Joshua 2
In our Christian faith, there are certain men and women throughout history who stand out as great leaders and theologians, teachers and preachers. But, before Christ, these great people of faith would have seemed very unlikely candidates for the Lord to use:
John Newton: John Newton was once a hardened slave trader, far from God and immersed in one of the darkest industries of his day. Yet God redeemed him, and Newton went on to become a pastor and the author of Amazing Grace, one of the most beloved hymns in history.
D.L. Moody: Dwight L. Moody began as a poorly educated shoe salesman. He stumbled through grammar and had no formal theological training. Yet God redeemed and called him, and through his evangelistic work, countless lives were changed and revival spread across continents.
Saul: A murderous Pharisee vehemently opposed to Christianity. He committed his life to stamping out this new movement, but encountered Christ on the road to Damascus, and became the greatest missionary in the history of Christendom.
Adam King: A sinful, hypocritical teenager willing to do anything for attention, even at the expense of others. A college dropout, party seeking loser, saved by the blood of Jesus. Left everything behind, went back and finished college, 16 years in ministry, on mission for the Lord.
As we continue working our way through the book of Joshua, and learn together how to stand firm and on mission for the Lord, chapter 2 does a bit of a sidestep. While the book focuses on Joshua’s leadership of Israel, and the conquest towards fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham, we see a character this morning that is an unlikely heroin in the redemptive narrative of Scripture.
Big Idea: God redeems and uses unlikely people to propel His mission forward.
The Lord just commissioned Joshua, and assured him of certain victory wherever he went, as long as they stayed obedient to the Lord. So Joshua has heavenly assurance, from the Lord Himself. However, it would be unwise for Joshua to just rally the troops and move. There is an element of human wisdom that we cannot overlook. So Joshua, being the great military commander that he is, first sends spies to scope out the land, specifically Jericho. Well why Jericho? (Show map)
Israel was encamped at Shittim, and the closest cities were Gilgal and Jericho. Jericho was about 6 miles from the Jordan River. Gilgal, as we’ll see in the next few chapters, became the staging point for Israel. This is where they camped after crossing the Jordan, which gave them easy access to Jericho. Jericho is believed by some to be the oldest city in the world, situated just 17 miles from Jerusalem, and 10 miles NW of the Dead Sea. It sat 800 feet below sea level, and was referred to in the Old Testament as “the City of Palms.” It was a strategic location for military defense, as well as trade. Biblical as well as extra-biblical accounts reveal that Jericho was a city marked by centuries of idolatry, sodomy, bestiality, sorcery and child sacrifice. This was a wicked, wicked city, which makes the heroin of the story even more incredible.
An Unlikely Heroine (vs. 1)
There’s some debate out there about the profession of this woman Rahab. Because of the scandalous nature of this word, many have tried to minimize her sin because of her eventual role in the Messianic line. Some would say that she ran a brothel, but she herself was not actually a prostitute. The Hebrew word here is “zonah” and throughout the Old Testament it means “harlot.” If this were the only mention of it, we could possibly question this as well. However, Rahab is mentioned in the New Testament a couple of times, and both times she is referred to as a prostitute (Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25).
When we do some digging, this becomes hugely important. In Matthew chapter 1, we find the genealogy of Jesus. In that genealogy, we find 5 women. Tamar, who posed as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law; Rahab, a prostitute; Ruth, who was a Moabite; the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba), who cheated on her husband with King David; and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Listen to Matthew 1:5-6: “And Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.” So Rahab the prostitute becomes the mother of Boaz, who marries Ruth. A few generations later and she becomes the great-great grandmother of King David. The family line of Jesus is riddled with undeserving, sinful people, redeemed by grace.
Before we move on, we also need to address the issue of the chosen hideout location. Why a brothel? We aren’t told, but the likely reason is because entering a brothel would not have raised any flags. 2 men walking into her house would not have been suspicious at all. Her house, as we’ll find out, was also located on the outer city wall, which would have provided easy escape. Whatever our human logic determines, the most important answer is that God, in His sovereignty, ordained this to happen, as we’ll see with the redemption of Rahab and her family. Alright, so let’s see how this all transpires.
Rahab’s Dilemma (vs. 2-7)
Rahab found herself in quite a spot here. Whatever she chooses to do would be sinful. Either she lied to the Israelite spies when she told them she would keep them hidden, and decides to hand them over to the authorities, or she lies to the Jericho police to save the spies. Now, nowhere in Scripture is lying ever condoned. But this brings up a tough theological and philosophical question, is it ever ok to lie? Is it ever ok to lie to protect someone? This is a longer discussion that I’d be happy to have over a coffee, but the short answer that I believe we see in Scripture is, yes.
In Exodus 1, we see the command of the Pharaoh to kill all baby boys born to the Israelite women. But, Scripture tells us that the Hebrew women feared God more than man, so they were not obedient. When Pharaoh called them out on it, they lied to him, and then we see in verse 20 that “God dealt well with the midwives…and because they feared Him, He gave them families.” And then, in our passage this morning, Rahab lies to the authorities to protect people of God, and later in chapter 6 of Joshua we see her rewarded for it. “And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” I agree with one pastor who states it like this: “the people of God are required to tell the truth, without equivocation or deceit, in every situation, except when doing so would result in the death (or harm) of innocent people.”
Let’s continue.
Rahab’s Faith (8-13)
This is quite remarkable with all things considered. Rahab, who lived in one of the most sinful cities in Canaan at that time, running a brothel and working as a prostitute, heard, surely over and over, the stories of the God of Israel, and through hearing she believed. I mean listen to her confidence: “I KNOW.” She doesn’t simply think these things to be true, she has deep conviction that they are.
She had heard the tales of a people enslaved being rescued, and marching over the Red Sea on dry ground, and the powerful Egyptian army being swallowed up as they pursued them. She had heard of Israel asking King Sihon if they could pass through his land, to which the King replied with an attack on the Israelites. Sihon and his army were large and terrifying, but yet the Israelites prevailed. They didn’t just defeat the King and his army, but they also claimed the land over which he reigned. Rahab had also heard of Israel defeating King Og, a giant of a man, who ruled over 60 fortified cities. We see in Scripture that King Og’s bed was made of iron and was 13.5 feet long by 6 feet wide. We know he was a descendant of the Rephaites, which means “terrible ones,” and was most likely a giant of a man, near 10 or 11 feet tall.
The residents of Jericho, including Rahab, had heard the stories. And now, just 6 miles away, this army of the Lord is camped out, waiting for their next assignment. It’s no wonder that the people of Jericho were terrified! It’s no wonder that their hearts “melted.” Their spirits left them! They had no courage left. No confidence on which to stand. The city was trembling with fear.
But not Rahab! The stories that she had heard had penetrated her heart, and she believed that the God of Israel was the one true God. Listen again to her profession: “the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.” She is so sure of this, that she is willing to stake her life on it. By hiding the spies, she was risking her life, as well as the life of her entire family. But she was so confident in the Lord and His mission that she was willing to risk it all.
Because of her great faith, she now asks a favor of these men. Kind of a, “I scratched your back, now you scratch mine” agreement. “Hey, I just saved your lives, will you now save mine? Not only mine, but my entire family as well?”
Rahab’s Agreement for Salvation (14-21)
A. Don’t tell anyone
This is a pretty simple thing to understand. The mission of the Israelites must remain a secret. If Rahab tells anyone, then this verbal contract is broken, and the spies will not be held accountable to anything that happens to Rahab or her family.
B. Tie this scarlet cord in your window
Does this sound familiar to you? Excerpts from Exodus 12, speaking of the sacrificial lamb: “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it…For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” And then as Moses addressed the elders, he made it clear that “None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.”
It’s amazing to me that many commentators I read this week have tried to deny that the scarlet cord in Joshua 2 has any correlation with the salvation of the Lord in Exodus, and therefore no implication towards the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In Exodus, God was inflicting judgment on the land. The crimson blood on the doorposts saved whoever was gathered inside the home. In Joshua, God was inflicting judgment on the land. The crimson cord hanging from the window saved whoever was gathered inside the home. On the cross, God was inflicting the judgment that we deserved on Jesus, and the crimson blood that stained the cross saved whoever calls upon His name. I mean how can we deny the connection here?! The gospel is being foreshadowed in the saving of a prostitute and her family.
Big Idea: God redeems and uses unlikely people to propel His mission forward.
Application
Sometimes it’s difficult to look at stories like this and figure out, “ok, so what am I supposed to do with this?” We don’t have time to get into the full context this morning, but I think of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. The typical route the Jews would take were around Samaria, since Jews and Samaritans hated each other. So there was a way around Samaria. In John 4, we see that Jesus “had” to go through Samaria. Technically, He didn’t. But providentially, He did. There was a woman there who was ready to receive the gospel.
The Lord had been priming Rahab’s heart, through stories of the Lord working on behalf of Israel, in the midst of Israel; the miracles, victories, impossible stories. Sure Jericho was a military stronghold, and it was the closest city to the Jordan, but the spies providentially ended up in Rahab’s house because she was ready to follow the Lord.
We just never know when the Lord has been priming someone’s heart, and the next conversation they have is the one that takes them from death to life. We never know when the Spirit has been breaking down walls, preparing someone to hear the gospel and commit their lives to Jesus. Our tendency as humans is to avoid that which is different, and to surround ourselves with those who are similar. But God delights in taking those who are unlikely candidates and turning them into a force for His gospel.
So let us be a people who live with the gospel on our lips, because we never know when the Lord has been working on someone’s heart, and all they need is for someone to tell them about the beauty of a saving relationship with Jesus.
