Jesus in the Old Testament 24:
The Gospel and Rahab
Joshua 2, 6
Thesis:
Salvation, in the NT, is clearly based on faith and
grace, but many see the OT as so thoroughly different that even salvation
operates dissimilarly. The story of
Rahab is a clear example of God’s salvific formula operating consistently in
the Old Testament as it does in the New.
- Nutshell w/Kids
- How do
people get saved? What happens?
- Do you
think that this is the way it always worked? Or do you think it was
different in the Old Testament?
- There is a
story in Joshua 2 about a woman who lived a sinful life and came to be
one of God’s people, and her story is very similar to how it would have
happened today. (recount)
- She heard
and believed.
- She made a
confession of faith
- She
stopped living her sinful life and did her best to obey the Lord.
- She joined
God’s people in fellowship.
- Later on,
the Bible mentions her twice as a person of faith.
- She was
even included in the family line of Jesus.
- God loves
people, and it has always been his plan to save them by faith.
- Deeper w/Adults
- Previous
instructions regarding people of the land. Deut 20:10-18
- For cities
“far from you,”
a)
Offer peace
b)
Besiege those who reject peace
c)
Kill men
d)
Leave women, children, and
livestock as plunder.
- For cities
“near you” and those of the “ite” tribes of Canaan
a)
Utterly destroy, save alive
nothing that breathes.
b)
Devote to destruction, like an
offering to the Lord in judgment
- Why? Not
an “ethnic cleansing.”
a)
Vs 18: That they will not teach
you the abominable practices of their worship of their gods and so make you sin.
b)
Similarly, Deut 7:1-5.
c)
The point is purity of worship,
not of DNA.
d)
The danger of the situation is
borne out in history.
(1)
Psa 106:34-39
(2)
Neh 13:23-27
- The
situation, then, was one where the disposition of God toward the people
of the lad was one of judgment because of their sin and idolatry, and He
had declared that they were bound for destruction.
- But then,
there’s Rahab. Josh 2
- Vs 1-3.
a)
Josh sends an advanced-scouting
party to spy out the land before they attack (vs 1)
b)
They stay in a brothel? She lives in an apartment built into the
wall, which some archaeological evidence suggests was a common practice in the
time for the location of an inn.
c)
The leaders of the city know where
to look for visitors (vs 3), which would not have been so easy if her home were
simply a brothel.
d)
Rahab is specifically introduced
as a prostitute, but there is no indication that the spies took advantage of
this fact. They seem only to lodge
there.
e)
Some commentators attempt to limit
her perception as a harlot because the word Zona, used here, is used in some
extra-biblical sources as an innkeeper as well as a prostitute. Certainly, she was also an innkeeper, since
that is the clear sense in which the spies employed her.
f)
However, the Septuagent uses the
word “porne” to describe her, and both of her references in the NT use that
word as well. It only refers to a
prostitute, not an innkeeper.
g)
She was a pagan, a member of the
tribes whose utter destruction has been declared, and a member of a sinful
profession.
- Rahab’s
deceit, Vs. 4-7.
a)
Lies to the city officials. Sin to
lie? Act of war
b)
She hides the men in stalks of
flax on her roof.
(1)
She also made linen, as evidenced
by the presence of flax.
(2)
She had a roof to her apartment,
high on the wall. There would not have
been windows lower down.
- Rahab’s
confession vs. 8-14
a)
Remember that those who are saved
are saved by faith (Gen 15:6; Psa 106:31; Rom 4:3-6)
b)
Confession of one’s faith leads to
salvation (Rom 10:9-13).
c)
Salvation is not tied to heredity
of blood, but to faith in the one true God. (Rom 2:25-29)
d)
We see here that Rahab knew enough
about God (his reputation based on the reports of those nations the Hebrews had
encountered) to know that he was
(1)
going to destroy the Canaanites in
the land and give it to the Hebrews and
(2)
a God of compassion for those who
came to him on faith.
(3)
Notice as well that God’s
judgement of others can draw people who witness it to saving faith!
e)
Her confession (vs 11).
f)
Her motivation is for the physical
lives of her family members (vs 12-13), but she uses language from the new
covenant. While she is after the
preservation of her physical life, her faith will preserve her spiritual life
as well.
g)
The spies agree to the spirit of
her request immediately (vs 14)
- The
details of the covenant vs 15-21.
a)
The spies clarify that they will
only spare those in her house. They don’t know who her relatives are and
won’t ask while they are destroying the city.
Also, if she breaks her silence, they will not spare her or her family.
b)
She must tie the scarlet cord that
they used to escape in the window to identify her home.
c)
She obeys.
- The Christ
connection.
a)
“Rope” H: Chebel, is always used
in one of two ways in the OT.
(1)
To measure out a plot of land
(2)
As a means of bondage or slavery.
b)
A different word for the scarlet
cord in vs 18. H: Tiqwah. Only used
twice as a cord or thread, both in this chapter. Every other usage (192 times) it has to do
with hope or expectation. Odd word
choice, unless it’s intentional!
c)
Rahab was to hang a “scarlet hope”
outside her window. All in the house
would be saved. This is a clear
reference to Exodus 12 and the Passover.
d)
Ex 12:21-28
(1)
Blood, red hope, on the outside of
the home.
(2)
All inside would be spared.
(3)
Testimony of God’s protection for
generations to come (Rahab’s memory, below)
(4)
Obedience and worship executed in
faith by both Rahab (2:21) and the people (12:28).
e)
Christ is the fulfillment of
Passover lamb imagery.
(1)
Isa 53:7
(2)
John 1:29
(3)
1 Cor 5:7
f)
Christ’s sacrifice is figured
here, as well, in three days of hiding (Josh 2:16).
- Rahab’s
outcome, Josh 6:22-25
a)
The oath is remembered. Nobody in her home is killed.
b)
“All who belonged to her Joshua
saved alive.” vs 25
c)
Set outside the camp temporarily
for matters of ritual uncleanness (Lev 13:46)
d)
She obviously did not remain
outside, as she and her father’s household lived amongst the Hebrews at the
time that the account was written down (probably a final edit from Joshua’s
notes and accounts after his death).
e)
Her declaration of faith,
supported by the testimony of her actions, wrought her salvation and membership
in Israel (Jas 2:14-17).
f)
Included, not only in Israel but
in the line of King David and of Christ (Matt 1:5,6).
- Rahab’s
memory is one of faith in a Sovereign God and resulting obedience.
a)
An entry in the “hall of faith”
Heb 11:31
b)
An example of faith in action in
James 2:25.
c)
Both passages assume her faith
based on the testimony of her deeds.
d)
If we looked at the record of your
deeds, would your faith be assumed?
- We see
then that every step of the salvific journey that we know so well in the
New testament was experienced by Rahab, a gentile saved by grace through
faith, whose transformation was borne out by her works and verified by
others.
Discussion
Questions:
- Rahab was
not a Jew. Why is it a big deal
that she was included in the family of Jesus?
- How did
Rahab become one of God’s people?
- How is this
experience similar to your own?
- Why is it
important that we see that God saves in the same today as He has always
has?
