RAHAB Part 1

     The genealogy of Jesus is an interesting one. Especially when you look at the names in Matthew 1. You notice there are three women listed whom you would not expect to find. Matthew lists Solomon as being born to King David through Uriah’s wife, known to us as Bathsheba, though is not listed by name. Verse 2 mentions Tamar giving birth to Perez and Zerah with Judah; Tamar was his daughter-in-law who had disguised herself as a prostitute. Then there is verse 5 which mentions a woman named Rahab.

 

     Rahab goes almost unnoticed in the list, but she is a woman of great importance to the nation of Israel, going back to when they first entered the Promised Land. She is so important that the writer of Hebrews mentions her in the Hall of Faith.

 

     This woman is the subject of our short series. Her faith is the story of when faith meets the messiness of life.

 

 

     Joshua 2:1-14 (CSB):

 

Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.

 

The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land. Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”

 

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. At night fall, when the city gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!” But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof. The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the city gate was shut.

 

Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of 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 Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Now please swear to me by the LORD that you will also show kindness to my father’s family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”

 

The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the LORD gives us the land.”

 

 

This is the Word of God.

For the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

 

 

     The mission was risky for these two Israelite spies. If caught, it would not be good. Joshua and the Israelites had assurances from God that the Promised Land would be theirs, but they still did their due diligence to prepare. So these spies were there to scout out Jericho.

 

     If you are trying to get information while blending in, it makes sense to go to the home of a prostitute. It would appear to the public that the spies were there as men seeking to fulfill needs. Only they were not there for that, but to do the work for God and His people. Rahab and her house was a good cover.

 

     Of course, the king of Jericho had heard the reports of the Israelites. He was on high alert, so he sent officials to investigate. This was a moment of choice for Rahab, be loyal to her king by giving up the spies or choose to protect her guests. In fairness, a prostitute would be used to protecting the identity of her clients.

 

     Now Rahab chooses to protect the spies. They were her guests, and hospitality was important in this culture. She was obligated to maintain their wellbeing. Her concern went even further than hospitality. Rahab had good intentions, but she acts on those intentions by lying to her government. Essentially, she says, “They were here, but now they are gone. Hurry up, you can catch them.” The official go off on a wild goose chase, meanwhile the two spies are hiding on the roof “among the stalks of flax.” These bundles of flax were on the roof to dry out so the fibers could be used to make linens. A perfect place to hide.

 

     When the coast is clear, Rahab has a talk with spies. She shares all the rumors she and the inhabitants of Jericho had heard about the Israelites, most likely from those who had visited her establishment in the days prior. Through those rumors, Rahab makes an amazing profession of faith in God. Rahab believed it was more important to be loyal to God then her earthly king. She knew her survival and that of her family depended on God and the word of these two spies.

 

     Rahab professes faith and requests refuge during the downfall of Jericho. The spies assure Rahab of safety, saying, “Our lives will be the security of your life.” This prostitute of Jericho by faith joins in with the people of God.

 

     This is the Rahab who later marries a Jewish man and is found in the genealogy of Jesus. She is the same Rahab found listed in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews. Hebrews 11:31 shares an interesting thing about her faith, it says, “By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.” It does not mention her profession of faith in Joshua 2:9-13, but the choice she made to protect the spies. This is pointing to her actions in 2:4-7 as a demonstration of the faith she professed later. Her change of mind and change of direction (repentance) happened when Rahab welcomed the spies into her home and protected them.

 

     Notice what is messy about this? Rahab straight up lied to the Jericho officials like Bugs Bunny in a Looney Tunes cartoon, saying “They went that a way!” Now, this is in no way an endorsement of dishonesty and bearing false witness. God could have saved these spies without Rahab’s lies. Nor can we claim God empowered Rahab to lie and sin. Sin is still sin. Yet somehow this is the moment of her faith in God praised in Hebrews, not only there but also in the book of James.

 

     Rahab was not a Jew. She was a woman born in a pagan culture, raised with pagan beliefs, and earning a living through a pagan profession. None of that is God giving a stamp of approval to those things. What God saw in Rahab was a woman who against all the odds, amid life’s messiness somehow heard the story of God and what He had done for His people. From those stories, Rahab catches a glimpse of who God is and that she wants to align herself with Him. When that crisis moment arrived, Rahab responded in faith to God, but from within all her human brokenness and corrupted patterns in a messy situation.

 

     God (Jesus) knows a seeking heart, even if it is shrouded in brokenness. That is what saves the thief on the cross next to Jesus. The man is not hanging there out of innocence, his is not a case of injustice. How much understanding could that man have developed in his dying moments? Not all of it, but enough that he got to sit with Jesus in Paradise where Jesus could explain it all to Him. The man and Rahab made the choice that mattered most, choosing belief in God. Their lives were messy at those moments, but not so messy that God could not notice their change in heart. Their motive mattered most; God’s grace was more than sufficient to make up the rest.

 

     Repentance starts with a change of mind and a step of faith. That is the choice for each of us. In the messiness of my life, in the full brokenness and limited understanding that I have, can I believe in Jesus and take a step toward Him?

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