Even from the abandoned farm, Deker could see from a distance that Jericho was sealed up tight as a drum. Everyone must have fled the surrounding fields as soon as the Israelites had crossed the Jordan and sought refuge inside the walls of the city. No one went in and no one came out.
That included Rahab, assuming she was still alive.
As he looked up to see the clouds move like a spirit across the moon and listened to the rustling trees whisper ancient secrets, Deker felt as if he were the last soul alive in this world.
Until he spotted a movement out of the corner of his eye.
Moving quickly and quietly through a date grove, careful not to betray himself with a sound, he peered out through some palm leaves and started.
Kneeling in the dirt, hands stretched out toward the heavens with his sword across them, was none other than General Joshua bin-Nun.
He seemed to be talking to somebody Deker couldn't see.
Deker squinted his eyes and scanned the horizon, looking for a security detail of young Judeans like Salmon and Achan-or, worse, Hamas and a squad of Reahn assassins. But there was nobody else.
Deker couldn't believe Bin-Nun would expose himself to the enemy while his troops were recovering from the mutilation he had inflicted on them back in Gilgal.
Deker whipped out his scythe sword, just in case he had missed some shadow force, and rushed through the brush toward Bin-Nun.
Bin-Nun, sensing his approach, spun around quickly with the point of his sword to Deker's throat, stopping him cold. Then, looking at him quizzically, Bin-Nun asked him, "You mean to save her, don't you?"
"I do." Deker sheathed his sword. "Who was that you were talking to? Why is the general out alone without his guards?"
"I came to inspect Jericho for myself," Bin-Nun told him. "I was praying and looked up and saw an angel standing in front of me with a drawn sword in his hand. It was a real angel, not like you. I went up to him and asked, 'Are you for us or for our enemies?' The angel replied, 'Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.'"
Deker took a breath. "The commander of the army of the Lord?" he repeated in as even a tone as possible, so as not to suggest he doubted Bin-Nun. "What did he say?"
Deker stiffened as Bin-Nun put a hand on his shoulder and turned him toward the city about a kilometer away. "Can you pick out this harlot's window in the city wall from here?"
Deker pointed. "That one: sixth window to the right along the north wall."
Bin-Nun asked, "You are certain?"
"Yes," Deker replied, although he wasn't really.
Bin-Nun glanced at the pack of explosives Deker had slung over his shoulder. "You will enter the city through the harlot Rahab's window tonight with your explosives," he told him, and Deker felt a wave of electricity rise up his spine as the words he longed to hear spilled from Bin-Nun's lips. "You will lie in wait for six days, and on the seventh day you will blow the walls on our signal. This is the plan that Yahweh has revealed to Israel."
Deker nodded. He hadn't seen this angel of the Lord, but he was pleased with the angel's instructions to Bin-Nun all the same, as well as Bin-Nun's response of faith in going along with them. Surely that would make the Levites happy. "How will I know the signal?"
"For six days the army will march around Jericho behind the Ark of the Covenant and seven priests carrying rams' horns," Bin-Nun said. "But on the seventh day we'll circle the walls seven times with the priests blowing their trumpets. Listen for a long blast on the trumpets. That's when I'll have the army give the war cry. Our shout will be your signal to blow the walls. We'll rush the stairway of rubble you will have created and climb over the walls and into the city. The city will be doomed to destruction and all who are in it."
Even as Bin-Nun spoke these final words, Deker could hear footsteps in the brush growing louder and turned to see Elezar emerge from the shadows, eyes on fire.
"General Bin-Nun," Elezar said, breathing hard as he glared at Deker. "What is the meaning of this?"
Deker cleared his throat. "We are discussing Rahab the harlot and her family," he said quickly. "She hid us from Hamas and helped us escape with the knowledge of his plans to cut us down at the Jordan. She also warned us to march at least five hundred cubits away from the walls to remain outside the long range of the archers."
Bin-Nun pursed his lips. Deker had forgotten to give him that intel earlier about the kill zone, and it was clear the general considered it more than useful. Then again, Deker spared Bin-Nun the obvious reminder that he himself had made a similar sort of promise to Rahab's grandmother forty years ago, and that it was about time he fulfilled it.
"Rahab the harlot shall be spared," Bin-Nun said, and Deker felt his lungs exhale in relief. "Only Rahab and all who are with her in the house, because she hid you, and only on two conditions."
Deker took a breath and waited. So did Elezar, keenly searching for any loopholes Bin-Nun might give him.
"First, you will make sure she binds a scarlet cord in the window through which she let you down and which you are about to climb up," Bin-Nun said. "This will be a sign to me that she hasn't betrayed you to Hamas. It will also be a sign for our troops to avoid her house when we storm the city walls. If she fails to do this, we will be blameless in her death."
Deker nodded. This was the very blood-on-the-doorposts Passover protection and sign of her faith in Yahweh that Rahab had been seeking all along.
Deker asked, "And the second condition?"
"She must bring her entire family into her house, or they will be slaughtered with the rest of the Reahns," Bin-Nun stated. "Whoever ventures outside the doors of her house into the street, his blood-or hers-shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. If any of our men lay a hand on her family inside her house, their blood will be on our head."
It was Deker's turn to glare at Elezar. "Got that?" he said, and turned his face to the walls of Jericho.