Today … one more lesson about Rahab, at least exclusively about her. (I may fairly soon write an article for the Website about the chronology of the Book of Joshua, a conundrum at times. If so, Joshua chapter 2 will of necessity be discussed, the Rahab event, its “timing.”)

Now … read Rahab’s statement to the spies: “⁹And 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.” Joshua 2:9-13

First … she clearly believed that God was going to “destroy” all the Canaanites, her ancestry! (Including her and her family!) She was fully aware of the seriousness of the Judgment of God, its 100% inevitability!

In this Rahab is the first person in the Book of Joshua to specifically mention this “dedicated to destruction” idea that God had so carefully taught Moses! Deuteronomy 20:17 gives an example: “Thou shalt UTTERLY DESTROY them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.”

So she (Rahab) first mentions God’s Holy Wrath!

Then secondly, she is also keenly aware of God’s (amazing) Grace!

“Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD … that ye will also SHOW KINDNESS (hesed) unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: 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.”

The “kindness” for which Rahab begs is none other than the “Grace, Mercy” of God! “Hesed” or “chesed” (merely a pronunciation difference) is one of the great words of the Bible! It’s the well-known “lovingkindness” of the Old Testament!

Rahab knew that … though God’s Judgment was real … so was His Grace!

And that trust in God (faith) triggers that marvelous Grace that overcomes God’s Judgment! (Ultimately through the Blood of Jesus shed on Calvary, which propitiated God’s Wrath against sin. When applied to the human heart, that is.)

Psalm 30:5 beautifully says: “For His (God’s) anger endureth but a moment; but in his favour is life (some lexicons say this favour is ‘lifelong’).” More than a “moment,” anyway!

Praise the Lord!

Rahab, the little theologian!

Rahab, the teacher!

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Rahab asked for Grace! And was given that Grace! In fact, “and a whole lot more!” Sounds just like our great God, doesn’t it?

It looks to me like the Harlot Rahab, in Joshua chapter 2, is actually the “model” character to follow, even more than the two spies dispatched to “go view the land.”

Instead of a brave recon mission … the two spies … in reality find themselves “hiding” in a woman’s house! Humiliating, to a Jew of that day!

And she, Rahab, though the quintessential “foolish woman” of the Old Testament (an adulteress or harlot, a common prostitute) … is nearly portrayed as a “wise woman” in our chapter’s context!

For example, Rahab was brave. Risking her life to spare the two spies, committing what would have been called “treason” against Jericho (her homeland). Yes treason, a capital crime! (She hid them on her roof until the danger abated.)

She was “creative” in her thinking! What a story she concocted … “And the Rahab took the two men (spies), and hid them, and said thus (to the soldiers of Jericho, the King’s search party), ‘There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: 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.’ 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.” Joshua 2:4-6, yes it was all a lie! But she would soon learn better. And she furthered the cause of Israel in the process. To the Glory of God!

She also had a healthy “fear of the Lord” building in her heart! “And she said unto the men (spies), 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. 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. 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.” Joshua 2:9-11, the beginning of “faith,” saving faith! (“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalm 111:10)

Watch too her compassion for her whole family! “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: 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.” Joshua 2:12-13, altruism, selfless love!

Maybe these facts (along with several others) help explain why Rahab appears in Scripture so often!

In the New Testament; Matthew and Hebrews and James!

One writer I studied likens her (in many ways) to the “virtuous woman” of Proverbs 31. I am talking about the “saved, changed-by-God’s-Grace” Rahab now!

Wow!

That’s Grace, all right … AMAZING GRACE!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

The “red” scarlet cord later in the story is no doubt a symbol of the Blood of Jesus! No doubt in my mind, this foreigner of a cursed race became a follower (sincerely) of the God of Abraham! We shall meet her in Heaven some day, too!

 

Rahab is portrayed in such a “good light” in Joshua that commentators for years have tried to make her (her occupation) anything but a “prostitute,” a common “harlot.”

A merchant, maybe?

An innkeeper?

A matriarch?

Anything but a prostitute!

In coming lessons I want to show you more about how the Holy Spirit pictures Rahab. It is amazing! (Both in what is said about her and by means of what is implied.)

“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.” Joshua 2:1

In Hebrew the noun “harlot” used here is “zanah.” It comes from a root verb that means “highly fed, well paid,” therefore “wanton, sensual, sexual, prodigal.” Without exception in the Old Testament the word is used of illegal (in God’s Eyes, not allowed in Mosaic Law) sexual activity!

And yet by the time Joshua ends … Rahab is virtually a “heroine,” for her bravery and faith and character! Her leadership skills are not bad either!

But I remind you that in the Bible, especially in Proverbs, such a woman (there most often called a “strange woman”) is vilified, and rightfully so I might add.

Wow!

Rahab is even mentioned in the New Testament, folks! In Jesus’ genealogy! Then in Hebrews 11, the Bible’s great “faith” chapter! And again in James, the “strictest” Epistle in the whole Canon!

What turns a “vile woman” into a “godly woman?”

There’s only one answer … the Grace of God!

Forgiveness through the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Faith, faith, faith!

Aren’t you glad today that God does not look at our past … with all its sin?

That God now looks at us as “justified” children of faith!

Sin … GONE!

More about her tomorrow, Rahab, the Lord willing.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Meanwhile, let’s all rejoice and delight today in the marvelous Grace of God!

 

There will be more than one lesson on Rahab.

Today’s is preliminary.

But first, this thought.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Book of Joshua is the “killing” that occurs in its pages. “Genocide,” it has been called for decades. But now a new word has taken over, “racism!”

Those “Jews” expelling those “Canaanites” (more particularly: the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites) from their land! (Land which God created, and thus owns. And can give to whomsoever He pleases. Which He did, granting the land to Israel!)

“Racism,” the politically correct (or maybe incorrect) word of the hour!

Well now, here comes Rahab, the foreigner, Joshua chapter 2. (She’s also discussed in even more detail in Joshua chapter 6.) And Rahab was a Canaanite!

Here’s what I am trying to say.

Rahab the despised woman (and a harlot at that) of a filthy race of people … is saved (along with her whole family) and brought into the Nation of Israel!

This no sooner happens than a Jew (of the Tribe of Judah nonetheless … the cream of the crop) is killed, exterminated, stoned to death (he along with his family) because of sin in his life, a (by today’s standards) relatively minor infraction, at that. His name, Achan!

Now … is that racism?

Is “exclusive” Israel here being biased?

Prejudicial?

NO, she is not!

Neither is her God a “racist!”

He is a “whosoever will may come” God!

That thought first entered my mind a couple of days ago … and it was cemented there last night after the Revival Meeting … as I lay in bed pondering this morning’s lesson.

Rahab … the most unlikely candidate in the world … her people slated for destruction … is SAVED!

Achan, from one of Israel’s most prestigious lineages … is SLAIN!

Oh, the marvels of the Grace of God.

And His Judgments, too!

In my heart the age-old attack on the Book of Joshua … its bloodthirstiness … is now “moot!”

Thank you, Lord.

The color of one’s skin is not the issue.

The state of one’s heart is the issue!

Sin is the issue!

Thus Jesus, the Forgiver of sin, is The Issue, centrally so!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Finally, the time had come!

What initially could have been an “eleven day” journey … from Egypt to Canaan … became (due to the unbelief of Israel) a multi-year trek! See Deuteronomy 1:2 … “There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.”

But Joshua 1:10-11 informs us: “Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals (provisions, food); for WITHIN THREE DAYS ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.”

Wow!

And therein lies the sheer excitement of the Book of Joshua … claiming (conquering) the Land that God had given (promised) Israel!

In fact, that’s what I’d like to highlight this morning, in today’s Lesson.

For so long the Jews had lived “below” their privilege. They had lived in the wilderness when they could have (by means of obedience to God’s commands) lived in that Land “flowing with milk and honey!”

Really, Joshua chapter 1 subsequently mentions the 2 1/2 Tribes who did not (even in Joshua’s day) enter fully into Canaan! They stopped (and lived the rest of their lives) “short” of the Land they could have enjoyed. They lived east of Jordan! (Might be as bad as “east of Eden,” where wicked Cain lived.)

Incidentally, the Book of Joshua closes with a chapter about those same 2 1/2 tribes (Reuben, Ephraim and half of Manasseh) and a “mess” they nearly made for all Israel! That would be Joshua chapter 22. One could say Joshua begins and ends with a look at these “shirkers,” although they did have to supply soldiers for the battles across the Jordan! Inclusio … Joshua 1 and Joshua 22 … people who did NOT live up to their full potential! To God’s perfect Will for their lives!

Exit pre-Monarchy Israel.

Enter post-Pentecost Christianity, even America.

We still too (often) live “below” our calling!

Remember …  the blessings of the Old Testament tend to be “material” … while the blessings of the New Testament tend to be “spiritual.” Wow! That fact alone is worth the whole Lesson!

Friends, how many of us live “below” the prayer life we could enjoy? (James 4:2 … “Yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” Subnormal Christianity)

How many of us live “without” the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives? Lacking the Spirit’s “Fruit?” (Galatians 5:22-23 … “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.” Amazing!)

How many of us live “ignorantly” (needlessly so) of the Word of God? (2 Timothy 2:15 … “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The Bible is Truth!)

May I tell you something?

We could all (in less than three days) move into our Land of Canaan!

And start enjoying the “milk and honey” of the victorious Christian life!

Folks, let’s move “west!”

Cross the Jordan.

Stake a claim.

And enjoy the “abundant life,” as Jesus promised long ago.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

That’s called Revival, spiritual maturity, “living in Canaan Land!”