Kendra

Part 6

Sabeans came, stole his donkeys and oxen then killed the servants watching over them. Chaldeans came and took his camels and killed his servants watching over them. Fire came from heaven killed his sheep and the servants watching over them.

Job tore his robes and he made himself bald, then fell to the floor and worshipped God. He did not say that God had done him wrong.

Kendra listened to some of the conversations between Job and his friends and wondered how the Lord could have allowed such misfortune to come upon such a godly man. Then he mused to himself, “If even a godly man is not safe from the Evil One, then how is a half angel expected to fare.”

After this time Kendra took to brooding in lonely places, away from the sight of men, but never away from those that guarded him in the spiritual realm.

Men lived in family and tribal groups and they had no sojourn against the whims of the wild beasts of the land, giant lizards, crocodiles, big cats, wolves. Some were peaceful, but others hunted and killed man. Large creatures would lean on houses and crush them.

Shem was still alive, five hundred years after the flood. He was a righteous man, the leader of his people, well respected and honoured. He would judge the people with his sons at Salem.

There was a time when people were afraid to leave their houses because of the skulking creatures. So the people came to hear Shem’s pronouncement.

“We must come together,” he said, “with weapons, to drive the Leviathan and the Behemoth from our midst. Let each head of family commission weapons to be made to kill the giant beasts and drive them from our land.”

For a while the creatures were driven from their lairs, but as soon as they multiplied and outgrew their spawning grounds they hunted men again.

Similar things happened in other parts of the world. People would band together, drive the beasts away but they would eventually return.

“We need to do something else, this is an endless cycle,” said the man.

“What about asking Nimr?”

Nimr was a black man, beautiful in stature and form, but his eyes held a darkness that was more than his natural colouring. Other men enjoyed his company. He was bold and fierce and instilled loyalty in those who were held under his sway. By his side he kept a pair of leopards that he had tamed and used for the hunt.

He was resting under a willow tree when the elders came to see him. “What can we do?” asked Plebin the oldest if the elders. “We drive the beasts away but still they return and hunt us.” Looking at Nimr he was hoping for some kind of response.

Nimr continued in a restful position and spoke with his eyes closed, “We must turn the hunters into the hunted. No longer should we kill them and drive them to their homelands, but we should hunt them and destroy them completely, so they are no more.”