Unashamed by Francine Rivers Page A

their bodies would be hanging on the wall by now.”

    Rahab smiled. “They weren’t captured, because I hid them on my roof.”

    “You . . . what?” her father said weakly.

    “I hid them, and then I let them down from my window and told them to hide in the hill country for three days before crossing the Jordan.”

    Her father and brothers stared at her. Mizraim came to his feet. “By the gods, what have you done to us?”

    Jobab held his head in despair. “We’ll all be destroyed for your treason.”

    “I’ve chosen the side that offers life,” Rahab said.

    “Life?” Mizraim said, his face red with anger. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! What of us? Are we not able to choose?”

    She restrained her anger. How many times had she come to the aid of her family, and Mizraim could still accuse her so? “That’s why you’re here.” She set the jug of wine firmly in the middle of the table and sat with them. “Years ago, Father, you met an Israelite spy in the palm grove. You said you could see in his eyes that he would return.”

    “They did return and were defeated.”

    “Yes, but they came back without the Ark of their God. Isn’t that what you told me?”

    “Yes.” Her father frowned, thinking back. “And Moses didn’t lead them.”

    “I’ve heard Moses is dead,” Mizraim said, taking a seat again.

    “Do you think that matters?” Rahab was determined to make them understand that the arrangements she had made with the spies were their only chance for survival. “For all his greatness, Moses was only a man. It is the God of all creation who protects these people. The first time they came into the land, they entered like a band of thieves scattered across the ridges of the hill country. They were defeated because God was not with them. This time the Israelites stand together. There’s a new generation of Israelites out there across the river. They’re waiting for their God to instruct them. Do not speak, Mizraim! Listen to what I’m telling you. When the time is right, the Israelites will cross the Jordan, and they will be victorious.”

    “They’ll never take Jericho,” Mizraim said, picking up his cup of wine. “I’ve been working on fortifications since the last full moon. You know yourself how tall and wide these walls are. No army can break through them!”

    “You boast, but I see the fear in your eyes.” She was not cowed by his angry glare. “What are these walls to a God who can part the seas? We’ve all heard the stories. God laid waste to Egypt with ten plagues. He spoke through Moses, and a nation was delivered from slavery. He opened the Red Sea so the Israelites crossed over on dry land. Have you ever heard of such power? Truly, He is God, the only God. You must know this! I’ve always told you everything I’ve heard. Think on what you know. Why else do you think our people quake in terror? You, among them.”

    “But this is our land!” Jobab said. “They have no right to it! We built these walls! We planted the crops and built the houses! Our father’s father and his father before him harvested dates from the palm grove just beyond these walls!”

    She wanted to shake them all. “We’ve bowed down to the baals all these years, thinking they were the owners of the land. But this land belongs to the God out there, and He’s going to take it.” She gave a bleak laugh. “Do you think we’ll be safe because we’ve sacrificed to statues we carved and molded? What power have they over the elements?” She sneered. “They’ve never been anything more than mindless, heartless stone and clay idols.” She slammed the palm of her hand on the table. “Well, now, the true landlord has revealed Himself. The God of the Israelites owns the land. He owns the palm trees and terebinths and grapevines; He owns the bees that make the honey; He owns the locusts that destroyed Egypt! Everything is His, and He can give the land and all that’s on