From Shame to Honor: the story of Rahab

Have you ever done something that haunts you? Really,, you look back on your life and you regret what you did or said to someone? It’s a moment where if a Tardis or flux capacitor actually existed, that’s the moment you’d go back to and take back what you did?

I had one of these moments in high school. I worked asa ride operator at a small amusement park in Cincinnati, Ohio where I’m from called Coney Island. Not the Coney Island, it actually unfortunately closed down earlier this year. Anyway, I was with some friends. we’d just finished lunch and we were headed back to rides and I’m not sure how it came about, but I had it in my head to throw my whole cup over the guy I had a crush on. With my friends cheering me on and him pleading with me not to, I obviously didn’t throw it on him, we got married and our life is great.

No! That’s not what happened! i threw a huge thing of coke all over him, he freaked out and ran off to change and I have no idea what happened to him.

I knew a second later that I shouldn’t have done it. As I look back at that ridiculous moment I think, why in the world did I do that, did I think that would make me like him?

I know that’s a silly example but it genuinely is a moment I’m embarrassed about, a small part of my story I wish I could go back and change.

Some of us have much bigger parts of our story we wish we could erase. And as we look to the Bible, we find lots of normal people doing ridiculously dumb things and still getting to experience God’s generosity, love and enduring commitment to us.

Today we are continuing our series called His Life in action, and we are exploring people in the Bible whose lives of transformation point us to the incredible undeserved and amazing love, acceptance grace and kindness of God through the person of Jesus. And I have the privilege of talking about the remarkable story of Rahab the Harlot.

The story of Rahab shows us faith in action that leads to lives transformed by the power of the story of people living incredible lives in response to their belief in God’s work in and through their lives. Rahab did something, she believed something and she asked for something and from that, spared her own life and the lives of her family in a miraculous way.

Our faith is revealed in our actions and in our words and the story of Rahab shows us that nothing in our story disqualifies us from being brought into God’s family and experiencing his loving kindness.

Rahab interview, possible use clip starting around 6:30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSdmxJbhwjA

Our faith is revealed through our actions

Let’s start with some context for this story. At the time, the Israelites, God’s chosen people, had been led out of Egypt where they had been enslaved for 400 years. And then, they broke some rules and wandered around in the desert for 40 years and now, the Israelites were finally coming to the land God had promised to give them as their home. There was a problem though. There were people already living there!

Moses, who had led the Israelites out of slavery and through the wilderness, has died and his successor was a student of his, named Joshua. Joshua decided to send spies into the promised land and specifically the main city, Jericho, to see what they could learn about this promised land, called Canaan. When these spies entered Jericho, they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab.

Our story picks up in Joshua 2, where the Israelite spies head to Rahab’s house. Joshua 2:8-

Joshua 2:1-7 then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

Rahab’s house, which some suggest could’ve just been an inn but no, the original language verifies, it’s a brothel. Brothel: place to gather information but not be found out, where the town gossip is, think what happens in Vegas stays in vegas. Culturally, you don’t narc on me, I don’t narc on you (people don’t want it known they go here so your identity and secrets are kept safe within the brothel). Spies would’ve chosen to go here to gather information about the town because prostitutes were a kind of secret keeper for the city.

These spies came to her house, maybe looking like customers or travelers looking for a place to stay, and this was strange enough that someone noticed these men from Israel and informed the King of Jericho.

When these men entered her house, they put Rahab, an already vulnerable woman, in a difficult place. This woman lived on the margin of the city, her house, her business, was part of the wall surrounding Jericho. That is the place that is most vulnerable to attack and surrounded by fellow social outcasts.

Rahab lived in a time where women had little to no power, she was in an economic situation where she needed to sell her body in order to survive. The situation is already risky, but it’s even riskier when the king’s guards notice. These spies were in this city and in her house with an agenda that would lead to the demise of the city. They were there trying to make an attack plan! What does the King do when he hears about this? He commands Rahab to expose the spies.

But what does Rahab, a woman in a society that gives women very little power, do with this command from her king?

She did not expose the spies but instead she made the decision to reply with deception to the king’s men, to lead them astray. With this lie, this woman (who could have easily relented to her earthly king), was willing to take a massive risk because she had faith in the God of the Israelites. In Canaan, had her lie been discovered, she and the spies would’ve been sentenced to death.

And, the action of Rahab’s faith is discussed in the New Testament, in the book of James and James compares her faith to that of Abraham:

James 2: 21: 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

What this is not saying is that we can earn our faith by our actions. What is being said is that our faith is made alive when we live it out, the way we see Rahab do here.

Yes, God did the work for us. When we say yes to what he did in and through Jesus, we know we are going to heaven. And for some of us, it’s like eternal life insurance. I wanna know that I’m good when I die. So we check a box but we miss what this means for today. God brings his kingdom here and now, today.

We get a taste of heaven here on earth as we act out our faith. Remember faith without works is dead. Why? Because if God’s love has really entered into our lives, it changes us. We can’t stay the same. If we’ve accepted Jesus and our lives still look the same, that doesn’t mean we’re not saved and aren’t going to heaven. But if we’re not acting on our faith, we are missing experiencing the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

James uses Rahab as an example for knowing faith is alive and well in our lives. Her faith was proven by her work and here we are, thousands of years later, remembering her story. Hers is a story that can impact how we live out our faith here and now. Our actions don’t earn our faith but they can reveal our faith.

How does our faith show up in our works, in the practical ways we live our day to day lives? Are there times when we know we can stand up for what’s right, but chose instead not to rock the boat and remain silent? Do we divert our eyes and keep walking? Do we try not to get involved, to make sure our day isn’t interrupted?

Rahab’s life was interrupted and she was faced with a choice.

She took action and after saving the spies, she has a chance to explain herself. Why did she do this, why did she hide the spies?

Our faith is revealed through our words. Expression of faith.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of things we do not see.

It’s in Rahab’s own words that we learn the most about her. When Rahab goes to the spies on her roof, she finally tells us why she was willing to risk it all to lie to her ruler and protect them: Joshua 2:8–11 “Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

What Rahab is saying here is that she know the story of your God, it's been circling around our community since it happened 40 years ago. Rahab was born in the land of Canaan around the time the Isrealites left Egypt in the Exodus. This means that she grew up hearing stories about the God of the Israelites and the miracles this God performed, and most importantly, she had heard about the liberation of the Israelites from the oppression of the Egyptians.

Rahab tells us that she believes in God and in His plan to deliver the land into their hands. She’s already on the margin of her own society, and also she knows that if God’s plan is accomplished, that any possible stability she has known in her home is about to be gone.

She had heard the stories of freedom, but experienced very little of it for herself, and when the moment came she was the one who saw freedom and dared to ask for it herself.

Anyone, even the most unlikely, can believe. Rahab was a Canaanite, not an Israelite. She wasn’t part of the lineage of God’s chosen people.

This plan, believing that God would give his people the land of Canaan, the promised land, is completely insane. The Israelites are currently on the other side of the Jordan River. How were they supposed to get across the Jordan River without boats?!

There was another place further north from Jericho where they could cross, but there were Canaanite towns that would fight off the Israelites before they’d ever reach Jericho. And Jericho itself was a crazy fortress.

It doesn’t make sense how the Israelites would ever make it to Jericho. (and spoiler alert: if you’ve heard about Joshua and the battle of Jericho, you know what happens there is something you couldn’t make up!) This plan, this promise from God to give the Israelites Canaan, was nuts.

On the roof, Rahab tells the men she’s heard of the incredible things God has done, she lists out what she knows: the plagues and the parting the Red Sea, how God set His people free from slavery in Egypt, and the other lands and cities that were demolished at the hands of God and His people. Her faith is on display and her words are rich with concrete evidence, but she also reveals her faith despite the insane and uncertain.

She tells us how her faith is based in the knowledge of what God has done and in her bold belief in what hasn’t yet happened.. Rahab chooses to protect these men who serve this God, and she is putting her faith in this God into action.

After she reveals her faith, she boldly and fearfully asks for something.

Joshua 2:12–14 ““Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.” “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.””

She knows what’s coming and she wants to guarantee her and her family’s safety

One of two women in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11:31: 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

How are we believing in the insane? In the incredible? Like Rahab, are we placing our faith in what God has already done and trust that He will show up for us in what is not yet done? Do we have faith in what God is saying and doing even when it seems so far out there? That is exactly what faith is!

Rahab puts a cord in the window and then in Joshua 6 we read about the walls of Jericho falling down. They march around the walls once a day and then on the 7th day they march around, play their instruments and the walls just collapse. The Egyptians enter the wilderness through parted waters and exit the wilderness through the parted waters of the Jordan river. The Israelites are freed after the miracles of the ten plagues and enter the promised land after the miracle of Jericho falling to the ground. The walls fell flat. But wait, did you catch where rahab’s house was? In the wall. Everything collapsed, archaeologists have found Jericho and say the destruction appears as though an earthquake suddenly happened. Everything collapsed. Except a portion of the wall on the north side. There is no logical explanation for this. If an earthquake came, there’s no way this section of the wall would have remained intact.

She was told to bring her entire family to her home in the wall, the exact wall that gave her great positioning as a sex worker to travelers coming and going was also the place where she was told to bring her family. But the wall fell flat. So, what happened? He took care of Rahab even when the chaos of the culture was collapsing around her.

And this story has an incredibly happy ending: Rahab and her family join the Jewish people, she marries a guy named Salmon and becomes the mother of Boaz, who marries Ruth (Ruth, there’s a whole book fo the Bible written about her) and Rahab the prostituted woman had a direct hand in bringing the Son of God to earth to bring Salvation.

In all of this, Rahab sounds incredible. It’s a bit like a fairy tale, really. And yet, over and over again in the Bible, whenevr Rahab is listed, it doesn’t just say Rahab. There is always a title next to her name, Rahab the Prostitue, Rahab the Sex worker, the harlot. Why? She hid the spies, she asked for her family to be saved, surely those actions outweigh being constantly reminded of her seedy profession?

Maybe we say our faith is private, it’s not something I talk about with others, God and I have a good thing, I don’t need to share it with anyone. Is there something you’re afraid to ask for? You have a dream, deep in your heart but it’s so big, seems so impossible, you’re afriad to actually give voice to it and be let down once again. Can we ask God for big things like we see here?

Nothing disqualifies us from God’s love

Rahab the harlot. Now that we see why Rahab took such a big risk, we have to ask ourselves: have we ever taken risks because we just wanted to be loved? Rahab reveals an amazing faith and shows us a desire for love! She believes in the power of God over all people, not just the people of Israel. She dares to include herself. Will we do the same? Can we dare to include ourselves?

Rahab’s story doesn’t end here. She’s mentioned through the Bible. And always with the title of harlot. We don’t see david the rapist, Abraham the liar, (list other names of hall of faith). She is the mother of Boaz, the Boaz who marries Ruth, she’s the great, great, great, grandmother of king david and part of the lineage of the family of Jesus. God used a sex worker. He used (list names of hall of faith) and from that, if he can use them, friends…. Imagine how he can use our faith in action. Who we are, what we’ve done, the parts of our past we wish we could erase… THis sex worker is listed alongside heroes of the faith, She is a hero of the faith. A woman who if we saw her out on the street today, we’d probably avert our eyes and try to avoid. God used her to bring a piece of his kingdom. Who we are does not have to define who we are to become. God does the work of turning our messes into miracles.

A woman, a woman of a promiscuous profession, a Canaanite, has risked her life on behalf of some spies because she has faith in God and also desires love.

Rahab has shown us through all of this faith in God. We have to ask ourselves now, what do we have faith in? When the stakes are high and when risk is all around, what do we place our faith in?

Do we have faith in God more than anything else? More than the things that we use to make our lives comfortable, more than the things we give our attention and money to: things like alcohol, overeating or dieting, sex, wealth, work, mindless hours of tv watching or playing video games. Do you believe that every area of our lives, even our thoughts and our imaginations, can be a place where we exercise our faith? Can we submit everything to God, can we claim His rule, reign, and authority the way Rahab did?

Rahab obeyed and put out the scarlet rope, which represented the promise, the covenant made between her and the spies to save her and her family.

Red cord: sign of prostitution back in that day, like what you’d call the red light district of today. Hang that out to identify yourself, hang your sinful lifestyle out of the window. When we choose to identify as a sinner in need of being saved, Rahab and her family need to be saved from death and destruction, we need to be saved from separation from God. God, I blew, I continue to blow it over and over again, I can’t break this cycle on my own, I need your grace and goodness and mercy in my life. One day, the sinful world around us will be flattened. But our identification as sinful and in need of rescuing will lead to everything collapsing around us. But we won’t collapse. Rahab is told to put a red cord out of the window, in verse 18 to tie a red cord from her house, and this color would’ve been common as a sign of prostitution, think today’s red light district. And it’s the color of blood, like the blood the Isralietes put on their door frames when the angel of death passed over their houses and killed the firstborn Egyptian children.

“Joshua saved Rahab, and all that she had, and she dwelt in Israel” (Josh. 6:25). She received exceeding abundantly above all that she did ask or think, for she afterwards became the wife of a prince in Israel, and the mother of Boaz, who took to wife the graceful Ruth. Thus she was brought into the honorable and glorious line of our Lord’s genealogy Matthew 1:5 “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,” All who believe are made the sons and daughters of God, brought into His family, and made partakers of the divine nature. Rahab, through her faith, was both saved and sanctified.”

Rahab has known and witnessed the power of God and it is followed by a desire and hope for loving-kindness. The Hebrew word here for “show kindness” is translated from the Hebrew word hesed, God’s loving-kindness. Love, generosity, and enduring commitment. Generous, loving person who keeps their word. Just as she has dealt kindly with these spies, she hopes that they and the God of Israel will deal kindly with her. She has sensed this loving-kindness and dares to ask for it herself. Rahab was willing to risk everything for this love.

Kindly, Hebrew word chesed. Means loyal love and referred to God’s covenant. When you had God’s chesed, you had his protection and governance. I acted in faith, I’m asking you to have my family and my back. The llie isn’t condoned, Rahab isn’t celebrated throughout the Bible because she lied. All of us make mistakes, except the perfect person that is Jesus.

1 Corinthians 7: “the children are protected under the checed covering of the parent who has a working faith in the home.” Rahab didn’t just save herself. Her faith in action saved her entire family.

NT Wright: !ey need to go back to the family album to remind themselves where they had come from. !ey must think through the sort of faith their forebears had had, and see how the long

purposes of God, cherished and believed in the face of impossibilities, dangers and even death itself, are finally fulfilled in the events concerning Jesus, and the new life they have as a result. How much more must we, in our day, learn to tell not only the story of Israel but the story of Jesus himself, and of his first followers, carefully and with gratitude, so that our faith and hope may in turn be nourished from the source.

Label section: She was an incredibly brave woman, but for some reason, every time she is mentioned in scripture she is called “Rahab the Prostitute.”

The Bible is full of screwups who make all kinds of mistakes. God loves and rescues them even in the midst of their messes.

She is mentioned 6 times in this passage and again in the New Testament in the lineage of Jesus, and in Hebrews and James. Each time, she’s listed as “Rahab the Prostitute.” Her name is attached to her occupation, her on-display sin, in every place she is mentioned in the Bible.

Many of us feel like there are shameful parts of our lives that are attached to us like a last name, like labels that we drag around with us and try to cover up or keep hidden.

Can you imagine having your sin attached to your name? I’m Becca the liar. Abi the gossip. John the alcoholic. Brian the cheater.

While the writer of Joshua attached this label of prostitute to Rahab’s name, her life was so much more than this label. And our own lives are more than the labels we give ourselves and others!

We might think “If they really knew I’d been divorced, if they knew I watched porn, if they knew the things I said to my boss that got that co-worker fired, they would write me off with that label and this guilt and shame I already feel would be magnified. I’d be rejected or fired or alone.”

Many of us are also deeply judgemental, regardless of how much we may deny it! I can be the first one to admit that I know I am, even though I don’t want to be! It is easy to secretly label others and put them into certain categories with other people we label as the most “sinful” in our society.

We might think, “I can tolerate being around someone who gossips because I gossip, or maybe I’m not uncomfortable with someone who drinks just a little too much. But, no! I would never associate with a sex worker or an addict!”

This kind of thinking is so harmful and far from the heart of God.

We have to consider how we live and how we interact with others because of the secret labels we put on ourselves and the secret labels we attach to those around us. How have you labeled yourself? Is this label holding you back from being who God made you be? How have you labeled others? Have you organized categories of sin and chose to associate with a certain brand of people in a certain category, but not others?

Rahab was a brave woman and she’s listed with the word prostitute next to her name. But the label did not dictate her actions. When she encountered and experienced God, she was still a prostitute! And God adopted her into his family.

Jesus became Jesus the sinner when he took all our sin on the cross. He did nothing wrong. 1 Corinthians 5:21 says “21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus’ death and resurrection changed our label to clean, forgiven, beloved, righteous.

What’s attached to your name? What is the thing that you drag around with you? What are the unforgivable sins you judge others for? Can we trust that even in the midst of our imperfection, and the imperfection in others, that despite all of that, God invites us into his family? No one is excluded, no matter what we’ve done!

Genealogy of Jesus: Despite her past, Rahab is portrayed as a person of faith who acts courageously to protect the Israelite spies. Her inclusion in the genealogy of Jesus (as noted in Matthew 1:5) serves as a powerful testament to God's willingness to redeem and use individuals from all walks of life for His purposes.

A life redeemed: That was the beginning of Rahab’s story–the end can be found in Matthew 1:5 where she is listed in the bloodline of Jesus. From this genealogy, we also know she was the grandmother of Boaz, the family redeemer in the Book of Ruth.

Rahab had a past. Rahab had been cast aside by society, left to live on the outskirts of her town. She was given a label that she hasn’t even escaped thousands of years later.

Exactly as she was, Rahab made one radical decision of faith and love that altered the course of history. In God’s faithfulness, .