She has just made a huge declaration of faith for a pagan woman who has been making her living as a prostitute up until now. She said she believes the God of Israel is the God of heaven and earth. She confessed to a reverent fear of Him and stated that she knows He intends to give the city of Jericho and the land of Canaan to the Israelites. She doesn't know a great deal about God yet, such as His laws and commandments, but she knows enough to put her trust in Him. When many of us first came to the Lord and surrendered our hearts and lives to Him, we didn't know much about Him. We knew enough to trust Him as Lord and Savior but perhaps we didn't know a whole lot else. That's where we find Rahab here in Chapter 2. She has made a beginning. She's taken the first step on her journey with the Lord.
Because Rahab knows Jericho will fall to Israel's soldiers, she asks the spies to spare her life and the lives of her family members on the day of battle. "Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. 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)
The men solemnly swear to protect her and her family. She has saved their lives and they swear---on their own lives---to save hers. "'Our lives for your lives!' the men assured her. 'If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us this land.'" (Joshua 2:14)
As we said yesterday, although Rahab was running a house of ill repute, there's absolutely no reason at all to suggest these men engaged in any immoral activities with her. The Lord has been preparing this woman's heart, perhaps for many years, and I believe He led the men to her house because He knew she was ready to abandon her culture and its idols and throw in her lot with the Israelites. He had also, sometime in the past, made sure that this woman who would come to know Him as Lord would possess a house that was built into the city wall. If her house had been in the middle of town, she could not have done what she does next. "So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. She said to them, 'Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.'" (Joshua 2:15-16)
The Lord knows everything you and I will ever do. He knows everything you and I will ever need. We are studying an example that proves this to us. Nothing that's taking place in Chapter 2 is a surprise to Him. He had everything planned out long before the events of Chapter 2 took place. Wherever we go in this life, the Lord has already been there ahead of us---moving mountains, parting seas, providing resources, putting the right people in the right places to help us. He is, if you will, a master chess player who not only sees several moves ahead but sees every move ahead.
The men intend to keep their promise to save her life and the lives of her family members. But she must take care to mark her house. In the heat of battle and in the confusion of fighting Jericho's soldiers coming at them from every side, Israel's fighting men could accidentally cause loss of life to someone of Rahab's household. Her house probably looks just like every other house along the city walls. She must do something to make it stand out. The spies will let the Israelite soldiers know to look for this item which makes Rahab's house stand out. "Now the men had 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, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.'" (Joshua 2:17-20)
What does this scarlet cord remind us of? The blood which was applied to the doorposts on Passover night, when the death angel passed over the Israelites and struck down the firstborn sons of the Egyptians. When the soldiers of Israel see the scarlet cord hanging down the side of Rahab's house, they will pass over it. They will leave the house and its occupants untouched.
What else does the scarlet cord remind us of? The blood of the new covenant. (Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20) When we come to faith in Christ as our Redeemer and Lord, the blood of the new covenant is applied to our hearts, and when God the Father looks at us He sees not our sins but the blood of His dear Son. This saves us from His wrath; His wrath "passes over" us. "Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him!" (Romans 5:9) "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us." (Ephesians 1:7-8a)
Rahab agrees to hang the scarlet cord from her window. She makes no delay in obeying the men's instructions. Though the attack upon the city is not yet at hand, she goes ahead and hangs the scarlet cord from the window. "'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 2:21) I believe she has already given her heart to the Lord; by faith she belongs to Him. Immediately applying the scarlet cord to her house symbolizes what's already taken place inside her heart.
It seems to me that this scarlet cord hanging from her upper window and down the city wall would have stuck out like a sore thumb. What did Jericho's citizens and soldiers make of it? I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that they assumed she wanted to clearly mark her house as a house of prostitution so male visitors to the city would know right away where to go if they were looking for that type of entertainment. After all, in modern times aren't areas rife with prostitution referred to as "red light districts"? The heathens of Jericho probably thought she was trying to entice more business to her house. It would not have occurred to them that she had given her allegiance to Israel's God and to the Israelites themselves. They would never have interpreted the scarlet cord as a symbol of salvation.
The men safely make their escape from Jericho, thanks to Rahab, and return to Joshua with their report. "When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them. Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them. They said to Joshua, 'The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.'" (Joshua 2:22-24)
Rahab the pagan harlot turns into Rahab the believer of the one true God. According to Matthew's gospel, she marries Salmon of the tribe of Judah. She becomes the mother of Boaz, who becomes the father of Obed, who becomes the father of Jesse, who becomes the father of King David. As we follow the genealogy of Matthew 1:1-16, we find that this line leads directly down to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who would have though a heathen prostitute of the sinful city of Jericho would end up in the family tree of the Redeemer? Only the Lord imagined such a thing because He is in the business of redeeming not only people's souls but also people's pasts. It doesn't matter who Rahab used to be. After coming to faith in the Lord she became a new person. She was given the honor of being listed in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. It doesn't matter where we started; it matters how we finish. And Rahab finished strong. Rahab finished admirably. The Lord Jesus would not have been ashamed to point out her name on a chart of His family tree. And He is not ashamed to call you and me His brothers and sisters because He's not concerned with who we used to be. He focuses only on who we are in Him. Just as God passed over the Israelites when He saw the blood applied to the doorposts, and just as the soldiers of Israel spared the house of Rahab when they saw the scarlet cord, the Lord looks at us and sees the scarlet blood of Jesus. All that matters now is that we are His. We are forgiven. We are redeemed. We are sanctified. We are new creatures.
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