Rahab S Distinctive Faith

Rahab’s Distinctive Faith Rahab is an unlikely candidate for a book on great biblical characters who walked in the footsteps of faith. She was a Gentile prostitute, a member of the immoral Amorite race that God had marked for destruction (see Gen. 15:16). She was just an average citizen of Jericho, at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale.  Yet Rahab is listed along with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and other more noble Old Testament personalities in the Hall of Fame of the Faithful (Heb. 11:31).  As the great-grandmother of David (cf. Matt. 1:5), she also became an ancestor of Jesus.  These last two facts make her a woman worthy of our consideration.

1. RAHAB MEETS THE TWO SPIES Rahab first appears in Scripture in Joshua 2:1–5: Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it came about that when it was time to shut the gate, at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” 1. Following Moses’ death and the Israelites’ forty-year stay in the desert wilderness after their exodus from Egypt, it was finally time for them to enter the Promised Land. a. Joshua, who had succeeded Moses as commander-in-chief, was taking all the precautions any skillful general would use when moving into new territory. b. Accordingly, he sent two spies to reconnoiter the eastern border of Canaan, particularly the border city of Jericho that was right on the banks of the Jordan River. c. Joshua sent the men secretly so that even the children of Israel, much less the Canaanites, would not know what he was doing. d. He wanted to avoid any furor of a frightened debate among the people about the wisdom of sending spies into the land. e. It is likely the spies began their covert operation at night. They first had to swim the Jordan in the dark, then approach the strongly fortified city of Jericho, enter the city gate, and find a place to stay from which they could assess the city’s defenses. f. The lodging the men chose turned out to be a prostitute’s house. They did not choose the place for immoral reasons (it’s safe to assume they did not even know it was a house of prostitution).

1 g. They chose it in order to be less conspicuous while they were learning what they could about the city. And because the house was located along the city wall, it afforded them the opportunity for a quick getaway if necessary. h. Also, God in His sovereign providence wanted them there because Rahab had a heart ready to receive His saving truth. i. But the scouts were novice spies, and their presence was soon discovered (vv. 2–3). j. Jericho’s city king, who was more like a mayor with military control, was obviously frightened over any potential invasion from the massive encampment of Israelites across the Jordan. k. The history of Israel’s miraculous escape from Egypt and her wilderness wanderings was somewhat common knowledge to the people of the region, and therefore the king was fearful of Israel’s next potential move and was desperate to maintain his power in Jericho. 2. RAHAB HELPS THE SPIES a. The spies and their covert operation were in jeopardy, but the faith-filled Rahab came to their rescue. b. Before the king’s messengers arrived, she remained true to the laws of Middle Eastern hospitality and risked her life to secure her guests: “But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them” (v. 4). And after the officials reached her house, Rahab further protected the spies by lying about their location (v. 5). c. It was not right for Rahab to lie about where the Israelite spies were. Even though her heart was open to God’s saving truth, her knowledge of Him was extremely limited. d. She was a victim of her own fallen nature, and her ethics were those of the corrupt Canaanite culture. She did not understand the value God puts on truth. He honored her faith, as we will see, but her lie was unnecessary. No lie provides any assistance to God. He needs no help, especially sinful efforts. e. Rahab also would have been unaware of the sinfulness of lying because the laws of Eastern hospitality surpassed the laws of honesty. f. Honoring and protecting your guests was the greatest moral imperative. When someone was sheltered in your home, even your greatest enemy, you were bound to save his or her life if you could. g. Therefore, it was not God’s will that Rahab lie to rescue the scouts—He could have and would have saved them anyway. h. But she did so, and none of us will know what providential means or miraculous methods God might have used to preserve the two men otherwise. i. Joshua 2:6 reveals the first part of what actually happened: “But she had brought them [the spies] up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.”

2 j. Since it was harvesttime, the spies could have easily hidden behind the three- to four-feet-high flax bundles on the roof of Rahab’s house. k. That allowed time for the king’s messengers to be diverted out of the city, toward the two or three fords of the Jordan: “I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.… So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the fords; and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate” (2:5, 7). 3. RAHAB’S PLEDGE OF FAITH a. Rahab then made clear to the two Israelites why she was intervening on their behalf: Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD , since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.” —Josh. 2:8–14 b. Amazingly, God’s promise to Israel had somehow become known to Rahab, likely because Israel’s exploits were already widely reported and feared in that region. c. But Rahab demonstrated faith as well as fear—surprisingly strong faith in the true God. She was so sure of the Lord’s supremacy and power that she sought to make a solemn pledge with the spies, to which they agreed (vv. 12–14). d. Rahab then helped the men get out her back window and directed them on their way (vv. 15–16). e. However, they didn’t depart without adding one more significant stipulation to the pledge: “And the men said to her, ‘We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household’” (vv. 17–18). f. Nearly all faithful commentators of the Old Testament interpret the scarlet cord as a symbol of the blood of Christ, connecting it to His future death on the cross. But we also must look backward from the scarlet cord to the Passover, when God sent the angel of death to kill all the firstborn and spared only those Israelites whose doorposts were marked with lamb’s blood (Exod. 11:1–12:28). g. That blood was symbolic of the coming Savior whose shed blood would save all sinners who believe in Him.

3 h. The scarlet cord that Rahab obediently placed in her window as a sign of her faith (Josh. 2:21) is therefore another analogy to the shed blood of Jesus Christ. 4. RAHAB’S FAITH VINDICATED The wonderful conclusion to the story of Rahab occurs in Joshua 6:22–25, immediately after the destruction of Jericho (6:15–21): And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.” So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives, and placed them outside the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD . However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. a. Though an unlovely woman, Rahab is a lovely example of saving faith. b. She was a prostitute in a pagan city who had none of the spiritual advantages of the Israelites, and certainly none of the things we take for granted (the Bible, good preaching and teaching, worship services, Christian radio and literature). c. Yet, in spite of all her disadvantages, she was like a beautiful pearl lying within a rough, drab oyster shell on the ocean bottom among the rocks and weeds. d. God could see through the debris of sin to her true, heartfelt faith, and He drew her to Himself. That caused her to accept His warnings, fear His judgment, desire to be spared by His mercy, and willingly act in simple obedience (by hanging a red cord out her window to identify her house). e. Rahab’s model of faith is best summarized by her affirmations in Joshua 2:9, 11: “I know that the LORD has given you the land … for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” f. The remarkable and encouraging message found in Rahab’s story is that God judges impenitent sinners but spares those who believe in Him. Her type of lifestyle (prostitution), along with all the other evils in the pagan city of Jericho, resulted in God’s judgment. g. Yet Rahab escaped divine wrath because she was a sinner who believed in the true God. What distinguished her from the other people in Jericho was not her superior morality or greater number of good deeds. Nor was it higher intelligence or a better disposition. It was simply her faith. h. Rahab’s faith was fully demonstrated when she risked all to help the two spies from Israel. (She undoubtedly would have been killed as a traitor had the king’s messengers discovered she was sheltering enemy spies.) i. She entrusted everything to the Lord and proved she was completely committed to Him, no matter what the cost. j. Rahab, without knowing Jesus’ teaching on discipleship (cf. Mark 8:34), was willing to obey God no matter how difficult the situation. And that’s how it should be for us who follow Christ today. k. Our inner life of faith ought to be reflected in an outward life of faithfulness and good works.