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Joshua 2 - "A Wideness in God's Mercy"
It is said that Ernest Hemingway once described his hometown rather unfavourably as a place of "wide lawns and narrow minds".[i] Although I'm not a fan of Hemingway, I really like the picture these words convey: "wide lawns" and "narrow minds". How many of us attempt to make a good impression outwardly (wide lawns) but at the same time, inwardly maintain poor or judgmental impressions of people (narrow minds)? In other words, have you ever examined your own heart to see if you want people to be generous in how they think of you when in fact you are stingy in how you think of others? Is your lawn wide and your love narrow? I think this is a good question to ask ourselves especially on this third Sunday of Advent because it's about Christ's gift being for all nations. That's a good reason for us to get rid of narrow-minded judgmental attitudes. Another good reason is that, as we just heard when the Advent candle was lit, Christ's 1st coming was in preparation for His 2nd coming to Judge all nations.
The most important thing to remember about Advent, which we normally call "Christmas", is that at this time of year we celebrate the historical fact that the Son of God was born of a virgin, fully God and fully human, in the person of Jesus the Christ: if that coming was real and historical, the next one will be too. Even though media and politically correct mania seems to be fighting a war to get rid of traditional greetings like "Merry Christmas" in favour of "Seasons Greetings" and such, did you know that about 75% of adult Americans really believe Jesus was born supernaturally of a virgin?[ii] I was surprised to learn that about 8 out of 10 Americans also believe "there will be a judgment day when people will be called before God to answer for their sins".[iii] Even if most of these people don't properly understand the Gospel, how the Christ child grew up and died to save us from our sins, it's still something we should be thankful for that most people think sin matters eternally and that it matters that Jesus was born. I think it's fair to say, based on these numbers, that most Americans at least believe that God has more than just a "wide lawn", that God is not stingy and ungenerous toward sinners. Whether they are as kind in how they think of God's Church is another matter. Though many have a bad impression of Christians, we, the Church, must not respond with unkindness.
Last Sunday we learned from Genesis 38, in the account of the birth of Perez to Tamar and Judah, that the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 includes astounding portrayals of God's grace to people with very messy and sin-filled lives. This is because Tamar's baby boy Perez, turns out, in Matthew 1:3, and Luke 3, to be an ancestor of Jesus. But in Matthew 1:5, another woman is included in Jesus' ancestry: a woman named Rahab. Her story begins in Joshua 2, where she is first introduced, at a time when Israel was preparing to invade Canaan; a time when the city of Jericho's days were numbered. In Hebrew, the name "Rahab" means "wide". This third week of Advent, I want to try and show you three ways that God's grace was wider than anyone at the time thought. In fact, I suspect that's why her story is included in the Scripture: to show the surprising wideness of God's mercy, "to the praise of His glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved" (Eph 1:6).
The wideness of God's Provision
Our story begins, as we read, with Joshua, who replaced Moses as the leader of Israel and the General of her armies, sending two spies from the place called Shittim, west across the Jordan River, to Jericho in preparation for their invasion. So the two spies arrive at Jericho and verse 1 says, "they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there." Apparently in those days it was not unusual for prostitutes to also run boarding houses. I don't know how these two came to choose to stay at Rahab's place? In any case, they were just looking for a place to stay. From what follows, we have to conclude that God was in control of every detail, including which motel or boarding house they chose of their own free will! His provision is wider than we can understand. Verse 2 says that the King of Jericho was alerted to their presence it seems by someone who saw them go into Rahab's house. He sends troops to get them but instead of turning these two foreign spies over to her king, Rahab surprises us. She protects them [read vv 1-7]. In the New Testament, James 2:25 says that Rahab's protection of the spies was evidence of a true and sincere faith-faith which we will see in a moment, though it is still young and untaught faith.
The wideness of God's Promise
The story moves from Rahab's protection of the two spies to her petition of the two spies-in verses 12-14 she asks them to promise to give her family protection in return for the protection she had just given to them, and they promise in return to give it [read vv 12-14]. We have to pay close attention here if we want to see how what seemed like a simple promise from the two Israelite spies turns out to be a much wider and bigger promise actually of God. First, we need to ask, "why did Rahab feel she needed the spies to promise to protect her and her family?" They were spies-how would she have known that Israel was planning to invade and take the city of Jericho? Second, when she gets them to promise, notice the words she used in verse 12, "please swear to me by the LORD". Why does she ask that?
The answer to the first question is found by taking note of some clues in the little speech Rahab gave to the spies up on her roof after she sent the king's troops off in the wrong direction. [read v 9] Compare verse 9 with Ex 15:15-17. Rahab shows by her words that she knew about God's promise to give Canaan to the Israelites-the song of Moses she quotes was apparently repeated far beyond the camp of Israel. In it, Canaan is mentioned, they are predicted to melt in fear, and Israel is predicted to take possession of the land. [read v10] Verse 10 shows that she believed in God's Word even if she had not yet read what Moses had written; she had heard the actual news of it. And what is the Gospel? It is literally "good news", not only in terms of what the news is about but also in terms of how the news is delivered: it's news. And Rahab believed it. [read v11a] Verse 11a shows that all the people of Jericho had heard the news that Israel was coming and that their God was with them in power to destroy every nation in their way.
The answer to the second question, "Why did Rahab ask the spies to promise ‘by the LORD'," is found in how she herself responded to the news about Israel and their powerful God in a way that was different from all the rest of the people of Jericho: [read v 11b-12a]. She believed that the Israelites' God was the true God and she knew His name and she believed that if the spies would swear by the name Yahweh, they would keep their promise because Yahweh Himself is a God who keeps His promises. You see she did not only believe what God had done and would still do, she also believed in His justice (that Jericho, her own people, deserved to be judged for their wickedness); she believed in His goodness (that it was possible for her and her family to be saved). We cannot overlook the possibility here that the spies showing up on her doorstep could have been an answer to her own prayers to God for rescue from what He was about to do to Jericho. And we must not overlook that of all the miracles God did in bringing Israel up out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, through the wilderness of 40 years, and into the Promised Land, the Scriptures pause in chapter 2 to tell of God saving a Gentile prostitute by grace through faith. "By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies" (Hebrews 11:31).
The wideness of God's Plan
The plan, really was very simple... so they thought. Rahab let the two spies out her window (which was built in to the city wall) by a rope that happened to be scarlet in colour. As the spies were about to leave they told her to hang that scarlet rope out her window to let the soldiers of Israel know which house was hers so that when they came and killed every one else in Jericho, they would leave alone anyone in her house [read vv 17-21]. So the same scarlet rope became a symbol of the salvation of the two spies who used it to escape Jericho, and of Rahab and her family, who used it to escape being destroyed by Israel's army. But there was a wideness to God's plan none of them could have anticipated.
In chapter 6 you can read about the miraculous defeat of Jericho as God supernaturally brought down the walls of the city leaving the people defenceless so that Israel's soldiers had nothing preventing them from wiping out Jericho as God had instructed. Let's read the end of that account and see what happened to Rahab when the people of Jericho were all destroyed [read Josh 6:20-25].
We just read that the same two spies were sent into Jericho after the walls were down to get Rahab and her family and bring them to safety as promised. Verse 23 says that they put her and her family outside the camp of Israel. This was necessary because they were pagans and according to the Laws of Moses they were ceremonially unclean and needed to wait and go through a process of cleansing before being allowed to live among the people of Israel as citizens.Verse 25 tells us that Rahab "...has lived in Israel to this day...". Notice that neither she nor the writer of Joshua make any excuses for her former prostitution or, for example, for her lie to the men of the King of Jericho in verses 4-5. But in submitting herself to Israel's laws about cleansing from sin, Rahab showed that she understood her guilt and in staying with Israel "to this day" she showed her true repentance, her real, persevering faith.
Yet God's plan was wider still even than Rahab's personal repentance and faith or than Joshua's plans for Jericho. Remember the genealogy in Matthew 1:5? Part of that same family tree shows up in the book of Ruth, chapter 4:18-22, tracing the royal family line from Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah, to King David. And right in the middle of that line is Salmon, the man who is named as Rahab's husband in Matthew 1:5. How does a converted pagan prostitute find her way into what even the Jews in the Old Testament regard as the royal family? Salmon was an important man, a leader in the tribe of Judah. How does a guy like that end up marrying a girl like Rahab? What did his family think? Well you see, I think there is a bit of romance between the lines in Joshua chapter 2. I think, though I can't prove it from Scripture, that the red chord was just the beginning. I think God was already binding two hearts together with stronger fetters and with a much wider purpose than was yet clear.
If we read a little between the lines in Joshua 2, I imagine one of the spies in particular was impressed by Rahab when she came up to the roof where they were about to go to sleep, and gave them her speech which actually turned out to be a sort of confession of faith in Yahweh God. I think he saw her then as more than just a pagan, more than just a prostitute, even more than as a rescuer, but as a woman of promise, a woman in God's plan, chosen by God, even as a godly woman because of her new faith. (Wouldn't you agree that if God only chose to redeem people who had something to commend themselves, none of us would have been chosen? Love does not look for what is but for what could be.) And I imagine that it was that spy who first swore on his own life, in verse 14, that they would keep their promise and "when the LORD gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you." (Love is a promise.) I imagine again, when they climbed down the rope out of her window, that it was he who stopped and looked up, not wanting to leave Rahab behind, and gave her the instructions about marking her house with the scarlet rope to keep her family safe. (Love protects.) I think Rahab's future husband, Salmon, was one of those spies. When Joshua gave the order to go get her, in 6:22, I don't think Salmon needed any more encouragement-I think he was extremely eager to obey this order.
There are some things in this old story, even without using much imagination, that we must recognize for what they are: signs that point to God's wider provision and promise and plan through Jesus Christ. The scarlet chord that was the means of salvation for the spies and for Rahab's family was reminiscent of the blood of the Passover Lamb 40 years earlier which protected whoever took shelter in the homes marked with that blood (Ex12:23). The scarlet chord also pointed forward 1400 years to the scarlet blood of Christ. And He is not only the Saviour of all who take shelter in His sacrifice, He was also the child of promise descended from Salmon, the prince of the tribe of Judah and Rahab, prostitute of the city of Jericho. Finally in the destruction of Jericho at the hands of the armies of Israel, there is also a sign that a day is coming when God will judge all people for their sin.
I'd like to leave you with this thought for this week of Advent: if God's mercy is so wide, as we have seen, what sort of people should we be? Are we a people who are narrow-minded and judgemental? Or are we wide and generous in showing grace to all? In verse 12, Rahab expected the spies to be men whose character reflected something of the character of the God they believed in. Imitating the graciousness and mercy of God is a kind of worship isn't it? How much more is it worship when God's people show love to sinners and mercy to people in need? You see, there is no telling who will be caught up in the wideness of God's mercy. But God forgive us if we presume that His mercy isn't wide enough to reach to the one we might look down on. So what sort of people should we be? Who might need some kindness from you? Who might need to hear from your lips the story of the birth of Christ and what He came and what He did? Remember: God used the news about what He had done for Israel to make a believer out of Rahab! Whom might God use you to rescue? Regardless of the size of our lawns, may God make us into a people known for the wideness of our hearts.
