Joshua 2 "Melting Hearts"

Introduction: Rahab, Woman of Faith

What was going through her mind?

Why would this well-to-do prostitute welcome spies from a nomadic people

lurking across the Jordan River from her city?

One could propose a secular argument:

she may have been disenchanted with the current regime

and thought she could advance further under Israelite leadership.

Or maybe there was a feud between two families,

and this was a desperate attempt to get rid of the other family.

Maybe so.

But whatever else may have been going on in Jericho,

Rahab the prostitute was convinced that Yahweh, the God of Israel,

was going to give his people victory over Jericho,

and that if she wanted to live, she must ally with Yahweh.

I called her "well-to-do."

Why?

Rahab has a house in the city wall.

Cities in those days were very small.

Only a few hundred people actually lived inside the city.

Most would have lived in the villages around the city,

only coming inside the city (or fortress) in time of war.

A prostitute who lived inside the city would have been a very important prostitute.

But

1. The Salvation of the Spies (2:1-7)

The first five chapters of Joshua are all about "going over."

Israel is called to take possession of the land of promise,

and to do that they must cross the River Jordan,

and fight against the armies and cities of Canaan.

But they are to do so with wisdom.

Faith in God is not a leap in the dark.

To believe God's promises means that Joshua must lay wise plans for battle.

And then to go into battle against overwhelming odds,

trusting that God will do what he has promised.

But God did not promise that he would spy out the land and train the soldiers.

That is what Joshua must do.

And so Joshua sends out 2 spies.

It is perhaps not surprising that the man who had been one of two faithful spies

chose the number 2.

He does not send out 12 spies, one from each tribe,

as though this was a group decision.

He is the covenant mediator.

Israel's inheritance depends upon him alone (as we saw last week).

Therefore he sends out 2 faithful spies who will give him

the information he needs as a general.

The spies go to Jericho,

and there they lodged in the house of a prostitute.

What were the spies doing at Rahab's house?

We may hope that it was honorable, but the text doesn't say that.

It may have been a good place to take cover,

or it may have been that they blew their cover through stupidity.

Either way, their arrival at Rahab's house prompts suspicion,

and the king of Jericho hears that men of Israel are on the prowl.

So the king does what any good king would do

if he is concerned with homeland security.

He sent messengers to Rahab saying, (verses 3-6)

Did Rahab tell the truth?

No.

Did Rahab sin by lying to the king?

Let me put it another way:

Did Rahab sin by protecting the servants of the Lord's anointed

from their enemies who desired to kill them?

We looked recently at the ninth commandment.

"You shall not bear false witness."

The commandment is especially concerned with speaking the truth to power.

In the court of law-

In the courts of the church-

In the court of father and mother-

you must tell the truth.

But that does not mean that you must tell the truth

to those who wish to use the truth for wicked purposes.

Rahab is commended for her faith.

What is more

James 2:25 says that

in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works

when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

Rahab's lie is called an act of faith,

by which she was justified.

If Rahab had said, "I believe that God will destroy Jericho,

but I have to tell the truth to the king,"

then she would have denied her faith by her works.

For Rahab, believing God required her to lie to the king.

This doesn't happen very often.

Protecting Jews and others who were hiding from the Nazis

would justify lying.

But there are times when it may appear that two of God's commandments conflict.

In such perverse situations, we need wisdom to know

how to rely on God's promises.

2. The Oath of the Spies (2:8-21)

Rahab then explains her actions.

(Verses 9-11)

She has heard of the mighty works of the LORD.

Notice how she starts:

"I know that Yahweh has given you the land."

This is faith!

Israel hasn't even crossed the Jordan yet!

And yet she is confident that God will give them the Land.

Why?

1) The Red Sea (Ex 14)

2) Sihon and Og (Num 21:21-35)

The crossing of the Red Sea happened 40 years ago.

Yet the story was still being told in Jericho of this mighty work

that Yahweh had wrought for the sons of Jacob.

Sihon and Og were more recent, but that only demonstrated to the

people of Jericho that this Yahweh was not finished with Israel.

Their hearts now melted as they realized that Israel was across the Jordan River,

and was headed their way.

How do you stop a god?

But Rahab's response is different from the rest of the people of Jericho.

Their hearts melt in fear.

Her heart melts in faith.

Her only hope is to entrust herself to the God of Israel.

So then she asks for mercy (12-14).

Israel was commanded to destroy all Canaanites.

But the spies can tell that this is no ordinary Canaanite.

The reason they were to destroy the Canaanites was because of their wickedness.

But here is an exception-a Canaanite who trusts Yahweh!

And so the spies accept her terms, and swear an oath to her.

(Read 15-21)

Two parts:

1) it includes her father's whole household

2) the sign of the covenant (the scarlet cord)

Many shy away from seeing the scarlet cord

as a symbol of the blood of Christ.

But no one can deny that it is a symbol of blood.

Just as the blood on the doorposts of the house at the Passover

were a sign to the angel of death to pass over that house,

so also the scarlet cord is a sign to the Israelite messengers of death

to pass over this house.

But if anyone goes out of the house,

they are not protected by this sign.

Hebrews 11:31 says that

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient,

because she had given friendly welcome to the spies.

There is another place where Rahab is mentioned in the NT.

In Matthew 1, where Matthew reports the genealogy of Jesus.

Rahab the prostitute, it turns out, married a man from Judah named Salmon.

By faith she entrusted her life to a pair of strangers, hoping in the grace of Yahweh.

His grace was greater than she would ever know in her lifetime.

But she became the mother of Israel's kings,

and indeed, the mother of the King of kings himself, our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. The Report of the Spies (2:22-24)

After remaining in hiding for three days, the spies return to Joshua and give their report.

They came down from the hills and "passed over."

Three days later Israel will "pass over" the Jordan,

but the author uses the same word here to anticipate

the great crossing of the Jordan in the following chapters.

The spies report in faith:

(2:24)

God has already begun the work.

Israel must now go forth in faith.