Father, my prayer is as John the Baptist said that I might decrease and Christ would increase. So may it be true in each of our hearts. Speak to us, give us the miracle of faith that we might be saved. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
We began last week a series in the book of Joshua and we continue, coming to the second chapter. For the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, the Torah, the books of Moses, after Deuteronomy comes Joshua, we call the history books. The Jewish thinking this was the start of the prophets, which tells us something about the aim of the book of Joshua, not merely to recount a history of God’s people but to speak a word to them and a word to us. We will find that certainly to be the case with this famous story from Joshua chapter 2.
Follow along in your Bibles as I read.
“And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.”
“Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and 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. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the 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 devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.””
“Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. And she said to them, “Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.” The men said to her, “We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.” And she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.”
“They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing. Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them. And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.””
This is one of those passages that we encounter from time to time, especially in the Old Testament, that does not really seem to be necessary. True, it is a famous story. If you grew up in the church, heard this story before. If you’re new to the church, you can learn it here for the first time. Rahab is mentioned three times in the New Testament; Matthew 1, Hebrews 11, James 2. We’ll come back to those at the end. So this is a famous story, it’s a dramatic story. You have spies, you have pursuers, you have hiding, you have a coming destruction. Many of us know this story. But have you ever stopped to ask why is it here?
If you’ll permit a personal example, I’ve written some books and one of the things I’ve learned in writing books is it’s a time-consuming activity to write books. I do tell people the secret to selling books is to have someone else draw pictures in them. But it’s a time-consuming activity and you learn when you write something that you don’t put things in there by accident.
That’s especially the case when you couldn’t sit down and just plunk this out at the computer and then send it off and get it off on the printing press but you are writing this by hand and any copies that exist have to be copied by hand. So you really think to yourself why is this here. It’s not by accident.
I said before when I was in high school and I would have a lit class I used to sometimes roll my eyes, hopefully not literally in front of the teacher, but I’d think surely you are reading way too much into these stories. Someone just wrote an interesting story and it’s possible we can over-interpret literature, but I’ve come to see that my teachers were right. And whether you’re writing a piece of fiction or it’s a piece of historical narrative, what you choose to say is there for a reason.
It’s especially true that God is also the author of this book. So why? Because surely this is not the only story. This is a very compressed history we’re getting. This isn’t the only dramatic event that happened in all those years, or all those times and months that it took to enter into the Promised Land. Surely they met other people. There were other interesting stories. So why, of all the things that happened to them, the author wants to tell us this story?
At first glance, it doesn’t really make the Israelites look very good. First of all, where do the two spies go? They go to the house of a prostitute. That doesn’t look good. Second, they seem to be the world’s worse spies. No sooner have they entered into the prostitute’s house but we hear in the very next verse “And the king already knows” that they’re there and he comes and he says we know that the men have come to spy out the land. So it doesn’t make these men look like particularly good scouts, they have to hide on the roof in a pile of flax and then they got locked into the city after hours. It’s kind of an embarrassing story.
Notice, I hope you have your Bible open, look at how smoothly things could have flown from chapter 1 to chapter 3. At the end of chapter 1, “only be strong and courageous.” Then you turn to chapter 3, “Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out.” Well, that would have worked just perfectly, wouldn’t it? Joshua, be strong and courageous, turn the page, next thing he got up and he went off to Jericho to the Jordan River to be strong and courageous.
So what are we doing with this story in chapter 2? By the time we get through, I hope you will understand why this story is here, but before we can land there, let’s understand the story itself. We can divide it into four parts corresponding to the four paragraphs in the ESV, and I was very proud of these headings. The ruse, the request, the rope, and the return.
So first verses 1 through 7, the ruse. That is, the deception. Joshua sends out these two men. Now remember, this is almost 40 years since Moses first sent out some spies. You remember? He sent out 12 of them and they went and they saw a great land but they came back and 10 of the 12 were fearful and said they’re like giants, it’s never going to work, but only two of them gave a good report and said no, God can do this for us. That was Caleb and that was Joshua. Surely there’s some symbolism here. Only two did their job, so I’m only sending out two spies.
They come out from this place called Shittim, which is significant we’ll see in a moment. Shittim was the place where Moses first learned he would not make it into the Promised Land. Now it is their last encampment before they have to cross the Jordan. They’re going to come to the first city on the other side of the Jordan, Jericho. It’s not a massive settlement; there were no massive cities there. Jericho is sometimes called the oldest city in the world, the first walled city, maybe even the oldest city. Probably it was the poor that had their houses, like Rahab, built into the walls of the city. Don’t think, well, wow, that’s really great. I get a great view. No, you’re there on the wall, the very first place where anyone who is attacking is going to come, and certainly the rich and the king and the well-to-do would have been further in.
Now it wasn’t anywhere near as impressive, because archeologists have dug up these sites, as say the city of Gondor, but you can imagine there’s a wall and then all the way further in might be where the king. Don’t think too much of a king – this is really a local chieftain for this outpost here, the city of Jericho.
They come to the house of a prostitute. There are no hints here that they had sex with Rahab; would have said they went into her but it makes a point to say no, they went into her house. And before we’re too hard on the spies, this may have been the most natural place that someone would go form out of town, probably more like a hostel or a tavern than a brothel, though there would have been sexual activity there, but it might have been, they figured, the best place to go where nobody’s going to ask a lot of questions. We go into this house, which is well-known for whatever reason as being the house of Rahab the prostitute, that’s likely where men form outside the city would go when they were passing through.
So they went there. And almost immediately the king finds out about these two men. They are from Israel and they’re here to search out the land and these men are in need of being found out, as far as he’s concerned. So he asks Rahab and Rahab deceives the men. There is no way around it. She tells a lie. She says, “I don’t know where they are from.” Well, not true, she does. She says when it was dark they left the city. Not true, they’re still upstairs. She says if you go out, you will surely find them. Also not true.
So what are we to make of Rahab’s deception? Well, we’re not going to spend a lot of time on this because the text doesn’t spend any time on this. But there are many commentators and theologians and ethicists over the years who certainly make a case that obviously what she did was wrong. She did deceive them, there’s no way around that. She intentionally meant to deceive them. She did not tell the truth and we usually call that a lie. Some people think maybe we’re supposed to wonder at the end of chapter 2, if you don’t the end of the story, you’re supposed to wonder a sort of a cliffhanger, well, if this Rahab lies like that to her own people, how are we to know she’s really telling the truth to the spies? Maybe she’s lying to them and as soon as they leave, she’s going to tell the whole town about these men and they’re going to marshal their defenses. Maybe this will be the undoing of Israel.
So you certainly could make the case that she did what was wrong. Others argue that she did what was right, that though deception normally is the wrong thing to do, this was overall an act of faith, and certainly the New Testament says it’s an act of faith. And you might argue that this was basically a time of war and in a time of literal war, not just conflict, but literal war, nobody thinks that you are lying when you plan an ambush so that you feint your men over here and then the cavalry is over here beyond the hill. You understand that’s what happens in battle, so perhaps this is that kind of military maneuver.
It is an important ethical question. Sometimes we think about the World War II question, if you were hiding Jews, what would you have said and should you have just had faith to say, “Yes, they’re here” and trust that God would work a miracle, or would great faith and courage have said, “No, they’re not here.” That’s a question for another time because that’s not the question that this text seems at all interested in answering.
It’s true she’s never praised for the lie itself. The New Testament praises her for her faith, not for the deception. On the other hand, you could say the Bible does nothing to condemn her activity. So save that for a nice argument around your dinner table this afternoon.
We are better to focus on what the story is trying to teach us. It is not here to give us a difficult case example about when you might be warranted to deceive someone. The ruse was an act of faith.
Part two – the request, verses 8 through 14. This is one of the longest, uninterrupted speeches by a woman in a narrative in the whole Bible. Now there are a few places, the song of Mary or Hannah’s prayer, but in terms of a narrative, this is one of if not the longest uninterrupted speeches from a woman anywhere in the Bible. It is a remarkable speech.
Notice five amazingly assertions she makes.
Number one. She says the Lord has given you this land. So God has a right to this land. He has given it to you.
Number two. The Lord has done great things for you. She recounts the Red Sea; she recounts Sihon and Og, those kings beyond the Jordan that they conquered.
Number three. She says we all melted in fear. So we fear the Lord your God.
Number four. She says amazingly, at the end of verse 11, the Lord, and when you see that in small caps that’s the covenant name, Yahweh or Jehovah, Yahweh, your God, He’s the God of the heaven above and the earth beneath.
So five statements. There’s four. Here’s the fifth. Most remarkable of all. She dares to believe that deliverance is still possible, so she makes this request. Your God is a great God, He’s the God of heaven and earth, He’s done these amazing things for you and before you, we’ve all melted in fear before Him, and I know that you’re coming in and He’s going to give you this land. But might you deal kindly with me and my family?
For the first time the spies speak. It’s a great response, very dramatic in verse 14 – Our life for yours, even to death. I pinky promise. I swear on my mother’s grave. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, they said to her. We will do this thing. They swear to her by Yahweh. It is an oath of covenant fealty – by the God of the universe, we will do this thing and spare you. They honor her request.
Now we don’t know what will happen of the request until we come to chapter 6, but for now they give her their word.
The ruse, the request. Look at the third scene – the rope. In the next paragraph, verses 15 through 21. So they’re let down by a rope, over the wall, and they agree on how this promise is going to work. They say I want you to take this rope, this scarlet rope, and tie it in your window. This will mark out your house.
You wonder what did she have with a scarlet cord. You can’t help but wonder was this the first, not red light district, red rope district. Was the scarlet cord really to indicate what her house was for and what her profession was? It had to be scarlet, it had to pop, it had to be bright so that people could see it, but it must not have been something too out of the ordinary so that everyone said, “Whoa, what’s going on, Rahab had some visitors and now she’s got a scarlet cord.” So it seems to be something that wasn’t, didn’t arouse too much suspicion, but was noticeable enough that when the armies of Israel came in they would know where she was.
It was to indicate, very simply, in the house there is safety. Outside the house there is death. That’s what this back and forth with the spies is about. They basically say to her, “Look, if you tell anyone that we were here, if you spill the beans, deal’s off. And if you and your family are out running amuck when we come back for Jericho, well, then the blood be on our own head. We can’t be responsible if they’re not in the house. But listen, if everyone in your household is in this house, marked by a scarlet cord, then the blood will be upon us if we deal treacherously with any of them. If you’re in the house marked by a scarlet cord, you can count on your security and your safety.”
Just circle that in your mind because that’s why this chapter is here. If you are in the house, marked with the scarlet cord, then you can be assured that you and your family will be safe.
Then the last paragraph, verses 22 through 24, the men return. The spies hide out in the hills, that almost certainly means in a cave somewhere, and they wait for the pursuers to overtake them and then sweep back down to Jericho and then they return to Shittim.
You see in the last half of verse 24 as they given their report to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given us all the land into our hands and also all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.” Those are the exact words that Rahab told them. Again, they’re not really impressive spies. They didn’t actually go into any of the land. All they did was go into a prostitute’s house, get found out immediately, hide away, she saves their hide, and then they run away.
But now not only do they rely upon Rahab for their own deliverance, but here they rely on Rahab for their report. So they come and they say, just like they heard from Rahab, here’s the good news, Joshua, these people are afraid.
Remember I mentioned earlier that we would come back to the city of Shittim. I said it was mentioned as the place where Moses learned that he would not make it into the Promised Land, it’s the last encampment before you come to the Jordan. But there’s another reference in the Pentateuch to Shittim. Actually there are several, but one is Numbers 25.
Here’s verse 1 of Numbers 25 – “While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.” This is the story where we learn later that Balaam, who had prophesied against Balak, even though he paid him money and he had given a favorable prophecy about Israel, Balaam then turns and he leads the people into this fornication and this idolatry so the Israelite men are having sex with Moabite women. That happened there at Shittim.
Surely we are meant to see this reverse that has happened. One commentator puts it like this, this is worded so perfectly – Rather than playing the harlot, Israel is now saved by one. They had been whoring after the daughters of Moab at Shittim. That’s the big thing that would have been in their collective memory. Oh, Shittim, we remember that. That’s where we got struck down from the Lord because we committed fornication and idolatry with the women of Moab. We whored after them.
Well, now they are saved by a whore, to use the impolite language, by a harlot, a prostitute.
You say, well, that’s all nice and good, some interesting points there, a fascinating story, but you haven’t exactly, Pastor, answered the question, why is this here? Why don’t we just go from chapter 1, be strong and courageous, to chapter 3 and Joshua got up?
Well, it’s here because it’s a good story, but it’s more than that. Chapter 1 and 2 form a double introduction to the book. Think about it. First we meet Joshua. He is the means of salvation for his people. Then we meet Rahab, and she is the means of salvation for her people. Actually, by the end of chapter 2, we’ve gotten a much closer look at Rahab than we have at Joshua. There’s a few instructions that Joshua passes on from the Lord, but Rahab is the much more rounded character at this point. The book is called Joshua, but after two chapters you might wonder if it should be called the book of Rahab.
Chapter 1 and chapter 2 form a double introduction. First meet Joshua, who’ll be the means of salvation for God’s people, then Rahab, who is the means of salvation for a Gentile people. If you think about it, Rahab has three strikes and you would think she would be out. She’s a woman, she’s a Canaanite, she’s a prostitute.
There’s nothing wrong, obviously, with being a woman, but in the economy of the day, if you were thinking about who would be the means of deliverance, you wouldn’t first think of a woman. She’s a Canaanite, that’s certainly, those are the people who are about to be destroyed. And she was a prostitute, not a noble profession now or then.
All of that against her but she believes. She, like Joshua, is the faithful one of her people.
Do you see how Joshua 1 ends? Be strong and very courageous and we expect that the next story will show Joshua being strong and very courageous but we get another story of someone being strong and very courageous. And it’s this woman Rahab.
The biggest issue for modern scholars with the book of Joshua is the extermination of the Canaanites, sometimes called the Canaanite genocide, though when you put it that way it just sounds inexcusable. But it is a morally difficult question. Why they were right to drive out the people and kill them and take over their land.
Well, one reason is they were given a direct revelation from God. Second, the Bible makes clear that they were driven out as punishment for their sins. We say that all the way back when God promised the land to Abraham in Genesis 15. It said that you had to wait 400 years until the sins of the Amorites had accumulated. One of the reasons God’s people went into slavery is because it was going to take 400 years before the sins of these Canaanite people had amassed to such a degree that God now was just to punish them in this way. Who knows how long God is counting the sins of this country or whatever country you’re from before He will finally determine now in My justice I can inflict a severe punishment on these people.
Here’s what we read in Deuteronomy 9:4 – Do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, it is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess the land, whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.
Now please hear me. That’s not a statement for all conquests at all times, as if every conquest in the history of mankind is because those people must have deserved it and the good guys came in. We know that’s not how it always works.
But here with God’s revelation, this was the case. God said very clearly, “When you get the land, Israel, don’t think it’s because you’re so good. It is because these people have been so wicked.”
Now why do I say all that? So that you can see, this is amazing, now you’ll, if you haven’t seen this before, you’ll read the book of Joshua in a different way, before we get to any of that, before there is anything of the judgment upon the Canaanite people, there is an act of deliverance. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
I love the way that James Boice puts it in his commentary, describing Rahab – She did not have the adoption, the covenants, the law, the worship, or the promises but she had ears.
She had ears. She heard, look at verse 11, “and as soon as we heard it.” Faith comes by hearing. She was likely in the very position where she would have heard lots of news, passing in and out. She prepared a room for the travelers, poured them a drink or fixed them a meal, or did something else. People passed through her house and one after another might have said, “I’ve come from a faraway land. Have you heard what happened? Have you heard what this Yahweh did for these people?” “No, what is it?” “I heard He dried up the Red Sea. He swallowed up Pharaoh’s army. I heard that He gave them the kings of Sihon and Og. I heard that they sinned against Him but God preserved them for these 40 years. Did you hear about the God of Israel?”
She did not have any other privileges but she could hear the great deeds of the Lord.
So before we get to a story of God’s wrath poured out upon the Canaanites, we have here a story of mercy. There is a way to be saved from the judgment to come. That’s why this story is here. Not to solve difficult ethical quandaries for us, not to give you awkward conversations with your children when they learn the story in Sunday school, “Mommy, what’s a prostitute.” “Ask dad. Ask your grandfather. Check a pastor commentary.”
It’s here to tell us that in a book which is full of national triumph, I mean, this is a great book if you’re an Israelite. This is where we got the land. This is where God drove out the Canaanites. This is where the promises of Abraham came true. In the midst of all of that, chapter 2 reminds us don’t forget about all the promises God made to Abraham. Not only that I will make you into a great nation, but that through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
It did not seem as if Israel was a means of blessing to these Canaanite people. No, for most of this book they are the means of God’s judgment upon these people, but here it’s critical to see before judgment there is the offer of salvation.
So they make a covenant with her. Notice in verse 12, this fits so well with the sacrament of baptism this morning, it is not just with her, but you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, all who belong to the house. Not just an individual, but the entire household can be saved.
So for good reason Rahab appears in the New Testament as one of the quintessential examples of faith. Hebrews 11:31 – by faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. James 2:25 holds out Rahab as an example of faith that works as opposed to a dead faith. She risked her life. She turned from her past identity and claimed allegiance to a new people. They were coming in and she knew if salvation means I leave these people behind, I’m no longer one of the city of Jericho, I want to be one with the people of Israel.
When she was folded in to the family of God, if you know your Bible, you know that she was no second class citizen. She would actually become one of the mothers of the Lord Jesus Christ, listed there in the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1, with several other women whose reputations preceded them. This Rahab, not simply okay, we’ll deal kindly, you can sit at the back of the bus. You now folded in, saved as we are, through covenant with this Yahweh, and unbeknownst to her or anyone in that day, she would play a bigger part than even Joshua in the ultimate deliverance and salvation of the nations.
So there’s a reason why throughout history Rahab has been given as a symbol for the Church. No salvation outside of the walls of the Church. Just like in Jericho, no one was saved except that you dwelt in Rahab’s house.
And how can we not see the symbolism of a scarlet cord? Now perhaps it’s too much to say, well, that was a prophetic foretelling of the blood of Christ, but certainly it looked back to the last time that God’s people needed to be saved, when the angel of destruction came through and killed all the firstborn in the final plague in Egypt and passed over the Israelites, if what? If they had the crimson stain marked across the doorpost and the lintel of their homes. Salvation comes in the household that is marked out with a crimson stain, with a scarlet cord.
Presumably others could have escaped. The king already knew of this. Rahab said the people’s heart had melted. Rahab wasn’t the only one who knew of the great deeds of the Lord, but she’s the only one, and her household, that we hear about who heard all that God had done and believed. They knew of His power, they knew that destruction was coming, they had heard of the great deeds of this God, they knew the way to be saved, and only Rahab and her household believed.
So now all of you in the hearing of these words also know that a day of judgment is coming. The Apostles’ Creed tells us that. Christians all throughout time have repeated that Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead. This is not the invention of the Puritans or Americans or evangelicals – it is the Christian faith that Christ is coming to judge the living and the dead. Destruction is coming worse than the destruction that befell the city of Jericho, and you have heard of it and you know it.
Especially if you belong to the Church, you know and you have heard, some of you your whole life of the great deeds of the Lord, all that God has done for His people and especially all that He has done through Christ and His death on the cross. You have heard of it. So the question is will you be like the rest of those inhabitants in Jericho? They heard and for whatever reason they feared but they dismissed. They were too busy. They didn’t really believe that the judgment would ever come, or they thought that in the day of judgment they could put up their dukes and surely they could stand and they could fight and in their own strength they would survive, but they were wrong. Only Rahab had the ears of faith.
It’s very tempting to think that the walls of our existence are safe, especially in a place like Charlotte. Many of us, very nice things, many opportunities, many privileges, and nice homes and savings and retirement, and try to be good people and try to get the best things for our kids and look forward to retirement or some vacations, and surely the lines have fallen for us in pleasant places. You may think to yourself, the walls are all secure around me, and they’re not. As we know it only took marching and trumpets and yelling for the walls of Jericho to come a-tumbling down.
You and I will have even fewer defenses in the day of judgment. There is a time coming and it will only be those who have heard and believed and have entered in to the household of faith that will be saved.
Where are you living? Where are you really living? Is your heart dwelling in the house that is marked with the scarlet cord in the window? With the blood across the doorpost and the lintel? That when the judgment comes, in that place and in that place only, you can be saved. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word, such a good word, that You come, even in this book of judgment. You made a way for Gentiles to be saved. You make a room today for Jews and Gentiles to be saved. So give us ears to hear that we would believe, we would turn, we would repent, and through Christ we would know eternal life. In His name we pray. Amen.