Chapter Nine
I stood up and stepped around the rock into clear view of the three men. I had my hands lifted high and palms facing outwards to show I carried no weapon, and I put a big smile on my face in an attempt to show I was friendly. This didn’t work, as almost instantly two of their long knives were thrown at me. I was mildly surprised that they threw so quickly, and I was impressed as the weapons flew straight and true towards my chest.
The first one I deflected away from my body with my left hand, while I twisted slightly and caught the second in mid-flight with my right hand. Slowly and carefully, all the while staring intently at the thrower of the spear, I broke it into two pieces. The leader of the three men had held his weapon; it was raised and remained ready to throw as I dealt with the first two. He had watched me keenly as I took care of the first two long knives, and I now looked directly at him.
He stared at me, transfixed. At first I thought he was frightened by the ease with which I had protected myself from the long knives, but I now saw this was not the case. My head, I thought, he is staring at my forehead. His mouth hung open and he had an odd, almost dazed expression on his face. It suddenly came to me. He was staring at the mark; the mark God had given me to keep me from being slaughtered by such as these. I had forgotten about the mark because I could not see it on my forehead. Though I had forgotten it existed, he could obviously see something.
When I first left my home at the beginning of the journey I had looked at my reflection in some still water. I had seen nothing, no mark of any kind. I had been disappointed and confused. I did not think God would deceive me, yet I could see nothing on my forehead.
After I made a mistake and my brother died, God had come to me. This had been such an awesome and frightening experience that I still trembled to think about it. Though I never said it to anyone, it had always been difficult for me to believe that God could exist as a physical being. My parents always referred to Him as if He had a physical body, but to my knowledge it had been well over 100 years since He had been seen or heard in person.
I believed that because of whatever they had done, He was gone; that He had truly left the world, not to return. That’s why it never made sense to me to give God praise and sacrifice the best of my produce to Him, since I didn’t believe He knew or cared that these things were being done.
I had been so shocked to realize He actually existed, and so frightened to be in His presence and know that He had seen what I had done, that I had fallen to the ground, numb and speechless. I only recovered my senses when He told me I would have to leave my home immediately; that I was no longer welcome to live with my parents.
This had temporarily broken my spirit. Although I was often angry with them, I did not want to leave my home or be separated from my parents. I had known I would have to tell them what happened, but I had planned to make it sound like it was my brother’s fault. I had hoped they would believe the reasons I gave them for what I did and forgive me, but God was not going to give me a chance to explain.
As I lay on my face, unable to look upon His glory, God spoke to me, telling me that I had to leave my home and be a wanderer upon the earth.
This frightened me, as I knew almost nothing of the world outside our land. I knew only the little my father had told me about the other people in the world, the people that now stood before me.
I feared for my life, and said, “Anyone that finds me will surely kill me.”
He spoke again, “No one will kill you. I will put a mark upon you. The mark will identify you to any strangers you shall come upon, and shield you from violence. Now leave this place. You may not see your parents again.”
When God came to me, I had been in my fields on the west side of our land. When my strength returned I rose from the ground and walked to our house, got my pack and filled it with food and a few other necessities. Knowing I could not go to the north or south, and believing what my father had told me of the western lands, I had continued on towards the east. I had not stopped traveling since that time. My parents had not been at our house. I had not seen them when I left, and I would never see them again.
When God told me He would put a mark upon me so I would be protected from the violence of strangers, I had briefly felt warmth upon my forehead. When checking my face later I had seen nothing, no visible marking or symbol. But although I had not been able to see anything, from the reaction of the men facing me I knew that they could definitely see something. Whatever was visible to these men was having a strong effect on them.
The leader continued to stare at my forehead mesmerized, his throwing arm still raised, while the others gaped at me with astonishment on their faces. I also saw fear there, though I didn’t know if the fear came from seeing the mark on my forehead or the way I had dealt with the weapons they had thrown at me.
I did not know what would happen next; for several moments no one seemed to breathe. Finally, though the leader continued staring, his arm gradually sank to his side. He dropped his weapon on the ground and very slowly walked towards me with his hands up and open in a show of peace. He still could not take his eyes off my face. His reaction to whatever was on my forehead was remarkable.
Suddenly the woman, who had turned towards me when I emerged from behind the rock and had also been looking upon me in shock, sprang into action. She burst past the man who was approaching me and threw her body upon the ground, prostrating herself at my feet. This was completely unexpected and confused me, but I immediately saw a look of anger come over the leaders’ face. He moved towards the woman in sudden fury, his face twisted.
I did not understand why this behavior would so enrage him, but I swiftly reached down, pulled her up and pushed her behind me, out of his reach. The rage melted from his face, quickly being replaced by the same expression that had been there a moment earlier. I now clearly recognized that it was fear in his eyes. I could see his fear was coming back even more strongly as I watched, but it was also mixed with awe, as if he knew he was in the presence of someone special.
I was thrilled by his reaction; his response suited me perfectly. In the few brief moments I had taken to develop my plan as I watched the confrontation from hiding, awe and fear were the exact emotions I had hoped for when I showed myself.
It had not occurred to me that their reaction would be caused by seeing the mark on my head. I had expected them to be daunted by my size and physical strength; that the sight of me would impress them and cause this reaction. Apparently my physical superiority was not necessary to make them fear me; the mark of God was enough.