Rahab Hides The Spies / The Scarlet Cord (Joshua Chapter 2)

Okay so we are continuing our study of the book of Joshua. Tonight as you can tell we're in chapter 2 where Rahab hides the

Israelite spies. So we're going to look at that and also look at the significance of the scarlet cord.

Of course by now we know that the theme of the blood of Christ is a theme that runs straight through the

Bible. Whether it's the first sacrifice in the Garden of Eden or the Passover lamb, it has been said that there is a scarlet thread that is woven through the tapestry of scriptures.

And it all points to Jesus shedding his blood on the cross. So the scarlet cord that Rahab hangs out the window, obviously that's what it represents.

It's not a coincidence that it's a red or scarlet cord. So that's what we're going to look at in Joshua chapter 2.

So we'll play the video and then we'll go through it more closely. Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly.

Go view the land especially Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a harlot named

Rahab and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, behold men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.

So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab. Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.

Then the woman took the two men and hid them. Yes the men came to me but I did not know where they were from.

And it happened as the gate was being shut when it was dark that the men went out.

Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly for you may overtake them.

But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.

Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan to the fords and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out they shut the gate.

Now before they lay down she came up to them on the roof and said to the men. I know that the

Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint -hearted because of you.

For 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 the two kings of the

Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sion and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

And as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted.

Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. For the

Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

Now therefore I beg you swear to me by the

Lord since I have shown you kindness that you also will show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters and all that they have and deliver our lives from death.

Our lives for yours if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be when the

Lord has given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with you. Then she let them down by a rope through the window for her house was on the city wall.

She dwelt on the wall and she said to them, Get to the mountain lest the pursuers meet you.

Hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.

We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear unless when we come into the land you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers and all your father's household to your own home.

So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street his blood shall be on his own head and we will be guiltless.

And whoever is with you in the house his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.

And if you tell this business of ours then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.

According to your words so be it. And she sent them away and they departed.

She bound the scarlet cord in the window. They departed and went to the mountain and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned.

The pursuers sought them all along the way but did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain and crossed over.

They came to Joshua the son of Nun and told him all that had befallen them. Truly the

Lord has delivered all the land into our hands for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint -hearted because of us.

So chapter two begins with Joshua sending out two men to spy out the land.

Especially to spy out the city of Jericho which would be the first major stronghold they encounter in the conquest of the land of Canaan.

Now remember here's the neat thing about it. 40 years earlier Joshua himself went out on a mission like this didn't he?

He was one of 12 spies sent out on a similar mission. So how fitting is it that he's now the one leading the nation?

Since back under Moses in the book of Numbers, remember it was Joshua and Caleb who had faith and said let's let's take the land.

It's ours. God has promised it to us. Let's take it. And then the the ten spies tried to discourage the nation which they did.

So it's very fitting that Joshua is now the leader. So now Joshua and the children of Israel where are they camped?

Where does it say they're camped? Acacia Grove. Which if you look at a map this is about 15 miles away from Jericho.

And the Jordan River is in between. The Jordan River serves as sort of like a barrier in the middle.

So it's about seven or eight miles from Acacia Grove to the Jordan and then another seven miles or so to the city of Jericho.

Now is it a problem crossing the Jordan? Well for two men, for two spies on a mission like this, it's not really a problem.

But for the Israelite army which numbers about 600 ,000 men, yeah that's that's a big issue.

Yes Marcus? It's not that deep or it's not that wide. When I was there we had a baptismal on our side and then a

Jordanian bunch of Christians being baptized on the other side.

Yeah I guess it depends where it is you're crossing. But we're going to see a miracle happen in the next chapter similar to Moses parting the

Red Sea. We're going to see something along those same lines just on a smaller scale that happens under the ministry of Joshua.

But that's next week. God is going to solve that problem of crossing the Jordan. Yes Ray?

Might it have been a little bit more water back then since the Lord had blessed the land and it was full of milk and honey at the time?

Possibly. Possibly. Just desert. Certainly possible. Yes okay so how many are sent out?

Two. Right. Not twelve. Sending out twelve last time did not work out so well.

So Joshua chooses two men. Presumably he chose two men that he knew were faithful.

I don't think Joshua was going to take any risks to have repeated what took place 40 years earlier.

So I believe these are faithful men that Joshua hand -selected. They come to the city of Jericho and they find

Rahab. She's called Rahab the harlot and verse 1 says that they lodged there.

Okay so a lot has been said and a lot has been written on this issue.

What exactly is the situation here? Some claim that this would be a minority but there are some people who claim that Rahab really isn't a harlot.

That she's just an innkeeper and this reputation she has is really just all a misunderstanding.

That she's not actually a prostitute. Others believe that she was formerly a prostitute but that reputation has just followed her throughout her life.

Others say no she is currently at this moment she is an active prostitute and she was running something like well an inn but it would be more akin to a brothel.

Well if that's the case and the two spies these two men come into the city and they're staying in her house you can imagine what some people reading the scripture have assumed of why they were there.

That they were there with some sort of impure motives. Now in studying this this is one of those things

I came across. Honestly I've read this story many times that thought it just never occurred to me.

I don't know I is that occurred to you maybe it should occur to you I don't know. But going back to what

I said a moment ago I am convinced that these are two again faithful men so I was never under the impression that they went there for those those reasons.

In fact this would be the perfect place for them to go. As spies what are they trying to do they're trying to blend in.

Right so if she is running a house of ill repute which it looks like that's what's happening this would be a place that strangers and passers -by and weird people frequent.

So you know that this is this is where they would want to be to just kind of blend in and I think that's what's happening.

So they would want to be inconspicuous but either way despite their best efforts somebody notices them don't they.

Okay and and the report gets back to the king of Jericho. I know when we usually think of a king a king rules over a country but back then you had city -states basically so you might call that a mayor but you did have

Kings over cities. So anyways word gets back to the king and so the scripture doesn't really give us specifics about the situation but going back again

I think these men are faithful. So somebody figures it out whether it's their dialect the way they talk their accent or just the way they look they can tell that these two spies are

Israelites. So what would be the first thing that they assume? Has the reputation of the children of Israel gotten out?

I think we've already seen that going through chapter 2 that it has. So the children of Israel the the people in the city of Jericho have heard the rumors certainly

Rahab has heard the rumors. They've heard about what God did to the

Egyptians. They heard how the Israelites were winning one battle after another and they're moving closer and closer to the land of Canaan.

So the people in Jericho they figure hey we're next. So the city is probably on high alert.

The word on the street is there's two spies they're spying out the city they're gonna attack us soon and these two men stayed at Rahab's place.

So verse three it says so the king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying bring out the men who have come to you who have entered your house for they have come to search out all the country.

So the people are wise to what's going on. Now what happens next is Rahab she lies to the king in order to protect the spies.

She's in the process of defecting. Okay so she wants to become a member of the nation of Israel.

We don't know what has led up to this maybe it just starts out that she's afraid it's either it's either convert to the nation of Israel join them or I'm dead because the whole city we're all dead.

And you know fear can be a powerful motivator. There have been many people who have converted to Christ out of fear of hell or fear of they want to escape the judgment.

So that kind of thing certainly does happen. So she hides the spies and makes an agreement with them.

Jim you had something to add. If you look at verse 10, I think what's feared because she uses the words and we means not only her but a number of people have heard about what happened.

I've heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did on the two kings of the

Amorites. So that would cause fear. And then she goes on and says that the other side of Jordan was high on iron and you ugly destroyed them.

So she was in fear of what they would probably do to Jericho. She says that much that the people in general in Jericho were afraid.

So she makes this deal, strikes this deal with the Israelite spies. So there's a few things we need to discuss here.

First, she lied to the king. We all agree she lies. Okay. So the first thing, was she justified in lying?

If I ask you, is lying right? Is lying the right thing to do? Is lying a violation of one of the commandments?

Is lying wrong? You say, yeah, lying's wrong. Every Christian would say lying is wrong.

So was she justified? That's the first thing. The second is really the principle that no matter who a person is, no matter their background, their ethnicity, anybody could join the nation of Israel.

Anybody. So let's address that first because it's an easier question.

So clearly we know after going through Genesis and Exodus, we know that God has made a promise with Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants.

So we're accustomed to thinking of Abraham and his seed and people who descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Obviously Rahab is not descended from them. But anybody could join the nation of Israel.

How did they do that? Remember, there are some rules given in the book of Exodus.

Who remembers what they were? Circumcision. Okay. Circumcision is part of it.

Also, they would have to observe the Passover. They would basically have to accept, they'd have to assimilate.

That's the word we would use. There are some things I think a foreigner couldn't do. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, they wouldn't be able to, you know, join the priesthood. And there are certain things that would be off limits. But if they assimilated into the nation, they could join the people of God.

Yes, Marcus. Well, this isn't, the direct answer to your question is

I don't know. But I was thinking about Ruth and then I was thinking, Joshua judges

Ruth, but wasn't Ruth actually written earlier? Or maybe not. But Ruth said, your people will be my people and your

God will be my God. And so it sounds to me as if you can do this.

Right. And let's go back. Yeah. Ruth comes after this when they're already in the land.

But let's go back even further. So there's Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Another name for Jacob is Israel. Israel had a son named

Joseph. And Joseph married. Remember, he's in Egypt. Joseph married an

Egyptian woman. So the heads of two of the tribes or one half tribe, half tribe,

Ephraim and Manasseh, these two men were half Hebrew, half

Egyptian. So really, there was never even from the start, there was never this pure bloodline or whatever that means.

Even from the very beginning. Yes, the Israelites did keep track of genealogies.

That was very important. Who is part of which tribe? But anybody could join.

It really wasn't about the bloodline. What was it about? Faith in God.

Yeah. Faith in the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So in the

Old Testament, you see these genealogies. Yeah, Karen. This is going back to the question, is it right to lie?

You said she was in the midst of trying to become an Israelite. So maybe she hadn't gotten to the point that she totally trusted

God. So she figured she was going to help him out. Okay. All right. That's an interesting thought.

Was that verse the end justifies the meaning? Yeah. Hezekiah 6 verse 8.

Doesn't exist. Okay. I've never really thought of it that way. But even unbelievers, you don't need to be an

Israelite, or today, you don't need to be a Christian to know that it's wrong to lie. This is one of those things where, is it

Romans chapter 2, where God's law is written on people's hearts. People know instinctively that it's wrong to lie and steal and commit murder and adultery.

People know that already. So I'll address that more specifically in a second. But in the

Old Testament, you have genealogies. So that was important. In the New Testament, we are told what? To avoid genealogies.

Chapter 3 verse 9 of the book of Titus tells us that. So in this age, your ethnicity, your bloodline, descended from Abraham or not, today, it doesn't make any difference.

Jew, Gentile, Paul says we're all one in Christ Jesus. John the

Baptist, when he began his preaching ministry, do you remember what he said? Matthew chapter 3 verse 9, he said,

Do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones.

The point is, the issue is not your lineage. The issue is not who your father was or who your mother was.

The issue is who is your God. So if Rahab accepted the God of Israel, she could become an

Israelite. It's that simple. I think the time that they were coming, because of the stories that they heard,

I think she was convinced that the God that they worshipped was the true God. Right, and we're going to see that come out.

Right. So Rahab, maybe she hasn't done it yet. We don't know exactly where she stands.

She's called Rahab the harlot. But we do know once she joins the nation, she turns away from her former life.

And now, on top of that, she wants out of paganism. So she joins the nation of Israel.

And who is the other woman, the well -known woman in the Old Testament that joined the nation? You brought her up.

Ruth. Right. And both Rahab and Ruth are mentioned in the genealogy of Christ.

And that's Matthew chapter 1. So Ruth was a Moabite. And she told her

Israelite mother -in -law, Naomi, she said, Your people shall be my people, and your God, my

God. Okay, let's turn to Hebrews chapter 11. So don't get too fixated on, hey, this person isn't really descended from Abraham.

I don't want to say it didn't matter back then, because it did. And God definitely had a plan for Abraham's descendants.

And we often say, yes, we believe he has a future plan for them as well.

But it's really more the issue of who do you worship? Okay, Hebrews chapter 11.

I think the application, because I'm always trying to make application to the New Testament church, what would this mean?

We could say that you are not a Christian because your parents are

Christians. You are not a Christian because you are sprinkled as an infant.

Nobody is saved because of their parents' faith. A person is saved because of their faith.

So you have to make a personal decision to trust in Christ.

And that's what Rahab did. I mean, she didn't know the concept of Christ necessarily, but she made a decision.

And in making that decision, Rahab knew this could cause some problems.

She had to lie to the king. Her life was at risk. It's the same thing today when you become a

Christian. Okay, maybe your life isn't at risk, but there are potential problems when converting to the

Lord. If your family, if they're not believers, that could cause problems with them.

It can cause all sorts of problems. Some people, one theologian once said, you know, my life didn't get complicated until I became a

Christian. But is it worth it? You need to make that decision. Is it worth it? And of course, yes, it's well worth it.

And for Rahab, it was certainly well worth it. Look at Hebrews 11 verse 31.

It says, by faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace.

So in the New Testament, Rahab is praised for her faith, which then leads to this other question.

We know she lied about harboring the spies, and that's all tied up in this.

So was it wrong for her to do that? Because the author of Hebrews seems to praise her.

So let me just throw that question out there. Was it right or was it wrong for her to lie?

Certainly you look at it as being wrong, but there are plenty of instances in Scripture where God has used people of all kinds of character, liars, murderers, and everything for his purposes.

Well, at the time, was she a member of the Israelite family in Underdahl? Yeah, as of that moment, she was not an

Israelite. Well, I'm going to say it was right for her to lie. You know, you hate as a pastor to come out and say, you know, there are some times where it's okay to lie.

Because someone will take that clip and say, he said that it's okay to lie. Yes, Larry.

Well, just like we are commanded to obey the authorities that are put over us.

But there again, we see in the book of Acts that there are times where the authorities told the apostles to stop teaching in Jesus' name.

But they didn't. So, if you're doing, if it goes against the

Lord, it's wrong, even though it may be, then you're going with men.

But to go against men when it's right to go for the

Lord. Right. And that's what she was doing. Yeah. I mean, two years ago, technically,

I was doing the wrong thing by keeping the church open for whatever,

March, April. Even though we were outside, we technically weren't. If someone wants to disagree with this, that's up to you.

But I was under the conviction that the Lord told us to meet. And now that we have more information, we have more facts,

I believe it was the right thing to do. I believe it was the right thing to do for her to hide the spies, even though it was illegal for her to do that.

And it was illegal for her to lie to the King of Jericho. But in this situation,

I believe it was the right thing to do. Joyce. She did start out with the truth.

She did admit that they had been there. Yeah. And I'm not trying to set up.

OK, well, as long as you do this, because we've touched on this before. Remember back in Genesis, we talked about Abraham and his wife,

Sarah. Abraham told Pharaoh and he made this agreement with Sarah.

Hey, tell Pharaoh you're my sister. And they told Pharaoh she is my sister.

And we kind of went back and forth. Was that a lie? I said, well, she was his sister.

But, well, he didn't tell Pharaoh the whole story. So, I mean, there are those complicated questions.

Jim. Something more recent within the last 70, 80 years, if anybody's ever heard of the paperback book,

God Smugglers. They would bring Bibles and hide them in any way that they could.

Put them in their gas tanks to cross over into countries that didn't or wouldn't allow scriptures at all.

So, they were lying. Yeah. By hiding them. And when they got to the border, they,

I won't say that they lied necessarily, but they never told them that they were in there.

They had to get discovered, but a lot of times they didn't. So, it's the same kind of a situation.

They were doing it for serving the Lord. And the Lord recognized that.

Christian missionaries cannot go to communist countries. They cannot go to Islamic countries, get to the port of entry and tell them the truth about why they're there and get in the country.

Now, they're going to try to avoid lying. And we should listen. Lying is wrong. And we should not lie.

But there comes those situations where to tell the truth is at least to a greater evil.

The classic example is in World War II when Germans were hiding

Jews in their house and the Gestapo comes and knocks on the door. Do you know where any Jews are?

Yeah, here, go take them to the death camps. There's nothing virtuous in telling the truth in that situation.

Yeah, Marcus. So, two wrongs don't make a right, but sometimes one wrong is all right.

I don't know about that. I don't know about that.

But here's another situation. The Hebrew midwives are seen as heroes for saving the lives of the

Hebrew children. They had to lie to Pharaoh or the Egyptian officials because all of the male

Hebrew babies would have been killed. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 23 mentions the parents of Moses who presumably lied to the

Egyptian authorities in order to save the life of Moses. So, scripture has many occasions like this where if they told the truth, again, it would have led to a greater evil.

So, I think what it comes down to is one's motivation. If you're lying to kind of save your own skin, yeah, it's wrong.

And I don't have the perfect answer, but I don't think what

Rahab did was the same. So, can you lie about having the vaccine if you want to get out? Vaccine, you know,

I'll write you a letter. How does that sound? There's no such thing because it's not a vaccine.

Oh, there you go. It contains no part of the virus. Obviously, this can open up a can of worms and get into all sorts of situations.

I don't have all the answers. James chapter 2 verse 25 says, Likewise, was not

Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

Again, that was illegal. She lied, and yet James says she was justified before God for doing it.

So, when James asked that, it's a rhetorical question. Yes, she was justified. Okay, let's go back to Joshua chapter 2.

But don't you walk out of here and say, well, Pastor Grant says it's okay to lie sometimes.

We can say the Bible says so in Hezekiah. You get the point.

So, as you're turning there, Rahab, she hides the two spies.

She lies to the king. She says, Yes, the men came to me, and I did not know where they were from.

It happened as the gate was being shut when it was dark that the men went out.

Where the men went, I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.

But in reality, they were upstairs hiding on a roof. So, she goes up and speaks to them and look at what she says.

Verse 9. She says to them, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint -hearted because of you.

What's another term for faint -hearted? Chicken. Yeah, they're terrified.

Absolutely terrified. Verse 10. For 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 the two kings of the Amorites who are on the other side of the

Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted.

Neither did there remain any courage in anyone because of you. Why? For the

Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

That's amazing that she would come to that recognition. Why? Because people back then, the way they viewed religion and the way they viewed different deities that supposedly existed,

I think we know the difference between polytheism and monotheism, right? What's a polytheist?

Many gods. It's not just someone who believes in many gods. They serve more than one god.

That's a polytheist. A monotheist, Christianity is a monotheistic faith.

We believe that there is only one God. But people back then, many of them were actually not, most of them were not monotheists.

That was actually a very rare thing. Most of them, or many, were not actually even polytheists.

There is something called henotheism. Who knows what henotheism is?

I'll give you a hint. It's not the worship of chickens. I was going to say that. It came before the egg. I said that you do a chicken.

No. Remember, we've talked about this at least once before. Henotheism is when you acknowledge that, yes, there are other deities.

There are more than one God, or there is more than one God. But for us, there is only one

God that we worship. A tribe, a nation would have their

God. To them, as far as they're concerned, we will serve one God. But all the other gods are real.

They're just lesser deities. But our God is number one. It's likely that Rahab originally had that mindset.

The amazing thing is, it's not that she views the God of Israel as the top

God, one of many. She seems to acknowledge that he is God of heaven and earth, as in he's the creator.

He is the only true God. For her to come to that conclusion and believe it, she was justified because of that.

As we talked about last week, and I alluded to James 2 a moment ago, Rahab's faith, because it was a living faith, because she had true saving faith, it resulted in her actually doing something about it.

What did she do? She protected God's servants, and she helped in the war effort, enlisting in the army, if you will.

She played a pivotal role in the conquest of the land of Canaan.

Bringing that idea into the new covenant, what's a possible spiritual application you could make from that?

Back then, they're fighting physical battles. Today, we fight spiritual battles.

Who are the soldiers in the Lord's army? We are. These spies came to Jericho.

You might come across a soldier in the Lord's army. It might be a fellow believer who's just out doing something.

It could be missionaries, could be pastors, could be evangelists. The point is, if you see one of God's soldiers, so to speak, out on a mission, and they're in need, and they need assistance in the providence of God, if you find yourself in one of those situations, you need to be like Rahab.

Hey, I believe. I believe in the Lord, and I pray for His people. Okay, great, but you actually got to do something and help the person out in their time of need.

She asked the spies to swear an oath. Because she has shown kindness, she asked them, please spare me and my family, and they agreed.

And when the coast is clear, because her house was on the city wall, she was able to let them down by a cord.

And this is the scarlet cord. So the arrangement is, the spies say, make sure that cord is hanging there when we come back, when the army comes back.

Look at verse 18. They say, to bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down.

So as long as the scarlet cord was in the window, when the Israelite army showed up, her and all those in her household, they were, what we would say, they were under the blood.

They were under the Lord's protection, the scarlet cord obviously being symbolic for the blood of Christ.

Matthew Henry writes this about the scarlet cord. Like the blood upon the doorpost at the

Passover, this recalls to remembrance the sinner's security under the atoning blood of Christ, and that we are to flee thereto for refuge from the wrath of a justly offended

God. The same cord Rahab used for the saving of these Israelites was to be used for her own safety.

And what we serve and honor God with, we may expect he will bless and make useful to us.

So I would simply close by asking you, what are you doing to serve

God? What are you using to honor God? Are we willing to be like Rahab and assist those who are fighting the

Lord's battles? Because are there spiritual battles to fight? Are there spiritual battles going on right now?

There are, and we need to help. We need to do our part in the war effort.

So the chapter closes with verses 23 and 24, which says, So the two men returned, descended from the mountain and crossed over, and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them.

And they said to Joshua, Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint -hearted because of us.