Hebrews Chapter Eleven, Rahab's Faith

 

Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. [31] By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

 

The author leads the narrative to the conquest of Canaan, and the battle of Jericho in particular. Joshua chapter 6 records this portion of Israel’s history. God commanded Joshua and the people to march around the walled city of Jericho six days, blowing horns while the ark was conducted around its walls in a circuit, Joshua 6:13, 14. The seventh day, they were commanded to march around the city seven times, and when the trumpets blew the people were to shout; when this occurred the walls of Jericho would collapse, permitting invading Israel entry, Joshua 6:16, 20.

The focus here isn’t on the conquest, or even this particular battle, but the walls of Jericho. The people were given orders. They were to march around the city once for six days straight, blowing trumpets but not speaking. Finally, on the seventh day they were to circle Jericho seven times, and upon the seventh time Joshua would command the people to shout. All of this they did while bearing the Ark of the Covenant. Does this method strike us as a bit peculiar? No more than Jesus spitting and making clay, and anointing a man’s eyes and telling him to wash to restore his blindness, when He might have just spoken, John 9:6.

 

One obvious reason for Jericho was to demonstrate that what was done that day before the eyes of Israel and the Canaanites was the power of Israel’s God. The people shouted and a fortified wall collapsed; though some scholars have sought a naturalistic explanation for this, God clearly chose this method to show Israel that He was with them to provide victory over their enemies. A providential detail in this narrative deals with Rahab, who received the spies in peace. It is written that her house was on the wall, Joshua 2:15. While the rest of the wall collapsed, permitting Israel entry, it was clear that Rahab’s portion of the wall must have remained standing to preserve her life, and the lives of everyone she compelled to be with her, Joshua 2:18.

 

Rahab, like the rest of the Canaanites, heard of Israel’s exploits, and how they had now crossed the Jordan River dry-shod, just as they had miraculously passed through the Sea of Reeds. She cast herself on the Jewish spies, and by proxy on their God, for salvation. The spies would grant her life and peace if she kept what she knew secret, and kept her household within the walls of her house; her fidelity would be assessed if the spies spotted the scarlet cord in the window they had formerly escaped through. They had done so, of course, because her house was on the wall, and their departure from her home would affect a departure from Jericho, too. When the battle was ended, Joshua sent the spies to collect Rahab and her family, and Israel upheld its end of their agreement. She and her household were safe, set outside the camp, and she chose to dwell in Israel all the days of Joshua, Joshua 7:25. The verse concludes by stating that she was shown such kindness because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy the land out. Jesus once said, “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward,” Mark 9:41.

 

Bear in mind that what Rahab did, hiding the spies rather than surrendering them, could have cost her life, had she been found out, Joshua 2:2, 3. She hid the spies, deceived Jericho’s king, and placed her welfare solely in their hands. This she admits by stating, “spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death,” Joshua 2:13. Like the rest of Canaan, the report of Israel went far and wide. Og and Sihon were slain, the Jordan was crossed, and God was with His people. Fear made the hearts of the people melt, but it did something more to Rahab. She understood her fear of Israel was kindled by her fear of Israel’s God. And if God could do so much for those that were His, she determined that it was better to be under the shadow of His mercy than in the way of His wrath. Thus her decision and attendant actions were indeed acts of faith, manifested with the direst consequences had things been discovered.

 

We learn that this Rahab, formerly a harlot, married Salmon, who fathered Boaz, the man that would in turn marry Ruth the Moabitess and sire Obed, continuing the lineage of David, leading to Jesus Christ our Lord, Matthew 1:5. Her faith in the living God was such that hers is the final entry for this roster of the faithful and the deeds they performed to demonstrate said faith. Rahab typifies what Peter was attempting to convey when he wrote, saying, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” 1 Peter 1:6, 7.

 

With the mention of Rahab in James 2:25, we find a parallel passage to Hebrews 11:31. Rahab’s faith was living, and therefore active. Her faith was expressed in her works, and her faith in God was demonstrated by the works she performed. Her faith was not mental assent or lip service. It went into the warp and the woof, transforming her foundation for living. If our own faith does not mirror Rahab’s, that is, being lived out through deed and truth, then it may not be legitimate and there is just cause to reflect. Faith that never costs us anything is a faith whose value is questionable, because it has never been assayed.