We all have areas in our lives where we aren’t where we want to be. Areas where we are stuck. Areas we have adopted behaviors that do nothing to give us life. We all have bad habits and we make subtle choices that prevent us from being truly free; areas of compromise that have become patterns we don’t know how or if we could ever change. Well, let me introduce you to someone with whom you can completely relate.
Her name is Rahab. She is a prostitute living in the city of Jericho around the time the Israelite nation is about to cross the Jordan River. Jericho is the first city God promises to help the Israelites defeat as they enter the promised land. Rahab hides the Israelite spies and then helps them escape. As they are leaving, this is her plea, “When Jericho is conquered…let me live, along with my father + mother, my brothers + sisters, and all their families,” (Joshua 2:13). The spies did in fact honor her request and saved her and her family.
So, who is this Rahab “the prostitute”?
She is a prostitute.
Fair enough; in her culture, she may not have been so negatively viewed, but none the less, she was a prostitute. She was possibly the black sheep of the family, the lost one, the one who never appeared to quite measure up to her potential. And yet, despite all that, she saved her family. She rescued them, not because she was a hero, but because of her trust in the fact that the God of the Israelites was faithful and powerful. She heard that He always does what He says He is going to do. She believed Him. That says a lot about Rahab, despite her less than respectable line of work.
As a prostitute, she slept with anyone willing to pay her. At some point one must shut down major aspects of oneself in order to behave like that – whether it is culturally acceptable or not. We are all people. We all have souls, hearts and minds. We all desire to be loved, respected and heard. We want people to know who we truly – deep inside.
Sin, when active in our lives, whether justified or not, always brings death – death to a dream, a relationship, a hope and death to our souls. When we feel that death, we become so desperate to experience life again that we’ll do anything. Perhaps Rahab was a prostitute because she just wanted to feel loved or even help others to feel loved. Maybe she herself, unprotected in her youth, was violated, and she knew no other way to be accepted.
Regardless, this story reveals there’s a lot more to this Rahab.
She is a smart woman.
She was fully aware of the events happening around her. She knew the news about the nation of Israel advancing on her city. She must have observed how people were responding, because she told the spies, “all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.” She then goes on to describe all that she had heard God had done for the Israelites since leaving Egypt.
She has a heart of surrender.
Rahab told the spies, “For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.” She recognized His power but was not afraid to be under it.
She is confident.
She talks directly to the spies, who were the “enemy.” She talks with boldness and even negotiates a plan to save not only herself, but her family as well.
She is a brave protector.
Obviously, she not only protected herself and her family, but despite direct pressure from the king of Jericho, she protected the spies as well. She, with confidence, directed the king’s men in the wrong direction.
She is a leader.
She must have had a strong voice of influence. Her family listened to and apparently trusted her when she shared about the spies. It says in Joshua 6:23, “They (the Israelites) brought out her and her ENTIRE family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel…and she lives among the Israelites to this day (vs. 25).
Rahab “the prostitute,” as she is often referred to, found her way out of her bondage – self imposed or not. It was all through surrender and submission to the living God. She “lived among the Israelites.” She became one of them and gained a completely new identity.
Do you know the next two things that Rahab witnessed after being rescued from Jericho? She saw the undefeated Israelites lose their next battle, as well as God’s severe punishment towards Achen and his family because of his disobedience. He had taken plunder from Jericho.
Both of those events must have reiterated the importance of obedience as well as solidified within her the truth that God always does what He says He will do. He is all powerful, and He is all loving.
But there’s more…
She is the great-grandmother of David the King.
Here is part of her family tree in Matthew 1:5-6: Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
Ironically enough, when she married Salmon, she married someone from the tribe of Judah…Achen’s tribe.
I want to meet little Ms. Rahab one day. She proves there is life beyond our sin, beyond our labels and beyond what we can see. She also shows us that to attain that LIFE, we must surrender and submit to our all-powerful, all-loving, sovereign God.
In the Meanwhile…
We can never underestimate our place and the influence our life can have on those around us. Be who God made you to be where you are, and you might just be surprised who you become.