no real military purpose. It is not to keep missiles from being targeted. What is its point? Sacramental, pointing back to Passover. And so we come to the scarlet thread. Joshua 2:18-19 records the instructions of the spies to Rahab in this way: Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's household. Then if anyo

"A beautiful woman delights the eye; a wise woman, the understanding; a pure one, the soul." So said Minna Antrim. So was Rahab. The Talmud extols her physical beauty. We will content ourselves here with her understanding and purity. What kindled the faith of Rahab? What formed its basic content? These are fair questions: she is the first Canaanite convert of the newly arrived Israel under Joshua. She is paradigmatic. Her conversion is a model conversion. The way she comes to