ride your donkey now and then. Cain thought this a reasonable proposal, but asked, And afterwards, After what, asked the
other man, After jericho falls, Oh, jericho is just the beginning, afterwards there'll be a long war of conquest during which farriers will be as necessary as soldiers, In that case, I accept, said cain. He had heard
tell, from those who had known her, of a
famous prostitute who lived
in jericho, a certain rahab, whom he longed to meet so as to refresh his blood, for he hadn't had a woman under him since the last night he spent with lilith. And despite
not being allowed into jericho, he
still did not give up all hope of
sleeping with her. The farrier informed the necessary people that he had taken on an unpaid assistant, and thus cain became a member of the support services of joshua's army, entrusted, under the watchful eye of his boss, with the task of treating the saddle sores of donkeys and asses, donkeys and asses and nothing else, you understand, for a cavalry worthy of the name had not yet been invented. After what seemed to everyone an excessively long wait, they were told that the lord had finally spoken to joshua, to whom he had said the following, word for word, For six days, you and your soldiers will march round the city once a day, and seven priests will go ahead of the ark of the covenant, bearing seven ram's horn trumpets, and on the seventh day, you will march round the city seven times and the priests will sound their trumpets, and when they sound a much longer blast, the people must shout with a great shout and then the walls of the city will fall down. Contrary to what a perfectly
legitimate scepticism might expect, that is exactly what happened. On the seventh day of that never-before-tried tactic, the
walls really did fall down and the
soldiers poured into the city through
whatever opening lay before them, and jericho was taken. They destroyed everything, putting to the sword men and women, young and old, even oxen and sheep and asses. When cain finally entered the city, the prostitute rahab had vanished with all her
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