Lilith’s purpose in staking or harpooning us is to deny us ‘the appointed time.’ Even if we’re aware of the opportunity when the hour of our calling arrives, we’ll still miss it. We may recognise it and try to grasp it but when we’re stuck or slowed, it’s gone before we can make a move. We’re effectively dispossessed of the destiny God has in store for us.

But Lilith’s gameplan is not simply to rob us of our inheritance. It’s more cunning. By draining us of resurrection life, she uses its power against us. She’s set up the system so we supply the means of our own defeat. This is a scheme straight from the playbook of the spirit of abuse, Belial, the threshold guardian who is her closest ally.

Although the following story does not name Lilith, the evidence itself speaks of her involvement—as well as that of the spirit of abuse.

One day Abner led Ishbosheth’s troops from Mahanaim to Gibeon. About the same time, Joab… led David’s troops out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. The two groups sat down there, facing each other from opposite sides of the pool.

Then Abner suggested to Joab, ‘Let’s have a few of our warriors fight hand to hand here in front of us.’ … So twelve men were chosen to fight from each side—twelve men of Benjamin representing Ishbosheth son of Saul, and twelve representing David. Each one grabbed his opponent by the hair and thrust his sword into the other’s side so that all of them died. So this place at Gibeon has been known ever since as the Field of Swords.

2 Samuel 2:12–16 NLT

This incident occurs during the time when it was unclear whether the House of Saul would continue to rule Israel. Abner had moved Saul’s son across the Jordan, but had come back to check out the old capital when he encountered David’s forces under Joab. Abner proposes a very strange and suicidal game which involves grabbing an opponent by the hair and stabbing a sword in his side. The only word that fits this hair-grabbing and knife-plunging is not Hebrew, but Greek. It’s ‘kairos’, appointed time, and it originally was related to ritual sacrifice.

So it appears that what Abner suggested was this: ‘Joab, let’s settle who will be king amongst ourselves by making a sacrifice to usher forward the appointed time.’ The Hebrew equivalent of ‘kairos’ is ‘anah’*, which sounds like the very similar ‘anah’**, related to Anat, a Canaanite war goddess. It’s my contention that Lilith and Anat, while unrelated in the mythologies, are spiritually the same entity.

As this episode continues to unfold in Scripture, one of David’s nephews is speared. The story highlights the influence of both Belial and Lilith over people desiring to hand the opportune moment to their candidate for leadership. We’d never see similar today, would we? That was sarcasm.

This is Grace Drops and I’m Anne Hamilton. May Jesus of Nazareth alone appoint your opportune moment.

*  With an aleph

** With an ayin

Thank you to Lorna Skinner of www.riversofmusic.co.uk for the background music.

Understanding false refuges is the single most important step towards dealing with the obstacles barring you from coming into your calling. Hidden in the Cleft explains false refuges in more detail and is available as a paperback or an ebook.