RAHAB'S FAITH AND HER WORKS
RAHAB’S FAITH AND HER WORKS
This chapter is of great importance as coming at the commencement of the book of Joshua. It would intimate to us that if we are to possess and enjoy the land, we must have Rahab’s faith and Rahab’s works. It is a particularly interesting chapter to us because it shows how the Gentile comes into divine blessing. I remember Mr. Stoney saying many years ago that one proof to him that Paul wrote the epistle to the Hebrews was that when recounting the acts of faith the writer stops when he comes to Rahab the harlot; when he has got the Gentile into the land he has reached the climax of the actings of faith.
Before we get any of the triumphs of Joshua and the army of Jehovah, we get a moral triumph which is greater than any of the military triumphs — the victory of divine grace in the soul of Rahab. And her household is typically the household of faith.
We see here a marvellous working of God in the place where the enemy was strongest, for Jericho would represent that; and Rahab’s house was in the strongest part of Jericho; it was on the wall. It is remarkable that the first activity of God in the land was not one of destruction but of blessing.
The iniquity of the Amorites was indeed full, and the divine sentence for their destruction had gone forth. But the first movement was a movement of grace in the heart of one who was certainly not one of the best of the guilty and condemned race. The New Testament speaks of her as “Rahab the harlot” (Hebrews 11 and James 2) to magnify the grace which did not [p. 209] suffer her to perish along with the unbelieving, and which caused her to be justified by works. Hebrews calls attention to her faith and James to her works. God so wrought in Rahab that she became the most distinguished “mother in Israel” of her day.
It is interesting to note that the spies did nothing else, as far as the record goes, but take knowledge of the work of God in Rahab. They did not take knowledge of the strength of the enemy, but of the mighty power of God that could work in the strongest part of the enemy’s territory and secure such a triumph for Himself.
We read in Hebrews 11 that Rahab received the spies with peace. It must have been an astonishment to the spies to find a person in Jericho to receive them with peace. The fact was that Jehovah had become her God; their God was her God unquestionably. She was the one person in Jericho who had a divine outlook on the situation; and when the spies got back to Joshua they reported Rahab’s outlook on the situation. (Compare verse 24 with verses 9 - 11.) Rahab’s faith is connected with how she received the spies, and her works are connected with how she dismissed them. We have to learn these two lessons spiritually if we are to estimate the present situation aright.
The spies, or messengers, represent the twofold character of the mission of the Spirit. Hebrews 11 calls them spies, and James 2 calls them messengers. The Spirit of God has come in that twofold character. He is a spy to search out and expose all the power of evil in this world. “And having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe on me; of righteousness, because I go away to my Father, and ye behold me no longer; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16: 8 - 12). That is the Spirit in the spy character; He searches out and exposes all the condition of the world in its opposition to God, in its Jericho character. On the other hand He is a messenger; He brings a message of blessing to all those who fear God.
[p. 210] These two men were spies in relation to Jericho, but messengers in relation to Rahab, divine messengers of grace and blessing. They “came into a harlot’s house, named Rahab”. They came to her, and as spies she received them with peace. Rahab was in accord with the judgment that God had passed on the people to whom she had belonged; she was in harmony with God and His people about it all; so she received the spies with peace. God can bring that about in presence of all the power of Satan and the world. He can bring a soul into harmony with His Spirit’s judgment of all that is in the world; He can do it in the sovereignty of His mercy. There is a great deal involved in it.
Rahab could speak of what God had done at the Red Sea, and then of the overthrow of Sihon and Og (see verse 10). She understood typically what God had done through the death and resurrection of Christ for His people, as seen in the Red Sea. And she understood what he was doing in the power of the Spirit in His people in overthrowing the flesh. She had a spiritual estimate of it all, and she says, ‘That God shall be my God; that people shall be my people; I will link myself with them; I no longer belong to Jericho or to Jericho’s king, I belong to Jehovah and to His people’. She “received the spies with peace”.
God would bear testimony to Himself in this remarkable way. He would glorify Himself in the sovereignty of His mercy at the very moment when He was about to judge. He would teach Israel that it was not their superiority that gave them title to the land, but His sovereign call and blessing. Just on the same principle as He had called Abraham, He called Rahab, and therefore we can understand James putting the two together: Abraham the vessel of promise in all his dignity as the great father, and then Rahab, a poor Canaanitish harlot, both the subjects of the same sovereign calling and the same divine working. How different the vessels! But the same treasure put in each! It is faith that distinguishes a person with God; not the vessel, but what God is pleased to put in it!
Jehovah’s first act on the westward side of Jordan was to incorporate a poor Canaanitish woman of bad repute in His Israel, and not only so, but make her the chief “mother in Israel” of that day. For, as we know, Salmon married her, and she became the mother of Boaz, the great-grandfather of David, and thus directly into the line of which Christ, God’s Anointed, came. Jehovah would secure a heart for Himself even in Jericho, and in one of its most disreputable inhabitants. He would bless a Gentile, and even bring in Christ through her posterity. He would put faith in such a vessel as Rahab, and then send His messengers to bring it to light!
Is it not blessed to think that God can work like this in the very midst of appalling darkness and corruption? Who can tell the spiritual condition of the world today? The innumerable forms of evil thought and teaching that abound in activity? All coming out of the heavenlies, from evil spirits who are there! But in the very midst of it all, and in those who have been fully identified with it, He secures something for Himself — a house marked by faith that recognises His actings by Christ and by the Spirit on behalf of His people, and where His power and His kindness are fully owned.
The work of God in Rahab’s soul had completely detached her morally from Jericho before the messengers came. Jehovah was her God and Jehovah’s people her people, so that when the spies came she received them with peace. She was in harmony with what was outside the city, and in complete separation morally from what was inside. That is the position for us today. As a matter of fact we are still in Jericho, but we are there as completely dissociated morally from everything that is of Jericho. Our interests and hopes are all connected with what is outside the city. I wonder if that is true of us?
If we have not Rahab’s faith and Rahab’s works we are hardly prepared to learn the lessons of the book of Joshua. It is just as important for us to be justified by works as by faith. Faith is nothing if it does not result in a changed outlook; that is, we, like Rahab, must have not only a door but a window. Rahab’s door spoke of her faith, for by it she received the spies; but she had also a window, an outlook, and her works were connected with her window. We all need to have a door; there is no blessing without a faith door. But James tells us that she put forth the messengers “by another way”, that was the window. Her window was her outlook. Her door must have been on the city side of her house. We find later that the door was to be opened to let anybody in who liked to enter, but there was to be no going out that way; if anyone went out of the door his blood would be on his own head.
Rahab received what came from God from outside the city, and she identified herself with it, and it linked her with Jehovah’s army — typically with all that was divine and spiritual. The messengers did not leave her as they found her; she “put them forth by another way”. She understood they did not belong to Jericho at all; nor did she as to her hopes. She was really the first one to dwell in the land with a divine outlook, and as fully identified with the actings of God.
It is good to pass through the door of Rahab’s house, for her house represents the household of faith; once through that door there must be no going back to the city. All our hopes and aspirations after that become connected with the window that looks outside the city. Perhaps some of us have a window on the wrong side of the house! This incident is a striking one as connected with the household principle; for Rahab was not exactly head of the house, but one who had a father and mother, and brethren and sisters, and she claimed them all for the blessing of God. Her faith was a household faith; she not only judged Jericho for herself, but she would have everyone connected with her to share the same judgment. If people passed out of the street of Jericho through the door of Rahab’s house they figuratively left the world, to come into the sphere of faith, and there must be no going back through that door. If any went out, their blood would be on their own head. So, as Hebrews tells us, to go back is destruction. It is open to anyone to leave Jericho’s people [p. 213] and king and politics, and everything else connected with it. You can leave all by the door of Rahab’s house, by the door of faith; but to go back means apostasy and destruction.
It was salvation to come into Rahab’s house. “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with the unbelieving, having received the spies in peace” (Hebrews 11: 31). To separate oneself from the Jericho world is a fine thing. Rahab’s door opened to let in her father and mother, brethren and sisters. Everybody who had any kinship with Rahab could come in. The question is, ‘Am I one of Rahab’s kinsfolk? Have I the same kind of faith as she had: faith that will judge the world in its strongest and most established form, and separate from it, and that will identify itself with God and His people, and with all that God is going to do in the purposes of His love for the honour of His Son?’ It is fine to see that Rahab claimed all her kindred for blessing; and we are told that they all came in and identified themselves with her faith.
Lot did not save his house; he escaped himself, but so as by fire. Alas! many are like that; securing blessing for themselves but leaving their kindred outside! How could a christian parent be content to know he was linked up with the people of God, and not be concerned as to whether his children will perish with the unbelieving or not? It is sad to think that there are christian parents who take little care that their children should walk in the same path as themselves; parents full of thought and desire and energy in looking after the physical and worldly benefit of their children, who do not read the Word with them or take them aside and pray with them, or speak to them of the Lord. What can they expect!
Rahab’s care was not only for herself, but that everyone connected with her should look at things as she did. How could any of us rest if we have relatives who do not think of things as we do, and feel about things as we do? Shall we not pray night and day, and do everything we can to bring them, so to speak, inside the door?
Rahab is a fine example of the kind of spirit produced by [p. 214] the sovereign call of God, and by His working in the soul.
Jehovah was her God; she said, “He is God in the heavens above and in the earth beneath”. She had done with the gods of Jericho, and all her hopes were connected with Jehovah and His people. She realised that God is not only powerful but kind, so she asked confidently for kindness from His people. What a knowledge of God she had! She had been brought up all her life under the influence of gods who were marked by the grossest forms of inhuman cruelty; but now she had a thought of God as One who is kind and whose people are kind. What a revolution had taken place in her soul!
Her window looked outside the city! Our works are connected with our outlook; my outlook determines the whole character of my spiritual life. What is my outlook? Rahab had not the slightest interest in the things of Jericho; her window looked outside the city, it looked in the direction of the people of God. Those who think of making the world better have their window on the wrong side of the house! What is outside the city? The ark of the covenant, Joshua, the priests and the people of Jehovah! They were coming in to take possession of the land! Rahab looked out in that direction; she put forth the messengers by another way. They came in at the door, but they went out by the window; “she let them down by a cord through the window”. That is very suggestive. She linked herself personally with those two men by a cord. It spoke of the fact that she linked herself in her affections definitely and firmly with the people of God. If Rahab had not been drawn by cords of love she would not have had any wish to link herself with the people and servants of God; but she definitely linked herself with them when she let them down by a cord, and the men did not forget it. They said, “Thou shalt bind in the window this line of scarlet thread by which thou hast let us down”.
Typically scarlet is a colour connected with the rights of Jehovah in Israel. Rahab acknowledged those rights; putting the scarlet thread in the window was her public confession [p. 215] that all rights were with Jehovah and not with the king of Jericho. He had the right to dispose of the land as He willed according to His good pleasure. She confessed it publicly; and it characterised her outlook; she put it in the window.
At the present time what is our outlook? Is it not that in a very brief moment every other power is going to give way to the kingdom of our God and His Christ? That is our outlook and confession; not exactly before the world in this connection, but a confession which is such as the people of God can take account of. There is an aspect of confession that the world can take account of; that is, confession as in Romans. But there is another that the people of God can take account of; that is, confession according to the epistle to the Hebrews. Rahab did not put up the scarlet line for the people of Jericho to see, but for the people of God to see. In Matthew they mockingly put a scarlet robe on Christ; in mockery they invested Him with royal dignity in Israel. But Rahab typically confessed His rights in reality. Whatever you confess you will get the distinction of. She was not only saved, but Salmon married her, and Boaz was her son; and she came into the royal genealogy as the mother of God’s anointed. In putting up the scarlet line she confessed before the people of God the rights of God. It is like God to bring in the Gentile to possess the land, and to possess it as in the royal lineage! The history of Rahab is wonderful.
“She ... put them forth by another way”. It is good when we turn from the door to the window! If I only think of the door of faith I am thinking of my own blessing. Many thousands of God’s people are thankful for the door who have not considered the window. But it is an important question, ‘What is your outlook?’ Daniel had a window; his outlook was towards Jerusalem, though it was only a heap of ruins; it was to him the city of the great King. Rahab’s window opened towards the people of God as they were in God’s mind; it opened to all the purposes of God concerning them. The spies took their cue from Rahab; they did not need to examine the fortifications, or to count the enemy’s soldiers; Rahab’s faith was enough for them, and they went back to report the outlook of Rahab. They said not a word about the king or his chariots, or anything else, but they reported the situation as it appeared from Rahab’s window.
The ten spies that Moses sent said the cities were walled up to heaven, but what does it matter if the wall is to heaven if God has taken possession of it? God took possession of the wall when He took possession of Rahab, for her house was on the wall. When the walls came down flat, that piece stood, so the spies went in and brought all Rahab’s household out.
In Proverbs 31 the woman clothes all her household in scarlet. That is a beautiful thought; she brings them all up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is a fine state of things in a household. The head of every christian household is to be marked by two things; he has been himself nurtured by the Lord, and he has been admonished by the Lord. The Lord has corrected his many mistakes; he has been nurtured on one hand and admonished on the other, and that qualifies him to bring up his children in the same kind of education. He can tell them, ‘I am passing on to you how the Lord has dealt with me. The Lord has nurtured me and admonished me, and I pass it on to you’.
Rahab hid the messengers; you do not give away your secrets to the world. She came into the position of a traitor to her own people. We may as well look it straight in the face; we cannot be among the people of God without being traitors to what goes on in the world. If I am a friend of the world I am an enemy of God, and if I want to be a friend of God I must be a traitor to the world. You cannot imagine Rahab putting the spies out of the window and keeping up friendly intercourse with people inside the city. She had transferred her allegiance from the king of Jericho to Jehovah; she became a traitor to the king of Jericho, and she hid the spies. That constituted the works by which she was justified. She had her secrets, and we have ours. If the people of this world knew what we thought about the world system,
[p. 217] they would think less favourably of us than they do; they would hardly think us fit to live.
It is interesting to note that she secreted the men “under the stalks of flax” (verse 6). It has been happily suggested that “flax” is linen in its crude form, and linen speaks of righteousness (Revelation 19: 8). This would intimate, typically, that Rahab had judged everything in her past history that was not according to God; her old associations as a citizen of Jericho, and her former moral condition as a harlot all judged and done with. She is not seen as yet clothed in fine linen, but she has become possessed of the raw material, and is preparing it for use. It is suggestive of the wholly new moral condition which is to become characteristic of those who know God. They wear new garments, even “fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints”.
As a matter of fact the walls of Jericho have not fallen yet. The great intellectual centres, the accumulated forces of human intellect and thought and progress, all influenced by wicked spirits in the heavenlies, are standing up as high as heaven, but they are coming down soon; and it is a great thing to judge them and by faith see them fallen morally before they actually come down. This chapter is an important one, especially for us Gentiles, because it sets forth in a striking way the calling and work and grace of God in a Gentile.