The opening chapters of the book of
Joshua contain an amazing account of how a marginalized woman was strategic in
the nation of Israel’s conquering of Jericho. Jericho was a heavily fortified
city that was the first stop of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. Israel
as a nation knew what it meant to be marginalized. Four hundred years of
slavery, led to forty years of wilderness wanderings, during which an entire
generation had passed on, having died without entering the land of promise due
to unbelief. According to 1 Corinthians 10:1-11, although they all “ate the
same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank
from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ”, the Bible
reports “with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the
wilderness.”
Emerging from the generation were two leaders who were full of
faith in God, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua became the successor of Moses, and was
given the responsibility to lead Israel across the Jordan. Joshua dispatched
two spies with the instructions to “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”
(Joshua 2:1) Upon their arrival they went and “came into the house of a
prostitute whose name was Rahab”. The heroes of the Bible are often surprising
in their messy realities. Rahab put her own life a risk by harboring these
spies, having received the message of God’s favor that rested upon them. In
Joshua 2:8-9 she said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land,
and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of
the land melt away before you.” In response to her kindness to them, the spies
assured Rahab that she and her family would be protected in the overthrow of
Jericho, a covenant that was secured by the hanging of a scarlet cord in the
window of Rahab’s house. Joshua honored the covenant as Joshua 6:25 reads, “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 who Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”
It is important to recognize
the sequence of events in Rahab’s dealing with the spies. First, at some point
she heard about the nation of Israel with the rest of Jericho and this changed
her disposition toward the spies when they came, next she acted in accordance
with the truth she believed about who the spies represented, and finally
entered into a covenant with them that resulted in her salvation and the
salvation of her family when the city was destroyed. In this story and Rahab’s
actions the power of the gospel is demonstrated.
This is exactly what happens
in our lives through God’s powerful intervention of grace! We hear the gospel
and it changes our disposition towards God, moving us from enemy status to
family status. Then, empowered by that good news, we act on what we know to be
true, entering into a covenant with God through the blood of Jesus that results
in the salvation of our souls.
Rahab, a marginalized prostitute, became a great hero of the Bible. And in Matthew 1:5 she is listed in the linage of Jesus Himself. The gopsel makes outsiders the ultimate insiders! Truly this is good news.
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