Rahab: Getting Serious About Faith

“Rahab: Getting Serious About Faith”

Hebrews 11:30-31

A man fell off a cliff but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down.

• Immediately he began to cry out, “Is anyone up there?”

• A voice soon came from above, “I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?”

• “Yes, Lord,” the man shouted, “I believe. I really believe, but I can’t hang on much longer.”

• And the Lord said, “That’s alright, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch.”

• A couple of seconds past and the man cried out, “Is anyone else up there?”

Fortunately, this doesn’t describe the person we’ll be looking at today. Today we’re going to be looking at a woman who according to the standards of this world would be considered unfit, unprepared, and ill-equipped to be someone we could look up to as a rousing example of a “good citizen.” And yet, despite her immoral lifestyle and sinful past, God so radically changed her life that she is not only mentioned in the greatest genealogy ever recorded, but also made it into God’s Hall of Faith.

Now, when we look at her life, normally we would think that she would have absolutely nothing at all to say or teach us about faith. With that being said, think about those people others had written off.

• On his high school report card it said, “This person doesn’t wear socks; doesn’t cut his hair; might be mentally retarded.” The young man they were describing was Albert Einstein.

• Another man was being interviewed for a football coaching position. They came back and said, “He knows a little bit about football, but probably won’t go too far.” They were interviewing Vince Lombardi.

• Another report of two young men said, “They have crazy ideas. They are idealistic and somewhat comical.” These two young men were Orville and Wilbur Wright.

And this is exactly the type of thing that many would have said about this woman whose faith we’ll be looking at today, and that is, Rahab, or as she is more commonly referred to as “Rahab the Harlot.”

In Matthew Chapter One, it mentions four women from the Old Testament. They are part of the greatest genealogy ever recorded, that is, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. These women are Tamar, Bathsheba, Ruth, and Rahab. Now, those we see in this genealogy are some of the greats of the Jewish faith. You have men like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You also have David and Solomon, along with the other kings like Jehoshaphat, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

But then you have these four women, and for them to be listed in the first place is quite remarkable, because it was unheard of in those days to include women in a genealogy. And on top of that, two of these women were not even Israelites, Ruth and Rahab, and the other two were not as virtuous as you would expect to be in such a genealogy. But God puts them in, and one of them, Rahab, ends up in the Hall of Faith.

Why???

Well, let’s look at what the writer of Hebrews says.

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.” (Hebrews 11:30-31 NKJV)

Let’s take a moment and look at this story. It happened right after the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, after wandering around in the wilderness of 40 years. And so, the first test of their faith came in the form of a well-fortified city just six miles away by the name of Jericho.

When I say well-fortified, that is exactly what it was. It was said to have two fortified walls, whose total height would have been about 4 stories in height, and into the outermost walls stores and Inns were built that housed and catered to the less savory crowd. One of these places was where Rahab lived.

Now, to check out these fortifications to see what they were up against, Joshua sent two spies. Now, the best place to find out this kind of information without causing a stir was to go where the talk was cheap and the conversation flowed freely.

Now you might say that Rahab had been around the barn a couple of times and so she understood the intention of these two men. It wasn’t for bed and breakfast, but for information. It would seem it also caught the eye of others, and it wasn’t long before the king of Jericho found out.

Immediately he sent for Rahab to turn in these two young men, but instead of turning them over and receiving a reward, she hid them on her roof when the king’s men came looking. She said, “I know who you are talking about, but they left a little while ago before the gate was shut. If you hurry you might be able to catch up with them.” (Joshua 2:4-5 paraphrased)