Tag: Rahab

Posted in Advent devotions

A spy, a witness, and salvation

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

I like watching movies and reading books about spies. I’m fascinated by the way they blend into a community or corporation, earn the trust of many, and gain access to information that benefits their country.

When Joshua sends spies into Jericho, they find their way to the house of Rahab, a prostitute. She hides them and helps them escape after receiving the promise that she would survive the Israelite conquest of the city. When the walls come down and Israel wins it’s first contest in the promised land, she and her family are preserved.

According to Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, Rahab is mentioned in the family tree of Jesus the Messiah. Unknown to everyone, including her, she became a part of God’s plan of salvation.

I like to spy on people. What I mean is, I like to sit and eavesdrop on conversations at Starbucks or Panera. I admit to glancing at people’s phones to see who they are texting. I’ve watched a few people tap out their PIN when they checkout. I’m not much of a spy. But I enjoy watching and listening to people.

I believe that if we just watch and listen closely, we’ll see or hear an opportunity to communicate God’s love in some way. We’ll help, we’ll listen, or we’ll be able to share a story about our faith and our God.

I love to think of myself as a spy from God, infiltrating a world in which many don’t know him. It makes everyday an adventure or a mission. I’m sneaking behind enemy lines with mercy, love, or hope that some have never experienced. Isn’t that cool?

Anyway, Rahab is a great example of how anyone can be grafted into God’s people. The scarlet thread hanging from her window was her subtle confession of faith in the God whose power and love was greater than anything she had witnessed before. “The Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11).

Rahab gets an ornament on the Jesse Tree for her willingness to help the spies from Israel and her confession of faith in the one true God.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

We’re just doing some evangelism

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A “through the bible” devotion from Joshua 2.

A few years back, a couple of older men in my congregation – Phil and Gene – would always go to a barbershop on Main Street in Daytona Beach. In those days, Main Street was ground zero for Bike Week and Biketoberfest activities. The street was lined with bars, tattoo parlors, souvenir shops, and from time to time, some “working” ladies. Neither gentleman had a lot of hair, and all the magazines were really old, but they enjoyed the sights and sounds of that part of town. They justified their presence by claiming they were doing “evangelism.”

I’ve always found it entertaining that the first thing Joshua’s two spies do is go to a prostitute in Jericho.

“Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and rested there” (Joshua 2:1).

It’s also entertaining to read uncomfortable commentators insist that the spies never engaged Rahab’s services. So what if they had? Would it be all that surprising if they acted like sailors on shore leave in an exotic port?

Ironically, their mission does include some evangelism. Rahab hides them, lies for them, and confesses the Lord to be God in heaven above and on earth below (2:11).

A lot of people got upset when Jesus spent time with sinners and tax collectors. So what if he did? They probably had better parties anyway.