The Promised Land, toward which the Children of Israel were marching through King Balak’s country, was bordered on that side by the river Jordan. The Jordan flows through a very deep valley from a large lake in the north to a large lake in the south: the northern lake is called the Sea of Galilee, and the southern is called the Dead Sea. King Balak’s land was beside the Dead Sea; so when they had passed through that country they came to the river, and thus to the first place where they could cross over into the Promised Land. And on the other side of the river was a city, called Jericho. The first thing to do was to attack Jericho. Moses was now dead, and in his place Joshua was the leader and general of Israel. Moses had climbed one day to the top of Mount Pisgah, to the high place where Balaam had stood with Balak, and there had looked over into the Promised Land. It lay before him, full of hills and valleys, a good land and a large, with vineyards and olive trees, and streams of water, and walled cities. There Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had fed their flocks. Moses had done his great work; he had brought his people out of Egypt, and had given them the laws of God, and had made them a nation and an army, and had led them to the very entrance of the Promised Land. Below were the people waiting and waiting; as they had waited at the foot of Mount Sinai for Moses to come down. But this time he did not come. On the mountain top, in sight of the Promised Land, he died. And Joshua took his place. So General Joshua sent two men to go as spies to Jericho. They were to enter very quietly into the city, without letting anybody know who they were, and, having found out all they could, they were to come back and report. So they went to Jericho and found a lodging place, and began to look about. They saw that the town had a wall around it, and that the gate was shut every evening as the sun went down. And they could see at a glance that the people were rich. But the men of Jericho discovered the spies and told the king, and the king sent to their lodging place to take them. But the woman of the house, whose name was Rahab, was very good to the spies. Her house was by the city wall, and on the flat roof there were stalks of flax drying in the sun. So when the pursuers came knocking at the door, Rahab hid the spies under the flax, and sent off the pursuers on a vain search. And when they were gone she took a stout rope and let down the spies out of her window down the wall, and while the pursuers ran one way toward the river, the spies ran another way toward the hills, and so escaped. And Rahab said, “We have all heard about you here. We know how you came over the Red Sea, and how the Lord is with you; and we are all afraid. When you take the town, have pity on me and on my father and mother and on my brothers and sisters, and save us alive.”