This Scarlet Cord (25 page)

Then he lifted his head and buried his lips in her hair. “I love you so much, Rahab. So much.”

“I have always loved you, Sala. You have always been my savior. You saved me from the slavers and you saved me again when you taught me about Elohim. I prayed to Him, you know. At first I didn’t think He had heard me, but He did! He saved me. He made the king die right there in the bed, Sala, before he could do anything to hurt me. It was a miracle.”

Sala held her away from him so he could look into her face. His black brows were sharply knit. “In the bed? I thought he died before he ever came into your room.”

“That is what they want me to say. You must never tell this to anyone, Sala. I had to promise I would never say anything before they would let me go. But he did come into my room. He was lying in the bed when he died. I was frightened when first it happened, but now I understand. It was Elohim. He heard my prayers and He helped me. He saved me from being degraded, Sala. I . . . I know how you feel about that.”

“You could never be degraded in my eyes,” he said fiercely.

“Well, in your father’s eyes then.”

His good eye darkened. “I don’t know what my father will think, Rahab.”

“What do
you
think?”

He ran a finger along her cheekbone. “I don’t know exactly, but I think Elohim wants something from you. I think He has a plan for you, Rahab. He put you into the hands of the slavers and He put you into the hands of someone who would teach you the truth about Him. Now He has saved you from the dissolute rites of a false god. You are important to Him, Rahab. You must just wait and see what it is He wants you to do. Wait and listen.”

Rahab shivered.

“It’s hard to think I could be so important. I am only a girl, Sala.” She smiled up at him. “A girl who loves you very much.”

A muscle along his jaw jumped. “I should never have kissed you. I took advantage of you. I’m sorry, Rahab. I wasn’t thinking . . .”

Rahab didn’t like the look on his face. “If we are to marry, then kissing me isn’t wrong.”

“Marriage.” His voice sounded choked. “I don’t think that will happen. My father—”

She stared at him. “I would go against my father for you!”

“You don’t understand. If there were other sons, then maybe . . . I don’t know. All I know is that my father would never allow me to mix my blood with the blood of a Canaanite woman. He just wouldn’t.”

Rahab couldn’t believe what she was hearing. After all he had said about loving her . . .

“You
do
still think I would defile you.”

“No! I would never think that. You would honor me by marrying me. But that is not how my father would see it, Rahab.”

Rahab wanted to scream at him that his father didn’t matter, that the only thing that mattered was their love.
How can he be so blind? So stupid?

He said, “There is something more I must tell you.”

“I don’t think I want to hear anything more from you, Sala.”

“You have to hear this.” He took a step away from her, distancing himself. “My father and I are not here as merchants. We are here to gather information for Joshua, the leader of the Israelites. The battle for Jericho will begin as soon as the spring flood in the Jordan subsides, and our job is to learn everything we can about the defensive weaknesses of the city.”

Rahab stared at him in horror. “You are
spies
? You are here to betray Jericho into the hands of the Israelites?”

“No.” His voice was quiet, steady. “You can only betray what you have sworn allegiance to. I have never sworn allegiance to this place, or to any of the false gods who supposedly protect it. My allegiance is to the God of Israel, and He has told us that this land is ours. This is our ancestral home, and I believe with all my heart that we are destined to regain it for ourselves and for Elohim. If you believe in Elohim, Rahab, as you say you do, then you must be for the Israelites and against the false worshippers in Jericho.”

She had never seen Sala like this. His voice was calm but his eyes burned with dedication.

“You are either with us or against us, Rahab,” he said. “And I know you are not against us. Elohim has chosen you. You belong to Him now.”

Rahab felt as if she were being torn in two. “What do you want me to do?” she asked in confusion.

“It is as I said before. You must wait and listen.”

“Is there really going to be a battle?”

“Yes.”

“Will we all die?”

“Not you! I have been afraid for you since first I knew you were in the city, but now . . . now I think we are all in Elohim’s hands. We must do what we are called to do.”

If Sala is right, and I am called to do something important for Elohim, then Lord Nahshon won’t be able to object to our marriage
.

Rahab knew then and there that she was not going to let Sala go without a fight.

She said, “The Israelites will win this battle, Sala. Baal and Asherah are nothing but lies. It is Elohim who is truly God.”

He looked at her with such longing in his eyes that she reached up, slid her arms around his neck, and raised her face.

He bent from his greater height and kissed her gently, a kiss of farewell. Then he kissed her again, this time not gently at all.

Atene’s voice interrupted them. “Rahab, Mother is coming up the stairs. Sala, you just have enough time to jump back to the other roof.”

Sala put her away from him, his hands hard on her shoulders. He said, “I love you. Whatever happens, I will always love you.”

“I love you too.”

He turned, and with a running start, jumped back to the other roof.

PART THREE
The Walls of Jericho

Twenty-Four

T
HE VILLAGE OF
S
HITTIM, WHERE THE
I
SRAELITES WERE
camped, lay some ten miles east of the Jordan, almost directly opposite Jericho on the western side of the river. This meant that in order to reach Jericho, Joshua, the Israelite commander, was going to have to move his army, their families, and their provisions across the river. His problem was that the usually tranquil, meandering Jordan was a raging torrent in the spring, fed as it was by melting snow from the northern mountains. But spring was the time of year when the Israelites had made their escape from Egypt, and Joshua was determined to attack Jericho soon after his people had celebrated their feast of Passover, which commemorated that miraculous feat.

When Isaac and Gideon, the two men Joshua had sent to once more check the level of the river, returned to camp, they found their leader standing alone, his eyes turned westward, toward Jericho. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was hanging low above the horizon, silhouetting Joshua’s figure against the red sky. The scouts hesitated, wondering if they should disturb his solitude. His lined face was set like stone and he was so still that Isaac thought he almost looked like a pagan statue. Finally Gideon took a few steps forward and murmured his leader’s name. Joshua turned to greet them and ask for their report.

“The river is still in full spate,” Isaac said. “We might get the army across, but not the women, children, and animals.”

As one, the three men turned to regard the camp spread out before them. They had been at Shittim for some time, and the women had made things comfortable. Tents covered the flat landscape and the smells of cooking wafted their way on the breeze. There were no men in sight; Joshua had sent them off under their commanders to practice with arms and to build up their strength for the coming fight. The Israelite army had never yet lost a battle, and their reputation as a fierce and ruthless fighting force had been honestly earned.

Joshua, who was not a big man, commanded with his powerful personality and burning dark eyes. He said now to the two men, “Do not doubt. If we are strong and courageous and act always in accordance with the laws Moses gave to us, we shall take possession of the land Yahweh has promised to our people. Now listen closely, for this is what I want you to do. Tomorrow you will cross the Jordan and enter into the city of Jericho. We already have two men in place within the city, and they will be looking for you. They have spied out the strengths and weaknesses of the city, and you are to receive this information from them and return to me. Do you understand?”

The two men bowed their heads in acknowledgement. Gideon said, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you.”

Briefly, Joshua laid a hand on Gideon’s sleeve. Then he said, “The man you are looking for is called Nahshon and he is in disguise as a Canaanite trader from Gaza. He is lodging in Jericho with his son, Sala. Every morning you may find them at a wine shop on the main road just before the walls that lead into the Upper City. It has a sign outside displaying an olive tree. When you go there you must wear a scarlet cord on your belt. That is how they will know you. Once you receive their information, bring it back to me.”

Gideon and Isaac traded a look at this mention of spies already in place. This was the first they had heard of such a thing. Gideon said, “We will follow your instructions, Joshua. But what if we can’t find this wine shop? Are you sure it exists?”

“Nahshon knew about it from a friend of his who had been inside the city. Yahweh will guide you, Gideon. You will find this place.”

Both men nodded solemnly. Ever since the God they had called Elohim, Creator, had revealed His true name to Moses, the Israelites had no longer used the name Elohim. They said
Yahweh
, a word that in Hebrew meant
I AM
. Yahweh had told Moses that He was:
The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob
.
This is My name forever and this is My title for all generations
. Ever since that revelation to Moses, the Israelites had called their God
Yahweh
.

Joshua said to Gideon and Isaac, “If it is possible, bring Nahshon and his son back with you; it will not be safe for them inside the city. When we take Jericho, we will leave nothing standing that breathes within. We do the will of Yahweh, who wants His people to have this precious land. For this He took us out of Egypt, and for this must we continue to strive.”

“May Yahweh be with you, Joshua,” the men responded. “We will do as you have asked.”

The following day, just as the sun was rising, Isaac and Gideon left Shittim to ford the flooding river Jordan and begin the trek to Jericho.

In the days after the New Year festival, more and more people from the surrounding countryside began to pour into the city. The Lower City, where most of the refugees were living, was full to bursting, but the wealthy merchants and nobles in the Upper City had refused to open their courtyards to the farmhands and shepherds who made up most of the new population. King Tamur realized that some solution to the overcrowding had to be found, and this was one of the reasons he had called the meeting of his council.

The other reason was connected to the first but was potentially even more dangerous. The refugees were full of horror stories about the Israelites and the death and destruction they had sown through all the southern kingdoms. Even behind the huge walls of Jericho their stories were igniting fear among the residents. The unthinkable question was being asked: was it possible that these warlike Israelites might batter down the thickest and highest walls of any city in the land?

The king and the council, which was made up of a mixture of his followers and his father’s old advisors, were confident the walls could not be breached.

“Jericho can hold out under a year-long siege if we have to,” Tamur said as the group met in the king’s apartment. “That is not our immediate problem. The immediate problem is the doubts that are going round the city because of these new people. However, first I wish to discuss the housing problem.”

The older men, the ones who owned the big houses in the Upper City, looked at each other then back to the king, wary expressions on their faces.

Tamur went on, “I am going to command that tents be set up in every park and open space in the Upper City.” He flicked a glance at one of the lords, who had moved his hand in seeming protest. “I do not want to hear any complaints from the nobles about their space being commandeered. We cannot turn these people away, so we must have a place for them to shelter. The city has plenty of water and plenty of grain. We have soldiers to man the walls if the enemy should be foolish enough to rush us. Nor can the Israelites hope to win if they lay siege. Their provisions will give out before ours do.”

Hearty agreement sounded from the men of the council.

“Good,” said Tamur. “Now, to this other issue. I have been told that fear is spreading around the city like wildfire. Is this the case?”

Silence fell, then Farut, the youngest, spoke up. “I think it is a serious problem, my lord. Frightened people do dangerous things.”

Lord Arazu said, “I have another concern. Suppose this talk is being spread deliberately?”