Battle of the Godless – Ch. 15 | KT OLLA

AJAR and his four had set out on their journey up North, as they searched for a people to displace from their land.

Those Danite spies, they’d pushed their way through mountains and plains down South; through towns and many cities.

But no, the men didn’t stop at any of the settlements there. For they knew that those places were taken by countrymen or by giant foes.

So, the men kept going, and journeyed past the ethnic cities of Judah in the south; then past the cities of Benjamin, too.

Then soon, they came to the cities of Ephraim, spreading across Israel’s middle belt. So there they knew they’d got to stop and rest.

Ephraim was a tribe among Israel’s own peoples. So here wasn’t the target of those spies. Yes, they were still heading north; they only had to stop at this point to take a breather.

And as fate would have it, it was at Ephraim that the men decided to stop. 

The spies were almost exiting the land of Ephraim when they stopped that evening. They were already looking towards the vast settlements of the tribe of Manasseh.

And those cities and towns of Manasseh ahead, they spread from the west to the northeast region across a parting River Jordan.

So it was only when they exited Manasseh that they could come to unclaimed land of weaker enemies in the farthest north.

Thus, at Ephraim’s countryside on her border regions there, the spies stopped to ask for a place to spend the night.

Yet, as though decided from heaven, that countryside where the men asked for a shelter happened to be Micah’s village. So the townspeople directed the spies to his son Dinuel.

Now, as the men were advised, they went to Micah’s estate down street and asked for Dinuel at the gate.

When the young man came out to meet them, they asked him to help them with a shelter. So Dinuel welcomed them inside. Like all other guests Micah had sheltered through his son.

For truly, they were received by the son’s warmth and catered for by his father’s wealth.

That evening, the Danite guests washed themselves and they dined with the house. Then after, the spies went to their bedchamber to repose for the night.

But the leader of those men wasn’t going to bed. No Ajar wouldn’t close his eyes even when he laid down to sleep.

For the volatile man now suspected a member of Micah’s house.

He calculated that Jonathan was no family in that house. And he couldn’t take the fact that no one was talking.

But Jonathan’s identity had got nothing to do with Ajar or his men. Yet the heady man swore to dig up the secret.

As if there was a mystery nobody knew.

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Ajar got up from bed when he couldn’t take it anymore. When he couldn’t take that burning curiosity.

He lurked around the walled estate, and went in and out of the family house. He was restlessly looking for Jonathan in separate cabins within the estate, as well as in guest chambers within the house.

Jonathan was just returning from the shrine. It was a rustic hut built at the backyard of the big estate.

Ajar saw the young man strode into the family house and went for him at once. He hastened his steps, so the two men met in the middle of the hallway.

The that Danite hunter leapt on Jonathan immediately, pinning him to the wall with a bent elbow.

‘You’re not an Ephraimite? Tell me who you are?!’ he barked.

Jonathan was surprised. He snapped back at the man.

‘What has my identity got to do with you, Stranger?’

‘Everything, Stranger! Everything!’ Ajar retorted.

Jonathan found the new guest funny, strangely funny as a matter of fact. So he managed to bow his gaze and he looked at his own garment.

The young priest always had his ephod on both inside the estate and outside. And even now Jonathan was still dressed in that robe.

He was in fact dressed as a priest when the new guests had dinner with the entire house.

So, the Levite looked up at the man now and gave a cold smirk.

Who but the blind asks a man in an ephod who he is? This man must really be all strength and no brains!

But those words were buried beneath Jonathan’s tongue. He chose to say nothing to this man he considered crazy.

Then at that point, Ajar couldn’t help his temper anymore. He felt mocked. He ridiculed. So he spat his thoughts right there.

‘How can you who’s breathing at my mercy smirk at me? How can a weakling mock me to my face?

‘Oh! You must think Ajar’s all talk and nothing else, huh! You must think I can do you no harm!’

Just then, he thrust his hand within a sheath of blade stuck to his hip, pulled out a dagger and held it to the Levite’s throat.

‘Micah is my host!’ he roared. ‘Micah’s my host and you’re no son to him. If I kill you now and bury you in the dust, no one will know or ask after you!

‘Your death will mean nothing to me or this house. Why? Because you’re no son of this household and you know it!’

Now he pressed his elbow on Jonathan’s neck even more, and the young man grunted in pain as he struggled to breathe.

Ajar looked at him and growled his next words. ‘Listen here, and I’ll not ask this question again:

‘Who exactly are you in this house?’

Right then the assailant dropped his arm; then Jonathan slumped to the floor, panting so breathlessly.

Ajar waited for him to catch his breath. Then after the man was a little stable, he pulled him to his feet again and held him to the wall again.

This time gripping his shoulders.

Now he demanded: ‘Answer my question, will you!’