Joshua 6:5,17 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.” 

The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.

The Saving

She stood motionless in her hallway. A long trumpet blast echoed in the flats outside her window in the city walls. There was a brief pause and then the battle cry cut the silence. The tremors shook her whole house as the walls either side her dwelling ripped and crumbled away leaving only her small section of the walls standing. A brick fell out from above her door. The thunder of the stone walls hitting the ground filled her ears. She took hold of the scarlet cords tied in her window. 
“Oh God, you dried up the Sea for these people. Save my family as you promised!”
Swords flashed and blood curdling screams pierced the chilled morning air. The archers bounded up the six flights of stone stairs to the top level of the only part of the city walls still standing. With a glance at the scarlet cord in the window the front man pummelled the door. Rubble and dust filled the streets below. 
The door flew open and there stood a dark eyed woman with a scarlet headscarf and robe. 

“We have come for the whore Rahab!” 

“Step aside soldier”.

The officer put his hand on the chest of the the first man to enter the house, looking straight past the woman to the three men at the end of the hallway and shouted “everyone out now”. Then turning to the first soldier he muttered under his breath

“Don’t call her that again. Show some respect man!”. 

Rahab heard everything. Though she was numbed out to the usual names men gave her, hearing it from this ‘Army of the Living God’ caused a brief wave of despair to wash over her. She resigned herself to this stigma following her to her new life situation. But she was resolved to try to make a new beginning. She staked her claim again to the officer who seemed to be ‘less of a bigot’ 

“It’s my whole family right. There are 35 of us!” 

A small girl squeezed between her uncles and lunged across the hall to her mother pushing between her and the wall and peering around her to stare up at the warriors. 

“Yes, everyone out now. Nathan lead them down.” 

Shouldering his bow the third archer grabbed a bag of belongings and guided the first men down the steps. Following the brothers came the father, the sister, the mother, the wives and over 20 children and young persons of various ages. 
As the family were ushered over the jagged wreckage, lines of wide eyed Hebrew infantry scrambled in the opposite direction headed into the slaughter.  There came a scream and the Officer looked back to see one of the younger women stumble and lose her footing, falling between the boulders. He quickly climbed back and lifted her to safety carrying her the last few metres to level ground. 

“Stand around the family” the officer barked. “Give the sign” he ordered.

Nathan had already prepared. He lit the fire arrow of his tribesman who shot it high in the air well away from the troops. 
Joshua had been observing from higher ground. 

“NOW! Every man! Straight in” 

The final wave of Hebrew troops streaked across the open ground and onto the rubble only 50 metres from the refugees. 
Relief cautiously swelled in her heart and mind. ‘This is a God who keeps His Word. My whole family are saved to the last man. And there is something about these men. Something in their eyes’.

The Market

She had lived in Hebron long enough now to be recognised by the tradesmen in the marketplace. Every so often, in the hubbub of Hebrew, she would hear her name being mentioned.. ‘Bla Bla Zonah Rahab’. One word in Hebrew she knew well already was (זונה) ‘Zonah’! Prostitute! She was eager to avoid the death penalty and easily decided to leave her former profession after leaving Jericho. Some were kind to her, the sellers who took her money and the crippled beggars who received her bread. Some others seemed to say her name with pride. Bloody minded men used the term with a victorious tone. She could tell that to them she symbolised the power and providence of Yahweh. But no matter who said her name that way, she stealed herself. Flashbacks to Jericho pervaded her mind, yet she went to market regularly. Though she had never been married she wore the widow’s garb. She wore the scarlet cord over the top around her waist marking herself for mercy. Older children whispered and she let the bold ones touch the cord briefly on occasion. She prayed at the synagogue. She enjoyed the prayer. She and her entire family had become Shamayim (God fearers). Her youngest sister and her eldest daughter had already been given in marriage to Hebrew men from the villages. All the men and boys had been circumcised but for her, the stigma of her past was ever present. She knew her whole family faced similar prejudice and were frequently challenged for small infractions of the laws and traditions… But they were safe. They had justice and the Word of a good God protected them all. She never feared for her safety. Yahweh was a protector of the foreigner. Hallelujah! 

She was asking for a small weight of vegetables from a seller she knew. She never touched them to check their quality like the Hebrew women. She had learned the painful lesson that food she touched was stained in the eyes of the religious. A hand reached across from the man next to her to the pile of onions and picked one offering it to her “looks pretty good Rahab”. She instantly recognised the voice from her nightmares. She slowly raised her head and made brief eye contact. It had been years now but this was the Officer. She presented him with her upturned palm and he placed the onion in it gently. “Thank you Sir. I’ll take this and three more please.” She paid for the items and turning to the officer (standing there in his uniform) in her best Hebrew she blessed him humbly with high honour and told him he was in her prayers. She waited patently to be dismissed. 

“Salmon! Please call me by my name Rahab. It was my privilege to serve God and yourself at Jericho”. 

When she returned home and closed her door the tears came like a breaking dam. And she was on her knees again talking to her God.

The Wedding 

She gazed at her reflection in the mirror. In her own mind she was dressed in foreign clothes. Each morning as she dressed she would reminisce regarding the passing away of her old life in the filth of the walls. Now she was dressed in her Hebrew wedding dress. Salmon had insisted she be recognised as a full convert and she carried scarlet roses! It was a military wedding. Her father had passed away. She was accompanied to the ceremony and handed over to the groom by her oldest surviving brother, in his new military uniform. 
She knew Salmon only from brief meetings with his family but she knew his heart every night in her dreams. It was always his voice that she heard through the thunder of the wrath of Yahweh. The screams of her countrymen. Salmon’s voice calming her anxious heart and almost as the voice of Yahweh to her, she was filled with reassurance. She knew his faith and his obedience. She knew his loyalty and his discipline. That had fostered her trust and her undying love since that day in the market place. 

Rahab spoke. 

“Where you go I will go, where you die I will die, your people will be my people, your God is my God.’ and she sang ‘Daughters of Hebron and Jericho, delight yourself in the Lord. His plans are always good. His time of healing will appear quickly. Yahweh is the One I praise.”

Her whole family wept with joy. Their numbers had swelled with babies and toddlers these past 5 years. Rahab, their heroine, had found peace and joy in her trouble and hardship. Who would dare speak ill of her now. They were established. Within a generation or two noone would remember their individual backgrounds. The slate was clean. 

Salmon spoke. 

“Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. The Lord is her light and her salvation— whom shall she fear? The Lord is the stronghold of her life— of whom shall she be afraid?” 

His vows were full of praise for her knowledge experience and relationship with Yahweh. As he finished each sentence his soldiers thumped their shields with the handles of their swords. Her heart was soaring with superlative happiness.

Low Character Lady

In perilous times a low character lady lived. 

She heard what the God of the Hebrews did. 

She knew in her heart she was already lost.

And decided to flee the coming wrath. 

By faith she survived in the city wall heights 

And became an ancestor of the cross of Christ. 

That took away all the sins of men. 

Their filth, their pain and blood lust stain. 

Amen.