Amazing Grace • Joshua 2:4-21
By Roland L. McMillan
Joshua 2 opens with Israel camped on the far side of the Jordan River on the approach to the walled city of Jericho. God had guaranteed success in conquering the promised land, but Joshua did not presume on God’s provision. Like a responsible leader, Joshua sent out spies on a reconnaissance mission.
The spies went to Jericho and stayed at the house of Rahab the prostitute. They probably thought going to Rahab’s house was a good strategy to keep their mission secret, but the mission did not stay secret for long. Joshua 2:2 reports that the king of Jericho heard about them right away. In the very next verse, messengers from the king are knocking at Rahab’s door. The spies might have gone out like James Bonds of ancient Judaism, but they acted like two out of the Three Stooges.
In contrast to the spies, Rahab was cool and collected, but she had a choice to make. Messengers from her king were standing at her door looking for foreign spies, their enemy. The king’s men knew the spies’ mission and meant to stop them. A normal person would have given them up in a heartbeat, but that is not what Rahab did. She made up a story, said that the spies were gone, and sent the king’s men on a wild goose chase. The city gate was closed behind the king’s men, closing the spies in the city while their pursuers were outside.
Rahab had hidden the spies under stalks of flax on the roof before the men from the king had arrived. Flat roofs were normal, and flax drying on a roof was common. Later, the fibers would be used to make linen. As the spies lay there under the stalks of flax, everything looked routine on the surface. Rahab had saved them.
Why had Rahab protected the spies against the interests of her own city? The answer becomes clear as the story continues. Rahab went to the roof and started a conversation. She gave the spies crucial information: morale in Jericho was terrible. Everybody was afraid of Israel. They had heard about God’s great action at the Red Sea, and more recently they had heard about the defeat of Sihon and Og. The land had been ready to be conquered a generation ago and still was ripe for the taking.
Verses 9–11 reveal the heart of chapter 2. In their conversation, Rahab confessed that she knew God had given the land to the Israelites. She knew about the power of God, how he had made Israel victorious. In verse 11, she swept aside the whole pantheon of Canaanite gods in favor of the one true God. She was confessing her faith in Yahweh. Her faith in God was why she had protected the spies.
As their conversation continued, they made a deal. In exchange for protecting the spies, they would protect her and her family when they conquered Jericho. As the spies were sneaking out through a window in the city wall, they agreed on a signal to save Rahab’s household from destruction: a scarlet cord in the window. Rahab gave the spies a plan to keep them safe from the king’s men who were hunting them. Eventually they made their way back to Joshua with their report. Terrible morale in the promised land was proof that God was giving them the land. They could go and take it.
Rahab is the shining star of Joshua 2. Joshua appears at the beginning and the end of the chapter. The spies are not even named. Rahab has center stage for most of the story. She was not born an Israelite. She pledged her allegiance with her words and her actions, and she became an Israelite. Genesis 12:3 says that God will bless anyone who blesses Abraham, and so it was with Rahab. She turned her back on her own people because of her faith in God and became a great example of faith (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). As the story of God’s people has unfolded through the years, Rahab became the mother of Boaz, the husband of Ruth. They were king David’s great-grandparents, part of Jesus’ family tree (Matthew 1:5–6). When Rahab protected the spies in faith, it was about more than Joshua, and the spies, and Jericho. Rahab’s story is part of the story of the Messiah.
McMillan is senior pastor of Roseland Park Baptist Church, Picayune.
