What's on offer? A study in Jeremiah chapter 3

Truth and Consequences: 

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Lesson Three (of 52): What’s on offer for Jewish people today?

  INTRODUCTION

A couple of weeks ago we began this full-year study of the book of Jeremiah. And the YouTube activity is already in gear; thanks to those of you who are joining our class after we record and post the lecture part of it. And thanks to each of you who is here live in the Zoom room and will participate in the Q and A when we are halfway finished. This is lively and I appreciate each of you.

For those watching this study on YouTube, please pause your playback of this class, read chapter three of Jeremiah and rejoin us, thanks.

Today’s lesson: What’s on offer for Jewish people today?

In today’s lesson, we see some major themes arising. Some again and some for the first time in this prophetic book. We see harlotry decried and we hear the aching, the longing of the Almighty for his people. This week we hear the family relationships between Israel (up north) and Judah (down south) and their relationship and their copycat activity. As the banquets around the US today are laden with turkey and all the fixin’s and so much food is on offer, I thought I’d show you that God has much on offer as well. And Jeremiah will help us see that today. Let’s jump into it.

1. A call to repentance (.1-5)

As is typical of prophets in the days of the Bible, after a listing of the sins of the people, and remember last week we saw 10 specific images of failure applied to our people, the prophet calls for a turnaround, a 180 roundabout placed in the path of the people. So today, we are not disappointed—that’s just what we see. 

The context of verse 1 is Torah, specifically the 24^th chapter of Deuteronomy. There Moses gave us this commandment:

When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.” (Deut. 24.1-4)

What was Moses’s point? I believe the commandment was given to remind us that we should not be cavalier about marriage. Who are the people who might want to return to Wife #1 after such a 2^nd marriage? Imagine this. Someone committed to his partner who divorces her for a weekend or a year away, for whatever adventure purposes, then returns to his original partner. This ‘plus-one’ hiatus, where the man finds a loaner wife is exactly what Moses is trying to prevent.

You have to ask yourself, why bring that commandment to mind? There are so many in the 613 that Jeremiah could have listed. What’s his point?

In context, with Israel running away from God and hooking up with Assyrians and Egyptians, with the idolatry and adultery which Jeremiah announced, they have abandoned the Lord who married them. We are his people; we are his bride. And when we divorce ourselves from God, will he be allowed to marry us again? The Deuteronomy passage teaches us that God connected disobedience to this law regarding remarriage with a defilement of the land, making it greatly polluted.

So it looks hopeless.

Moses would agree and say, ‘no’, but God is playing the God card. He’s saying he is not bound by human motivations and human limitations. There is a Hosea-type reproachment in view. 

Matthew Henry says this of the opening section today: “In repentance, it is good to think upon the sins of which we have been guilty, and the places and companies where they have been committed. How gently the Lord had corrected them! In receiving penitents, he is God, and not man. Whatever thou hast said or done hitherto, wilt thou not from this time apply to me? Will not this grace of God overcome thee? Now pardon is proclaimed, wilt thou not take the benefit? They will hope to find in him the tender compassions of a Father towards a returning prodigal. They will come to him as the Guide of their youth: youth needs a guide. Repenting sinners may encourage themselves that God will not keep his anger to the end. All God’s mercies, in every age, suggest encouragement; and what can be so desirable for the young, as to have the Lord for their Father, and the Guide of their youth? Let parents daily direct their children earnestly to seek this blessing.”

I’m so grateful for God’s offer and how he does not keep his anger forever. Repentance is on offer today! I’m so thankful on this American Thanksgiving Day for all of God’s provisions. This morning I watched the 95^th annual parade in New York City, and flashed back on my time there in the 1980s and 1990s. Our kids used to line the footpaths with my wife and the 10s of thousands who awoke crazy early just to see the big balloons of Snoopy and Smokey the Bear. I along with the team of Jews for Jesus would hand out leaflets about being thankful and knowing to whom to say thanks on this special day. Ah, good times.

Back in the early part of the 17^th century, God gave those early settlers in what would become the USA, rescue from the hardships of winter, of a lack of foods, of the sadness and loneliness of being away from their Native land of Mother England. Beyond what they asked for, God provided relationships with native peoples in a bit of harmony that from what I’ve heard could have even been drawn from the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. A true autumn thanksgiving festival. Amazing what the Bible informs and whom.

The reference to the Arab is the marauding and bedouin Arabian who lay in wait by the side of the road to plunder the passersby. Think of the Somalian boats a few years back who were known as modern pirates. Same imagery. In other words, the Jewish people were not even necessarily going after the foreign gods and the foreign ways of thinking. The peoples of the world were after us. And friends, that’s the way it is today as well. Stand still and you start going backwards. Unless you advance, unless you take God seriously, unless you keep walking with him in daily meditation and prayer, you will slip; you will decay. Why? Because the world, the flesh and the devil are ever advancing and attacking. Remember Peter taught us, “the devil is roaring, seeking whom he may devour.”  (1 Peter 5.8) They lay in wait for you, but walking with the Lord is the way to win. Surrender to him each morning and evening. Pray with others. Listen to biblical podcasts, read godly literature, and grow in relationships with others in your believing community, here online and where you live!

You might wonder about the reference to dry land and unfruitfulness. Is that part of the curse? Perhaps, but I see this as God bringing evidence to Israel that even though they had gone after the gods of the idol-worshipers under the promise of bounty, those gods had failed. All the promises of the New Age, all the assurances of the book The Secret, all the guarantees that if we just believe, we can fly to the sky and earn 100,000 new dollars next year, if we just follow their idolatry and submit to their pagan ways, our land will be full of crops. God says, ‘the evidence is in. Your new gods failed you.’ 

1. 2. Judah is WORSE than Israel (.6-11)

In verse 6, God asks Jeremiah to evaluate the situation. He says what we have just unpacked and it actually sounds like he is disappointed. Jeremiah is invited to consider and conclude that Israel should have turned back to God. 

There is an adjective that might be translated differently in your Bible than the others. It’s in verse 6, and is the word MESHUVAH. Sometimes ‘faithless’ and sometimes ‘backsliding’. The root is ‘shoov’ meaning to return, but it’s not about returning to God, but returning to the dark side, to evil, to sin. 

There is another adjective used a couple of times of Judah, the little sister in this chapter, and that is treacherous. The Hebrew uses the three-letter root BAGAD, and that also is the root of the word for clothing. 

Throughout Genesis especially, clothing is often used in deception and treachery. 

Consider Jacob and his father, consider the brothers of Joseph who lied about the coat of many colors. Treachery and clothing were connected again when Joseph, now a servant in Egypt, was sexually pursued by the wife of his master Potiphar. And even Tamar was told by Jacob to stay in her widow’s garments until her brother-in-law could grow up and marry her. All treachery and deception. All related to clothing. 

And let’s go beyond that word for clothing. The simple draw that Judah, the younger sister in this text, the southern section of the geography of the Promised Land, should have understood and her takeaway, would have been to return to God, to draw near to him, to stop pursuing false gods and to live for him. That’s the takeaway Jeremiah wanted for her. That’s the takeaway God wanted for her. 

And for us. Think about it; when we see fabled ministers fall away, what is our takeaway? Do we draw closer? Or do we think we can get away with such indiscretions? When we hear of churches that go wayward, like that Lutheran church on Long Island that moved to heresy about the person of Yeshua because they had gotten involved in Jewish thinking… what does that do to us, to our people, to our connections? What’s your takeaway when you read about ministry mistakes? Or when you read this third chapter of Jeremiah? I urge you—learn from the mistakes of others. Don’t go down the wrong path. No one wins if you do.

Wisdom was on offer for Judah, but she turned aside.We don’t need to learn by making our own mistakes. 

1. 3. Forgiveness is available (.12-20)

Verse 12 introduces the call of God with clarity, once again to the Jewish people. This time, the northerners. Now God assigns the prophet to the task of calling Israel to repent. He calls them meshoovah, faithless, again. He then says, “I will not look upon you in anger.” The Hebrew though is from NAFAL, meaning to fall on you. God says my face will not fall on you! Have you ever imagined the power of God, and especially the angry power of God, like a monster in the movies, falling on people? He doesn’t just turn his back; he actually pounces, to catch, to capture, and take back to his den. Here God says, Nope, that’s not what I’m going to do. I’m offering myself to you; we’re going to get you through this. KI CHASEED ANI. I am GRACE. I am full of kindness. You forgot who I was and am. I want you to walk with me, to know me, to get to know me. One day at a time. Fall in love with me. I’m on your side because I want you on my side.

Verse 13: Only acknowledge, really know your sin. Get it. Learn about how far you are from me. And with a longing to be with me, you will work to make that happen. Imagine being a youngster at the Summer Olympics and your hero is a hurdler. You are shorter than each hurdle and you look up along the path, you see a hurdle and cannot even imagine overcoming that. You are mesmerised by it. The goals you might set are too high and too far. You cannot even see the finish line, but you can see the problem, the hurdle. 

Friends, keep your eyes there for a moment. I agree. THEN look at the one who overcomes those. The hurdler is the one you have to connect with. He wins. He wants you to win. Attach yourself to him AND acknowledge the impossibility of winning and you will win.

John taught us in his letter, “if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1.9)

I will forgive you, God says, and in verse 14, I will give you shepherds. God says your leaders were leading you incorrectly. Now he’s going to offer a swap, and bring in his own people. 

Then another promise, verse 16. When you get settled in the land (again), you won’t be looking to the past for strength and guidance. You don’t need the ark of the covenant. It will be taken away, and you will find another answer to the guidance system. God’s new government would overwhelm the religious and the previous governments. Verse 17. God’s throne previously established on the ark would now be in Jerusalem. And later, we know that God’s throne will not even be there, but rather in his heavens in the New Jerusalem. All the nations will be gathered to earthly Jerusalem in the eschaton; buckle your seat belt, there’s much more to come.

You will be beautiful and I am going to ask you to call me Father again. You did before but it was presumption. Now we will have a relationship that makes sense. No more treachery. No more idolatry. No more adultery. Forgiveness is on offer!

1. 4. Jewish people express repentance (.21-25)

The final section today begins in verse 21. Israel begins to turn. We realize our error. We confess our sins. God has already said what he will do. But he has one final call. Verse 22: return oh faithless (backsliding) sons. You are mishpochah. You should be in the house on Thanksgiving, not in the shed. You should come eat the fattened calf and turkey, not sitting in the pigpen and dining with the pigs. 

What does Israel do? They repent. I hear the music at the end of the movie and it’s uplifting. 

They tell God they are his. 

“Behold, we come to You; for You are the LORD our God.

Surely, the hills are a deception, a tumult on the mountains. 

Surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing has consumed the labour of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

They owned their sin. They owned their wrongs. AND they owned their God. 

What a great lesson in humility and listening. Admit your wrong. Cry out to God for forgiveness and he is willing AND able to make that happen.

What is God saying to you through all this?  

What will you do with this information today?

CONCLUSION

God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life. 

PRAYER

Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up. 

We hope to see you again next week as we study chapter 4, and until then Shabbat shalom!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Craigie, Peter; Kelley, Page; Drinkard, Joel. Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah.  1991. 

Weirsbe, Warren. Be Decisive. David Cook Publishers, Colorado Springs 1991.

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ACTUAL TEXT

God says, “If a husband divorces his wife 

And she goes from him 

And belongs to another man, 

Will he still return to her? 

Will not that land be completely polluted? 

But you are a harlot with many lovers; 

Yet you turn to Me,” declares the LORD.

²  “Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see; 

Where have you not been violated? 

By the roads you have sat for them 

Like an Arab in the desert, 

And you have polluted a land 

With your harlotry and with your wickedness.

³  Therefore the showers have been withheld, 

And there has been no spring rain. 

Yet you had a harlot’s forehead; 

You refused to be ashamed.

⁴  Have you not just now called to Me, 

‘My Father, You are the friend of my youth?

⁵  Will He be angry forever? 

Will He be indignant to the end?’ 

Behold, you have spoken 

And have done evil things, 

And you have had your way.”

Jer. 3:6   Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. ⁷ “I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. ⁸ “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. ⁹ “Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰ “Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the LORD.

Jer. 3:11   And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

¹²  “Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, 

‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD; 

‘I will not look upon you in anger. 

For I am gracious,’ declares the LORD; 

‘I will not be angry forever.

¹³  ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity, 

That you have transgressed against the LORD your God 

And have scattered your favours to the strangers under every green tree, 

And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the LORD.

¹⁴  ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD; 

‘For I am a master to you, 

And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, 

And I will bring you to Zion.’

Jer. 3:15   “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶ “It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. ¹⁷ “At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. ¹⁸ “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

Jer. 3:19    “Then I said, 

‘How I would set you among My sons 

And give you a pleasant land, 

The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ 

And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, 

And not turn away from following Me.’

²⁰  “Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover, 

So you have dealt treacherously with Me, 

O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

Jer. 3:21    A voice is heard on the bare heights, 

The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; 

Because they have perverted their way, 

They have forgotten the LORD their God.

²²  “Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness.” 

“Behold, we come to You; 

For You are the LORD our God.

²³  “Surely, the hills are a deception, 

A tumult on the mountains. 

Surely in the LORD our God 

Is the salvation of Israel.

Jer. 3:24   “But the shameful thing has consumed the labour of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵ “Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

A scarlet woman and a matter of faith

 

Living in the Promised Land: A study in the book of Joshua

Lesson Two (Joshua Chapter 2) 

To view this online as a video: https://youtu.be/p7fu4jS4qGY

 

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 42^nd Street and 11^th, 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?