The Story Of Rahab

In the book of Joshua 2, we are introduced to a women by the name of Rahab.

Rahab lived in the city of Jericho, in fact her house was built on the outer wall that surrounded the city for protection.

From her window overlooking the wall, she would be able to see the travelers who would come to her city before they even entered the gates.

If she eyed a handsome young man about to enter the city, she could capture his attention by leaning out her window and calling down to him, if she wanted.

Rahab could not have asked for a better place to live than right here on the outer wall of her city. And the reason for that was because Rahab was a prostitute.

She was a women who would sell her body for the pleasure of men.

When men who had traveled from great distances would come to her walled city, all she would have to do to let them know that she was available, was pretty herself up, lean out her window and call down to them.

How many hearts do you think she had broken?

How many homes do you think she had destroyed?

How many families had she torn apart?

How many marriages had she ruined?

And she did it all, for the love of money

It wasn’t like she was homeless or living in the streets that forced her into this lifestyle.

It wasn’t that she had no one to help or give her encouragement and support.

The Bible tells us that her mother, father, brothers and even her sisters lived right there in the same city.

And yet she traded loot for lust

All through the Bible, wherever her name is mentioned, right next to it are the words, “The Prostitute”. Rahab, The Prostitute.

That is how she will forever be remembered

She will be forever remembered for what she once was and probably not for what she became.

You see, one day her whole life changed.

She eventually met a man who loved her more for who she was than for what she did and he happened to be a prince.

In time they married and had a child together, the child’s name was Boaz. And like all love stories, as far as we know they did live happily ever after.

But, lets back up to the beginning of the story. Back to the time, where Rahab first comes into the picture, during her days of harlotry, Joshua 2.

One night, she met two men who had come from a distant land, they come to her city to spy out the place.

These two men belonged to a larger group of people who were the grown children of former slaves.

They had just come from wandering in the desert for forty years because their fathers had refused to believe in the God that had freed them from slavery.

And while the rest of their people are waiting on the other side of the river, ready to come and conquer this land, which had been promised to them by God some 400 years earleir.

These two men, finds themselves in the company of a Lady of the night, named Rahab.

Rahab’s story really is quit unique, not simply because she was a prostitute but because she was a prostitute that expressed her belief in God more than the people who claimed to have belonged to him did.

Let’s read her story, Joshua 2

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land, especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land." 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. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. But, go after them quickly. You may catch up with them still."

(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out)

So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given this land to you 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. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death." The men responded by saying, "Our lives for your lives!, If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land." So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. Now she had said to them, "Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way." The men said to her, "This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear." "Agreed, Let it be as you say." she replied. So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window. When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them. Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them. They said to Joshua, "The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us."