The Bible has unique ways of presenting characters based on their past experiences. One woman whose experience or past life became her personal attribute in the Old Testament is Rahab. Who was Rahab? She was a native of Jericho whose occupation was prostitution. Rahab was therefore known as “Rahab the prostitute” and as shameful as this name tag sounds the Bible writers did not spare Rahab of her previous lifestyle. Why do we need to know Rahab’s experience to be able to fully associate with her? You and I are definitely not prostitutes, but we are sinners who have been redeemed just like Rahab. The conquest of Jericho was made possible because Rahab did a heroic rescue of the Hebrew spies. After Moses died, Joshua became the next leader of the Hebrews and Jericho was one of the cities Joshua and the people needed to conquer. Unlike other cities, Jericho has a walled city and the walls were big enough to make a perfect road for horses. The walls themselves were made from undressed stones so by human standards, the width and the height seemed like an impossible task for anyone to break. Although the people of Jericho were securely protected by these huge and high walls, inwardly, they were afraid of the people of Israel. Confirming this, Rahab said to the spies: “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.” (Joshua 2:9). So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. (Joshua 2:1b, 4) When the king of Jericho heard of the spies, he quickly sent messengers to the house of Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” (Joshua 2:3b). Surprisingly, Rahab did not release the spies to the king. She took the two men and hid them. She told the messengers, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof (Joshua 2:4b-6). Rahab understood that the spies had an important assignment and that her life and that of her family depends on her quick intervention. Instead of aligning with her people she chose to be an ally to the spies. She gave the spies the rescue plan and she and her family were promised salvation. The sign for Rahab’s rescue was a scarlet cord tied in the window. The mission of the spies was successfully accomplished and operation “Jericho must fall” began shortly afterward. Through the power of God, Jericho was defeated and the mighty walls fell down not by an act of man but through the power of God. Rahab and all the people with her were rescued. The rescued people became part of the people of God. Rahab, the shamed, disrespected, and possibly ignored prostitute, changed her destiny and that of her family with an act of kindness towards the spies. Obviously, her trade of prostitution ended within the walls of Jericho. She became a new person and was married to Salmon from the tribe of Judah. Matthew’s gospel in presenting the family line of Jesus did not miss Rahab: “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab” (Matthew 1:5a). Boaz was the father of Obed, and Obed fathered Jesse and Jesse was the father of king David. The helpless prostitute did not just find salvation, she birthed the ancestors of God’s own Son. While she would have been least expected to be part of God’s plan for humanity, God chose to rewrite Rahab’s story together with His big story of salvation. From a shamed and rejected prostitute, Rahab overtook her own limitations and became one of the greatest women in the history of the Church. God is not limited by our past. He sees beyond our sins and He is ready to shape the story of anyone who is willing to let go of their “pompous Jericho” and rely on Him to offer salvation into the Promised Land. It doesn’t matter where you were, where you are and where you are headed to. “Are you ready to say Goodbye to the Jericho lifestyle and turn to Him to change your story around?”
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