The Harbinger (12 page)

“So what did you do?”

“I took a break. I took a break from trying to figure it out…and from the city. I went upstate; there’s a cabin there by a lake that I rent. I had several projects to work on. So I got away.”

“So you put the search behind you.”

“The search, yes, but not the seal. I didn’t want to leave that behind.”

“So what happened?”

“For the first two days…nothing. It was uneventful. Then, on the third day, I was out driving, to nowhere in particular, just a drive in the countryside. That’s when I saw it…on my left…in the distance.”

“That’s when you saw
what
?”

“A mountain.”

“There had to be a lot of mountains upstate.”

“But this one looked familiar. I pulled over and got out of the car. I reached into my pocket to look at the seal. And it matched.”

“The mountain matched the image on the seal?” she said, with obvious disbelief.

“It was the same shape, the same outline, the same mountain.”

“But I thought the seal was ancient, from the Middle East. How could it match a mountain in America?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was the image of another mountain, some mountain in the Middle East that happened to match the mountain I saw that day. I don’t know…but it matched.”

“But for that to happen, the image would not only have had to match the mountain but the view from which you saw the mountain. How could that happen?”

“How could any of it happen?” he said, as if expecting her to by now take such things for granted. “How could I keep meeting him each time? Some kind of destiny…or predestination…something. Anyway, it matched, or it appeared to match, the moment I first saw it, and from the very spot from which I saw it.”

“So you pursued it.”

“Of course. I drove up the mountain as far as I could drive then went on foot the rest of the way.”

“And what did you find?”

“I figured that whatever I was supposed to find would be on the mountaintop. But the mountain was long and rolling and was covered with trees. It was hard to know where to look, not to mention what exactly I was looking for. I was there for hours, from midday to the late afternoon. And then, in the late afternoon, I finally found what I was supposed to find.”

“Which was?”

“
Him
. I found
him
. The first thing I noticed was the coat…that long dark coat flapping with each gust of wind. He was standing there by one of the edges of the mountaintop, looking out into the distance.”

“He was often doing that…looking out into the distance…right?”

“Yes. And now it was into a vast open landscape of distant blue mountains, all different shades of blue blending into each other, something you’d see in a watercolor.”

“And he just
happened
to be there when you
happened
to be there. And you just
happened
to be there only because you just
happened
to be driving by that particular place that day, and you just
happened
to see the mountain from a view that just
happened
to match the image of the mountain on the seal.” She paused and stared at him with a light smile before adding, “It all just
happened
to
happen
.”

“That’s pretty much it,” he replied

“And how far away was the mountain from the city?”

“Several hours north.”

“How did he…?”

“Don’t even try. So I approached him. I was within ten feet of him when he spoke.”

“So how was your vacation, Nouriel?” he asked, without looking back.

“You know, I promised myself I wasn’t going to ask how you do all this…but how long have you been here…on this mountain…on this spot?”

“Not long…just enough to be here before you came. I didn’t want to keep you waiting. That wouldn’t be polite.”

“But of course.”

“So you had a pleasant vacation?”

“I’m still in the midst of it, and I’m not sure.” I was now standing at his side near the edge, facing him. He would alternate his gaze between me and the light blue mountains in the distance.

“So what have you found so far?” he asked.

“On the Fifth Harbinger? Not a lot.”

“Then let’s start with the little…what have you found?”

“After the attack, the nation vows to rebuild, not with clay bricks, as before, but with stone. In the prophecy, the Hebrew word for stone is
gazit
.”

“Well done, Nouriel. You’re going deeper. That’s good. What else?”

“
Gazit
speaks of stone that’s been cut out, chiseled, in particular, quarried from mountain rock. Thus the mountain on the seal…a place from which the gazit stone is quarried.”

“That’s more than a little.”

“But it doesn’t lead me anywhere.”

“It led you here.”

“But what does it have to do with America…or with the Tower? It’s not as if New York City is about to build skyscrapers out of quarried stones.”

“Piece the clues together, Nouriel. Then we can see if there’s any connection to America. Where are we in the prophecy?”

“
But we will rebuild with hewn stone
.”

“So they vow to rebuild and to do so stronger than before…to replace the fallen clay bricks with the gazit stone. They quarry their stones, carve them into massive blocks, and bring them back to the ground of destruction, to where the bricks have fallen. The first stone of building is always the most important—the cornerstone. The laying down of the cornerstone begins the construction. It’s not just a necessary act, but a symbolic one. And in the case of Israel’s rebuilding, the laying down of the first gazit stone would be filled with symbolic meaning, signaling the beginning of the nation’s rebuilding and the fulfillment of its vow. May I have the seal?”

So I handed it to him, and he lifted it up as he revealed its meaning. “The Fifth Harbinger: The nation responds to the calamity with defiance in the form of stone. The stone is cut out of their mountains and bedrock. They chisel it into a block. They bring it back to the ground of destruction. The stone becomes a symbol, the embodiment of their vow, their confidence, and their defiance. Upon the stone they rest their plans of rebuilding and their vow of national resurgence. But the Gazit Stone is, in reality, a symbol of a nation’s rejection of God’s calling. When the sign of the Gazit Stone manifests, it’s a Harbinger carrying a warning of future calamity. The Fifth Harbinger: the Gazit Stone.”

“And what does it have to do with America?”

“They came here, Nouriel. They came here to find the Gazit Stone.”

“Here?” I asked.

“Here…to the mountains. They came here and cut it out of the mountain rock and brought it back.”

“Back?”

“Back to where the bricks had fallen.”

“To Ground Zero?”

“Yes. For the vow declares, ‘
The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with quarried stone
.’ So the rebuilding must begin on the same site of the destruction. So the Gazit Stone must be brought to where the bricks had fallen, to the ground of the calamity. Thus, the quarried stone had to be brought back to Ground Zero. And so it was.”

“And what happened at Ground Zero once they brought it back?”

“There was a gathering there, a gathering of leaders—the mayor of New York City, the governor of New York State, the governor of New Jersey, various officials involved with the rebuilding, other leaders, and a gathering of guests and spectators. They were all focused on a single object—the Gazit Stone. The Gazit Stone most often took the form of a massive rectangular block of cut rock, so too the stone that was laid on the pavement of Ground Zero.”

“A massive rectangular block of quarried stone…laid at Ground Zero?”

“A twenty-ton massive rectangular block of quarried stone. The stone was to mark the beginning of the rebuilding.”

“
But we will rebuild with quarried stone
.”

“Exactly. The stone of Isaiah’s prophecy was another symbol of national defiance. So too they made the Gazit Stone of Ground Zero into a symbol. They even gave it a name. They called it the
Freedom Stone
. It was created to be the symbolic cornerstone of the rebuilding—not just of Ground Zero, but of New York City and America. Its laying down was to be the first act in that rebuilding and the beginning of the Tower that was to rise up from the site. So, as in the last days of ancient Israel, the Gazit Stone would again become the symbol of a nation’s rebuilding and restoration.”

“Were there any such proclamations or vows spoken,” I asked, “when the Gazit Stone was laid at Ground Zero?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“Because the stone in Isaiah 9:10 was linked to the proclaiming of the vow.”

“There were. There were such proclamations. And as in the ancient case, their proclamations joined the nation’s rebuilding to the quarried stone. Their words were, in effect, a modern paraphrase of the ancient vow. On Ground Zero the American leaders declared that they too would
rebuild with quarried stone
. The stone, they declared, would be the beginning of the nation’s rebuilding. It would:

“As it was in ancient Israel, the act of rebuilding with quarried stone was intended to send a message. So the governor of New York would proclaim:

“A message of defiance.”

“Yes, a message of defiance. On one hand, a defiance of the calamity; but on the other, beneath the surface, something much deeper…a much deeper defiance…just as it was with ancient Israel. One commentary explains it this way:

“
Stone cut out of the quarry
—just as the rebuilding of Ground Zero and of America involved the stone cut of the quarry…here.”

“Yes. And even the New York governor would allude to the
stone cut out of the quarry
as he spoke his proclamation over the stone:

“As it was with ancient Israel, the quarried stone would become the embodiment of a nation’s misplaced confidence in its own power to emerge stronger than before. And the act of laying down the quarried stone would be a manifestation of what the commentaries call the
spirit of defiance
:

“
The spirit of defiance…
Why is that significant?”

“On the day that America officially began its rebuilding by replacing the fallen bricks of 9/11 with the Gazit Stone, the governor of New York would make a proclamation from the floor of Ground Zero. Listen to the words:

“He used those exact words?”

“Those exact words.”

“The same words…and the same act—the quarried stone and the spirit of defiance.”

“Joined together.”

“Unbelievable…the whole thing is so…”

“It is…but it happened. The ancient drama reenacted on Ground Zero.”

“And what happened after,” I asked, “after the stone was laid?”

“What happened after was especially striking. The rebuilding of Ground Zero had already become tangled in a continual stream of controversy, confusion, obstacles, dissension, and conflict. Even after the stone was set in place, the tower’s construction would be challenged, halted, redrawn, renamed, and reversed. The plans to rebuild Ground Zero would be frustrated for years. Eventually they would remove the stone from Ground Zero altogether.”

“Strange,” I said. “They removed the cornerstone, and after all those words.”

“Strange and not so strange. The plans of ancient Israel to defiantly rebuild itself would likewise be frustrated. It would ultimately lead the nation to the point of destruction. The laying down of the Gazit Stone was one more link in a chain of judgment. The commentary goes on to reveal what it all leads to:

“It’s a replaying…it’s all replaying itself, the whole thing. It’s so…uncanny. And they had no idea what they were doing.”