Stan reached for her hand, pulling her toward him. "Of course we came." Despite the hammering in his chest, he managed a slight smile. "Who could ever forget a woman like you?"
The faintest tremor beneath their feet sent the little band scurrying toward the helicopter, heads low, eyes on the ground. He gripped Rae"s hand, guiding her across the roof to safety, realizing he had no intention of letting her go, now or ever.
He lifted her into the last pa.s.senger seat as the ground began to shift, throwing his lengthy frame forward onto the copter"s floor. "Go, go!" he shouted above the ominous rumbling, dragging his legs in as the Ranger lifted off the rooftop with a sudden lurch.
A quick check of his watch confirmed the time: Tuesday, October 17, 5:04 P.M. The accuracy of their prediction offered little comfort. Stan watched in resignation as the first walls began to crumble...
Rising like a Phoenix from the
Ashes of Jericho: Rahab
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from s.h.i.ttim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prost.i.tute named Rahab and stayed there. Joshua 2:1 Some folks are defined by their occupations, and that"s clearly the case with Rahab. Truth is, her job was practically her last name.
Rahab-the-Harlot. Rahab-the-Harlot.
There were two kinds of prost.i.tutes in her day-the religious ones who worked at the Canaanite temple and the run-of-the-mill harlots who worked for cash.
Rahab was the second kind. The Hebrew word was zoonah; the Greek word was p.o.r.ne. But any way you spell it, Rahab was a wh.o.r.e.
Ugly word. Sounds like a curse, and often is.
She may have been "bad, like the rest, and smart and resolute,"1 but she wasn"t called "Rahab the Brain." She was the sort of woman everyone talked about but not to, especially not in public. Prost.i.tutes were social outcasts-ostracized moral lepers, tolerated but in no way honored. Even the men who beat a path to her door at night turned their backs on her by the light of day, as did the rest of Jericho.
Older commentaries insist Rahab was more of an "innkeeper." Well... Her establishment, situated as it was by the city gates of Jericho, undoubtedly served many a weary traveler. The difference was, for the price of clean sheets, a guest found a woman waiting between them.
Innkeepers usually were women, offering food, lodging, and...amenities. "Call the front desk if you left anything at home." By any label, Rahab"s vocation was a lowly one, with no husband to provide for her or protect her worldly goods or her worldly self.
She was on her own but not alone in life. Her family-father and mother, sisters and brothers, no mention of children-lived in another part of town. No surprise there. Rahab"s house was hardly a home, and besides, having family members around would"ve cooled the ardor of her clientele.
Two things not discussed in Scripture are worth remembering: First, this was a woman who knew how to handle men. Knew how they thought, how they behaved, and what they needed. Second, according to rabbinical tradition, Rahab was one of the four most beautiful women in the ancient world. Business was undoubtedly brisk.
Even given these truths, one still might ask why our two righteous Israelite spies landed at a harlot"s doorstep. Didn"t the wisdom of the ages warn against it, as Solomon, Rahab"s own descendant, would caution men four centuries later?
Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house. Proverbs 5:8 Problem was, Rahab"s house was hard to miss, nestled as it was against the town wall at the gate, her high roof level with the ramparts. Archaeologists say the double walls of Jericho were built twelve to fifteen feet apart-plenty of room to squeeze in a cozy house, supported between two walls by stout timbers.2 Besides, these two guys didn"t call ahead for reservations. Spies can"t be choosy. The king of Jericho knew they had come and had his men combing the streets for two foreigners. Where better to lie low than in a place with lots of traffic, where questions weren"t asked, and strangers came and went at all hours? Perfect.
The king of Jericho was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." Joshua 2:2 One commentator suggested that the two men probably partook of Rahab"s services while there. Say what? They were on a dangerous spy mission, being chased by the king"s seek-and-destroy team, and were obviously honorable, zealous Israelites. Take time for a dishy detour? Humph. Clearly the commentator partook of too many James Bond movies. In real (Hebrew) life the two men simply needed a place to hide and providentially found their way to the door of this woman-Rahab-the-Harlot-whose high roof offered the ideal vantage point for a spy on a.s.signment.
The men arrived, their clothes still damp from the waters of the turbulent Jordan River, which they"d navigated a few miles back. They were not only antic.i.p.ated-rumors had been flying for years about the Exodus from Egypt and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea-they"d already been spotted.
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." Joshua 2:3 This wasn"t a suggestion; it was a command, with an appeal to her supposedly patriotic soul since spies were enemies of the state. The messengers didn"t need to specify which men. Everyone in town would have identified the duo as Israelites by their accent and appearance.
Rahab was faced with a difficult choice, much more challenging than the one Delilah was given when a handsome stranger darkened her door. In Delilah"s case the authorities offered her money for information on the stranger. In Rahab"s case they not only didn"t offer a reward, they implied a threat on her life if she didn"t cooperate.
In every life story, including our own, decisions are made in haste that determine the course of eternity. Delilah was "Bad to the Bone" and chose accordingly. Rahab was only "Bad for a Season, but Not Forever." Indeed, the winds of change were blowing across her doorstep at that very moment.
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. Joshua 2:4 You go, girl! Brave, fearless Rahab risked life and limb to hide two men she"d barely met. And not only hide them-she lied for them.
She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from." Joshua 2:4 Clever woman. She couldn"t deny the obvious-the men had already been seen entering her door-but who was to say they signed the guest register? When the oil lamps go out, all men look alike, right?
"At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don"t know which way they went." Joshua 2:5 Quick thinking again. Lots of folks squeezed through the gate before nightfall. Who bothered to notice where they went after that?
"Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." Joshua 2:5 Rahab probably bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing when she dished out the oldest line in the book: "They went thataway!"
To those who might see her subterfuge as sin, I"ll point out that if a gang of thugs appeared at my door, weapons in hand, and demanded the whereabouts of my loved ones, I would lie.
A big, juicy fib. "They left the country." Whatever.
Rahab"s actions were even more courageous because these men were not family; they were strangers. What possessed her to protect them, to hide them under the four-foot stalks of wet flax she"d spread out to dry in neat rows on her roof?
Obviously, this wise woman sensed an upheaval-spiritual and otherwise-about to sweep through Jericho. She reasoned things through and made the most important decision of her life.
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..." Joshua 2:8-9 Hold it, honey. The Lord? Would that be Baal or some other, lesser G.o.d? Do you mean the G.o.d, the one true G.o.d, the G.o.d of the Israelites, revealed his holiness to you? You, of all people-a woman, a hooker, unmarried and unworthy, the lovely but unloved Rahab?
My, my, will wonders never cease?
(No, thank the Lord, they won"t!) "...a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you." Joshua 2:9 Finally she spoke the unvarnished truth: "You scare us silly!" Maybe she was more afraid of these two than all the king"s men. But not too afraid to save them or to speak to them plainly. How they must have admired her valor. Rahab the lionhearted!
She went on to explain how the citizens of Jericho had trembled at the news of the parting of the Red Sea and of the Israelites" utter destruction of two neighboring kingdoms ruled by Sihon and Og.
"When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone"s courage failed because of you..." Joshua 2:11 Well, not everyone"s courage, Rahab. Not yours.
"...for the LORD your G.o.d is G.o.d in heaven above and on the earth below." Joshua 2:11 Sister, the angels rejoiced at the sound of those words! Rahab, the harlot, the Canaanite, the worshiper of Baal and worse, had come to her senses. "G.o.d is G.o.d!" She"d seen the power of Jehovah G.o.d at work, accepted the reality of his existence, and confessed with her mouth to these witnesses that the One they called G.o.d was G.o.d, the almighty G.o.d.
One author described it succinctly: "First she heard the Word, then she believed. This belief led to faith, which then led to works. In the process, she was saved."3 What a familiar progression to readers of the New Testament! Rahab was thirty-four centuries ahead of many of us as she made her profession of faith beneath a Pa.s.sover moon on a night full of fear and wonder in old Jericho.
So much for Baal, Molech, and Ashtoreth.
This soiled dove found peace and bright hope for the future with one G.o.d, not myriad G.o.ds. She probably saw the duo"s arrival at her doorstep as divinely ordained, saving her from certain death, not only physical but also spiritual. Talk about your "aha!" moment.
Generous Rahab was even more concerned about the lives of others.
"Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you." Joshua 2:12 If we didn"t already know so much about this woman, her words might have sounded self-serving or manipulative. "Give to get" goes the modern business philosophy. But Rahab"s selfless actions to this point suggest that she"s merely a determined overseer of her family"s welfare, and bless her for that. What family wouldn"t want a warrior princess like Rahab fighting for its safety?
"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." Joshua 2:12-13 Rahab wanted her family saved too. (Don"t we all?) The men were quick to agree, probably out of relief and grat.i.tude and more than a little respect.
"Our lives for your lives!" the men a.s.sured her. "If you don"t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land." Joshua 2:14 This "sure sign" that Rahab requested was a binding pledge with the terms carefully stated. True, it was spoken, not written-but so are marriage vows, and they"re plenty binding. Note that trust flowed in both directions. Her newfound faith empowered her to trust these complete strangers-and a strange, new G.o.d-to save her life. Their seasoned faith enabled them to trust a harlot wearing her changed heart on her sleeve to save them from death.
We"re talking a G.o.d-size miracle here.
With her belief in G.o.d stated and her trust in his messengers confirmed, Rahab acted on her faith, posthaste: So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. Joshua 2:15 Why do I get the feeling this escape route had been used before? Most of us don"t keep a rope strong enough to support a man tucked away in our bedroom closets, just in case. But Rahab did. Husbands escaping jealous wives? Politicians escaping angry citizens? Rahab dwelled on the outskirts of polite society in more ways than one.
She told them to run for the hills and hide for three days until the king"s henchmen gave up searching for them. The spies had some parting instructions for her, too.
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." Joshua 2:17-18 Scarlet. Now there"s a color that makes a statement. The Scarlet Letter. A scarlet woman. "Though your sins are like scarlet..."4 Scarlet reeks of fallen women, of red-light districts, of Scarlett O"Hara sauntering into Miss Melanie"s party in a shocking red gown that launched all of Atlanta into a social tailspin.
If you were playing the part of a shameless hussy, what color nail polish would you wear? Of course.
Rahab"s sins were as scarlet as the thread that draped from her window, and every bit as obvious. Oh, can I identify with that! That"s why G.o.d"s grace is so amazing. When we confess our sins-literally let them all hang out like Rahab"s red thread-and repent, leaving the old life behind as Rahab did, we are forgiven and washed clean, without a spot or blemish left.
We no longer look like scarlet sinners; we look like grateful grace-bearers. On Rahab-on all of us-red is a very becoming color when it signifies a confession of our sins and our desire to trust G.o.d.
Red is also the symbol of blood, of life flowing into death. Or, more accurately, death flowing into life, like the red blood of a sacrificial lamb smeared over the doorpost of a house so that all who lived there might be spared when the Lord pa.s.sed over. Or like the doubly thick scarlet cloth that kept a woman"s family safe and warm: "When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet."5 And hey, let"s be practical. A bright red cord would show up against the mud and stone around Rahab"s window, even in twilight. Otherwise, things might"ve gone haywire when the men came back with their armies to wreak havoc on Jericho.
"I think it"s this house."
"No way, buddy. Her place was on the other side of the gate."
"Huh-uh. Don"t you remember the crooked steps? Trust me, it"s this one."
The red cord was necessary. Practicalities matter, then and now. As a prost.i.tute, Rahab had nothing to lose reputation-wise. Hang a red cord in her window? No problem.
The men explained that she must bring her loved ones into her house and keep them there or the men wouldn"t be responsible for their safety. And if Rahab spilled the beans on their plans, then all bets were off.
"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. Joshua 2:20-21 The Hebrew terms used here for "rope" and "cord" are different words, so it wasn"t the dangling escape rope that was scarlet but a smaller cord-a mere ribbon, some translations say. Notice she tied it in the window the minute their feet hit the ground. A regular Girl Scout, this one. Be prepared. It was a foreshadowing of the New Testament as well: "Keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."6 When Joshua and the gang showed up, Jericho prepared for the worst.
Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Joshua 6:1 Imagine the tension in Rahab"s house, filled with children and grandparents and every extended family member they could squeeze in. No doubt desperate fists pounded on her door day and night, demanding more information about the spies who"d disappeared without a trace.
The siege lasted seven long days, during which the citizens of Jericho heard the Israelites marching around the city. Not storming the walls, just marching. How a sense of dread must have filled the lost souls inside those walls! Under Rahab"s roof, hope still lived, though it surely was put to the test on the seventh day.
They got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. Joshua 6:15 Nothing new there. Maybe the Israelites were too scared to use force? Sketching out a battle plan while they marched? Breaking in their new sandals? You can be sure all that marching had the citizens of Jericho trembling in their own sandals.
The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!" Joshua 6:16 "Shout?" I"ve heard of "Twist and Shout," but shout and destroy? Joshua"s command was to decimate everything, take nothing for themselves, and kill everyone in sight. Well, almost everyone.
"Only Rahab the prost.i.tute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent." Joshua 6:17 Rahab and her family waited, holding their breath inside their sanctuary, while outside their whole world fell apart.
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 6:20-21 After seven days of relative silence, the horrible sounds of death and destruction outside her door must have tested Rahab"s new faith to the core. Did she feel like Noah with his family in the ark, hearing the cries for help as the rains fell and swept away their friends and neighbors? When we choose to acknowledge G.o.d but others around us don"t, suffering is sure to come on both sides of the wall.
Speaking of walls, if Rahab"s house was attached to the walls of Jericho, and they all fell down, how could her house have been spared? The miraculous strikes again. It wasn"t Joshua and his army that spared her house-it was G.o.d.
Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prost.i.tute"s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." Joshua 6:22 And look who went in to lead her out to safety-the only two Israelites she knew and trusted. Perhaps even at that late hour she feared for the lives of her family at the hands of the Israelites and their powerful G.o.d. No need to worry, woman.
But Joshua spared Rahab the prost.i.tute, 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. Joshua 6:25 When Rahab walked out of that house for the last time and out of Jericho forever, she left everything behind. Whatever furnishings, gold, or other valuables she owned were left in the rubble. Unlike Lot"s wife, Rahab did not look back with longing at her city or her possessions. She became part of the Israelite community and lived among them "to this day," not in the flesh but through her descendants.
She was a beautiful woman, inside and out. It"s only natural that Salmon, perhaps one of the two unnamed spies who saw her embrace his G.o.d with pa.s.sionate abandon, would embrace her himself. As his wife. From the ashes of Jericho, romance bloomed.7 Check out these opening lines from the New Testament: Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. Matthew 1:5-6 Wait. Rahab the harlot an ancestress of the royal line of David? Girl, don"t tell me the Lord doesn"t have a sense of humor! One commentator wrote, "Thus poor Rahab, the muddy, the defiled, became the fountainhead of the River of the Water of Life."8 Sigh. I love happy endings. With G.o.d, it isn"t who you were that matters; it"s who you are becoming. Rahab"s courageous act earned her a spot in the Hebrews honor roll: By faith the prost.i.tute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. Hebrews 11:31 Only one other woman in biblical history-Sarah-appears in that lengthy pa.s.sage. James also referenced Rahab as an example in his teaching on living faith: You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prost.i.tute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
James 2:24-25
It"s grand to see our heroine Rahab so touted, but I have a question: Why did the New Testament writers still insist on calling her a prost.i.tute? Can"t she lose the old label? Must those of us with a hairy history wear our past around our necks like a scarlet thread for the rest of our lives?
Yes. And no.
Paul and James mentioned Rahab"s past for the same reason people share their testimonies today-to demonstrate the "before and after" power of knowing the Lord. Stories of how G.o.d has changed lives aren"t intended to glorify sin; they are meant to glorify G.o.d"s grace.
Even so, some people have a hard time getting past our past. When I share my story-candidly, not trying to make it pretty because it wasn"t-I watch some of the dear women in my audience emotionally, even physically, pull back. The room grows very quiet, and their eyes reveal their thoughts: "Oh, you were that kind of woman."
It"s not judgment so much as it is a foreign concept. Women who"ve grown up in the church don"t always know what to do with a Rahab. Especially in a smaller fellowship, Rahabs may feel they don"t fit in, that no one "gets it."
Beloved, if that"s you, listen to Lizzie: There are thousands of us. After I share my own story, women track me down and pour their hearts out. "No one in my church knows." "I can"t tell a soul." "I always thought I was the only one."
Take heart, my sisters. We"re not the only ones.
Thank the Lord we"re finding our way back to the cross, nailing our sinful pasts to the foot of it, and pressing on. The apostle Paul was an "other" too. Different? Ooh baby, he persecuted the Christians-and then became one! He called himself "chief among sinners" yet proclaimed himself made new in Christ.
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of G.o.d for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Romans 1:16 If G.o.d can turn a harlot into a holy vessel, entrusting her with the very genes that would one day produce the King of kings, surely those of us with a past can leave our shame in the rubble and walk away, fixing our eyes on the One who washes us white as snow.
What Lessons Can We Learn from Rahab?
Our past does not determine our future.
Rahab is remembered not for her harlotry but for her bravery. Not for loving men but for trusting G.o.d. She was blessed with a good husband in Salmon, an honorable son in Boaz, and a useful place in G.o.d"s kingdom-not because she "deserved it" but because G.o.d was faithful and extended grace to her. In the same way, we need to get past our past and stop telling ourselves we don"t "deserve" forgiveness. No one does. It"s a gift...with our names on the tag!
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 Rahab cared about her family"s safety, not merely her own pretty neck.
When it came to being spared from certain death, Rahab"s family was even less "deserving" than she was. We"re not told that they recognized the G.o.d of Israel or humbled themselves or kept their mouths shut or even thanked her when it was all over. Yet she loved them, provided for them in her home, and saved them. No wonder Salmon the Spy wanted such a generous, unselfish woman for the mother of his children. I wonder...if tragedy struck, would I think of my family first at my own peril?
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8 Obedience often requires public confession.
When Rahab hung the scarlet cord out her window, exactly as the spies commanded her, she marked herself as a prost.i.tute, not only for the two who"d come for her, but for all the Israelites, including Joshua himself. She didn"t "blend in" with her new people-she stood out. To their credit, they embraced her. To her credit, she was not afraid to wave her red flag and say, "Here I am, that harlot! Somebody save me!" Sharing with others your shameful past and G.o.d"s glorious grace doesn"t bind you to your past-it frees you from its power to hurt you any longer. Tell your story, dear heart!