Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.
The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. At nightfall, when the city gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!” But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof. The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the city gate was shut.
Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of 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 Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below. Now please swear to me by the LORD that you will also show kindness to my father’s family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”
The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the LORD gives us the land.”
Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city. “Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.”
The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his death will be his own fault, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his death will be our fault. And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.”
“Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.
So the two men went into the hill country and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. They searched all along the way, but did not find them. Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them. They told Joshua, “The LORD has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”
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Each week, we’re reminded that experiencing God happens best through Scripture alongside others—join us for worship today at one of our five campuses and grow together in faith. Today’s sermon is titled, "Rahab."
In preparation for today’s sermon, read this blog from the Story of Scripture team at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Rahab—Faith In the Margins
“. . . . for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” —Joshua 2:11b
Today’s passage has the most amazing message, wrapped in the most unlikely of clothes.
The message? God will keep his covenant promise to Abraham, and to Israel, because the “Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below (Joshua 2).”
The clothing?
The message was delivered by a prophet nearly as great as Moses—by Joshua, right? Wrong!
When God’s covenant people needed more than ever to hear that he would be faithful by being with them as they entered the land of Canaan—the Promised Land—the Lord God of heaven and earth chose the most unlikely of all messengers!
He chose someone in the margins of the respected social order, in the very margins of life, and in the margins of the Lord’s covenant love— the message was delivered by a pagan prostitute.
It took a pagan, Canaanite prostitute, formally outside of the margins of God’s covenant blessing to send the message to Israel to “buck up” (i.e., to be very strong and courageous) because “the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.”
The words of a prostitute have been forever etched into the very pages of Scripture:
“I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of 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 Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” Joshua 2:9–11
Could the irony be any more fantastic than this? Rahab knew what we now read in Psalm 135:5, “For I know that the Lord is great; our Lord is greater than all gods.” Notice Rahab says, “Our Lord”?
When we get to what theologians call the Great Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, we read about the big brand names that indeed should be there: Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, etc. And then we read in verse 31, “By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.”
When the Lord needed a great example of faith, he turned to a tainted un-good, un-saint, un-godly woman who became convinced that the Lord God of Israel was “in heaven above and on earth below.”
Ask the Lord for opportunities to deepen relationships with new congregation members.
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.