Joshua
2:1-24
Key
Verse: “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." (Joshua 2:14).
1.
Bring the spies out (1-3)
2.
Rahab saved the spies (4-7)
3.
The LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below
(8-11)
4.
Our lives for your lives (12-21)
5.
The LORD has given the whole land into our hands (22-24)
1.
Bring
the spies out (1-3)
Israel was
about to conquer the land of God’s blessing. God had prepared them for this
mission and established Joshua as their leader for this task. Before crossing
the Jordan River, Joshua sent spies to look over the native people, especially in
the city of Jericho. Even though this was a clandestine mission, the king of
Jericho came to know of their arrival at Rahab’s house and sent his men to arrest
the two spies. This was a great crisis; if they were caught by the king, then either
they would surely die by his hand or Israel would have to negotiate with the
king for their lives. If these spies were to be saved, then God’s will to wipe
out the ungodly people of the land would be greatly compromised. On the other
hand, if Israel was to fully implement His will to thoroughly destroy Jericho,
then they would have to sacrifice the two spies.
The world’s
forces know that God’s will to establish His kingdom goes directly against
their purpose and their kingdom. To take control of the situation, they like to
take God’s people as their hostages and demand their subjection to their
purpose and their life principles. Here, we come to two questions. How could
the God of Israel save His people, while simultaneously fulfilling His purpose?
And, what was God’s purpose in this?
2.
Rahab
saved the spies (4-7)
Rahab
was a prostitute. When these spies came to her house, she hid them under stalks
of flax on the roof and lied to the King that they had left the city before
the door in the walls closed. If she was caught in her lie, then she and her
family would surely face death for treason; however, she took that risk and
dared to hide these spies. In other words, she risked her, and possibly her
families’ lives as well, in order to save the spies. How could she do this? The
king was her king, and the people of Jericho were her people. How could she
betray them? As soon as the king’s men were gone, she came up to the spies and
explained why she had done this.
The
peoples of the world have united together in various ways to support their
living and wellbeing. Families and relatives are the strongest bonds. Next
comes a social bond, then a national and/or
racial bond, and a religious bond. We all abhor betrayal or treason, which cut any
of these bonds. Such acts are treated very harshly, mostly by excommunication
or death. In other words, when one considers the breaking of any of these bonds,
they must have a strong reason to do so, and that reason must be bigger and
stronger than the bonds that they dare to break.
As
believers, we too must think about the bonds that bind us together. What are
they? Are they worth risking our lives? This is a very serious matter and is
linked to what we believe about our purpose, meaning, and understanding of
life.
“Love”
is the glue that binds people to each other. There are many different shapes
and kinds of love - love between man and woman, love of brothers, love of one’s
fellow men and women, love for one’s nation or race, etc. Through these bonds of
love, we set up our lives, secure and sound. For this reason, the moment one
thinks of breaking any of these bonds, it is wrong and cannot be justified.
How
could Rahab reason and justify her betrayal of her people and her nation, in
which she had at least secured and found solace in her life?
3.
The
LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below (8-11)
In the
middle of the night, as the two spies were about to go to bed, Rahab came up
and told them what was in her heart. She was under great stress and fear because
she had to choose between her king and them. Her life and that of her entire
family were at stake. In such a crisis, she chose the spies and their God over
the king and her people. She explained her decision in this way:
"I know that the LORD has given you this
land 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.” (Joshua 2:9-10).
The
people of Jericho had heard all that God had done for Israel, from the time of
their crossing through the Red Sea to the time when they destroyed the two
Amorite kings, Sihon and Og. In other words, they knew what God had done in and
for the nation of Israel over the past forty years. Through His dealings with
Israel, He revealed Himself and displayed His authority and power as the Lord
of heaven and earth, for their sake.
Even though
Rahab mentioned two things, I assessed a few other things that all of the
surrounding nations could discern regarding what God did for His chosen people,
Israel: a) the Red Sea crossing, b) their survival and flourishing life in the
desert, c) their defeat of the Amalekites (*), d) their total annihilation of the
Ammonites (*), e) the plague that God imposed upon Israel, which killed many(*),
and f) the thorough destruction of the two mighty Amorite nations, led by Kings
Sihon and Og, including women and children (*).
How
could the people of the world understand and assess these events?
Through
these mighty works, God made it clear to the people of the world that “the LORD your God is God in heaven above and
on the earth below”. (v11). If He is the Sovereign, then what could they or
anyone do to oppose Him?
With
certainty, Rahab and her people knew that the LORD had given Jericho to Israel and that a great fear of Israel had fallen upon them. In a matter of days, the
entire population of Jericho would be thoroughly wiped out, like the two
Amorite nations, on the east side of the Jordan. In the midst of such a crisis,
Rahab made a decision.
4.
Our
lives for your lives (12-21)
Having
revealed her firm conviction on the matter, Rahab called for and demanded Israel’s
kindness. She had saved them, and now they must save her as well. There would
be no playing games just to escape the clutches of the king of Jericho; there
must be a genuine exchange of life-saving commitment, in order to save her
entire family. The Israelites must give her a sure sign that they would
guarantee her life and that of her family. Upon hearing this, these two spies
agreed and said: "Our lives for your lives!" (Joshua 2:14a). By
saying this, they were accepting her offer and committing themselves to the
covenant’s “our lives for your life”, with one condition - that she would not
tell anyone what they were doing. Having agreed and confirmed this, she let
them down a rope through the window (v15) and helped them escape their
pursuers’ eyes (16).
V17-24
is somewhat confusing, because it is out of chronological order, seemingly going
back to readdress v14-15. We can understand this as either simply an
explanation of the details that were missed in v14-15, or as putting a special
emphasis on what should not be part of the chronological description; the latter
is more likely.
Rahab
demanded a sure sign (v12b) that Israel would spare the lives of her
family (v13). At the same time, the sign must be binding
for both parties. What or how could such a sign bear both
significances? The rope by which she let the spies escape through her window
would also serve as her sign on the spies’ behalf. For Israel’s spies, the
scarlet cord in the window would serve as a sign on her behalf. Are there two
different things, a rope and a scarlet cord to serve as signs? Since the word ‘rope’
(v15) is different from the one meaning ‘cord’ (v18), it is reasonable to think
this is the case; however, if we do so, then there were two signs, one different
from the other. Such an understanding is not agreeable with the one covenant under
which they had committed themselves to each other - “our lives for your lives”.
Even though there was only one sign, the rope or cord was each seen
differently.
The
rope was an expression of one’s commitment to the cause of God’s grace. For
Rahab, it was simply a rope that helped the Israelite spies to escape from the
city. She did not save the spies in a realistic sense, for God could save them
as He willed. Instead, the rope was actually an emblem of her commitment in
faith to the Lord and her search for His mercy.
On the other hands, when Israel came to conquer Jericho, all the people would die,
because they had sinned against the Lord. In this regard, saving Rahab and her
family from Israel’s attack was not only saving their earthly lives but also
giving them a chance for life in eternity as God’s people. In other words, the redemption
of their lives was deeply embedded in the scarlet cord (since the
scarlet cord functions similarly to the blood applied to the door post at Passover).
So, are
the rope and cord two different things? I personally do not think so. Though
they are the same ‘rope/cord’ in appearance, it is important to make this
distinction. In order to do so, Rahab’s sign is described in v15 and the sign
of the Israelite spies is reiterated, in detail, specifying the cord with the
specific adjective clause - “this scarlet cord in the window through which you
let us down.” (v18) Though she let the spies down for them to escape from the
king, God saw this as the scarlet cord, symbolizing that her sins and those of
her family who were in the house with her, were to be forgiven. Unless their
sins were washed away and forgiven, they could not be included in God’s chosen
people. In this regard, the rope must also be a scarlet cord in Israel’s eyes, so
that she and her family could be counted as a part of God’s chosen and holy
people.
This
bears enormous importance for our understanding of God’s plan for the
salvation of all Gentiles. God gave the Law to Israel. In the final chapter of Leviticus,
God described who could be saved through the Law of the Covenant.
"But
if
they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors--their
unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them
so that I sent them into the land of their enemies--then when their uncircumcised
hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my
covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham,
and I will remember the land.” (Leviticus 26:40-42 NIV).
This is
what happens when one comes to accept his/her sins and surrenders oneself to
the Lord, with a willingness to pay for their sins. Rahab, a Gentile woman, a
harlot, in whom no one could find anything good or godly, was counted righteous
and included in God’s chosen people.
How
could or would a harlot be able to seek the Lord’s favor? Why not one of the
many wise and powerful men of the city? This question becomes more demanding of
an answer when we see that Rahab was one of the four women in Jesus’ genealogy.
First, there was Tamar, a widowed Moabite woman, Judah’s daughter-in-law; the
second was Ruth, another widowed daughter-in-law, of Elimelek. What prompted these
women to seek God’s mercy?
I
counted three common threads which connect these women together. First, they
lost their husbands because of their sins. Likewise, since Rahab was a harlot,
it is unlikely that she had a husband. Without a husband, these women had no
means to live or survive on their own. In other words, they were living at the
bottom of society, barely surviving like beggars.
Second,
these women felt sin’s consequences far more than anyone else. God had struck
down Tamar’s husband because he was wicked in His eyes. Ruth also experienced
the death of all the men of the house - her father-in-law, brother-in-law, and
her own husband; God’s judgment on their sins was all too clear for her. If I
can count give one more connection, these women were all Gentiles. They grew up
and lived in sin. It was all too strange for them to see their husbands’ deaths
because of their ‘ungodly’ lives. In this, their widows were able to see the God
of judgment and His mighty power, holiness, and justice. Each of these
predicaments brought these women to the bottom of their lives. Lastly, they all
saw God’s righteous judgment and sought God’s mercy. Instead of being bitter or
having hatred toward God, they saw their true being in God’s eyes, and humbled
their hearts before Him and sought Him as the God of righteousness and mercy
(Leviticus 26:40-42). As a whole, these women’s experiences are prime examples
of how one can come to the Lord to receive His blessing, according to the
Covenant Law.
This
story ends with a clear sign of that covenant:
“So she
sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.”
(John 2:21b).
God
gave this generation a clear sign of the covenant - Jesus’ suffering, death, and
resurrection. When one, having a humble heart, accepts Jesus’ gracious offer
and decides to partake in his life, God will surely impart His saving grace to
them, and further, He will include him/her as His people. God gives the world
the sign of ‘My life for your life’. Anyone who accepts this will be saved from
being destroyed along with the evil and ungodly and will be included in the
eternal blessing reserved for God’s people.
5.
The
LORD has given the whole land into our hands (22-24)
When the two spies were pursued by the king, they faced a life
and death situation. Meanwhile, God’s power was at work in Rahab’s heart.
Through her, the spies escaped safely and returned home. This had immense
significance for those who were engaged in conquering the land of God’s
blessing. In Macedonia, Paul ran a stop-and-go-ministry, because the Jews
chased after him and he was scared for his life. However, when he was about to
leave Corinth, God spoke this word to him:
“One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be
afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is
going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city."
(Act 18:9-10 NIV).
With Rahab’s help, this became possible. God had prepared a
woman to protect the spies from the king of Jericho. He speaks of His utmost
will by His power to those whom He saves. Even in the midst of their enemies,
God works for His chosen people out of His same purpose of saving people.
But it was far more important for Israel to understand that God had
sent the fear of them into the world. Though the land was yet to be conquered,
it was as good as conquered because the people of this land had been melted by
fear. This reminds me of what Jesus said, concerning the Holy Spirit’s work:
“When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about
sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in
me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me
no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands
condemned.” (John 16:8-11 NIV).
The world is under God’s judgment, for the Holy Spirit has
proved it to be in the wrong regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment. There
are many whose hearts are seared by God’s power and grace, shown in Christ. We
must not fear to go out and look over the land of God’s blessing. When His
people are holy and pleasing to Him, God is happy to give the land of His
blessing to His people. It is ready for us to conquer.
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