We
all know the story of Rahab: A Canaanite prostitute who saved the lives of two
Hebrews in Jericho and secured, for her family, exemption from the
annihilation of Jericho. The Bible then
tells us that Rahab married Salmone, the Hebrew leader of the tribe of Judah,
and had a son named Boaz. Through their
line, Jesus Christ was ultimately born.
Though a Canaanite prostitute, Rahab is described in the Bible as a
woman of faith.
We
read this story, take note of the content, but never quite imagine how it all
must have come together. Why would a
Canaanite woman betray her country, her people, her gods, for the God of the
Hebrews? Why did the Hebrews agree to spare a woman of the enemy they were
instructed to destroy? How did she then come
to marry a Hebrew? The leader of Judah, no less. Didn’t he care about her past or how it could
affect his position? How was Rahab, a
zonah, treated by the Hebrews? Pearl in
the Sand by Tessa Afshar, provides us with a beautiful possibility of how
Rahab’s story might have gone. Though
fictional, this story is built on a foundation of Biblical facts.
Rahab,
a Canaanite, turns her back on the gods of her people at a young age, disgusted
with the rituals surrounding them.
Fornication at the temples, sacrificing human lives, Rahab can’t stand
the practices of her people.
A severe drought causes her family to suffer. They have no food, and no means to obtain
money. That is when Rahab is betrayed by
the man she loves and depends on most: Her father. At the age of fifteen Rahab is sold into
prostitution in order to provide for her family. Though she has no choice, Rahab does put her
foot down and makes it clear that if she must do this, she will do it on her
own terms. She refuses to become a temple
prostitute to be used by any man who walks by her, and chooses her own
customers. Hating what she has to do,
Rahab tries to minimize her disgrace by only being with one man at a time, for
a period of time she determines. She guards
her heart, refusing to ever hand it over to any man, and chooses carefully to
whom she will give her body. Rahab becomes
wealthy and runs her own inn – not a brothel. Even though Rahab has all the
fine material things she could want, her soul remains empty. She can never fill the hole in her innermost
being… until she hears of the God of the Hebrews.
Having
been freed of the slavery in Egypt, having wandered the desert for forty years,
the Israelites are finally entering the promised land and conquering
Canaan. The biggest cities are defeated
to the absolute bafflement of all in Jericho.
Desperate
for something to cling to, Rahab absorbs every piece of information she learns
of the God of the Hebrews. He is
powerful, and by all accounts a compassionate and loving God. What makes Him even more intriguing is that he
forbids the practices the Canaanites’ gods encourage, the practices Rahab
herself abhors. Even though she knows
that according to the law of the God of the Hebrews someone like her (a
prostitute) must be stoned, so severe is her sin, she cannot help but thirst
for Him. Alone on her roof, Rahab
instinctively prays to the God of the Hebrews, and gives herself to His service
if He will have her. She promises to,
never again, sell her body. Peace unlike
any she has ever known settles over Rahab, and a woman of faith is born.
A
few weeks later Rahab notices two men trying to enter Jericho through the
entrance to the wall in which her inn is situated. Immediately realising that they are Hebrews,
Rahab intercedes with the guards, drawing attention to herself, and gets Hanani
and Ezra into her inn as fast as she can and hides them from the soldiers. Later, while having dinner, Rahab asks them about their God. By
the time Ezra and Hanani secretly leave Jericho the following morning, Rahab
has made two new friends, and has secured a promise that she and her family
will be spared when the Israelites conquer Jericho – Rahab never doubts that God
will give them the victory.
Salmone,
the leader of the tribe of Judah, is outraged when he learns that his friends
have promised to spare a Canaanite woman and her family – God clearly
instructed the Israelites to destroy Canaan in its entirety. Hanani and Ezra, however, are convinced that
the Lord sent Rahab to them, and as such, God must have a plan for her as
well. Joshua, the leader of Israel,
agrees, and it is decided that Rahab and her family will be spared.
After
the fall of Jericho, Rahab makes another request of Ezra and Hanani. She and her family wishes to join
the Hebrews. To proud Salmone’s dismay,
Joshua agrees and puts Rahab and her family in the tribe of Judah, instructing
Salmone himself to see to their integration into the ways of the Hebrews. Despising Rahab’s former profession, Salmone
can’t seem to forget her past, and even though Rahab appears to be humble and
shy (impossible for a zonah!), and genuinely desperate to please his beloved
Lord, Salmone continues to treat her and her family with a cold disdain. It seems, however, that God intends
transforming Salmone’s soul as much as he has transformed Rahab’s. Can it be?
Can the leader of the tribe of Judah truly fall in love with a former
zonah? And more importantly, even though
the only Rahab he has ever known is the kind of gentle, humble, God-fearing woman he has always yearned for, can he
make peace with her past?
Pearl
in the Sand is the most beautiful book I have read in
years! I rank it right up there with my absolute favourites, Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love and Mark of the Lion, and as with these, Pearl
in the Sand is one of those books I wish everybody I know would read.
This
fictional account of Rahab’s story is so beautifully written and touches on so
many things that must have been issues for Rahab, that you can’t help but think
that Rahab’s true circumstances must have been very close to what is described
in this book. I never considered
something as simple as Rahab and her family having to first learn all the ways
of the Hebrews before entering their camp, so as not to defile it in any way –
the smallest thing done in ignorance could have meant the death penalty for any
one of them.
I
love Afshar’s depiction of the characters. I especially love the character of Joshua – though very respectfully
done, Joshua is quite a humourous character (and by that I mean that while he
is very much the wise, trusted and capable leader the Bible describes him to
be, he has quite the sense of humour!) It’s sometimes hard to imagine Biblical
characters being anything other than serious, but surely they couldn’t have
been serious all the time? This book
does a beautiful job of giving all of the characters a lighter side, making
them very relatable.
I
especially love the scene explaining the title of the book – a beautiful
pearl-in-the-sand-analogy that you must discover for yourself.
Words cannot effectively express how much I
love this book. Read it!
Product information:
Title: Pearl In The Sand
Author: Tessa Afshar
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Year: 2010
ISBN-10: 0802458815
ISBN-13: 978-0802458810
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