This Scarlet Cord (32 page)

Isaac turned to Gideon and the two men conferred in low voices. Sala could hear what they said, and when they once more referred to Rahab as a harlot he had to bite his lip to keep from laying violent hands on them. At last the two men turned back to Sala, and Gideon delivered their decision. “Tell the woman these words for our answer:
If you give us our lives, we will give you yours. As long as you keep your word and we get safely back to our camp, we will spare you and all who belong to you when Yahweh gives us this land
.”

Sala translated for Rahab and Shemu.

“Are those their exact words?” Rahab asked.

“Yes.”

“Can we trust them?” Shemu asked.

“If you make them swear to it in the name of Yahweh, you can trust them,” Sala returned.

“Make them swear then,” Rahab said.

Rahab listened to the men, waiting to pick out the name Yahweh. When she heard it, she nodded in satisfaction.

Sala looked back to Rahab. “They want to know how you plan to rescue them.”

Shemu muttered, “I would like to know that too.”

Rahab stared at the spies as she spoke to Sala. “Tell them they must remain hidden up here until it is full dark. Then Atene will make certain there is no one in our bedroom and I will bring them down from the roof and let them out our window with a rope. Explain that the window is a hole in the wall, and once they touch ground they will be outside the city, on the north side, which is the farthest away from the gates. Once they are outside they must go west, into the Judean hill country and away from the Jordan, so that the pursuers do not run into them. After a few days, when the Jericho military has returned to the city, they will be safe to return to Joshua.”

Sala and Shemu both looked at Rahab with admiration. So simple a solution and neither of them had thought of it.

Rahab and Shemu watched as Sala relayed the plan. When he fell silent, one of the spies took a piece of scarlet cord out of his belt pocket and held it out to Rahab. Sala translated his words, “We can only keep to our promise if you make certain that you identify your dwelling place. You must tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down and when the battle begins you must gather all of your family within this house. As long as they stay within they will be safe. We cannot guarantee the security of anyone who goes out into the street.”

“I understand,” Rahab said as she reached out her hand and took the cord.

Isaac spoke again and Sala translated, “You must keep this promise a secret from the rest of your family. No one must know, otherwise we will consider the promise broken.”

“I understand,” Rahab repeated.

Shemu put an arm around her shoulders and she looked up into his face. “You have done well, my sister,” he said. “I am proud of you.”

Rahab managed a wobbly smile and briefly pressed her forehead into her brother’s shoulder.

The Israelites had begun to speak again in Hebrew.

“You must come with us, Sala. It is not safe for you to be here any longer. Your father must come as well. Where is he?”

“I left him at the inn.”

“Come back before dark and you both can leave with us through the window, as this woman says.”

“I will not leave her. I’ll ask my father if he wishes to go with you, but I will remain here with Rahab.”

Isaac frowned. “Do not be foolish. This woman is acting in her own interests and the interests of her family. This is understandable, but you cannot be certain she will not betray you.”

“She would never do that.” He glanced at Rahab, whose eyes were fixed on him anxiously.

I will never leave you, my love. You are doing the work of Yahweh, and if my father does not see that, then he is blind. I cannot be loyal to what I know is wrong
.

He said firmly to his fellow Israelites, “In our hearts we are betrothed and, once we are free of this place, we will marry.”

Gideon scowled. “You cannot do such a thing, my brother. She is not clean. She is old enough to have participated in their filthy rites. She will make you unclean too if you marry her.”

Sala said wearily, “When you first said that, Gideon, I wanted to punch you. Now I am just going to say that she is giving you your lives and she deserves better from you than ignorant words about her virtue.”

The two men shook their heads in identical gestures of disapproval. Then Gideon said, “We will wait to see what Joshua has to say.”

“I do not need to hear anyone else’s opinion. But I will ask my father if he wishes to accompany you. I don’t want to answer for him.”

“Very well.”

Sala glanced up at the sky, which was still bright with afternoon light. “I think you had better get back under the flax until Rahab comes for you tonight. Do you still have the water I gave you?”

“Yes, we have enough water.”

“I’ll make sure you have some more water and food to take with you. You will be out in those hills for a few days at least.”

“Thank you, Sala,” Gideon said.

“Thank you, my brother,” Isaac said.

“It is Rahab whom you should be thanking,” was Sala’s reply to the two of them.

“We do thank her. You may tell her that for us.”

As the men began to crawl back under the shade of the flax, Sala told Rahab they were deeply grateful to her for her help.

Lord Nahshon sat alone in the small barracks room while the commander of Jericho’s troops organized the search for the escaped spies. By the time Akiz had done that and had finished reporting to the king, Lord Arazu had arrived at military headquarters.

The first hint Nahshon had of his “friend’s” arrival was when a guard opened the door of his tiny, hot, and stuffy prison and took him to a much larger room where he found Akiz and Lord Arazu waiting for him.

“My dear fellow,” Arazu said when he saw the merchant he thought was going to make him rich. “I am so sorry for this dreadful confusion. I have just been explaining to the commander here that you are a businessman, not a spy. It was simply your good nature that made you remove those shepherds—or what you all thought of as shepherds—out of the wine bar. The Sign of the Olive is not a place for farm workers.”

Arazu’s nose quivered as if he had smelled a bad odor.

Both Arazu and the commander were seated, but they allowed Nahshon to continue to stand. The commander said, “It seems that we made a mistake, Debir. Lord Arazu has assured me you could not possibly be a spy. However, I do have one question for you.”

“Yes, Commander?” Nahshon was trying to keep his relief from showing.

“If you are only here on business, why have you remained in Jericho when it is so clear that we will soon be under attack from the Israelites?”

Nahshon allowed an ironic smile to tug at the corners of his lips. “Really, Commander, how long do you think that attack is going to last? The Israelites have a large army, I understand, and a large army must be fed. The farmers have stripped most of the produce from their farms and the only good spring lies inside the walls of the city. You have plenty of food and water; they will have little. I do not think it will be long before they move on to look for a less well-defended target. And when they go, Lord Arazu and I will transact our business.”

The commander said, “I wish the people in the city had the confidence in us that you have, Debir.”

Nahshon shrugged. “They follow whoever was the last person to speak to them. Once they see how it is, they will rally to the defense of their city with pride.”

The commander did not look convinced, but he said, “You may go with Lord Arazu, and I am sorry for the inconvenience we have caused you.”

Lord Nahshon produced his most gracious smile. “I understand, Commander, and I hope you catch those wretched spies. But what can they have to report, eh? The city walls are unassailable.”

The commander’s return smile was more natural. “You are right, of course. Good day to you, Debir. I hope your business prospers.”

“Thank you, Commander. I hope so too.”

It wasn’t until he returned home that Nahshon learned that Joshua’s spies had escaped and
that
was the real reason he had been let go, not the character witness of Lord Arazu.

Thirty-One

G
IDEON AND
I
SAAC FOLLOWED
R
AHAB’S INSTRUCTIONS,
and after three days of hiding in the hill country, they made their way to the Jordan, passing only a few scattered shepherds with small flocks of sheep. The river was still tumultuous, but they were strong men and they tied themselves together and made it across safely.

Joshua was in his tent when the spies reached the Israelite camp and they hurried to report to him. He greeted them with relief and bade them come in and tell him what they had learned.

Gideon imparted the information they had gathered from Nahshon and Sala.

Joshua was pleased. “Frightened people make easier targets,” he said. “But I was worried about you; I expected you to be back sooner. Did something happen that you took so long?”

Gideon looked at Isaac, letting him know it was his turn to take up their story. “We were almost captured, Joshua. We were saved by a woman but we had to make her a promise that we are obligated to keep.”

He told Joshua about how they hid on Rahab’s roof and how she had smuggled them out of the city by lowering them from her window with a rope.

“I was terrified,” Isaac confessed. “Her brother was the one holding the rope and all I could think of was if he let it slip, I was done for.”

Gideon added, “I was praying to Yahweh as I dangled in the air over that huge drop.”

Isaac said, “But we didn’t fall and the woman kept her word. Now we must keep ours. We promised that she and her family would be safe from our attack. Gideon gave her the scarlet cord to hang in her window so that our warriors will know not to enter that house.”

Joshua’s black eyebrows, which always looked so startling in contrast to his gray hair, lifted with surprise. “How did an Israelite woman come to be in Jericho?”

Gideon said, “She is not an Israelite, she is a Canaanite woman who has rejected her old gods and now believes in Yahweh. That is what Sala told us and it must be true. She saved our lives, after all.”

Joshua’s brows lifted even higher. “A
Canaanite
woman?”

“Yes, and it looks as if young Sala has fallen in love with her. He is the one who convinced her to change her religion. She is beautiful, but she must have taken part in the rites of Baal; she is beyond the years of childhood.”

“She has probably lain with many men,” Joshua said. “She is unclean.”

“Yes. And her family are still followers of Baal. Her brother helped us because his wife, who has also given her belief to Yahweh, begged him to.”

“He also thought it might be a good thing to have us behind him if we should happen to take the city,” Gideon added cynically.

“I see,” Joshua said. “So you have pledged that the people within the house with the scarlet cord will be safe?”

“Yes. We promised in the name of Yahweh. We had to—we were in her house and at her mercy.”

Joshua nodded. “Then we will keep that promise. Whatever the woman may be, she has shown her good faith to us. No harm must come to her or to her family.”

The three men had been sitting facing each other and now, as Joshua got to his feet, Gideon and Isaac jumped up as well. He reached out and gave each man an approving slap on the shoulder.

“You have done well, Gideon. You have done well, Isaac. Now I must have the word put around: tomorrow, we will move the entire camp to the shores of the Jordan.”

Gideon looked uneasy. “The entire camp? I must warn you, Joshua, that river is barely passable for a strong man. The women and children will not be able to get across yet.”

Joshua’s mouth remained grave but he smiled with his eyes. “Remember, Gideon. We are the children of Yahweh and He has given all this land into our hands. Did He not hold back the waters of the sea to allow all of us—men, women, and children—to pass out of Egypt? Do not fear, the Israelites will cross the river Jordan and enter into the land of Canaan. Yahweh will open the way.”