The story in Joshua 2 of Rahab the harlot hiding the
Israelite spies stuck out to me recently when I was reading it and I found a
lot of interesting things in it.
1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men
to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and
came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
Keep in mind that in Numbers 13-14, Moses first sent the 12
spies to look at the land and 10 brought back an evil report and 2 (one of whom
was Joshua) were excited to go in.
The people were intimidated and refused to go into the land to possess
it, so the Lord declared they would not live to inherit the land.
It is now 40 years later and here Joshua sends in two spies
to view the land, but he sends them secretly, concealing their mission from the
rest of Israel. It is possible
that he didn’t want the people to know, lest they be scared again if they heard
of scary conditions.
It is really interesting to
me that Joshua decided to send the two spies in the first place. His reason for sending them out is “Go
view the land, even Jericho.” What
did he want them to see? What did
he want them to find out? We can’t
really tell. Again, this sending
of spies is odd because Joshua himself had been sent as a spy throughout the
land 40 years before. He knew the land was good. He had seen it. So why send spies again? Some have called this doubt or
over-caution, but I suspect that he acted according to spiritual impressions
that someone needed to be sent into the land. I think it shows how Joshua didn’t lean on his own
understanding, but trusted in the Lord.
He did not know why or what would come of it, so this could be why his
directions to the spies were so vague.
“Go view the land, even Jericho” would hopefully circulate them around
enough that whatever they needed to be there for would become more obvious as
time went on. And we see
what came of it. Somehow the spies found one person who
believed, and that led to her and her family being saved out of all the people
of Jericho.
Now, why did these two men go to a harlot’s house and stay there? Israel was supposed to stay pure, right? Perhaps staying with a harlot was a
strategic measure designed to conceal their real motive for being
there--viewing the land. If they
stayed with someone else, people might ask all kinds of questions, but if they
stayed with a harlot, everybody would just assume
the usual reason for strange men visiting a harlot. And remember just because they visit her doesn’t mean
anything has to happen.
2 And it was told the
king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the
children of Israel to search out the country.
If the two Israelite men had hoped to escape notice, it
seems that they failed. Someone
saw them come in, identified them, and passed that info up the chain of command
to the king of Jericho. It is
interesting to me that the purpose for the Israelites being there was known as
well. The front of visiting a
harlot didn’t fool whoever was watching, or.. there may have been a spy in the
Israelite camp for the king of Jericho.
If you look at it another way, Rahab’s house was located on
top of Jericho’s wall (v15) and it is possible that there were soldiers
stationed on the wall as well who happened to notice the Israelites coming in.
How is the king of Jericho going to react to the news of
Israelites in his city? Probably
not well.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying,
Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house:
for they be come to search out all the country.
4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them,
and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting
of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I
wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the
house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon
the roof.
7 And the men pursued after them the way to
Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone
out, they shut the gate.
At this point we will have noticed that Rahab has
unexpectedly taken the side of the Israelites (whom she’s never met) instead of
that of her own people (whom she’s lived among all along). We should be asking ourselves why she is doing this. What motive would she have? We’ll find out.
A lot of commentators come down on Rahab for lying to king’s
messengers, but if you check everything she says, she tells the truth, but with
such broad strokes that the specific information about the spies’ location is
concealed.
“There came men unto me” – Very true.
“but I wist not whence they were” – This is also true; she
wouldn’t have known where they came from before they told her.
“about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was
dark,…the men went out” – Yes, the men went out--they were outside on the roof. And because the Jericho men run outside
Jericho to search and shut the gate, the statement that they went out about the
time of the shutting of the gate becomes true too.
“whither the men went I wot [know] not” – If she told them
to go up to the roof and hide, then she might generally know where to look, but
she wouldn’t know exactly where they
went, so this is true too, broadly speaking.
Okay, so this gets rid of the hostile men of Jericho, but it
causes another problem—the gate is shut and the spies can’t get out through the
gate now.
There is something else that I want to bring up that might give us an additional clue about Rahab. Notice it says she hid the men with the stalks of flax,
which she had laid in order upon the roof. She has all this flax.
It isn’t a roofing material; it’s a food-and-fiber agricultural product.
(Flax fiber is used to make linen,
and flax seed is a very good grain to eat.) And there is enough flax on the roof that two men can hide
among it. And it’s all organized,
laid in order. Where did she get all this flax? It is possible she had a little side business going on of
growing flax and she had just harvested a crop.
The other possibility is that the flax could have been the
brought to her by her customers to pay for her…um.. services. But then she’d still have to do
something with that flax—either process it herself or sell it. And that’s still a side business.
The fact that the flax is laid in order on her roof and
there is so much of it is what makes me think this was a side business of
hers. Laying it out in order could
be part of drying it or exposing it to the elements (which is called “retting”
and it breaks down the outside of the plant so the fibers can be more easily
processed). This means she knew
what she was doing with it, which further suggests it was a side business.
Usually retting is done in the fields, and the fact that she is doing it on the
roof of her house makes me think that it was her way of securing her crop. The whole city was shut up because of
the Israelites, expecting to be put under siege, so she would definitely want
that flax with her.
Yep, that flax really makes me wonder.. was she a harlot growing flax on the
side, or was she a flax farmer who had turned to prostitution just to stay
alive?
8 ¶And before they were laid down, she came up
unto them upon the roof;
9 And she said unto the men, I know that the
Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that
all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the
water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto
the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and
Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our
hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because
of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by
the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness
unto my father’s house, and give me a true token:
13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my
mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver
our lives from death.
It must have really floored those Israelite men to hear a
harlot bearing testimony to them that she knew their God was the God of heaven
and earth. And just think, out of
all the people they could have stayed with, they found this one woman who
believed. (It really makes you
wonder how they decided upon her.
Was her place most convenient?
Did she find them? How did
they connect? We may never know.)
As a prostitute, Rahab heard from her customers about Israel
and their victories. She saw how
frightened the people around her were. Rahab hadn’t actually seen any of the miraculous events
happen that they told about, but she believed them. (This showed faith in things not seen which were true.) In spite of her harlotry she recognized
that Israel’s God was the God of the whole earth and that God had given Israel
the land. She realized that her
people’s time was coming to an end and that they would eventually be destroyed. She could have fought this conclusion--it
seems that just about everybody else around her were in denial about it--but she seems to have decided to honest with
herself. And too, consider that
Rahab had this house on the top of the city wall, in what seemed to be a very
safe place. She could have put
trust in the strength of the city wall, yet instead she took it for granted
that the Israelites were going to win because God would help them.
(It is so odd too that Jericho’s inhabitants were so afraid
of Israel and they told these stories about Israel’s God and yet they didn’t
believe enough to join Israel or surrender to them.)
So here’s where we see Rahab’s motive for taking the side of
the spies against her own people.
She believed in the power of the God of Israel, so it was right to
protect those who were His people and there was the possibility of finding
favor with God thereby. Her belief
was strong enough that she essentially was willing to put her life on the line
to conceal them.
It is touching that she asks for her
family to be saved as well, even though she lives separate from them. And
notice that she asks for an oath (a covenant) to make it sure.
Now, this is where we might wonder how Rahab would live
after being saved. If she lives
among the Israelites afterward, they aren’t going to let her continue her
prostitution. That side business
with flax is going to become really important to her.
Did she know about Israel’s standards of morality when she
asked for that covenant that she and her family be saved? We don’t know for sure. I’m going to speculate some here. Among the other things that we know she heard about Israel, she may have heard about Israel’s
strict commandments as well. Keep
in mind, the Canaanites practiced a form of idolatry that sacralized
prostitution, so to them, hearing of the Israelites’ penalties of death for
immorality would be incredibly shocking and disturbing. But maybe Rahab was open to those
commandments and wanted to live them.
If she did know
about those commandments, her flax side business might represent some major
faith to find some other way of making a living so that she would eventually be
able to live with the Israelites. If
she didn’t know about those
commandments, then her flax side business was a very very lucky thing to have.
14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours,
if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us
the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
15 Then she let them down by a cord through the
window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
16 And she said unto them, Get you to the
mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days,
until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.
The spies have pretty strong faith too, as you can see by
their assured reply, “when the Lord
hath given us the land” (emphasis added).
How lucky that Rahab lived on the top of the city wall so
that she could help the spies get outside the gates by going out the window and
down the wall with a cord. If she
had lived anywhere else, this might have been a different story.
Having obtained the promise from the spies, she is now
highly invested in their safety.
If they don’t get back to Joshua safe so they can inform him of the
token of the scarlet cord, she still dies.
17 And the men said unto her, We will be
blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou
shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us
down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and
all thy father’s household, home unto thee.
19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out
of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head,
and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his
blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.
20 And if thou utter this our business, then we
will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
21 And she said,
According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed:
and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
The sign of binding the scarlet cord in the window makes
this story Rahab’s version of the Passover. (And it just so happens that the Israelites celebrated
Passover themselves in between the time the spies return to Joshua and when the
Israelites conquer Jericho, so there is more than a symbolic connection
here.) I notice that Rahab
put the scarlet cord in the window immediately. She didn’t wait until she saw the Israelites surrounding the
walls to do it. I like how she
didn’t procrastinate.
Also notice that she had to persuade her parents and her
siblings to stay in her house with her to be safe. She seems to have succeeded convincing at least part of her
family, since Joshua 6:23 says that her father, mother, and brethren were
saved. Compare Rahab’s story with
that of Noah, who built an ark and saved only his immediate family. Also, compare her story to the story of
Lot, who was only able to save himself and his two daughters, even though he
warned his sons-in-law, and his wife turned back.
Think about how much faith Rahab’s family had to have to
listen to her warning and instructions.
They sacrificed everything they had and were for the chance of being
saved, and they had to come live for a time in the house of a harlot and live
under that association in order to be saved. And they had to be very patient because it took time for the
Israelites to conquer Jericho. (It
took far less time than a siege would have, but it still took time.) They had
to wait about 19 days in her house for the Israelites to conquer Jericho. I tallied what the Israelites did
during that approximate 19 days:
·
3 days for spies to hide from pursuers (Joshua 2:22)
·
3 days to for Israel’s officers to muster the host (Joshua
3:2)
·
1 day for the spies to return
·
1 day for the Israelites to sanctify themselves (Joshua 3:5)
·
4 days for the Israelites to heal up after newly
circumcising themselves and to keep the Passover (Joshua 4:19-10)
·
6 days for the Israelites to circle Jericho
·
1 day for the Israelites to circle Jericho, blow their
horns, and have the walls come down
That last 7 days may have been very difficult for Rahab and
her family, to watch Israel marching around the city without attacking. It would be a style of battle preparation
that they had never seen before.
It would be hard for them to take seriously.
Through all of this, Rahab and her family had to have great
faith not just in the trustworthiness of the spies, but also that Joshua and
the Israelites would honor the agreement as well.
Since she and her family stayed in her house, which was on
top of the Jericho’s wall, we know their part of the wall had to stay up when
the walls came tumbling down, otherwise they would have been injured in the
wall of it.
22 And they [the spies] went, and came unto the
mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the
pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.
23 ¶So the two men returned, and descended from
the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him
all things that befell them:
24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord
hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the
country do faint because of us.
In terms of a reconnaissance
mission, the spies’ visit to Jericho might be said to be unsuccessful, since
the two men hid most of the time. They
might have been worried after their 3 days hiding from pursuit. They could have been concerned about
how the Israelites would take Jericho with its city walls, but fascinatingly
they tell Joshua, “Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land,
for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.” They certainly get points for
enthusiasm.
It seems to me that the
spies’ mission was intended by the Lord to find Rahab and to save her and her
family more than achieve any real military objective. That can tell us something about the Lord’s care for the one
and how He can save people who we would not think would be receptive to the
message of the gospel.
So how is Rahab
remembered? Interestingly enough,
when Rahab’s name is mentioned in the Old Testament, it is usually with
distaste.
4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to
them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born
there.
5 And of Zion it shall
be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall
establish her. (Psalms 87:4-5)
Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast
scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. (Psalm 89:10)
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord;
awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? (Isaiah 51:9)
Because Rahab
had that association with harlotry, I think the prophets used her name as a
symbol or stand-in to refer to those who were unfaithful to the Lord. Rahab was not actually “broken in
pieces” or “cut,” but the wicked cultures from which she came definitely
were. It’s kind of sad that they
used her name like that.
On the other hand, Rahab is
cited the New Testament as a woman of
faith!
By
faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had
received the spies with peace. (Hebrews 11:31)
Likewise
also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the
messengers, and had sent them out another way?
(James 2:25)
Consider these
manifestations of her faith:
--She had confidence in an
unconfirmed reality of the power of the God of Israel. Her belief was based merely on reports,
which may even have been exaggerated on the negative side, and yet she
believed. (That’s like someone
joining the church even when the only thing they have read is ‘anti’ literature.)
--She extrapolated from
these points of faith that her and her people’s days were numbered. This was a very unpleasant notion to
think about, yet she did not shy away from it. This was faith that events not yet seen would happen. And yet she did not despair. She had the faith to take whatever
chance she could find of avoiding destruction.
--She was loyal to an
unverified relationship. Even
though Israel’s God would not be pleased with her profession as a harlot (and
she may or may not have known this), she believed and saved the spies (representatives
of that God) in order to create an obligation that might allow her to seek
safety God’s people.
--She had faith in an
unsubstantiated promise. She had
no way of knowing whether the spies would keep their promise to save her and
her family, but she did her part to extract that promise and to qualify for
salvation under its conditions.
Can you think of ways that
our faith may be similar to hers?
When I read this story, I can see lessons from the different
perpectives of the characters.
- When we look at it from Joshua’s perspective, it is about following spiritual
promptings and seeing how it leads to the salvation of a family.
- When we look at it from the
perspective of the two spies, this story is about doing what you can to fulfill
a mission from a prophet and then seeing how the Lord provides help from unexpected
directions.
- When we look at it from the
perspective of Rahab, this story shows us that God reaches out to save
individuals who choose to have faith in Him, even when those individuals are
some of the lowest of the low, even when their destruction is a mere 19 days away. God’s arm is stretched out all our
lives long and it is never too late to be saved. (And of course, the sooner we lay hold on His salvation, the
better!)
