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301 In describing Abraham's fighting men as Naar men, the Old Testament thus informs us that he had with him a corps of cavalry- men, in all probability camel riders rather than horsemen. He may have picked up the idea of such a fast-riding fighting force from the Hittites on whose boundary Harran was located, but for the arid areas of the Negev and the Sinai, camels rather than horses were better suited. The emerging image of Abraham not as a sheepherding nomad but as an innovative military commander of royal descent may not fit the customary image of this Hebrew patriarch, but it is in accord with ancient recollections of Abraham. Thus, quoting earlier sources concerning Abraham, Josephus (first century A.D.) wrote of him: "Abraham reigned at Damascus, where he was a_ for- eigner, having come with an army out of the land above Babylon" from which, "after a long time, the Lord got him up and removed from that country together with his men and he went to the land then called the land of Canaan but now the land of Judaea." The mission of Abraham was a military one: to protect the space facilities of the Anunnaki—the Mission Control Center and the Spaceport! After a short stay in the Negev Abraham traversed the Sinai pen- insula and came to Egypt. Evidently no ordinary nomads, Abra- ham and Sarah were at once taken to the royal palace. By our reckoning the time was circa 2047 B.C., when the Pharaohs then ruling in Lower (northern) Egypt—who were not followers of Amen ("The Hiding God" Ra/Marduk)—were facing a_ strong challenge from the princes of Thebes in the south, where Amen was deemed supreme. We can only guess what matters of state— alliances, joint defenses, divine commands—were discussed be- tween the beleaguered Pharaoh and the Ibri, the Nippurian general. The Bible is silent on this as well as on the length of stay. (The Book of Jubilees states that the sojourn lasted five years). When the time came for Abraham to return to the Negev, he was accompa- nied by a large retinue of the Pharaoh's men. "And Abraham went from Egypt, he and his wife and Lot with him, up onto the Negev." He was "heavy with flocks" of sheep and cattle for food and clothing, as well as with asses and camels for his fast riders. Again he went to Beth-El to "call the name of Yahweh," seeking instructions. A separation from Lot followed, the nephew choosing to reside with his own flocks in the Plain of the Jordan, "which was watered as the Garden of the Lord, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah." Abraham went on to Abraham: The Fateful Years