Rahab's Faith And Divine Mercy

by K.H. Riley, Wembley, U.K. | Category: Spiritual Lessons From Joshua | Mar 1985

The mind of Joshua must have gone back forty years when he looked over the Jordan to the Promised Land. He had then been a young man and had gone to spy out the land on behalf of the people. They had wanted a report on that land despite the fact that God had promised it to them and they should have gone in by faith. Moses had agreed to their request and God had given His approval, for He knew the weaknesses in the heart of man (cf. Deut. 1:22,23 with Num. 13:2). What a tragedy that spying expedition had turned out to be. Only he and Caleb had come back with a recommendation to go in and possess the land, but the people had rebelled and he had had to wait for forty years before the land had come into view again. It was now he and not Moses who had to decide the next step. This time there was to be no public choosing of spies to bring back a report on the land. This time the spies were to be chosen secretly and sent in order to seek out the weak spots in the land's defences so that Joshua could work out his military strategy. The two spies were hand-picked men who were being sent out on a particularly dangerous mission and they were well aware that no mercy would be shown to them were they to fall into the hands of the people of Jericho.

It was of God's overruling that they found their way to Rahab's house. Foreign travellers would be marked men in a city which knew of the presence of a large army on the other side of Jordan. But entry into the house of a harlot caused no raising of eyebrows in lascivious Jericho and the spies could have found no safer refuge. That Rahab was a harlot and not just an innkeeper (as stated by Josephus and the Rabbis) is beyond doubt. The Hebrew word allows of no other translation and the description of Rahab in the New Testament leaves no cause for misunderstanding.

The spies arrived in Jericho at dusk and could have been in Rahab's house for no more than two hours before the king's men arrived. In that short time Rahab had been convinced that it was God's intention to destroy Jericho and that no matter how broad the wall and how strong the defences, Jericho was doomed. Hebrews 11:31 tells us that she perished not with the disobedient. All in Jericho had the same evidence as Rahab had even before the spies arrived. But whilst the rest of the city were disobedient only one was found whose faith transcended the walls of the city and rested in Jehovah, the God of Israel. Truly, "the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you" (Matt. 21:31).

By faith, Rahab hid the spies. That faith had been in existence, albeit feeble, before the spies came, and was strengthened by their witness. Her hiding of the two men and the sending of the hunt on a wild goose chase could be construed as an act of treason which it undoubtedly was in the eyes of men. But in the eyes of God her action was one of faith. Her telling of lies to the hunters cannot be justified. She had yet to learn that God does not need the lying testimony of men for the working out of His purposes and we cannot expect of a newly born convert the deep knowledge of God's will that an older disciple should have. Although adultery and lying are never condoned by God, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" and "Thou shalt not bear false witness" were specific commands to a people of God who were going to be given the presence of the Almighty God to give them the strength to obey. Rahab was still on the learning curve as were the inhabitants of a latter day Jericho to whom Paul could write "And that is what some of you were: But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 6:11).

In response to the actions of Rahab, the men promised that they would protect her when Israel took the city. Doubtless they thought that there would be a frontal attack on the weakest part of Jericho and that hand-to-hand fighting would take place in the streets. Rahab's house was on the wall, possibly near the town's gates and therefore at the strongest point. No frontal attack would be made there and they would do their best to see that Rahab's house was protected from the fiercest fighting. God honoured their promise which had been made without His prior consent. He had said that all the cities were to be "devoted" (see Deut. 20:16-18 JWM, which we hope to discuss in a later article) but He honoured this pledge even as He was going to honour a pledge given to the Gibeonites without His being previously consulted. The promise, however, was a limited one. Only those who were in the house would be safe. Any that took their chance in the street would forfeit all right to protection. And the sign of the scarlet cord would be there to enable the Israelites to honour their obligation. Did the spies remember that it was the scarlet blood on the doorposts and lintels of their fathers' houses that had saved them? To the inhabitants of Jericho it was no more than the sign they would expect in the window of such a woman, but to the armies outside it was the sign of the house that was to be protected at all costs even though the protector might lose his own life in the process.

It was here that the faith of Rahab was communicated to others. When the city was surrounded she persuaded all her family to squeeze into her small house. Some of them may have said, "why go to the wall? That is the spot that is nearest to the invading army. Surely the safest place is in the centre of the city furthest away from the fiercest fighting and the invaders will be worn out by the time they get to the centre of the city even if they ever do". But no. The faith of Rahab conveyed itself to her family with such fervour that they put themselves in an exposed position and trusted to that scarlet cord and the honour of Israel and Israel's God.

The uncovering of Jericho in this century has thrown up some interesting discoveries. Although it is unsafe to base any belief on such an unsure foundation as modern discoveries, it appears that a part of the wall near to the town's gates did not fall down in the general collapse of the walls and it may have been here that the house of Rahab was located. How the walls of Jericho fell down we need not trouble ourselves. If they fell because of a local earthquake it is no less of a miracle that it should have happened at precisely the moment that the trumpets sounded. But Jericho fell and only Rahab and her family were saved from the otherwise total destruction. It was into the hands of the two spies who owed their lives to Rahab that she and her family were committed. As people outside the covenant of God they were first assigned an outside place but Rahab was soon to find her place in Israel and a partaker of the divine covenant. Despite the protestations of modern rabbinical scholars who dislike the idea of a harlot being in their royal line, she became the wife of Salmon (was he one of the spies who owed his life to her?) and thus was one of the channels through whom came David, the great king of Israel (Ruth 4:21).

But much more, she was one of the channels through whom the Christ, the Son of God was to come. She is one of the five women who are named or referred to in the first chapter of Matthew which gives the "legal" descent of the Lord Jesus, showing Him to be of the line of David and Prince of the tribe of Judah. It is not without significance that each of the women in that chronology might be accused (in two cases quite unjustly) of loose living. The earthly line was a human one with all human faults and frailties, but the One who was to come at the end of that line was One who was "in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin". Rahab joins the list of women at whom the accusing finger has been pointed but to whom the words could be applied, "Neither do I condemn you... go now and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11).

Because of her faith, Rahab finds herself as one of the only two women whose names are recorded in that gallery of worthies, Hebrews 11. The other is Sarah, the wife of Abraham the father of the faithful. How many other women of faith could we not have found in the Old Testament? But of them all, God has chosen Rahab the harlot to be set alongside the motherly Sarah, the only woman whose age at death is recorded and whose son mourned her passing for over two years. Because of her faith, Rahab is named by James as one who showed by her works that her faith was not a dead one (James 2:25). In no way does the doctrine of justification by faith conflict with James' doctrine of works. As one has said, "We are saved by faith alone but not by a faith which is alone". Faith and works are two sides of the same coin. Faith towards God and works towards men.

How much can we not learn from the life and faith of Rahab? Don't too readily point the finger at her. Remember that all the other fingers are pointing at you.

Most of the Scripture quotations are from NIV.

K.H. Riley, Wembley, U.K. | Mar 1985
Spiritual Lessons From Joshua