Joshua 2 (The Covenant with Rahab)
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Turn in your Bibles to the book of Joshua, were going to continue our study in the book of Joshua. Now were going to really start racing through the text. Were going to do the entire second chapter of Joshua as we try to give you a great big picture, remember that Joshua is a book where you go from bondage/slavery to recovery to victory.
They are getting ready to enter the land but before they do there’s an exciting thrilling spy story thats going to unfold. Some of you might not have read this since you were in Sunday School but turn to chapter 2.
The title of the message is this covenant with Rahab.
(Let’s Pray)
Joshua 2:1
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 woman, a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.
Joshua 2:2-
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 nightfall, when the 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 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 waters 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 earth below. Now please swear to me by the Lord that you will also show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of 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.”
Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city. “Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide yourselves there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.”
The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his blood will be on our heads. And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.”
“Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.
So the two men went into the hill country and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. They searched all along the way, but did not find them. Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them. They told Joshua, “The Lord has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”
The book of Joshua began with a commission to Joshua, now it continues with a covenant with Rahab, perhaps one of the most unlikely people you would think would enter into a covenant. This story is kind of a spy thriller, like any good spy thriller, in order for the story to be riveting the stakes have to be very, very high. In this story the consequences of the drama are going to save Rahab and her family, but its also going to set in motion a series of events that are going to have a final ending in the book of Matthew and in the geneology of Jesus.
To the coming of the Lord!
This is the story of two spies and a brave woman who is going to risk everything to save them, but in the process of doing everything she can to save them shes also going to save her family. The womans conversion is gonna take place in the most unlikely place and shes gonna become an ancestor of JEsse and David and Jesus.
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 woman, a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.
This begins with a spies assignment. The mission it’s top secret,and classified. Now remember Joshua is a seasoned spy himself, he along with Caleb were given the task of spying out the land and his experience left a permanent scar in his heart.
If you will remember that time 12 spies went and 10 of them delivered a bad report 2 of them delivered a good report but the mission was known to all of the people. so Joshua decides that He’s going to conceal the mission even from the other tribe members just in case they come back with a unfavorable report. Now we learn about the Acacia grove, this is the last stop before you enter into the land. So when you read Acacia Grove read THE LAST STOP BEFORE WE ENTER INTO THE PLACE THAT GOD HAS GIVEN TO US.
So for me the Acacia Grove becomes a type and picture of the last moments of bondage and the numbing journey in the wilderness. They are so close to finishing the mission, now remember the mission it is to view the land and focus on Jericho. Jericho is a strategic city that controlled the trade routes.
Numbers
Jericho is kind of in the center of the land.
So within 3 days the people are gonna break camp and their going to come into the land. So the spies make their way into the land and they find themselves in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. Now just for your info. this is all taking place about 1400 B.C. by the way out of all the people living in the city of Jericho how many of the names do we know? NONE
Rahab’s the only name we know, she is the only one we are aware of. Were not even given the spies names or even the king of Jericho were only given her name. She appears again an unlikely character to be the hero of the story. She is a prostitue! But if you can imagine she operates a house of prostitution, in the Hebrew language the word harlot is very similar to the word used for in keeper. You’ll notice she is an inn keeper, but I suspect she is running a prostitution ring. Why? because of the repitition in the NT in Hebrews and James where she is specifically called a prostitute, but the real problem is not that she lives a life of sexual brokenness, the real problem is that she is a sinner, just like you, just like me.
I want you to think for a moment, she is living in Jericho she is a sinner, she is living in a city that is destined for judgment. This is the story of all humanity. We are sinners, we are all living in a world that is all destined for Judgment, and so it gives us a picture of hope. Even the worst of sinners can experience the fullness of God’s grace and god’s mercy, people can turn to the Lord in faith an find deliverance. So remember when your making your journey in the outside world it doesnt matter how far gone an indivudual is, they are capable of experiencing the life changing power of Jesus Christ.
The people of Jericho were the object of God;s divine judgement. God reserved the right to use Joshua and the children of Israel to be the instrument of that divine judgment. The people of Jericho were hopelessly depraved. In case you don’t believe me.
“Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves by all these things. The land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these detestable things—not the native or the foreigner who lives among you.
Leviticus 18:21-26
“You are not to make any of your children pass through the fire to Molech. Do not profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh. You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; it is detestable. You are not to have sexual intercourse with any animal, defiling yourself with it; a woman is not to present herself to an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
“Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves by all these things. The land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these detestable things—not the native or the foreigner who lives among you.
God paints a putrid picture of the grossest the most severe, the most disgusting activities and behaviors of a people group. Imagine a nation who sacrifices its children to satisfy what it sees to please the gods, imagine a nation with no restrictions of any kind whatsoever. Imagine a city where everyone who lives there is like a Jeffery Dahmer or serial killer. so the people of Jericho are hopelessly depraved and they had chosen to fight against Israel instead of seeking mercy like Rahab and so this becomes an important question for you, if we ask and answer the question does God have the right to judge the world that HE created OF COURSE HE DOES!
But think about Jesus who says
John 3:16
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
These people are going into this circumstance to spy out the land, and this is the real concern with all those who are critics of the Bible. DOES GOD HAVE THE RIGHT TO PUNISH SIN?
The real concern of every critic of the Bible is their asking a different kind of a question does God have a right to judge me and hold me acountable for what I am and what I’ve done?
Listen carefully Rahab believes God, she believes God is going to destroy Jericho she believes in the God who has set the children of Israel free 40 years earlier she believes its strong enough, that she is willing to turn her back and risk her life, to be made right with god and avoid judgement.
What do we know about her?
Again she is sinner, an owner of a brothel.
But we know something else about her
By faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.
And in the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route?
The writers in the NT point to her faith that’s informed by grace. they give us a picture of a person who is under condemnation, God had already decided that He is going to overthrow and destroy Jericho, its only a matter of time. Everyone Everything in the city of JEricho is about to become completely wiped out. Do you think the people inside felt they were doomed?
Do you think that the people inside thought that they were safe?
Im going to suggest to you that they did think they were safe, they were living in a fortified city, Im saying that they probably felt for the most part that they could withstand whatever siege was coming. They didnt really comprehend the fact that there was an immenant judgment coming from God Himself. Again just think about our own culture and society. Are there people who think about the end of the world? yes there are.
People envision and asteroid comgin from outerspace and wiping out the Earth or some climate catastrophe, or some nuclear war, or some plague or something. I mean I know that there are people who live inconstant fear that life as we know it is going to come to an abrupt hault. But I am going to tell you that most people don’t think that way, most of your family and most of your neghors dont think that this could be their last day, they dont think that this could be their last cup of coffee. They dont think that they could have a car accident or get cancer or have a heart attack.
Im gonna just say that the vast majority of people in Jericho had no idea what was about to happen. But also it becomes a type and a picture of the people we live with. most people who go to bed tonight will not even consider what the Bible says about the future. so
The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.”
Uhoh the secret mission is exposed!
This is a top secret classified op. how did they find out, how was the king of Jericho told, how did they discover these guys?
Now the Bible doesn’t tell us how this happened, were they clothed differently we don’t know. A great deal of archeological research has been done in the ruins of Jericho, and at the time of Joshua the city covered about 8 acres. That doesn’t seem like very much to us does it?
Imagine a city that
The city had an outer wall and an inner wall. The inner wall was 12 ft thick, and the outer wall was 6 feet thick. Both the outer and the inner wall was about 30 feet high, and excavations show that the walls were violently destroyed and burnt in times past. So there is great evidence to support the Bibles account of what is going to happen later on in the book of Joshua.
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.”
So why does the king seek out Rahab and how does he know that Rahab has knowledge of the spies? were not told. But apprently they had good intel, so the King makes every effort to find these men. Now we have every reason to believe that the spies were unaware of their danger at this point, they have no idea they have been made, they have no idea that the king is after them. So if I can speculate for a moment.... how did they know?
Could be language, could be dress, could be physical appearance but we have to remember that Rahab spares them and saves their lives. One of the things you should be thinking about as were reading. Could she have turned them in at any moment… yeah she could have said “You know what I aint gonna play this game I live here I am going to turn them over but she makes the courageous decision to hide them.
Not to reveal there presence
Why would she do this?
were given an answer in 4-6
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 nightfall, when the 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.
Now the stalks of flax is a typr of plant that they would soak in water, and they would cut it in lengths of 3-4 feet and after soaking it in water and then they would put it on the roof to dry out because they are going to peel the stalks because they use this stuff to make linen sheets or linen clothes or fabric.
Apparently she is hiding the spies under there. What would lead us to believe that she is having a change of heart that something is happening to her something fundamental and dramatic is changing inside of her, several
- she is willing to turn from her old life and embrace a new life with the children of Israel. She is living in a world where she sees and understands that whatever kind of life that she has and the circumstances that she finds herself in is unaccaptable. She is going to make one of the most courageous choices that you could ever make. Turn from the people you grew up with and to turn your back on them and identify with the people of God and the plan of God.
Clearly her actions are worthy of national treason, but
-she hides the spies
- she claims the spies left before she knew their whereabouts
The Bible doesnt seem to criticize her for lying but applauds her for her faith.
If you were living in Nazi Germany in ww2 would you hide Jews who were going to be slaughtered innocently for no reason?
What are you willing to do to protect the innocent from the wicked?
So we can debate about whether or not it was right for her to lie, or we can remind ourselves this woman depserate to keep these men alive, is going to make a very difficult choice
The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the gate was shut.
Joshua 2:7
The Kings patrol takes her advice and they leave and they head out in hot pursuit. She sends the soldiers in the opposite direction. Rahab has made a decision, she is going to leave her old life she is going to embark on a new life with the people of God. That’s what every Christian has to do in their life isnt it? They have to come to grips and answer the question “Am I going to identify myself with a world thats under judgement, or am I going to identify myself with God’s Savior and with God’s people.
Thats exactly what we do we forsake sin, we embark on a new life in Christ, we repent we turn to the Savior.
“Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent,
Acts
Rahab is at that cross roads in her life. What am I gonna do and how am I going to do it?
She believes the testimony concerning God
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 waters 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 earth below.
Joshua 2:9-
Listen carefully to what shes saying, Rahab is making a confession I KNOW THAT THE LORD HAS GIVEN YOU THE LAND! Think about that for just a moment, the moment she admits I KNOW THE LORD HAS GIVEN YOU THE LAND. She is admitting that their time is up, Rahab believes the testimony of God she believes what shes heard about the true and living God. She could have betrayed them at any moment. At any time in this story she could have turned them in, but she opens her heart to God and these men under this strong conviction, about her life and the life of her family and in that conviction she gives important info about the people and their state of mind.
This si the stuff Joshua needs, the people are gripped with terror and fear of the presence of Israel and Joshua needs to know that He needs to know their mindset! The same is true for you, you need to know the mindset of the people you live with and that you talk to. Some of you remember what it was like to be unsaved, you remember what it was like to live in the darkness, and wickedness. You remember going to bed at night wondering if the Bible is true and wondering if there really is a Heaven an Hell.
Many of you may have grown up in a religious tradition and you believed it a little bit but not enough to change you! Some of you remember the mindset of what it was like to be an unbeliever. What it was like to be terrified that you might die and your not ready, Rahab confesses, that the God of Israel is the God of Heaven anjd Earth!
HE IS POWERFUL AND SUPREME AND HE IS TRUE and that the God who is worshipped by the children of Israel would keep His promises to them about the land! Rahab beleives the testimony about GOd and what does that tell us about ourselves?
We too have to believe dont we?
WE HAVE TO BELIEVE AND ACT LIKE WE BELIEVE IN WHAT WE SAY WE BELIEVE
Joshua 2:12
Now please swear to me by the Lord that you will also show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign
that you will spare the lives of 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.”
Remember she could turn them over at any moment, she could have said unless your willing to spare my family I am not wiling to spare you? YES
Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city. “Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide yourselves there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.”
Joshua 2:15-
Rahab makes a desperate pleae for the life of her family, to be saved from death she wants a guarantee of safety she wants no harm to come to her family. She expresses the sincere belief that she knows the children of Israel are gonna win!
This is her way of saying I believe your God is going to give you victory!
The only way that’s not going to happen is if you deal kindly with me.
The beautiful thing about Rahab is that she had the works to back up her faith her faith was driving her to act! She sends the soldiers away to the mountains knowing that the soldiers had gone the other way. She is calling on the spies to save her family. Thats exactly what we do, we call pn the Lord to be saved, we call on him because we believe on Him and we trust in Him because in the NT it says BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART AND CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS LORD.
ALL WHO CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED!
for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
The Bible says if you’ll call on the name of the Lord He will hear you and rescue you!
Joshua 2:
Joshua 2:17-
The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his blood will be on our heads. And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.”
“Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.
Joshua 2:
Now think about this for a moment this scarlet rope, its color is scarlet and it is tied at one end and its dropped down the wall and it becomes the tool of the spies salvation, they are going to be saved because of that rope. Likewise her family will be saved from death because of that rope.
(The blood of JEsus)
Joshua 2:22-
So the two men went into the hill country and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. They searched all along the way, but did not find them. Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them. They told Joshua, “The Lord has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”
