behavior with the rest of Jericho. The waiting grated on them.
When the Hebrews deigned to come, as if finally they had roused themselves to bother with Jericho, something of an anticlimax accompanied their approach. First came their armed guard, and then what looked to be priests carrying trumpets made of rams’horns and an ornate box, which they carried with exquisite care. Bringing up the rear came the main force of their fighting men. Their trumpets made an eerie sound hour after hour as they walked around Jericho’s walls in endless procession. At the first sight of them, the watchmen of the wall began raining down arrows. Rahab, keeping vigil at her window held her breath. The arrows fell just short of the Hebrews, as though they had calculated to the cubit the measure of Jericho’s bows. Yet they did not fight back. They merely marched, step after step, cubit after cubit, furlong after furlong. The people of Jericho had never seen anything like this. What were they doing? Showing off their strength? What good would it do them against their stone walls?
The first day they marched around the city once and left. The second day they came again, early, so that babies were roused from sleep by the blowing horns and added their own crying to the din. Rahab’s family came to her house and did not leave after that day. They spoke little. With the rest of Jericho they watched and waited, feeling helpless and on edge.
Rahab learned to talk to the Lord in the silence of her heart, for her minuscule inn was crowded with people and afforded no privacy. She had no idea if He could discern her thoughts. She hoped if He did, that He did not consider her words disrespectful or inadequate. Yet she found that speaking to Him thus soothed her fears. And there was much to fear. For the army of the Hebrews was never far from Jericho.
By the third day, the wall guards began to heckle the marching army. The Hebrews didn’t react. None of them spoke. Staring straight ahead, they just marched on and ignored the soldiers. They couldn’t hear much anyway, Rahab guessed, given the clamor they were making with their horns.
The fourth day they came and the fifth. Tensions mounted and tempers flared in the city. As if having an encroaching war at their gates wasn’t violent enough, the men broke into fistfights over insignificant things and the women screamed at old friends with littleprovocation. From her post at the window Rahab overheard the gossip of the soldiers as they discussed the state of affairs in Jericho. She heard that temple sacrifices had increased even more. No one was wasting the blood of rams or bulls, either. Animals were precious commodity during a siege. They were sacrificing humans, more than ever. They made the Hebrews’ work easier for them, Rahab reflected.
Many people hid inside their huts with their hands over their ears, weeping. Others kept heckling from the wall, competing to generate the most admired insults. They were a creative people and amused themselves. None of it seemed to faze the host of the enemy.
On the seventh day the Hebrews changed tactics. Showing up earlier than ever, they didn’t stop with one march. They kept on walking, twice, three times, four times, five times, their horrifying horns blowing and blowing. Even the hecklers fell silent and grew grey with fear. Rahab stood at her window throughout the day and tried to spot Hanani or Ezra, but they were too far away for her to be sure. She kept fingering the scarlet rope to make certain it wasn’t moved. It draped outside her portion of the wall like a thread of hope. On this scarlet cord hung her future and her life, and the lives of those whom she loved. Her future hung in the balance of a rope.
No
, she reminded herself.
My future hangs in the balance of God
.
After the seventh interminable march around the city, the trumpets grew louder, unbearable almost. Then as one, the multitude raised their voices in a shout that made Rahab’s
When the Hebrews deigned to come, as if finally they had roused themselves to bother with Jericho, something of an anticlimax accompanied their approach. First came their armed guard, and then what looked to be priests carrying trumpets made of rams’horns and an ornate box, which they carried with exquisite care. Bringing up the rear came the main force of their fighting men. Their trumpets made an eerie sound hour after hour as they walked around Jericho’s walls in endless procession. At the first sight of them, the watchmen of the wall began raining down arrows. Rahab, keeping vigil at her window held her breath. The arrows fell just short of the Hebrews, as though they had calculated to the cubit the measure of Jericho’s bows. Yet they did not fight back. They merely marched, step after step, cubit after cubit, furlong after furlong. The people of Jericho had never seen anything like this. What were they doing? Showing off their strength? What good would it do them against their stone walls?
The first day they marched around the city once and left. The second day they came again, early, so that babies were roused from sleep by the blowing horns and added their own crying to the din. Rahab’s family came to her house and did not leave after that day. They spoke little. With the rest of Jericho they watched and waited, feeling helpless and on edge.
Rahab learned to talk to the Lord in the silence of her heart, for her minuscule inn was crowded with people and afforded no privacy. She had no idea if He could discern her thoughts. She hoped if He did, that He did not consider her words disrespectful or inadequate. Yet she found that speaking to Him thus soothed her fears. And there was much to fear. For the army of the Hebrews was never far from Jericho.
By the third day, the wall guards began to heckle the marching army. The Hebrews didn’t react. None of them spoke. Staring straight ahead, they just marched on and ignored the soldiers. They couldn’t hear much anyway, Rahab guessed, given the clamor they were making with their horns.
The fourth day they came and the fifth. Tensions mounted and tempers flared in the city. As if having an encroaching war at their gates wasn’t violent enough, the men broke into fistfights over insignificant things and the women screamed at old friends with littleprovocation. From her post at the window Rahab overheard the gossip of the soldiers as they discussed the state of affairs in Jericho. She heard that temple sacrifices had increased even more. No one was wasting the blood of rams or bulls, either. Animals were precious commodity during a siege. They were sacrificing humans, more than ever. They made the Hebrews’ work easier for them, Rahab reflected.
Many people hid inside their huts with their hands over their ears, weeping. Others kept heckling from the wall, competing to generate the most admired insults. They were a creative people and amused themselves. None of it seemed to faze the host of the enemy.
On the seventh day the Hebrews changed tactics. Showing up earlier than ever, they didn’t stop with one march. They kept on walking, twice, three times, four times, five times, their horrifying horns blowing and blowing. Even the hecklers fell silent and grew grey with fear. Rahab stood at her window throughout the day and tried to spot Hanani or Ezra, but they were too far away for her to be sure. She kept fingering the scarlet rope to make certain it wasn’t moved. It draped outside her portion of the wall like a thread of hope. On this scarlet cord hung her future and her life, and the lives of those whom she loved. Her future hung in the balance of a rope.
No
, she reminded herself.
My future hangs in the balance of God
.
After the seventh interminable march around the city, the trumpets grew louder, unbearable almost. Then as one, the multitude raised their voices in a shout that made Rahab’s
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