The Household of God
Volume 2
Rise and spiritual prime of the first world empire Hanoch
- Chapter 181 -
DIALOGUE BETWEEN KISEHEL AND THE BOASTFUL LAMECH. LAMECH'S ENFORCED SOLITARY THREE DAYS AT THE PLACE OF EXECUTION OUTSIDE THE CITY
And Kisehel replied to Lamech's royal speech, saying: "Listen, Lamech, you are right in that you as king demand this of me and of all of us. But tell me what we, as true messengers of the supreme, most holy God, are to demand of you, having given you sufficient proof through word and deed that we are truly what we claim to be.
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"How can the fact that you as king address us as mountain beasts be reconciled with our divine mission, how the first obstruction of the stairways before us, how anyway your whole treatment of us, since you had long ago realized how matters stand with us? - On this give us a royal explanation!
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"If you can justify yourself, I will retract my every word and amply atone for all the wrong done to you; of this you may be fully assured.
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"But woe betide you if you cannot do this! For you have appealed to God, - I tell you, to God Whom you cursed with word and deed, placing yourself as the greatest blasphemer into the order of His eternal, untouchable holiness so that you might for some spurious reason condemn in your evil heart us, who are placed in the order of His holiness!
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"Therefore, formulate this your defense well, - or, as I said, woe betide you!
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"I tell you, for this you shall receive the first lash with the divine rod! So speak. Amen."
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And Lamech confronted Kisehel rudely and began to address the following words to him, saying: "Are you of the opinion that Lamech will bow to your spoken 'woe betide'? Not ever!
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Thus the king Lamech will by no means offer you a justification of his words; for Lamech fears neither death nor God - and least of all you, even if you were endowed with a thousand fold greater might than you are as Jehovah's emissary!
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"If you want to beat me with fiery rods, do it anyway until I am dead! You can take my life, but not ever my mind and my will while I am alive; this I swear to you by my royal honour!
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"If you want to torment me with the worst pains temporally or eternally, you will thereby never weaken but only nourish my wrath and my will shall remain as it is now, namely, firm and unbending even under the burdens of the world, and you shall realize that the will of a God can surely be bent, but not the will of Lamech!
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"Pull glowing serpents through my body and throw me into glowing hot ore and I shall only curse you and your God all the more! However, if you want to subject me, destroy me; for if I no longer exist also the stubbornness of my will surely comes to an end.
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"Besides, I must tell you that also Lamech has other powers at his service which so far he has not bothered to use, like you do yours; however, when you attack him he is inclined to show you what his divinity is all about.
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"Thus I advise you to leave this my royal city within at the utmost three days, - or you may fare rather badly!
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"Although you have pronounced a 'woe betide you!' over my person, I, the king, out of pure consideration have not yet done so, for I thought: 'You are not introduced to my laws and thus subject to no punishment other than a warning,' - and I also thought: 'Besides, they are, like I and my people, Adam's children and for the first time in this my city, and rude and unmannerly; therefore, I will spare them as long as possible.'
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"However, seeing that in your obduracy you insist on making me, the king, a slave of your whim, I, too, call a loud 'woe betide' over you unless, as I said, within three days you leave this my royal city for good!
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"So depart from here; for from now on Lamech will answer none of your questions but will in case you disobey find the right means of chastising blasphemers like you in the most painful manner.
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"Understand this well and go away!"
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And Kisehel replied: "Good, as you said, so be it! - Listen, you women and maids and you bailiffs and all the people! Leave this place with us; Lamech alone shall remain here to feel for three days the effect of the divine rod!
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"Perhaps after this time we shall be more welcome to him than today! So be it!"
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And forthwith everyone left the place and merrily returned with the three to the city; only Lamech remained painfully fixed to the spot, unable to leave it, and all the people in the entire city were forbidden to approach this spot within the next three days.