A Tale of Two Rahabs

Two weeks ago we discussed the life of Sarah, her greatness and her flaws, we connected with her “real-ness” and broken heartedness and the many ways we ourselves can be modern day Sarahs. 

We were reminded that:

·         God is so gracious!  And faithful to His promises!

·         He uses us even though we can be like Sarah: 

SHE COULD THROW FITS AND TANTRUMS.  SHE KNEW HOW TO BE MANIPULATIVE.  SHE WAS EVEN KNOWN TO GET MEAN.  SHE COULD BE IMPATIENT, TEMPERMENTAL, CONNIVING, CANTANKEROUS, CRUEL, FLIGHTY, POUTY, JEALOUS, ERRATIC, UNREASONABLE, A WHINER, A COMPLAINER, OR A NAG.

·         God’s timing is perfectly fine for us.  We don’t have to try to use our own solutions to what God says is perfect timing.  If he wants us to intervene or do something about it.  We had better be on our knees before we try to fix it ourselves!

Comments?

What surprised you about the “Sarah” study?  What did you take from it?

Rahab: A Horrible Life Redeemed

That is the title of this chapter of the book.  I would like to rename today’s study to:

 A tale of two Rahabs.  J 

How do you recall Rahab?

We know Rahab as being called out very plainly as a prostitute or harlot and we may even recall bits and pieces of her story and how she helped in the fall of Jericho… but of her personal character we aren’t given as clear of a picture.  So thus – a tale of 2 Rahabs…  Before we begin to make any assumptions or definitions, let’s first get re-acquainted and make our own minds up about this woman.

THE BACKGROUND

Moses had died; the Israelites were wandering through the wilderness now some 38 years awaiting entrance to the Promised Land.  Joshua was the man in charge and the Israelites found themselves across the river from Jericho – at the doorstep of Canaan (the Promised Land) and just as Moses had done so many years before that – he sent spies into Jericho to gain military and strategic information.

Jericho was a walled city and settled by the pagan Amorite people – the very people God had said defiled the land because of their sins in Deuteronomy.
 

            Joshua 2

¹ Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.  ² The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” ³ So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”   ⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. ⁵ At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” ⁶ (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) ⁷ So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. 

 ⁸ Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof ⁹ and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. ¹⁰ We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.   ¹² “Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign ¹³ that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”   ¹⁴ “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.”   ¹⁵ So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. ¹⁶ She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”   ¹⁷ Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us ¹⁸ unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. ¹⁹ If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. ²⁰ But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”   ²¹ “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”     So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.   ²² When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them. ²³ Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them. ²⁴ They said to Joshua, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”

THE ANAYLSIS
Because we’re given only the account of Rahab’s story – we’re not given a whole lot of detail in regards to her person and so we’re left with pieces to fit together both through the biblical account and through historical knowledge of the time frame and Amorite and Israelite people.
“When Rahab appears in the bible she is one of the most unsavory characters imaginable… she was an immoral woman living in a pagan culture that was fanatically devoted to everything God hates.  The culture itself was on the brink of judgment.  Their long descent into the abyss of moral and spiritual corruption has been intentional and now it was irreversible.”
As far as we know, Rahab was a willing participant in the debauchery of her civilization.  She personally profited from the evil of her society.  Her business was located on the city wall which meant one of two things from historical perspective… it was either a high rent district and was a very successful business or was among the poorer side of town where the servants, etc. dwelled.
With her business being as it was… a tavern keeper/brothel madam.  It would have been natural for her to open her doors to strangers (the spies) without many questions about who they were.  In fact it was probable that her confidentiality was key to her business success.  The spot on the city wall was also ideal location for her business and for her visitors to come and go quickly and without much notice… this was especially true for the Israelite spies.
We can imagine there wasn’t much time that had lapsed between when the men arrived at her home and their identities were revealed as Israelite spies because before nightfall she had hid them on the roof and the King’s guards were already at her doorstep looking for them.  Now, as much digging as I did, I couldn’t find exact details about what the punishment would be for her if she were caught hiding the spies, but I did find that in the Babylonian culture and law – not too many years later – that were largely based on Amorite customs, suggested that if a woman tavern keeper housed criminals without telling the officials, she would be executed.  I think it’s safe to assume that Rahab would have been under similar “regulations” in this instance.  So a pretty bold move on her behalf.
We then get a bit of a glimpse at her character when she lies to the king’s men and goes and confesses her belief in God and what He had done for their people.  How she believed His promises to be true and how great her fear of the real God was – which is okay that her faith would have been accompanied by fear.  The accounts of what God had done was probably what motivated her faith and made her realize that God was true and real.

Psalms 111:10

¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; 

Psalms 145:6
⁶ They tell of the power of your awesome works— and I will proclaim your great deeds.
 

Although she isn’t applauded for her ethics – she is regarded for her faithfulness to God – especially a God that wasn’t worshiped in her culture.




One take – A horrible life redeemed

 “as far as the record of her life is concerned, there were no redeeming qualities whatsoever about Rahab’s life up to this point…. She was a moral bottom feeder.”  She was a prostitute – a harlot – a hooker.  She would have the reputation a porn star would have.  She was successful in her business which promoted promiscuity and objectivity and adultery.  She was the woman other women loved to hate and men loved to love.  She had a lifestyle that profited from the filth of her society and willingly so.  It would have been nothing for her to lie and deceive to get what she wanted, and especially to hide the identities of those visiting her “tavern.”  Although a great statement of faith in God, perhaps her great “barter” for her life and the lives of her family could have been another day in the schemes and business exchanges of a savvy and manipulative woman.

Another take – A lost soul

Rahab was a prostitute – a harlot – a hooker.  She would have had the reputation a porn star would have today.  She was successful in a business that promoted promiscuity, objectivity and adultery.  She was the woman other women loved to hate and the men loved to love.  She had a lifestyle that profited from the filth of her society and willingly so.  She was a product of her society… the culture she had been raised in that indulged in the sinful things that God detested.  Perhaps the “brothel business” was one passed down to her by her own family.  Perhaps she herself had been victim of sexual objectivity in her past.  Perhaps she didn’t see a brighter future for herself and any other way to take care of her family.  Note that when she asks the spies for mercy on her she also asks for her family – her mom and dad, brothers and sisters.  Sounds like to me in a society where men took the reins and cared for their families – this sister was doing it on her own.

Perhaps the hiding of the spies showed not only her extreme faith in a God she personally knew little about but also showed a heart of love and yearning to know a faithful God who had given her an opportunity to find her and her family a way out of the lifestyle she had been stuck in and victim to.

Either way we look at Rahab and her person.  There are several things we should stop and ponder on as we consider this account:

For one… regardless of her character/person… by today’s standards she would have been an outcast.  

What are some of the reasons we cast people aside and are we justified in doing so?

Human nature leaves each of us with judgment and the ability to decipher.  We judge when and where to go, what to do and when to act.  Where is safe to go and where is not, etc.  When used correctly and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit these traits are priceless gifts... when used without the Holy Spirit – they can be tools of hatred and division that can crush people.  Each of us is guilty of judging a book by its cover at one point or another.  We must be SO careful.  We not only miss the opportunity to know extraordinary people but also mask the bright lights of hope and redemption that come through the saving knowledge of Christ.  Judgment is unfortunately one of the top reasons people will not walk into a church today… they’re not dressed right, or fit in, or know anyone, etc. etc. etc.

Rahab lied to cover for the spies.  There wasn’t anything right about her lying… and God certainly doesn’t condone it.  

Could God have accomplished His purposes through her telling the truth about the spies?

ABSOLUTELY and WITHOUT A DOUBT!  God is bigger than us!  Bigger than our circumstances!  But he’s also gracious and patient and moves within our free will and allows us to work with him and he works with us!  He could have robots… but instead gave us free will and is a gentleman even when we respond incorrectly and nothing is wasted in His economy (right Elaine!)

THE OUTCOME
Joshua following the Lords commands prepares the people to move towards Jericho and several chapters later in Joshua 6 we see the triumph at Jericho we have heard in Sunday School before where the people march around the city walls with the Ark of the Covenant and are told one of the two notes of Rahab’s future.

Joshua 6:15-25

 ¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted^[a] to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.”

 ²⁰ When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. ²¹ They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

 ²² Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” ²³ So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

 ²⁴ Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house. ²⁵ But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

The other note we’re given on Rahab’s future is in Matthew when she is listed in the lineage of Christ!  Yes, I said the lineage of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:5
 ⁵ Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,  Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

We know from history and from scripture that “it was highly unusual for women to be named in Hebrew genealogies at all… Yet Matthew mentions five women, and all of them are notable.  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary.  At least three of them were Gentiles.  Three of them were disgraced because of their own sin.  In fact all of them, for various reasons, knew what it was like to be an outcast – to have some infamy or stigma attached to their reputations:”

• Tamar was a Canaanite woman who husband died leaving her childless – she posed as a    prostitute and seduced her father in law, Judah, in order to bear a child.
• Rahab (we already know about)
• Ruth (who we’ll soon get to know better) was from the Moabite nation – a people who were despised in Israel
• Bathsheba committed adultery with King David
• Mary who bore the “disgrace” of an out of wedlock pregnancy

“Collectively, they illustrate” so wonderfully “how God is able to work all things together for good … from a human perspective; the whole lineage is checkered with outcasts and examples of failure.”  Remember:

Philippians 2:7

⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.

Rahab is remembered in the Hall of the Faithful in Hebrews too and her faithfulness is used as an example several more times throughout the New Testament.  Rahab is extraordinary by no means of her own… but because she received extraordinary grace.  She’s not a model of excellence, of human works or how to better ourselves through self-improvement.  She is a reminder that God through His extraordinary grace can redeem even the most “tainted” of lives… from the darkest of circumstances.  She is a great living example of:

Ephesians 2:8-10

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Next week is – Ruth:  Loyalty and Love

Please feel free to share this study with the extraordinary women in your life and invite them to join us for this exploration either in person on Wednesday Mornings at the Church of the Vine, 5 Wareham Street, S. Carver, Mass. From 9:30-11:30 (a time of prayer, study, fellowship and coffee!) or online at http://e-study-12extraordinarywomen.blogspot.com