New Beginnings: The Book of Joshua – Part 2: Rahab

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New Beginnings – Part 2

A GENTILE IN YESHUA’S GENEALOGY

In chapter 2 is where we meet Rahab who helped the Israelites at Jericho when Joshua sent 2 spies to the land, Canaan. This happened before the Israelites crossed the river.

Joshua 2:1  Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there. 
Joshua 2:2  The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.” 
Joshua 2:3  Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.” 
Joshua 2:4  The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from. 
Joshua 2:5  About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 
Joshua 2:6  But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. 
Joshua 2:7  The men pursued them along the way to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 
Joshua 2:8  Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof. 
Joshua 2:9  She said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 
Joshua 2:10  For we have heard how Yahweh 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 to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 

Let me put a note in here. The Amori were descendants of Canaan and were a very feared people. The other “ites” did not mess around with the Amorites even though they all had the same ancestor, Canaan. The defeat of the Amorites by the Israelites was an incredible defeat to the Canaanites on the scale of the defeat of Egypt just 40 years earlier. It scared the daylights out of the citizens of Jericho and the other Canaanites. They dreaded what they knew was coming.

There is an apt comparison here between the Canaanites of the that day and us here at the end of days. Whereas the Canaanites, then, were about to experience their tribulation, our entire earth is about to go through that, and people all over the globe are experiencing this same fear of YHVH and His army of Israelites. In the near future, that army will be the more fearsome army of the 144,000.  Because of hard hearts, religious false doctrines and even not knowing the name of YHVH, the earth’s population will not all come to YHVH during this period. In ancient Canaan, there was a remnant saved because of one woman’s faith in YHVH. That is how it will be again. A remnant will be saved.

Joshua 2:11  As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath. 
Joshua 2:12  Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign; 
Joshua 2:13  and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.” 
Joshua 2:14  The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

Rahab may have been a prostitute but here she acted wisely and later shows up in the genealogy of Yeshua through the spy named Salmon.

Mattthew 1:5  And Salmon begat Booz [Boaz] of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse…

Luke 3:32  the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon…

It is only Matthew’s genealogy that mentions the two goy mothers (gentile mothers), Rahab and Ruth.

The scripture is clear about the Israelites not marrying into Canaanite families. After the golden calf treachery and Moses’s subsequent pleading with YHVH not to destroy His people, YHVH told Israel He would go before them in their wars but Israel was drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites from the land. He also said:

Exo 34:12  Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you: 
Exo 34:13  but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles; 
Exo 34:14  for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 

Furthermore:

Exo 34:15  “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice; 
Exo 34:16  and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods. 

The same command is repeated in Deuteronomy 7:1-4.

Deuteronomy 7:1  When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you; 
Deuteronomy 7:2  and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. 
Deuteronomy 7:3  You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son. 
Deuteronomy 7:4  For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So Yahweh’s anger would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 

Rahab was a Canaanite and the two spies made a covenant with this Canaanite woman – or did they? Let’s examine this.

Joshua 2:12  Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign; 
Joshua 2:13  and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.” 
Joshua 2:14  The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

This was not a covenant. It was an oath. There is a difference between a covenant and an oath that we need to understand clearly so that we don’t get the idea the 2 spies made a covenant with any Canaanite, even a cute prostitute named Rahab.

A covenant and an oath are both legally binding before YHVH but the difference between these is that a covenant is made between God and man while oaths are made between people. Person to person. A vow, the other term we must understand, is between man and God. The 2 spies made an oath to Rahab, and a smart one, too. It was conditioned upon some actions she must do or not do the first of which was to keep her mouth shut about them (v14). Additionally, she was to hang a scarlet cord outside he window and to have her entire family gathered to her when the time came (v18).

Notice that the 2 spies did not give Rahab a date for Israel’s attack. They did not know the date of the attack just like we, today, do not know the date of the coming Tribulation. Yet, Rahab had to be prepared so all who were with her would also be saved. We are facing this same situation today, aren’t we?

The salvation of our households is a thread throughout scripture from Deuteronomy 30 to this passage in Joshua 2 to Ezekiel 14. This is one reason our ingathering where we will be all together in one place is so necessary and why we must keep telling our children, parents and friends where to go when the trouble starts.

And how will we all know when the trouble has come? Well, we can listen for the shofar blasts just as Rahab did, and be watching and praying as Yeshua said and know the signs He told us about. Teach these to those you love, too. There will be trumpet blasts in the Tribulation, too. Seven of them.

Here’s a take-away. When Rahab spoke to the 2 spies, she was already a convert from being a goy, a gentile, to being an Israelite. She was already a believer in YHVH. How do I know? Let’s listen to her confession of faith.

Converting then and now, the before the Cross and after the Cross, is the same. People have always looked to the savior, and He was always Yeshua whether people looked forward in time or back in time, as we do now. Rahab was looking forward in time to her own descendant who would die for her sins in time to come, but who was still able to save because He IS YHVH who saves from the foundation of the world.

All of the Canaanites could have been saved if they had wanted to. YHVH had let them be in Abraham’s land (which Noah had bequeathed to Shem by lot). He had given them ample time to repent of their wickedness. All Canaanites, all “ites”, are just as welcome in YHVH’s Kingdom as anyone else. But now He’s going to kill them all. Why?

It has always been about the heart. YHVH only resorts to killing the body when there is no hope of repentance, no hope for the turning of man’s spirit away from Satan toward YHVH. All the Canaanites except Rahab rejected YHVH. They could all have been saved.

It is the same today. The world refuses to repent so their bodies have to be destroyed. This is YHVH’s creation. The earth is central to His universe. It is his footstool for His throne and, right now, the wicked are doing graffiti on His footstool. In His mercy, God is giving them time to repent but He will not allow this to go on forever. The invasion of Canaan by Israel has a great parallel to the coming Tribulation. This is another reason we need to study our past. You already learned something about the 7 trumpets of the Tribulation in this parallel account of Joshua’s invasion of Canaan and about a woman who prepared for her time of trouble.

Joshua 2:9  She said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 
Joshua 2:10  For we have heard how Yahweh 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 to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 

Do you know what this is? It is what I’m going to call a “Tribulation heart”. Rahab has expressed certainty of knowing who YHVH is, fear of YHVH and awe at His miracles. Hers was a heart that comes to YHVH because of His demonstrative power on earth. Before the Exodus, few if any, of the “ites” in the land knew who YHVH was. They do now! And they’re scared to death!

Rahab’s heart wants to serve the “best” God, as it were. That we her starting point. We all had a starting point, right? Hers was the seeker’s heart that wanted to know which god was the greatest god. There are people on earth today looking for the god that is greater.

Here we witness the very first conversion of a goy, a gentile, to becoming an Israelite. This is the original meaning of conversion. That term is used to indicate a switch in religion today. It’s original meaning and intent was a switch from any nationality, any “goy” from the nations, to being an Israelite. I will have more on this in a minute.

Rahab is the first example of someone who was not living among Israelites as gentiles were in Egypt. The Egyptians all knew who the Hebrews were. Rahab, though, has never seen an Israelite! Yet, here she is preparing for her salvation, anyway! She was already preparing before these men arrived. She already knew trouble was coming.

She confessed to the 2 spies that she knew the land belonged to Israel and she wanted to be saved by Israel’s God. How did Rahab know the land belonged to Israel unless she had been taught this? I believe the Canaanites knew this and understood what it meant for all of them when Israel came out of Egypt even if they did not know Israel’s God and King.

This is a cold conversion, straight from her own heart! She is the only one in Jericho to express the understanding that YHVH is the God of gods, as scripture says in Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalms 136:2, Daniel 2:47 and Daniel 11:36. YHVH has been in the business of saving people since the time of Adam and He often saves those we would deem unworthy of salvation.

YHVH Elohim uses hard times to soften people’s hearts toward Him, doesn’t He? Here is Rahab comprehending her future choices because she knows hard times are coming. Who ya gonna trust, Rahab? Trust in YHVH!

Rahab was already one of YHVH’s sheep. She just didn’t know it until now. Yeshua said:

Matthew 7:7  “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.

That was Rahab. And maybe she was tired of prostituting herself. Maybe she already wanted more from her god before Israel was about to take the land. She was one of YHVH’s sheep even in her sinning but the time came for her to answer His voice.

John 10:1  “Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 
John 10:2  But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 
John 10:3  The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. 
John 10:4  Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 
John 10:5  They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.” 

John 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

How old was Rahab at this time? Some scholars say she was at least 50. There is no reason to think she was that old. Scholars assume Rahab was already living and old enough to understand the gravity of the situation when Israel came out of Egypt. I think that is wrong and will give you my reasoning.

I think Rahab was under the age of 40, perhaps around 30 and that she had heard the account of how YHVH conquered Egypt from her own people in Jericho. They had been talking about for 40 years! Look, what appears to the human eye as a ragtag bunch of slaves running from Egypt, which was conquered at the Red Sea, had to have gotten the attention of not a few Canaanites. Additionally, Joshua would have used the best Jordan river crossing to enter into Canaan and Jericho was the first city the Israelites would come to. Yeah… Jericho was acutely aware of the possibility of war between them and the Israelites.

This relates to Rahab’s age because she had to be under 50 years old. At 50, she would remember the fear that ripples through the city state of Jericho at the news of the Red Sea defeat of Egypt. But she could well have been under 40 and I believe she was. Reasoning a bit can tell us why because it helps a lot in the prostitute business for the woman to be young, under 40.

I believe she was an innkeeper, an idea that comes straight from the Targum as a Jewish tradition (and I will tell you why I think the Targum is right in a minute), but she was a full-blown harlot as verse 1 says and as Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 say, both of which refer to her as “pornay”, a prostitute. A harlot with a business head would find it so much better to add to her income by operating a lodging business, an inn. I will have some more to say about this inn in a moment.

Rahab began her request of the 2 spies by making a confession of faith. She said, ““I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you”.

That is faith, and that is the prerequisite for coming to YHVH. We don’t come through the Law of Moses and neither did Rahab. In fact, she would have to learn that prostitution and Torah do not go together. No, we to YHVH come because of our faith.

The issue, then, for the 2 spies was to determine if her faith was real. We must all have our faith tested right from the beginning, and our faith will be tested over and over throughout our lives because testing strengthens our faith to grow from a tiny seedling to a full grown oak of righteousness (Isaiah 61:3).

The 2 spies’ decision to make their oath with Rahab was because she extended the first hand of kindness, chesed in Hebrew (Strong’s H2617) before she asked for their kindness, chesed, in return. Rahab’s heart was already with Israel but she would have to prove that by following their instructions.

What was Rahab doing by following their instructions, besides saving herself and her household (which, by the way, is a promise from God about our own households)? What was she doing by keeping her mouth shut, putting out the scarlet cord from her window and ingathering her family? She was preparing to be a bride even if she didn’t know it! She married one of the 2 spies, Salmon, from the tribe of Judah. (I suspect the other spy was from Ephraim but nothing, nothing, nothing is said about him in scripture).  

Here’s a brain twister. Rahab is a prophecy. She was a prostitute. Some people try to whitewash her prostitution by saying she only was an innkeeper, as I said before. But folks, being an innkeeper and at the same time paid for sex with men coming to her motel went hand in hand. It really cannot be proven that Rahab was an innkeeper but the scripture expressly says she was a prostitute. Let’s not try to do away with Rahab as a prostitute. Rather, let’s celebrate her marvelous salvation and deliverance by YHVH! What a great testimony of His love! Besides, being that, she became the prostitute that Yeshua would save by becoming her descendant!

The other way that Rahab is a prophecy is that she prophesies what Israel had already become – a whore with the golden calf, and such a whore that her whoredom only worsened for the next 1500 years. Rahab’s whoredom prophesied of the very reason her descendant, Yeshua, would need to die to save them.

In effect, then, Yeshua saved His own grandparents, and He delivered Rahab from the battle of Jericho and gave her eternal life. And then He married her into His own lineage. We are going to have our own “Rahab” story. YHVH is about to save those who keep faith in Him and do what He says, just like Rahab did with the 2 spies.

Here is why I believe Rahab was also an innkeeper in addition to being a prostitute. It comes about in my mind because of the connection to an inn at Yeshua’s birth. Joseph and Mary could not find room at the inn, remember?

Rahab’s inn seemed to always have room. The 2 spies stayed with her, and no, there was no hanky-panky going on. But the inn in Mary’s day did not have room. Why? What was the purpose for the inn to have no room? It pointed out the contrast between the righteous Mary who was, herself, in Rahab’s line, and Rahab who was not yet righteous, albeit wanting to be, when the 2 spies stayed at her inn.

Yet, for some, this may not resolve the issue of there being a Canaanite in Yeshua’s genealogy. We can go forward in time about 2 or 3 more generations to the Book of Ruth. She was a Moabite. YHVH had said no Moabite could enter His Tabernacle up to the 10^th generation (Deuteronomy 23:2-3). Yet Boaz married her which meant she was acceptable in YHVH’s Tabernacle. This is where understanding the original meaning of the word “convert” will help us.

There are 2 Hebrew words for this: T’shuvah (Strong’s H7725) and haphak (Strong’s H2015. T’shuvah means to return. That applies only to those who have been to the place and have strayed away. Haphak means “to turn, turnabout or turn over, to become, change, come, or be converted”. This is Rahab. She had never been to YHVH. She was now coming to YHVH. 

Ruth said, “Your people will be my people, and your God my God” in Ruth 1:16. At that moment, Ruth was no longer a Moabite! She was an Israelite.

The moment that Rahab reached out to YHVH through the 2 spies, she was no longer a Canaanite. She was an Israelite! This is the true meaning of conversion, haphak. The person does not change religions. That isn’t conversion. The person changes from being a goy, a gentile, to being an Israelite. 

Thus, there is no Canaanite nor Moabite in Yeshua’s genealogy because, from the very beginning even with Adam, belonging to YHVH is a matter of the heart. May all of our families and friends know this heart and convert, haphak.

Joshua 2:14  The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” 
Joshua 2:15  Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall. 
Joshua 2:16  She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.” 
Joshua 2:17  The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear. 
Joshua 2:18  Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. 
Joshua 2:19  It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him. 
Joshua 2:20  But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.” 
Joshua 2:21  She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window. 

Lesson to learn: Keep your word and don’t expect others to keep their word if you break yours. This incident expands on the requirements regarding oaths in Numbers 30. Thus, because we are studying Joshua now, we have a little more knowledge on what it means to make and keep an oath.

Numbers 30:2  When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. 

However, we now know that if the other party breaks the agreement, we are no longer liable for our oath to that person.

Joshua 2:22  They went, and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but didn’t find them. 
Joshua 2:23  Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, crossed the river, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. They told him all that had happened to them. 

I love that these 2 men descended from “the mountain”, as it were. This is a metaphor for Yeshua coming to us with His good news 2,000 years ago, and now about to return from “the Mountain, as it were, another indicator that there are parallels between the Book of Joshua and us today.

Joshua 2:24  They said to Joshua, “Truly Yahweh has delivered all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.” 

Rahab, the used-to-be prostitute, uttered words that so encouraged Joshua that he realized YHVH would deliver all of Canaan into Israel’s hands. Unlike the 10 spies who brought the evil report, these 2 spies brought back a report that the people of the Land were in fear of them and that conquest was assured.

One woman who no one would think would even come to YHVH, not only came to Him but she was rewarded with being His ancestor! We don’t know what YHVH has in store for us who cling to Him but there is just so much joy in finding out!

Israel has been like Rahab but there is a wedding in our future! Joshua chapter 2 truly reveals new beginnings, both for Israel and Rahab! What a blessing! I LOVE Rahab!

Next week, we will begin to learn about the Passover on the other side of the Jordan river, the first one ever in the Land.