Rahab is a fascinating historical figure. We know relatively little about her, but what Scripture does tell us is remarkable. Yet I wonder whether we have a tendency to magnify the minor details about her and miss the point that Scripture emphasizes.
The first thing we learn about Rahab is who she was:
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there (Joshua 2:1).
Rahab lived in Jericho, and she was a prostitute. When the events of the book of Joshua were recorded, the author considered this the most succinct way to identify Rahab.
The second thing we learn about Rahab is something she did:
And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them (Joshua 2:2-4).
Rahab hid the Israelite spies. She knew her king was looking for them, and in response, “she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof” (Joshua 2:6). Instead of exposing the spies, she put them into a hiding place.
The third thing we learn about Rahab is something she said:
And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them” (Joshua 2:4-5).
Rahab lied to and misdirected the king’s men. The Israelite spies hadn’t gone out when the gate was about to be closed, and she knew exactly where they were at that moment.
The fourth thing we learned about Rahab is why she hid the Israelite spies:
Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before 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 the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath (Joshua 2:8-11).
Rahab had faith in the God of Israel. This is the most important thing about her, the facet of her personhood that deserves the most attention.
A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ANGLE
It helps to consider Rahab’s story chronologically. She was a prostitute living in the kingdom of Jericho. She had a family she loved, just like any ordinary person. She had grown up in the context of the political, religious, and social practices of her culture, just like any ordinary person.
At some point in her life, she heard an extraordinary story: A people called Israel had fled Egypt, where they had long been subjected to slavery. Pharaoh and his army pursued them to the shore of the Red Sea. The Israelites’ death or capture was certain; there was nowhere for them to run from Egypt’s chariots and officers. But inexplicably, miraculously, a path was opened up for the people of Israel: the waters of the sea parted, creating an avenue of dry ground. The Israelites were able to walk across the Red Sea with the waters held back like walls by an invisible hand (Exodus 14).
But that wasn’t all. After the people of Israel had crossed the Red Sea, they sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, asking for permission to pass peacefully through his land (Numbers 21). Sihon’s response was to gather his people to fight. After all, he had an army, and even though Israel’s numbers were great, they were an assembly of ex-slaves. But Israel defeated Sihon and took possession of his land. In quick succession, Israel had the same victory over Og, the king of Bashan. Word spread, and neighboring nations now heard the name Israel and were deeply afraid.
Rahab heard these stories and wondered. She considered how the people of Israel had escaped the mighty hand of Egypt – how the waters of a sea had parted for them, creating a path that had never before existed and would never again exist. Then they had overwhelmingly defeated two kings and settled in their lands. If the people of Israel were to come upon Jericho, surely they too would be defeated; her people were right to be afraid.
The response of Rahab’s heart is remarkable: she had faith. She concluded that Israel must have the greatest, most powerful God. She believed that this God had the power to dry up the water of the mighty Red Sea, and that He would wield that power to help the people of Israel. He had the authority to give land to whomever He chose; if the Israelites’ God designated her land for them, Rahab knew with certainty that nothing could stop Israel from destroying Jericho.
Rahab continued living her ordinary life until one day, something extraordinary happened to her: two spies from Israel came directly across her path. We don’t know the details of how she met them or how she learned who they were, but her fledgling faith immediately took action. She knew by their presence that their God intended to give the land of Jericho to Israel, and she knew that she had to help them. She wouldn’t have had any exposure to the Ten Commandments or the Law of Moses. She wouldn’t have known about all the other ways God worked and revealed Himself to His people in the wilderness. But based on what she had heard, she believed in her bones that the God of Israel was supreme, the one true God, the God of the heavens above and the earth beneath. Her allegiance was no longer with Jericho, but with the God of Israel. She would not aid her king if it meant going against the God who parted the Red Sea.
RAHAB’S FAITH COMMENDED
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Rahab had not seen the Red Sea parted or Sihon and Og defeated, but she believed anyway. And because she believed, she gave “a friendly welcome to the spies” (Hebrews 11:31). She was not hostile toward them out of dread of what they would do to Jericho; instead, she helped them because she revered their God. And for this faith, the author of Hebrews included her by name and deed in what is commonly known as the Hall of Faith. In fact, she is the last one listed before the author says that time would fail him to tell of so many others.
James 2:25 also commends Rahab: “And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” James was building his argument that faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead, like a body apart from a spirit (James 2:17, 26). Unlike the Hall of Faith, he uses only two examples: Abraham, who was well known and revered by the Jews, and Rahab, the prostitute who believed in a God she had only heard about in stories. James points to her and says that it’s far better for a person’s faith to be compared to hers than to the mere belief that even demons have (James 2:19). Her faith was a deep conviction that propelled her to do something courageous at great personal risk.
When Rahab helped the spies escape, she asked them to save her and her family when Israel came to conquer Jericho, and they struck a deal with her. They recognized that she had dealt kindly and faithfully with them, and they would return the favor. Sure enough, those young men kept their promise, and when the city of Jericho was devoted to destruction, they went and personally saved Rahab and her family (Joshua 6:23). She remained in Israel with the people of God. She married a man of Israel named Salmon and had a son named Boaz, who was the father of Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David. One day, an even greater king would come from the line of Rahab: the Messiah Himself, Jesus.
Rahab would have had no idea of the legacy she would leave – that thousands of years later, men and women and children of many different languages would know her name; that she would be in the lineage of the Son of God; that she would be heralded as an example of faith alongside Abraham, Noah, and Moses. In that moment, when she met the Israelite spies and realized who they were, her faith in their God made it clear that the right thing for her to do was to help them, and so she did that in the best way she knew how.
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