“You still don’t understand,” Rahab said. “Do you think God will waste the lives of those who honor Him? The God of Israel isn’t like the gods of Canaan. He protects His people. He doesn’t demand their blood. You waste your time worrying.”
Mizraim ignored her. “When the battle begins, there will be confusion.”
“Confusion within the city, Brother,” she said hotly. “There’s no confusion out there. They are calm. God is making them ready for battle.”
“Why must you go on and on about their god?” her mother cried out.
“There must be something we can do,” Jobab said. “Perhaps we should try to get out of the city now, before the battle begins.”
“We will wait, as we were told to do,” Rahab said, frustrated. “If we try to protect ourselves by our own means, we’re doomed right along with everyone else in this city. No. We will trust in the men of God. They will see the red cord and remember their oath. Inside this house, we are safe.” She broke off a piece of her bread. Dipping it into the wine, she ate it.
Still, her brothers grumbled and whined and worried. Why did men have such difficulty with inaction? She tried to be patient. She tried to be compassionate. Her father and brothers had been cooped up in this house for days. They were beginning to wear on one another. The women were no better. All this talk of war disturbed them. As much as Rahab loved her relatives, they were a trial to her. No matter how many times she reminded them of the promise and encouraged them, they kept worrying over the future. They were like dogs chewing a bone.
“Why don’t we eat our bread and go to sleep?” she suggested. “Let tomorrow take care of itself.” She needed some peace and quiet.
When everyone was settled for the night, Rahab went back to the window. With a sigh of contentment, she propped her chin in her palms and watched the Israelite encampment. The night was so still; it was as though everyone and everything around Jericho waited for the Israelites to move forward into battle. She ran her hand over the thick red rope that hung from her window. After a long while, she lay upon her mat. She put her arm across her eyes, fighting her tears.
Come, Lord of heaven and earth! Please come! Break down the gates and take the city! Send Your men to rescue us from this place of desolation! Oh, God of all creation, I’m begging You for mercy. Let the day of our deliverance dawn!
When the battle was won, would the Hebrews allow her to become part of their nation? Ephraim had been far from friendly, quick to judge her. If her future was left up to men like him, what hope had she? He would keep his promise to save her and her family, but that would be the end of his obligations. And she hoped for so much more. Should she have asked for more? begged for more? She would drive herself mad worrying about it. All she could do was wait . . . and hope that God was more merciful than the men who followed Him.
She rose first in the morning as she always did, eager to see if there was any movement in the Israelite camp. She stepped over Mizraim and Basemath and around Vaheb and Hagri. The stars still shone, only the hint of dawn coming.
Startled, she saw an old man of regal bearing standing within arrow shot of the city wall. He was staring up at it. Who was this man dressed for battle, all alone, seemingly without fear of the danger in which he had put himself? Was he studying the walls to find some weakness? He had the bearing of a leader, a man diligent and responsible. Was he contemplating the defenses of the enemy? Surely, if this was the Israelite commander, he should have soldiers with him to act as his bodyguards. Lifting her head, Rahab looked for others who might be keeping watch over this man, but all was quiet in the camp behind him.
When she looked at the man again, another was with him, a soldier, his sword drawn. Where had he come from? Surely she would have seen his approach. The old man went to the soldier quickly, his manner both challenging and eager. He was close enough to the walls of Jericho that she could see his lips move.
Rahab’s heart pounded as the old warrior fell to his knees and then prostrated himself before the soldier. Then he rose just enough to remove his sandals! Her skin prickled strangely. Who was the man standing before the elder? Why would the elder bow down to the younger?
Mizraim groaned behind her and rolled over, startling her. She glanced back.
“Mizraim,” she said softly. “Get up! Quickly!” She motioned to him frantically. “Come see what is happening outside the walls!”
When she turned back, the soldier was gone and the old man was striding back toward the Israelite camp, head high, shoulders back. She felt a shiver run through her body.
“What is it?” Mizraim said sleepily, standing beside her, looking out the window as dawn spilled light across the plains of Jericho.
Rahab leaned out the window as far as she could. The soldier was nowhere to be seen. She felt a strange excitement rush through her blood. “The day has come, Mizraim. God is bringing His people into their land!”
SIX
“The commander of the Lord’s army has given me the Lord’s instructions,” Joshua called out to the throng of Israelite men of war. He’d already gathered the priests and stretched out his arm toward them. “Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram’s horn.” He faced the men of war again. “March around the city, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the Lord.”
Salmon was troubled, as were others around him. They all began talking in low voices. Shouldn’t they dig trenches? Shouldn’t they erect earthworks? How could they break down the gates of Jericho without a battering ram?
Joshua raised his hands, and the men fell silent again. “Furthermore, do not shout; do not even talk. Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout!”
A fast of silence.
The tribes formed ranks, and the captains of hundreds repeated the orders. Then all fell silent again as the vast army started out in obedience to the Lord’s command. The only noise Israel made was the rhythmic pounding of marching feet, accompanied by the sounding of the rams’ horns.
* * *
Rahab heard the king’s soldiers shouting from the watchtower on either side of the gate. “They’re coming! The Israelites are coming!” Footsteps pounded across her roof as soldiers took their duty stations along the wall.
Mizraim flew to the window. “What do we do? Do we wave the red cord? Do we—?”
“We wait,” Rahab said calmly, watching the massive Israelite army marching across the Jericho plain. They were coming straight for the city. The deep, resonant sound of the rams’ horns came from the distance, but it was the sound of thousands of marching feet that made her heart quicken. Thump, thump, thump. . . . On they came, thousands upon thousands. Closer and closer. Thump, thump, thump. She could feel the earth tremble beneath her. Or was it her own ecstatic fear that this was the day the Lord would come? She saw the priests with rams’ horns, the Ark of the Lord, and the marching soldiers coming toward her.
“Is that their god?” Mizraim said, standing beside her. “Is it?”
She had never seen anything so beautiful as this object with its strange winged creatures facing one another on the top. “The God who created the heavens and the earth cannot be kept in a box of any size.”
“Then what is that thing they carry?”
“I’ve heard it’s called the Ark of the Lord. Their leader, Moses, went up Mount Sinai, and God with His own finger wrote laws upon stone tablets. Surely, that is what they carry.”
“If that Ark was captured, would the power pass to others?”
She knew her brother well enough to see where his thinking was taking him. “God chose the Israelites to be His people, and He gave them His laws. I don’t know why. But the power isn’t contained, Brother. Was it men who struck Egypt with ten plagues or opened the Red Sea? Was it men who rolled up the Jordan like a carpet? Power belongs to the Lord. And the Lord is . . .” She spread her hands, at a loss for words. “The Lord is.”
“They
don’t have any battering rams,” Jobab said, looking over her shoulder.
“Or siege works,” her father said as he approached the window.
The men were crowding her, pushing her aside in their eagerness to see the advancing army. And they saw it with men’s eyes.
“How do they expect to break down the gates and get into the city?” Mizraim said.
“They will rush the walls soon,” her father said grimly. “They’re close.”
“Almost close enough for the soldiers on the walls to shoot them with arrows,” Jobab said.
The first ranks of the Israelite soldiers turned in formation and continued marching along the wall.
“What are they doing?” Mizraim said.
“Maybe they intend to attack from the other side,” her father said with a frown.
All morning, they watched as soldiers marched past the window. When the Ark came back around, Rahab closed her eyes and lowered her head in respect as the last of the long phalanx snaked around Jericho.
“They’re leaving! The Israelites are leaving!” came the cries from the wall as the Israelite army marched back toward the plains of Jericho. The Jerichoan soldiers were shouting and laughing and jeering.
Rahab winced as she heard the insults being flung after the retreating army. Did the men on the wall not know they were debasing those who would conquer them? She wanted to plug her ears as their crude taunts were flung at the God of Israel. She was ashamed of her people, ashamed of their arrogance, ashamed of their disdain toward the almighty God. If her people had possessed any wisdom, they would have sent ambassadors bearing gifts! The king would have gone out and paid homage to the God of Israel! The king and the people would have thrown open their gates and welcomed the King of Glory! Instead, these hard-hearted, senseless, proud people had shut up the city and made it a tomb.
“They’ve left us!” Mizraim said. “The Israelites are going away!” He turned, his face red in anger. “What do you suppose will happen to us now?”
“You were wrong, Rahab!” Jobab focused his fear and disappointment upon her as well. “The walls are high enough and strong enough to protect us!”
“If the king ever finds out you hid the spies and lied to his guards, we’ll all die for your treason!” Mizraim added.
“And how will he find out unless one of us tells him?” her father said, now afraid of the king. “Listen to me, all of you. You will keep this to yourselves for the sake of your sister! She thought she was saving your lives!”
Gerah lifted one of her children. “We’ve been locked up in this house for days, all for nothing!”
Rahab refused to admit she was disappointed. She’d hoped today would be the day of their deliverance, but it seemed God had another plan. She was certain of only one thing. “The walls will not stand against them.”
“You said they would come today!”
“They did come today, Basemath,” she said quietly, “and I’ve no doubt they’ll come back again tomorrow.” She spread her hands. “Don’t ask me why it’s being done this way. I don’t know. Am I God? I can only guess.” Why was she saddled with these rebellious people?
“What do you guess?” her mother asked.
Rahab turned to comfort her, for her mother had wept at the sound of those marching feet and now sat distressed and watching her children argue among themselves. “I believe something strange and wonderful will happen here, just as it happened in Egypt and at the Red Sea and at the Jordan only days ago. I’m certain of it, Mother.” She looked at the others. “I’m so certain. Haven’t I staked my life on Him?”
“And ours,” Mizraim said grimly.
Why couldn’t her family see God as she did? Did they have scales over their eyes and plugs in their ears? “Yes, I’ve staked your lives as well. I admit it. But you’re still free to choose. You’re free to be like the others outside my door who’ve put their faith in walls instead of the living God. As for me, I’d rather wait and watch and see what God will do. I will stay here. We have been promised salvation if we remain in this house!”
“But, Rahab,” Jobab said, “they can’t succeed. They don’t even have battering rams!”
How soon men forget! She threw her hands into the air. “Did they need rafts to cross the Jordan River?” Calming herself, she continued, “Just wait, my beloved ones. Be patient. Be still! Soon you will see and know that God is master of this city and all the land beyond it. The world is His, if He chooses to lay claim to it. And there is nothing anyone in this city can do to stop Him.”
“I believe,” Awbeeb said.
Laughing, Rahab held her arms out to the child and he leaped into them. “May the others be as wise, my sweet.” She settled him on her hip and stepped up to keep watch at the window.
* * *
Salmon entered his tent, dismayed at how tired he was. Surely marching a few miles shouldn’t deplete him so much. He knelt and prayed silently, thanking God he hadn’t needed to fight today. He doubted he would have had the strength to raise a sword. He winced as he lay down. The scar of his circumcision was not fully healed. Or was he merely weary from the inactive days of the Passover celebration?
The camp was silent.
Stretching out on his bed, Salmon frowned as he crossed his arms beneath his head. He wondered what Rahab was doing right now. Had she convinced all her relatives to enter her house and stay there? What if someone had seen her lowering two men from her window? The king could have had her executed by now. Salmon’s stomach tightened at the thought, but he forced himself to relax. Surely God would protect a woman who had not only professed but had also proven her faith in Him. Salmon had been shaken by her physical beauty when she’d hung boldly out her window and called down to him, but even that did not compare with the courage and conviction she displayed when she put her life at risk to save him and Ephraim. Faith and courage.
He had to get his mind off Rahab.
The silence surrounded him, pressing in upon him until it rang in his ears. What better way to end grumbling, questioning, and discussion than by imposing a fast of silence? The Lord God knew the tendencies of His people. It seemed the inclination of all men and women to question and argue and rebel against any command. The rumble of it had begun before the words of command were fully out of Joshua’s mouth.
His father and mother were dead in the wilderness because their generation had rebelled against the Lord. Joshua was wise. Keep the people silent. They became impatient too quickly, thinking they could march in and take the land by themselves. Once before, they’d made that devastating mistake.
Oh, Lord, I look at those massive walls and tremble. How many of us will die when we charge them and batter down the gates to do battle against that evil city? We’ll be easy targets for those soldiers on the wall. Will I die before I’m able to fulfill my promise to Rahab?
Drowsy with exhaustion, he closed his eyes. He could still hear the echoes of marching feet in his head. Hour upon hour, mile upon mile. As they had turned away from Jericho, he’d heard taunts and smarted at the insults shouted from the wall. But he’d clenched his teeth and kept marching back to Gilgal.
Is this the reason for Your strange plan, Lord? To humble us? Are You teaching us again to wait upon You? Whether we succeed or fail doesn’t depend upon our efforts but upon Your power. Is that what You’re trying to get into our thick skulls and hardened hearts?
No answer came.
When Salmon arose the next morning, he fell in among the armed men of Judah as they took their position among the tribes of Israel. The day’s order had been passed down from Joshua and disclosed by the captains of hundreds.
The armed warriors of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the phalanx across the plains of Jericho, followed by the tribes of war-ready men, some priests blowing the rams’ horns and others carrying the Ark of the Covenant. They marched around Jericho once and returned to Gilgal, just as they had done the day before.
The orders stood on the t
hird day . . . and the fourth.
Each day the taunts from the soldiers and people on the walls of Jericho grew worse, as they mocked God and laughed and shouted insults. With each circumference, Salmon glanced at the wall and saw the crimson cord hanging from a window in the wall—Rahab’s house. Twice he saw someone framed in the window, but the person didn’t lean out so that he could see if it was Rahab or one of her relatives. But he knew she was there. The crimson cord told him she was safe. God, protect her when the battle begins.
Salmon knew wrath was being stored up in the hearts of his countrymen marching around the city with their shoulders back and their heads held high. His own heart burned within him.
With increasing determination, the people obeyed. They kept silent. They picked up their feet and set them down firmly upon the earth, waiting for the Lord’s day of retribution. When it came, they’d be unleashed with swords in hand.
By the fifth day, Salmon was in full strength. The army of Israel was fully healed, rested, conditioned . . . and ready to annihilate those who were blaspheming the Lord God.
* * *
“I can still hear them marching,” Basemath said after the Israelite army had marched around the city, then left, for the sixth time. “My head is pounding with the sound of it. All those thousands of men and their pounding feet.”
“It seemed louder today than yesterday,” Gerah said.
“Every time the Israelites march around the city, the earth seems to tremble a little more. Can you feel it?” Zebach said. “Or am I imagining things?”
Rahab watched Mizraim run his hand over a wooden cabinet that was covered with dust that hadn’t been there at dawn, when the Israelites began marching around the city. He rubbed his fingers together and then brushed his hands off. Frowning, he looked around at the ceiling and the walls. “There’s a crack in the wall by the door.” He glanced at her.
She smiled tightly. “Perhaps tomorrow will be the day of our deliverance, Mizraim. Maybe tomorrow we’ll be free, with no walls around us.” Not even those of their old way of thinking.