A wise and holy king, Jareth, commanded twelve of his best men from his army, Reuben, Simon, James, Isaac, Eric, Benjamin, Zachary, Daniel, Asher, Nathan, Caleb, and Joshua, to explore the land of Toquop. In King Jareth’s dreams, an angel of the LORD told King Jareth that GOD intended to give the land between their tent of city of Mesquite and the Muddy River and as far north as the Toquop Wash loop and as far south as the Virgin River, to the Mesquites who lived on the northern side of the Virgin River.  

“Go north along the Toquop Wash and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. Learn whether they live in good or bad land. See if they live in an unwalled or fortified kingdom. Learn if the soil is fertile or poor and if trees grow in it. Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land,” King Jareth told his men.

“We shall not disappoint you, my king,” Caleb said.

“We shall bring back complete reports,” Joshua said. “Nothing shall escape our attention.”

“GOD is with us,” King Jareth said. “We must stand strong. GOD promised us a homeland where we will prosper and live in peace.”

The next day, the men prepared for the exploration and left the tent city. For forty days, King Jareth’s men explored the land between Mesquite, the Muddy River, and the Toquop Wash. When King Jareth’s men explored the land between the wash and the river, they found that the Nephilim brothers Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai lived in the hills along with other Nephilim where the land had lush green trees, orchards, and vineyards, large herds of sheep and cows, flocks of fowl and songbirds, fields of colorful flowers, and clean cold water. Other small areas of the land were rocky with poor soil. The twelve men returned with figs, grapes, and apricots. They carried the fruit in large sacks tied on a pole. When the men returned, they reported to King Jareth and all the Mesquite citizens and showed them the fruit of the land they just explored. King Jareth sat next to his queen, Samone, in front of his tents, his men, and the crowd.

“The land we explored certainly does flow with milk and honey, but the people who live there are powerful, and their kingdom is fortified,” Reuben said.

“We saw the Nephilim there,” Simon said.

The Mesquite citizens gasped.

A woman in the crowd stepped forward. “They are giants!”

“They are strong warriors! Highly skilled with shields and swords, and great knowledge of warfare,” a man said beside her.  

“One of their swords could lop off three of our heads at once! We are content right here,” another woman said.

“They live in the desert,” James said, “and in the hill country.” 

“And near the wash and on the other side of the hills,” Isaac said. “All the way to the Toquop Wash loop in the north.”

“We would be trapped inside like rats in a maze,” Eric said.

“The land we explored would devour any others living in it,” Zachary said.

“Everyone we saw there were of great size,” Daniel said. “No one is like us in any way.”

“We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes,” Asher said.

“And I know we looked the same to them,” Nathan said.

The crowd yelled and crumbled.

A man stepped forward. “Let us stay here! We can be happy here!”

Facing the crowd, Caleb silenced them by raising his arms and lifting his staff in the air. “We should go and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it. The LORD is with us.”

Joshua joined Caleb and faced the crowd too. “We can do it We are the LORD’s people. HE will help us defeat the Nephilim.”

King Jareth stood. “Citizens, Caleb and Joshua speak the truth! The LORD is our weapon against those people. HE promised us this land, so we shall take from it from the Nephilim.”

A woman stepped forward. “We should return to the other kingdoms! If only we had died there!” The other men and women murmured in agreement.

King Jareth shook his head. He turned and looked at Samone. He held out his hand to Samone, and she took it. He squeezed her hand and then released it. Then, King Jareth faced the crowd again and lifted his hands, palms forward. “Please, my people! Listen to me! Do not be afraid of the people of the land. The LORD is with us. I know that he is with us because HE told me in my dreams. Do not be afraid of the Nephilim.”

The crowd complained louder.

“We will prosper here!” A voice in the middle of the crowd said.

“Please, my people. Believe me when I tell you that we will triumph against those giants!” King Jareth said.

A woman holding a basket stepped forward. “We do not believe you King Jareth!”

Queen Samone stood and took King Jareth’s hand again. He looked back at the crowd as they entered their tent again.

That night around their fires outside the king’s tents, the Mesquite men kept grumbling, wailing, and raising their voices, saying, “Why is the LORD letting us fall by the sword? The Nephilim will take our wives and children for slaves, defile their bodies, and kill us. They will treat us with disrespect and violence. How are we to fight against angels?”

“The Nephilim are not angels! They are an ungodly people. Aberrations who reject GOD and His laws,” Caleb said. He walked around the fires and laid his hand on some of the men’s shoulders as he circled them. “The land we passed through and explored for King Jareth is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us and King Jareth, HE will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and HE will give it to us,” Caleb said.

Joshua sat among the men in front of a fire. “Only do not rebel against the LORD. Do not be afraid of the Nephilim, because the LORD will devour them. Their size and fortified kingdom are nothing because the LORD is with us.”

“We do not want to hear any more of your lies, Caleb and Joshua!” A man named Micah said.

Another man stood with a rock in his hand. “Let’s stone them!”   

The crowd roared their agreement.

Joshua jumped to his feet. "No, my brothers! No! Let us talk for a while and then go to sleep."

The man dropped the rock and sat.

Inside King Jareth’s tent, the LORD spoke to King Jareth as he sat on his rug and closed his eyes, exhausted from his people’s stubbornness to trust in the LORD.

“How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, despite all the signs I performed among them? I will destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they,” the LORD said.

King Jareth hung his head at the LORD’s words. “Then the kingdoms around us will hear about it, LORD. You brought the people up from among them. The other kings and queens of the surrounding kingdoms know that you are with us, LORD, and that you went before us in a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night when we escaped their clutches. If you put the people to death, LORD, the other kingdoms will say that since you could not keep your promise, you killed us. Forgive the people’s sins, just as you have pardoned them during our exodus from beyond the Muddy. The Nephilim terrifies them.”

“I have forgiven them as you asked,” the LORD said.

King Jareth fell face down on the rug toward the sound of the LORD’s voice.

“Not one person who saw my glory and the signs I performed on the exodus, but treated me with contempt, disobeyed me, and tested me will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. Because my servants Caleb and Joshua possess different spirits and follow me wholeheartedly, I will bring them into the land they explored, and they will inherit it too. The others who have grumbled against me will die in this place and their children will suffer here for 40 years, suffering for their parents’ unfaithfulness. They will know what it is like to have me against them. I, the LORD, will do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded against me. Go. Tell Caleb and Joshua what I have revealed to you, and they can tell the people.”

King Jareth stood and called Caleb and Joshua to his tent and told them the LORD’s judgement. Ten of the twelve explorers who returned and made the whole community grumble against the LORD with a bad report about the land, died of a fever overnight. Only Caleb and Joshua survived.

The Mesquites mourned bitterly.

“We have sinned, but now we are ready to go to the land the LORD promised,” Micah, the chosen leader of the crowd, said.

“You cannot disobey the LORD’s commands,” Caleb said. “You will not succeed.”

“Do not go because the LORD is not with you. Now, the Nephilim will face you there, and you will die by their swords,” Joshua said.

***

“Those Mesquites were here, were they not?” Shashai asked his brothers, Ahiman and Talmai. They lived in the hill country in the Toquop Wash loop, an area that King Jareth’s men explored.

“Yes, brother, and they took some fruit from our orchards and vineyards,” Ahiman answered.

Shashai stood, his chair falling backward. He lifted his sword and crashed the blade into the table, spilling their massive amounts of food and wine and nearly cutting the table in half. “Why did you let them?”

Talmai and Ahiman stood. “We wanted to see what they were doing,” Talmai said. He looked at Ahiman and then back at Shashai.  

“And what were they doing?” Shashai asked. He placed his sword tip on the table and picked at the wood, gouging a hole in it.

“They were spying for King Jareth,” Ahiman said. “Some of our people welcomed them to avoid arousing their suspicions if we did not welcome them, but that spying is what they were doing here. I know by the way they acted. Looking around as if assessing everything.”

Shashai sat again, laying his sword across his lap and tapping his fingers against the hilt.

Talmai and Ahiman sat again too. They gazed at their brother, waiting for him to speak.

“These fools will return to try and take our land, but the land and everything in it, on it, and above it belongs to us,” Shashi said. “And when they return, we will be ready for them.”

The three brothers and the others made swords, knives, shields, and breastplates.

“When they come into our hill country,” Ahiman said, “we shall attack and beat them back down to their own miserable kingdom. It is not even a kingdom; it is just tents.”

They cast spells for protection and looked for any signs from the stars, the sky, the sun, and the moon for answers to their future battle with the Mesquites, but none was forthcoming. They wore amulets and drank potions for health and strength in anticipation for the battle. They watched and waited for the Mesquites to come.

Then several days later, some of the Mesquites traveled to the hill country against the advice of Caleb and Joshua.

The Nephilim saw the Mesquites approach and drew their swords and knives.

“Be strong!” Ahiman said and raised his sword.

“Be unmerciful!” Talmai said and raised his sword.

“Be men!” Shashai said and raised his sword.

The brothers and the other Nephilim swarmed down the hills and slaughtered 4,000 Mesquites. The ground quaked as they ran toward the Mesquites, and when the Nephilim sliced and stabbed the Mesquites’ bodies, the blood drenched the earth and the smell drove the Nephilim wilder. Some wanted to even devour the Mesquites’ bodies. Truss them like beasts for a feast. The Nephilim attacked man and horse, and their evil knew no bounds.

The Mesquites fled back to their tents in their kingdom before the giants killed them too.

“The Lord brought defeat upon us today,” a man, caked with sweat and dirt, said to Caleb. “Just as you and Joshua had warned us.”

“The Nephilim cannot defeat our LORD,” Caleb said.

“Our LORD favors King Jareth, and the LORD would not lead us astray. You must believe and you must have faith,” Joshua said.

The Nephilim remained in the hill country and in the valleys below, but the LORD made plans for their destruction, and told them through the visions in their dreams, but they did not understand the messages. The visions tormented them. They could not war against the LORD and HIS forces of Heaven. It was futile. The LORD would cause famine and drought and crush their voracious appetites and unholy bodies and spirits. HE told the Nephilim that not one of them would survive. HE would erase them and their evil from the earth.  

For the next 40 years, King Jareth ruled the Mesquites with the LORD’s commands and with the help of Caleb and Joshua to command his army. They served the LORD and waited for the day to fight for and enter into their promised land.