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by Kevin Pauley
And in the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. - James 2:24-26 HCSB
Jericho was the second oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, having apparently been established around 9,000 BC. Its walls were enormous! There were two sets of walls. These were not simply free standing walls like those of Jerusalem. Each was cut directly into the mountainside with the mountain backing them up like a retaining wall. If you were able to bash through the walls, all you had to look forward to was the climb up the rock and dirt behind them.
Jericho was right on the edge of Palestine, across the river Jordan from the wide open wilderness. Every nomadic tribe and wannabe conqueror would hit Jericho first as they swept in from the deserts. Why do you think it was so fortified?
Rahab was the town prostitute. I don’t know why she was what she was, but I can guess. Often young women choose prostitution after being abused. I don’t think she was abused by her father because she was instrumental in rescuing him.[1] Maybe it was substance abuse. Maybe she escaped a brutal marriage. Maybe she lacked an adequate education due to poverty and felt her body was all she had to offer.
Whatever the reason, her lack of morals didn’t seem to indicate a complete lack of character, because she had enough influence to convince the local constabulary and to talk her family into joining her.
What I’d like to draw your attention to though is that she did not take her stand based on the military facts. She had probably seen many armies come and go and none had successfully attacked Jericho. Israel did not have siege engines or catapults or the necessary weaponry to take the city. Rahab’s decision was based on God. She said, “I know that the Lord has given you this land…”,[2] the “Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea…”,[3] “the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below…”[4] so “now please swear to me by the Lord.”[5]
She was aware of the armies, weapons, walls and tactics, but all she really saw was the Lord God. She was willing to humbly identify herself as the sinner she was by placing that crimson cord in the window (much like the red lights placed in prostitute’s windows). She placed her faith in His saving power and as a result survived the conflict and saved her family in the process.[6]
She settled down with Salmon[7] and became the great grandmother of King David but of all the things that she did in her life, both good and ill, the one thing that counted with God was that one moment when she acted out her faith.[8]
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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