Rahab (Joshua 2; 6) – Part 3

Joshua 2:1: The two Israelite spies went to Jericho and entered the house of Rahab the “prostitute” (“zanah”, the same word as used of Tamar: Gen 38:15,24) — it is the ordinary Hebrew word for “harlot”).

There should be no question about this word. However, a number of writers (including Josephus, the rabbis and certain Christian commentators) have taken pains trying to show that Rahab was an innkeeper and not a harlot. The well-respected Bible commentator Arthur Pink, in his desire to mitigate the stigma attaching to the word, states that Rahab was an “ex-harlot” and that, at the time of the visit of the spies, she had reformed. (His actual words are: “…not that she was still plying her evil trade, but that formerly she had been a woman of ill fame, the stigma of which still clung to her.”)

However, there is no verse in Scripture to support such a statement. Rahab is re­ferred to as a prostitute, or harlot, in the New Testament also, in Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 (the Greek is “porne”, from which is derived our “pornography”).

The question for us is: Why should anyone bother hiding the fact of Rahab’s “profession”, or “cleaning up” the story? If our tendency is in that direction, then we should perhaps remember the Pharisees, who judged always by outward appearance and would not come close to anyone whom they considered to be a “sinner”. Unfortunately for them, this set up a barrier between them and the man Jesus, for Jesus was not afraid of those who came from “the wrong side of the tracks”. One old expositor writes of Rahab:

“Here dwells an unfortunate woman. She has had no spiritual advantages — no Sabbaths, no Scriptures, no teachers — and yet in the base atmosphere of a Jericho, in the heart of that poor harlot, like a fair pearl that lies within a rough shell among the weeds and rocks at the bottom of the sea, there is found precious faith, faith that finds utterance in a good confession (v 11). Here is encouragement for those who are called, in the providence of God, to [preach] where worldliness and frivolity, and pride and bitter opposition to the truth prevail. Here, too, is encouragement for those who [preach] in uncouth regions, where sin and ignorance seem to shut out hope of blessing. Let missionaries and visitors in alleys and courts, in attics and cellars, which seem like nests of blasphemy and impurity, take heart. The unholy atmosphere of gin palaces, and even of houses like that in which Joshua’s spies sought refuge, cannot… nullify the Gospel message.”

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Probably the two spies meet her at a well outside the city walls, entering the city gate in her company (as many others had done) so as not to arouse suspicion. Only later would they discover that she, of all Jericho, had faith in the God of Israel.

Joshua 2:2: But others suspect these men of being Jews, or are at any rate suspi­cious of any strangers in the area, perhaps because of the nearness of the people of Israel. Rahab determines to “save” them, even if it means telling a dangerous “lie” to the king of Jericho himself.

Was Rahab wrong to tell such a lie?

Lying is generally treated as a sin (Lev 19:11; Eph 4:25; Prov 12:22). Rahab is praised for her great faith in befriending Israel (Heb 11:31; Jam 2:25), but not necessarily for lying.

Nevertheless, it may also be said there seem to be some exceptions, in very limited circumstances, to the general rule that lying is sinful:

• The Jewish midwives lie about the delivery times of Jewish mothers, so as to save the lives of some babies from Pharaoh’s soldiers (Exod 1).
• During war the Jewish army pretends to retreat from Ai, but sets an ambush to attack the fighting men of Ai when they come out of the city to pursue the fleeing army (Josh 8).
• Hushai’s profession of allegiance to Absalom (2Sa 16) was a lie too, but ap­parently allowable because a state of war existed.
• In fact, even the spies themselves were telling a sort of lie by pretending to be what they were not!

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Only later do the spies discover that Rahab believes in the God of Israel:

V.9 She demonstrates faith that God will fulfill His promises.

V. 10 “We have heard…”: But this had been 40 years before. Probably Rahab wasn’t even 40 years old. From whom had she heard? Her parents? And so she begs for their lives to be spared also (vv 12,13).

V. 11 Repentance, fear, respect. “Our courage failed”; “Our hearts melted”: a complete disavowal of natural self.

“For the Lord your God is God in heaven above, and on earth below.” An absolute profession of faith in the One True God, the God of Israel.

Such a confession is, apparently, made by the family of Rahab only, out of all the families of Jericho. In cultures, and among peoples, that believe in a multitude of “little gods”, their profession, of one unique and great God, is a most significant statement of faith!

Question: Why do we believe? Because of what the One True God has done with and for His people Israel.

Vv 12,13: And now she begs for mercy, when the Israelites come (as they surely will) into their own Promised Land: “Remember me, and my family!” Her plea is pathetically like that of the “thief on the cross” (Luke 23): “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom!”

In fact, her whole confession of faith is very much like his, although she is a prostitute, and he is a thief (and perhaps a murderer).

Both statements of faith recognize that God’s people will receive His great and precious promises, and that those promises involve a special Land and a special Kingdom. In short, they accept “the gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God”!

There have been others whose sins, though great, were forgiven, and other “mur­derers” who found mercy in time of need. Some of them are also among the Lord Jesus Christ’s “own people”, here in the genealogy of Matthew 1, and also among us today. May we never close the door, or turn a cold shoulder, to some seeker of God because we don’t care for his past life, or the way she dresses, or the way he talks. “Whom God can cleanse, you must not call common or unclean!”

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Joshua 2:15: Rahab’s house is within the walls. Archaeologists tell us the walls of Jericho were approximately 20 feet wide, and houses (they are called casemate houses, or apartments) were built inside the walls. Some of these had windows that were accessible from the outside of the city, but at a considerable height above the ground.

Vv 15,16: Rahab lowers the spies down from the window by a rope, and tells them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you.” This would be to the west, the opposite direction from the camp of Israel. Presumably they were to hide there until their pursuers went off in the wrong direction.

“The Mystery of the Scarlet Cord”

Vv 17,18: Unraveling a mystery, step to step. Where have we seen a scarlet cord (or thread) before?

1. Genesis 38:18: Judah gives Tamar a cord (part of a garment?) as token of his identity.
2. Genesis 38:28: The midwife (at Tamar’s direction?) uses a scarlet cord to identify the firstborn of Tamar’s twins, i.e., the one who will receive the birthright.
3. And now, a scarlet cord is used to mark out Rahab’s house, and her family, for special protection. (Clearly this is reminiscent of the Passover in Egypt, where the scarlet blood of the Passover lamb marked the doors of the Israelite houses.)

“Cord” here (actually, “line” in the KJV) is the Hebrew word “tiqvah”, the same word for “hope”. “Tiqvah” is a word used often of the hope of having children (esp Ruth 1:12,13), and the hope, placed in future generations, that they will carry on and fulfill the aspirations of their parents and grandparents.

“Ha Tiqvah” (“The Hope”) is the national anthem of the State of Israel. Today, the Israelis sing…

“While yet within the heart, inwardly,
The soul of the Jew yearns,
And towards the vistas of the East, eastward,
An eye looks toward Zion…
Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope born of two thousand years,
To be a free people in our land,
In the land of Zion and Jerusalem,
To be a free people in our land,
In the land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

For us, who are the spiritual “Israel” of God, our hope is not lost either, so long as our eyes look eastward, toward Zion, and look upward, expectantly, for the Coming One, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

“Tiqvah” is from a root meaning to twist, to bend, and thus to tie together. To have hope in another is to tie oneself to that person. To have hope in God is to tie oneself to Him, to trust in Him, no matter what happens.

“Tiqvah” expresses a shared hope in the fulfillment of God’s special promises, fulfilled in and by the Messiah of the tribe of Judah. This “tiqvah” binds together husbands and wives, and parents and children.

The “scarlet cord” of Judah, like a clan tartan or a royal crest, marks out the family as special. Its possession, its use in one’s garments, or on a flag or ensign flown from a house, marks out the bearer or holder as belonging to the royal family. It demonstrates legitimacy, property rights, and ultimate inheritance.

Such an emblem, or family crest, is never cherished so much as when the royalty to which it points is unrecognized, and as yet unrealized, in the eyes of the world. Then it is a very special hope indeed.

This was the “scarlet cord” of Judah. And finally, we also have…

“The Mystery of the Hidden Lovers”

Here, we suggest, is one of the great hidden “love stories” of the Bible. It requires some sleuthing, some detective work, to bring to light…

First of all, what do we know for sure?

• One of the two spies (who are unnamed in the narrative) gives Rahab a “scarlet cord”.
• This scarlet cord was clearly visible from outside the city walls of Jericho, was easily recognizable by the Israelites, and, like the Passover blood on the doorposts in Egypt, guaranteed protection to the householders.
• When the great trumpets of war sounded (cp. the seven days of trumpets at Jericho with the seven last trumpets of Revelation 8:2,6), and the walls of the great city fell down. Joshua sent the two spies back to rescue Rahab and her whole family (Josh 6:20-25).
• “And [Rahab] lives among the Israelites to this day” (Josh 6:25).
• And finally, (Matt 1:5) Rahab marries Salmon, the prince of the house of Judah.

That’s what we do know. Here’s what we don’t know for sure, but how reasonable it is. Put in the form of questions:

1. Was Salmon one of the spies? Possible answer: The earlier (twelve) spies sent into the Land, at the beginning of the 40 years, were the princes of the tribes (Num 13:2,3). So, was a similar method used at this later time? But which tribal princes would be sent this time? Since Judah’s prince (Caleb) and Ephraim’s prince (Joshua) were the only two to bring back a good report at that earlier time, why shouldn’t these two later spies come from the same tribes? And if so, then the prince of the tribe of Judah was almost certainly Salmon!
2. Did Salmon (the great-great-great-grandson of Judah and Tamar) carry with him the ancestral garment (with the scarlet cord) that marked him as the heir and leader of the tribe of Judah? Answer: Why not?
3. Was this, then, the scarlet cord he gave to Rahab, to protect her life? Answer: Again, why not?

After the victory was won, and the Land was liberated, then the prince Salmon married the woman he’d fallen in love with, Rahab! Thus the former prostitute became the princess of the tribe of Judah, and an ancestress of the royal line. She left her old way of life, came in faith to the God of Israel, and grasped the scarlet cord offered by the prince of Judah. That cord, taken in faith, became her “Pass­over”, her “covering blood” — binding her forever to the Hope of Israel. [Some of the foregoing was suggested in a talk by Bro. Ken Wubbels.]

Here is our hidden love story, with a wonderful ending. Harlot no longer, her sins are forgiven. Like Tamar, another “Gentile”, Rahab (of Jericho) becomes a “Jewess” by faith in the promises, and a bride and a mother in Israel. She and her children are bound up in the scarlet cord of shared hopes, from one generation to the next.

Lessons

• Acts 10:34,35: “God does not show favoritism but accepts men [and women] from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”
• Hebrews 11:31: “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” In the great “faith chapter”, the harlot Rahab occupies a place of honor, right next to Moses (see Heb 11:23-29). She is justified by her FAITH!
• James 2:25: “In the same way [as Abraham: v 23], was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?” In James’ letter, the harlot Rahab occupies another place of honor, right after Abraham (Jam 2:21-24), the man of faith and the friend of God! And here, she is justified by her WORKS! What company she keeps!
• Prostitutes: Tamar (by a one-time circumstance, and by appearances) and Rahab (by a longstanding lifestyle) were “prostitutes”. They also symbolize the nation of Israel. They were like Israel was (Ezek 16), and like Israel is today also; they were seeking after other “lovers” (such as material advantages or political alliances) rather than the true God. But repentance, and faith dem­onstrated by works, set right all wrongs. “These are my people,” says the Lord Jesus. “I will save them from their sins.” And he will say it yet again, when he returns.
• John 4: Is this an echo of Rahab’s story? Here was a Samaritan woman, a sin­ner, whom Jesus, the prince of the tribe of Judah, met by a well outside a city. Her life was far from pure and holy: she had had five husbands, and the man she was with then was not her husband! But this woman, suspicious, jaded, calloused by sin, was intrigued, challenged, convicted, taught, won over, and converted by a Jewish Savior. In listening to him, she came to understand that “salvation is [only] from the Jews” (John 4:22). She drank, from him, the spring of water welling up to eternal life. Her life was changed forever.

• Was this trip necessary?: Was the spies’ visit to Jericho necessary? Evidently God had already planned that the walls of the city would fall down, and Israel would overwhelm the city. So why did the spies need to go there? The answer is plain: for the sole purpose of finding Rahab and her family. The royal family of Judah depended on their visit. The lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ would not have been complete without Rahab. The worst of sinners, the most degraded of persons, may be a living “stone”, essential to the building of God’s holy eternal temple. Do we believe this?
• Judging: Let us be careful how we “judge” others. Can we ever assume any particular person is not quite the type God wants? (Or do we sometimes decide that a particular person is not quite the sort we want?) Who are we to discriminate? Who are we to judge another man’s servant?
• “Show kindness to me!”: Like Rahab, each one of us will need, one time or another, to plead: “Show kindness to me.” We may never have kept a house of prostitution. We may never even have entered such a house. But in the hidden rooms of our “hearts” we have played out wicked thoughts, and committed terrible sins. “Lord, deal kindly with each of us.” “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
• Hebrews 13:2: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” The two spies were “an­gels”, or “messengers”, sent from Joshua (and God) to find the woman Rahab. In this context, cp. Hebrews 13:4: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” Rahab’s bed was anything but pure, and there was every reason to expect that she would be judged, and condemned, along with a city destined to be destroyed utterly. But the God of Israel sees beyond the surface. The “sexually immoral” may be forgiven. And their marriage beds may be made “honorable”. From such beds came the ancestors of the Messiah. From such beds, even today, come future “kings and priests” and “a holy nation”.

We are, all of us, anything but “holy” and “honorable” and “pure”. But Jesus Christ our “husband” loved us so much that he laid down his life, and shed his scarlet blood, and tied us to him by a cord of blood and suffering and sacrifice. He bought us from Sin, and bound us to himself by the nails that bound him to the cross. ‘I don’t care where you came from, or what you did. I care only that you love me! Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands. You are my signet ring, you are my treasured possession, you belong to me! Follow me!’

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph 5:25-27).