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Turning the page…
Glory · The Land & the Throne
Rahab was a Canaanite and a prostitute, doubly outside the covenant, yet she heard what Yahweh did at the Red Sea and confessed Him as God in heaven above and on earth beneath. When Jericho fell under God's judgment, the one household marked by a scarlet cord was spared. Hebrews and James both name her for her faith, and Matthew names her in the family tree of Jesus Himself.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/why-did-god-spare-rahab · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Joshua 2:1-24
As you read: An outsider who has heard of the Exodus and believes, hiding the spies and asking for a token of mercy before she knows how the story ends.
1Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.
2The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.”
3The king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.”
4The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from.
5About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly; for you will overtake them.”
6But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.
7The men pursued them the way to the Jordan to the fords: and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.
8Before they had laid down, she came up to them on the roof;
9and she said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
10For we have heard how Yahweh 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 to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
11As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.
12Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true token;
13and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.”
14The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”
15Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.
16She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.”
17The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you have made us to swear.
18Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. You shall gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.
19It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.
20But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you have made us to swear.”
21She said, “According to your words, so be it.” She sent them away, and they departed. She tied the scarlet line in the window.
22They went, and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but didn’t find them.
23Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun; and they told him all that had happened to them.
24They said to Joshua, “Truly Yahweh has delivered into our hands all the land. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.”
Joshua 6:15-25
As you read: A whole city devoted to destruction, yet one house under a scarlet cord standing open until the last moment.
15On the seventh day, they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times.
16At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for Yahweh has given you the city!
17The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
18But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it.
19But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to Yahweh. They shall come into Yahweh’s treasury.”
20So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
21They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
22Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring out from there the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.”
23The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.
24They burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron into the treasury of Yahweh’s house.
25But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Hebrews 11:29-31
As you read: Rahab listed between the Red Sea and Jericho's fallen walls, defined by faith rather than her nation or her past.
29By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.
30By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.
31By faith, Rahab the prostitute, didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.
Rahab is an outsider three times over: a woman, a Canaanite, a prostitute. Yet she tells the spies, 'I know that Yahweh has given you the land,' and gives the clearest confession in the book: 'for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.' All she had was news of the Red Sea, decades old, and she believed it. Faith starts with hearing, not with pedigree.
“and she said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.”Joshua 2:9
“For we have heard how Yahweh 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 to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.”Joshua 2:10
“As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.”Joshua 2:11
She hid the spies at risk of her life, let them down by a cord through the window, and obeyed the sign they gave: 'She tied the scarlet line in the window.' Belief moved her hands. That is why James can ask whether she was not 'justified by works': her works did not replace faith, they exposed it. The scarlet cord was simply her trust in Yahweh made visible.
“The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from.”Joshua 2:4
“Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.”Joshua 2:15
“She said, “According to your words, so be it.” She sent them away, and they departed. She tied the scarlet line in the window.”Joshua 2:21
“In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?”James 2:25
Jericho was not destroyed on a whim. Four centuries earlier God told Abraham the delay was deliberate, 'for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full'; now it was full, and the city was devoted. Yet in the middle of judgment a door stood open: 'Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house.' One city, two outcomes, divided by nothing but faith.
“In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.””Genesis 15:16
“The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.”Joshua 6:17
“They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.”Joshua 6:21
“The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.”Joshua 6:23
Hebrews sets her between the Red Sea and the falling walls: 'By faith, Rahab the prostitute, didn't perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.' Her neighbors heard the same reports and hardened; she heard and believed, which is the whole difference. James holds up the same woman to prove that living faith acts. Heaven measures people by their trust in Yahweh, not by nation or record.
“By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.”Hebrews 11:30
“By faith, Rahab the prostitute, didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.”Hebrews 11:31
“In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?”James 2:25
Joshua records that 'She lived in the midst of Israel to this day': the outsider adopted into the covenant people. Matthew goes further back into the family tree: 'Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab.' The woman from doomed Jericho becomes an ancestor of David, and so of Jesus Christ. The blessing promised to all the families of the earth through Abraham reaches home in His own genealogy.
“But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”Joshua 6:25
“Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.”Matthew 1:5
“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.””Genesis 12:3