Rahab - Hebrews 11

Go ahead and open up to Hebrews 11.

I wanted to start today with remembering why we’re in this particular chapter. The reason it’s known as the “Hall of Faith” is because it showcases for the reader the type of faith that God requires of His people.

In verse 1, we see that faith is the certainty of things hoped for, and evidence of things that aren’t seen.

In verse 3, we see that faith is understanding that the world has been created by the word of God.

In verse 6, faith is going to God, believing that He exists, and seeking Him.

Verse 8 shows us that faith is trusting God’s guidance and promises.

When we jump to verse 13, the writer tells us that the faith of these people was in something that was still before them. It was in promises that they never saw fulfilled. And it was in a citizenship of a country that they had not seen with their eyes. They lived in a time when God’s Covenant was with a certain group of people, but they anticipated a time when God would form a New Covenant with all people who believed in Him.

All of these statements of extraordinary faith in this chapter are there to point out the ultimate object of that faith: Jesus Christ.

Over in verse 30 and 31, we see that Rahab was one of these people who had extraordinary faith. She even became a prophetic example for the Gospel. And she is who we will talk about today.

Hebrews 11:30-31

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

These two verses don’t give us a whole lot of detail about Rahab’s faith, so we’ll need to turn to Joshua 2 for the full story. Rahab was a citizen of the city Jericho before it was destroyed by God to allow the Israelites into the Promised Land after they had wandered the desert for 40 years. When she heard about Yahweh God and the powerful things He had done to the other nations on Israel’s behalf, she knew that He was the one true ruler. So she helped out some Israelite spies and pledged her allegiance to Yahweh.

Well, this is great, but how exactly did this act of loyalty land her in the Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith?

Twisted Expectations

Before we jump into the details of Rahab’s story, I want to tell you another one really quick.

Uncle Jonnie. Panting the picture:

To me growing up, he was Coach Smith

Stories about broken bones and stitching cuts

Chicken story

Visiting this weekend

Friday night TV -> he’s crying laughing at AI baby ticktocks

He was the first to bearhug me when I walked in the door, made me a bed in the guestroom

I’ve watched him cry while talking about Jesus’ love

Everybody loves a good story with a twist. Where the author sets you up to think about a character or a plot a certain way, and then all of a sudden it’s the complete opposite.

The Bible is full of stories where God does the unexpected, where He uses a person or a situation that the world or even His own People would reject, to carry out His purposes.

We know about Moses, who was afraid of public speaking, yet freed his people from the most powerful man on Earth.

And we know about Jonah, who let his fear control him and ran far away from God, but ended up leading a very evil city toward God.

Even Jesus Himself was a plot twist because he was a carpenter’s son who was killed but became the savior of the world.

This is a huge biblical theme, (and a theme btw is a message that goes throughout the entire Bible, and sometimes it’s really obvious, but sometimes it’s not.) And Rahab's story is a perfect example of this theme of twisted expectations.

Joshua 2:1

Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and rested there.

You might not have noticed, but right off the bat, we actually have a perfect example of a biblical author twisting the expectations of his readers.

We have Joshua, a great warrior, sending out his spies to take stock of Jericho and report back on the lay of the land, and the author makes sure you know where he sent them from. Shittim was a city where the Israelites were camping before entering the Promised Land, but back in Numbers 25 verse 1, we see that the Israelites were committing sinful acts in that city.

So Joshua sends his spies from this place, and they do obey what they’ve been commanded to do. And young Jewish readers might have imagined being those spies, doing the work of God to get their people into the promised land by spying out the enemy territory. Kids might’ve daydreamed about the mission that it took to sneak into the city without drawing attention, and…

What do we see in the very next sentence? Where did they immediately go once they got into Jericho? They sought out a place they shouldn’t have. They left Shittim and entered Jericho and continued to seek out sin. So right off the bat, the reader is getting their expectations twisted. These awesome, courageous Hebrew spies on one of the biggest missions of their lifetimes are honestly a bit of a letdown.

Rahab, on the other hand, was NOT the character the traditional Old Testament reader would have rooted for. First of all, she was a girl. Then on top of that, she was a Canaanite, and the Canaanites were essentially Israel’s mortal enemies for their entire existence. She was a citizen of Jericho, which was the first city that fell when they entered the promised land. And what she did for a living would have really disturbed those readers. Rahab would have been seen as the ultimate outsider.

Let’s see what she does in this story:

Joshua 2:2-14

But it was told to the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to spy out all the land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 It came about, when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid on the roof. 7 So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan, to the crossing places; and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.

8 Now before the spies lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea 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 utterly destroyed. 11 When we heard these reports, our hearts melted and no courage remained in anyone any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, 13 and spare my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters, and all who belong to them, and save our lives from death.” 14 So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the Lord gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”

So not only did Rahab hide the spies from the king of Jericho, but she acknowledged Yahweh as the God in heaven and on earth. This is a significant statement that she makes. It may be hard for us to understand the significance here because we live in a very different world, not just physically but spiritually. Today, you and I live in a world where God’s name and His message are spreading rapidly. Rahab lived in a world where Yahweh God’s name and His works were entirely unknown, and there were hundreds of other lowercase g gods that were vying for people’s loyalty and drew them into all forms of evil, destruction and sin. Goodness, light, and faith were very scarce in Rahab’s world.

In another timeline, we might expect to see a character like Rahab who, when she heard there was an enemy nation with a foreign God coming to destroy her city, would do whatever she could to stop it, and ratting out the spies might have been what saved her city. It’s certainly what the original readers would have expected to hear when the author first introduced her character. But that’s quite the opposite of what happened.

Astonishing Parallels: The Scarlet Cord

This theme of twisted expectations feels pretty familiar to those who have read plenty of stories in the Bible, not just in the Old Testament, but also in the Gospels. And if we remember what the author of Hebrews is doing, he’s highlighting extraordinary faith to point to Jesus as the savior of the world.

But that’s not the only familiar theme we find in Rahab’s story.

If we take a look at the story of Israel’s journey so far, starting with their exodus out of slavery, which is recorded in the book of Exodus, and ending in their entrance into the promised land, which is in the book of Joshua, we can see a lot of repetitive, parallel events going on.

For example, when the Israelites left Egypt, what did they have to walk through to leave? (Red Sea, which was parted)

When the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering, what did they walk through? (Jordan river, which was stilled)

When they left Egypt, what was the miraculous event that saved them? (10 plagues)

When they finally entered the Promised Land, what was the miraculous event that let them in? (Fall of Jericho)

Well there’s one more parallel, and it has to do with the color red.

Joshua 2:15-21

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. And she said to them, “Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not encounter you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward, you may go on your way.” And the men said to her, “We shall be exempt from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather into your house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. And it shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house outside will have his blood on his own head, and we will be innocent; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be exempt from the oath which you have made us swear.” She then said, “According to your words, so be it.” So she sent them away, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

And if you don’t know the entire story of the city of Jericho falling, it’s an odd one, but it’s fascinating, and you can find it in chapters 3-6. And at the end of chapter 6, we get the end of Rahab’s story. She did what the spies told her to do, left the cord hanging outside of her window, and miraculously, her entire household was saved from the city’s destruction. And God accepted them, an entire Canaanite family, into His People’s camp.

Now, if we look at those parallel miracles, the 10 plagues and Jericho falling, each story has a very special and unique aspect, and they both have to do with the color red.

In the 10th plague miracle, what was the red symbol? (Blood of the lambs on the doorpost)

And in the fall of Jericho, what was the red symbol? (Scarlet chord from the window)

In both of these stories, what did the red do? What did it symbolize? (It saved the people inside the house from death.)

Tying them together:

So we’ve discovered two Bible themes today: the theme of twisted expectations and a theme called the “scarlet thread of salvation”.

The Gospel has both of these themes in it. Jesus Christ was the ultimate twisted expectation. The people thought he was supposed to be some great military king who would swoop in on a strong steed and overthrow the Roman government and save the Israelites once and for all. Instead, He spent His time in the slums, with the sinners and the prostitutes. He said that the citizens of His kingdom would not be the ones who think they can save themselves, but it’s the people who know, like Rahab did, that they absolutely can’t save themselves. The only thing that can save them is that scarlet thread of salvation - His blood.

From the very beginning of the Bible until the very end, God was trying to show His people that His grand mission was to bless all nations, not just one, and to do it not based on works but faith.

We see this in the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel, where he lists Jesus’ genealogy. A few weeks ago, we talked about Ruth, who is in this list. Do you remember who Ruth eventually married after she lost her husband? (Boaz). Does anyone know who Boaz’s mother was? (Rahab) Rahab, an outsider - a Canaanite - not only made it into the Hall of Faith, but was also one of Jesus’ ancestors.

Matthew and the author of Hebrews mention Rahab’s story to show two truths about extraordinary faith. One truth is that a person's mistakes do not determine whether they are accepted into God’s family or not. The second is that a person’s bloodline, ethnicity, or race does not exclude them from God’s family either. What is required is enough faith to hang a scarlet cord out of a window, and to call on the name of Jesus Christ when you see that you are totally unable to save yourself.

I wonder which truth you relate to the most. Do you sometimes worry that something you’ve done, are doing, or maybe will do in the future, will disqualify you from being loved and welcomed by God?

On the other hand, while we are aware that as Gentiles by blood, we are welcomed into God’s family, maybe there’s something else that you can’t change, that you have no control over, that you believe keeps you at an arm's length from God.

Or, I wonder if maybe you’re wrestling with this idea of twisted expectations. Maybe there are other people whom you would never expect God to love and accept, and yet He does. He would have dinner with them, heal them, laugh with them. Is that hard for you to understand sometimes?

Maybe you have yet to act in faith, to trust that God will save you when the world seems to be crumbling around you, and the only thing you can do is something as small as hang a cord outside of your window.

Well, that is exactly the kind of extraordinary faith that earned Rahab a spot in Hebrews 11.

Let’s pray.

Extraordinary faith

We would allow you to twist our expectations

We would believe that nothing disqualifies us

We would trust that You save and protect