By Patsy
Norwood © 2003-2025 All Rights Reserved!
Joshua 2:1-21;
6:17-25; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25
Joshua 2: 12 - 21
In last week’s
lesson, we saw Rahab acknowledging the Hebrews God as the one true God to the
spies. This week we’re going to see her do some
wheeling and dealing …
Verses 12 - 13 … 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, 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.
Rahab is not a selfish person, notice who else she pled for … her father’s
household (father, mother brothers, sisters and all who belonged to them).
Rahab seemingly knows that they will all die unless she can convince the
spies to spare them.
Verse 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.”
Rahab was given a condition that she must fulfill in order for her and her
household to be saved, ‘if you do not tell this business of ours …’
Rahab was also given a promise! An
if/then kind of promise … ‘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.’
Verse 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.
Rahab’s house, being located on the
inner and outer walls, allowed her to help the spies escape unnoticed by letting them down
the outer wall at night when the city was locked up.
Verse 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.”
Rahab had some final instructions for the spies. She knew enough about the
direction the king’s men were going (verse 7) to give them instructions to go
in the opposite direction from ‘the hill country.’
Verses 17-20 … the men said to her, “We shall be free
from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come not
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. It shall come about that anyone who goes out
of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on is own head,
and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in this house, his blood shall
be on our head if a hand is laid on him
But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the
oath which you have made us swear.
The spies had some very specific final instructions for Rahab and her
family as well.
Instructions are given for a reason and in this case if the cord had been
in another window instead of the one she was told to put it in, the Hebrew
fighters wouldn’t have found it when they went to look for it and Rahab and her
family would have been destroyed along with the rest of Jericho.
If Rahab had told of the men’s business Jericho would have prepared for
the battle and likely there would have been scarlet cords hanging from most
every window.
The element of surprise and secrecy was most important.
Verse 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.
The deal has been made and she, keeping her end of the deal, tied the
scarlet cord in her window!
The spies went out and hid in the mountains 3 days after Rahab helped them
escape before rejoining the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan River.
Once the spies were back, the Israelites moved to the Jordan River and
camped 3 days.
Next, the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and camped at Gilgal 7 days.
Then the men were circumcised.
A significant period of time elapses from the time the spies leave Rahab
until they begin marching around the city of Jericho.
Fast forward to the time when Joshua and the Hebrew warriors and priests
have arrived at the city of Jericho and are getting their instructions for the
battle in Joshua 6: 1-16.
Notice what or should we say ‘who’ was included in those instructions ...
Joshua 6:17 … The city shall be under the ban, it
and all that is in it belongs to the Lord; only Rahab the harlot and all who
are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we
sent.
What does ‘under the ban’ mean?
The word ‘ban’ in this instance, according to the Lexicon, means
‘devoted thing, devotion, ban.’
The ESV translate this verse this way ‘and the city and all that is within
it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction” …
‘devoted to the Lord for destruction,’ what does that mean? It means Jericho and all that was in it was
to be destroyed as a sacrifice to the Lord.
Among the instructions given, Rahab and all
her household’s rescue was included. The
spies had kept their word and Rahab had too!
Next week, we’ll wrap up this study on Rahab
and answer the question we started out asking …
Could God use
someone …
Whose profession of
choice (harlotry/prostitution) was taught against in His Word …
Who was full of fear
…
Who was manipulative
…
Who was a bold face
liar …
Who chose to break
the law and …
Who was a traitor to
her countrymen ...
Until
the next class …
Please
feel free to share with other ladies whom you feel might benefit from this
study!
patsy @ From This Heart of Mine
Sources used for this
study:
Various translations of
the Holy Bible
Various commentaries
Dictionary of New
Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter
Archaeological Study Bible
All the Women of the Bible
by Edith Deen
Daughters of Eve by Lottie
Beth Hobbs
Halley’s Bible Handbook by
H. H. Halley
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