Twelve Extraordinary Women, Week 9
Notes
Transcript
A Shady Background
A Shady Background
What is the first account of Rahab in scripture?
1 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.
Now, who would think that a harlot - a prostitute - could be a central character in the Bible?
Let’s think about the past, how many of would want to be remembered by our past? Before salvation? We might be embarrassed if our past was known to all the general public. Here we see a picture of a public knowledge of what Rahab’s profession was. She was immoral, and could have been completely forgotten - written off as s lost cause.
She lived in a pagan area full of moral and spiritual corruption, facing judgment. From what we know, she had not been placed into this profession, she was a willing participant. She had personally profited from the evil that permeated that whole society. Now that God had called for the complete destruction of the entire culture because of their extreme wickedness, why shouldn’t Rahab also receive the just desserts of her own deliberate sin?
From what we find in scripture, she was not a person we would normally think of as a “biblical model”. On the contrary, she would have been in the very basement of the moral hierarchy in a Gentile culture that was itself as thoroughly degenerate and as grossly pagan as any society in world history. She was a moral bottom-feeder. She made her living off that culture’s insatiable appetite for unbridled debauchery, catering to the most debased appetites of the very dregs of society. It is hard to imagine a more unlikely candidate for divine honor than Rahab.
31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Yet in Hebrews 11:31 (though identified even there as “the prostitute” [ESV]), she is specifically singled out by name for the greatness of her faith, and she even appears in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1. Extraordinary? That word is an understatement in Rahab’s case.
Matthew 1:5–6 (ESV)
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
Background
Background
Rahab lived in Jericho at the time of Joshua. Her house was not in some back alley of town, but perched right on the famous wall (Josh. 2:15).
Joshua 2:15 (ESV)
15 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.
The wall must have been a wide affair, certainly spacious enough on top for buildings and either a walkway or a road. This was almost certainly a prime location in the high-rent business district. It is fair to assume, then, that Rahab had enjoyed phenomenal financial success in her trade.
Unfortunately, her “trade” was prostitution. She regularly sold herself to the most wicked men in that already-wicked city.
Jericho was part of the Amorite kingdom, a grotesquely violent, totally depraved, thoroughly pagan culture so hell-bent on the pursuit of everything evil that God Himself had condemned them and ordered the Israelites to wipe them from the face of the earth (Deut. 20:17).
17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded,
In fact, the Amorite culture had been so completely and maliciously corrupt for so long (going back at least to the time of Abraham), that their evil lifestyle was the very reason God had granted Abraham and his heirs rights to their land in the first place. The Lord had promised Abraham that his descendants would begin to possess the land as soon as the wickedness of the Amorites was complete (Gen. 15:16).
16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
That time had now come. This evil nation had reached God’s maximum tolerance level.
Rahab therefore epitomized the vileness of the Amorite culture at a point when they had collectively filled the measure of human wickedness to its very brim. Her whole life had been devoted to the profane pursuit of carnal self-gratification. Her livelihood was totally dependent on consensual evil. She was enslaved to the most diabolical kinds of passion, in bondage to her own sin, and held captive by a monstrous society that was itself already under God’s sentence of condemnation—indeed, marked out for eternal destruction. But divine grace redeemed her and liberated her from all of that, plucking her as a brand from the fire.
Here is the historical setting for Rahab’s story: Moses had died (Josh. 1:1–2).
Joshua 1:1–2 (ESV)
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant,
2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.
The generation of Israelites who had come out of Egypt were all dead too. More than a million Israelites had originally left Egypt under Moses’ leadership.
Because of that generation’s collective stubbornness and persistent unbelief, when they first reached the very doorstep of the Promised Land at Kadesh-Barnea, everyone over twenty years of age was prohibited from entering. An entire generation was doomed to die in the wilderness without even seeing another glimpse of the Promised Land.
There were two significant exceptions (Num. 14:30): Joshua and Caleb.
30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
Those two men had scouted the Promised Land together for Moses. They had returned enthusiastic about the prospects of Israel’s new homeland. They affirmed what God had said about the land. But when ten other spies returned with a conflicting report, discouraged, warning of the dangers that lay ahead, the people of Israel balked at entering the land. They listened to the unbelief of the pessimists rather than to the promise of YHWH. Then and there, the entire nation staged a mutiny against Moses and against God.
That was the final straw. That is why Israel was made to wander for forty years. It was a divine judgment against them because of their unbelief (Num. 14:30–35).
30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.
32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.
34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’
35 I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”
In the end, the carcasses of that whole generation (except the two faithful men) were buried in scattered graves in the wilderness, where the harsh elements eventually consumed them.
Thirty-eight years had now passed since that rebellion at Kadesh-Barnea. The book of Joshua starts with the Israelites situated again on the doorstep of Canaan—this time near Acacia Grove, about seven miles east of the Jordan River, almost directly across the river from Jericho. Joshua had been appointed as leader over the whole nation in Moses’ place. In Joshua 1, the Lord reinforced Joshua’s courage and resolve with a series of promises, and Joshua prepared the people to enter the land. The day this generation had hoped for all their lives was finally here.
Wisely, just as Moses had done years before, Joshua sent spies ahead to gather military and strategic information about what lay on the other side of the Jordan. This time, however, Joshua sent only two men, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho” (2:1 NKJV).
Scripture says simply: “So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there” (2:1 NKJV). Thus Rahab is the very first person Scripture introduces us to in the Promised Land. By God’s gracious providence, she would become one of the linchpins of Israel’s military triumph. Her whole life, her career, and her future would be changed by her surprise encounter with two spies.
It is an unlikely confluence of forces for good: on the one hand, a lone pagan woman whose life up till now had been anything but heroic, and an entire nation of itinerant, lifelong refugees who had lived for the past forty years under the frown of God because of their parents’ disobedience.
But the spies’ collaboration with Rahab was the beginning of the downfall of Jericho. Jericho’s defeat was the first dramatic conquest in one of history’s greatest military campaigns ever.
Kindness from the Unexpected
Kindness from the Unexpected
1 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.
2 And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.”
3 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.”
4 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.
5 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.”
6 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.
7 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.
Joshua deliberately kept the work of the spies secret.
Apparently, even the Israelites did not know of their mission. The scouts were to report back to Joshua, not to the whole nation (vv. 23–24). Joshua wasn’t asking them for feedback so that the people could discuss among themselves whether to go across the Jordan or hold back in fear. He wasn’t about to make that mistake again. Israel had traveled down the dead-end road of popular opinion already, and it cost them almost forty years’ time. Joshua was taking the role of a decisive commander. He would assess the spies’ report personally and decide (with the Lord’s help, not a vote of the populace) how his armies would proceed.
Jericho was in a strategic location, at the openings of two vital pathways through the surrounding mountains, one leading southwest toward Jerusalem, the other leading northwest toward Ai and beyond, toward Bethel which called for heavy fortifications. Conquering Jericho would give Israel an important foothold into all the Promised Land. The task of the spies was to assess those fortifications and report back to Joshua.
Most likely, the spies began their covert work shortly before dusk. The Jordan River lay seven miles to the west. A two-hour brisk walk would get them to the riverbank. There were fords nearby (v. 7), where the water ran approximately chest high at its deepest point. The men could either wade or easily swim across the Jordan. They would then have another seven-mile journey by foot to Jericho. (Even if they got wet crossing the river, this afforded more than enough time to be suitably dry upon arrival.) Then they would need to enter the walled city by some means and find lodging for the remainder of the night—all without arousing suspicion.
Jericho was a large town, and visitors came and went all the time. The spies managed to get into the city before the gates were closed for the night (v. 5). Scripture doesn’t say how they got in. We assume they were able to find a way without much difficulty. Perhaps they simply mingled with other travelers at rush hour.
Once inside the city, the ideal place for lodging would be an inn or a house on the wall itself. From there they could assess the city’s defenses. A good way to avoid arousing suspicion or attracting undue attention would be to find some seamy district where everyone would understand the need for discretion.
Their search led them to Rahab, a harlot, who was prosperous enough to have a house in a prime spot on the wall. Both she and her business were probably well-known in Jericho. Here was an ideal situation for the spies. She would have opened her door to them without any questions about who they were. In her business, the strictest confidentiality was essential. She would have welcomed them and invited them inside quickly, just as she did all her clients.
The Israelite spies were not visiting immoral purposes, of course. Perhaps that very thing is what first won them her trust. They were obviously not there to use her or abuse her, unlike virtually all the other men she ever saw. Presumably, they treated her with patient dignity and respect while they made their careful reconnaissance. No doubt they explained who they were, which meant they would have almost certainly told her something about YHWH. Mostly, they went about their business, perhaps making measurements of the wall and recording details about the battlements and the landscape.
Rahab’s house was perfect for their purposes. The position afforded a close-up look at the wall, which was the city’s chief defense. But the location also made possible a quick escape if necessary. City walls are designed to keep out intruders, of course. But a person on the wall with a long enough rope can easily get out. By God’s sovereign providence, everything they needed was in place. Also, by God’s sovereign design, Rahab’s heart was ready to believe in YHWH.
Somehow, it appears, the presence of the spies was known almost as soon as they entered Rahab’s house. Of course, everyone in Jericho certainly already knew that the entire Israelite nation was camped across the river, within walking distance. All of Jericho had heard about Israel’s miraculous escape from Pharaoh across the Red Sea and the drowning of the entire Egyptian army (v. 10). The story of Israel’s subsequent wanderings in the wilderness was also well-known throughout the region. Rahab herself tells the spies that all the inhabitants of the land were fainthearted because of what they had heard about Israel and God’s dealings with them. In Rahab’s words,
11 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.
Still, aside from Rahab herself, the people of Jericho do not seem to have been sufficiently fearful of YHWH’s power or Israel’s military might. Perhaps the tales about forty years of aimless wandering had a tendency to counterbalance the Canaanites’ fear over Israel’s military might. Whatever the reason for their complacency, residents of Jericho were obviously too smug in the security of their walled fortress.
They were nonetheless on guard for intruders, and officials had probably given strict orders to report anything suspicious to the king. The “king” functioned like a city mayor, but he had military control. Therefore, he was the one to be notified if intruders were spotted.
Perhaps someone from whom the spies had asked directions turned them in. Or maybe sentries near Rahab’s house spotted them and recognized them as Israelites from their clothing. In any case, their presence was quickly reported to Jericho’s king. The information he received included exact details about where the spies had gone, so the king sent messengers to check out Rahab’s house.
Here’s where Rahab utterly surprises us. Remember, she made her living by selling herself for evil purposes. There was probably a handsome reward in it for her if she had turned in the spies. But she didn’t. She hid them. She misdirected the officials and saved the lives of the two spies, even though this put her at considerable risk. Obviously, the king’s representatives knew the spies had been in her home. When they were unable to find any evidence that the men had really left the city, they would probably be back to question Rahab again. She had put her own life in jeopardy by protecting these strangers. Her sudden expression of faith, therefore, is not only unexpected; it seems to run counter to every instinct that normally would motivate a woman like Rahab.
Rahab’s actions in protecting the spies involved the telling of a lie. Was that justified? By commending her for her faith, is Scripture also condoning her methods? Good men have argued over that question, all the way back to the earliest rabbinical history. Let’s face it. It is not an easy question. Scripture says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who deal truthfully are His delight” (Prov. 12:22 NKJV).
22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
God Himself cannot lie, and therefore He cannot condone or sanction a lie. Some have tried to argue that because of the circumstances, this was not, technically, a “lie,” but a military feint, a legitimate stratagem designed to trick or outwit the enemy in warfare. Others argue that even lying is acceptable if the motive is a greater good. Such a situational approach to ethics is fraught with very serious problems.
I see no need to try to justify Rahab’s lie. Was it necessary for a greater good? Certainly not. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego might have escaped punishment by lying too. And they might have argued convincingly that it was for a “greater good.” But there is no greater good than the truth, and the cause of truth can never be served by lying. Shadrach and friends told the truth—in fact they seized the opportunity to glorify God’s name—and God was still able to save them from the furnace. He certainly could have saved Rahab and the spies without a lie.
Still, that isn’t the point of Rahab’s story. There’s no need to rationalization or justify her lie. Scripture never commends the lie. Rahab isn’t applauded for her ethics. Rahab is a positive example of faith.
At this moment, her faith was newborn, weak, and in need of nurture and growth. Her knowledge of YHWH was meager. (She makes it clear in Joshua 2:9–11 that she knew something about Him, having developed a keen interest in YHWH from the stories about Israel’s escape from Egypt.
9 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.
10 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.
11 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.
But it’s likely she had never met any true YHWH-worshipers before this night.) She most likely had no understanding of the value He put on truthfulness. Meanwhile, she was a product of a corrupt culture where ethics were virtually nonexistent. Lying was a way of life in her society—and especially in her profession. The way she responded is just what we might expect from a brand-new believer under those circumstances.
The point is that Rahab’s faith, undeveloped as it was, immediately bore the fruit of action. She “received the spies with peace” (Heb. 11:31 NKJV)—meaning that she not only hid them, but also implicitly embraced their cause. She thereby entrusted her whole future to their God. And the proof of her faith was not the lie she told, but the fact that “she received the messengers and sent them out another way” (James 2:25 NKJV)—when she might have handed them over for money instead. The lie is not what made her actions commendable. It was the fact that she turned down an easy reward, put herself in jeopardy, and thus staked everything on the God of Israel.
Nothing but faith could have made such a dramatic, instantaneous change in the character of such a woman. She had obviously developed a great curiosity about YHWH from the tales of His dealings with Israel. Now that she had met flesh-and-blood people who knew Him and worshiped Him, she was ready to throw her lot in with them.
MacArthur, John F., Jr. 2005. Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You. Nashville, TN: Nelson Books p. 52-60.