Rehab was saved because she responded positively to what was going on around her. As a result, she was joined to God’s people Israel even forming part of the lineage of Jesus. Her brief mention in scripture is about real people dealing with real problems in ways that lead to real changes with real hope for life everlasting.
Sermon Notes
Joshua 2:1 Where is this place called Shittim… Who are these people… When is this taking place?
Show Large Map of the area
Moses has recently died and the entire generation of people who God had led out of Egypt was also dead with the exception of 2 men, Caleb and Joshua.
Forty years earlier at a place called Kadesh-Barnea on the southern border of the land of Israel God had Moses send out 12 “spies” to scout out the land He was giving them… to see how lush and beautiful it was… and then report back on what they found. However, 10 of the 12 got scared when they saw the tall a fierce-looking people in Canaan. When they came back with their report they caused all the people to panic and rebel against Moses with yet another plan to return back to Egypt.
Because of their lack of faith, God delayed the receipt of the promised land for 40 years so they would all die in the wilderness (except for Caleb and Joshua who had a positive report). Now 40 years later this second generation of the exodus people stand on the border of the promised land looking in.
Joshua 2:1 sends spies secretly this time… although not so secret that the Canaanites don’t figure it out
Show close up map of Jericho – 7 miles (2 hours) from the camp to the river… wade through the river about chest high, 7 (2 hours) miles from the river to Jericho
Jericho was a big town with big walls and a sturdy gate. It was located at a pass where two major trade roads converged… so there would be lots of travelers coming in and out at any given time. The two spies could have easily slipped through the gate among the crowd. We also read that they chose to stay at a public house run by Rahab who was a prostitute.
I don’t think they were there to sample the goods… presumably, they chose to stay at such a place because it was situated on the wall (verse 15) of the city which would give them a good vantage point to look out at the city and look over the city’s main defense… the wall. Plus, it would be filled with a transient and anonymous crowd they could blend into. Finally, it had a window on the wall which came in useful when they later needed to escape.
Joshua 2:2-3 the presence of the spies in the city became known rather quickly… the Canaanites would have known about the large camp of about Israelites only 14 miles from their city. They had heard the stories about how these people had escaped slavery in Egypt, the miracles of YHWH that had brought the foremost superpower of its day, Egypt, to its knees.
Joshua 2:4-7 this woman Rehab hid them in her house. She lied to the police, and sent them on a wild goose chase… Why? Why aid the cause of the enemy who has come to destroy you? The rest of the city was getting ready to batten down the hatches and defend itself against the inevitable attack (Joshua 6:1). What did she see that they did not see?
Joshua 2:8-11a Rahab was motivated by fear… but also by belief in what she had heard. She believed not only that these things had happened but accepted that they truly were the hand of God at work. She knew Jericho was going to be delivered into the hands of Israel and all opposition to them would be in vain. But why didn’t she believe that the gods of her city would be able to protect Jericho, her friends, her family and herself? (discuss how people looked at national deities)
Joshua 2:11b
Rehab recognizes that YHWH (the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) was/is the real deal. Doing things in space and time only one who controls space and time could do. Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech never did amazing things like this. These idols which had been Rehab’s cultural heritage… they were nothing. The future was with Israel and with YHWH. She was turning her back on everything she knew to follow the true God.
She saw that YHWH is over all the earth, all creation, all space and all time, YHWH was not just the national deity of Israel who was mightier than Baal or Molech the national deities of Canaan. She uses a phrase here “in heaven above, or the earth beneath” that is used previously in only 3 places in scripture: Exodus 20:4, Deut 4:39, 5:8. You’ll recognize two of these as working from the second commandment forbidding idols.
Joshua 2:12-21 red cord in the window like the blood over the doorposts on Passover night… the destruction of the Lord would pass over her.
The spies return and tell how fearful the people of Jericho are. Joshua and Israel cross over the waters of the Jordan river which God miraculously parts before them. The new generation is circumcised, they observe the Passover. They march around the city 7 days, blowing trumpets and on the last day they give a mighty shout, the walls of Jericho fall and the city is given to them for complete destruction as God instructed.
Joshua 6:22-24 Rehab is spared while the rest of the city is destroyed. Rehab’s name is not mentioned again in the rest of the Old Testament. What happened to her? Was she able to adapt to her new life in the holy nation of Israel?
Rehab is mentioned 3 times in the New Testament! Heb 11:31, James 2:25 (citations of her faith) and... Matt 1:5
She obviously did settle down and changed her life… She is mentioned here as the mother (or grandmother) of Boaz who was a righteous man from what we know about him in the book or Ruth. So it’s a reasonable guess that Rehab’s faith before the battle of Jericho changed her life.
Rehab was saved because she responded positively to what was going on around her. As a result, she was joined to God’s people Israel even forming part of the lineage of Jesus… God born as a human. Salvation from the very beginning was to be through Israel …not only Israel. Imagine if Jericho had responded positively like Ninevah for example… They too could have been saved from death.
There are 5 women mentioned in the lineage of Jesus as recorded by Matthew… and all these women had a cloud of sin hanging over their lives:
Tamar – disguised herself as a prostitute and sold herself to her father-in-law
Rehab – worked as a prostitute in Jericho
Ruth – was a Moabite woman who came from a life of idolatry
Bathsheba – committed adultery with David
Mary – (wrongly) suspected of having a child out of wedlock
The Word, who was and is part of the God family was willing to be born among humanity into a challenging situation. The human family Jesus was born into was not wealthy or well connected… but more our point here… the circumstances of his birth meant He would always be (wrongly) suspected as an illegitimate bastard child of a woman fallen in sin (Mary).
Even though He lived a perfect and sinless life, Jesus Christ/God gets it… He understands social shame, the judging eyes of others, the taint of being considered the product of sexual sin… real in most cases but imagined as in His own case.
His purpose is not to make you feel better about yourself… His purpose is to show you a way out. Beginning with faith but leading to something real, something you can act on, something others can see. Something that provides a witness to God’s active work in the world and the lives of people like you and me.
Hebrews 11:31 – saved by faith
James 2:25 – real faith led to action
I Corinthians 6:9-11 – and so were some of you
Rehab’s brief mention in scripture is about real people dealing with real problems in ways that lead to real changes with real hope for life everlasting.
You can be washed through the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God… You can be sanctified, set apart, grafted into the Israel of God… You can be justified and reconciled to a righteous God through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ… You can be part of the Bride of Christ dressed in beautiful white linen… you can believe on God’s power to make it happen… but you have to act.
Other References:
Numbers 13-14 original account of the spies
Deut 1:22-46 Moses account of the event 40 years later
MP3 Audio (9.65 MB) 
