Faith in Unexpected Places

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

2

Rahab

Josh. 2:

Heb.11:31

James 2:25

Rahab is almost always mentioned by in the Bible as “Rahab the harlot." But that’s not all. 

Rahab was also a Canaanite-who were the hated enemies of Israel. 

Rahab is a remarkable character for several reasons. 

First, she is the only other woman besides Sarah mentioned specifically in the catalog of faith found in Hebrews 11. Thus we can see that she occupies a place of prominence among the other great heroes of the faith such as Abraham and Moses.

Rahab’s prominence is also displayed in Matthew 1 where she is only one of two women mentioned in the genealogy of Christ.

Name Meaning—The first part of Rahab—“Ra,” was the name of an Egyptian god. As an Amorite, Rahab belonged to an idolatrous people, and had a name meaning “insolence,” “fierceness,” or “broad,” “spaciousness.”

Rahab was a harlot. That was her “trade.” The men hid there because people would be accustomed to seeing strangers come and go at all hours of the night. Though it was an awkward place, it must be admitted that it was a perfect place to hide out and remain anonymous, and this was necessary because the city was on strict guard.

Vs.4 But the woman had hidden. (Taking a big risk - treason)

The Bible simply reports Rahab’s lie; it does not praise it or excuse it. Perhaps if she had beforehand determined in her heart to not lie in obedience to God, He would have made a way for her to preserve the life of the spies without lying.

The men went out: Rahab’s lie is not justified, but it does show courage. Consider that she was a pagan sinner in a city and culture wholly given over to the worship of false gods and immorality, with no previous contact with the word of God or the things of God.

Rahab: A prostitute, not much of a future, growing awareness of whatever attractiveness she had was going to be short lived, and then be totally useless for anything. 

Marriage, children, nobility, destiny those were things that she probably never even dreamed off.

All she did was make enough money to keep herself alive. 

Jericho: well walled, well armed, well guarded, strategically located on the banks of the Jordan. And the people of Israel? Just a mostly crew.

But Rahab had heard, she choose to act on the basis of Invisible reality.

Vs.9 I know: that the LORD (YHWH)

Has given you the land.

How does she know that?

We have heard: Rom. 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

History: Red Sea, Amorites king Sihon & Og also Cannanites.

Luke 2:19 but Mary treasured up all these things & pondered.

Rahab first reflected on the history of what God had done for the Jews

What she heard she believed

This Belief led her to acknowledge:

a) For the LORD your God 

b) He is God in the heavens & the earth

Here we see Rahab’s faith – and we see that true faith is a reception of God’s Word. Rahab’s declaration was proof of her faith. 

First, Rahab reflected on the history of what God had done for the Jews. She confesses that she knew that the Lord God had given Jericho into their hands, because they all knew that God had freed them from slavery and parted the Red Sea so they could escape, and now they had bested the nations on the east of the Jordan and taken the land for themselves.

Second, Rahab confesses her faith in the God of Israel, as she confesses that God the Lord God is the God of heaven and earth – the One True God – the One Who has prospered Israel – this is the God she believed in.

And third, she asked, in the name of that God, that she would be protected – she and her family – as members of those who believe in that God – and she made the spies swear that they would recognize her as a sister in the Lord and save her and her family when they took Jericho. 

Rahab’s desire to see her family saved, and the length she goes to in order to save their lives shows that her love should be noticed, as well as her faith.

It is unlikely that Rahab had access to anything in the way of the Scripture – only the books of Moses, and perhaps Job, would have existed – but she received the Word of God by faith by hearing Who the God is Israel is and what He had done for them, and she believed. Thus, her faith was seen in believing the promises God made to Israel.

The means of Rahab’s salvation: the scarlet cord. (15-21)

Joshua 2:21 Agreed, she replied. "Let it be as you say." So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

All Rahab had to do was put this scarlet cord outside of the window, so straight away she did this. There is no delay, she took on board what had been told her and applied it to her situation straight away. She didn't think 'well there might be judgment in the future but I might have a few days before that happens.' Many people think like that, they think later in life they will give it their consideration. However, you do not know when the judgment will come. If you knew that your city was to be attacked, and that there was a way of escape, I'm sure that you would take it. There was no hesitation with Rahab. You can see all through this passage that she has faith in God, and is acting on it continually. She wants herself and her family to be safe and secure.

As early as the first century, commentators such as Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, Ireneaus, Origen and more saw this scarlet cord as a symbol of the blood of Jesus.

Joshua 6: 22 “Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.” 23 So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel.

Rahab and her family were safe under the protection of the scarlet cord. This is the same thing that happened in Egypt when the children of Israel had to kill the Passover lamb. If they were behind the doors of the house and the blood was over the doors they were safe. So the scarlet cord typifies Christ and His death and resurrection and the blood that He shed for all those who believe. There is no need to be afraid of the future; there is safety and security for those who are washed by His blood.

Rahab had more influence her family. That persuasiveness could not have come without earnestness, and that earnestness could not have come without a deep seated conviction that the God of these people is the God of heaven and earth, and that this God had given this land into their hands.

But Rahab’s faith had influenced not just her family, it had inspired Joshua and the people of Israel

Vs.24 “Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us.”

In Rahab’s faith, Joshua saw God’s promise all the more clearly and held to it with greater assurance – and, Joshua went forward, according to the instructions that God gave him, and conquered Jericho.

We saw this in the Jonathan story as well.

So while on the outset we see the purpose of this story as spying the Land for the conquest, another purpose is at work in sending the spies: to save Rahab. In this, we see the extent God goes to in bringing one woman and her father’s house to salvation – Someone seemingly “impossible” to save.

You may know some that seem “impossible” to save, but God’s hand is not short to save people like Rahab, and He can work in amazing ways to bring salvation.

It is through this pagan, woman, prostitute, who came to faith in the God of Israel, who saved the spies that Jericho could be conquered, that Jesus Christ was born.

“By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” Heb.11:31

Disobedient: opposite of the faith that is demonstrated

Lessons: what the story of Rahab illustrates is

 Things we need to see in this story 

1) The punishment of sin: Canaan perished for their disobedience, this was a judgement of God on a totally degraded community, and should not be looked just as a military ambition that Israel had. Irony of the story, when the city was attacked the only safe place was a brothel. 

2). But there's a second thing, Faith in unexpected places, Rahab was still a prostitute when she was saved. But the God who loved Rahab, loved her too much to leave her there. Rahab’s subsequent history. 

Joshua 6: 25 “Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”

First they put her outside the camp, as an unclean person, but by the time Joshua was written, she was now living in the camp. Which meant that she no longer was a prostitute, living a life marked with holiness and harmony and worship that centres on all of life. 

But it doesn’t stop there. Mt. 1: Not only did God take her out of Jericho, but he took the brothel out of her, by giving her acceptance in a community, he then gave her dignity by giving her a gift of a husband, and then God gave her a son, Boaz. But it doesn’t stop there, centuries later the Messiah came out of her genealogy. A legacy of shame turned to a legacy of fame and joy.

the power of faith...the power of faith. What a beautiful example of saving faith. A prostitute, a professional deviate, a woman of the worst order came to believe in the true God, so much so that she put her life on the line. She had no spiritual advantages. She knew no Sabbath days. She had no Scriptures, no teachers. She lived in a vile, pagan city. She had the heart of a prostitute. She was, though, in spite of all of that like some beautiful pearl lying within the rough ugly shell somewhere in the weeds and rocks at the bottom of the sea. But God could see all the debris to the true faith and her true faith drew her to the truth of God, drew her to accept the warnings of God, to fear the judgment of God, to long to be spared by God's mercy. And her faith is most seen in the statement that she made, "I know that the Lord has given you the land and I know that the Lord God is supreme."

Rahab is a Foreshadowing of the church & gentile believers. (Prostitute who by conversion became a legitimate bride)

You see, what distinguished Rahab from the rest of the crowd in Jericho was not her superior morality...no. It was not her higher intelligence, it wasn't her more exemplary life, it wasn't her better disposition, it was simply her faith. 

The message that we find here is that God judges sinners but spares those who believe in Him. That's the simplicity of the gospel. And their believing is a believing that is tested, that willingly pays the price. That was her faith. She is the beautiful model of the simplicity of faith. Her faith acts in that she hung a scarlet cord out the window to identify her house.

3) What this story also reminds us is how God had a plan in bringing Rahab and the spies together. It is the same kind of thing we see when God supernaturally brings us to people who are believers or open to the gospel. Speaks both of GOd’s sovereignty and his providence

All of us in our natural condition are separated from God, it is through Christ the scarlet cord that we are brought out through the blood of christ, that purchased for us forgiveness and salvation. Just like Rahab we are brought out from our condition through faith, and it is through that kind of faith that we become the people of God, not by any ritual, not by baptism, not by membership, not by showing up in church, not by giving money nothing. It is through faith in Jesus. And then as people of God you begin to grow and change. 

Are you willing to trust God to break through in unexpected places, situation and circumstances.

Are you willing to believe that inspite of our tarnished past God is able to turn our legacy of shame into a legacy of fame.

Are you wiling to willing to go all the length in your faith to see

1). The components of Faith:

A). Faith comes from hearing

B). Begins with understanding

C). Leads to conviction (Staked her life on the fact that this was the true God.)

D). And completes itself in commitment.

Rahab demonstrated this in her life

2). 

True faith demonstrates itself in action

Awareness of Israel's history

Confident of Israel's victory

Remarkable faith:

1) Faith that reckons: (that God has made promises & we can count on Him to fulfil)

2) Faith that risks: ( these promises grip our hearts & begin to dare in any circumstances)

3) Faith that rests: unmoved as it waits to see the salvation

The scarlet blood on the door was the symbol of the coming Savior whose blood would save sinners who believed. And so the children of Israel put it on their doorposts and here is a woman who in the same kind of symbolism puts a scarlet cord out her window, again another symbol of another analogy too the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The red cord becomes the sign, in a sense, of Rahab's faith, just as the red stream of Christ's blood is the only thing that God recognizes for the cleansing of sin and salvation, so the soldiers would recognize that red cord and the fact that she was to be spared.