Worthy of Rain

by Elizaveta Fehr

  I glanced over my shoulder.

  It was the man who had spoken earlier. He had a strong build, and just by his posture, I guessed he was someone of rank. Although much older than I first pegged him to be, his skin was worn by the sun and stood out against his hair which matched the moon.

  He came up beside me and rested his gaze on the horizon that was nearly navy blue. “The land that was promised to us long ago by the Lord before our parents lost the privilege.” He smiled at me, the crinkles in the corners of his eyes stretching into crow’s feet. “But of course, you know that already.”

  I nodded, unsure of what else to say.

  He started to turn and walk down the side of the hill.

  “Wait…um…so what does that mean for us now?” I tried to sound nonchalant. I didn’t want anyone knowing I wasn’t one of them. It was comforting to know they were God’s people, but I was still skeptical.

  The man faced me again. “You and me, we are a different generation. We can make things new. Accept the promise we were given long ago. The time is coming.” His eyes shone mysteriously.

  “Joshua,” he said, introducing himself.

  “Genesis.” I dipped my head.

  He cocked his head to the side slightly. I saw the wrinkles on his face deepen even more as his eyebrows climbed up.

  “Interesting name, Genesis. It’s not common.” He tipped his head. “Where is your family?”

  “They went on a little way ahead.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, get a good night’s rest.”

  I watched him retreat back down a path worn lightly into the hill. I glanced around me. We were the last ones. I saw no one except for Joshua disappearing around a bend.

  “Wait!” I called after him again. I followed him down the hill. He waited for me to catch up and I explained a little breathlessly, “Sorry, I don’t…exactly…remember where the camp is.”

  Joshua smiled at me and looked westward. I followed his gaze, slowly taking in the scene before me.

  “That’s camp?” I whispered under my breath.

  I hadn’t been far enough over the hill at first to see it. But now, the whole camp was in full view. Tents of all sizes clustered evenly in groups that reached far past the dip in the next hill…and the next…and the next…until each dot disappeared in the darkness of the oncoming night. Their spacing was more structured than I realized, each section of tents sitting in shapes that resembled rectangles. At the center of each complex looked to be a much larger tent, enclosed within tarp fences held taught in the dirt. Firelight glow scattered itself amidst the clusters—orange and red and twinkling like mirrors of the sky.

  Joshua chuckled. “You must not have realized how big it was.”

  I gazed at him in wonder. “How many are there?”

  Joshua tipped back his head and scanned the night stars before bringing his gaze back again to the camp like a loving father would look at his child.

  “One hundred forty-four thousand,” he breathed.

  The number and its enormous size took a while to sink in.

  “The tribes are Reuben, Simeon, Ephraim, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Benjamin. We are the children of the Israelites who were led out of Egypt by our previous leader, Moses.”

  I took care not to glance back at the wrapped body behind us.

  “I know you probably know the history, so I won’t bore you,” Joshua waved it off.

  “No, no, please continue,” I urged him.

  Joshua dipped his head. “Well, each tribe is named after a son of Jacob. He had twelve. Because Levi’s tribe is meant to harbor future priests once we conquer the Promised Land, Joseph’s tribe is split into two, Ephraim and Manasseh.”

  I froze.

  Joseph.

  Swallowing, I choked out, “Did you say Joseph?”

  “The one who took over Egypt. He interpreted many people’s dreams and he’s—”

  “The man with a coat of many colors,” I finished. The memories danced before my eyes. Joseph. His brothers. Slaves. The dungeon. Dreams. I remembered everything.

  “As you know how the story goes, he went on to govern Egypt. He righted his treacherous past with his brothers.”

  I looked towards the stars in awe, wondering if Joseph was among them. I guess forgiveness did win in the end. Joseph was right.

  “Follow me. You should get back to camp. It’s getting late.”

  I followed Joshua’s path down into the valley. The evening air blew my hair from my neck and nudged my head covering away from my hairline. As we drew nearer to the outskirts of the camp, I racked my brain for excuses. I had to think fast. He would want to escort me back to my family’s tent, which, in fact, didn’t exist. I felt bad about lying, but at this point, I was too far in to go back.

  “Actually, my tent is on the other side of the camp. Maybe I could stay somewhere closer? Just for the night.” I started to slow my pace, keeping to the entrance we had come through.

  Joshua gave me a skeptical backwards glance but refrained from commenting. He thought for a moment and stroked his beard. “I know someplace you could stay.”

  I shifted my feet. I considered objecting but thought better of it. Maybe a safe place to stay was the better option considering the foreign complex I’d just entered. I’d learned from past experiences that just jumping into uncharted waters wasn’t always beneficial. But because I trusted Joshua in some deep, instinctive part of my gut, I decided to follow him into the heart of the Israelite camp.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  “Be strong and courageous.”

  Joshua 1:6 NIV

  “You can stay here for tonight. I’m sure they won’t mind.”

  The tent glowed with the inner light and voices reached the outdoors. He looked at me as he stood in front of the entrance to the tent. “Old friends of mine,” he added and winked.

  Joshua lifted up the flap and called into the tent. “Hagar? We’ve got a visitor.” I followed him inside.

  The tent was more quaint than I had anticipated. Covered lanterns hung a safe distance away from the animal skin walls. The back of the tent was separated by a partial curtain that blocked the view of the back half of the room. Flasks and containers were tied to poles. Pots littered the ground closest to the edge of the tent. From what little I could see behind the opening in the curtain, a simple woven rug was rolled out onto the ground and animal furs were already laid out onto the floor. A few sleeping shapes shifted under the dim light.

  An old, frail hand pulled back a larger portion of the curtain. I saw her ash-colored hair poking out from the curtain long before her wrinkled features. “Joshua,” she said hoarsely. “What a lovely surprise.”

  “Indeed it is. I have another one for you.”

  She turned her attention towards me. “Another one? I suppose it’s easy to get lost amidst so many of us. The children always tend to run off.”

  I decided not to mention I was several inches taller than her.

  “Hagar, this is Genesis. Genesis, this is Hagar.” Joshua said. “She’ll make you feel comfortable.”

  Hagar nodded in agreement. “Welcome to the house of Adonai, Tribe of Asher.” Her voice crackled with feebleness and use over time.

  “Well then, I will let you get some rest. Thank you, Hagar.” He turned to go, but I followed him outside of the tent into the chilly night air.

  “Joshua.” I paused. “Thank you.”

  Joshua smiled and nodded. “Sleep well, Genesis.”

  When I returned to the tent, Hagar ushered me towards the back of the room and laid out another animal skin for me to sleep on.

  “It is a little cramped in here, I am afraid to say.” She fussed with the blankets.

  “It’s perfect, thank you. I hope I am not a burden.”

  She sighed and gave me a small smile. “Any child Joshua brings to me is never a burden. You sleep well.” She blew out the lamplight above our heads, plunging us into a moonlit darkness.
The camp was still rustling with life, but it had died down over the last ten minutes. Soon, only the night watchers would be out.

  I tucked my legs underneath the animal skin and slipped my arms under my head. My body relaxed. For once, I was sleeping as a guest and not a runaway or a slave or a stranger.

  Maybe I would actually get some rest tonight.

  I didn’t wake up until I felt someone gently shake my shoulder. The morning light peered through the opening in the tent. It was early, but I could already feel the heat of the day outside of the tent in a warm glow. A few strands of hair stuck to my cheeks as I sat up groggily.

  “Genesis.”

  The face in front of me came into focus as I blinked my eyes.

  “We are preparing to leave.” Hagar shook my shoulder again and stood up. “Help us take down the tent.”

  “We’re leaving?” I sat up, brushing my hair out of my eyes.

  Hagar leaned back down again until she was eye level with me. Her eyes twinkled.

  “We are entering the Promised Land.”

  I could hear the camp starting to move outside of the tent. Getting up, I opened the entrance flap.

  She was right. Carts were already being loaded with crates and pots. The camp rustled with life, rippling along the hill and miles farther. I ducked back into the tent and gathered up the animal skins. A man’s voice spoke outside the tent.

  “Jedidah, take the stakes out of the ground, will you?” His face appeared in the entryway.

  “Oh,” he said, surprised. “I thought you were my daughter.”

  “I came last night,” I explained. “Joshua sent me here.”

  “I see. What tribe are you from?”

  I glanced at the bundles of animal skins rolled up in my arms. Joshua listed all of them to me last night. If I could just remember one of them…

  “Judah,” I answered quickly.

  He smiled and said, “It was pleasant to meet you. I’m Adonai, if you had not already known. If you see my daughter, tell her I am looking for her,” he continued before letting the tent flap drop behind him.

  I released a sigh. That was close.

  The tent flap flipped open again and a teenage boy holding an empty sack came inside. He glanced my way. “Hello,” he greeted, untying the rope that kept the sack from opening. “Did you come in last night?”

  I nodded.

  “I am Udom,” he smiled.

  Udom was taller than Adonai and looked to be about eighteen years old. His high cheekbones and long brown hair that barely touched his shoulders matched the features of what I assumed was his father’s.

  “I’m Genesis,” I nodded a greeting.

  He tilted his head, similar to the way Joshua had last night. “I have never heard of that name before.”

  “It’s quite different.”

  “Indeed,” he agreed.

  “So, we are really going to the Promised Land, aren’t we?” I rolled the blankets up as I spoke.

  Udom looked like he was trying to fight his smile from growing wider. “There would be no other reason that Joshua would have us packing.”

  I gave him a glance. “Joshua…decides it all?”

  Udom looked at me incredulously. “If the right-hand man to Moses was not the one to lead us, I would be frightened for the Israelites. Joshua is our leader.”

  Last night. He’d been so…informal. Kind. Personal. I had been speaking to the commander of the Israelite army and hadn’t even known it.

  I waved him off. “Right, sorry. I am a little sleepy still.”

  Udom raised his eyebrows and nodded.

  Okay, I needed to be a little more careful. I brought my attention to the entrance of the tent as the low blast of a horn echoed from a distance.

  Udom dropped his supplies and walked briskly to the entrance of the tent.

  “Follow me,” he gestured, holding open the flap. “Clan meeting.”

  The humid air filled my nostrils as I stepped out. My sandals kicked up dust, and the sun broke the dirt at my feet into drifts of caramel clouds. I shielded my eyes. With last night’s cooler temperatures, the desert weather was a shock to my pampered skin.

  Udom greeted a girl—about sixteen and a few heads shorter than him—as she walked up with a basket and rope. She had the same eye color, but her face and nose seemed to match Hagar’s more than Adonai’s. She glanced around Udom’s broad shoulders to look at me.

  “Is that the girl who came last night?” she mouthed to Udom.

  Udom chuckled and smiled back at me. “Yes, Jedidah. She has a name.”

  Jedidah smiled shyly at me and walked closer. “I’m sorry. I’m Jedidah.”

  “Genesis,” I said.

  Jedidah glanced behind my shoulder. I turned to watch Adonai dropping a stack of stakes onto the ground. “Jedidah, you might be useful if I could ever find you. You are always disappearing.”

  “I’m sorry, Father,” Jedidah answered sheepishly.

  “Looks like we’ve all met,” Adonai said. “Leave everything here. The meeting shouldn’t take too long.”

  “We have to hurry or they’ll start without us,” Jedidah replied to her father anxiously.

  Adonai nudged the stack closer to the tent and out of the way. “Have peace, Jedidah, there’s no need,” he reassured.

  “But Father, we think Joshua is asking us to pack up because we are going to the Promised Land. If I am the last one to know, I will never hear the end of it,” Udom added.

  “I understand, Udom, but do not create false hope. The Lord will deliver when He sees fit, not when we want Him to,” Adonai warned.

  “Hagar seems to think that’s what we are doing,” Udom whispered to Jedidah.

  Jedidah nodded. “And I just have a feeling.” Jedidah’s wide chocolate-colored eyes turned into pools of honey in the sun. Her hope was dauntless.

  I followed the two siblings through the rows of collapsing tents before we gathered in a much larger clearing. Near the center, the enclosed area I’d seen from the hills last night was nothing more than a wall obscuring my view. A crowd was gathering at the entrance, its size growing as more Israelites added to the mob.

  I kept sight of Jedidah’s thick, curly hair, swaying as she walked. We stopped towards the edge of the crowd near the entrance of the tabernacle. Udom and Jedidah glanced at each other excitedly.

  As for me, my eyes were on the closest exit. I positioned myself behind Adonai, enough so that I could be closer to the outer edge of the crowd. I had no idea what to expect with this meeting or who the Israelites were for that matter. I had to be smarter this time, unless I wanted to end up as a slave or a servant or a runaway.

  Jedidah turned to look at me over her shoulder and smiled. Her eyelashes fluttered against the hair that blew across her face. Her eyes shone with giddiness.

  I took a tentative step closer to her family after she turned back around. Maybe I didn’t need to be on the run just yet. Craning my neck, I stood on my tiptoes to see over the crowd. Joshua stood at the front, the entrance of the tabernacle now visible. I pushed my way a little closer to Jedidah. “Who are those people standing beside Joshua?” I asked her.

  She moved a little to the right to see over a group of heads blocking her view. Jedidah still seemed nervous and jittery, but I was beginning to think that’s how she was all of the time.

  “Ah, they are the tribe officials,” she said over her shoulder.

  “Where’s ours?” I wondered.

  “Right there, the one in the brown cloak.”

  They all had brown cloaks.

  I caught sight of Joshua nodding to the officials before he left the small circle. It took him three tries to get the crowd to silence this time, the infectious excitement from the crowd now spreading rapidly.

  After most of the voices had died down, he spoke. “I have a message from the Lord for all of the Tribes of Israel. He has told me to tell you to gather all of your supplies, your belongings, your family. Ready yourselves, my pe
ople, because in three days, we will be crossing over the Jordan River into the Promised Land.”

  The crowd erupted into cheers like a ripple in a pond.

  “I see preparations have already undergone. The other tribes are being told this same good news by their officials.”

  The cheers erupted again, but Joshua put his hands up. “I have something to ask of all of you,” he continued.

  The crowd hushed quicker than before.

  “I need the warriors of the tribes gathered from Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh now to lead Israel into battle for the land that is rightfully ours. Your families and your livestock may stay on the east side of the Jordan River once we arrive, but your men are the ones God will need for battle.”

  A war cry broke the silence of the crowd. It thundered and Udom and Adonai joined in with raised fists.

  My heart sank in my chest.

  I was stuck in the middle of a war.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you;

  I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

  Joshua 1:5 NIV

  “Be strong and courageous!” The crowd echoed in a scattered unison.

  Excitement. They were excited.

  My heart sank even further.

  “Three days, children of Israel. Three days and we will begin preparation to enter the Promised Land!” Joshua’s voice rose above them, low and commanding. Far from the man I knew last night. And yet, his genuineness and kindness reigned even in the moments of chaos and power. Maybe that was what made him a true leader.

  We followed the mob that was pushing to leave the clearing. Jedidah and her family hung back. Adonai turned to the rest of us, laying his hand on Udom’s shoulder and the other on Jedidah’s.

  “When we arrive at Jericho, you all know the consequences to pillaging, correct? It cannot be done. We know what happens to people when they disobey God’s command.”

  Udom and his sister nodded and we slowly made our way back the way we came. After a moment, I leaned over to Jedidah as we waited for the crowd to thin out. “When your father said there would be consequences, what did he mean?”

  Jedidah eyes went wide, slightly startled, but she lowered her voice anyway and pulled me closer to her lips. “Death,” she whispered.