Progeny of a Prostitute - #AtoZChallenge

Rahab fixed the bedding in her suite, sprayed a sweet-smelling mist into the air, and returned downstairs to see if there was another client. The city of Jericho was quiet this evening; she didn't expect much business. 

Down in the lounge, her brother - who served as the bouncer of Rahab's brothel - nodded in the direction of two strangers, travelers by the look of their clothes, seated at a table in the corner. That silent nod meant they had already paid. Two of her girls were attending them, but Rahab joined them anyway. The big one intrigued her.

Seeing her mistress coming, one of the girls got up and moved away. Rahab nodded to the other girl. "Mishal, I believe we have two rooms available upstairs. Let's lead the way for these men."As they walked, Rahab made small-talk. It was her way to set new guests at ease. "I don't recognize you, where are you men from?" she asked, slipping an arm through the crook in the big man's elbow.

"We're Is-" The other one started, but Rahab noticed his companion swat his hand as they climbed the stairs and he closed his mouth again. 

"Too personal?" Rahab smiled. Where they were from didn't matter. "May we know your names? What should we call you?"

The man on her elbow answered. "I am Salmon. This is Josiah." 

"Sal-mon." She tasted his name on her tongue. "I have not heard such a name before." 

At the top of the stairs, they took rooms across from each other. Later, as Rahab rose from her bed, Salmon relaxed and told her an amazing tale. Her gentle questions had prodded him to confess that he and Josiah were Israelites - the very people who were camped in the land outside the city walls! 

"But what are you doing here? Why have you come to me?" Rahab knew the king and all the people were concerned about that mob of people and everything they'd done to other cities as they traveled. "You have brought danger to my house!"

"It's done," he answered. "We know what we came to find out."

A distant shout and clatter of hooves racing through the streets drifted in the window. "Follow me," Rahab said, and pulled him from the bed. She knocked on the door across and collected his friend. "These men are leaving," she told Mishal. "You can have the rest of the night off."

She hurried them men out onto the flat roof and covered them with old baskets and blankets. "Wait here." Down in the house, her steps slowed to her usual relaxed pace. In the lounge, her brother had sent the other girls home for lack of business. She took a sip of sweet wine to compose herself. The noise outside grew louder. Soon enough, fists pounded on the door. "Go," she told her brother. "Let them in."

He did as she requested, and a man in a king's guard uniform stood there. "Urgent message from your king." He said. He opened a scroll while Rahab sashayed over to join the group of men standing in her doorway. "By order of the King of Jericho, I am to take the men who came to your house tonight. They were sent as spies." He rolled up the scroll and all eyes turned to Rahab. 

Rahab gave an apologetic little laugh. "Oh! My! Yes, there were two travelers who came in, but earlier, when the city gate was closing, they left. You may yet catch up with them outside the city if you go fast." Her house was near the city gate, built into the wall. It was not uncommon for her guests to leave right as the gate was closing. This guard knew that well.

He stared into her eyes for a moment. Then, satisfied, he turned and led his squad back out into the city streets. Rahab's brother bolted the door. "What -?" But Rahab just shook her head and raced back up to the roof. 

She pulled the baskets and blankets away and confronted Salmon. "There. I have just saved your lives. Now I know your people will take this city. Repay my kindness by saving my family when you bring back your armies to take Jericho."

"Our lives for your lives!" the astounded men agreed. She let them out through a window in the city wall and watched them leave. 

Then the waiting began. The worst thing was knowing what was going to happen, but not knowing when. It seemed to take forever. A month was well past before the citizens of Jericho could look out on the Israelite armies. Rahab gathered her family into her house set in the wall. Business stopped and her girls were dismissed. The city was on tenterhooks. How much longer could it take? 

One day as they ate together in the tightly locked house, her mother looked at her and said, "There is something different. You have that look of -" she sucked in a breath. "Oh, Rahab." She put a hand on Rahab's abdomen. A mother could always tell. Rahab closed her eyes and said, "It will be fine."

On the day the walls of Jericho fell, Salmon and Josiah entered the city first. They came to Rahab's door and called in. "Come!" Salmon shouted. "It's time!"

Time indeed. Rahab's family streamed out and were led safely out of harms way. In due time, Rahab had Salmon's baby. She didn't know it yet, but in time she would be remembered as the great(x30)-grandmother of Jesus.

Reference: The story of Rahab saving the Israelite spies is told in the book of  Joshua, chapter 2, verses 1-21, and her part in the genealogy of the Messiah is listed in Matthew, chapter 1, verse 5. I left out a lot of the Biblical detail, and filled in my own fictional assumptions. I love this as yet another example of God using the looked-down on (in this case, a prostitute) to further his plan. Can we all agree that EVERYone has value?