SYNOPSIS
Speculative Biblical Epic by Brian Godawa
Six Giant Assassins. One Target: King David. Goliath Was Only the First.
Everyone knows the story of David. Or so you think. No one has heard it told this way before.
In the days of Samuel the Seer, the Philistines are at the climax of a long war with Israel over the land of Canaan. There are still giants in Philistia left from Joshua’s search and destroy mission of holy war generations earlier. Their numbers have grown.
The young Philistine giant warrior Goliath steals the sacred ark of the covenant from Israel. But Yahweh’s curse upon Goliath’s people for that deed sets in motion an obsession of revenge and the creation of an elite warrior gang of giants, The Sons of Rapha, whose sole ambition is to kill the promised messiah king of Israel.
The only problem is, Israel’s King Saul is not that chosen one, because he is possessed by the evil spirit of an ancient malevolent ruler who seeks to kill that same unknown and spiritually anointed king.
They both discover it is David, son of Jesse, a young insignificant shepherd musician who woos the girls, and who miraculously slays Goliath in a battle contest. But now David is running for his life from both family and foe, gathering outlaws as allies, and eventually hiding in the one place no one would ever dream of: Goliath’s home town, the Philistine city of Gath.
With David in the Serpent’s lair, the queen of Gath trying to seduce him, King Saul and the Philistine giants trying to assassinate him, and David’s three wives all vying for his attention, this gritty romantic action adventure story will take you places in the Bible you’ve never seen before.
You think you know how it ends. But there is so much more to the story than you ever realized.
The War of the Seed continues with the Philistines vs. the Messiah King of Israel.
Chronicles of the Nephilim is written in the mythic genre of The Lord of the Rings and Narnia, blending fantasy and mythopoeia with history to retell the Biblical narrative with a fresh perspective, while staying true to the original spirit of the story.
David
Son of Jesse from Bethlehem. A shepherd turned giant slayer turned outlaw. David is impetuous, emotional and rash. But his passion also carries a heart for God and a desire for justice. He is a man of contradictions. He is passionate in his devotion to Yahweh but also easily led by his flesh. As the youngest of Jesse’s sons, he was neglected as unimportant, so he is haunted by his own sense of insignificance. Yet when he discovers his identity as God’s Chosen One to be the next king of Israel, he attempts to achieve both greatness and goodness, only to discover that the great are rarely the good and the good are rarely the great.
Abigail
David’s third wife. Originally, the wife of the rich man Nabal, she suffers abuse at the hands of her disgusting fat pig of a husband. When David extorts her husband for protection money, Nabal refuses and is about to be killed with all the men in his household, until Abigail intervenes. You’ll cheer when you see how she escapes the clutches of her cruel husband and is empowered to find new love.
Michal and Ahinoam
Michal is David’s first wife, the daughter of Saul. They find a beautiful harmony in their passion for music. Unfortunately, King Saul causes tragic separation between them in order to keep David out of the family line of royalty. Their star-crossed love will never be the same. Ahinoam is David’s second wife who becomes a competitor with Abigail for David’s affections when Michal is not there.
Sons of Rapha
The Yalid ha Rapha, or Sons of Rapha is an elite warrior cult of giants created by Goliath at the behest of the gods Dagon, Ba’alzebul and Asherah. Their purpose is to hunt down the messiah king of Israel and kill him, in order to crush the Seed of Abraham.
No surprise what happens to Goliath. But his brother Lahmi seeks revenge on David, and will not stop until he slaughters all of David’s family — every last one of them. Ishbi ben Ob is the son of an Ob, a necromancer who talks to the dead. Argaz, is a 15 foot Rephaim giant who was burned beyond human recognition when he was younger, who is now a secret hidden weapon. Runihura is an Egyptian giant who is a master of the javelin, and Saph is an expert swordsman with the scimitar, the chosen signature blade of the Sons of Rapha.
They are all Rephaim giants and they will not stop until they have assassinated David at any cost.
Jonathan
The son of Saul and heir to the throne of Israel. Jonathan meets David when searching for a musician to calm his demon haunted father the king. He quickly learns that David is anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel. Jonathan responds with faith in God, sets aside his own ambition, and becomes David’s mentor and elder confidante. But is this kind of faith genuine or is it a pretense to advance his own secret interests for the throne?
King Saul
The first king of Israel. Saul is head and shoulders above every Israelite at 6 foot 6 inches. Some believe he may be a Nephilim since he is such a mighty warrior king. But would God do such a thing? Saul is rejected by God and no longer hears from him. He goes mad with despair and seeks out an Ob or necromancer in order to hear from the dead spirit of the mightiest king who walked the face of the earth. The only problem is, that dead king has plans of his own, and the first of them is to possess King Saul in order to achieve his goal of killing the anointed one, David of Judah.
Ittai the Gittite
Ittai is a childhood friend of Lahmi, the brother of Goliath. Ittai has Nephilim blood, but he is not a giant in height. He is rejected by Lahmi and the Sons of Rapha. He suffers in despair of his cursed identity — until he hears about the messiah king of Israel and the hope of redemption. Because of his tortured soul, he struggles with his love for the beautiful Ummi of Gath, a woman who refuses to walk away from this man of goodness, loyalty and faith.
Benaiah
Captain of the bodyguard of David. Benaiah has a dark secret past as an outlaw in the Negeb desert. But he only became that way because he was betrayed by love. He is the most loyal of men to David and saves his king more than once from the assassins who seek to destroy the Chosen One. But he is also one of the few who will challenge his king to be accountable for his questionable choices to his God. This gets Benaiah in trouble with those whose loyalty is more to David than to God, like Abishai and Joab.
Abishai & Joab
These are a pair of brothers that do everything together, from fighting to visiting prostitutes. But they also compete in everything. They become among the highest of the leaders of David’s Gibborim Mighty Men. But they are haunted by their own secret of betrayal that drives them on for greater loyalty from guilt. They are the most dangerous of David’s men because they do not question their leader, they simply destroy all opposition to him.
Lord Achish & Lady Bisha of Gath
The rulers of the Philistine city of Gath. Achish is a pudgy and manipulative leader of the armed forces of the Philistines. He wants to destroy King Saul and rule Canaan. Which is why he willingly takes David, Saul’s arch enemy, into his protection, hoping to learn about Saul’s plans. Too bad, David has plans of his own that do not include the good of Gath. Lady Bisha is a sex addict who seeks to bed David when he is in Gath and will turn wickedly malicious when rebuffed by the Israelite of God.
Samuel the Seer
The prophet judge of Israel. Samuel is old and grumpy with the deplorable behaviors of Israel and her king. He curses King Saul for his disobedience to God, and anoints David as his successor. But he also represents the old ways of God’s judges who are being replaced now by kings, starting with Saul. Samuel no longer fits in this world of flesh and longs to leave it. But God still has one more task for the old seer to do.
Nathan the Prophet
One of the young students at Samuel’s School of Prophets. He survives the murderous attack of some giants upon his school, only to find his way to David as one of David’s most trusted truthtellers. The only problem is, David is not going to like the truth he is going to be told from this man of God.
Ba’alzebul
God of Storm. Freed from bondage under the earth through a volcanic explosion, Ba’al is back in the saga. But this time, he is burned beyond recognition, until he is nurtured back to health by Asherah up in Tyre. He has since lost control of Canaan to Dagon, god of the Philistines and must play second fiddle as the “Son of Dagon.” He is given a new name, Ba’alzebul, which means Ba’al is Prince – under the kingship of Dagon. Unfortunately, for Dagon, Ba’alzebul is regaining his former strength, and he has plans to take back his reign as Ba’al Most High of the pantheon of Canaanite gods. He is going to do it with the help of his consort in crime, Asherah.
Asherah
Lady Asherah of the Sea. The goddess of Tyre up north. When she rescues Ba’al from the sea and nurtures him back to health, the two of them conspire together to take back the land of Canaan from Dagon, chief god of the Philistines. Because she is the “wife of El” the high god, she has the respect as matron of the gods. As goddess of fertility, she and her prostitutes have gained a foothold of control in Israel since the Israelites worship her as female escort to their god, Yahweh. This idolatry is not acceptable to Yahweh, but empowers Asherah to move about freely in Israel. She even has an ally in Michal, daughter of King Saul, and first wife of King David.
Molech
God of the underworld. Molech loves little children, dead or alive, for his evil twisted lusts. He creates a place of child sacrifice right in the Valley of Hinnom outside the walls of Jerusalem that will haunt the nation of Israel for years to come. And he is helping Ba’alzebul and Asherah in their nefarious plans to take over.
Dagon
Chief god of the Philistines. He is the “half-fish, Half-man” deity, god of storm and grain. Because the Philistines are the strongest enemy of Israel, he remains the big boss of the territory. Too bad he is unaware of the plans of Ba’alzebul and Asherah. Will he discover them before it is too late? Or will he achieve his plan of capturing the source of victory and power of the Israelites, the ark of the covenant?