upon discovering its loss, had launched his finest chariots suicidally across the treacherous bed of the Red Sea?
If distinguished researchers like Colin Wilson and Graham Hancock are right, and some of the technological wonders of very ancient civilizations escaped terrifying inundations or major disasters caused by ice and polar change, did any of those advanced artifacts find their way to Egypt? Was the dangerously powerful Ark of the Covenant itself one such object, or was it the carefully shielded and insulated container for such an object? Was it the operation of a long-forgotten technology rather than the presence of a deity that caused the Shechinah?
The 1999 discoveries by the Joides Resolution scientists drilling the bed of the Indian Ocean have tentatively indicated the ancient inundation of a huge land mass almost a third the size of Australia. Fifty million years ago it was a lush and fertile land. Dinosaurs grazed on the abundant vegetation that grew there. Twenty million years ago movements of the Earth’s crust started it on its long journey to the ocean bed. If one such great land mass could go down, why not others?
Whether it was the work of Egyptian craftsmen, Israelite craftsmen, survivors of Atlantis, or extraterrestrial aliens, the Ark of the Covenant was described as thickly covered with gold. Apart from its commercial and artistic value, gold has the great practical advantages of being easy to work and massively resistant to corrosion — it also acts as an effective radiation shield. If there was an artifact inside the ark — some sort of weapon, perhaps — was it nuclear powered? Could the Shechinah have been a glow of pure energy, visible only when the machine was operating — in other words, when “God” was present and active?
Alongside the high-profile, magical, miraculous, and historical mysteries recorded in the Bible, there are some equally intriguing low-profile, behavioural mysteries. The strange sequence of events in the exotic house on the walls of Jericho is one of these.
At first glance the story is straightforward enough. Joshua, the brilliant Hebrew general who took over the leadership when Moses died, wisely decided to send two spies to the Canaanite city of Jericho before attacking it.
THE SCARLET CORD
In Middle Eastern cities of that period, inns, taverns, and brothels tended to be situated near the gates so that travellers arriving in the city could locate them easily. A scarlet cord hanging from a window and a scarlet lamp above the door would indicate the nature of the premises.
As the Hebrew spies approached, they saw at once that one particular brothel situated on the city wall would be an ideal vantage point from which to study the gate and other defences.
Once inside, they meet Rahab and arrange to stay. Nerves are on edge in Jericho. News of Joshua’s previous military successes against the neighbouring Canaanite strongholds has already reached the city. The arrival of the Hebrew spies has been quietly observed. News of their arrival reaches the king. He sends for Rahab and demands to know where these two dangerous men are.
She reports that they were there earlier, but had slipped away at dusk just before the gates were due to be secured for the night. She assures the king that a swift patrol would almost certainly be able to overtake them.
Meanwhile, she hides them in the flax in case she is not believed and a search party is sent to the house. She begs them to save her and her family when the Hebrew army storms Jericho.
They make her a solemn promise, and instruct her to bring her family together into this house on the wall when the attack starts. They explain that it is vitally important for her to mark the window with the scarlet cord so that the house can be identified.
At the first opportunity, Rahab lowers them down the wall on that same scarlet cord and advises them to make for the mountains and hide there until the patrol gives up the search for them.
The plan works. They remain in the mountains for a day or two, then return safely to the Hebrew camp and report everything to Joshua.
When the attack on Jericho takes place, they go to Rahab’s house while the carnage rages all round it. No one else is spared. Jericho is devastated and destroyed. The vow to Rahab and her family is faithfully kept. Intriguingly, Joshua, chapter 6, verse 25, records that “Rahab is with us to this day,” indicating that she married a Hebrew and that their descendants were still thriving in the Hebrew nation when the book of Joshua came to be written.
The story as it stands, however, raises several challenging behavioural mysteries. Why did the spies feel sure that they could trust Rahab? Why did she feel certain that she could trust them? They literally trusted one another with their very lives. Do strangers of different nationalities normally offer and accept that kind of ultimate trust?
Their trust was not only mutually offered and accepted: subsequent events proved that it was totally justified by the solid gold integrity of both parties. Spies and prostitutes both live in convoluted serpentine worlds where honesty and integrity are rarer than lap-dancers in a monastery. Rahab herself had no difficulty in telling the king of Jericho a yarn that would have done justice to Baron von Munchausen.
Despite the nature of her work, Rahab was undoubtedly deeply devoted to her family. It wasn’t solely her own life she begged for: she wanted to save her parents, brothers, and sisters, as well. And why were the spies so determined to keep their word to her? It’s easy enough under the stresses of war for integrity to be the first casualty. Promises are even more vulnerable than flesh and bone when bloodstained swords are swinging in the desperate heat of battle and the only law is kill or be killed. Yet their promise to Rahab and her family was sacrosanct to the two Hebrew spies? Why?
Is it possible that Rahab was a Jewish girl? The well-known account of Joseph and his coat of many colours is a stark reminder that Canaan was infested with opportunist slave traders of the kind who sold Joseph in Egypt. The Hebrew families who straggled out of Egypt with Moses easily became separated from their main column. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for slave traders to abduct Rahab and her family under cover of darkness.
But how to get the best price for them in Jericho? Beautiful young Rahab is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown, and the slavers know exactly where to take her. The proprietor of the house on the wall begins the long, inevitable haggling. No, he has no interest in the others. They might just be worth a handful of silver as domestic servants…. It is only Rahab who is worth gold because she can earn gold. The others are practically a liability. The parents might just as well be killed now. They will not really justify the price of feeding them. If the girl proves difficult and uncooperative, even she may not be worth anything. The slavers understand the haggling arguments only too well.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, the spirited and intelligent slave girl intervenes. She understands perfectly well what is going on, what their problems are. Perhaps she can help them all?
Rahab and her family captured by slave traders.
The proprietor and the slavers listen attentively. What if she is willing to be totally committed to her work and to making her customers happy? She could earn far more for him than three or four desperately unhappy girls who have to be starved and beaten into reluctant, passive submission. She will attract extra customers for him. In return, will he allow her family to stay, too, as domestic servants, to gather wood, to fetch water, to prepare flax for linen, to spin, to weave, to clean? One price for the whole family and she will be the best harlot in Jericho.
If
