Lent Midweek - Rahab

 

Lent Midweek 3 – Rahab (Joshua 2 and 6) – March 8^th, 2023

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

    In tonight's sermon on repentance, we get to examine the example of Rahab the prostitute, who is basically the only survivor of the fall of Jericho (along with her family), as she aids the Jewish spies and basically defects to Israel. And I think it's important that before we dive into the Scriptures for tonight that we clear some baggage off the table that we have as Americans. Ladies of the night often show up in American stories, and they often tend to have a hidden heart of gold. They're just a sweet gal down on hard times, waiting for someone to rescue them – like Julia Roberts waiting for Richard Gere. Or if you like Westerns, well sure there might be that gal of ill-repute upstairs at the Saloon, but she's really just as sweet as can be, and she might just help the hero out before all is said and done.

    That's not Rahab. Rahab is presented to us in the Scriptures as a powerful, duplicitous, and perhaps wickedly scary woman. First of all, there's her house. It's the place where everyone goes – it's large, she has money and connections. She's a big wig in the world of vice. And when she gets summoned before the king of Jericho, she doesn't wilt, she doesn't shrink back, she isn't intimidated in the least. True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. She flat out lies to the King, tells him to send out a raiding party, and he listens to her. Do you see? This is a woman of power and influence. She is used to dealing with the mighty and respected by them.

    And then there is her name to consider. Often we forget the impact or significance of names – but they had importance and meaning in the Old Testament. They were liked Brands today – they were meant to covey something. And what does the name Rahab mean? Well, it was the sea monster that lived at the bottom of the ocean, it was the Abyss. You'll see this meaning of Rahab get mentioned elsewhere, along with Leviathan. Hearing someone say, “Let's go to Rahab's place” would be like hearing, “Let's go to Ursula the Sea Witch's palace” or “Let's go visit Betty Kraken.” Rahab is a woman who makes her living openly off of vice, and successfully so. Her house is in the wall – she's got a highrise, a penthouse.

    So understand – Rahab is no wilting flower – she's in charge of all of Jericho's hellraising, she runs vice there like unto a mob boss. She is a bad, bad woman with power and success, a business empire. This isn't a woman desperate to escape her wretched life – this is a woman who has it all, who has it better that pretty much everyone else, who worked hard for what she has and has been used to working hard to keep it.

    Now, listen to what we hear in verse 9. Rahab hides the spies, and before she even goes to the King she says this to them: I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land will melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. Rahab, like all of Jericho, has seen the writing on the wall. For 40 years they've heard that Israel was coming. They all knew that Israel was on their way to the the Holy Land, coming for them and their land. They heard of what happened with Egypt, they heard of Israel's conquests during their 40 years in the desert. And for 40 years the people of Jericho had lived in denial. They knew what was coming, but they just pretended it wasn't. They had 40 years in which they could have left, moved, sought out accommodations (as a few groups do – like the Gibeonites). Nope, business just went on as normal in Jericho – and for many, including Rahab, business was good. But now Israel is approaching the Jordan, and the first place they'll hit when they cross is Jericho. Time is up.

    Rahab continues: As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in the heavens above and the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you will also deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death. This is what repentance sounds like. I know who the LORD is, I know that Jericho is doomed. I know that my livelihood, my life as I had known it and enjoyed it is done. So be it. Let all that stuff, everything I cherished, let it be destroyed with the rest – simply make sure that my family and I get out alive. You spies are my hope for life. Spare us. Let us come with you. We will no longer be of Jericho, we will be with you.

    And that's what happens. We hear in Joshua 6:24 and 25, “And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the LORD. But Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day. So she lives in Israel. In fact, Matthew records for us that Rahab marries into the tribe of Judah and is the ancestor of both David and Jesus. She's one of the heroes of the faith that Hebrews lists off in chapter 11. In James 2 she's an example of a woman who came to faith and then acted accordingly.

    Repentance, turning to God, means turning away from sin, no matter how appealing or profitable it was, no matter how much power and prestige it had given you. Repentance means that one hears the Word of God and reacts accordingly. Everyone in Jericho heard – but when those spies came, Rahab and her family turned from that vile pagan morass and lived. Everyone else held on to their sin until it cost them their lives. Rahab, though, saw hope, saw life with Israel – a different life than she had known, but a life amongst the people of the LORD. And it ended up being a good life for her. She had talked to kings; now she has become the Great-Great-Grandmother of kings. The temporal blessings, the wealth and prestige lost in the ruin of Jericho might not square up in the eyes of the world, but Rahab moved on to something much better than what the world was peddling.

    The world will dangle its wares before you. It will even try to exercise its wickedness through you – maybe not as dramatically as it had through Rahab in Jericho, but we all know that there are plenty of ways that we can use our various vocation and positions to cause all sorts of troubles (be they petty or grand). We know temptations to cut a corner when no one is watching, or even to be cutthroat in our dealings to get ahead. The world has its game, and it will call for you to play it well, regardless of who gets hurts. But Christ Jesus gives you today something better. You have heard what the Scriptures proclaim. This world is on its last legs – the writing is on the wall. Christ has gone into the Jordan and was baptized, He was lifted up high upon the Cross, and the stone walls of His own tomb He has toppled with His resurrection. In Christ, there is true life – life everlasting. And He comes to you to rescue you from this fallen world and to give you life. Indeed, His Word comes to you today, His Spirit is poured out upon you, pulling you away from your own Jericho, wresting you away from it and forgiving you by Jesus' blood and righteousness. Yes, there will be glitz and glamour and power that you will have to leave, but that is fine and good, for because of Jesus you have a place now in the family of God, and eternal life is yours. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +