The nation of Israel was captive in Egypt when God chose Moses to be their leader. God sent Moses to Pharaoh requesting the release of His nation from slavery, but Pharaoh refused. Through Moses God sent plagues upon Pharaoh, each one progressively more intense than the last. Finally, God grew weary of Pharaoh’s refusal to release His people, so He sent Moses to Pharaoh with the final plague—the death of every first-born son throughout the land.
God instructed Moses to tell the nation Israel to paint lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their houses. Anyone within the home that night would be spared from God’s angel of death. Passover is celebrated to this day, but most people who celebrate it do not know that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover. One of the Lord’s many names is The Lamb of God, and it is His blood that covers His Chosen Nation in righteousness. Amen.
(Please note too, that God uses His angels to fulfill His will. This understanding will be important in later posts.)
The following morning, in his grief over losing his first-born son—his heir to the throne of Egypt—Pharaoh releases the Israelites from captivity and the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea brought the Israelites out of Egypt.
Through a series of disobediences the nation Israel did not immediately enter the Promised Land. They wandered in the wilderness until all of the original Israelites that were freed from Egypt died. At that time, God had Moses bring their descendants to the banks of the Jordan river, and there Moses also died. Joshua replaced Moses as the LORD’s leader over Israel. Thus begins a new chapter for the nation under Joshua, God’s chosen.
In the book of Joshua there is a brave woman, an unusual woman, who is a gentile inhabitant of the city of Jericho, who comes to the aid of two Israeli scouts.
Joshua 1:2-9 sets up her introduction—
“My servant Moses is dead. Now get ready to cross the Jordan River—you and all the people—to the land that I’m giving the Israelis. I’m giving you every place where the sole of your foot falls, just as I promised Moses. Your territorial border will extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon Mountains, to the river—that great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—as far as the Mediterranean Sea where the sun sets. No one will be victorious against you for the rest of your life. I’ll be with you just like I was with Moses—I’ll neither fail you nor abandon you. Be strong and courageous, because you’ll be leading this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Only be strong and very courageous to ensure that you obey all the instructions that my servant Moses gave you—turn neither to the right nor to the left from it—so that you may succeed wherever you go. This set of instructions is not to cease being a part of your conversations. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to carry out everything that’s written in it, for then you’ll prosper and succeed. I’ve commanded you, haven’t I? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be fearful or discouraged, because the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
The LORD God defines the boundaries of His promised land, and He appoints Joshua over His nation, then God tells Joshua:
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- No one will be victorious against you for the rest of your life.
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- I’ll be with you.
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- I will not fail you nor abandon you.
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- Be strong and courageous.
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- Lead the people to inherit the land I promised their ancestors.
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- Be strong and courageous TO ENSURE that you obey ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS Moses gave you.
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- To succeed, turn neither right nor left from those instructions.
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- Talk about these instructions unceasingly.
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- Be careful to think about, and pray day and night, to carry out these instructions for success and prosperity.
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- I HAVE COMMANDED.
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- Be strong and courageous.
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- Don’t be fearful or discouraged.
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- I AM with you wherever you go.
OK! Repetition in scripture is highly important. Remember, God does not require repetition—but people do!
God tells Joshua He will be with him. God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, and God tells Joshua that Israel will inherit the promised land.
But note the command regarding the absolute lack of fear. And note, too, the command to think about the importance of this work.
Why?
Because when God is before us:
No one can stand against us.
But we MUST rest assured in Him.
We must be bold in our constant contact, and communication, and cooperation, and commitment to Him.
Before God allows Joshua and Israel to go one step further, He implies (from the above) that conquering this promised land will not be easy, but the LORD God has already placed all of the necessary resources and requirements ahead of Joshua for his success! Therefore, all Joshua must do is OBEY.
Seems so simple, doesn’t it?
Yet, this passage reminds us of Ephesians, when Paul tells us to get up every morning and put on the full armor of God. Just do it! Obey this command and then stand firm, in full battle regalia, and watch as God conquers every single daily difficulty. But how many believers get out of bed each day and never do this simple thing?
Well, this is what God is warning Joshua about. OBEDIENCE.
Now contrast this with the gentile pagan prostitute named Rahab in Joshua 2:
After this, Nun’s son Joshua sent two men from the Acacia groves as undercover scouts. He told them, “Go and look over the land. Pay special attention to Jericho.” So they went out, came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and lodged there. Then the king of Jericho was told, “Look! Israeli men arrived tonight to scout out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent for Rahab and ordered her, “Bring out the men who came to visit you and lodged in your house, because they’ve come to scout out the entire land.” Now the woman had taken the two men and hid them. So she replied, “The men really did come to me, but I didn’t know from where they came. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gates, the men left. I don’t know where the men went. Go after them quickly, and you might overtake them.” But she had taken them up to the roof and had hidden them among stalks of flax that she had laid out in order on the roof. So the men pursued them along the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as the search party had left, they shut the city gate after them. Before the scouts had lain down, she went up to them on the roof “I’m really convinced that the LORD has given you the land,” she said, “because we’re overwhelmed with fear of you. All the other inhabitants of the land are demoralized at your presence, because we heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea right in front of you as you were coming out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan River—to Sihon and Og—whom you completely destroyed. When we heard these reports, we all became terrified and discouraged because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. Now therefore, since I’ve treated you so kindly, please swear in the name of the LORD that you’ll also be kind to my father’s household by giving me this sure sign: Spare my father, my mother, and my brothers and sisters, along with everyone who belongs with them so we won’t be killed.” So the men told her, “Our life for yours—even to death—if you don’t betray this mission of ours. Then when the LORD gives us this land, we’ll treat you graciously and faithfully.” So she let them down by a rope through the window, since her house was built into the town wall where she lived. She told them, “Go out to the hill country, so the search party won’t find you, and hide for three days. After that, you may go on your own way.” The men replied, “We’ll be free from our commitment to you to which you’ve obligated us when we invade the land, if you don’t tie this rope made with red cords in the window through which you let us down, and if you don’t gather your father, your mother, your brothers, and all of the rest of your father’s household into your house. Everyone who leaves through the doors of your house into the street will be responsible for his own death, but we’ll be responsible for anyone who remains with you in the house if even so much as a hand is laid on him. But if you report this incident, we’ll be free from the oath to which you’ve made us swear.” “Since you put it that way,” she replied, “I agree.” After she sent them on their way and they had left, she tied the red cord in the window. The scouts left for the hill country and remained there for three days until the search party returned. The search party searched the entire road, but was unable to find them. Later, the two men returned from the hill country, crossed over the Jordan River, approached Nun’s son Joshua, and told him everything that had happened to them. They reported to Joshua, “The LORD really has given the entire land into our control. The inhabitants of the land have melted away right in front of us!”
We learn that the inhabitants in the lands around Canaan have heard about this huge nation of Israel that traveled in the wilderness. And these people know about God, the powerful LORD who defeats Pharaohs, and vast armies, so that His people can travel safely to the land He set apart for them.
The two scouts lodge in a prostitute’s home. What better place for two men to hide! No one would question their visit, and yet the king of Jericho learns where they are because the people in the city are terrified and discouraged that the LORD God’s great nation has arrived across the river, and they saw the men come through the city gates. Contrast this to Joshua, and his scouts, being strong and courageous. These two scouts have no fear of being caught while they are surrounded, inside a city that is locked down and search parties seek their location.
Now take a close look at Rahab. She isn’t afraid either! She fully recognizes that her pagan gods cannot compete against the mighty LORD God. Rahab is convinced that God has given the land of Canaan over to His people. How does she know this? God chooses whom He will to do His works and then He blesses them beyond measure when they obey. Rahab obeys a God she barely knows by protecting two complete strangers. She even makes excuses for them to her king! She negotiates a deal with them, before lowering them by a red rope out of her house, so they can escape. Immediately thereafter, Rahab ties that rope to her outer window for the entire invading Israeli army to see. That’s how much faith Rahab has in her new God.
We learn from Rahab that people throughout the land are discouraged, fearful, demoralized, terrified, overwhelmed, emotionally destroyed, and feel like they are being pursued.
Contrast all of that with what the scouts (and subsequently God) promise to this woman:
She will be hidden,
She will be convinced,
Things will be given to her,
Her presence will be before God,
She will come out safely,
She will know the God who is in heaven above and on earth,
The scouts swear their promises in the name of the LORD,
God is kind,
God gives a sure sign—the red cord rope,
God will spare Rahab’s family and all who are with them—they will not be killed,
“Our life for yours—even to death” depicts what Jesus did at His sacrificial crucifixion when He traded His life for all believers,
God is gracious and faithful to Rahab and her family,
God gathers them,
Each person is responsible for themselves, therefore they can choose whether or not to obey this negotiated promise,
Then God takes responsibility for all those who remain within Rahab’s house,
And lastly, agreement or obedience with God’s accords is necessary for all of these things to be fulfilled.
WOW! But it gets even better…
Rahab is an amazing gentile pagan woman who does not know the LORD God, but she chooses Him anyway, and she is used mightily, because of her complete and total obedience. Rahab becomes one of God’s special chosen as a member of God’s Church, that group who is His Chosen Nation. Understand God has been building His Church Nation for many millennia!
Now check this out…there is nothing in this passage that indicates that Rahab’s family shares her conviction about the LORD God’s mightiness, and yet, because she begs for their rescue, God honors her request! All who are within her home during the invasion will be saved. Opposing this, however; if anyone chooses to leave her house—leave God’s protection—then they take their lives into their own hands. They don’t survive the invasion.
O, how merciful is the LORD God, who rescues His chosen AND their family. This is amazing love!
The scouts head for the hills and after three days hiding (no coincidence to the length of time the Lord Jesus was in the grave)—quite possibly in a cave (also no coincidence to Jesus’ tomb) the scouts boldly return to Joshua and report all they learned.
What a fantastic story. But why did God place Rahab in this scripture passage—why is she so vitally important?
God blesses Rahab, and she becomes the mother of Boaz—the Kinsman Redeemer—in the book of Ruth. Boaz represents the King Jesus in heaven who is our Kinsman Redeemer. For in Revelation chapter 5 King Jesus is the only person who can open the Scroll Deed to Earth and reclaim what belongs to Him.
This is the scroll of all scrolls, and once opened begins the 70th Week of Daniel, the future timeline that is known as the seven-year tribulation. In the middle of the seven years—at the 3½ year point—the Great Tribulation that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 24:15-22 begins.
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
Amen and AMEN!
Onward to Revelation chapter 5.