Living in the Promised Land: A study in the book of Joshua
Lesson Two (Joshua Chapter 2)
To view this online as a video:
Lesson Two: A harlot saves the day
A. Introduction
1. Greetings
Shalom to each of you here on the Zoom call and those who will watch this class lecture on YouTube later. For the first 25 minutes I will teach this section of the Bible then we will let everyone on the call into a conversation for questions and answers for the last half hour. This will include comments about all the themes or ideas that I will bring up. Further discussion happens even deeper in our D-Groups that happen over the next week and maybe some of you will conduct a D-Group on Shabbat. I want to ask you to consider whom you want to invite to join us here or in your home groups later.
For those watching on YouTube please read the next Bible chapter before you watch the rest of this. Today we are discussing Joshua chapter 2. Go ahead and press pause, read the chapter, then press play on your machine and re-join us. Thanks. Welcome back.
2. Overview
[For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqJlFF_eU )
a. Today’s study: Chapter 2: A harlot saves the day
Genealogies take up a lot of room in the Bible. So and so begat so and so. We had never even understood the word ‘begat’ until we started reading the Bible and then it just became a funny and silly word, then it took on meaning of parenting and family. Like Joshua the son of Nun. Like Caleb the son of Yefuneh. And John the son of Zacharias. The lists found in the Bible are long and if we dare to admit it, we often skip those long lists. True?
In the beginning of the Newer Testament we see a typical list.
The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Matt. 1:2 Abraham 1was the father of Isaac, 2Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of 3Judah and his brothers….
As you would expect the list goes on and on. 42 generations are listed. I won’t list them here.
Of note though is verse 5 of Matthew chapter 1.
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.
We are introduced to two women, Rahab and Ruth, and this is a surprise. We’ll talk more about that later on in this morning’s session.
Rahab is introduced to us in Joshua chapter 2, early on, and she is the character of great note. No wonder she is referenced in many other Bible books, including Job, Psalms and Isaiah. And in the Newer Testament in Matthew, James and Hebrews, again she comes to the front of the stage. Thus, she’s a significant character with much to teach us. We will let her being a member of the genealogy of Yeshua help us look more closely at her as we study this chapter 2 of Joshua.
The spies: Commanded to go and they went (1-7)
Verse one: The commander in chief, Joshua has taken over from Moses in the last chapter. He’s now performing his first act, getting down to the business of taking the Land as promises by the Lord. He who was a spy when they wandered in the wilderness thirty eight years ago, who went into the land of promise along with 11 others, now sends out his own spies. Only this time, the word is different.
Back at Kadesh Barnea, Joshua and his mates were sent to survey the land, to come back with reports about the conditions they would see and evaluate. This time, the word is not the same. The objective is not the same. The terms are not the same.
Hess says this, “The story about Rahab functions in several ways in its place in Joshua. From the perspective of the literary context, it provides a view of the Canaanites as chapter 1 did of the Israelites. As in chapter 1, one particular figure is highlighted. In this sense, Rahab corresponds to Joshua as the faithful one of her people who is chosen to lead them to salvation, or at least to offer it to those who are interested. Joshua 2 also anticipates the conquest of Jericho in chapter 6. In the broader context of the Pentateuch, ties are obvious with Numbers 13-14 and Deuteronomy 1 and the sending of the scouts from Kadesh Barnea with its disastrous results. In the contrasting account of Joshua 2, the role of Joshua is magnified as one who follows God and who leads the people. Joshua 2 thus justifies the character of Joshua as a leader concerned for his people, for he gathers intelligence before leading them into hostile territory. It also describes how Joshua gives Rahab and her family an opportunity to deliver themselves from the coming destruction. Finally, Joshua 2 affirms a theology of the mission of Israel. This is specified in the two longest monologues in the story: the confession and request of Rahab (vv. 9–13) and the conditional promise of the scouts (vv. 17–20). Together these provide the justification for war, the provision of mercy for deliverance, and the expectations of Israel.”
Verse one: Go, and see. לְכ֛וּ רְא֥וּ
Two military commands. And the idea of commandment seems to me a reflection of something early on in the Bible. I hear an echo of the first commandment in the book of Genesis. “P’ru ur’vu” Be fruitful and multiply. Maybe it’s the rhythm and cadence. Maybe it’s the assonance. But if Torah begins with a double command, then it makes sense that the historical books of Nevi’im do the same.
The spies are called raglim, footmen, if you will. Not the same word in Numbers about the surveyors. (Tur)
They are told to go and check out the land of Jericho, and to report back. They go. They check into the local motel run by a woman named Rahab. Some of you will be scandalized that holy men are in the local brothel. I get that. The word ‘Zona’ translated harlot can also translate ‘grocer’ and thus makes Rahab into a professional, basically a shopkeeper.
And others will get caught in the weeds of the ethical enigma of a woman who lies and successfully prevents our spy heroes from being caught.
Neither the job of Rahab nor the lie she tells is the point of the story. And that ‘point’ is the focus of the writers later on in the Bible.
OK, back to the story.
The men sleep there at the inn. The king of Jericho (really, read “mayor”) hears about these Jewish men arriving and that they are from the Children of Israel. They have come it says, to spy out the land. The mayor sends a message to Rahab, ‘Bring out the men’ Somehow the intel the mayor had received is enough to know that there were plural men and they stayed with Rahab. The king/ mayor has spoken. Rahab, the shopkeeper/prostitute is an underling. She lives near the city wall and runs an inn. She is definitely exposed to the pleasure and the domination of the mayor. What does she say?
Verse 4: Yes, you are right. The men came. Then she lies, “I didn’t know where they were from.” And she amplifies the story a bit with the action of the city gate closing, she lies again with ‘the men went out’ and then Rahab tells the emissaries of the mayor that they had ‘just left’ so if they would pursue quickly (the word “maher” (Heb) is not found in the LXX), they would surely overtake them. That’s an appeal to the macho nature of the king’s men.
Why didn’t the king’s men search the house? That’s not told us, so we can only hazard a guess, that there were rooms, perhaps with which the men were familiar, and maybe the men did search there, but no one would imagine guests being given lodging on the roof under flax doonahs. The woman Rahab was very clever.
The king’s men then chase out to the direction of the Jordan and come back empty-handed after three days.
Meanwhile back in Jericho, Rahab goes up to the roof and says (verse 8) her profession of faith. She acknowledges Yehovah, Eloheichem, the Lord, God of the Jewish people. He is God (Elohim) she says (verse 11). She also says that the fear of the Jewish people is universal and that peoples’ hearts melted after the Red Sea exodus, and after the kings of the Amorites (Og and Sihon) were badly defeated. The newspapers were full of the information that the Hebrews were a people with whom you should not be engaged in battle. The Jews would win. You would lose.
Now here’s the point. Had the Jews engaged in battle with Jericho as yet? Had the people of Jericho been defeated? Not at all. What does the future hold for either the Jewish people or the people of Jericho? No one really knew. But on the basis of history, one could predict with high degree of certainty that the one would defeat the other.
Why was it that the mayor wanted to know about the Hebrew visitors? He’s a leader and in those nomadic tribal times, a leader has to be aware of other nomads and their stories. The unnamed king needed to be kept abreast of the activities of the children of Israel for safety’s sake, and yet, he missed it. He could have joined the Jewish people in celebration of their victories of the Amorites, but no, he kept his wall up. He kept his hostility up. He kept up with the worship of false gods. He rejected the Hebrews. And in chapter 6, that will come back to bite him.
Compare and contrast Rahab.
Rahab’s profession of faith (8-13)
What makes Rahab’s profession, that is, her confession of faith, not her occupation, of note is that she had the same evidence that the people of the Amorites had. She had the same information about the Red Sea and the Egyptians that her mayor/king had. She acted on that information in a very different way than the king. She acted in what might be said to be ‘faith.’ She believed in the God of the Jewish people. She trusted that God was able to save her and her family when the Jews were coming to town to take it over. It’s as if she saw the story play out in her lounge room before it would play out in the evening news.
May I tell you that the Bible calls that perspective by one word: faith. She believed and acted on that faith. No wonder the Newer Testament gives her laud.
She believed in the might of Yehovah, as well as his majesty and his mercy. Faith is “not just a warm, cosy feeling about God. Faith grows, if at all, out of hearing what God has done for his people” (Davis, page 27)
No wonder the Newer Testament gives her laud.
Heb. 11:31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
James 2:25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
Those verses highlight her faith in action. She’s not a believer because she performed the actions. She acted in welcoming the spies and sending them out a different path because she had already believed. Works follow faith. Faith works. Say it any number of ways, but get this or you will miss a lot of biblical truth. The real battle for our souls takes place in our heart. God wants us to believe and trust him in all our affairs. He wants us to lean on him and to rely on his goodness and love. Then, in light of that reliance and because God is a good God who is trustworthy, we perform actions which represent his person and his plans.
I said earlier that the point of the story was not the occupation of Rahab nor of her lying to make things work out. I stand by that. It doesn’t matter whether Rahab was a hooker at Kings Cross or on 42nd Street and 11th, or what did the hit song say about the ‘shady ladies from the 80s’? That didn’t matter, and in fact, it may even make the story better if she were a prostitute. But the occupation is irrelevant. She’s a person who could have chosen to believe or not. And she chose to believe.
The other ethical question related to her lying to the king’s men. Again, the Bible doesn’t indicate anything about that. God, of course, could have saved those two spies in any number of ways, but the saving of those men is only the tip of the iceberg. What mattered in the story is the faith of the people of Jericho in their own strength or in the God of the Hebrews. Only Rahab and her extended family were included in this ‘household of faith.’
One more thing about Rahab: genealogy listing (Matthew 1)
She is listed in the genealogy of Yeshua. Along with Ruth. And three other women. Five in total. Listen, women are not usually recorded in Jewish genealogies. Abraham beget Isaac. Isaac beget Jacob, etc. Why did Matthew list Rahab? Why Bathsheba and Tamar and Mary? If you know much about Jewish perspectives on holiness and purity, you will know that prostitutes are on the bottom rung of society. When Matthew, a tax collector, includes these five women in his list, he’s highlighting the roles of women, and specifically those women.
Each of those women is involved in shady business. Prostitution or adultery and out-of-bounds sexual activity associates with each. And yet, God in his kindness overrides that association and brings forth the Messiah through them. That’s outrageous and miraculous. The clean from the unclean. The holy from the impure.
And why does Matthew alone include them? Listen to this from Matthew’s quotes of Yeshua
Matt. 21:31 “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32 “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.
Matthew includes himself in the list of the worst sinners. Tax collectors and prostitutes will get into heaven before all the goody-two-shoes out there. How is that? Matthew quotes Yeshua saysing, “They did believe him.” It’s a matter of faith. Faith in the Son of God who loves us and gives his life for us all.
That friends, is grace. And listen to these words of Rahab from verse 12 of our text.
“since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, 13 and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” 14 So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”
חֶ֥סֶד וֶאֱמֶֽת
Rahab says since I have dealt with you in Chesed, I ask you to treat my family in Chesed. And the men promise that if Rahab and clan stay in the house and maintain the commitment to the children of Israel and to the God of Israel, that we will deal kindly and faithfully. That is, in chesed and Emet.
God’s grace and mercy is what saved Rahab. Rahab trusted God and her faith sent her to the genealogy of Yeshua our Messiah and causes her to be listed in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11.
Invitation
Dear friends, do you have such faith today? if you have never asked Yeshua to be your Saviour, today as we keep learning from Joshua, would you choose to believe the Lord of life? What does it mean to be strong and courageous in light of learning about Yeshua? Would you be willing to take a stand for him who took a stand and died on a Roman cross for you?
If you’d like to do that today, just now, join me as we pray.
Say something like this: “Father in Yeshua’s name, forgive me my sin, I was wrong to dismiss you and to disbelieve in you. I need your mercy. I deserve punishment but you are kind and merciful and I receive your grace. I repent. I receive Yeshua as my saviour and Lord. I will live because of my faith in Messiah Yeshua. Amen.
If you prayed that, please let us know of your profession by writing straightaway, won’t you? Bob@JewsforJesus.org.au We’d love to hear from you.
Conclusion
We are delighted you have joined us today. Please join us next week and learn with the others how you can stay on track in 2021 and beyond. I hope to see you next week as we continue our studies in Joshua. You will certainly see yourself in the readings and in the lessons. Line by line. It will be worthwhile! Next week we will look at chapter 3, and see what lessons we can draw for ourselves.
Hope to see you then… until then, Shabbat shalom!
Bibliography
Butler, Trent C., Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 7. Joshua. Word, Waco, 1983.
Davis, Dale Ralph, Joshua: No Falling Words, Christian Focus, Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland, 2019.
Hess, Richard. Tyndale Commentary Complete.
Meyer, F.B., Joshua and the Land of Promise, Christian Literature Crusade, Ft Washington PA, 1977.
Sanders, J. Oswald, Promised-Land Living, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Strong: Putting God's Power to Work in Your Life. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs, 2010.
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D-Groups for this week
1) Tuesday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse
2) Monday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White
(Contact our office for zoom details)
If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?
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