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: 6-12
In last week’s
lesson, we saw Rahab tell the King’s men a lie, a bold in your face, ‘yes, I
know I’m lying, but you don’t’ kind of lie!
Whew! That was tense!
Let’s see what
happens this week …
Verse 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.
It was spring of the year when flax would have been
harvested and apparently Rahab was drying it on her roof.
Rahab sent the king’s men on a wild goose chase knowing
full well that the two men they were looking for were on her rooftop hidden
amongst stalks of flax. She knew this
because she had hidden them there herself!
Verse 7 … So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the
fords; and as soon as those who were pursing them had gone out, they shut the
gate.
Rahab either was known as being trustworthy or she was a
good actress for the king’s men believed her and quickly pursued where she had
suggested the men likely had gone.
Fact #4: Rahab was
manipulative in that she manipulated the king’s men away from her house where
the spies were hidden.
Verses 8 - 9 … Now before they lay down, she came up
to them on the roof, 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 from you.
Back to the
rooftop Rahab goes, this time with an acknowledgement of the Lord and of His
power. She goes on to tell them that
everyone in Jericho is scared, they’ve all heard stories of the Hebrews and
their God and how He fights for them.
Verses 10 - 11 … 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. 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.
Fact #5: Rahab is afraid as
is everyone else in the city.
The Canaanites had heard, possibly from travelers, of what
the Hebrews and their God had done to those along the way. Rahab may have heard stories of old of how
the Hebrews would come back and reclaim their land someday. Also, Rahab, being an innkeeper/prostitute,
had opportunity to ‘hear’ more than the average citizen thereby gathering more
information.
Rahab recognized that the Hebrew God was the God of the
whole earth and not like the gods the people of Canaan worshiped.
The
proclamation Rahab made, ‘for the Lord your God, He is God in
heaven above and on earth beneath,’ made it
possible for her and her family to be saved from destruction.
Rahab’s actions grew out of her newfound faith. There was no going back now. She had made her decision, and she immediately began 'walking the walk and talking the talk!' Her faith had action written all over it. Does ours?
Next week, we see an old-fashioned game of ‘let’s make a deal’ go into play and the players are Rahab and the two as of yet, unnamed spies.
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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