Firstfruits from the Nations 7

Rahab the Harlot

“But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” Joshua 6:25

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

The instructions of God to Israel prior to their entering of the Promised Land made clear their responsibility under God toward the nations that inhabited Canaan. “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.” (Deut. 7:1-2)


Much could and has been said about the justice of this radical judgment against the nations of Canaan. Israel was the unique instrument of His wrath against these peoples. Centuries ago, their doom had been decreed, though God in forbearance waited until their iniquity against Him was “complete” (Gen. 15:16). Without the fullest measure of the sanctifying Spirit which comes upon the people of God under the New Covenant, it was necessary that Israel keep herself physically separated from those who were hostile to Jehovah so that the nation would be preserved in some degree of holiness until the coming of Christ.


But within this economy of judgment, it is evident that it was not the other nations’ ethnicity, skin color or culture which displeased God, but their rebellion against Him, or their lack of faith in Him as supreme, and their resultant propensity to turn Israel away from Him. This is the reason given for their destruction in the very text above quoted: “for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods” (Deut. 7:2). It should not be a surprise, then, that in cases where there was faith exercised on the part of Gentiles devoted to destruction – a confession of Jehovah as the only true God – wrath was diverted and mercy was extended. One such case was the woman of Jericho, Rahab, whose family became the sole believing remnant, set apart for God from out of the inhabitants of Jericho before its destruction.


When the spies met Rahab, she was a prostitute who had, by the grace of God, come into an as yet immature, but nevertheless real faith in the supremacy of the God of Abraham. Her faith is demonstrated by the confession of her lips (“the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” - 2:11), by her willingness to protect the spies in spite of possible danger to herself, and by her remarkable confidence that she and her family, though Gentiles, could be spared if she but asked for exemption from the decreed judgment which waited imminently across the Jordan.


The story can be read in Joshua chapter two, and therefore needs not be retold here in detail. Getting waylayed in an ethics quandary over her lie is probably off target from the purpose for which this account was given. In short, Rahab’s God-fearing, faith-induced actions for the benefit of the spies from Israel resulted in the promise of safety for her and her family if she would only hang out the window of her dwelling the cord with which she let the spies escape. God approved of the spies’ promise to Rahab, for when He brought down the walls of Jericho flat, her home in the wall apparently survived alone (Joshua 6:17-25).


The instructions which the spies gave to Rahab for her salvation bear much resemblance to the instructions given through Moses to the people of Israel prior to the visitation of the angel of death as the tenth plague against Egypt (Ex. 12:12-13). There as here, it was required that an identifying marker be placed over the dwelling of those who believed the Word from the Lord, and there as here, staying within the refuge of the home flagged with crimson was the only guarantee of safety. The spies told Rahab: “Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless” (Joshua 2:18-19). The passover in Egypt and the protection of Rahab’s family in Jericho point beyond themselves to the work of the Savior Jesus Christ, and the faith which is required to become attached to Him and benefit from His atonement. Only those who take God at His Word, hide themselves in Christ, and are willing to be marked by the “foolish” and “shameful” reality of His cross will be spared wrath – will be passed over – when the day of judgment comes.


From this story, several things may be noted. I list only a few. First, that true faith acts upon itself, and without works, faith is shown to be dead. Others in Jericho acknowledged the supremacy of Jehovah and shrunk back in fear (Joshua 2:9-10). Rahab on the contrary acted upon her faith by receiving the men into her home (it is this for which she is commended in Hebrews 11), hiding them from their pursuers and obeying their instruction to hang the cord out her window. Second, that God is often inclined to select the most unlikely people for salvation – such as this harlot – so that His mercy is magnified all the more. We must not overlook or despise such if we are to be like Christ. Third, note that an entire family was spared destruction through Rahab’s actions. Certainly personal faith is required. But in God’s kind providence, it is often true that the coming to faith of one individual in a new community or city is used to interrupt the “futile ways inherited from the forefathers” (1 Pt. 1:17) and set a new course for righteousness and Godwardness for an entire family. Heralds of the gospel should pray and labor for such household-wide demonstrations of the Spirit’s power. Fourth, see how Rahab, though a Gentile by birth and a prostitute by profession, came to occupy no second-class position in the people of God. Hers was a full inheritance of the promises. Incredibly, she married a man of apparent wealth and standing in Israel, became the mother of Boaz and the great-grandmother of David the King, and receives mention in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5). Faith is the instrument for membership in the Israel of God, not bloodline or status. Everyone who believes is entitled, on the basis of the crucifixion of Christ, to receive a full inheritance among all those who are being sanctified by faith in Him.


The fragile structure of this universe is about to crumble at the shout of the King of kings and Lord of lords at His return. His messengers have been sent in with a word of hope: run to and be sealed up by the Lord Jesus Christ while there is time, so that when He comes to judge the living and the dead, you are spared destruction! There is no recourse but to hope in Him, whose blood seals forever servants for God from every tribe, language, people and nation (Rev. 7). Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. His is a redemption which has the efficacy and authority to reach into the most hostile and godless of peoples and create a refuge for those who believe!

~~posted by Ambassador