Rahab

Joshua Chapter 6

Chapter 6 verses 22 through 25 we get a quick look at salvation in the midst of God’s judgment. Sandwiched in between the notices of Jericho’s destruction is this lovely story of salvation and rescue. Rahab so feared the coming judgment of God (chapter 2 verses 1-21), that she fled to his mercy. Now she received mercy. This pagan gentile and her family now stand within the circle of the chosen people. Why, then, should we be surprised if her God should one day take those who are far off and “bring (them) near by the blood of the Messiah” (Ephesians 2:13)? (Davis, Dale R. No Falling Words, MI Baker Book House: Grand Rapids, , pg 56)

In my mind this woman of faith was more impressive than any other woman in the biblical record for she believed with so little light. She never saw the redeemer; she had no knowledge of the promise made to Abraham and the children of Israel. Furthermore, she had absolutely no support or sympathy from her neighbors except perhaps her own family – we can imagine that her neighbors scoffed at her faith especially during the comical seven day parade encircling those high walls. Yet she persevered in her faith! Now the time had come for her to reap the reward of her faith … in her case it was but a short interval between the sowing and reaping. She was not only spared the destruction of her city but also was adopted into the family of Israel. She became an heir of Abraham’s blessing – she is the only other woman, besides Sarah, the wife of Abraham, included in the role of the faithful in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. She would not have been included unless she had indeed been ‘changed’ and proven to be one of the elect. We may refer to the book of James, chapter 2 verses 24-25 – “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” In this we see that though Rahab made the good confession, she also hid the spies and hung the red chord from her window on that dreadful day. The Apostle James isn’t saying that her works saved her, no, the works that Rahab did originated with the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit and the fact that she did those ‘works’ were ‘proof’ of her conversion.

We don’t know why Rahab was a prostitute but let’s consider some possibilities. There are and were, of course, prostitutes because of greed, prostitutes because of need, and prostitutes because of slavery. A slave prostitute had little choice but this seems not to have been Rahab’s situation. She was free enough to live with her family in her own home. She had the privacy necessary to hide the spies and she apparently had enough freedom to choose to follow Jehovah. Furthermore, we see no evidence of poverty on her part. We don’t get the impression that her family would have starved if she had chosen a different profession. More likely she was motivated by a desire for more … things! Whether it was jewelry, a bigger home, the best food we don’t really know. We do recognize that love for money (stuff) is a great temptation for nearly all.

When Rahab was a little girl she was probably no different that my daughter or yours. Perhaps you can remember your own life as a child - loving life and beauty in all innocence and joy. Yet somewhere and somehow, because of her desire for beautiful things, or a desire to be accepted and loved, or perhaps simply a desire for luxury, the enemy snares her, chains her into sin - deeper and deeper into the mire until she is a hopeless slave to her circumstances. As the Preacher said, “… riches were kept by their owner to his (her) hurt …”(Ecclesiastes 5:13)

By the grace of God, she may eventually see that that her loves have consumed her and now have deserted her. Those things that she loved most, whether pleasure, relationships, luxury – she discovers to her dismay that they provide no lasting joy. A child-like life of joy and contentment now turns into a life of dismal servitude to her lust for more riches. “Can these bones live” (Ezekiel 37:3)? Can such a woman ever find her way to the “King’s chamber” (Song of Solomon 1:4)? That is the glory of the gospel – that dead men and women may live again! Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). The Apostle Paul reminds us that, “… you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). So we see that the Lord may change, “the sexually immoral … idolaters ... adulterers ... men who practice homosexuality ... thieves ... the greedy ... drunkards ... revilers ...” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “And such were some of you.” The happy feelings of her childhood return to her, as if she had drunk from the River of the Water of Life, and we can imagine she sang like a child again for the joy of her new life!

So now, Rahab with newness of life, begins this new life with the Lord’s people. Verse 23B says, “And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel.”point here is simply that they were to be treated as unclean until the rites of purification would be performed. She was not an actual physical descendant of Abraham – and her past was obviously ‘unclean’ due to her former title: harlot. For both reasons she required the rites of purification. We might be stretching the point a little but might the rite of purification represent the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit?

Do you suppose her new sisters gave much encouragement to her as she joined the ‘church?’ She was a big unknown from their point of view and surely the ladies knew who she was in her previous life. Perhaps in their minds she was a threat to their marriages and to their children. Furthermore she was of a different race. It is possible that she was given the, ‘cold shoulder’ by her new sisters? If so, was Rahab disappointed to find that the people of God were so suspicious and cold? She had lived in a thoroughly quid pro quo society in Jericho, and would have expected the society of God’s family to be different. She had received grace and mercy from God; she had hoped that this new community might reflect that same grace of God – not the market based trading of affections as in her former life. Would not the foreigner expect the society of God’s people to reflect His love, generosity, purity, and nobility?

If she was treated thus is to her credit that she was not deterred by any of these disappointments. She was apparently more in love with the God who saves and His glorious attributes than the possible failures of his imperfect family! She apparently was looking beyond the fickle attitudes of men; keeping her eyes instead on the unchanging glory of Jehovah. Admiring His grace and power; in doing so insulating herself from the disappointment that comes from looking to people, even God’s people, for satisfaction.

Application:

1. As the Spirit of God moves in revival (are we praying for revival?) we may expect formerly ‘vile’ sinners to be saved. How may we receive such believers? Do our lives reflect the grace of God? It has been said that if the church today would take seriously 1 Corinthians 13, unbelief would vanish. I don’t know about that but if we want to be a serious witness for Christ we might spend less time devising clever ‘evangelistic’ methods and work on this: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). Brother Brandon mentioned a few weeks ago about meeting some youth with Mohawk hair, multiple piercings, and tattoos – these things can become distractions for us but if we desire to be like Christ we will welcome the outcast. With whom did the Lord spend more time – the underclass or the outwardly ‘religious’ and politically powerful? As the Apostle James said, “show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ..” (James 2:1)

2. Even though we are saved we may also, like the child Rahab, be seduced into thinking that things or persons may give us real joy. Things and persons are not, in themselves, bad things. It is when we put our trust in their ability to satisfy that they become idols – and our God is a jealous God who will not allow any to steal His glory. Idol worship is prohibited primarily because it ‘steals’ God’s glory (and He deserves all glory), but also because idols do not deliver joy and, in fact, idols distract us from true worship and eventually destroy hope and joy.

3. Fellow believers and even our spouses will disappoint us - look to Christ! He will not disappoint.

Robin

The Lord’s Judgment

Joshua Chapter 6

One of the themes of the book of Joshua is conquest – this theme makes us uncomfortable and on its face seems to contradict the modern notion of a loving God. Remember the WWJD bracelets back a few years? What would Jesus Do? That is the problem with an imaginary Jesus – the kind of savior we want rather than the Son of God who is revealed in the Bible. Now I know that I cannot give a totally satisfactory answer to all those questions and I have no illusions to convincing unbelievers of the rightness of what is recorded here, however if we interpret the difficult passages of the Bible from other, more clear passages, I think we can begin to see things from God’s perspective.

As we do this we will keep in mind the Apostle Paul’s argument in his letter to the Romans that no –one has an excuse for not knowing and worshipping the one, true God. We also make the point that we, as converted followers of Christ, ought to view ourselves with appropriate humility seeing that we ourselves, posses no greater merit than the pagan who rejects God.

Look at Genesis 15:12-20. The Amorites are the predominant peoples of Canaan … Gen 15 is the Lord’s promise to Abram for a son and for a land for his descendants. And we see clearly that the Lord is telling Abram that though his family will leave Canaan for a while they will return to claim the land. The Lord also reveals to Abram the when and the why! When: in four hundred years. Why: to accumulate many riches and for the purpose of executing the Lord’s judgment. Lord’s judgment on Egypt (for oppressing the sons on Israel) and also the Lord’s judgment on the Canaanites (for their wickedness -“… the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete” verse 16). In other words, God will judge the wicked – in the days of Noah the Lord used nature to judge the wicked (a Great Flood) but in this case it appears that He will use human ‘means’ – the descendants of Abraham – to accomplish that judgment. In Leviticus 18:24-25 and Deut 18:12 we are reminded, by way of warning to the sons of Israel, that the Canaanites are doing all that their hearts desire: very wicked things - and the Lord is just.

So we see that the Bible views the Canaanites as not some nice folk with quaint social customs – and the sons of Israel were not some land-grabbing murderers who were following a vicious God. No, this is another example of God using some not-so-nice people, the sons of Israel, to be the instrument of His just judgment on a people who had persistently rejected God. The sons of Israel had no grounds to be self-righteous because they frequently demonstrated their own unfaithfulness. Because of God’s sovereign choices they were His instruments of His judgment. Now you may ask, how did the Canaanites reject a God they did not know? I think they did know! They had the witness of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they resided in Canaan before Joseph and his brothers moved to Egypt. They had the same witness as the harlot Rahab, their own neighbor! She lived in the city and she heard the same rumors they heard – she so feared the judgment of God that she fled to His mercy, believed and was saved, they did not fear God; rejected Him; and were judged. She received mercy, they received judgment. And as I have already said, the Apostle Paul makes the argument that no-one has any excuse because the light of nature and conscience testifies to the existence and the righteousness of God.

The lesson here is that there will come a day of judgment – the writer of Hebrews says, “it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” Many will hear the gospel and say, ‘I will repent and believe later in life’ – perhaps the Canaanites said that very thing when they listened to Abraham preach, ‘oh, we see your point and your God is certainly impressive, but our family has always worshipped Baal’ or, ‘your God makes too many demands and will make our lives less ‘fulfilling’ but we respect your beliefs and if it works for you we are happy for you.’ I think the inclusion of the narrative about Rahab indicated that anyone of the residents of Canaan might have repented and been saved up to the day of judgment. But the constant rejection of the gospel call has a consequence – we know that as time passes cold hearts become colder and repentance becomes harder … the Bible also says, today is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”—(2 Cor 6:2), emphasis on the ‘today.’ We dare not wait on tomorrow – there is no assurance that tomorrow will come for any of us.

The residents of Jericho were faced with the possibility of death by this strange invading army – yet even in the face of death they were unwilling to look the Lord for salvation. Are you so arrogant as to think that later, or even on your death bed, you will come to Christ? After a life of rejecting Christ I wonder if that really likely.

Again, were the sons of Israel better folk than the Canaanites who perished? No! but God, in His covenant love, preserved them and used them in accordance with His promise and not because of their ‘better choices,’ or ‘future good behavior’ or any merit in themselves.

As a parenthesis, the sons of Israel were chosen to execute judgment on the unrighteous Canaanites; we have no warrant to perform capital punishment on our unrighteous neighbors. The testimony is clear, the civil government is charged with that responsibility. God was specific with Joshua and the sons of Israel – He is equally clear that we are to leave this kind of judgment to the civil authorities.

So to review – people have no excuse for unbelief and there is coming a day of God’s Righteous Judgment. Those of us who have been called and have trusted Christ have no cause for pride – all we have is by the grace of God.

Robin

The Lord Provides

This month we will start with Joshua 5:8-9, “Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.” The sense here is that formerly, other nations scoffed at this bunch of runaway slaves but now, by the power of the Almighty Jehovah, the nations trembled in awe of Israel and their God. Look at verse 1 of chapter 6, “Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in.” From our studies in ancient history we know that the Canaanites were acquainted with invading armies and so we see that they were taking this threat seriously – not casually setting a few guards to fend off a group of escaped domestic servants!

In verse 10, “While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho.” They were now fairly close to one of the major fortified cities in the land of Canaan; they had been circumcised in obedience to the law; they are now properly prepared to observe the Passover. Also, the narrative states that they “ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.” By that we can assume that by now they had occupied not a few of the surrounding Canaanite farms and, naturally, a number of Canaanite grain silos. They now are able to feed themselves – and in the next verse we read, “The manna ceased on the day after …”

From this narrative we see two sides of the same coin of God’s provision: first, the Lord will always provide that which His people need, for example food to feed the multitude during those 40 years wandering in the desert. Secondly, that the Lord expects us to feed ourselves if it is in our power to do so. Another way to put this is that the Lord gives us the grace to do what must be done, but only when we need that grace. The Israelites were unable to feed themselves in the desert – the Lord provided food. By God’s grace, the Israelites now had food available from a ‘natural’ source and therefore were responsible to gather and distribute that food. God provides in either circumstance, the difference is that in one case His people were unable to till the land and grow their own food in the desert, and in the other case His people have the food of the land available and have only to gather that which He has provided.

You may ask, ‘Robin, what is your point?’ Well, first the Lord will always give us the grace to endure when we need that grace, not before, or not when we already have the means to accomplish that which needs to be done. As the provider for our family we may become unemployed – we know that the Lord will provide for our family however if we are able to work but unwilling to work we have no grounds for blaming God when we can’t feed our family.

Are there cases where believers cannot support their families? Yes, and the church has a command to provide for the truly poor. The ‘Lord’s Poor’ don’t need ‘manna’ from heaven to feed their families – He has instituted and commissioned the church as the ‘means’ (through the office of deacon) whereby the Lord provides for His people. Nevertheless, the truly poor must also be willing to work, if able.

Did you know there are three kind of poor? The first kind of poor is those who are able bodied and healthy but too lazy to work. They may be called the ‘World’s Poor.’ The second kind may be called the ‘Devil’s Poor’ because they are in bondage to their master the devil and spend their money in gambling, drinking, and ‘lewd’ houses. The third kind of poor we may call the ‘Lord’s Poor’ who are professing believers and members of a local church; brothers and sisters in Christ who work hard and are carefully living within their budget, but are still living in need. The first two have the means to come out of poverty but are unwilling to do what is required – the third, the ‘Lord’s Poor’, are unable … but will receive the provision of the Lord – if the church is obedient to its directive to love one another. The ‘World’s Poor’ and the ‘Devil’s Poor’ are in need of the gospel – the church has already been commissioned to get the gospel to them - but what they do not need is cash! I’m not saying that we can never give material things to the ‘World’s Poor’ or the ‘Devil’s Poor’ but only after the ‘Lord’s Poor’ have been cared for, and only if we require a hearing of the gospel in all cases.

(I give credit to Rev. T. Rhodes for this view of ‘the poor’ written in a Circular Letter to The Georgia Association of Baptist Churches, 1808. When asked whether we should use the ‘Church’s bounty’ to help all the poor, Rev. Rhodes replied, “Let the World take care of theirs; the Devil of his; the covetuous, ambitious, rich man of his; and the Church of the Lord’s”)

Another and more common situation where the Lord provides what we need when and how we need it is where we have to make a major decision. We may properly ask the Lord for guidance but ought we expect a supernatural ‘voice’ from heaven giving us direction? Or are we responsible for using that which He has already provided for our comfort and direction? Why do we need extra-biblical information to help when He has given us the Bible in our own language – the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience? It’s like asking for supernatural ‘manna’ when we have a grain silo full of the richest food imaginable at our disposal!

The narrative here in Joshua 5 seems so natural - the manna ceased and the people ate of the produce of the land. So too, we also pick up what the Lord has provided and not wait for some sort of ‘miraculous’ event to take action. We know what the Lord wants - we do not need extra information or some sort of extra ‘feeling’ to move forward. Next month we will look at Jericho and the ‘Captain of the Lord’s Host.’

Robin

Trust Christ!

Recall that in Joshua, Chapter 3, the Lord parts the Jordan and, in Chapter 4 the people memorialize the Lord’s provision as they see the dramatic unfolding of the promise. In Chapter 5 we see Joshua and the nation on the Canaan side of the River Jordan. We also are told that the kings of Canaan heard about the parting of the Jordan and were in great fear. We also learn that the Lord’s commands Joshua to circumcise the ‘sons of Israel.’

Though the text says, ‘circumcise the sons of Israel a second time’ it is not to be understood that they were already circumcised and were to be again circumcised. Obviously, from the rest of the passage, it becomes clear that their fathers, that rebellious generation, had not been circumcising their children during those years in the desert. Though it may have been inconvenient to circumcise their infant babies during their wanderings in the desert was certainly not a valid excuse since we know that the Lord does not command that which is harmful. No, the blame for not obeying the command to circumcise is properly put at the feet of that unfaithful generation.

Indeed, that older generation, though possessing all the marks of God’s covenant people, ‘… did not obey the voice of the LORD’ (verse 6). In 2 Corinthians 10, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul speaks of this generation, “I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food,all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ., with most of them God was not pleased.” And in addition, the Apostle warns us that, “… these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”

The point for us to consider is that though we may exhibit all the external signs of being a ‘Christian’ and hold membership among God’s flock, we may, at the same time, have no relationship with the Shepherd. We may live in God’s country but hate His rule. We can be fluent in ‘religious’ talk and scrupulously avoid all foul language; we may be able to explain correctly deep theological concepts; our lives may be praiseworthy examples of purity; yet not know Jesus Christ. This was apparently the situation with that original generation who the Lord, “would not let them see the land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give to us ...’ (verse 6). Note that that the first generation, who were formerly slaves in Egypt rescued by the Lord according to His covenant with Abraham, remained under the care and provision of God even though they showed no evidence of being God’s people. We may observe the same today as unbelieving church members gain some measure of ‘common’ grace, because of their association with the people of God, even though they do not have a relationship with Christ and do not share in the promise.

In contrast, the generation that had not been circumcised according to the Law, the Lord ‘raised up …’ (verse 7) a people to inherit the Promise! They had apparently been given ‘new natures’ that would enable them to love and obey their God (Deuteronomy 30:6). Both generations, those who rebelled in the desert, and those who stood on the far side of Jordan awaiting circumcision, deserved God’s judgment and eternal wrath. God was (and is!) merciful, according to the secret council of will, to save a great many—but not by, ‘the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God’ (John 1:12).

We may also consider that the Lord shows his steadfast love for his people – God promised to bring his people to the land – God always honors his promises. Though the first generation fell by unbelief, and therefore lost the right to inherit the land, God’s purpose was not thwarted. God doesn’t need a ‘plan-B’ in case people fail to cooperate. Men may fail to gain the benefits of the covenant by unbelief, but human unbelief may never negate the promise. Indeed, we may fail to gain the benefits of the covenant by our own unbelief - even as believers we often live with the consequences of our failure to trust and obey! Even so, the Lord sustains his people and if we are truly trusting in Christ alone, even our disobedience will not void his promise to us. Though we rest in the promises of God we also take care to examine ourselves to be sure we are truly trusting in Christ.

There is also another thing to consider here. That is though we may have unbelieving parents or parents who did not raise us in obedience to the commandments, we may still, by the mercy of God, become inheritors of the promise. This second generation, though their parents were condemned because of their unbelief, were ‘raised up’ (verse 7) by God as inheritors of his Promise. Though their parents did not have them circumcised in obedience to God’s Law, they did not inevitably fall into the sins of their fathers. This is a great assurance since many of us had ungodly parents, and many of us have been ungodly parents to our children. By God’s grace we may find hope in either one of these situations.

Puritan John Brown of Haddington (1780’s) wrote on this passage,

“the sins of the parents often, in a fearful manner, bereave their children of the seals of God’s covenant, or their happy virtue: but his mercy can remove the reproach and plague in his time. And by circumcision of their hearts, by feasting them on the flesh and blood of his Son, by giving them foretastes of the heavenly joys, and manifestations of himself as their leader and protector, he must prepare his people for their spiritual warfare such then as would courageously fight his battles should first solemnly devote themselves to him, and act faith upon him, in the use of his sacraments. But let us use the gospel manna while we have it; the time is at hand when it shall be no more offered …”

As to the actual circumcision we wonder why, as these folks were now on the ‘enemy’ side of the Jordan River, the Lord would choose to have them circumcised in such an unsecure location. Surely, the fighting men would have been incapacitated for at least a few days during their recovery. It is not reasonable to assume the surrounding Canaanites might take this opportunity to attack this ‘undefended invader’? Why not perform the surgery in the ‘safety’ of the opposite side of the Jordan before entering hostile territory? Or perhaps why not wait till after they had eliminated all enemy forces? Why not take the advantage of the high spirits of the people and attack the Canaanites now that their Kings were in such fear and trembling (verse 1)? Though the text doesn’t give a reason is it possible that the Lord is again demonstrating his preeminence in this situation? – He promised to protect them and this event is another reminder that they are to be confident in the Lord, and not to rely on strength of arms. Again the New Testament brings some clarity:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh …” (2 Corinthians 10:4)

This, of course, is a re-occurring theme in the book of Joshua – God provides and protects – God’s people are to watch, and observe, and obey. In an age of pragmatism where we are urged to use whatever method seems likely to be successful this passage is a reminder that we need to trust the Lord and His commands rather than our own reasoning. We are often in a hurry to get results and move forward but our view, distorted by our self-imposed deadlines; our desire to please people; a desire to please our own egos; even our sincere desires to see the church and the gospel expand - may not be the Lord’s way. As we see from this section of the book of Joshua, the Lord does all things in His time and in His way. It does not appear that Joshua and the people were acting out of pragmatism or self-willed presumption! What we do see in this narrative is a people prepared to thoughtfully obey the commands of the Lord. May we also always trust and obey our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ!

Next month we will look at the ending of the Lord’s provision of manna and the amazing appearance of the magnificent Commander of the Lord’s Army!

Robin

Joshua Chapter Two

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!