Rahab - Joshua 2

God has commanded Joshua that it’s time to make the move into the promised land, so he has his officers get things ready and he also sends two spies into Jericho to get a look at what they are up against. Some people liken this to when the other group of spies went into the promised land to scope things out and think that Joshua is being disobedient, but that’s not the case. First off, Joshua was only one of two men who went with the initial scouting mission and came back unintimidated, ready to militarily move against the Canaanites. Secondly, that first scouting group consisted of representatives from each tribe who were going to see if they even wanted to invade. The scouts from the first group were elected to go by committee and were sent by tribal leaders who didn’t know if they wanted to send their people in to take the promised land like God commanded. These two spies were sent in by Joshua only and the recon mission was probably only known to Joshua and his top commanders. This was a tactical mission for military planning, not a group sent to see if they even wanted to obey.

When these spies get to Jericho, they immediately go “into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” TB spends a lot of time talking about why he disagrees that Rahab was a prostitute, and some of it makes sense. He notes that it seems like she is the property owner, which is unusual for a woman so leans to her being an inn keeper instead. He also points out that there was no recorded sexual activity between the Rahab and the spies, but I don’t necessarily think that there would be. The IM spends a lot of time reasoning why she almost certainly is a prostitute and their logic makes sense as well. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but it seems to me that she probably was a prostitute because I lean more to the IM side then the TB usually and their argument makes the most sense. I like the idea that she is a prostitute because it shows that God speaks and works through those who are the least of society and who are the most exploited. I like the idea that He sees them, works through them, and has a plan for them to have a good outcome. It also makes sense that the spies went to her house because it would have been a place where outsiders come and go without suspicion.

The king of Jericho hears that “the children of Israel” had come to her house and were checking out the land so they could take it militarily. TB points out that the presence of Israel and their ambitions to take over the whole land through combat was no secret to the Canaanites currently living there. The king of Jericho would have known that this massive horde of people were in the desert, waiting to come over and fight them for their land, there would have been no surprise there. So the king sends men to Rahab and tells her to “bring forth the men that are come to thee… for they be come to search out all the country.” She tells the men, her own government, that the men left, and she doesn’t know where they went but that they could probably catch up to them if they left right away. So the government men take her word for it and leave to go find these men. What had actually happened was she had hid the men on top of her roof “with the stalks of flax.”

This begs the question, why would she betray her own people, at the risk of her own life, to protect these spies who were coming to plan how to kill everyone and take her land? This is another reason why her being a prostitute makes sense because if anyone knows about the absolute worst of a society, it is a woman who is sexually exploited by one. Depending on her situation, it’s possible she felt no loyalty to a people who regularly hurt and exploited her. It’s possible that that’s not the case, but I think it’s very possible that it is as well. The reason Rahab gives for why she betrays her people is because “I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.” It’s important to note, per TB, that while our translations say “the Lord,” in the original text, it says “addoni” or “YWHW,” which is the specific name of the Hebrew God, so it’s not possible for her to be referencing any other God, none of the pagan gods, and very specifically she’s saying, “I know that YWHW, your God, the God of the Hebrews gave you the land.” TB also notes that the name of the Hebrew God would have been common knowledge as well because at that time, the “gods” didn’t give the people their names, so the Hebrew God having His name known by His people would have been unusual, and the surrounding people would have known that name, because knowing a God’s name was an important think to know back then.

She says, “I know that your Hebrew God gave you this land.” How does she know that? She says that all the people are afraid of the Israelites because they heard about the Red sea being dried up so that they could walk through it and escape the Egyptians. They also know that the Israelite army defeated the kingdoms on the east side of the Jordan river, and all that terrifies them. This is a good example of the blessing that Israel’s enemies would be so afraid of them that their “hearts did melt” like she says here. God puts the fear of his people into the hearts of their enemies, and this is a good example of that, so much so that “neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you.” This isn’t a lot of information for her to go on, my guess is that while she was thinking about these things, the miracles God did for his people, that the Spirit taught and testified to her that the Hebrew God was the true God that she needed to be aligned with. What faith! She didn’t even see or experience the miracles herself, she just heard about them through the grapevine and that was enough for her to believe so fervently that she betrayed her own people to serve that God, a God that didn’t even have any obligation toward her. In fact, that’s probably why she’s mentioned by both Paul and James in the New Testament as being an example of incredible faith. How much more do I need for my faith to be strong enough to align my will with God’s?

I’ll tell you, it took considerably more for my faith to be strong enough to stop fighting God’s will for my own, and I’m still not even fully there yet. I’m trying and I’ll get there, but hearing about miracles that someone else experienced has historically never been enough for me, I mean even reflecting on my own miracles hasn’t been enough, and that’s to my detriment. It’s like when Jesus tells Nathaniel when they first meet, “I saw you sitting under the fig tree,” and suddenly Nathaniel believes that Jesus was the Messiah and that’s all it took. How much more have I needed than that? What a tragedy, my constant rejection of God because it wasn’t enough. In fact, one of the most pervasive tactics Satan uses for me is to say that God isn’t real, that I’m making this all up, and I really have to stop and answer that question for myself pretty much every day. How is that faith? Can I not reference by own miracles, my own answers, and failing that those miracles and testimonies of other people? God shows up for me constantly and always has, why isn’t that enough for me?

Rahab’s cooperation in their mission is important so she asks that when the Israelite army comes “ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lies from death.” This is a reasonable request, “hey I’m on your side, I risked my life to save yours, let me live when you come to kill everyone else.” They are skeptical but agree, as long as she doesn’t betray them and gathers all her family into her house when the time comes, they will be spared as long as she hangs a scarlet cord on her window. A few interesting tidbits brought up by this, first was that they didn’t know what tactics Israel was going to use when conquering the city, so it would have been very presumptuous for them to think that they could inform the whole Israelite army to not attack the house with the scarlet cord hanging on the window. Secondly, they didn’t have the authority to agree to that deal. In fact, TB points out that it went against God’s command to kill everyone for them to agree to this deal. But they did anyway, and God honored it, and I’m interested to learn how God honors that promise knowing how Jericho is defeated and that her house was connected to the city walls.

Another interesting thing that TB brings up is that the scarlet cord was Rahab’s version of the Passover. Just like the Israelites painted the door posts with lamb’s blood, so Rahab hung the scarlet cord from her windows and the destroyers would pass over her house, sparing her family. She and the spies agree to the deal, and she lets them out of her window that opened to the outside of the city walls. They went back to Joshua and told him everything, testifying, “Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.”