Grace Points: Rahab and Paul

"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." -Heb. 11:31

The report that the twelve spies brought back from Canaan while Israel was still in the wilderness, was a challenging one, to say the least.

On the one hand Canaan was reported to be "an exceeding good land," flowing, as it were, "with milk and honey" (Num. 14:7,8). But on the other, its inhabitants were "strong" and the cities "walled, and very great" (13:28). Or, as Deut. 1:28 has it: 'The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven. . . ."

Jericho was the foremost of these great walled cities. Archeological excavations have confirmed the testimony of ancient writers as to the size of its walls in Joshua's day. In addition to an outer wall, six feet in thickness, there was an inner wall, twelve feet thick and thirty feet high. This afforded invincible protection against the mightiest armies of those days.

Yet, inside that city there was fear. Fear of Israel, whose God, Jehovah, had delivered them from Egypt, had dried a path through the Red Sea for them, had brought them, families and cattle included, across the wilderness, and had already given them significant victories in their conquest of Canaan.

It was to this city that Joshua had sent two spies, who had now found protection in the house of Rahab, the harlot I atop Jericho's wall. That the spies were not in Rahab's house for any immoral purpose is clear from the record of Scripture, but, more than this, Rahab not only feared Jehovah, she believed in Him. Hear her testimony:

" And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

" For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

" And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD, HE IS GOD IN HEAVEN ABOVE, AND IN EARTH BENEATH" (Josh. 2:9-11).

The closing statement of the above passage points up the difference between Rahab and the rest of Jericho's inhabitants, for this was an expression of her personal faith in Jehovah, God of Israel. This is why she "perished not with them that believed not" (Heb. 11:31).

The evidences of Rahab's faith are seen in her testimony, in the fact that she hid the spies and made a covenant with them, and in other ways. But on the moral and spiritual side the evidence is most touching of all.

Doubtless ashamed of her past, she now becomes concerned about the family she had disgraced, for she goes on to say:

" Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord [Heb., Jehovah] since I have shown you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token:

" And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death" (Josh. 2:12,13).

Before escaping out of Rahab's window by the scarlet rope she had provided, the spies not only swore to "deal kindly and truly" with her, but went even farther. See the record:

" Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread [The "true token"] in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.

" And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and WHOSOEVER SHALL BE WITH THEE IN THE HOUSE, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him" (Josh. 2:18,19).

That wonderful word, whosoever! How often we find it in the epistles of Paul and the writings of John in connection with salvation! Here it appears in a type!

One more evidence of Rahab's faith is seen in Verse 21, where we read: ". . . and they departed; and she bound the scarlet line in the window," as "a true token"-both to her and to them. The same scarlet line which was the means of their escape was also to be used as the means of her escape and of all that would be with her in her house!

What a foreshadowing was this scarlet line, of "the precious blood of Christ" through which all believers "have redemption ... according to the riches of His grace"! (I Pet. 1: 18,19; Eph. 1: 7).

" THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT"

We know that the vast majority of the inhabitants of Jericho "believed not," for Josh. 6 informs us that after the deliverance of Rahab and all that were with her, the city was "utterly destroyed," with all that was in it (Vers. 20-23).

But is there a hint, a rather broad one, that some of Rahab's own family did not believe? She asked the spies to swear that they would save alive "my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have" (Josh. 2:13). But they did not promise to do this. Rather they said: "and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household,[Ie., all who lived there, including servants, etc.] home unto thee" (Ver. 18).

Why did they omit Rahab's sisters? Was this just a careless oversight on their part? Or, rather, was it an inspired omission, because the sisters were not to be with her in her home when the city was taken?

It is true that in the 6th chapter, where we have the record of Jericho's conquest, we read that the spies went in and delivered "Rahab ... and her father's household, and all that she had" (Ver. 25), but this is a general statement (as in Vers. 22,23) and the "all that she hath" may well refer to all that she had with her in the house, for we know that only these were to be saved (2:19; 6:17).

We mention this because in Josh. 6:23, the other passage which enumerates specifically those who were saved, the sisters are again omitted from the list. The passage reads:

" And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, [If the omission of the sisters in these two cases is significant, this would mean all the kindred she had left, or now had; all that were "with her in the house" (Vers. 17,22,23,25).] and left them without the camp of Israel" (6:23).

In this case the omission of the sisters from the list can hardly be the result of an oversight, for here we have not the record of what the spies said, but the inspired record of what actually happened.

We bring this matter up, first to emphasize the fact that only those who were with her in the house were saved, according to the promise. None were saved merely because they were related to her. But, as we see it, this omission of Rahab's sisters emphasizes also the relation of human pride to unbelief.

It is easy to imagine the reaction of some of Jericho's inhabitants upon learning that whoever should be in the house with Rahab when Israel attacked, would be spared! "Go into a house of ill repute to find mercy! Take refuge with a harlot! Never! We will take our chances with the good people of Jericho," some would say. And of Rahab's family it would doubtless be her sisters who would most loathe to enter in, having been most deeply hurt by her conduct.

Granted, that in many cases paganism did not, and still does not, look upon a harlot as Christian people do today, harlots being used even in their temple "worship." Yet, there is no indication that Rahab's corrupt pursuit had anything to do with Jericho's religion. She was merely a harlot, [Living atop the city wall, where Jericho's soldiers would be most apt to be found.] and how many places are there in the world where promiscuity is not looked down upon, and harlots considered degenerated persons?

Thus, to be saved from Jericho's ruin it was necessary to take shelter in a house of ill repute, with a fallen woman. "Whosoever shall be with thee in the house"; these were the distinct conditions of the promise.

As we penned this article we almost hesitated to write down the above subtitle, for we could practically hear some reader object: "Surely you are not going to compare Rahab with Paul!" Well, did not Paul call himself the chief of sinners in I Tim. 1:15? This was not mere modesty on Paul's part; he wrote it by divine inspiration; it is part of the written Word of God.

Do you object that Rahab's sin was worse than Paul's had been? We do not deny that Paul had been a different kind of sinner, but he was no less a sinner. Remember that when Nicodemus, another Pharisee, had called upon our Lord ' the Lord began by bluntly telling him that he needed to be born again, or he would never even see the kingdom of God (John 3:1-7). Yet, in the next chapter, where we find the Lord dealing with the fallen woman at Sychar's well, He speaks very differently. "If thou knewest the gift of God," He says, "and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water" (John 4:10). Moreover, He spoke to Israel's religious leaders even more bluntly, when He said: "Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you" (Matt. 21:31).

Thus does a holy God hate pride in sinful man, as we read in I Pet. 5:5:

True, Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, had been conscientious in his religious beliefs, but he was conscientiously wrong, a self-righteous rebel against Christ, determined to stamp His name and memory from the pages of history. Thus it was sovereign grace alone that saved him. Indeed, he clearly states the reason why he, the chief of sinners, had been saved. Hear his movingdeclaration in I Tim. 1: 15,16:

" This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

" Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, THAT IN ME FIRST [OR CHIEFLY] JESUS CHRIST MIGHT SHOW FORTH ALL LONGSUFFERING, FOR A PATTERN TO THEM WHICH SHOULD HEREAFTER BELIEVE ON HIM TO LIFE EVERLASTING."

Thus, as in the case of Jericho deliverance was promised to all that should be with Rahab in her house, so today salvation is promised to all who take their place with Paul, the chief of sinners, saved by grace; who say in effect: "I am a sinner too; I will follow Paul and trust Christ as the One who came into the world to save sinners."

The whole story about Jericho's fall and Rahab's deliverance is one great lesson about faith. Israel's armies had to march around Jericho once each day, and on the seventh day seven times (6:3,4). Can you picture them at the close of that seventh day of marching? Can you imagine how utterly exhausted they were, with barely enough strength to stand, much less to fight! This victory had to be by faith rather than by fighting.

But here is where some famous artists have erred. They have pictured Rahab's house precariously perched atop one small segment of the wall that did not fall! Ah, but those walls did not crumble until after "Joshua had said ... Go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her" (Josh. 6:22). And thus:

" By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not" (Heb. 11:31).

Rahab's physical deliverance (she was already saved, spiritually) before the judgment of Jericho, reminds us that we, who belong to the Pauline dispensation, will be delivered from this doomed world before God's judgment falls upon it (See I Thes 4:135:10).

Does all this mean that "the mystery" revealed to Paul concerning God's "eternal purpose" is to be found in the Old Testament Scriptures? Not at all, for the Old Testament says nothing whatever about this sacred secret. Yet, as we consider the types, physical, ritual and historical; and as we consider the implications and even the omissions of prophecy, how many of them show us now that God's heart was all the while filled with the riches of grace He would some day unfold through Paul! This, indeed, is one of the great evidences that God was not taken by surprise by man's rejection of Christ, and that the revelation that followed did not represent some makeshift arrangement, but God's eternal purpose.

This is how the Old Testament Scriptures, though betraying not one word of the secret "hid from ages and from generations," nevertheless now confirm the truth of the mystery. This is how the Bereans, searching the Scriptures as to Paul's teachings, could see that not only did these Scriptures not contradict Paul's message; they confirmed that what he now proclaimed must indeed be true!

But getting back to the results of faith, it could be said of Rahab, as of Ruth, the Moabitess: ". . . a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust" (Ruth 2:12), for like Ruth, Rahab too became an ancestress of our Lord Jesus Christ. Still today we find her name illustriously inscribed among the four women mentioned in our Lord's genealogy (See Matt. 1:5). What an honor!

And thus does our great and loving God take the lowest who trust Him, and give them the highest place of honor and blessing. As we think of Rahab's past and what God so graciously did for her, how can we help recalling Eph. 2, where we read of those who were "the children [Gr., huios, grown sons] of disobedience," and therefore "by nature the children [Gr., teknon, born ones] of wrath, even as others":

" Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us [given us life] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

" And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

" That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of this grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:2-7).

Reprinted from The Berean Searchlight, the official organ of the Berean Bible Society. (Volume LV, Number 2.)