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RACHAV WAS RELIEVED when the visitors left on the third day. She wanted to forget all about them. But As Pinchas was teaching her family, later, Nadir brought the subject up.
Pinchas informed them all that the visitors had secured an alliance between their kingdom and Yacov.
"I thought The God-of-Many-Names was giving all of Kenaan to Yacov," Anwar said. "Doesn't that mean you have to vanquish all the kingdoms that are already here?"
"Yes," Pinchas said, patiently. "But these men were from a kingdom far away–not one established in Kenaan."
Rachav glanced at him sharply, unsure what, if anything, she should tell him.
Pinchas conducted the day's lesson, then pulled Rachav aside afterwards. "You gave me a look, earlier," he said. "Did you have a question, or something you wanted to say?"
Rachav bit her lip, then asked, "Am I to understand that Yacov can't make a treaty with nations inside Kenaan?"
Pinchas nodded. "No kingdom from inside any of the land promised to us."
She chewed on her lip a bit more. "I, um...recognized one of those men. He was not from a far country."
Pinchas frowned, eyes narrowing. "Who was it?"
"One of the men on the ambassador's staff."
"How do you know where he's from?"
Her face heated as she said, "Many of my former customers were quite loose with their tongues. This man was a Hivite from Giveon."
Pinchas blanched after the words registered. "Are you certain?"
She nodded, still blushing.
Pinchas grew wide-eyed, shot to his feet and bolted.
She stood to watch him run toward the center of the camp.
THOUGH YACOV DIDN'T have cavalry (despite all the opportunities to take horses from defeated armies that did), they kept enough horse stock for messengers and special details. Y'hoshua dispatched a small force to intercept the foreign delegation before it returned to Giveon.
The ambassador dismounted to face the pursuit force.
Salmon, who had been put in charge of the pursuit detail, dismounted and confronted the ambassador.
"So you're from a far off country. Is that right?"
The ambassador didn't answer. It seemed to Salmon he was stubbornly making an effort to hold his chin up so he could look down his nose at his accuser.
"I guess lying comes very easy to the Hivim," Salmon said.
Some in the escort, and the delegation, lowered their heads to stare into the dirt. The ambassador maintained his defiant attitude.
"Why the hoax?" Salmon asked.
"Well," the ambassador said, "to put it simply, we don't want to be destroyed like the other nations."
They stood staring at each other, wordlessly, for a few moments.
"I have a message directly from Y'hoshua," Salmon announced. "During your visit with us, you had disputes with our priests about whether our god is just, or all-powerful." Salmon raised his voice so that all those present would hear. "It's only because we didn't consult him that you were able to trick us. It's only because El Elyon is just that Y'hoshua is not going to put all Giveon to the sword. We cut covenant with you. And even though you obviously can't be trusted, we will act honorably and uphold our end of the treaty because we won't have Hashem's reputation profaned."
"We are your grateful servants," the ambassador said.
"Interesting choice of words," Salmon said. "Because that's exactly what you will be from now on. We'll spare you and your people, but you're going to cut our wood and carry our water. Understood?"
"What you say is good," the ambassador said, mechanically.
