Rahab
The Scarlet Woman of Christmas
By Patricia Chadwick
Rahab's story is told to us primarily in
the book of Joshua chapters 2 and 6. Chapter 2
begins with two men being sent as spies to
Jericho:
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two
spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land,"
he said, "especially Jericho." So they went
and entered the house of a prostitute named
Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho
was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have
come here tonight to spy out the land." So the
king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab:
"Bring out the men who came to you and entered
your house, because they have come to spy out
the whole land." But the woman had taken the
two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, the
men came to me, but I did not know where they
had come from. At dusk, when it was time to
close the city gate, the men left. I don't
know which way they went. Go after them
quickly. You may catch up with them." (But she
had taken them up to the roof and hidden them
under the stalks of flax she had laid out on
the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of
the spies on the road that leads to the fords
of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had
gone out, the gate was shut. Before the spies
lay down for the night, she went up on the
roof and said to them, "I know that the LORD
has given this land to you and that a great
fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who
live in this country are melting in fear
because of you. We have heard how the LORD
dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when
you came out of Egypt, and what you did to
Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites
east of the Jordan, whom you completely
destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts
melted and everyone's courage failed because
of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven
above and on the earth below. Now then, please
swear to me by the LORD that you will show
kindness to my family, because I have shown
kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you
will spare the lives of my father and mother,
my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to
them, and that you will save us from death."
"Our lives for your lives!" the men assured
her. "If you don't tell what we are doing, we
will treat you kindly and faithfully when the
LORD gives us the land." So she let them down
by a rope through the window, for the house
she lived in was part of the city wall. Now
she had said to them, "Go to the hills so the
pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves
there three days until they return, and then
go on your way." The men said to her, "This
oath you made us swear will not be binding on
us unless, when we enter the land, you have
tied this scarlet cord in the window through
which you let us down, and unless you have
brought your father and mother, your brothers
and all your family into your house. If anyone
goes outside your house into the street, his
blood will be on his own head; we will not be
responsible. As for anyone who is in the house
with you, his blood will be on our head if a
hand is laid on him. But if you tell what we
are doing, we will be released from the oath
you made us swear." "Agreed," she replied.
"Let it be as you say." So she sent them away
and they departed. And she tied the scarlet
cord in the window. When they left, they went
into the hills and stayed there three days,
until the pursuers had searched all along the
road and returned without finding them. Then
the two men started back. They went down out
of the hills, forded the river and came to
Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that
had
happened to them.
We now jump to Chapter 6 of the book of
Joshua when the Israelites are about to
conquer the city of Jericho:
The city and all that is in it are to be
devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute
and all who are with her in her house shall be
spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But
keep away from the devoted things, so that you
will not bring about your own destruction by
taking any of them. Otherwise you will make
the camp of Israel liable to destruction and
bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold
and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred
to the LORD and must go into his treasury."
When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted,
and at the sound of the trumpet, when the
people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed;
so every man charged straight in, and they
took the city. They devoted the city to the
LORD and destroyed with the sword every living
thing in it--men and women, young and old,
cattle, sheep and donkeys. Joshua said to the
two men who had spied out the land, "Go into
the prostitute's house and bring her out and
all who belong to her, in accordance with your
oath to her." So the young men who had done
the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her
father and mother and brothers and all who
belonged to her. They brought out her entire
family and put them in a place outside the
camp of Israel. Then they burned the whole
city and everything in it, but they put the
silver and gold and the articles of bronze and
iron into the treasury of the Lord's house.
But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with
her family and all who belonged to her,
because she hid the men Joshua had sent as
spies to Jericho--and she lives among the
Israelites to this day.
When she is mentioned in the Bible, Rahab is
always referred to as Rahab-the-harlot. But
this woman, Rahab, is mentioned as part of the
genealogy of Jesus Christ as well as in the
Hall of Fame of the Bible (Hebrews 11:31).
This signifies to us that there was a
miraculous change in Rahab's life. She has a
before and after story to tell.
Before Rahab became a believer in the one true
God, she lived a life of idolatry. Consider
her name. Ra was the name of an Egyptian god,
and Rahab's full name means "insolent and
fierce". Besides the
negative connotations of her name, the Bible
tells us that Rahab was a harlot; a
prostitute. But God, who is the transformer of
lives, touched Rahab's heart and transformed
her into a brand new woman.
At some point God revealed Himself to Rahab
and she believed that He was the one true God.
When the soldiers were looking for the spies
in Rahab's house, she protected them? Why
would she take this risk? Her conversation
with the spies reveals her heart of faith:
* I know the Lord has given you the land.
* I have hard how the Lord dried up the water
of the Red Sea for
you when you came out of Egypt.
* The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above
and on the
earth beneath.
Rahab's statement of faith clearly reveals her
knowledge of God. She obviously knew who God
was and what He had done for His people. She
knew God was about to give them the city in
which she lived. With this knowledge, Rahab
was faced with some choices. And she exhibited
faith by the choices she made. Her choices,
and her faith, affected both her human and
eternal destiny.
Rahab was an amazing woman. She showed courage
by standing up against her king and betraying
her city knowing that God was in it. She acted
boldly by choosing to save the two men who
represented God's people. She showed faith by
believing her country was destined for
destruction and that God and his people would
prevail. She showed creativity by thinking
quickly, hiding the spies and sending the
pursuers in another direction, and secretly
helping the spies escape. She showed kindness
by helping the spies escape.
Rahab's remarkable story of transformation
doesn't end here. Rahab was greatly blessed.
She and her family were spared during the
destruction of Jericho and she lived among the
children of Israel for the rest of her life.
She married an Israelite named Salmon (Mathew
1:5), who tradition tells us was one of the
two spies. She was the mother of Boaz...who
married Ruth...who bore Obed...whose son was
Jesse, the father of David...through whose
line came Jesus, the Savior of the world.
We may wonder why Rahab is always referred to
as a harlot wherever she is mentioned in the
Bible. Did God want to keep that shame ever
before her? Didn't He forgive her? On the
contrary. I think it is a reminder that God
can cleanse even the vilest sinner. He is in
the business of changing lives. He took an
immoral woman and made her respectable. Rahab
went from living in darkness to living in
glorious light. She became part of the line
that would give birth to the true Light of the
world that first Christmas.
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Excerpt from Old Fashioned Holidays from
History's Women written by Patricia Chadwick.
It is available in both print and ebook
formats at www.HistorysWomen.com. Stop by and
pick up your copy today.
