Rahab – 5th May 2008 am
Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25
Rahab was a lost pagan woman who lived in the city of Jericho. Yet she became one of the most honoured women in the Bible. She is mentioned in Hebrews 11 and in the book of James. In Hebrews 11 she stands as an example of faith; in James, she is exemplified as an illustration of works. Putting the two together, we see in Rahab the picture of what we should all have – a belief that behaves.
The Bible doesn’t have a whole lot to say about the life of this woman. It seems that the only account we have of her is found in Joshua chapter 2. Initially, it seems that Rahab isn’t exactly heroine material. She is first introduced as a harlot – not someone you would expect to be praised in the scriptures!
There once was a rather rough, uncultured man who for some reason fell in love with a beautiful vase in a shop window. Eventually he bought the vase and put it on the mantelpiece in his room. There it became a kind of judgment on its surroundings. He had to clean up the room to make it worthy of the vase. The curtains looked dingy beside it. The old chair with the stuffing coming out of the seat would not do. The wallpaper needed redoing. Gradually the whole room was transformed. When you put Christ on the mantel of your heart, your whole life is transformed.
It is this kind of transformation we witness here in the second chapter of the book of Joshua. As the Israelites were about to enter Canaan and claim their promised land, the first city they would have to face was the great walled city of Jericho. If they could take this city, they could easily split the country in two and then move from there to conquer the north and the south.
I. Rahab – The Doomed Sinner (Joshua 2:1)
Rahab is first introduced to us as a member of a disgusting degenerate race of people – the Canaanites. Their religion was foul and vileness of every kind was elevated to an act of worship. Even her name sums up the day in which she lived – proud. However, her days were numbered; The Hebrews were on their way home and God’s divine judgement was on the way.
Rahab lived in a day and age just like ours. We are living in a world that is ready for divine judgement. So called “alternate lifestyles” are now given the nod of approval, it is almost against the law to even say anything bad about these lifestyles. The Jews are already going back to the Promised Land again – Judgement is on the way.
Verse 15 tells us that Rahab lived upon the town wall. Most people would have thought Rahab occupied a very strong position on that wall. In Joshua’s day, Jericho was surrounded by two walls, both thirty feet high. The outer wall was six feet thick, and the inner wall was twelve feet thick. Between the two walls was a space of twelve to fifteen feet. This space was covered over and houses were built bridging this gap. Rahab’s house was placed on high with the massive walls of Jericho a sure foundation. This was just a false sense of security; those walls would be the first thing to fall when judgement came.
There are many people living in Jericho today. They think that they are secure despite their sinful life. They live on the man made walls of religion, righteousness and respectability.
Jordan – death?
II. Rahab – The Delivered Saint (Joshua 2:8-11)
God sent two spies into Jericho. God always has two spies in the human soul: one is conscience the other is memory. Conscience is there to rebuke us for our wrongdoing; memory is there to remind us of our wrongdoing. Between the two of them we stand fully exposed before the eye of God.
Rahab confesses her fear to the two spies when she receives them into her house. She realises that it is God she will have to deal with and answer to.
Five things:
1. She could not save herself
There was no hiding place for her. She knew that her position on the wall was only as good as the wall, and the wall, as strong as it seemed, would not stand the test of the coming judgement.
2. Jericho was “straitly shut up” Joshua 6:1
Those in power wanted to make sure that everyone in Jericho remained in Jericho. There was to be no contact with the enemy. The king of Jericho, who is a picture of Satan, wanted to hold onto his own to the very end.
3. Salvation was discouraged by those who had rule over her
Satan vigorously opposes any thought of salvation. When someone is under conviction Satan has many ways of making salvation look unattractive. Persecution, what would your friends say, what would your family think? He ridicules the very thought of salvation. Often times though, he soothes the anxious soul and lulls it into a false sense of security.
4. Salvation had to come form the outside
5. Salvation came from those she had been taught was the enemy.
Joshua 2:10-11
How did she know – harlot – travellers – pillow talk?
Rahab confessed to a knowledge of that “so great salvation” God had already provided for His people. She knew that God had put them under the blood, brought them through the water, and gathered them around the table. He had fed them with bread from heaven and had given them water from the rock. He had brought them to Sinai and taught them how to order their lives. He had already began to put His hand upon their enemies. Their God was a God of Salvation. Rahab had heard and believed – she knew where salvation was to be found.
Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. God’s salvation was available to everyone, but only Rahab believed. The plan of salvation, as taught to Rahab by the two spies, was simple Joshua 2:18
The scarlet line was to Rahab and her family what the blood on the doorposts had been to the Hebrews in Egypt. The way to salvation is always the same – the shed blood of the Lamb.
The scarlet line runs all the way through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We get the first hint of it in Eden when God clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins and protected them from His wrath.
The scarlet line can be seen in that “more acceptable offering” that Able offered to God. Cain thought that he could come to God in the merit of his good works. Able knew that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
Everywhere in the Levitical law, the emphasis is on the shedding of blood. We see the scarlet thread in the major offerings, in the feast days, in the great Day of Atonement, in the dedication of the Temple, throughout the Old Testament era, rivers of blood flowed from the alters of Israel. It was the scarlet line.
At last we stand at Clavary and understand the significance of it all. We see Jesus take the cup and say, “This is the new covenant in my blood.” 1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; [19] But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
And so it is from cover to cover. The Old Testament saints were saved by faith, looking forward in their sacrifices and offerings to the shed blood of Christ on Calvary’s cross. We are saved by looking back by faith to Calvary.
No scarlet line on the doorpost – no salvation. No scarlet line in the window of Rahab’s home – no salvation. No scarlet line bound, by faith, to our hearts – no salvation.
That was the faith that Rahab exercised Joshua 2:21
III. Rahab – The Dedicated Servant (Joshua 2:12-)
It did not matter about her past, God could use her. Ephesians 6:6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; God is not impressed with our outward display, only with our heart. Our heart and right motive is what pleases God. – work boss? Jesus….
Rahab’s heart had changed and as a result her burden for her family changed. No sooner had she been saved she had set about working for the Lord. She was determined to tell her family about the true God and by the looks of Hebrews 11:31 she told everyone else as well – she did not perish with those that believed not…
I wonder what her family said as she witnessed to them?... One might have said, “Don’t be daft Rahab, there’s no danger, especially for you, you live on the wall. You are in the strongest position in Jericho!”
Another may have said, “You’re crazy Rahab, how on earth is that silly piece of string going to save you? If we are going to be saved, and I personally don’t think we are in need of saving, then we would save ourselves.”
Then someone else says, “I’ll wait it out. I’ll make my decision when I see that the Hebrew’s have breached our walls and stormed our gates. There’s plenty of time. They don’t even have any battering rams…”
However these were not their excuses Joshua 6:23 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.
Rahab witness to them and they believed and saw that they were in the same state as her. They weren’t “harlots” but they were headed for God’s judgement. They believed and were saved. She brought her whole family into the family of God.
IV. Rahab – The Divine Seed (Matthew 1:5)
Rahab was taken from the house of shame and wound up in the hall of fame.
While the identity of the two spies is not specifically given, we can speculate that one of them was Salmon of the tribe of Judah. His father Nahshon was the leader of that tribe during the earlier wilderness wanderings Numbers 1:7 Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.;
Numbers 2:3 And on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies: and Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be captain of the children of Judah.).
Since Judah was the leading tribe (Num. 10:14) and since Nahshon had died in the wilderness, it is likely that his son Salmon would have taken his place. Whether it was on this occasion or later is inconsequential for, in either case, Salmon of the princely line in Judah, the royal tribe of Israel, became the husband of Rahab (Matt. 1:5).
She became the mother of Boaz, which is why Boaz was not concerned about “marring his inheritance” (Ruth 4:6) . The nearer-kinsman in the book of Ruth, refuses to redeem Ruth because she was a Moabite. He did not want to contaminate his family tree by introducing Moabite blood into his line..
Boaz had no problem with his bloodline being contaminated as his mother was a Jericho harlot (saved by the grace of God) The amazing thing is that Rahab’s past made no difference to God whatsoever. Because of her faith, God would blot out her past, Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
This woman became and ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. God took her from the very gutter and made her eternally famous. He gave this trusting sinner a place in His eternal, divine plan.
Conclusion
God has provided us with salvation. As a result we are changed… What are we doing with our new life? How are we using it? Are we using it for God and for His glory? Will our descendants in generations to come, say that they came to know Christ just like their great-great….. etc…
