A Harlot, Spies, And Lies
Joshua 2
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.
2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.
4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
5 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.
6 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.
7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.
8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;
9 And she said unto the men, I know that YEHOVAH 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 YEHOVAH 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 YEHOVAH your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by YEHOVAH, 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.
14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when YEHOVAH hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.
17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.
19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.
20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.
23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:
24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly YEHOVAH hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.
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I put this whole chapter in because … it’s just TOO good. I love this chapter. It has everything for a good spy thriller.
Over the years I’ve truly been amazed how Rahab gets pulled apart, dissected, and reformulated. For some reason Christians get a little uncomfortable with the likes of Rahab, a harlot, who does the only noble thing she can to save the spies: LIE.
I, for one, have never had a problem with Rahab. She had learned to do what was necessary to survive in life. And … life isn’t always pretty, sanitized, normalized.
So if you’re one of those that stumble over Rahab and what she did, let me ask you then …
What would you have done if the two spies came knocking at your door?
Let’s try to put a little meat on the bones of this story before you answer that question. ——
You’re living in Jericho. You’ve already heard a lot of frightening things about some God known as YEHOVAH, the Lord God of these crazy people wiping out everybody in their path.
And the word is out that they are headed your way. Plus, your heart, in a spiritual sort of way, seems to be changing inside of you. You’re starting to realize your own sinful condition in a very real and tangible way. You start to conclude that this YEHOVAH God doesn’t seem to tolerate a whole lot of wickedness and immorality. The blood that has already been spilled on the ground testifies to that fact.
Don’t answer yet as to what you would have done …
Let’s suppose —
You’re hiding Jews and the Gestapo knocks on your door and asks if you’re hiding Jews. Do you say yes and hand them over? Then why, for the love of God, are you hiding them in the first place? Aren’t you glad Corrie Ten Boom and her family had a basic understanding akin to that of Rahab?
Now … what would you have done if the two spies came knocking at your door? Really, ask yourself that question.
What would I do in answer to my question, you ask? —
I can tell you what I’d do. God being my helper, I’d Lie And Hide. No problem. But, that’s just me.
While we’re thinking about Rahab, have you ever thought about the spies in all of this?
Well … they are spies.
Being a spy, by its very nature, is to live a lie. And then to make their actions worse, these two spies use Rahab’s house of ill-repute to cloak what their true intentions are. And when the authorities are hot on their heals, they hide up on the roof. That’s a lie too. By hiding they’re saying they are not there. So, they lie as spies.
It’s interesting to read the theologians in reference to Rahab. For some reason they feel the need to clean her up a little. They want to say she had been a harlot, but wasn’t any longer. She’s just identified that way like Simon the Leper. And, they want to say she was running the local Holiday Inn and therefore it was normal for people to show up at her place. But from what I can tell, historically women in that culture did not run Inns as a business.
One other thing to consider in all of this —
What, pray tell, was God thinking by choosing such a tarnished person like Rahab to be in the line of the Messiah? She’s a gentile Canaanite harlot. I agree it makes sense to choose the Virgin Mary, but … a gentile Canaanite harlot??
See, for me, all of this makes me just sort of smile, marvel and think: What an awesome God I have. He uses a castaway person like Rahab to be the vehicle through which He will draw all the world to Himself — her offspring, His Son. Mind blowing.
And all the while we sit here today, almost holding our noses, as we armchair quarterback what this harlot did to save the lives of the spies and ‘all her house’. What she did reminds me of the jailer that took Paul and Silas to his home and took care of them. I’m pretty sure they were very glad he chose to risk on their behalf — not to mention, all his house.
“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, ‘and thy house.’ Acts 16:31
We must not lose sight of the reality that true biblical Christianity is messy at times. It’s made up of messy people that make a mess of things. Just read the first five books of the Bible. It would be almost funny if it wasn’t so tragic.
But …
Aren’t you glad God uses slightly less than perfect folks?
We’re like the items in the store that have little defects and so are labelled as “seconds.” God can, and does, use a Nicodemus. But, He also uses the soiled Samaritan Woman at the well in the very next chapter. It seems like Yeshua was very comfortable hanging with the upright as well as the publicans and sinners.
If He hadn’t been, He wouldn’t have come all the way down to this earth, take on human flesh and die for such lowly worms as you and me.
Perhaps instead of casting sanctified looks of theological scorn and disapproval at Rahab the harlot that lied and hid spies, we should thank God that, in His omniscience, He didn’t ask us what we thought He should do.
‘Cause if He had, we’d still be lost and dead in our trespasses and sins … without a Saviour.
Praise God He uses sinners to save sinners.
Oh, I forgot …
You’re not a sinner like Rahab. Hmm.
Maybe not but …
Yeshua still came to save sinners, of which you are one.
Perhaps we should thank God for Rahab the harlot that hid spies and lied.