* * *
At dawn on the seventh day, the Sabbath day that belonged to the Lord, the marching orders changed. Salmon breathed hard, for it took all his strength to keep still and silent and not raise his fists in the air in exultation. His heart pounded a battle beat as he and the multitude of his brethren maintained discipline.
Today, the battle would begin. Today, he would fight his way into the city, find Rahab, and get her and her family to safety before destruction came upon them.
For today, Jericho would fall!
SEVEN
“They’re not leaving this time,” Mizraim said, standing at the window. “They’re going around the city again!”
Jobab joined him, leaning past Mizraim to see for himself. “It’s true!”
Rahab checked the water supply. Satisfied there was plenty, she filled a bowl and motioned for Awbeeb. “We must get ready.” She soaked a piece of linen and wrung it out. “We want to look our best when they come for us.” She washed Awbeeb’s dusty face.
He winced as she cleaned his ears. “Will they come soon?”
“We will be ready and hope this is the day the Lord has chosen.”
“How will the soldiers get into the city?”
“The Lord their God will let them in. Now go and ask your mother if she has a fresh tunic for you. Bosem, come and wash your face and hands.” She glanced at her mother and sisters, who sat staring at her. She couldn’t suppress the excitement and joy she felt bubbling up inside her. “Get up! Wash yourselves! Brush your hair. Let’s dress in the best we have! Should we greet those who deliver us with dour, dusty faces and dirty clothing?” She laughed. “We will dress as though we are attending a wedding!” She opened her cabinets and took out robes she had purchased over the years. “Today all Canaan will see that walls cannot prevail against the Lord our God. Today is the day of our deliverance!”
Someone moaned. “That’s what you said yesterday.”
“And the day before,” another added.
* * *
Three times the Israelites marched around the city. Then a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth. It seemed each time Salmon rounded the city, his strength grew, for it was the Day of the Lord, and the Lord would take the day. The red cord hung from a window not far from the east gate. Salmon fixed his eyes upon it as he headed around the city for the seventh time, Ephraim marching beside him.
Then the command came. Joshua called out, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies. Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on all Israel. Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into His treasury.”
As the seventh round began, Salmon’s heart beat harder and faster. His feet came down more firmly, joining the thousands of others so that the sound of Israel marching seemed to reverberate against the mountains to the west.
Then the massive army stopped and faced the city. The horns sounded their blast, joined by a million voices in a ferocious battle cry.
* * *
Rahab’s heart trembled at the horrifying sound. As a low rumble sounded, she heard screaming from the men in the gate tower, and she clutched the windowsill as everything around her shook. Screams of terror followed from her mother and sisters, and even her father and brothers were shouting, “The walls!”
Dust billowed up as stones broke loose and tumbled down. An entire section of the wall between her house and the gate was collapsing, stones pouring in an avalanche onto the roadway. Men and women spilled out and were crushed beneath the crumbling fortress.
Then the Israelites broke ranks and came running, their battle cry raising the hair on the back of her neck. Thousands raced toward her, swords drawn and raised. Some who had fallen from the walls were wounded and tried to rise. They were cut down by the first line of Israelites.
Rahab jumped down from the step by the window. “Gather your possessions. We must be ready when our rescuers get here! Quickly, Basemath! Children, stand behind me!” She stepped forward as the screaming of the Israelites grew louder. The outer wall of her house cracked, one section breaking free. “All of you, stand behind me. Quickly!” she cried out above the din. “Don’t be afraid! Stand firm!”
* * *
“Keep your promise!” Joshua shouted to Salmon and Ephraim as they all ran. “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring her out, along with all her family!”
Zeal for the Lord swelled in Salmon until his blood was a fire within him, retribution in his hand. Screaming the battle cry, he ran with all the pent-up rage from days of listening to insults and blasphemies shouted from the battlements. He looked neither to the right nor to the left, but ran straight toward the fallen gate, leaping onto it. Swinging his sword, Salmon cut down a Jerichoan soldier who was clamoring to get out of the path of the avenging army of God.
“This way!” Salmon shouted above the din of enraged soldiers and terrified foes. “This way, Ephraim!”
They turned to the right, running along the street down which Rahab had taken them the day they first entered the city. Israelite soldiers by the thousands were pouring over the collapsed walls while Jerichoans fought in confusion, their voices a babel of terror and chaos. Salmon parried a blow and brought his sword down and around, so that the attacker’s weapon flew out of his hand. Slicing through him, Salmon freed his sword and ran on.
There were screams all around him as the vanquished fell before the swords of the victors. “Rahab!” he shouted, racing past the crumbled houses containing their crushed inhabitants. Where was she? One portion of the wall of her house was still standing, though parts of it were crumbling into the street. “Rahab!”
“We’re here!”
His heart did a strange flip at the sound of her voice. The door of her house lay split in two in the stone-strewn street. Salmon entered the open section of her wall and found her standing in the middle of the house, more than a dozen others behind her. Her arms were outstretched, as if to shield her family. Her lovely face was pale, but her eyes were bright. Ephraim ran in behind him.
Rahab inclined her head in greeting and respect. “Welcome!”
Lowering his sword, Salmon stepped forward and extended his hand. “Come with me.” Her fingers were cool when she took his hand. Studying her, he saw the pulse beating wildly in her throat. She was not as calm as she appeared. “You are safe now, Rahab. We’ll get you out of here.” He drew her toward the gaping doorway.
“If you want to live, follow us!” Ephraim said to the others behind them.
* * *
Rahab felt the heat rush into her face as the young man separated her from her family. She looked back and extended her hand toward them, then saw that her father, mother, brothers and sisters, and their children were obeying Ephraim’s command, and he was taking up a protective position behind them.
Across the street, a fire blazed. The bodies of her neighbors lay in their doorways. Screams came from the center of the city. She could hear stones cascading into the street behind her. When she glanced back, she saw her house collapsing.
Salmon released her hand and caught her around the waist. “This way,” he said sternly, urging her forward. “Hurry!” He lifted her over some rubble. Over his shoulder, she saw her relatives hastening after them.
When Salmon turned to help the others, Rahab held her arms out to Awbeeb. He scrambled over some fallen rocks, and she caught him up into her arms. Awbeeb clung to her, his face buried in her neck. Everywhere she looked, there was carnage. They picked their way hurriedly through the crumbled wall. She looked back at the others. “Keep going, Rahab!” Salmon commanded her. “Don’t look back! We’ll see to the others. Now go! Wait for us beneath the palms.”
When Rahab reached the outer edge of the
rubble, she ran. She didn’t stop until she reached the shade of the palms. She set Awbeeb on his feet and turned to encourage the others. Dragging air into her burning lungs, she called out to her mother and sisters, who were running from the rubble with the rest of the children. Her father and brothers came more slowly, heavily burdened with family possessions. Salmon and Ephraim brought up the rear, swords drawn and ready to protect them if need be.
Her mother’s face was ashen as Rahab helped her sit against the palm. Basemath, Gowlan, and Gerah were weeping and holding their children close. Hagri was blinking back tears and staring back toward the city. Rahab followed her gaze.
Jericho looked as though a hand had come down from heaven and flattened it against the earth. The walls and towers were scattered stones that had collapsed and rolled outward. Screams still rent the air as smoke and fire rose.
“This way,” Salmon said, grasping her arm. He turned her toward the Israelite encampment at Gilgal.
* * *
By sunset, the once great trading center of Jericho was burning. The air was acrid, smoke billowing into the darkening sky. Red and orange tongues of fire licked up the last bits of wooden rubble within the circle of tumbled stone. The cloying scent of burning flesh was heavy.
Shuddering, Rahab clasped her knees to her chest. She was weary with exhaustion, greatly relieved to have survived the destruction and yet saddened as well. All those thousands of people were now dead because they’d foolishly put their trust in man-made walls rather than in the living God who had created the stones. They’d heard the stories just as she had. Why had they refused to believe?
Salmon and Ephraim guarded her and her family as the Israelites returned from battle.
“None of your men are carrying any plunder,” Mizraim said in surprise.
“Jericho is accursed,” Ephraim said.
Salmon seemed more hospitable and willing to explain. “The Lord commanded through Joshua that every living thing in the city was to be killed: man, woman, child—young and old, ox, sheep, and donkey. Whatever silver, gold, brass, or iron that remains after the fire will be brought into the Lord’s treasury. We take nothing for ourselves.”
Rahab lowered her head against her knees. She didn’t want Salmon or Ephraim to see her tears. They might misunderstand and think she grieved over the fallen city or that she wasn’t grateful that they had fulfilled their vow. Her heart was filled with thanksgiving toward the Lord God of heaven and earth, who had held these men to their promise. She and every member of her family were alive and safe.
Yet she had hoped for more. Oh, so much more.
Someone gripped her shoulder. She glanced up sharply to see her brother Jobab bending over her. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you, Rahab.”
“I, as well,” said Mizraim. “The god of the Hebrews is a mighty god, indeed.” He sat with his wife and children, putting his arms around them and holding them close.
The last of the Israelites returned to Gilgal.
“You will be safe here,” Salmon said. He inclined his head to Rahab and then turned and walked away. Ephraim went with him.
Rahab rose quickly and followed to the edge of darkness. She stopped there and watched the two young men head back to the Israelite encampment. Behind her, no one said anything. When the two men disappeared among the tents of Israel, Rahab closed her eyes and fought despair.
After a long while, her father came out to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “We are all relieved, my daughter. Because of your wisdom, we are alive and safe.”
She lowered her hands angrily. “We are all alive because of God.” Tears coursed down her cheeks.
“Yes, of course.”
Cautious words, not faithful ones. Rahab shook her head sadly. None of those she loved would understand her sorrow. Even now, after all they’d heard and seen, they didn’t share her faith or the desire of her heart. Nor would they understand her desolation. She was unworthy to be counted among the Israelites. God had rescued her from destruction. He had shown mercy upon her and her family members. But that didn’t mean she was acceptable in His sight. That didn’t mean she could assume a place among His people. She saw in the faces of the men who had come to represent their people that she was still just “the harlot from Jericho.”
Her shoulders shook, and she covered her mouth to hold back the sobs.
“Do you cry for those who died, Rahab?”
“No,” she said raggedly.
She wept because her dream of being a follower of the true God was turning to dust. She was still outside the camp of Israel.
* * *
Rahab slept fitfully that night and rose early in the morning. She stood in the predawn twilight, watching the Israelite camp awaken. As the sun rose, three men approached. Her heart leaped, and she immediately awakened the others. They all rose quickly and stood with her. Rahab moved to stand beside her father.
She recognized Salmon and Ephraim immediately, but not the older man with them, who walked with grave dignity. She and her family members bowed down before them.
“It is him,” her father said quietly. “The man I met in the palm grove forty years ago!” He knelt and put the palms of his hands and his forehead to the earth. “I would recognize him anywhere.”
It was the man she’d seen studying the walls before the march began, the man who had bowed down to the soldier with the drawn sword.
“Arise!” the elderly man said, hitting his staff against the ground. “Bow down before God, not man.”
Rahab rose quickly and helped her father to his feet. She could feel how he was shaking. And no wonder, for when she looked into the commander’s eyes, she trembled as well. Never had she seen such fierceness in a human face.
“I am Joshua.”
“You and I met once many years ago in the palm grove,” her father said. “I knew you would return.”
“I remember you, Abiasaph.”
Her father bowed his head again. “I thank you for taking pity upon my family and sparing our lives.”
“It is God who has rescued you from destruction, Abiasaph, not I,” Joshua said. “But now it is left to you to decide what you will do with the lives you’ve been given. Have you considered your future?”
“Our only desire is to live.”
“Your lives are granted you,” Joshua said. “No one in Israel will do you harm. Where do you wish to go?”
“If it is as you say and we can decide for ourselves,” her father continued cautiously, “then I would ask that we be allowed to return to the palm grove so that we might live there safely and make a living for ourselves.”
Heart sinking, Rahab closed her eyes.
Joshua inclined his head in agreement. “You may go, Abiasaph, you and yours, and peace be with you!”
Afraid he would leave and she would never have another opportunity to speak for herself, Rahab stepped forward. “I don’t wish to go!” All eyes focused upon her—her father’s and brothers’ in warning, her mother’s and sisters’ in fear.
Salmon’s eyes glowed and he seemed ready to speak on her behalf, but she turned her face from him. She could only imagine what had been said to him for giving his oath to rescue her and her family. She would not risk shaming him now. Besides, her hope rested on no man. Let God be her judge. If He were an eagle and she a mouse scurrying for shelter, she would still seek refuge beneath His mighty wings.
Joshua considered her enigmatically. “You are Rahab, the prostitute who hid our spies.”
“I am Rahab.”
“What is it you want, woman?”
Her father had chosen for the family, but she had this one chance, this one brief moment when opportunity lay within her grasp.
“Don’t be afraid,” Joshua said. “Speak.”
“I want to become one of the people of God, no matter what it takes.”
Joshua turned his head and looked at Salmon. Rahab held her breath, studying the two men. Was Joshua giving Salmon a silent reprimand for
sparing her and her relatives and bringing this bother upon him? Was he blaming the young man for her outrageous plea? She could almost imagine what he was thinking: How dare this brazen harlot think she deserves to be among God’s people! Isn’t it enough that the Lord spared her life? What right has she to ask for more? Be off with her!
“If I cannot be grafted into God’s own people, then it would have been better had I died among the rest of those lost souls in Jericho!”
Her father grasped her wrist and gave her a hard jerk. “Be silent, Daughter. Be thankful for your life!”
She yanked free and appealed to Joshua again. “I am thankful to God for my salvation, but you have said we can choose, and so I choose not to go back to my old life. I want to start afresh. Would that I could be a new creation under God!”
Her father said quickly, “She knows not what she says.”
“Indeed, she does,” Salmon said.
“She is only a woman and foolish,” Mizraim said, clearly angry with her, his expression warning her to silence.
This, from a man who would have put his hope in the walls of Jericho and the wooden idols now ash in the rubble, she thought angrily, refusing to be cowed.
Joshua raised his hand for silence. “The Lord has shown pity toward all of you,” he said, “but toward this woman, He has shown compassion beyond measure. Abiasaph, your request has been granted. Take your family and go in peace. Live in the palm grove as you wish. But be warned: Jericho is accursed. Any man who rebuilds the city will do so not only at the expense of his firstborn son but of his youngest as well.”
“What of my daughter?”
“If Rahab wants to remain behind, she may.”
As Joshua and the two spies walked away, her eyes filled with tears. She hung her head in sorrow.
“You see how it is,” Mizraim said, while his wife began repacking their possessions. “They think they’re better than we are. They don’t want a woman like you among them.”
She didn’t answer. She knew what he said was true, but she refused to let him see her pain.