Pearl in the Sand (9 page)

“We’re not here for … for … anything other than a place to stay. We don’t want … any … er, that is, we just want a place to rest and we’ll be on our way,” Hanani said.

Rahab rose and took a step back. Her voice sounded cold to her own ears as she said, “You’re merely guests at my inn.” And then to her amazement she found herself saying, “I’m done with the other.”

There was a moment when they all stared at one another. Finally
Rahab said, “Rest easy. You’re with a friend. Though I must warn you that you’re not safe yet.”

“What do you mean?” Hanani demanded, shooting to his feet in a sudden motion that overturned the wine goblet again, though this time at least it was empty.

She bent and picked it up. “I mean that I know you are Hebrews. And every guard out there is going to arrive at the same conclusion once they consider the evidence.”

“Where did you get such an idea?” Hanani asked, eyeing the door.

“Don’t leave now. It would be a mistake. You remain safer with me than with the soldiers out there. Didn’t you see how suspiciously they were staring at you as you tried to enter the gate? Your accents are strange to us. You have the physique and bearing of soldiers. And Jericho is on heightened alert because of the many battles you have won east of the Jordan. If I had not distracted them, you would be under their whips and knives right now.”

Ezra cleared his throat, as though that final word picture had stuck in his gullet. “Why should we trust you?” he asked.

Rahab glanced out the window toward the gate. “Because if I’m not mistaken, that runner is carrying a message even now to the king’s men. They’re bound to come looking for you soon.”

Hanani moved to stand next to her, flattening himself against the wall so he wouldn’t be seen. By his expression Rahab saw that he had picked out the messenger she had mentioned. He didn’t miss a group of the guards looking up in the direction of her inn either. One of them said something and spat on the ground. “We need to get out of here,” he said to Ezra.

“How?” she asked, her brows arching. “Go down those stairs and you’ll be detained.” She covered her face with her hands for a moment.
I can’t believe I’m doing this
. “Listen, I have a better idea. I will hide you.”

“Why would you do that?” Ezra asked, his voice dripping with suspicion.

“Well, it’s not because of your handsome whiskers.” Rahab pursed her lips in an attempt to calm the ire that Hanani and Ezra’s wariness provoked in her. She supposed she couldn’t fault them for their skepticism. She didn’t half understand her own motives.

Why was she risking her neck to help two unpleasant Hebrews? Because of their god. She wanted to be on his side. Bone deep, she believed the Lord would destroy Jericho, and she wanted an escape for her and her family.
I want to help you because I believe more in your god than I ever believed in our gods. I want to help you because I’d rather follow the Lord than the ways of Jericho
.

“I don’t want to stand against your god. Now do you want to live or not? If you do, listen to me.”

The mention of God seemed to deflate their agitation. “All right,” Ezra muttered, as though still thinking through his response.

Rahab gestured toward the trapdoor that led to the roof. “I’m drying stalks of flax up there. Go fetch the ladder from the room behind you and hide yourselves up under the flax. Dusk has come, and no one will see you in the darkness if you’re careful.”

Her inn was built high up; its roof jutted slightly past the edges of the wall, hanging over into the city side. Three times a day, guards marched past the roof of her house. Rahab knew that the next group was not due until early morning, which made this a safe hiding place for the next few hours. Rahab climbed the ladder behind the men and saw them settled under the flax.

“It’s a long way down,” Hanani whispered as he glanced around. His voice had a small tremble to it.

Rahab recalled her own butterflies the first time she had climbed onto the roof. “There’s room enough,” she assured. Other dangers loomed much bigger than the height. “Understand this,” she warned. “My life is in danger as much as yours. If you’re careless, I will die a worse death than you, for I am now a traitor to my own people.”

As she climbed back down into the room, she heard the sound of a stifled sneeze. Even the closed trapdoor merely muffled the noise. Rahab squeezed her eyes shut and cringed. She had seen
people have that reaction around drying flax. But a simple sneeze on this night could mean her head.

The next sound she heard was the clatter of feet on the stairway. She froze.
The ladder!
Grabbing it, she began lugging it into the back room. It weighed more than she expected. Usually, either her servant fetched it, or she dragged it on the ground. But she dared not make any noise that might alert the approaching soldiers to the movement of heavy furniture. Beads of sweat collected on her forehead as she took one tiny step after another, the ladder hoisted high in her aching arms. Her foot caught the edge of the bottom rung and she stumbled. The ladder nearly went flying out of her hand. The footsteps were getting closer. Gasping, she took a few dancing strides, and regained her balance.

The footsteps reached her door just as she shoved the ladder against the wall, where blue linen curtains hid it from sight. Rahab barely had time to heave a sigh before the knocking began. She turned and saw to her horror that one of the Hebrews had left his outer garment on the cushions. A small squeak escaped her lips. Next to the cloak, the remains of their repast were plain to see. Rahab shoved everything under the covers of her bed and pulled the embroidered coverlet back over them, hoping the soldiers would not notice the odd lump. Just in case, she threw a couple of extra pillows from the floor onto the bed. Another series of knocks, impatient and louder, made her jump.

“Hold on to your chariots. I’m coming,” she called and pulled open the door. Two men in the king’s uniform stood outside. “The king’s guard! Don’t tell me the king is longing for my company.”

Their lips twitched before a curtain of seriousness fell over their faces again. One of them had eyes that bulged frog-like under bushy eyebrows. Those eyes were alert beneath their lowered lids as he exclaimed, “No. His majesty is well cared for, thank you, Rahab. We are here for your guests.” He stretched his neck and looked beyond Rahab into the room. Hardening his voice, he barked, “Bring out the men who came to your inn. They’re spies, here on a mission against our nation.”

Rahab gasped. “Spies! I could have been murdered in my bed!”

Frog Eyes shifted impatiently. “Yes, yes. Bring them out, woman.”

“I’m not a magician. How am I to bring them out if they’re not here?” she croaked.

“Are you denying that they came in to stay with you?”

“Of course not. They came in, all right. But how was I to know they were spies? I thought they were like any other travelers. It’s not my fault they left.”

“They
left?
When? Where did they go?”

“At dusk, just when it was time for closing the city gate. They hardly spent any time here and even less money. I don’t know which way they went, but if you go after them you might still catch up with them. It wasn’t that long ago.”

The two men shoved her aside and came in and looked about. Without warning, one of them moved over to the bed and kicked it. Rahab could have swooned. If he found the Hebrew’s garment, he would arrest her for sure. His boot missed the jiggling pile in the center by a breath before he turned away. Rahab almost fell down in her relief. They checked her other room, looked outside the window, and finding nothing, left without apology.

A platoon of the king’s armed guards awaited the two soldiers below stairs. She watched them open the gates and set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that led to the fords of the Jordan. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut once more.

Rahab leaned against the wall, her breath coming out in jerky gasps. Putting a shivering hand to her head, she began to laugh. She had managed it. She had saved the Hebrews and her own skin in the bargain. She had turned traitor against her country, her people, and her way of life. The enormity of her decision hit her like a millstone. She had betrayed her countrymen to the Hebrews. No. Not to the Hebrews.
To the Lord
.

Gingerly, for she found her knees were shaking, she went to fetch her guests from under the flax. Back in her rooms, they washed and took care of their immediate needs. Rahab knew she should lead
the men back up to the roof in case the king’s men decided to return. But impulsively she blurted, “Will you tell me about the Lord?”

Ezra who was sitting closest to her threw her a surprised look. “What do you mean?”

“I want to know about the Lord. Your god. Will you tell me about him?”

“What would you like to know?”

“Everything.”

Hanani snorted, then laughed aloud for a short moment before Ezra’s elbow in his side stole his breath. To Rahab’s delight, the men did not refuse her. For a whole hour they regaled her with stories of the Lord. How He had taken care of Israel by His might and compassion through their long exile in the wilderness. And how He was the one true God. With every word Rahab grew hungrier for this god
—the
God—whose face she had never seen.

Finally, with regret she said, “I have kept you up too long. You must hide on the roof once more. The king’s men may return.”

Hanani and Ezra crawled back up the ladder, their feet dragging this time, and once more lay beneath the flax. She went up with them and lingered for a few minutes to see them settled. The smell of drying flax filled her nostrils, a brittle cheerful plant smell.

“You must leave very early, before sunrise,” she said in hushed tones lest someone overhear. “The guards walk the perimeter of the wall at first light, and they might discover you if you haven’t left.”

Hanani nodded. “We heard you speak to the king’s men. Why did you, a … woman from Jericho, protect men of Israel?”

She was kneeling on the parapet, while they lay hidden by the stalks of flax. If anyone had bothered to look up, they would have seen only Rahab. The night had grown dark, and she felt the heaviness of it upon her like a smothering blanket. Stars shimmered in the midst of that blackness like pinpricks of hope. She thought about Hanani’s question. Why
had
she helped the enemy? Why had she made her name the object of every Canaanite curse for generations to come? Because, against all reason, it was the right thing.

“I’m helping you because I know the Lord has given this land to you. Fear stifles my people. We have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the sea for you when you came out of Egypt. We have seen what you did to the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og. When we heard of these victories, our courage failed. But
I
know the Lord your god is God in heaven above and on the earth below. I know it is He who fights your battles and wins them for you. This is why I saved you.”

She did not say how desperately she wanted to belong to Him for fear of their ridicule. She was convinced that they would revile her. That the Lord Himself would reject her. So instead she set about to make a bargain with Him through His men. “Hanani and Ezra, I’ve shown kindness to you. I’ve saved your lives. So now will you return my kindness? Will you swear that you will spare me and my family when you come against this city?”

Hanani pushed aside the flax until his face became visible. In the darkness, Rahab could see the white of his eyes. “You have no doubt that God will give Israel the victory, do you?”

Rahab shook her head.

“You have so much faith. I never thought to find the like outside Israel.”

His words brought tears to her eyes, and she turned away so he wouldn’t see their sheen in the starlight. They were words of approval from a man who not long ago had found her worthy only of contempt. And she had won his approbation not by feminine manipulation, but by her faith. Yet what good would his approval be to a dead woman?

“Will you save our lives, then? Will you spare the lives of my parents and my brothers and sisters and their children?”

Hanani reached out and touched the hem of her garment. “Our lives in exchange for yours,” he promised, the fierceness behind his words convincing her. “Rahab, if you don’t tell anyone what we’re doing, we’ll treat you with kindness when the Lord gives us the victory.”

Rahab gulped around a large lump in her throat. Was this real? Had she, in fact, managed to purchase life for herself and her family? “May the Lord bless you,” she whispered.

“And you,” Hanani said with a grin. “If not for you, we’d be lying in our shrouds instead of in flax right now.”

“Try to snatch a bit of sleep. I must fetch you down soon. You still have some adventure ahead of you.”
As do I
.

Rahab remained wakeful through the night. She kept thinking that she had made a bargain with the Lord through His men, and He had accepted it. She had done something for Him, and now He was doing something for her.

Not taking any chances, she rose and climbed onto her roof long before dawn to fetch the men. They slept like peaceful babes. It occurred to her that they had more courage than spy craft. Surely one of them should have kept watch. Their God had kept them safe, nonetheless, and she wondered if she was part of that plan of safety. Back inside the house, she showed them the window. “You need to climb down the wall. The guards are thick about here, and if you go down the stairs they will spot you.

“Last night I saw the king’s soldiers take the road toward the fords of Jordan. You will need to go toward those hills in the north to make sure they don’t find you. Hide yourselves there three days, because these searches never last longer than that. Then you can go on your way.”

“I’ve been thinking,” Hanani said. “You can’t expect an army to ask for directions in the middle of battle. You’ll need to mark your house somehow so that our forces will recognize and spare it.” He looked around for a moment until his eyes fell on a thick scarlet cord that framed a tapestry. “You must tie this scarlet cord outside the window. Also, you must bring your entire family into your house. We can’t guarantee anyone’s life outside this inn. Their blood will be on their own heads. But if anyone remains in this house, we’ll take full responsibility for his safety. Only Rahab, if you betray us, our oath won’t be binding anymore.”