Last week we studied the mixed multitude and Jehovah declaring the same Law for everyone. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant, therefore all males who desired to join the family of Jehovah needed to be circumcised. What else has Jehovah given us to help us look at the variety of ethnic backgrounds within His family? Let us now look into the history of Jericho and Rahab.
Joshua 2:1 Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.
All the kings of the land were well aware of the vast people of Israel coming toward their land, which Jehovah had promised to Israel. Often, it was the a harlot’s home that served as an inn for travelers.
2:2 It was told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land."
2:3 And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land."
As large as Jericho was and how many travelers must have come and gone each day, still these two men were noticed. They knew these men had entered her home and were spies. Her life was on the line.
2:4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 2:5 "It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them."
Rahab created a lie and sent these men in the opposite direction. Why?
2:6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. 2:7 So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the fords; and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.
2:8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof,
2:9 and said to the men, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.
Rahab had a plan and a desire for the safety of her family. The crossing of the Red Sea was 40 years earlier. Yet, the peoples of the land had not forgotten it and lived in fear because of it.
2:10 "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 utterly destroyed.
2:11 "When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
Here we read that Rahab believed in Jehovah and declared to them that He alone is God. No one read the Torah to her. No one came to witness to her. Jehovah alone called her out of the terrible sin of Jericho into His family.
2:12 "Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth,
2:13 and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death."
2:14 So the men said to her, "Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you."
2:15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall.
She set forth an agreement that would benefit both of them
2:16 She said to them, "Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way."
She gave them their escape route and provided the means to leave Jericho.
2:17 The men said to her, "We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, 2:18 unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household.
2:19 "It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.
The men gave her their requirements. Her obedience was on her shoulders.
2:20 "But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath which you have made us swear."
2:21 She said, "According to your words, so be it." So she sent them away, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
She agreed to all their terms and immediately tied the cord to her window.
2:22 They departed and came to the hill country, and remained there for three days until the pursuers returned. Now the pursuers had sought them all along the road, but had not found them.
2:23 Then the two men returned and came down from the hill country and crossed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they related to him all that had happened to them.
They returned safely and gave Joshua all the details, including the details of Rahab’s help.
2:24 They said to Joshua, "Surely the LORD has given all the land into our hands; moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us."
Joshua now had personal confirmation of how Jehovah had gone ahead to them to prepare the way into the Promised Land.
The rest of the story of Rahab the harlot next Saturday.