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Hold on to the Promise!

On that seventh day when the Israelites shouted, and those big old stout Jericho walls started to shake and reel back and forth. Inside Rahab's house they felt it too. Rahab's house reverberated with the sound of falling boulders. They could peek out and see the neighbors' houses on the wall going down. They could hear the crashing all around.

Inside Rahab's house her younger brother said, "Rahab are you sure that we can make it."Her sister shouted, "Rahab even if we survive this are you sure that they wont kill us." Through the din Rahab shouted, "Yes, I have a promise." "Is the cord still there?" she asked her father who was closest to the window. "Yes," he shouted over the roar of crumbling walls. "Yes it's there," cried her frightened mother. One terrified uncle was trying to get to the door to get out.

"I dont feel safe." he said as the house shook violently. "I can see Baleema's house going down and it looks just like this one," exclaimed her sister. "Dont go out," Rahab implored her uncle as the earth continued to shake. "Stay inside, we have a promise, and that cord is still there" she continued. "If you leave your death is certain," Rahab yelled.

"Do you think this God is able to save our part of the wall," asked her nephew in a quivering voice. Rahab shouted, "We're still here arent we, just hold on." Aunt Talia peeped out the window. "Oh my," she croaked out in barely a whisper, "I dont know whats happening it seems like the end of the world, the wall, the wall." The falling debris and the shuddering walls The awful sounds coming into the house of people's screams, curses and pleading to their gods was frightening to everyone inside the house. Rahab's house still stood surrounded by devastation. Rahab's part of the wall stood forlornly, but upright. That scarlet cord that she put in the window was still hanging the same place she put it the night that the spies left.

Finally the earth stopped shaking, the sounds of splitting wood, crashing pottery and the roaring of falling boulders and rocks stopped with one loud long crash. Inside Rahabs house the adults peered at each other from the places where they crawled. Looks of renewed terror started to appear in eyes across their tear stained faces. They heard what sounded like thousands of horsemen coming towards them. Someone peeked out the shuttered wooden windows. They were running towards Rahab's house, with drawn swords. The soldiers were running up heaps and jumping over broken pieces of the walls.

"Oh no we've survived the earthquake and the walls collapse, now we'll be killed with a sword," said Rahab's older brother. "Id rather kill myself than have those Jews kill me," shouted her brother as he drew out his dagger to stab himself in the heart. "No," said Rahab hoarsely, the air was thick with dust as the result of walls that fell all around them. "I have a promise,"she explained. "The soldiers promised that everyone in this house will be safe," said Rahab. "Just hold on we've come this far, don't give up," she pleaded.

There was a pushing and tugging on the stout wooden doors. The shaking earth had displaced the door and soldiers were using a battering ram to get to get it open. Everyone inside was holding their collective breath. "One, two, three," counted the soldiers. With one final hit of the battering ram the door burst open. In the door way Rahab and her family saw soldiers. Rahab focused her eyes. She recognized two of them. These were the men she had hidden under the flax. However this time they were fully dressed in battle gear. With them must have been two dozen soldiers. "Come on," shouted her deliverers. "We've come back just as we promised, " said the older of the two soldier spies.

"Is this your whole family," asked one of the spies? Inside that house on the wall, Rahab had managed to convince her mother, father, two sisters and three brothers ,sisters-in law and brothers in-law along with assorted uncles and aunts with their children to come inside her house. All in all she had a congregation of relatives including children which numbered forty.

As they prepared to leave her damaged, but standing, home Rahab turned to the window. She carefully took down the scarlet cord and looped it around her waist. "My promise ,my promise is secured," she whispered as she made her way out of her damaged house to her new life.

Acts 1:11 "..This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back.."

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