Shady Lady Joshua 2 Grace is found in the darkest of places. Rahab is a woman, a prostitute in the condemned city of Jericho, sentenced to death by God under the Ban. She takes a leap of faith to protect and save the people of God, throwing herself and her family on the mercy of God. She is saved and seems to appear in the ancestry of Jesus. God has always been a God of justice. God has always been eager to show mercy. Punishing the Children Sometimes I love punishing my kids. Yesterday, I was stressed out and irritated by the end of the day. My kids were home all day and by that point they were bouncing off walls and, worse, bouncing off each other. One by one, they crossed the line, and I sent them all to clean or to their rooms. And for a brief beautiful moment, there was peace. Now that isn t a Shining Example of Fatherhood, but those times are real. In my better moments, punishing my children is more like punishing me. I remember one year Logan and I were supposed to be going to see the Hobbit opening night and he was being a total punk. I think he had slapped his sister or something. And I had to punish him. Them s the rules. But I really wanted to go see the Hobbit. We had plans to meet friends there. I wanted to spend that time with my boy. It was his birthday. And I just wanted to see the movie. It was the great together Father-Son moment Punishing Logan it was really a punishment on me but I had to be the Father of Justice. Them s the rules: but is that what I wanted? God of Uncomfortable Justice That day I was the Just Father. God is our Just Father. Last week ended on an uncomfortable note of tension: God is looking to judge. God is a God of Justice. He is perfect. And he is not willing to compromise, possibly not able to compromise His perfection. So He commands and expects and requires that all who would be in true connection, true relationship with Him, be perfect. And last week He commands the Israelites to: be careful in obeying. That is a harsh expectation. But we also see the harsh judgment of God in the wrath that the Israelite people are now going to carry out on all the inhabitants of Canaan. The Ban. Absolute destruction on
men, women and children, down to the livestock. Absolute Justice. Absolute Judgment. Absolute Punishment. Them s the Rules. Is that what God really wants? In the Place of Their Failure 40 years earlier the Israelites had approached the Promised Land and camped in the same place. They sent spies into the land and they panicked. The people panicked and they wanted to go back to Egypt. And God said, you know what, after all the miracles you saw New plan, everyone who saw my miracles in Egypt has to die before you get to go into the Promised Land, except for Caleb and Joshua. So here they are again. In the same spot. In the place of the former failure. Joshua is now leading them and, with Caleb, are the oldest men in the nation, presumably. And once again, they send to spies Joshua 2 1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, Go, view the land, especially Jericho. And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. Jericho Now Jericho is one of the most ancient cities in the world, and they have unearthed remains of walls there from the 15 th century BC. There is actually a question of timing in the area because the ruins they have found don t quite match up timewise with the events in Joshua. But many other ruins in other cities do line up with a twelfth century invasion, so the ruins of Jericho may be in a different location that hasn t been found yet. The people of Jericho may well be of the Ammonite people of Canaan. A sister city to Sodom and Gomorrah, these are a people under the judgment of God. In fact, in Genesis 15, God speaks his judgment of the people to Abraham, but says that their judgment will wait 400 years because their iniquity is not yet complete! Amongst a people apparently irredeemably wicked and sinful, we come to the house of Rahab. And always when Scripture mentions Rahab, it is quick to point out, she is a prostitute. As such, her house is likely a place of business, a brothel, a bar, possibly a tavern all wrapped together. And so the spies head to Rahab s house. Where better to get information than the local bar? But somehow, the PoPo gets the word that two spies are there. 2 And it was told to the king of Jericho, Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land. 3 Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land. 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the
men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. 7 So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out. Now think about what Rahab has done. She has aided and abetted the enemy. This is high treason, sheltering spies against the express command and interest of her ruling king. She has betrayed her people for the sake of these two men. Why? 8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men, I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. So that s why she has done this. Rahab is afraid. She is afraid of this God, Yawheh, and she calls him by name. Word is spreading. She heard of the miracles in Egypt a generation past. She has heard of the utter destruction of the kings across the River Jordan on the East Bank. She knows this invasion is coming, she and all her people, and their hearts melted. She is terrified of Yahweh and Yahweh s people. More terrified than of her king, she thinks the Israelites are going to win and conquer her people. And so, in self-preservation, motivated by fear of Yahweh, she makes a deal. In fact, she uses covenant language and makes a covenant with the spies: 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father s house, and give me a sure sign 13 that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death. 14 And the men said to her, Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the LORD gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you. 15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. I love this visual. Note that she has apparently let them down and then they have more conversation. So either they are shouting out the wall (not very spy like) or, the image I love, the following conversation occurs as the spies are dangling out on the wall on the rope. 16 And she said to them, Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way. 17 The men said to her, We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. 18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your
brothers, and all your father s household. 19 Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. 20 But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear. 21 And she said, According to your words, so be it. Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window. So we are situated much like a mini version of Jericho. If our church is Jericho, straight to the East is the Creek, let s call that the river Jordan. The hills are the empty lot rising above Jericho to the West. She cunningly sends them in the opposite direction, to the very hills actually where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and the spies lay low while the heat cools off. 22 They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing. 23 Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them. 24 And they said to Joshua, Truly the LORD has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us. Exception to the Ban Were the spies authorized to make this exception for Rahab and her family? What about the Ban we talked about last week? All the peoples of Canaan were under the judgment of God, to be Devoted to Destruction and, indeed, the rest of Jericho would be utterly destroyed. But, spoilers, the people of Israel honor and uphold the covenant that the spies made with Rahab. And Rahab s gamble, her treason, is absolutely successful. She and her family are folded into the people of God. Now many have made a big deal of what Rahab did. The cost of her protecting the spies. The act of faith it took to trust and put God above loyalty to her own people. What does Rahab know about Yahweh? It would seem she only knows that He is powerful and that He is going to win. This is a fear based decision, what else can it be? She is afraid of Yahweh. She is afraid of his judgment. She is afraid of His people. Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Rahab s fear is a starting point. I wouldn t think much of it except for this: Rahab is held up for generations as a paragon of faith.
James 2:24-25 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? Hebrews 11:29-31 29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. This is a pretty low bar for faith. Self-preservation in the face of fear? How eager is God to show mercy, that this is faith? God takes Rahab s tiny selfish step and receives it as faith. A House of Salvation The red rope hanging from the window of Rahab. And the house of prostitution becomes the house of salvation. The prostitute throws herself on the mercy of God and God s people and she alone of all her people joins the people of God. The house of prostitution becomes the house of salvation. And it gets better. Five women are mentioned in Matthew s genealogy of Jesus, the salvation of all mankind, grace and mercy to all of humanity past, present and future. Five women. Guess who is number two? Rahab. The prostitute. The house of prostitution becomes the house of salvation. The line of an Ammonite prostitute from a city under judgment leads to the Son of God sacrificed for all. How eager is God to show mercy? Yes, He is just. But how desperately He LONGS to show mercy. To forgive and gather into his people, into his presence. How Eager He is to Forgive I punish my children but punishing them often punishes me. How eager I am to forgive them so we can go about doing life together! I remember Logan giving the most grudging of apologies. It was barely an apology, it was certainly insincere, it was completely insufficient. But I wanted to go see the movie with my boy.
I was eager to show mercy because I wanted the relationship. I wanted to do life together. How much more does our heavenly Father love Rahab. He is eager to show mercy at the smallest first step towards Him even a tiny act of self-preservation motivated by the Fear of God. A Prostitute Like You How eager is God to show mercy to you? How eager is he to show grace? We talk a lot about Next Steps here. Next steps in following Jesus. But what about first steps? Like you, my road in chasing after Jesus hasn t all been forward progress. I have some detours in my history. Seasons where I walked the wrong direction, where I ran away from God. It doesn t matter how far we run. How low we fall. How long we have been gone or how far we walked away. God is just waiting, eager to show you mercy. To show you grace. To shower you with forgiveness, and love, and acceptance, and welcome you among His people. In the bloodline of Jesus, His adopted child. What have you done? Doesn t matter. You could be a people so terrible you are all doomed to destruction and, even among those people, you could be the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low, a shameless prostitute. And that s good news. Because within me there is the holy perfect self that God is recreating me to be but there is that sinful and selfless self. The being Scripture calls flesh or self. And that me is one desperate step away from prostitution. God takes my tiniest selfish step and receives it as faith. Thank you, God, for your mercy! Thank you, God, for receiving my tiny step toward you, and receiving it as faith, and welcoming even me into the people of salvation!