Many of us are probably familiar to some extent with Rahab, the Jericho prostitute who turns to God and is spared along with her family when the Israelites destroy the city. But there is much more to her story that should cause us to marvel at God’s mercy and grace, and warn us against hypocrisy.
Let’s go look at where we encounter her. Israel had sent out two spies to check out Jericho. They go to the home of Rahab, the prostitute, where presumably it would not be unusual to find strangers. But someone alerts the authorities and Rahab is told to turn over the men. She covers for them and hides them on her roof. A search party begins looking for them near the Jordan River.
Joshua 2:8-21
8 Now before [a]the spies lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the [b]Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you [c]utterly destroyed. 11 When we heard these reports, our hearts melted and no [d]courage remained in anyone any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of [e]truth, 13 and [f]spare my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters, and all who belong to them, and save our [g]lives from death.” 14 So the men said to her, “Our [h]life [i]for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the Lord gives us the land that we will deal kindly and [j]faithfully with you.”
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. 16 And she said to them, “Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not encounter you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way.” 17 And the men said to her, “We shall be exempt from this oath [k]to you which you have made us swear, 18 [l]unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather into your house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. 19 And it shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house outside will have [m]his blood on his own head, and we will be innocent; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20 But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be exempt from the oath which you have made us swear.” 21 She then said, “According to your words, so be it.” So she sent them away, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
Let’s think about a couple of things. First: How did God communicate with Rahab? By dream? By vision? How did she learn that Yahweh was the one true God? However He did it, we must be humbled by the love and concern God showed to a woman who was part of an accursed tribe and who lived an immoral lifestyle.
Second: Think about the scarlet cord hanging out her window. Where else do we see in Scripture that a red mark protects everyone inside a dwelling? The night of Passover, when the blood of the lamb on the lintel and doorposts protected those who were inside. Here is another picture of Passover, but this one is not protecting Israelites, but pagan Canaanites! Were these Hebrew spies thinking about how their relatives had been spared from wrath by a similar process? Here is an example of faith resulting in right standing with God apart from the Law, just like Abraham, proving that God is no respecter of persons.
Now we pick up in Joshua Chapter 6.
Most of us know how Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, so we will skip to the relevant portion for our study today:
Joshua 6:20-25
“So the people shouted, and [g]the priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down [h]flat, so that the people went up into the city, everyone straight [i]ahead, and they took the city. 21 They [j]utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
22 And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, just as you have sworn to her.” 23 So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives, and placed them outside the camp of Israel. 24 Then they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the [k]house of the Lord. 25 However, Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua [l]spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Let’s think about this first from Rahab’s perspective. She and her family have been listening to utter chaos and terror outside her house. The screams of people and animals as they are brutally slaughtered. Then, there is, literally, a deathly quiet, and then there is a knock at the door. With great trepidation, they open the door and step out into a living nightmare. Everything destroyed. All people, all livestock, all structures. Everybody Rahab and her family knew was dead, their corpses lying mutilated on the ground. Spared, but unclean, she and her family are put “outside the camp.” So was Jesus.
Hebrews 13:11-13
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the Holy Place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood. So then, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”
Jesus has a special affinity for those who are rejected, scorned, despised by the in crowd, just as Rahab was and many others. He personally experienced that same rejection, and invites us to journey with Him to where He resides with those whom He has rescued from rejection.
Back to Jericho. Imagine the terror of what Rahab’s family was feeling. You are now totally dependent on these people who just destroyed your city and killed all your friends and neighbors. You are feeling not just terror, but profound loneliness and sense of loss. Imagine if Russians invaded and killed everybody in your city except you, and now you were dependent on them.
What about the other side? As Israelites, you were warned to kill all the Canaanites completely, to avoid being infected with their idols. Now, what do you do with this family? I’m sure some advocated to let them starve. They only promised to spare their lives from the destruction of Jericho. There were no promises about feeding and caring for them. But Rahab knew that Yahweh was the God of heaven and earth. God had somehow revealed Himself to her, and He would not see her abandoned.
But she is a profound sinner, from a foreign culture, filled with idolatrous practices, living in enforced isolation. How does she become discipled, and an important figure in Jewish history? Yes. That is exactly what happens to her, but we have to fill in the details with our imagination. As with the mystery of Melchizedek, sometimes the most profound biblical stories are about what’s left out of the narrative.
There had to have been interaction between Rahab’s family and the Israelites. Probably, there was daily interaction as more merciful heads prevailed and food was delivered to keep them alive. But that doesn’t solve the problem. Keeping her alive doesn’t equate to discipleship.
I can imagine a godly woman provoking her husband to think about these poor people and shouldn’t someone try to teach Rahab and her family about the Lord? I’m sure the idea was met with apprehension at first. “What if we get infected with their idolatry? No, it’s too risky. Too bad they weren’t born Jews.”
Time passes, but somewhere along the line, at least Rahab is discipled, probably by one of those godly wives who kept persisting until her husband acquiesced! Rahab responds and learns well. In fact, she surpasses most of the young Israelite women in her devotion to the Lord, and becomes known for her character and the radical transformation of a changed life. How do we know that? Because of something revealed in the Book of Ruth and a one-sentence reference in Matthew Chapter 1.
So, let’s turn our attention first to Ruth.
If you are not familiar with Ruth, it is a short book packed with depth and meaning. The story centers around a family from Bethlehem, a husband named Elimelech and his wife Naomi. They have two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. A severe drought causes them to move east across the Jordan river to the area of Moab, where Naomi stays for 10 years. While there, her husband dies. Her sons marry Moabite women. But then her sons die, and she is left in Moab with her two daughters-in-law, Orpah, and Ruth. Naomi hears that the drought is gone in Bethlehem and she decides to return, and tries to convince her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab. Orpah does, but Ruth insists on going to Bethlehem with Naomi and staying with her until her death, and will worship the God of Israel. So, they return.
When they arrive in Bethlehem, it is the beginning of the barley harvest, probably mid-April. How to get food? Well, Ruth goes out to glean in the common area which the landowners use, and she just happens to get connected with a man named Boaz. We need to learn something about Boaz. He is described as “gibbor,” which is sometimes translated as “mighty man.” It implies he is a man of substance and character, and when we read Ruth, we are touched by his compassion and concern both for Naomi and for Ruth. He is impressed by Ruth’s devotion to Naomi, and her willingness to seek shelter under Yahweh’s wings.
Interestingly, he is also a kinsman redeemer (Leviticus 25:47-55) to Naomi, and is willing to redeem her land including the necessity of giving her offspring through Ruth, the Moabitess. He was willing to marry a foreign woman. Boaz and Ruth had a child, Obed, who was the grandfather of David. Ruth 4:21-22. So, Ruth the Moabite woman participates in establishing the earthly lineage of the Messiah.
We are told in Ruth 4:21 that Salmon (or Salma) begot Boaz. We don’t know from the account here who Boaz’ mother is, but Matthew clears that up for us.
Matthew 1:5 tells us “Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse.”
Salmon was the father of Boaz, and Boaz’ mother is Rahab. Interestingly, she is not referred to as “Rahab the Harlot,” just Rahab. She is a harlot no more.
Remember, Boaz is a man of influence and character in Bethlehem. There is no doubt that Boaz’ character was formed in large part due to his mother’s influence. She would have had to be a woman of great moral character to attract the attention of Salmon.
Knowing people as we do, we can be sure that Salmon was scorned and rejected by some of his peers for marrying a former pagan harlot. That took a lot of courage on his part. And think about his parents! Let’s say our son came home all excited about this woman he met at a Bible study, who had been a sexual abuse victim by her stepdad, ran away from home, wound up on Colfax Avenue in Denver, was befriended by a man who turned out to be a pimp, got her strung out on fentanyl, and trafficked her as a prostitute? Sound like something that happens every day. But she had been arrested, detoxed, came to Christ while in substance abuse treatment, and was now a very godly young woman in love with Jesus. We love to hear stories like that.
But what if our son decided he wanted to marry her? Would we be accepting of her as a redeemed child of God, or would we be concerned about our family’s reputation, and suggest he seek out a virgin from one of the “good” families from his Awana’s group?
What if your son said, “But what about that verse in Second Corinthians Five?
2 Corinthians 5:17
If anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Is that true, or not?”
Do we feel the conviction of hypocrisy as we contemplate our reaction? Are we interested more in what serves God’s purposes, or being concerned about what our peer group will think?
Remember, God chose Rahab and Ruth (and Tamar, for that matter) to be mothers of men in the lineage of Christ. He did that on purpose to teach us something about His mercy and grace.
No doubt, Boaz’ own family history was a strong influence for him to so readily agree to marry Ruth the Moabitess. He knew his parent’s story, had heard from his mother Rahab about the pain of loneliness and rejection when they lived “outside the camp,” and had no hesitation to marry a foreign woman who so obviously loved God and honored Naomi.
The character of Rahab may also be inferred from Hebrews. She and Sarah are the only two women named in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews Chapter 11). Rahab is also mentioned by James as an example of the works of faith.
(Call up the worship team)
So, who are the Rahab’s in our life? The people who have a checkered past, but who are growing in the Lord? Can we see past who they were, and see what they can become as the Lord changes them? He wants us to see with His eyes, and be His hands and feet to disciple them so they can become the godly Rahab’s of this generation.
The main reason why I love working in the criminal justice system is that I get to participate in God’s mission of making modern-day Rahabs. To see a life in chaos become a godly man or woman is a privilege I have witnessed repeatedly over the past 35 years.
Fact is, none of us come from “good” families. There is only one Good Family, and that consists of all of us, from whatever background, who have repented, been born again, and belong to the body of Christ. We all are new creations in Christ, and our sins—all of them—are forgiven and forgotten by our Lord. May we celebrate our new beginnings every day!
