Daughter of Deliverance Read Online Free PDF Page B

dribble over his chin. “They came into the Amorite country like an army. It all started when they asked Sihon, the king of the Amorites, for permission to pass through his country. Sihon’s a hard man. He told them to stay out. Well, that was a mistake. The Israelites came down like a bunch of ravening wolves. They killed everything that had breath, even the children, all the way from Arnon to Jabok. They took all of Sihon’s cities and all the villages. It’s theirs now. But that wasn’t enough.”
    â€œYou mean they came to Bashan?”
    â€œWe heard they were coming, and if I had sense enough, I would have sold out and left. It just never occurred to me that Og could be defeated by a rabble of shepherds. Og did his best. He armed every able-bodied man, including me, and we went out to meet the Israelites. We had good arms and good leaders, but we were like children against them.” Hamath began to shake and tremble. Putting his hands over his face, he even wept. “They killed us as if we were sheep. It was all the doing of their god.”
    â€œWhat’s their god’s name?” Rahab asked eagerly.
    â€œThey call him different names. Most of the time it’s Jehovah. Sometimes simply the Holy One.”
    â€œWhat does their god look like?” Kadir asked, leaning forward, his eyes bright with interest.
    â€œNobody knows. That’s what’s frightening. We know all of our gods, for they’re made out of stone or clay, but their god doesn’t have any form.”
    Kadir shook his head. “I’ve never heard of a god without form. How do they know who he is, then?”
    â€œOh, I don’t know anything about that. All I know is he’s the strongest god I ever saw. I ran away when I saw everybody was going to get killed. I went back home, but the Israelites got there before I arrived. My family were all dead, and everything was burned or destroyed or carried off. Even the king was killed.”
    There was a silence around the table until Rahab asked, “What will you do now, kinsman?”
    â€œI have nowhere to go. I came to beg you to take me in.”
    â€œWell, we have little enough here, but you can stay with us,” Makon said. He was studying his kinsman with a critical gaze. “Do you think the Israelites will head this way?”
    â€œI don’t know, but if they do, I’m getting out. Nobody can stand against that god of theirs!”
    After the guest had been given a corner to sleep in and had fallen into a drunken stupor, the family talked about what he had said. “It sounds like a bad situation,” Kadir said. “If the Israelites head this way, we’re done for.”
    â€œNot our city,” Makon boasted. “The walls of Jericho are famous throughout the world. Nobody could break them down.”
    Rahab was not so sure, but she kept silent. At first she listened to the men talk, but then she put the children to bed. She herself lay awake for a long time and was preoccupied with the idea of the god of the Hebrews. A god with no form that cannot be seen . Somehow this appealed to her, for the statues of the gods of Jericho were oftentimes crude, and it was all she could do to make herself kneel down and pray to hunks of stone. She drifted off to sleep, wondering what it would be like to have a god like that of the Israelites.
    ****
    Rahab quickly put the idea of Shalmanezer out of her mind, but a week after Hamath’s arrival, one of the prominent citizens of Jericho, a merchant named Joar, stepped unannounced into their lives. Joar met Makon during a gambling match, and the two had become close friends. Makon had returned home exultant. He had money in his pocket, and he flung it on the table, crying out, “See this! I won all this tonight. I have a new friend named Joar. Tomorrow we’re going to the home of the richest man in Jericho.”
    â€œWho is that?” Kadir