Rahab
"So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute
whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there." Joshua 2:1
When two spies went into Jericho to survey their upcoming task, they were
welcomed into the house of Rahab, a local prostitute, who told them that
all in the land were melting "in fear before you" (2:9). Rahab
assured the spies that circumstances were right for taking Canaan.
Rahab didn't simply assure the spies of Israel's certain success, she also
risked her life by protecting them. When the king of Jericho demanded that
she deliver the foreign spies over to him, Rahab creatively thought to hide
them on the roof, sent the authorities away on a false tip, and made a plan
for their safe escape.
Something had happened to Rahab as she heard the stories of God's deliverance
and when she met the foreign spies. She had come to knowledge of God and
she was willing to risk her life to live in obedience to him: "The Lord
your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below" (2:11).
Rahab's story speaks a merciful reminder of God's love for all people-Jews,
Gentiles, and sinners of all kinds. As a prostitute, Rahab lived restless
and lonely. Although not an Israelite, she had traveled a wilderness of her
own. Now, as Thomas Kelly, a 20th century Quaker describes, she had met the
Lover of her soul. "It is an overwhelming experience to fall into the
hands of the living God, to be invaded to the depths of one's being by His
presence, to be, without warning, wholly uprooted from all earth-born securities
and assurances, and to be blown by a tempest of unbelievable power which
leaves one's old proud self utterly, utterly defenseless, until one cries,
'All Thy waves and thy billows are gone over me' (Ps. 42:7)." (Spiritual
Classics, p. 177)
Turning from loyalty to her townspeople who were mired in idolatry and
immorality, Rahab cared only that she obey God and, with her family, join
in life with his people. "One knows ever after that the Eternal Lover
of the world, the Hound of Heaven, is utterly, utterly real, and that life
must henceforth be forever determined by that Real. ... In glad, amazed humility
we cast on Him our little lives in trusting obedience." (Spiritual Classics,
p. 178)
Because of her faith in God and protection of his people, when the city
of Jericho was destroyed, Rahab and her family was spared and Rahab had the
great honor of becoming a forebear to Christ. As he has done many times,
God demonstrated that a person's past has no bearing on what she can do for
God once surrendered. Rahab had given herself to many mortals. Now she gave
herself to the Immortal One and, even as she watched her city burn before
her, she knew peace.
Personal Reflection
· Obedience. Rahab obeyed immediately. Yet, Thomas Kelly says, "Most
people ... must struggle and, like Jacob of old, wrestle with the angel until
the morning dawns, the active way wherein the will must be subjected bit
by bit, piecemeal and progressively, to the divine Will." What piece
of your will is God currently shaping?
· Peace. Thank God now for an area of your life where you are experiencing
God-given peace.
 
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E-newsletter Archive
September/October 2004
