JOSHUA 2
This chapter is of great importance as coming at the commencement of this book. 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. This is a particularly interesting chapter to us because it shows how the Gentile comes into possession of the land. It is most remarkable, and must have struck every one of us, that we should have a chapter like this at the beginning of a book like this. Before we have any of the triumphs of Joshua and the army of Jehovah, we have a moral triumph which is greater than any of the military triumphs. I suppose the greatest victory recorded in the book is the victory of divine grace in the soul of Rahab. All those who form the household of faith, viewed as in the land, belong typically to Rahab’s house. Rahab’s household is the household of faith.
I think we see here the marvellous working of God in the very place where the enemy is strongest, for I suppose Jericho would represent that, and it was the strongest part of Jericho, for Rahab’s house was on the wall. We see here one in the strongest part of the enemy’s stronghold, and such a one as she was, a disreputable woman, for the New Testament reminds us each time she is mentioned that she was Rahab the harlot. How this magnifies the sovereign mercy that could act in such a place as Jericho, and in one of the worst women in Jericho, and so work in her that she becomes the mother in Israel of her day! It is interesting to see that the spies that Joshua sent did nothing else, as far as the record goes, but take knowledge of the work of God in Rahab — not the strength of the enemy, but the mighty power of God that could work in the strongest part of the enemy’s territory and secure such a triumph for Himself.
[p. 8] We read in Hebrews 11 that Rahab received the spies with peace. It must have been an astonishment to those 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. I have no doubt she was beyond many in Israel, because she was the one person who had a divine outlook on the situation. When the spies came back to Joshua they reported Rahab’s outlook on the situation. It is very remarkable that Rahab’s faith seems to be connected with how she received the spies, and her works are connected with how she dismissed them. We have to learn these two lessons; we have to learn spiritually what it means if we are to estimate the present situation aright.
The spies represent the two-fold character of the mission of the Spirit. The mission of the Spirit today has a two-fold character: He is here as a spy and He is here as a messenger. Hebrews 11 calls them spies, and James 2 calls them messengers. Now the Spirit of God has come in that two-fold character: He is a spy to seek out and expose all the power of evil in this world. “He will bring demonstration to the world of sin, 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 messages of blessing to all those who fear God. So these two men were spies in relation to Jericho, but messengers in relation to Rahab, divine messengers of grace and blessing; and the Spirit has that character for all who fear God.
“They came into a harlot’s house, named Rahab”. They came to her as messengers, and as spies she received them in peace. Rahab was quite in accord with the judgment that God had passed on the people to whom she had belonged; she is in harmony with God and His people about it all, so she received the spies with peace. There was perfect harmony between Rahab’s spirit and the spies. What a wonderful thing that God could bring that about in presence of all the power of Satan and the world! He could bring a soul into harmony with His Spirit’s work as to all that is in the world; He can do that in the sovereignty of His mercy. There is a great deal [p. 9] involved in it. Typically she entered into the death and resurrection of Christ, she could speak of what God did at the Red Sea, and then of what the people did in the overthrow of Sihon and Og. 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 in the power of the Spirit in His people in overthrowing the flesh. She had an estimate of it all, and she says, “That people shall be my people; I will link myself with them; their God shall be my God; I no longer belong to Jericho or to Jericho’s king; I belong to those people”. She received the spies with peace. Rahab shows how God in His sovereign mercy can separate a soul from this present evil world viewed as the sphere of spiritual activities of evil. Jericho represents this world as a sphere of the activities of spiritual evil, all kinds of wrong thoughts and teachings which emanate from wicked spirits in the heavenlies. God can work in such a scene and dissociate a soul completely from it; He did that for Rahab so that she had no longer any thought of being a friend of the world.
It is very wonderful that James should put Abraham and Rahab together. He selects them purposely. There is so to speak, a father and a mother. He brings them together: the great august vessel of promise, Abraham, in all his dignity as the great father; and then a poor harlot, Rahab. They are both the subjects of the same sovereign calling, and the same sovereign working. So Abraham and the harlot stand both together, different vessels, but the same working and the same treasure put in each one. I may be a very respectable man like Abraham, as far as this world goes, or a most disreputable person like Rahab — that is only the vessel. What matters is what God puts into the vessel, and that is faith. God puts faith there; God put it into Abraham and He put it into Rahab. It is faith that distinguishes a person with God; not the vessel, but what God puts into the vessel.
The work of God in that woman’s soul had completely detached her 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 the city. That is the position for us today. As a matter of fact we are still in Jericho, but we are there as completely dissociated from everything morally [p. 10] of Jericho; and our interests and hopes are all connected with what is outside the city. I wonder if we have reached that point? If not, it is not much use reading the rest of the book. This chapter is the gate into Joshua, and if we have not Rahab’s faith and Rahab’s works we might as well shut the book. It is just as important for us to be justified by works as by faith; one is just as important a truth of Scripture as the other. Faith is nothing if it does not result in a changed outlook; you must have not only a door but a window. Rahab had a door, that is faith; but she had a window, that was her outlook; her faith was connected with her door, but her works were connected with her window. We must all have a door, there is no blessing without a door. Rahab received the spies, that was her door; but James tells us that she put forth the messengers another way, that is the window. She put them out of the window. A window is the outlook. The fact was that Rahab’s door was on the city side. We find later on that the door was to be opened to let anybody in who liked to enter, but there was to be no going out of the door; if any one went out of the door his blood was on his own head.
It is wonderful to pass through the door of Rahab’s house; that represents the household of faith in Jericho, and once through that door there is no going back to the city. All your hopes and aspirations after that become connected with the window; that looks outside the city. Some of us have n window on the wrong side of the house. This incident is one of the most striking connected with the household principle. It is not here a head of the house; she has a father and mother and brethren and sisters, and she claims them all for the blessing of God; it is very fine. Her faith was a household faith, which not only judged Jericho for herself, but she must have everyone connected with her in the same judgment.
It was salvation to come in, and faith is like the door. “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with the unbelieving, having received the spies in peace” — that is connected with her door. To separate oneself, to have a door between you and Jericho, is a fine thing. It is a door that only opens one way; it opened to let in her father and mother, brethren and sisters. Everybody who had any kinship with Rahab could come in, and no one but those who had kinship with Rahab could come in. Am I one of Rahab’s kinsfolk? Have I the same kind of faith as Rahab, that will judge the world in its [p. 11] strongest and most impious form, separate from it and identify myself with God and His people and all God is going to do for the honour of His Son? That is Rahab’s faith. It is fine to see that she claims the blessing for her kindred; 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, Christian parents who secure the blessing for themselves and leave their children outside. It is terrible to think of a Christian parent being content to know he is going to heaven and not to be concerned whether his children are going to hell. It is awful, to put it plainly. Yet how many Christian parents there are who take no care that their children should walk in the same path as themselves; they neglect the spiritual welfare of their children. One has known parents full of thought and desire and energy to look after the physical and worldly benefit of their children, who perhaps never read the word with them or pray with them, never 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 every one connected with her should look at things as she did. How could any of us rest if we had relatives who did not think of things as we do, and feel about things as we do? Should we not pray night and day, labour and do everything we could to bring them, so to speak, inside the door?
Rahab is a fine example of the kind of spirit produced by the sovereign call of God, and by the working of God in the soul. Jehovah was her God. She said, “He is God in the heavens above and in the earth beneath”. She had finished with the gods of Jericho, and all her hopes are connected with Jehovah and His people. She realises that God is kind and powerful, so she asks confidently for kindness. What a knowledge of God she had! She had been brought up all her life in the midst of gods who were intensely cruel, who were marked by the grossest forms of inhuman cruelty; but now she has a thought of a God who is kind and whose people are kind. What a revolution it would make in her soul! Her window now looks outside the city! Now our works are connected with our outlook — that is a fixed principle. What my outlook is determines the whole character of my spiritual life. What is my outlook? Rahab had not the slightest interest in anything in Jericho; her window looked outside the city in the direction of the people of God.
[p. 12] People think of making the world better; they have their window on the wrong side of the house. What is outside the city? The ark of the covenant, the people of God, Joshua and the priests. The ark of God is coming in to take possession of the land. Rahab looked out in that direction, so she put forth the messengers by another way. They came in at the door, but they went out by the window; she let them out of the window by a cord. Is not that suggestive? She linked herself personally with those two men by a cord. There was a very firm personal link between her and the two men; when she let them down by the 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 with cords of love she would not have had any reason to link herself with the people of God and with the servants of God; she definitely linked herself with them when she let them down by a cord, and the men never forgot it. They said, “Thou shalt bind in thy window this line of scarlet thread by which thou hast let us down”.
Scarlet is a colour connected with the rights of Jehovah in Israel. Rahab acknowledged that all rights were there, and she put it in the window. It is her public confession that all the rights were not with the king of Jericho, but with Jehovah. He has the right to dispose of the land as He wills according to His good pleasure. She confesses it publicly; that is her outlook. She puts it in the window. At the present time our outlook is 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 to the world in this connection, but our confession is such as the people of God can take account of. There is an aspect of confession that the world can take account of, but there is another that the people of God can take account of. I do not think that Rahab puts up the scarlet line for the people of Jericho to see, but for the people of God to see. In Matthew they put a scarlet robe on Christ; in mockery they invested Him with the moral dignity of the Christ. Rahab in type confesses that; and whatever you confess you get the distinction of. She is not only saved, but Salmon marries her and Boaz is her son; she comes into the royal genealogy as the mother of God’s anointed. In putting up the scarlet line she confesses before the people of God the royal rights of God. It is like God to [p. 13] bring in the Gentiles to possess the land, and to possess it as in the royal lineage. The history of Rahab is wonderful.
“She put them forth another way”. It is a fine thing when we turn from the door to the window. If we are only thinking of our own blessing we are thinking about the door. How many thousands of God’s people are thankful to have a door who have not considered the window. 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. The spies learned 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. There was not a word about the king or his chariots, or anything else, but they reported the situation as it appeared from Rahab’s window. What they reported was on the spiritual side. 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; her house was on the wall. If God has taken possession, what matter how high it is? When the walls came down flat, that piece stood, so the spies went in and brought all Rahab’s household out.
Rahab’s hiding the messengers is a secret from Jericho. We do not give away our secrets to the world. She came into the position of a traitor to her own people. We cannot be among the people of God without being traitors to what goes on in this present evil 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 am a traitor to the world. You cannot imagine Rahab putting the spies out of the window and keeping up communication with people inside the city. She was justified by works — she had transferred her allegiance from the king of Jericho to Jehovah, so she becomes a traitor to the king of Jericho and she hides the spies. She has her secrets and we have ours.
This chapter is a most important one morally, and especially for us Gentiles, because it sets forth in a striking way the calling and work and grace of God in a Gentile. The whole work of God is concentrated in Rahab.