Title: Salvation for Rahab
Date: October 12, 2008
Text: Joshua 2:1-24
Background
- It was around 1400 BC, in the spring
- The Israelites had spent 40 years traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land
- They had physically left Egypt, but Egypt was still inside them
- The journey had taken longer than intended, because of personal choices the Israelites made
- But finally they reached their destination, the promised land
- It was now around 38 years after Joshua himself had been sent out as a spy
- Joshua, who had succeeded Moses, now sent out two spies to take a look at the land, especially Jericho
- Jericho was the first fortified city the Israelites would encounter while taking the land
- It had a double wall around the city, with a space of 15 feet between the two walls
- The inner wall was about 12 foot thick and the outer wall was around 6 foot thick and 25-30 feet high
- “In his book The Bible As History Werner Keller describes the archaeological expedition in 1930 led by Professor John Garstang Garstang noted every detail with utmost precision and graphically described the violence by which the ancient walls of Jericho fell. The diggings showed that there were two parallel walls; the inner wall was especially massive, being twelve feet thick. The outer wall or fortification was a six foot brick wall about twenty five to thirty feet high. Houses (like the house of Rahab the harlot) were built on top and connected the two walls.
- “Professor Garstang described clear traces of a tremendous fire and the space between the two walls was filled with rubble, blackened bricks, charred wood, and ashes. Along the walls the houses had been burned to the ground and their roofs crashed on top of them. The most remarkable of Garstang's discoveries, however, had to do with how the two walls had fallen. The stones of the outer wall had fallen outward and downhill, but the inner wall had fallen the opposite direction - inward. According to Garstang, these observations could lead to only one conclusion: that an earthquake must have shattered the city” - http://www.newtestamentchurch.org/opa/Articles/1998/06/walls%20of%20jericho.htm
Rahab’s identity
- Joshua 2:1-7
- The NIV says Rahab was a prostitute, and the marginal note says “possibly an innkeeper”
- The Hebrew word used here is “Zanah” which means “to commit fornication, be a harlot, play the harlot”, so it seems that that is just who Rahab was, a prostitute
- Hospitality was an important part of the culture of the times, and it may be as a result of exercising this custom that Rahab invited the men in.
- There is no indication whatsoever, that anything immoral happened here
- We notice that the spies were observed going to Rahab’s house, and the king of Jericho wants them to be arrested
- Rahab lies about their being there
- There is no way to sugar coat this, she did lie, and the Bible makes no excuses for it
- A Christian is told not to lie – the Ten Commandments tell us “Thou shalt not bear false witness”, and Jesus tells us “Let your yes be yes, and your no be no”
Rahab’s salvation
- Joshua 2:8-14
- Rahab expresses her recognition that the God of the Israelites is greater than the gods of Jericho
- In Jericho they practiced child sacrifice – the Bible tells us that when Jericho was built, the king sacrificed his own son and laid him in the foundations for the gate at the entrance to the city
- As a result of her action in welcoming the spies, Rahab had shown a change in her allegiance
- She had now sided with the Israelites, and the God of Israel
- A change had happened
- She had seen the way in which God was dealing with the Israelites
- She saw that their God was alive and powerful, totally unlike the gods of the land
- She chose to submit to that God
- Josh 2:15-21
- There was something she had to do, however
- That was that she had to let down a scarlet cord, out of her window
- In a way this was like baptism, an outward and public expression of our faith in Jesus
- The scarlet cord represents the blood of Jesus, the means of her and our salvation
- She immediately hung this cord out the window
- She did not wait till the Israelite soldiers were outside the walls of Jericho
- She did it immediately, not being afraid of being suspected of treason
- This was an act of faith
Rahab’s faith
- as a result of Rahab’s faith in the God of Israel, she was listed in the list of Biblical heroes, in Hebrews 11
- Hebrews 11:31
- Her obedience and faith in God was accepted, and she became a part of the Israelite nation
- She personally received salvation as a result of accepting the God of Israel as her God
- As a result of her obedience, her parents and her family were also saved
- And she eventually married a leader in Israel
- Matthew 1:5 – she married Salmon, the father of Boaz, and became the great-great-grandmother of David the King of Israel, and thus became an ancestor of Jesus
- Jesus was not ashamed to have Rahab as an ancestor, despite her former way of life
- Because when we come to Jesus, the former things have passed away
- Rev 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away”
- The old way of life we had before Jesus came into our life no longer has to have a hold over us
- We may have been drug dealers
- We may have have cheated and stolen and broken God’s law in every conceivable way
- We may have been violent and criminal, we may have beaten our wife or children
- We may have wrecked the lives of our loved ones and hurt them in so many ways
- But God says that he accepts us
- Just as Rahab was accepted by Jesus as his ancestor, we are accepted by him as his children
- Roman 8:15-16
- We are now clean and washed by the blood of the Lamb
- Revelation 7:14 – we have come out of the tribulation, the pain and heartache and troubles of our former life and now we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus
- How awesome
- If anyone would like to receive Jesus into their life right now, I will lead us all in a prayer
- This is not just a ritual, this is us offering our life up to God, just like Rahab did
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