Let us begin with some simple observations about Rahab and her situation.
·
Her house was on the wall around Jericho,
Josh. 2:15.
·
She was a harlot, Josh. 2:1.
·
When the walls fell her house remained secure;
that section of the wall did not fall.
·
Thus her family would have had to be in
her home before the walls fell.
·
But they could not have known on day one, when
the Israelites first marched around the city, if that was the day they needed
to be there so they could be saved. They
might have had the same question on days 2-6.
·
Thus they needed to be there each day. Their faith (trusting the promise of the
Israelite spies as relayed to them by Rahab) needed to be a “faithful
faith.” They could not succumb to the
thought that after 3 or 4 days it just isn’t going to happen.
We
do not, of course, know the exact thinking of these people in what was a truly
unusual situation. But we know a few
things that might give insight.
·
We know the whole city feared the Israelites
(Josh. 2:8-11). They had heard what
happened at the Red Sea (40 years earlier) and to the Amorite kings on the east
side of the Jordan River (months earlier). Terror
of you has fallen on us.
·
We know that the people of Jericho attributed
these amazing events to Israel’s God: the
LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Rahab said this; and she was speaking for the
people of her city.
·
Furthermore, when she pled for mercy, she asked
that the spies swear to me by the LORD
(Josh. 2:12-13). She had some thought
that Israel’s God, who had done such great things, would be merciful to her as
well if she reached out to Him. Or she
understood it was the only hope for her and her family.
·
We also know that Israel was to make no covenant
with the people of Canaan (Ex. 23:32).
Yet it would appear the spies felt confident that Joshua would back them
up when they informed him about it. In
this we do not see Israel breaking God’s command but rather extending God’s
mercy. We know of no other reason for
the spies telling Rahab to hang a scarlet
cord from her window. Some think the
cord might have been related to her business. Even if it was it just provides more reason
for God to make it a key in the symbolism that is hard to miss: mercy from God
is always extended through the blood of Christ.
Of course, Rahab is honored in the NT as a woman of faith (Mt. 1:5; James
2:25).
There is encouragement here in Peter’s words
in 2 Pt. 3:1-9. He says the time will
come when scoffers say Christ is not going to return; you have been saying this
for years and it doesn’t happen. But He
will. The delay is, again, mercy from
God. Time to repent and believe on the
One who shed His blood on the cross. And
when He comes the Bible teaches it will then be too late. You must be in the house before the wall falls.
Even if the last five or six centuries have looked like He should come,
do not be fooled. Don’t listen to the
scoffers. Jesus will return!
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