The Israelites are camping out near the Jordan River. Joshua has received these amazing promises. I will give the people the land I have promised. You will lead the people in. No one will be able to stop you. And I will be with you. And so far, their next gen army is undefeated in battle. 2 and 0. Sihon the king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan [Deut 1.4]. Across the banks of the [flooded Jordan], what do their eyes behold? Before them lies the plain of Jericho. And in the distance, that [great walled city]. Fortified. Impregnable. Just beyond visual range?
[v1] Joshua sends out 2 men. Why does he do this? Lack of faith? What is his background? Soldier. Joshua is using sound military strategy. Careful consideration. Having a promise of God doesn’t preclude the need for planning [cf 1.10-11]. Planning is not at cross purposes with faith. Apostles made plans. 2Cor. 1:15-16 In this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing; that is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea. James 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” We make plans with the Lord’s help - and we leave the outcome in His hands.
"Enter Rehab.” The spies stay in her house. And she is not perfect. Far from it. She is unclean. A filthy Gentile. And even worse, she is an [ishshah zanah] - a woman of fornication. She sleeps with men she’s not married to, for money. Truth be told - the fallen world doesn’t always see that as wrong (unless maybe your husband is the one sleeping with the ishshah zanah…?). Indeed, the world has a way of taking God’s sacred gifts, and turning them into all kinds of self-serving and warped forms of brokenness. But truth be told, shouldn’t we all find traces of our own story in the narrative of Rahab? This ishshah zanah? Is. 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. [And in the end, is this not a strategic hiding place?]
[2-4] What we see with Rahab is that she is actually trying to do the right thing, offering shelter to Joshua’s spies. Altho even as she does the right thing by hiding these men of Israel, she is lying to the authorities. But she knows. She has heard. Here comes this new nation. The news has preceded them [2.8-11]. They have this foreign god. But THIS god is clearly far superior to any god or spirit Rahab has ever known. THIS is the almighty holy God with Whom we have to do. This is the One Who put the knowledge of Himself deep down inside each of our hearts, and gave us this innate knowledge of Who He is, of what is right, and what ain’t right. [Rom. 1:19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.]
Most people try to do the right thing. [Rom. 2:14-16 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts…] But we ALL fall short. We are unable to maintain even the most minimal morality we design for ourselves. Don’t we all like sheep stray in our hearts from the God Who made heaven and earth and all that is in them? Don’t we all find ways to enjoy the life HE has created APART from Him? And like He does for Rahab, God in His mercy sends us a warning - destruction is coming. Yes, destruction is coming, but there IS a way for you to be spared/saved: hang this scarlet cord from your window [2.17-19].
A strange promise, a scarlet cord. This Thread of [Red]. But through this promise of the thread of red, Rahab’s house will be the only part of the mighty wall of Jericho that survives divine [destruction]. Thru this, Joshua - Yeshua - saves her family. The promise of God. This thread of red will mark out your house - and the ones in it - as those to be saved, spared from destruction. Shelter in this place with the thread of red when the destruction comes - if you go out, your blood is on your heads. Is it possible that we see another passover in this? [Ex. 12:21-23 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.].
But do you see what the Lord does for Rahab? He provides a promise of deliverance, a way for her to be saved from the coming destruction. And clearly she has come to this place of faith, revering the Lord God of Israel, trusting in Him FOR deliverance, and in His promise to save her [2.21]. So much so that, simply by virtue of her simple faith, Rahab, this ishshah zanah, gets included in the “Faith Hall of Fame” [Heb. 11:31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.]! Amazing! Remember, Joshua didn’t even get in! God has changed Rahab’s heart - and He changes her life. Look ahead: Matt. 1:4-5 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. Judah, Perez, Hezron —> Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon —> Boaz by Rahab… Boaz, Obed, Jesse —> David —> Jesus.
Check this out - so, after the Exodus, Nahshon was the leader of Judah, the largest tribe in Israel: Num. 2:3-4 “Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab, and his army, even their numbered men, 74,600.
[Nahshon] for his part died in the wilderness w all the rest of the adults who did not trust in the Lord’s promise of deliverance. But his son Salmon enters in to the Promised Land. And Salmon marries Rahab, the ishshah zanah, this filthy Gentile. Which by all accounts he ought not have done. But the promise of the God Who saves is for even the filthiest among us. Rahab - saved by the thread of red, cleansed by the grace of God through faith - gets included in the family of the Messiah. And so does everyone who trusts in the promise of God. Yeshua.
Note that she didn’t need to be perfect. She didn’t need to clean up her life first, before she trusted in the Lord. Trust first. Grace first. Then, a new start. God does the cleaning. The Lord washes our own unfaithful hearts whiter than snow by the thread of red, the precious blood of Jesus. He gives us a new heart, then He gives us the strength every day to follow Jesus, and become more and more like Him. He changes our heart, He changes our life, then He changes the world!
The [thread of red] is a beautiful picture that looks to God’s promise to make a way for each of us to be delivered from destruction. [Rom 3.23, 6.23]. But Yeshua. God saves. The promise of God. The blood of the perfect Lamb, Jesus the Son of God, was poured out on the cross and covers our hearts when we trust in Jesus. He takes away the sin of the world! And what we celebrate this day, is [new life]! Isn’t that true for Rahab as she and her family was out of that place of death? Jesus rose from the dead - He guarantees our forgiveness, and He gives us a new heart for a new start.
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