Beautiful Grace
Last month we looked at Joshua chapter 1 and the importance of looking to the Book of the Law. This month I want to look at the narrative in Chapter 2. This chapter relates the encounter between the two spies and the harlot Rahab. I find it interesting because the Book of Joshua is mainly about the Lord’s commissioning of Joshua and the possession of the Promised Land by the Israelites. So why did the author of Joshua include this interlude about a pagan prostitute?
We want to recognize the reality of who Rahab was – the Hebrew word used in verse one is, zonah, which means harlot or prostitute. Whether she was a ‘sacred’ prostitute serving in one of the Canaanite fertility shrines or just a common harlot is not really important – according to the Commandments she was a sinner. Now it is easy to get distracted at this point – she also lies to the Jericho police when questioned about the spies. We can spend a whole lot of energy debating whether it is right, in some circumstances, to lie. But the writer is apparently not concerned about debating her status as a harlot or her lies.
As a side note, we need to remember the difference between what the Bible records and what the Bible approves. Here, as in many other places, the Bible neither approves nor disapproves of Rahab’s occupation or her lies to the authorities. The biblical writer ignores these ethical implications because there is a more important point to be made. As we read the Bible we need to remember to distinguish between what the Bible records and what the Bible requires. The Bible reports that Jacob had four wives; it is hardly encouraging us to do the same.
Chapter 2 is organized as a classic story – verse 1 sets up the story by telling us that the spies were sent by Joshua to get some intel about what might be the best way to attack the city. Verse 2 and 3 presents the antagonist who threatens the spies and Joshua’s plans. Verses 4 through 7 we are told of her deception in sending the police on a wild goose chase. This would make a great movie! All the elements of drama are brought into play and we are now sitting on the edge of our seats wondering how it will all work out! The divinely inspired author has brought us to the point of maximum interest and here he relates the main point – God’s beautiful grace to undeserving sinners.
First, Rahab tells us that she knows about the Lord. Isn’t it true that biblical faith comes by obtaining some measure of information? Verse 10 she says, “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 devoted to destruction.” This is the normal way of coming to faith – we must know at least something about the object of our faith. And we really cannot grow without learning more about the one who we trust. This is one of the ways we recognize genuine faith: believers need and want to know more about the one we are trusting in for salvation. Faith is not just some warm and fuzzy feeling about God: if it is a real faith it will result in a desire to know more about God. Rahab knew something about God and that was enough for her to see her desperate need.
Now the pagan harlot makes the great confession in verse 11: “for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.“ She acknowledges the ultimate sovereignty of God. This, by the way, was the same conclusion the Israelites were to confess as recorded in Deuteronomy 4:39.
Confessing her belief in God she then confesses her need for His mercy. In verses 12-13 she makes her plea for mercy. And this is the way of true, saving faith; she not only has an intellectual knowledge of God but also a realization of her dreadful predicament as an object of God’s wrath. She sees her desperate need to escape the coming wrath of God. Not merely trusting in the knowledge she gained about God, she recognized her desperate need. Saving faith is always like this – knowing some truth about God and recognizing that we need to run to Him for refuge. Today we have the Law, to tell us about God, and God’s grace, expressed in the marvelous gospel, to deliver us from the consequence of our breaking that same Law. What might cause her (and us) to expect mercy from such a God as this? Only the merciful work of grace in her heart caused her to turn to God in faith!
The result of Rahab’s faith is that she was saved. She was saved from destruction when the Israelites attacked the city and we learn from the New Testament that she was saved from eternal destruction. Furthermore, she was named in the Great Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11:31), and so honored as to be a direct ancestress of Jesus the Messiah (Matthew 1:5).
But would she be welcome in the church today? After all, isn’t the church for respectable, clean, middle class folks? Rahab’s past did not bother the writers of the New Testament and apparently she was welcomed into the Old Testament church in Israel – Joshua 6:25 tells us that, “Rahab the prostitute … Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day”. Though we may not approve of the actions of sinners we must remember that there is no distinction between sinners saved by the Grace of God in Christ Jesus - we are brothers and sisters with the same testimony - we are great sinners but Christ is a great Savior!
So truly, God’s grace is beautiful. We may wonder why Rahab was apparently the only one in the city of Jericho to be saved … we may wonder why so many in that city made such a dreadful choice to rebel and fight against the Lord … we do not know these things but we do know that today is the day of salvation and we all have to make a choice: shall we flee to the world for protection with its strong walls, or shall we flee to the God who is “in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.” We see from this chapter that there are none too sinful or outcast to be saved. We look not to our selves but to only see our need for Him, and our need to trust in Christ. Flee to Christ!.
Robin
I want to credit the commentary by Dale R. Davis, No Falling Words, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, which I found helpful in writing this article.
I recommend this book to any who may wish to dive into the book of Joshua!
