The Harbinger (11 page)

“The Tower!”

“Exactly. It would become the center point of the rebuilding.”

“And the sign called it
an icon
. It was meant to be a symbol of the rebuilding, of Ground Zero and the nation.” “It was to be an icon of defiance.
Defiance
—the word comes up again and again in the commentaries. Listen:

“Long before the rebuilding began, while the dust of the attack still hovered above the ground of devastation, an American senator would foretell the meaning of the future campaign:

“Is it about the leaders then?” I asked.

“No,” said the prophet, “not specifically.”

“Then about those making the proclamations?”

“No,” he repeated. “These are prophetic reenactments or prophetic manifestations, the first of many. And though they involve people, they’re not about the people involved. Those involved act unwittingly, without realizing what they’re doing, as representatives of the nation, agents of a national spirit. These are prophetic signs
of
and
to
a nation. So the campaign to rebuild was not about any one person or any group of people. It was the will of a nation, the manifestation of a national spirit. One journalist would describe it this way: ‘Rebuilding Ground Zero was going to be
America’s statement of defiance
to those who attacked us.’”
12

“A statement of defiance
, exactly what the ancient vow was…a statement of defiance.”

“Of defiance and boasting. From the commentaries:

“Two and half thousand years later, the governor of New York would proclaim the same thing from the pavement of Ground Zero: ‘Let this great Freedom Tower
show the world that what our enemies sought to destroy…stands taller than ever
.’
14

“From the words of the commentaries on Isaiah 9:10:

“From the words of the mayor of New York in response to 9/11: ‘We will rebuild. We’re going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger.’”
16

“These were all verbatim,” asked Ana, “actual quotes?”

“Yes.”

“And what did you think when you heard them?”

“It was eerie. Modern American leaders voicing the same things voiced in ancient Israel, and words that had to do with judgment. It was eerie.”

“And what else did he tell you?”

“He spoke of the difference between
restoration
and
defiance
.”

“Which is…?”

“To replace bricks with bricks is restoration,” he said. “But to replace bricks with hewn stone is defiance. To rebuild what was destroyed is restoration, but to boast of rebuilding stronger and greater than before is defiance. The Fourth Harbinger is not simply about rebuilding what was destroyed, but it must specifically involve rebuilding bigger, taller, stronger, and better than before. That distinction is clear in the Scripture and in the commentaries:

“So too it came out in the words of those attempting to rebuild Ground Zero. One of the nation’s most prominent real estate magnates said this of the proposed project:

“From the commentaries on ancient Israel:

“From the American magnate, on the rebuilding of Ground Zero:

“You see, Nouriel, even if by just as little as one story, it was not about rebuilding—it was about defiance, just as it was in ancient Israel. From the commentaries on the meaning behind Israel’s rebuilding:

“Now, in the words of one observer, the meaning behind the rebuilding of Ground Zero:

“Notice the wording:
unbowed, climbing into the sky, taller, bigger, stronger…defiant
. In other words, the rebuilding of Ground Zero, the Tower, would be the embodiment of a defiant nation, just as in Isaiah 9:10.”

“He even used the word
vowed
.”

“Correct. It was a vow, and a boast. In fact, for a time, they even boasted that the Tower of Ground Zero would overshadow every other building on earth; Isaiah 9:10 to the extreme.”

“And what happened to that boast?” “It would ultimately be thwarted. But that’s how it began. The rebuilding of Ground Zero was supposed to have resulted in the tallest building in the world.”

“A question,” I said. “I understand the Tower as a symbol of the reconstruction, but is there any place in Isaiah that actually speaks of a tower?”

“Centuries before the writing of the New Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek. The result was a Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures called the
Septuagint
. The Septuagint version of Isaiah 9:10 renders the rebuilding project in even more specific terms. It says this:

“How does this happen?” I asked. “How does it all come together, the words of the leaders, the vows, the Tower? It’s amazing, as if it’s all part of some kind of reenactment.”

“The reenactment of an ancient drama of judgment,” he answered. “A reenactment in which none of the players have any idea they’re doing it.” With that he became silent, and we both gazed out into the vast expanse that surrounded us, now darker and more aglow with lights.

“And so,” he said, breaking the silence, “out of the ruins of the nation’s calamity emerges the Fourth Harbinger, the most colossal of Harbingers, a Tower—and the most soaring testament of defiance ever to stand on American soil.”

And again he became silent and just stood there on the deck in the wind, looking out into the lights and darkness of the cityscape.

“A strange beauty when you look at it from here,” he remarked softly. Then he opened his hand. “The seal of the Fifth Harbinger.”

I took it, examined it, then placed it in my pocket. “What can you tell me about it?” I asked.

“It’s a Harbinger of foundations.”

“Where do I find it?”

“Away from here.”

“You’re sure you’re not giving away too much information?”

“
Far
away from here.”

Chapter 9

The Fifth Harbinger: The Gazit Stone

S
O WHAT WAS
on the seal?” she asked.

“An irregular line…ascending and descending. I took it to be the top of a mountain.”

“And where did that lead you?”

“I looked at Isaiah 9, but there was nothing there about a mountain. I couldn’t find anything to connect the seal to the prophecy, much less to 9/11. Again I found myself at a roadblock…going nowhere…until I went deeper.”

“Deeper?”

“Into the prophecy. The last Harbinger focused on the word
rebuild
.”

“
But we will rebuild
.”

“Yes,
We will rebuild
, but with what? I focused on the next word.”

“But I thought that was part of the mystery of the Tower…that they would replace what was destroyed with something greater and stronger than before.”

“It
was
. But the prophecy specifically speaks about a stone.”

“A hewn stone.”

“Yes, but it was originally written in Hebrew. That’s where I went deeper. I looked up the Hebrew behind the word
stone
.”

“And…”

“The word is
gazit
. It could be called the
Gazit Stone
. It can be translated as,
a hewn stone, a carved stone
,
a dressed stone, a smooth stone, a cut stone
, or
a quarried stone
. The Gazit Stone was, most specifically, a stone quarried, chiseled, and carved out of mountain rock.”

“
Mountain
rock!” she said as if proud to have come up with the discovery. “There’s your connection!”

“Exactly. And after being quarried, it would be leveled, smoothed, and shaped into a block for use in building, a building block. After the Assyrian attack, the people of Israel would set out to rebuild. They would go to the mountains and quarries to carve, shape, and smooth the Gazit Stone. Then they would bring it back to where the bricks had fallen so the rebuilding could begin.”

“So you actually put the clues together correctly.”

“I believe it was the first time I did—a major accomplishment.”

“Where did it lead you?”

“Nowhere. It led me nowhere. I was able to connect the stone to the mountain, but nothing else. There was nothing connecting it to now…no connection to America. How many new buildings in this city do they build out of mountain stone? There was no link.”