RAHAB

JOSHUA 2

A. "AND JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN SENT OUT OF SHITIM TWO MEN TO SPY SECRETLY, SAYING, GO VIEW THE LAND, EVEN JERICHO. AND THEY WENT AND CAME INTO AN HARLOT'S HOUSE, NAMED RAHAB AND LODGED THERE" - JOSHUA 2:1
  1. Here, dear friends, we have the beginning of the story of Rahab the harlot:
    1. Perhaps one of the most fascinating stories in the Bible
    2. We shall see in this study that she became the means to hide the two spies to save them from certain death
  2. The story of Rahab the harlot is full of deep and far reaching significance, both for ancient Israel and the depth of the plan of redemption
B. RAHAB THE HARLOT
  1. Scriptural references:
    1. Joshua 2;1-3; 6:17-25
    2. Matt. 1:5; Heb. 11:31; James 2:25
  2. Her family connections:
    1. She, of course, was an Amorite and had relatives living either with her or near her - Joshua 2:13-18
    2. Through her part in hiding the two spies and her accepting the faith of Israel, she became an Israelite, in fact, an ancestor of our Lord - Matt. 1:5
  3. Her sin: ] a. She, as an Amorite, practiced idolatry
    1. And she was a harlot being immoral
  4. Her intelligence:
    1. That possessed great skill in divising things is seen in what she planned to save the lives of the two spies - Joshua 2:2-17
    2. She seemed to have considerable knowledge of God doing marvelous things for Israel - Joshua 2:9-10
    3. Also, she was convinced that her nation would be destroyed and that Israel would take the land - Joshua 2:11
    4. She entered into a covenant with the two spies; binding them to spare her life and the life of her family - Joshua 2:12-14
  5. Her rich reward:
    1. The two men told her to bind a scarlet line in her window; that this sign would be the mark of her security - Joshua 2:17-21
    2. Rahab and her family were saved from the fate that befell Jericho - Joshua 6:17-25
    3. She became the wife of Salmon - Ruth 4:20-21; I Chron. 2:11
    4. She became the progenitor of the son of man who was also the Son of Salmon - Matt. 1:5
    5. Best of all, she will be in the kingdom - Ps. 87:1-6
C. THE STORY OF RAHAB THE HARLOT IS IN A SENSE THE UNFOLDING OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION
  1. By nature she was a sinner, an idolater:
    1. Without Christ being alien from the commonwealth of Israel and a stranger from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world - Eph. 2:11-12
    2. She as a harlot was deeply mired in sin her acts had brought her to the very depths of degradation - Rom. 7:22-25; Ps. 69:2
  2. But by faith:
    1. That scarlet line in her window became the sign of her sins being covered by the blood of Jesus Christ - I Pet. 3:18-19; Is. 1:18-19
    2. Her cooperation with the god of Israel in saving the lives of the two spies; became the true evidence of her faith which she showed by her works - James 2:21-26; Heb. 11:31
  3. Her transformation is one of God's beacon lights to all sinners in this wide world:
    1. The God of mercy and compassion who saved Rahab the harlot is ready and able to save any sinner that will come to him by Jesus Christ - Is. 1:17-19; Acts 4:12
    2. Rahab the harlot, a former adulterer and an immoral person has taken her place among the redeemed to display the wonders of salvation. In this respect she will be one of the bright stars in the kingdom
    3. Can it be that the story of Rahab is in the Bible as one of the expressions of God's love for sinners - for you and for me.


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