“People to meet in heaven: Rahab”
Joshua 2:1
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
It seems as though you can pay someone to do almost anything nowadays—like walk your dog, organize your home, and even cuddle with you when you’re feeling lonely.
“Did I hear you right?” you say? “Cuddle with you when you’re feeling lonely”?! Yup, I’m afraid you did. You can hire someone to cuddle with you. Just ask Samantha Hess of Portland, Oregon. She’s a professional cuddler! But it will cost you—anywhere from sixty to eighty dollars an hour.
As Steve of Vancouver writes, “After meeting Samantha Hess, I feel so much better. Our cuddle time gave me a different outlook on life. I had no idea what I was missing. I am a big fan now, and look forward to our next session.”
If you want more information, just pop onto her website, “cuddleuptome.com.”
According to an article entitled, “21 odd jobs you probably have never heard of before,” the author cites quite a number of jobs you’ve probably never heard of before, that pay quite a lot of money.
Take “Golf Ball Diver,” for example. Golf course ponds are loaded with golf balls, and someone has to dive for them. It’s a job that pays anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 a year! But just so you know--the water is also loaded with some nasty chemicals, so a wetsuit is required.
Or if that isn’t your thing, for $40,000 a year, you could be a pet food taster. That’s right! A pet food taster! Someone has to ensure that our furry little friends get all the taste and nutrition they need!
Or how about those big iMax movie screens you sometimes see, like the one in Duluth—did you know they have to pay someone $5,000 just to clean them? Michael Quarantino of Chicago even gave up his job as an airline pilot just to do it.
Or if none of those jobs suit you, you could be a water slide tester or a face feeler or an iceberg mover or a shoe wrinkle chaser. I don’t know about you, but those wrinkles on my shoes are so annoying!
Strange jobs that pay quite a lot of money!
And in our text today, we meet a woman with one of the most difficult jobs and one of the most challenging jobs ever, what some have called, “the oldest occupation on earth.” But before I say anything more, you better open your Bible to page 227, to see what I mean.
Look on the right-hand page, left-hand column, where it says, “Rahab Hides the Spies.” Joshua chapter 2, starting at verse 1: “And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.”
Let’s set the stage so we know what’s going on.
For forty, long, tumultuous years, and by God’s direction, Moses led the people of Israel through the wilderness. They crossed the Red Sea and, time after time, miraculously defeated their enemies. Now, finally, they stood on the very doorstep of their Promised Land.
And Moses’ work on earth was done. Just as soon as he died, God buried him. And able, faithful Joshua now led them into the Promised Land.
And the very first city to conquer was Jericho, a bustling, heavily fortified city strategically located on the Jordan valley’s fertile plain.
How fortified was it? Archaeologists tell us that the entire city was surrounded by an embankment, a stone wall, some 12-15 feet high. And above that was another wall, six feet thick and twenty feet high. And above that was yet one more wall, another twenty feet high. All together, it reached some forty-six feet, nearly five stories (!), above the ground below. That’s a wall!
And Joshua, the keen, shrewd, experienced general that he was, knew better than to try to take the city head on. Too many lives would be lost. So before even taking one step forward, he first sent spies on ahead.
Look again at chapter 2, verse 1: ‘And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’”
So ever so cautiously and carefully, they strolled through the streets of the city, blending in with fellow pedestrians, taking mental notes of the city’s layout and it’s great city wall.
But before long, it was late and getting dark, so where could they stay? Where could they go?
That’s when they realized the best place, the only place, the place that would attract the absolute least amount of attention, would be the house of a madam, a call girl, a shady lady, a prostitute.
Look again at verse 1: “And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.”
Now before we go any further, we should get something straight. Across the centuries, a number of Bible commentators have wrestled with this text. And instead of translating the Hebrew word, “zonah,” as “prostitute,” they wrote, “innkeeper,” instead.
And it’s easy to understand why. After all, the Bible is a bit tough on prostitutes. The book of Deuteronomy, for example, said no Israelite woman should ever be one, nor should one even make a sacrifice to God. And the book of Leviticus says that if a priest’s daughter ever became one, she should be burned.
But the Bible is clear, not just once or twice, but five different times—three times here in the book of Joshua, once in the book of Hebrews, and once in the book of James. And every time it says, “Rahab the prostitute.”
Which gives us the first lesson we should learn from this text. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. God can still take you and use you to get His job done.
You don’t think so? Just think! Jacob was a liar. Joseph was first sold as a slave, then later thrown into prison. Moses had a speech impediment. Gideon was afraid. Jeremiah was too young. David was an adulterer and murderer. Jonah ran. Peter denied. Martha stewed. A Samaritan woman divorced four times. Zacchaeus was too short. A pastor named Timothy worried himself sick. And Lazarus was dead.
Of course, God can take us and use us as we are, warts and all, to get His job done.
Let’s get back to the text. Look at verse 2: ‘And it was told to the king of Jericho, ‘Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.’ Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.’”
Apparently, just as soon as Joshua sent in his CIA, the king of Jericho sent out his KGB. But thanks to Rahab’s smarts and quick thinking, their lives were spared.
Look at verse 4: “But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, ‘True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.’ But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.”
Then she made a deal. Look at verse 12. She said, “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.’ And the men said to her, ‘Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.’”
Then verse 18: “Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.”
Then verse 21: “And she said, ‘According to your words, so be it.’ Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.”
“A scarlet cord,” the Bible says. Funny it doesn’t simply say, “a cord” or even “a red cord.” It says, “a scarlet cord.”
You see scarlet is a special kind of color. Artists tell us it’s a bright red, with just a hint of orange. In ancient times, it was the color of power, wealth and luxury, the color of blood and sacrifice. Today, it’s the color of British nobility and the House of Lords. In academics, it’s the color of law and theology. As author Nathaniel Hawthorne once wrote in his book, The Scarlet Letter, it’s even the color of sin.
Or think of the words of the prophet Isaiah: “’Come, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’”
Scarlet is visible. It’s indelible. It’s unmistakable. And for a woman named Rahab, for her father and mother, her brothers and sisters, it was the color of salvation.
If you think about it, there’s a scarlet cord running all through the Bible. The first time we see it is in the Garden of Eden, when God made coats of skin for Adam and Eve. To do it, He shed an animal’s blood.
Then as Abraham took Isaac, to sacrifice him on Mt. Moriah, he didn’t have to kill his son. Instead he killed a ram, caught in a thicket.
Fast forward two thousand years and you’ll see countless sacrifices--lambs, goats, bulls, pigeons, doves--a scarlet flood of blood.
And best of all, on the cross, we see our Savior Jesus, nailed, beaten and crowned with thorns, holding out a scarlet cord for every sin-stained man or woman, prostitute and tax collector alike.
There is that question. Whatever happened to Rahab after Jericho’s fall?
You’d be surprised, very surprised. You see she didn’t just disappear from the pages of the Bible, never to be heard from again.
You see, when Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and that wall came tumbling down, there was one place, one small place on the north face, that didn’t fall. And as the spies promised, their lives were spared.
Then somehow or another, Rahab joined up with the people of Israel. And that’s when she met and married a man named Salmon, from the tribe of Judah. And before long, they had a son named Boaz, who had another son named Obed, who had another son named Jesse, who had another son named David, making her the great-great grandmother of a king.
Then go just a little further down that family tree, and you’ll meet one more son, God’s Son, our Savior Jesus.
Is our God a God of grace? Is He a God of wonder? Yes! Yes He is!
But you don’t have to take my word for it. You can ask Rahab when you meet her in heaven.
Your Word, dear Father, never fails to surprise us. By Your grace, You take the worst, the smallest and the weakest among us, and You use them to accomplish Your will. Take even us, we pray, that we may see Your glory. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen