Rahab

I arrived in Kuwait in March of 2003. About a month later I was attached to an element that was headed on a convoy to Baghdad. We traveled two days and finally pulled into Baghdad; the city was still smoking. It was a time that I refer to as “cowboys and Indians”. I was supposed to link up with an advance team that was attached to Alpha Co. As we pulled into Baghdad the commander for Alpha Company met me at the entrance to the airport. He asked me why I was there. I told him I was on orders to be there and link up with my team. He told me to turn around. He didn’t want my team there and told me he would offer no support to me and my team – no lodging, no food, no water, no security….nothing.

I couldn’t turn around. Alpha Company wasn’t an option, so I made an agreement with the Defense HUMINT Service people to stay with them and offered to conduct security for the group which was mainly civilians. However, I still had to work with the command. I would go to the headquarters requesting cots, mosquito netting, food, water, or whatever. I knew I would be denied but my soldiers would sneak through the back doors and meet up with friendlier NCO’s and come back with some supplies.

I learned later that the philosophy of the company commander was that their unit was “Alpha Pure”. Only active-duty soldiers from their unit would receive the best of the resources. If you weren’t Alpha Pure, you were just out of luck.

I’m glad the Kingdom of God doesn’t work that way! In fact, there is a story about an unlikely hero who had nothing going for her except for her faith and the grace of God. Her name was Rahab.

An Unlikely Hero

We have been talking about the truth of God’s Word in our community groups. One of the powerful truths about the Bible is that it chooses unlikely heroes. At the beginning of the NT we are given the ancestry of Jesus and this hero, or heroine, shows up in the ancestry of Jesus. In other words, the person of Jesus wouldn’t have been who he was if it hadn’t been for Rahab.

Matthew 1:1–6 NIV

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Some may be asking, “Why is Rahab so unusual?” To answer that question, we need to go back to the story in the book of Joshua. It unfolds like a spy novel. Israel is in conquest of the cities in the Promised Land and the stronghold of Jericho is the next city in the way. Joshua sends spies out to surveil the city and they find access through the questionable section, an area where the prostitute Rahab lives.

Joshua 2:1 NIV

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.

Rahab is an Amorite, lives in the city of the enemy and is a prostitute. Now, some Bible teachers claim that the Hebrew word used for Rahab means ‘inn keeper’ but most translations identify her as a prostitute. In fact, the Greek Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the New Testament) uses the Greek word, porne. I think it is pretty clear that the translation to prostitute is pretty accurate.

So, the question arises, “How does this woman end up in the genealogy of Jesus?”

God Qualifies the Disqualified

Rahab can’t be blamed for being an Amorite. She was born an Amorite. A prostitute? Now that might seem to be disqualifying but God has a way of qualifying the disqualified as we will see. It reminds me of a statement by Paul to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 NIV

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

Like Rahab, we have no reason to boast, God makes us able. No matter what our past has been, God is able to qualify us for his service.

Why Was God Pleased with Rahab?

We should read some more of the story of Rahab to see how things develop in her situation.

Joshua 2:2–21 NIV

The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 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.” 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. 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.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 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. 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. “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.” So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.” Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.” “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.

Rahab is known for her faith. Consider the words and actions of Rahab.

· She lies and hides them from the King of Jericho

· She acknowledges that the God of Israel is powerful, and He alone is Lord of Heaven and Earth.

The writer of Hebrews recognizes Rahab in faith’s hall of fame chapter (11) when he writes, “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient” (31).

Faith protected Rahab and her family from being destroyed with the rest of the citizens of Jericho – and faith in Jesus Christ saves us from destruction as well. Jesus often seemed to find great faith in unexpected places:

· a Roman centurion who insisted Jesus simply needed to speak healing for his servant

· a Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon possessed (Mt. 15:23)

· Jesus insisted on traveling through Samaria to find a woman at a well.

We just recently talked about the Shield of Faith, so we have a pretty good appreciation for faith. I just want to add this thought from a speaker named Timothy George.

When I was a student at Harvard Divinity School, I learned preaching from Dr. Gardner Taylor, a pastor in New York City. I’ll never forget those lectures. I remember him telling a story from when he was preaching in Louisiana during the Depression. Electricity was just coming into that part of the country, and he was out in a rural, black church that had just one little lightbulb hanging down from the ceiling to light up the whole sanctuary. He was preaching away, and in the middle of his sermon, the electricity went out. The building went pitch-black, and Dr. Taylor didn’t know what to say, being a young preacher. He stumbled around until one of the elderly deacons sitting in the back of the church cried out, “Preach on, preacher! We can still see Jesus in the dark.”

Sometimes that’s the only time we can see him—in the dark. And the good news of the gospel is that whether or not we can see him in the dark, he can see us in the dark. —Timothy George, “Unseen Footprints,” Preaching Today Audio, no. 290[1]

I love that! Faith is seeing Jesus in the dark. Seeing Him in our struggles. Seeing His promises even before we can touch them. Rahab had faith in the Lord without even knowing for certain if she would be saved from destruction. She was an extraordinary woman!

You Are Not Disqualified

You are not disqualified because of your family, your status, or your family. Christine Caine is an Australian born, Greek blooded, lover of Jesus, a sought-after international speaker, author and activist. Known for her ability to effectively communicate a message of hope, Christine has a heart for reaching the lost, strengthening leadership, and championing the cause of justice. Her testimony is a testimony of God qualifying the disqualified.[2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfbkCELzqsg

God will and can and does use absolutely anybody. It is not about the container; it is about what is in the container. Christine Caine is a modern-day example just like Rahab was an example.

Consider Rahab. If what we read about her in Joshua 2 were all we knew, we might lump her in with all the other renegades and bad examples in the Bible. But her story doesn’t stop there. Matthew reveals that she was King David’s great-great grandmother—and that she was in the lineage of our Savior, Jesus. And there’s more. Hebrews names Rahab as a woman of faith who was saved from the fall of Jericho. And in James, her works of rescue were given as evidence of her righteous faith.

James 2:25–26 NIV

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? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

God’s love is amazing that way. He can take people with a bad reputation, transform their lives, and turn them into examples of His love and forgiveness. If you think you’re too bad to be forgiven or if you know someone else who feels that way, read about Rahab and rejoice. If God can turn her into a beacon of righteousness, there’s hope for all of us.[3]

God can rescue you from your situation and use you for His glory!

Thank God for Scarlet Cords!

From the account of Joshua 2 we learn that Rahab’s home was on the outskirts of Jericho. Her house was a part of the wall that surrounded Jericho. I’m pretty certain that she wasn’t close to the palace. She was certainly in the red-light district of Jericho, and she would be the first to see the Israelite army coming to attack.

She had heard the talk about the God of Israel – how the Red Sea parted, and the Egyptian army was decimated. She had seen the fires and smoke of the Israelite army across the valley from Jericho. She knew the Amorite kings of the East had already been destroyed. She wondered if she could trust the words of the two Israelite spies.

In her hands was a scarlet banner, if the words of the spies were true, the scarlet banner would save her and her family. As the Israelite army approached, she had to make another decision, hang the banner or hide the banner. An unidentified poet once wrote,

Doubt sees the obstacles, Faith sees the way; Doubt sees the darksome night , Faith sees the day. Doubt dreads to take the step, Faith soars on high; Doubt whispers, "Who believes?" Faith answers, "I"! -- Author Unknown[4]

Rahab hung the banner. The promise was kept. Rahab and her family were spared.

Joshua 6:25 NIV

But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

The wall came down but for Rahab it meant a walk to freedom. There are many things that come out of this story –

- God qualifies the disqualified.... Stop believing that you’ve been disqualified!

- God delights in faith…Trust in God even when you cannot see your salvation!

- AND, what will you do with the crimson banner?... Jesus is our salvation, choose to trust Him today!

[1] Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof, 1001 Illustrations That Connect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), 190. [2] https://christinecaine.com/content/about/gk1h4w [3] Dave Branon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) [4] https://www.preceptaustin.org/joshua-2-commentary

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