The Nomadic Alternative – Page 97

Sun Tzu says there are five classes of spy.

The Local Spy is a member of the local population who informs on the movements of the enemy. The Inward Spy is a bribed official who relays strategic information. The Converted Spy is a double agent. The Doomed Spy is a member of a suicide squad, fanatically loyal to the cause, who has himself arrested by the enemy and gives false information before being put to death. The Surviving Spy infiltrates the enemy camp and brings back tactical information.

The Children of Israel were masters of espionage who had learned in the course of their captivity the value of an urban intelligence network. They also knew that military secrets were best obtained in bed. Joshua's spies went to Jericho "and came into an harlot's home, named Rahab." Joshua 2.2. Rahab hid her clients in an attic and, when the security police arrived, innocently protested "whither the men went I wot not." Joshua 2.5. The remaining details of the operation are obscured by the doings of Jehovah. But it was no coincidence that, at a given blast of a trumpet, the wall of Jericho fell down flat (6.20), and Rahab, the harlot, spent her days happily ever after in the camp of the Israelites.

Joshua was a perfect guerillero and his capture of the city of Ai a perfect guerilla action. He first tricked the men of Ai into underestimating the numbers of his army, and this gave them false confidence. While one half of the army lay hidden under cover on the west side of the city (8.12), Joshua and the others conspicuously arrayed themselves in battle formation on the north side. The deluded King of Ai gave battle, but Joshua ran away and pretended to be beaten, fleeing by "the way of the wilderness" (8.15). The men of Ai followed in hot pursuit into the desert. The ambushers meanwhile walked into an undefended city, looted it, taking only the cattle and portable treasure, then set the place ablaze. "And when the men of Ai looked behind them, and behold the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that; and the people that fled to the wilderness (the Israelites) turned back on their pursuers ... so that they let none of them escape." (8.20-22)