February 20th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Changing Places?

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Opening Prayer

Know my heart, O God. Honor my desire to know You and Your Word so I can please You.

Read Joshua 2:1-16

[1] Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. [2] The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” [3] So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” [4] But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. [5] At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” [6] (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) [7] So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. [8] Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof [9] and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. [10] We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. [11] When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. [12] “Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign [13] that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them-and that you will save us from death.” [14] “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.” [15] So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. [16] She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Jacob was both strong and weak, at times quite trustworthy and at other times deceptive, remarkably courageous and yet also susceptible to cowardliness” (John Claypool). And God used him, just as he uses imperfect people like us!

Think Further

Who is this woman, Rahab? The chapter is taken up with the story of her faithfulness despite her ethnic identity and disreputable profession. As a Canaanite, and a prostitute, she would be considered worthy of death. With the battle of Jericho looming, her family and all she owned should have perished, along with her people. She has only heard of the God of Israel, yet she fears him and believes. So, instead, she prospers. Through her deceit her house survives, she becomes an Israelite, and she lives. The writer frames a series of contrasts between Rahab and Achan in ch. 7.

Achan, in contrast to Rahab, is a Hebrew from the best tribe, Judah, and a respected leader. He should have lived, but through his deceit his family and all he owns perish. Although he has seen the power of God at work, he does not fear him, but disobeys. He will die like the Canaanites. Rahab and Achan trade places; she becomes an Israelite and he becomes a Canaanite. She chooses to live among God’s people and even shows up in the genealogy of Christ (Matt. 1:5)! The major difference between Achan and Rahab is their attitude towards God. Rahab takes God seriously, placing her faith in him and risking her life to protect the two Israelite spies she is hiding. Achan treats God as if he does not exist and assumes he can blatantly disobey him and not suffer any consequences.

The narrator is letting us know that there is more to the conquest of Canaan than just the destruction of the Canaanites. There are critical issues of individual faith and obedience involved. Likewise, there is more to faith in God than just nationality or respectability. A Canaanite harlot can find it, and a respectable Israelite can miss it.

Apply

Have you found faith in unlikely places? Is there some “unlikely” person of faith you can welcome into Christian fellowship?

Closing prayer

I am encouraged, Lord, to realize you worked through the likes of Jacob and Rahab. Take me with all my contradictions and use me for Your glory, too.

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