942 Josh.2.1-24 Rahab and the Spies Pt.1
Rahab and the Spies • Sermon • Submitted
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In 1957, the movie “Gunfight at the OK Corall” was released
Typical of these old westerns, you have a big shoot-out between the good guys & the bad guys
Typical, also, of these old western towns in the US, you had a saloon that doubled as an inn for travellers & a brothel that provided the “entertainment” for the men
The manageress often doubled as the Madam of the establishment
The travellers usually would stay at these inns for the duration of their time in that town
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On top of that, the Saloons were known for the trouble they cause for law-enforcement, namely, the Sheriff & his deputies
Often, he had his deputies posted there/or nearby, esp. in the evenings, to make sure that no rioting/fighting/shootouts would occur
It was the wild west & you had to be ahead of the curve, in case trouble eventuated
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We find a similar scenario here with Rahab & her inn located in the walled city of Jericho
Jericho was an oasis in the midst of the “wild East”, you could say
Jericho was a place laced in pagan ways & pagan values
Rahab was the manageress of the Inn at Jericho & she doubled as the “Madam”
But in the midst of this paganism, there is an awakening in Rahab, of faith in Yahweh which breaks through the rules, the values & the icons of this fallen world & makes a "Madam” choose God over all that she has known
1. The Israelite Spies Lodge at Rahab’s Inn
1. The Israelite Spies Lodge at Rahab’s Inn
Rahab operated the Inn in Jericho & was the Madam of the establishment
Most walled cities were built with two walls - an inner & an outer wall
Thus we see that Rahab’s Inn was built between these two walls with a window or windows located on the outside wall
Jericho is described in Deuteronomy as “the city of palm trees”
3 and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
A virtual Oasis in the middle of the Negev desert
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In thinking about Jericho, you need to see this place as a type of Nineveh
Remember how Jonah was told to go to Nineveh & preach against the city that, unless they repent, they would be overthrown - by God
Well, Jonah had other ideas - Ideas that involved his distain for Nineveh & his desire to see the place utterly destroyed by God - Jonah was angry over Nineveh’s evil
We can have some sympathy for Jonah
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Nineveh (the Assyrian city) was infamous for it’s wickedness & cruelty
They would flay people alive - cut across the top of the shoulders & literally tear the skin off the back of the victim
They would impale people on stakes
All of this was to show that you didn’t mess with the leadership of Nineveh
They were ruthless & no nation & no one dared defy them
But God did - & told Jonah to go & rail against the city, declaring its judgement
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So, Jonah, decided to go in the other direction
So God gave Jonah a whale of time in turning him around
He came then & preached against the city - & who would have guessed it (Jonah did) - they repented in sackcloth & ashes
Perhaps, Jonah himself and his experience with the large fish convinced the Ninevites - he can’t have looked too good being 3 days in the belly of a huge fish
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The Canaanites (Jericho & the like) were in the same basket of wickedness - they truly were a basket of deplorables
To Abram, God says… that his descendants (Israelites) will be strangers in a land they had not known I.e. Egypt
16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
Israel will be in Egypt until the sin of the Canaanite is complete (have reached it’s full measure where justice will be dealt out to them)
Then God will enact judgement against their wickedness through Israel as they possess Canaan & drive its inhabitants out
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The Canaanites were much like our own culture
Technologically superior & advanced (for their time), but morally & ethically bankrupt
Q. Who decides that? The people themselves or God?
Many a politician who hears me say that the west is morally & ethically bankrupt would argue black & blue against that notion
But they are arguing from their own moral waywardness
The benchmark for what is morally & ethically superior is our God
He sets the standards, the values, the conditions
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The Canaanites were so morally corrupt that God announced the Ban over them
The Ban means that the banned city becomes a sacrifice to God
It is given over to God via utter destruction
The only things that are to survive are the gold, silver, bronze & iron material that will, no doubt, be melted down for God’s purposes
However, the people were forbidden to take any of the spoil for themselves as it was holy, dedicated - given over to God
The reason, as God said to Abram, is that their iniquity will come to full measure, then, such time will be right for the people of God to execute His justice & purge the land of all that corrupts
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Recall what happened to Saul when he let the people take the spoil from the battle against the Amalekites & even brought the King - Agag - back alive
The Scripture tells us that the Amalekites were under the Ban & Saul the king was responsible for faithfully carrying out the Ban - but he did not
When Samuel the prophet came to see him, Saul made the excuse that he kept the best of the spoil so he could offer them as a burnt offering to God
But then when pressed, confessed that he feared the pressure from the men
22 Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.
Q. Why did God demand a clean slate of the land?
Q. What would you prefer for your children? A bath full of dirt & mud or a bath of clean water?
Leaving the Canaanite in the land would pollute the people of God morally, ethnically & religiously & cause them to follow idols & to walk in the ways of the ungodly nations
Q. What benefit would that have been to the influence, God was trying to exert through Israel to the world?
Q. What good would that kingdom of priests, representing the living God, be to the world, when corrupted by the ungodliness of the pagan nations?
Q. What kind of salt & light of the earth could that possibly be?
No chance if the land was not purged from its influence
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Joshua sends spies to Jericho & they enter & stay at Rahab’s Inn
But the King of Jericho & his “deputies” were on the look out for the Israelites for they were aware of their on-going advance
After hearing that the men had lodged at Rahab’s Inn, the King orders Rahab to bring the men out to him
2. A Choice Motivated By Faith
2. A Choice Motivated By Faith
Q. What would become of Rahab & her business if she refuses the King?
No doubt, she would lose her business &, possibly, lose her life & that of her family
But Rahab made a choice - a choice that was more dangerous than we could ever imagine
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When we reflect back on the choices we make, we can start to see how those choices have impacted our lives as they are now & also those around us, namely, our children
We often ask ourselves whether we had made the wrong choices earlier on
My family know how much I enjoy those movies which explore these very themes
What if, I made a choice for this & not that - where would my life be now
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In these movies, you get the opportunity to see this play out
One particular one I watched was about a guy who was in an important baseball game
The scores were locked & the bases were loaded & all he had to do was to not get out
But - 3 strikes & he was out - he let the whole town down & he knew it
He ended up marrying the girl who took pity on him & yet, he always wanted to marry the prom queen - but he was now a loser & had no chance
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Anyway, in these movies with lots of creative license, his past gets changed
He ends up hitting that ball for a winner & he is the most popular guy in town - gets a good job, is wealthy & had married the prom queen
He wakes up one morning & this is now his new reality
He thinks he hit the jackpot
I’m not going to tell you the end of the movie am I
Yes I will - he ends up realising just how good & special he had it with a loving wife & whilst not very well off, he was so much richer in other ways
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My point being - it’s good to reflect on our choices & where that has led us
Q. What are the best choices we can make? To hand your life over to God & go His way!
Rahab is an example of what it means to hand your life over to God
We are busy doing what we want to do - we ignore the things that we know we should do & put them off for so long that we lose that window of opportunity & then, sometimes, it is too late to make that right choice
Choices are made & windows of opportunity stay open only for , what ends up being, a short time
Rahab had little time to decide but she made that choice, through faith, & she sealed the future of herself & her family
2.a. The Particulars of this Faith
2.a. The Particulars of this Faith
It started with Rahab through what she knew & understood
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 melted away before you. 10 “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 the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 “When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
Here we see the essence of Rahab’s faith & it had to do with an honest assessment of the situation
She acted on what she knew was true
She heard the evidence of what happened with God parting the Red Sea, bringing His people safely through & burying the Egyptians in it
She heard the evidence that Sihon & Og were utterly obliterated & were no more - & she knew that she would be next, if she didn’t make the most of her situation
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She had the opportunity with the spies entering her city & her Inn
She would not let this moment pass - for if she had not made the right choice, at that moment, she & her family were history
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She also acted on what she intuitively knew - Paul writes about the Gentiles...
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
That was her culture & ours - where the eternal God, who can be perceived through what has been made, had been turned away from
Their hearts had become darkened & turned the incorruptible God into idols - here’s the trick - that man can domesticate God & turn Him into idols to satisfy man’s own desires for self determination
But Rahab understood that Yahweh was God over all - creator of heaven & earth - & over all idols & so-called gods that the nations relied upon - she knew what was true & pursued it
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She is praised for her faith
In the book of James, she is praised because she had a faith that had traction
25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
Her faith was not merely a confession, with no more - it was a faith with traction
It was a faith where choices were made in reality
James says that she was justified when she received the spies & sent them out by another way
She sided with God, but that siding involved taking action - making a choice, a move that showed she had faith
Justified means here:- “acquitted of sin & placed in a right relationship with God”
31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
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So many people do not act on what they know - they sit on it, somehow hoping that with time, the wrestlings of conscience will just go away
The choices they know they need to make are put off because it doesn’t suit the particular lifestyle they want to live
Even Christians can do this
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I heard the term AWOL the other day & this got me thinking
AWOL is a military term which means - “absent without official leave”
Q. Could this be said of some Christians?
It’s a challenging statement, I know, but in the choices we make or fail to make, could it be possible that we go AWOL from the Lord?
Life choices should be based on faith - are our choices based on faith?
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Faith is the noun; faithful the adjective that describes the noun - hence faithful describes what faith is
Q. Or to put it another way, are we are permanent fixture in a home or a piece of furniture that can be shifted in & out?
Q. As a disciple of Jesus commissioned as his slave, can we actually go AWOL & it be ok?
The challenge here is to learn to be faithful & I can assure you, that it will start with your choices
Q. Should I go to church on Sunday, or should I go to the beach? What choice should I make? Does Jesus want me to be faithful in church gathering?
Q. Should I spend time inputting in to my children the things of God? What choice should I make because I have so little time? What would Jesus want me to do?
Q. Should I turn away from movies when the language or content clearly conflicts with the faith I possess? Do I have the convictions to make that right choice?
Q. Should I spent the better of my time with non-Christians or should I make sure I’m supporting & and kept supported by like-minded believers? Am I prepared to make a conscience choice in this matter?
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Furthermore, Rahab’s sparing was conditional
19 “It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.
When the Israelites attacked, she had to make sure that those who were to be saved remained within the walls of the Inn
Just as the Israelites had to apply the blood on the doorposts & lintels in order that the firstborn of the Israelite household would be saved, Rahab had to insure that her family remain inside the walls of the Inn
These are choices made & actions taken, by faith
The message is as relevant today as it was back then - Faith comes with faithfulness & choices for God
It comes from recognising that if we belong to Jesus (owned by Him - bought at a price - that you are not your own) - even though His disciples are said to be His friends, we are also douloi - slaves of Jesus
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Unfortunately, translations have tended to make this rather stark word douloi more acceptable to the modern reader - I think to avoid reading in 18-19th C. slavery into the meaning
Slavery in the 1st century was very different from the African slavery of recent times
The ESV renders it “servant”; the NASB does a little better with “bondservant” but others like the LEB stick to it’s literally meaning & translate it as “slaves”
Q. Do you think of yourself as Christ’s slave? Or, do you think that your life is your own?
The truth is, when you became a Christian, you were to take up your Christ & follow Jesus - the cross is not a piece of adornment you wear, it is an instrument of death
Shocking to think about our life in this way - it’s not what our culture lives by
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But that is also why you have been redeemed from out of the world to be in a right relationship with God
You exchanged owners - once under the ownership & control of the evil one, but now, under the ownership & control of Jesus Christ
3. The Scarlett Cord that Changed a Destiny
3. The Scarlett Cord that Changed a Destiny
12 “Now therefore, 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,
As I stuck my neck out for you, she says, how about you do so for me
She requests a pledge of truth
That is, a pledge of faithfulness, integrity - dealing with me in integrity, honesty & truly
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.”
18 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 to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household. 19 “It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.
21 She 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.
She hid the spies at great risk to herself & family because she recognised, through faith, that it was a greater risk to defy God
She feared Yahweh more than she feared men & so entered into a “covert operation” to protect the spies by hiding them
She nailed her colours to the mast - she placed the scarlett cord in the window which, if she hadn’t done, would have doomed herself & her family
Israel did utterly destroy Jericho - which we will look at next week - but Rahab & her family were saved/spared - she then joined Israel and became part of their community
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Rahab’s faith & actions became legendary in Israel
She appears in a number of ancient Jewish writings, including the famous Talmud and Midrash
One rabbi considers her words of faith as a strong rebuke to the waywardness of Israel
She is seen as the ideal Jewish proselyte
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She is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus
It is generally acknowledged that this is Rahab the Harlot from Jericho
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.
Rahab the Harlot & Canaanite appears in the genealogy of David & Jesus
Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 142 The Book of Ruth: Narration and Shared Themes
Surely this was a bold and totally unpredictable turn of events. Judah had sired a son by an ostensibly Canaanite prostitute and his descendant Salmon did the same by a Canaanite harlot who had come to embrace faith in the Lord. And even the choice of David was contrary to all convention since he was not the eldest V 142, p 135 V 142, N 566, p 135 p 135 son of Jesse but, to the contrary, the youngest. Beyond the confines of the genealogy proper it is significant finally that David’s own dynastic heir, Solomon, was born to a royal wife who had become such under most inauspicious circumstances. And he was not the eldest son of David, not the one who by every traditional criterion should have become heir apparent. Moreover, he was the son of a foreigner
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Matthew shows that Jewish pedigree is irrelevant when it comes to faith in Jesus Christ
The fact that Rahab had faith in Yahweh to the extent that she put her professed belief’s into action, meant that she was included in the saved & covenant community of God
Q. How about you? Have you put faith & actions into following Jesus?
Q. What are you prepared to gain or lose from the choices you make or, fail to make, when you know what you should do?
Rahab’s faith & the risks she took to find salvation, ought to be a reminder to us all, of the power & serious nature of faith & the choices that stem from it