Unashamed (15 page)

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Authors: Francine Rivers

BOOK: Unashamed
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Crying softly, Hagri kissed Rahab on the head and then walked away.
Ω
     
Ω
     
Ω
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.”
Ω
     
Ω
     
Ω
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.
seek and find
DEAR READER,
You have just read the story of Rahab as perceived by one author. Is this the whole truth about the story of Rahab and the fall of Jericho? Jesus said to seek and you will find the answers you need for life. The best way to find the truth is to look for yourself!
This “Seek and Find” section is designed to help you discover the story of Rahab as recorded in the Bible. It consists of six short studies that you can do on your own or with a small discussion group.
You may be surprised to learn that this ancient story will have applications for your life today. No matter where we live or in what century, God’s Word is truth. It is as relevant today as it was yesterday. In it we find a future and a hope.
 
Peggy Lynch
the visit
SEEK GOD’S WORD FOR TRUTH
Read the following passage:
Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia. He instructed them, “Spy out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.” So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night.
    But someone told the king of Jericho, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: “Bring out the men who have come into your house. They are spies sent here to discover the best way to attack us.”
    Rahab, who had hidden the two men, replied, “The men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from. They left the city at dusk, as the city gates were about to close, and I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath piles of flax.) So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossing places of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the city gate was shut.
J
OSHUA
2:1-7
Joshua secretly sent two men to spy out Jericho. What things in this passage indicate that this mission was not a secret to the citizens of Jericho?
Where did the spies go?
Who is Rahab? How does she make her living?
According to this passage, how did the king of Jericho view these two “visitors”?
How did Rahab perceive these visitors?
Contrast the king’s and Rahab’s responses to the visitors.
FIND GOD’S WAYS FOR YOU
Most of us will never face an invading army as Rahab did, but we do face overwhelming situations of other kinds. What kinds of problems are you facing right now? What kinds of choices do you have?
Read the following passage:
If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.
J
AMES
1:5-8
What does this passage tell you to do?
What warning do you find?
STOP AND PONDER
How are you wavering in your decisions?

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