Pearl in the Sand Read Online Free Page A

right times. When he finally tired of striding about like a trapped lion, he spoke.
    “Rahab, the Hebrews defeated King Sihon and his sons last night. The great king of the Amorites was routed by a band of nomads. Now all of Canaan is in danger.”
    “What are you talking about?” she asked, pulling the sheet around her and sitting up. “Sihon can’t be defeated.” Sihon, one of the great kings east of the Jordan River, ruled like an eagle over his kingdom. She had heard men call him undefeatable, his kingdom secure forever.
    “He
was
defeated, I tell you. By the Hebrews. Their leader, an old man named Moses, sent a message to Sihon requesting permission to travel the King’s Highway in peace. Sihon not only deniedthem passage, but he mustered his army and attacked them at Jahaz. He must have thought it would be an easy victory. However, it didn’t take long for the Hebrews to turn the battle.” Jobab stopped speaking and stared at nothing in particular as if words had failed him. “They’re fierce. They don’t even have proper armor. So when Sihon’s army started to run—”
    Rahab sat up straight. “Sihon’s army ran?”
    “What am I telling you? They were pulverized. And those not killed immediately ran. But the armorless Hebrews ran faster and caught up with them. They even killed some with slings. Sihon’s glorious capital, Heshbon, brought down by slings. Who shall sleep safe in their beds after this?”
    Rahab’s mouth dropped open at his words. To her, as to all who first heard of these events, they seemed outlandish. Impossible. “Who are these Hebrews? I’ve never heard of them. How do they wield such power?” Her voice sounded shrill in her own ears.
    “That’s the wonder. They are nobody. A bunch of runaway slaves.” Jobab sank down to the floor and slumped against the wall. “Forty years ago they ran away from Egypt, and they’ve been wandering in the wilderness ever since. They have no cities, no walls, no fields to plant or plow, no vineyards to harvest. Everyone has ignored them.”
    “What you say makes no sense. How could an army of slaves run away from Egypt? As if a pharaoh would ever allow it. This is an empty rumor.” She looked at him, her fears reined in. Crossing her arms, she leaned back against a pillow.
    Jobab raised his arms in exasperation. “Rahab, you’re just too young to know about it. There was a great revolt in Egypt among the Hebrew slaves, led by this same man, Moses. He claimed his god wanted Pharaoh to free the Hebrews. Pharaoh refused at first, but so many plagues befell the Egyptians at the hands of the Hebrew god that Pharaoh
had
to let them go. Egypt was in ruins. Then, at the last minute, he changed his mind. As the Hebrews were leaving, Pharaoh mobilized his army and pursued them.”
    “Don’t tell me the slaves brought Pharaoh’s chariots down with their slingshots.” Rahab smirked.
    Jobab sighed. “Nothing so ordinary. Their escape route brought them to a dead end against the sea. Behind them came Pharaoh’s invincible army. Before them lay a body of water impossible to cross. They were doomed. And then their god parted the sea.”
    Rahab raised an eyebrow. “Come now.”
    “He parted the sea, I tell you! Divided it right up the middle. They walked straight through to the other side on dry ground with the water piled up all around them. Then, when Pharaoh and his army tried to follow, the waves came crashing down on top of them. Every single one of them perished.”
    Now that Jobab was rehearsing the story, Rahab remembered hearing about the mysterious death of one of the Egyptian Pharaohs and his army. It was when her parents were young. Egypt had not yet recovered its great strength after that loss. What kind of god wielded so much power? If this was all true, who could stand against such a god? She began to understand the scent of fear that clung to Jobab.
    Bending, she picked up her shift from the woven rug on the floor and pulled it