This Scarlet Cord (30 page)

One of the other men swallowed a date he had been eating and said, “Do you think this might have something to do with those spies the guards are looking for?”

“Hmm,” the heavy man said pensively.

“But why would Israelite spies go into Rahab’s house?” someone else asked. “They are good Canaanite people. They would never harbor a spy.”

The fat man had had time to think. “The family may not know someone is hiding there. Remember, the house was empty when we saw the two men go in yesterday. Perhaps the spies are hiding somewhere inside without the family’s knowledge.”

“They might have slipped out during the night when everyone was asleep,” the man with the stick said.

All of the men continued to squint through the morning sun at the house across the street. Then the heavyset man said, “If we reported to the guards that we saw two mysterious men slip into Rahab’s house yesterday when it was empty, they will be sure to investigate. To do that properly, they will have to get all of the family out of the house so they can search it. If they do that, then we might get our chance to see Rahab.”

“Aaahhhh.” It was a general murmur of approval.

A thin man said, “It will look well for us, too, if we show that we are on the alert for the spies. Even if they find nothing in the house, the guards will appreciate our trying to help.”

“A true word,” said the man who was now chewing on a second date.

“It certainly can’t do us any harm.”

Unsaid, but recognized by all, was the fact that the excitement of a search would provide a good morning’s entertainment for them.

“I’ll go to find a guard,” volunteered the man chewing on the stick. Everyone agreed.

Having convinced themselves of the worthiness of their intentions, he set off while the rest of the men kept their eyes trained on Rahab’s door in case they saw the strangers come out.

Up on the roof Shemu turned to Sala and demanded again, “What are you doing here? What made you walk into this house as if you belonged here?”

Sala looked at Rahab. “I think you had better tell him.”

“Yes.” Rahab turned to her brother, her face grave. “The first thing you must know, Shemu, is that I have become an Israelite. I no longer follow the false gods of Canaan, I worship the One True God, the God of the Israelites.”

Shemu swung around to face Sala, his hands balled up into fists. “You have been filling her ears with your nonsense, and it will stop. Do you hear me? It will stop right now.”

Sala stared back, his face expressionless.

Shemu felt Atene’s hand on his sleeve. She looked up at him and said in the gentle voice that he loved, “I, too, have become an Israelite, my husband. I also have renounced the gods of Canaan to follow Elohim.”

Shemu said in disbelief, “You told me once that you had prayed to this god, and I said nothing. But you cannot renounce your
own
gods, Atene. That means you are renouncing your own people!”

She was standing straight, looking at him with clear, steady eyes. “I prayed to Elohim for a baby, Shemu.”

Shemu’s heart clenched with pain. He knew how much she longed for a child and now that longing had driven her to pray to a false god. “Atene, it is not—”

“Hear me, my husband.” She closed her hand around his sleeve. “Elohim listened to me. I am with child.”

Shemu’s mouth dropped open.

She smiled at his astonishment. “It’s true. I’m late with my flow and I’m never late—you know that as well as I. Elohim has given us a child, Shemu. He is the true God. I prayed to Lady Asherah for years and nothing happened. But now”—her whole face lit with joy—“we are going to have a baby!”

He reached out and took her into his arms. Over her head he stared at Sala and the message in his eyes was clear.
If this isn’t true, if Atene is disappointed, I will kill you with my own hands
.

He heard Rahab say, “It’s true, Shemu. When I was made the hierodule I prayed to Elohim to save me, and He did. The king died in the bed before he could do anything to me. He just died, Shemu! Elohim did that to save me. I know He did.”

This was all becoming a bit much for Shemu to take in. His wife and his sister secret Israelites? He went back to the one question he hadn’t gotten an answer to. “So what is Sala doing here?”

Atene, who didn’t know the answer, turned in Shemu’s arms so she could see Rahab. Rahab said to Sala, “We have to tell him.”

Sala looked grim. Shemu’s arms dropped away from his wife and he faced Sala. “If this has anything to do with my wife or my sister, then you had better tell me. Are you and your father Israelite spies, Sala? Is that what this is all about?”

It was Rahab who answered his question. “It’s not Sala who is the spy, Shemu, but—”

Suddenly Shemu knew. He had been out earlier and heard all the rumors about the spies. “Those spies everyone is looking for. That is what you are here about, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Sala said.

“You know where they are?”

Sala looked at Rahab.

Rahab said, “They are right here on this roof, Shemu. Hiding under the flax.”

Shemu felt the color drain from his face. “Here? Now?”

“Yes.”

He looked at his sister. “How did this happen?”

“They slipped in yesterday while everyone was over at Uncle Ilim’s. Sala found me and told me about it and I said they could stay the night. They are supposed to leave this morning—”

Sala cut in, “But now they can’t. Somehow word got out about them and the guards are looking for them. The gates have been closed for the day.”

“I didn’t know that,” Rahab said. She pursed her lips. “Well, I suppose they will just have to remain here until the gate opens again.”

“Absolutely not!” Shemu said. “I don’t care what happens to them. I want them out of this house now.”

The door from the stairway opened and Shemu’s brother Mattan stepped onto the roof. “Here you are. We’ve been looking for the three of you. You won’t believe this, but four guards have come to the door and said they had a report that the Israelite spies had entered this house yesterday. They want us all to leave so they can search.”

Sala looked at Shemu and said, “It certainly wouldn’t look good if spies were found here, would it?”

Shemu gave him a hard look in return. It would look terrible if the spies were found here, as Sala well knew. Shemu had no choice right now but to protect them.

Rahab said to Mattan, “Who could have made such a report?”

“The guards won’t say, but Father suspects it is those hyenas who hang around across the street. They will do anything to get a look at you.”

“Did Father tell that to the guards?”

“He did, but they said they have to search anyway.”

Shemu looked at Sala again. “Very well. I suppose we had better let them do it, then.”

“Yes, I think that would be best.”

As they headed toward the door, Mattan lowered his voice and said to Shemu, “What is
he
doing here?”

“He came to see me on business,” Shemu returned, and the five of them went down the stairs and out onto the street so their house could be searched by the Jericho military guard.

Twenty-Nine

T
HE MEN ACROSS THE STREET WERE THRILLED WHEN
they saw the guards go into Rahab’s house. Word had spread quickly and by the time the family came filing out of the house onto the street, an even bigger crowd had gathered. For one delicious moment the hopeful men caught a glimpse of Rahab as she turned her face toward them and gave them a furious glare.

“She’s gorgeous!”

“Magnificent!”

“More beautiful than I ever imagined!”

A chorus of ecstasy poured out of their throats. Then Rahab’s father hustled her into the house next door and came back out alone, shaking his fist at the gathered group.

The men didn’t even care when the guards came out of Rahab’s house empty-handed. They had gotten what they were waiting for, a glimpse of the most beautiful woman in Canaan. Something to share with their mates at the wine shop.

One of the guards crossed the street to speak to them as Rahab’s family began to return into their house.

Yes, they said, they were certain they had seen two men enter the house yesterday when the family was next door at a party. No, they had not seen them go out.

The guard recrossed the street and spoke to his companions. Then they knocked on the door of Rahab’s house once more.

Rahab had been thinking furiously all the time the guards were searching and she had come to the conclusion that the spies would never be able to get away unless the search for them was called off. And the only way to make the search cease was for the guards to think the spies had already escaped. So when the guards came back into the house to ask once again if anyone in the family knew something about the two men who had been reported, Rahab stepped forward.

“I think I know who you must be looking for,” she said.

Stunned silence greeted her admission.

She gave the guards an apologetic smile. “My brothers rushed me out of the house so quickly just now that I didn’t get a chance to tell you.”

“Tell us what, lady?” the largest guard said deferentially.

She gave her father an apologetic glance before she answered. “I came back into our house yesterday during the party. I wanted to get something to show to one of my cousins, and I found two men in my mother’s kitchen.”

Kata gave a horrified moan.

Mepu cried, “Why did you never tell me this?”

Shemu looked grim.

Rahab said, “I’m sorry, Papa, but I didn’t want to worry you.” She turned back to the guards. “I was frightened when I saw them and I asked them what they were doing in my family’s house. They said they had come in to see if they could find something to eat, that they were hungry.”

The big guard asked eagerly, “How did they speak? Did they sound foreign?”

“Yes, they did. They had such thick accents that I could hardly understand them. But so many strangers are coming into the city these days that I didn’t think too much about it.”

She gave them a big-eyed, pleading look, an innocent girl who could be easily duped by cunning men.

“You should have left the house immediately and come to tell me,” Mepu said angrily.

“But they did me no harm, Papa. I gave them something to eat because they said they were going on a journey and then they left.”

“That was wrong of you,” Mepu said.

Another big-eyed look from Rahab. “But, Papa, you always say hospitality is sacred.”

The big guard said, “Did they say what kind of journey they were going on?”

“They were in a hurry to get out of the city before the gate closed for the night. They didn’t say where they were going.”

“And you didn’t think to ask?” the guard asked with audible exasperation.

Rahab looked down and her voice became even huskier than usual. “I am sorry. I was only trying to be kind. Do you think these may be the men you are looking for?”

“Yes, I do.” The large guard turned to the others. “We must report this to the commander immediately. The two of them will be heading for the Jordan. If we pursue them quickly enough we can overtake them.”

He turned back to Rahab. “Thank you, lady, you have been very helpful.”

Rahab rewarded him with her best smile. “I’m sorry if I did the wrong thing.”

The three guards smiled back, one of them even bowed, and they left the house.

Once the door had closed behind them, Mepu rounded on his daughter. “Why didn’t you tell me about these men? Don’t you realize what could have happened to you, alone in the house with them?”

“Yes, Papa, I did realize,” she returned in her normal voice. “I thought the best thing I could do was to give them some food and get rid of them. And I didn’t tell you because I knew you would be upset. How could I know they were Israelite spies?”

Shemu said, “Don’t scold her, Papa. She did the best she could under the circumstances.”

Rahab’s other brothers agreed.

“It was those cursed men who put the guards on to us,” Mepu shouted. “I am going to demand the guards arrest every one of them! You were the hierodule. You should not be treated like this. I am going to the palace to demand action!”