A Lineage of Grace (25 page)

“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.

“We’ll build you a house near the road, Rahab,” Jobab offered. “You can have a lucrative business—”

“I’m staying here.” She sat down.

“Stubborn woman! Show some sense!”

“Sense?” She glared up at him. “What sense is there in walking away from a God who protects His people?”

“He didn’t protect
our
people!” Mizraim pointed out, gesturing toward Jericho. “You can still smell their burning flesh on the wind.”

“Those are my people,” she said and pointed toward Gilgal.

“I want to go home,” her mother said, weeping. “When can we go back to our house in the grove?”

“Will you go back to worshiping your little wooden idols as well?” Rahab asked bitterly.

“The god who destroyed Jericho isn’t for us,” her father said gravely. “We’re alive, and that’s all that matters.”

“No, Father. It isn’t enough to be alive but not serve the God who rescued us.”

“Not for you, perhaps,” Mizraim said. “But enough for us.”

“Then go!”

“Please come with us, Daughter,” her mother pleaded. “What will become of you if you stay behind? The Israelites will never allow you to live among them.”

“I’ll make her come,” Mizraim said angrily, reaching for her.

She slapped his hand away. “I’ve had stronger men than you try to bend me to their will! Don’t try it!”

“Leave her alone,” her father said, hefting a bundle onto his back. “Give her a few days to think things over. She’ll come to her senses.”

“When will you come to yours?” she cried out. “How can you turn away after you’ve seen the truth?”

“What truth?” Jobab said.

“That it was God who saved you!”

“It was you, Rahab,” her father said. “And we’re grateful.”

“But you all know the stories about God just as I do. Haven’t I told you each and every one as I heard it?”

“Yes, this god has great power.”

“
All
power!”

“All the more reason to go, my dear. Such a god is best avoided.”

“And how do you propose to do that, Father? Where can you hide from Him?”

He looked troubled, but remained firm. “We will dwell quietly among the palms as Joshua has said we can. We will go about our business and not interfere with theirs. And, in this way, we will have peace with the people of Israel and their god.”

Shaking her head, she looked away toward the Israelite encampment of Gilgal and wept.

“Come with us,” Hagri said. “Please, Sister. You’ll be all alone here.”

“I’m staying.”

“And if they break camp and leave?”

“I’ll follow.”

“Why?”

“Because I have to.” How could she explain that she yearned for God, like a deer panting for water?

Crying softly, Hagri kissed Rahab on the head and then walked away.

* * *

Salmon stood with Joshua at the edge of the encampment. “I told you she wouldn’t go with them.”

“Leave her alone for three days. Give her time to consider her choices. If she remains, you may go and bring her in among the tents of Israel.”

“She is a woman alone. Shouldn’t a guard be posted?”

Joshua smiled at him. “She already has one.”

* * *

As the sun rose on the fourth day of her solitude, Rahab saw a man walking toward her. It was Salmon. He was unsmiling as he came near, and she wondered what dour message he had to give her. Perhaps Joshua had sent him to warn her away.

“You’ve remained here for three days,” he said, standing on the opposite side of her fire.

“Joshua said I was free to choose, and I choose to stay here.” She poked the fire. She had enough grain to make bread for today only; tomorrow she’d go hungry.

“How long do you plan to stay here?”

“As long as Israel remains in Gilgal.”

“We will be moving soon.”

“Then I suppose I’ll be moving, too.”

He straightened, and she thought he would walk away. “I will take you into my tent and cover you with my mantle.”

Her face went hot at his proposal of marriage. “You?” She covered her cheeks with her hands.

He frowned slightly. “You refuse?”

“You’re so young!”

He grinned. “I’m old enough.”

She gave a bitter laugh. “Marriage to someone like me? You don’t know what you’re saying. Didn’t you hear Joshua the other day? I am Rahab
the prostitute
, a prostitute in the eyes of all Israel and anyone else who hears of me.”

“Ah, yes, the woman with a past to whom God has given a future.”

“Do not jest about such things,” she said angrily, struggling against the tears. If only she could live her life over, she would change so many things.

“I do not jest, Rahab.” He came around the fire. Reaching down, he took her hand, drawing her firmly to her feet. “Why do you suppose Ephraim and I came into Jericho?”

“To spy out the city.”

“So we were told.”

“So you
said
.” Frowning, she looked up at him.

“So we thought, but I’ve been wondering ever since I met you.”

He had the most beautiful, tender brown eyes. “Wondering what?” When he touched her cheek lightly, her heart quickened.

“If God didn’t send us to find you.”

“Why would God take note of an unworthy woman like me?”

“Because the Lord knows His people wherever they are, even when they’re inside the walls of a pagan city. He knew
you
, Rahab, and He answered the prayer of your heart. God saved you from death, and God is now offering you a way to be grafted into His people.”

She shook her head and stepped back from him. As much as the idea might appeal to her, this would not do at all. “I know God is my Savior. I also know He is God of all there is and thus master of my life.”

“Then accept the blessing He offers you.” Salmon smiled and placed his hand against his heart. “A young husband.”

She laughed bleakly. “Young and impulsive.” Jerking free, she turned away. “Give yourself a few days, and you’ll be glad I said no.”

“I made up my mind the day I met you.”

She turned back and arched a brow at him. “Oh, really?” How many times had she heard such nonsense? The king of Jericho had said such words to her. “When did you know, Salmon? When I was hanging out the window and brazenly calling out to you?” She touched her hair. “Was it my streaming black tresses that set your heart afire?” She touched her throat. “Or my other ‘character attributes’?” Her fingers teased the neckline of her dress.

His eyes never left hers. “When I first looked up at you in the wall of Jericho, I saw you as a harlot. Bold. Filled with iniquity. But when I came into your house and you spoke to us, I saw you for what you are—a woman of wisdom, a woman worthy of praise.”

“Oh, Salmon . . .” When she started to turn away, he caught hold of her and turned her around to face him.

“Almost from the moment you proclaimed your faith in God, I loved you.”

“Love?”

“Yes,
love
. In all my life, I haven’t met a woman among all Israel who is more worthy of praise than you. All the young women I know have seen the pillar of fire, the cloud that rises and leads us across the desert wasteland. They have drunk water that streamed from a rock and eaten manna from heaven. And still their faith does not match yours. From you will come prophets . . . perhaps even the Messiah.”

“Messiah?”
What did the word mean?

He smiled again. “There is so much to teach you, so many things you don’t know. The history of our people, the Law, the promises of God . . .” He cupped her face tenderly. “Be my wife, and I will teach you.”

“And what will your family say?”

“That I am prudent in selecting such a wife. Caleb has already given permission.”

“Who is Caleb?”

“Leader over my tribe, the tribe of Judah. He was with Joshua when Moses sent men to spy out Canaan forty years ago. He and Joshua are the only two survivors from my father’s generation. Caleb is held in high esteem by all.” His mouth tipped wryly as he ran one hand over her hair. “He suggested that he be the one to marry you, but I told him he already had one wife too many.”

She swallowed back her tears, amazed at the mercy of God. First He rescued her, and now it seemed He was providing a man of God to be her husband. Her
husband
! Never had she dreamed of such a thing.

“You are the woman I’ve waited for,” Salmon said quietly. “Come with me.”

She put her hand up so he would know she needed a moment. She couldn’t speak a word past the lump in her throat. He frowned, dismayed, and she knew she had to show him she had decided. Stepping away from him, she knelt and scooped dirt over her fire. Gathering her possessions into a bundle, she straightened, tears of joy trickling down her cheeks.

Smiling once more, Salmon stepped forward and wiped them away. If she had doubted his words of love before, she did no longer, for his gaze shone with the joy of someone who had just been given exactly what he wanted.

Salmon picked up her bundle, took her by the hand, and led her home.

EPILOGUE

Rahab and Salmon had a son, Boaz.

Boaz was the father of Obed;

Obed, the father of Jesse;

Jesse, the father of King David.

And from the line of King David of the tribe of Judah

came the promised Messiah,

Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.