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Joshua Chapter
Two
Joshua 2
Chapter Contents
Rahab receives and hides two Israelites. (1-7) Rahab and
the spies. (8-21) The return of the spies. (22-24)
Commentary on Joshua 2:1-7
(Read Joshua 2:1-7)
Faith in God's promises ought not to do away, but to
encourage our diligence in the use of proper means. The providence of God
directed the spies to the house of Rahab. God knew where there was one that
would be true to them, though they did not. Rahab appears to have been an
innkeeper; and if she had formerly been one of bad life, which is doubtful, she
had left her evil courses. That which seems to us most accidental, is often
overruled by the Divine providence to serve great ends. It was by faith that
Rahab received those with peace, against whom her king and country had war. We
are sure this was a good work; it is so spoken of by the apostle, James 2:25; and she did it by faith, such a
faith as set her above the fear of man. Those only are true believers, who find
in their hearts to venture for God; they take his people for their people, and
cast in their lot among them. The spies were led by the special providence of
God, and Rahab entertained them out of regard to Israel and Israel's God, and
not for lucre or for any evil purpose. Though excuses may be offered for the
guilt of Rahab's falsehood, it seems best to admit nothing which tends to
explain it away. Her views of the Divine law must have been very dim: a
falsehood like this, told by those who enjoy the light of revelation, whatever
the motive, would deserve heavy censure.
Commentary on Joshua 2:8-21
(Read Joshua 2:8-21)
Rahab had heard of the miracles the Lord wrought for
Israel. She believed that his promises would certainly be fulfilled, and his
threatenings take effect; and that there was no way of escape but by submitting
to him, and joining with his people. The conduct of Rahab proved that she had
the real principle of Divine faith. Observe the promises the spies made to her.
The goodness of God is often expressed by his kindness and truth, Psalm 117:2; in both these we must be followers
of him. Those who will be conscientious in keeping promises, are cautious in
making them. The spies make needful conditions. The scarlet cord, like the
blood upon the doorpost at the passover, recalls to remembrance the sinner's
security under the atoning blood of Christ; and that we are to flee thereto for
refuge from the wrath of a justly offended God. The same cord Rahab used for
the saving of these Israelites, was to be used for her own safety. What we
serve and honour God with, we may expect he will bless, and make useful to us.
Commentary on Joshua 2:22-24
(Read Joshua 2:22-24)
The report the spies brought was encouraging. All the
people of the country faint because of Israel; they have neither wisdom to
yield, nor courage to fight. Those terrors of conscience, and that sense of
Divine wrath, which dismay the ungodly, but bring not to repentance, are
fearful forebodings of approaching destruction. But grace yet abounds to the
chief of sinners. Let them, without delay, flee to Christ, and all shall be
well.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Joshua》
Joshua 2
Verse 1
[1] And
Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go
view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named
Rahab, and lodged there.
Sent —
Or, had sent: Two men - Not twelve, as Moses did, because those were to view
the whole land, these but a small parcel of it.
To spy —
That is, to learn the state of the land and people. It is evident Joshua did
not this out of distrust; it is probable, he had God's command and direction in
it for the encouragement of himself and his army.
Secretly —
With reference not to his enemies, that being the practice of all spies, but to
the Israelites; a good caution to prevent the inconveniency which possibly
might have arisen, if their report had been discouraging.
Jericho —
That is, the land about Jericho, together with the city. Heb. The land and
Jericho, that is, especially Jericho.
Harlot's — So
the Hebrew word is used, Judges 11:1, and so it is rendered by two
apostles, Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25, such she either now was, or rather,
had been formerly.
Lodged —
Or, lay down; as the same word is rendered, Joshua 2:8, composed themselves to rest; but
they were hindered from that intention.
Verse 2
[2] And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in
hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.
To night —
This evening.
Verse 3
[3] And
the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come
to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all
the country.
Probably Israel had but one friend in all
Jericho: and God directed them to her! Thus what seems to be most accidental,
is often over-ruled, to serve the great ends of providence. And those that
acknowledge God in their ways, he will guide them with his eye.
Verse 4
[4] And
the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto
me, but I wist not whence they were:
And the woman —
Or, But the woman had taken - and had hid them, before the messengers came from
the king; as soon as she understood from her neighbours, that there was a
suspicion of the matter, and guessed that search would be made. And this is
justly mentioned as a great and generous act of faith, Hebrews 11:31, for she apparently ventured her
life upon a steadfast persuasion of the truth of God's word and promise given
to the Israelites.
Whence they were —
Her answer contained in these and the following words, was false, and therefore
unquestionably sinful; tho' her intention was good therein. But it is very
probable, she being an Heathen, might think, that an officious lie is not
unlawful.
Verse 6
[6] But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with
the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.
Roof —
Which was flat after their manner.
Upon the roof —
That they might be dried by the heat of the sun.
Verse 7
[7] And
the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as
they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.
Fords — Or
passages, that is, the places where people used to pass over Jordan, whether by
boats or bridges.
The gate — Of
the city, to prevent the escape of the spies, if peradventure Rahab was
mistaken, and they yet lurked therein.
Verse 8
[8] And
before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;
Laid down — To
sleep as they intended.
Verse 9
[9] 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.
Your terror —
That is, the dread of you.
Verse 11
[11] 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.
Melted —
That is, were dissolved, lost all courage.
Verse 12
[12] Now
therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you
kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a
true token:
By the Lord — By
your God who is the only true God: so she owns his worship, one eminent act
whereof is swearing by his name.
My father's house — My
near kindred, which she particularly names, Joshua 2:13, husband and children it seems she
had none. And for herself, it was needless to speak, it being a plain and
undeniable duty to save their preserver.
True token —
Either an assurance that you will preserve me and mine from the common ruin: or
a token which I may produce as a witness of this agreement, and a means of my
security. This is all that she asks. But God did for her more than she could
ask or think. She was afterwards advanced to be a princess in Israel, the wife
of Salmon and one of the ancestors of Christ.
Verse 13
[13] 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.
All that they have —
That is, their children, as appears from Joshua 6:23.
Verse 14
[14] And
the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business.
And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly
and truly with thee.
For yours — We
will venture our lives for the security of yours.
Our business —
That is, this agreement of ours, and the condition of it, lest others under
this pretence, should secure themselves. By which they shew both their piety
and prudence in managing their oath with so much circumspection, that neither
their own consciences might be ensnared, nor the publick justice obstructed.
Verse 15
[15] Then
she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town
wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
Town-wall —
Which gave her the opportunity of dismissing them when the gates were shut.
Upon the wall —
Her particular dwelling was there: which may possibly be added, because the
other part of her house was reserved for the entertainment of strangers.
Verse 16
[16] And
she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and
hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward
may ye go your way.
The mountain —
That is, to some of the mountains wherewith Jericho was encompassed, in which
also there were many caves where they might lurk.
Three days —
Not three whole days, but one whole day, and part of two days.
Verse 17
[17] And
the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast
made us swear.
Said —
Or, had said; namely, before she let them down; it being very improbable,
either that she would dismiss them before the condition was agreed on; or that
she would discourse with them, or they with her, about such secret and weighty
things after they were let down, when others might overhear them.
Blameless —
That is, free from guilt or reproach if it be violated, namely, if the
following condition be not observed.
Verse 18
[18]
Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread
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.
Into the land —
That is, over Jordan, and near the city.
This line of scarlet — Probably the same with which she was about to let them down.
Window —
That it may be easily discerned by our soldiers.
Verse 19
[19] 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.
Upon his head —
The blame of his death shall rest wholly upon himself, as being occasioned by
his own neglect of the means of safety.
Our head — We
are willing to bear the sin, and shame, and punishment of it.
Be upon him — So
as to kill him.
Verse 21
[21] And
she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they
departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
In the window —
Forthwith, partly that the spies might see it hung out before their departure,
and so the better know it at some distance; partly lest some accident might
occasion a neglect about it.
Verse 22
[22] And
they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the
pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way,
but found them not.
Three days —
Supporting themselves there with the provisions, which Rahab had furnished them
with.
The ways —
That is, in the road to Jordan, and the places near it, but not in the
mountains.
Verse 23
[23] So
the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and
came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:
Passed over —
Jordan unto Joshua.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Joshua》
02 Chapter 2
Verses 1-24
Joshua . . . sent out . . . two men to spy.
The spies despatched
I. The position in
which joshua and the Israelites were placed. It was a difficult task that had
been performed by Moses; did not a harder remain? It was something to lead such
a host through the wilderness. Surely more is required now the armour is to be
put on, active service entered, and they brought face to face with their foes.
But was not Joshua specially called to the onerous duty? Certainly he was! We
have been called to a work individually, collectively. God has promised success
in it; the work is that of dispossessing before possessing. We are to enjoy the
companionship of God in it. Still, like Joshua, we have to depend on that word
of promise. The comparison is in our favour. We have the example of all the
generations from Joshua till the present. These have been strengthened by the
life of Christ. In Him we have a volume of testimony confirmatory of our
highest hopes.
II. That all these
promises do not preclude the use of proper means. What are the feelings of a
child when receiving a promise from an earthly parent? Does not the promise
heighten affection, induce carefulness, and prompt to obedience? Who ever knew
a child made neglectful by a well-timed promise? Is not man the same in all his
relations--is he not still a man, though dealing with God? What are the effects
of His promises--do they not in every way stimulate to increased affection and zeal?
To expect without working is to tempt God--to work without expecting is to
dishonour Him. In all that has been and is now doing in the world for God, we
find the principle of co-operation prevailing. God works out His purposes by
human instrumentalities--men,
organised into Churches, in their collective or individual capacity, work, and
God crowns with success. Man without God can do nothing. God without man does
nothing, and although we have the assurance that through our instrumentality
the fortresses of sin shall be vanquished, and the flag of our Master float
upon the ramparts, we are bound care fully to consider our steps, and to use
all our God-given powers to accomplish the object. We have our Jericho in the
world. Adult world--juvenile world--spy the land, call into action all your
powers; God will surely give you the land to possess.
III. The willingness
on the part of the men to undertake the difficult work. They respond at once to
the call of their leader, and trusting in God are honoured with success. With
this spirit thoroughly in our Churches, what a large amount of work we should
do. We seem to think the time for special workings and special deliverances has
past. Nay, this is the time; that army on the east of Jordan is but a picture
of ourselves. The work is before us. There runs a river between us and our
work; yes, and we thank God for it. If we could, we would not on any account
remove it. It is the right order of things. He that would do any work must
cross it, and we may take it for granted the width, depth, and swiftness of the
stream will be proportioned to the value of the work. Earnest Workers will
cross it, manfully trusting in God, and these are the only successful workers.
(J. H. Snell.)
Beginning at the right point
From military wisdom we may learn the moral wisdom of always
striking first at the right point. Every thing turns upon the first stroke in
many a controversy and in many an arduous battle. Why do men come home at
eventide saying the day has been wasted? Because their very first step in the
morning was in the wrong direction, or the very first word they spoke was the
word they ought not to have uttered. With all thy getting, get understanding of
how to begin life, where to strike first, what to do and when to do it, and
exactly how much of it to do within given time. If you strike the wrong place
you will waste your strength, and the walls of the city will remain unshaken. A
blow delivered at the right place and at the right time will have tenfold
effect over blows that are struck in the dark and at random: however energetic
they may be, and however well delivered, they fall upon the wrong place, and
the result is nothing. That is what is meant by wasted lives. Men have been
industrious, painstaking, even anxious in thoughtfulness, and the night has
been encroached upon so that the time of rest might be turned into a time of
labour; yet all has come to nothing: no city has been taken, no position has
been established, no progress has been made. Why? Simply because they did not
begin at the right point. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Rahab.
An unexpected ally of the Lord’s host; or, Rahab and her faith
Imaginative writers have pictured Rahab as attired in gaudy costume,
going about the city with her harp (Isaiah 23:16), and at this very time in
pursuit of her evil trade. Others, following Josephus, have adopted so
charitable an estimate of her profession as to suppose her to have been simply
a tavern-keeper. May we not, perhaps, take a middle line, and venture to
believe that one who had become a believer in the God of Israel had also, ere
this, repented of and forsaken the infamous life which her title imports. She
appears from the narrative to be supporting herself by her own industry, in the
preparation and dyeing of flax. One thing is certain, and that is that pure and
saving faith cannot exist with foul and deadly sins. In reference to Rahab’s
faith, observe--
I. The wonder of
its existence. Here dwells an unfortunate woman. She has had no spiritual
advantages.--no Sabbaths, no Scriptures, no teachers--and yet in the base
purlieus of a Jericho, in the heart of that poor harlot, like a fair pearl that
lies within a rough shell among the weeds and rocks at the sea bottom, there is
found precious faith, faith that finds utterance in a good confession (Joshua 2:11). Here is encouragement for
those who are called, in the providence of God, to minister where worldliness
and frivolity, and pride and bitter opposition to the truth prevail, Here, too,
is encouragement for those who minister in uncouth regions, where sin and ignorance
seem to shut out hope of blessing. Let missionaries and visitors in alleys and
courts, in attics and cellars, which seem like nests of blasphemy and impurity,
take heart. The unholy atmosphere of gin palaces, and even of houses like that
in which Joshua’s spies sought refuge, cannot exclude the Holy Ghost, or
nullify the Gospel message.
II. Its practical
operation. A poetic faith may lift its possessor to the heavens in ecstacies. A
talking faith may delight the hearers with glowing descriptions of supposed
experiences and imaginary prospects. But the faith that saves is known by its
works. Such a faith was Rahab’s. Her faith wrought with her works, and by works
was her faith made perfect.
III. Its saving
tendency. The characteristic of true faith is ever to tend towards salvation.
Faith accepts the warnings of the Word of God as true, and leads men to flee
from the wrath to come. Now we shall find this to be a marked characteristic in
the faith of Rahab. It inclines her to seek salvation both for herself and for
her kindred.
IV. Its rich
reward. Vain are man’s promises of help except God approve the pledge. The oath
of the spies to deliver Rahab and her house had availed her nothing had not God
Himself, by a notable miracle, confirmed their word. Joshua held himself bound
by the covenant of his representatives; but what was more, the Lord accepted
Rahab’s faith and spared her house, or, when the walls of Jericho fell down,
her house had fallen too, for it abutted on the wall. But it fell not, but stood
unscathed amid the overthrow, a monument of Divine faithfulness and mercy. Nor
will that faithfulness and mercy fail to save any, even the most unworthy, who
has entered into the covenant of grace. “Our life for yours!” may every
ambassador of the gospel say. If the conditions of salvation be observed, thy
house and thy hope shall stand, though a thousand shall fall at thy side, and
ten thousand at thy right hand. (G. W. Butler, M. A.)
A parenthesis of grace
Let us look at Rahab’s faith, and meditate on a few of its phases.
I. Consider the
hindrances of her faith.
1. There were hindrances which arose from herself. She was the
harlot Rahab. Her character was exceptionally evil. She belonged to a class
than whom there are none more hardened, inaccessible, and hopeless. Moreover,
she had found her calling profitable, and therefore, naturally speaking, would
be the more firmly wedded to her evil ways. Moreover, Israel is coming to
Jericho for the purpose of executing the Divine vengeance on the very evils of
which she is guilty. The cry of the Canaanites has ascended to heaven; in
long-suffering patience God has waited till now, but at last He has sent forth
His hosts to consume them utterly. How much, then, was there, in herself, to
keep Rahab from trust in Jehovah!
2. There were also hindrances to Rahab’s faith arising from her
natural friends. The example of all her neighbours would encourage her in a
path of unbelief. Her faith would make her an oddity in Jericho.
3. There were hindrances to her faith arising from her natural
enemies. Israel, the people of Jehovah, were arrayed against her and her
people, and were even now marching onward to their destruction. The mission of
Israel is not one of mercy, but of judgment. Their feet are not beautiful upon
the mountains, bringing good tidings of peace. They bring no gospel to the
Canaanites, but war, disaster, and death are in their invincible path. How
black was the outlook for Rahab.
II. Consider the
opportunity of her faith. Faith always finds, or rather God always gives to
faith, an opportunity for its manifestation. As in the day of Sodom’s doom, the
Lord delayed till righteous Lot had escaped to Zoar, saying, “I cannot do
anything till thou be come thither,” so now, if there is a single soul in
Jericho groping after Him in the darkness of vice and heathenism, He will delay
the march of His destroying hosts, to give that soul the opportunity which it
requires and for which it longs. He can do nothing in judgment till that one
soul in the doomed city is brought into a place of safety. Thus this pause in
the Divine and just act of judgment, this parenthesis of grace, this
long-suffering of God, is salvation.
III. Consider the
operation of her faith. Rahab showed her faith by her works. We cannot, and do
not, defend the deliberate falsehood by which she misled her fellow citizens in
search of the spies; but we must remember that her whole training from
childhood had been in lies, and that this was a sudden emergency. She was no
well-instructed saint, walking under the light of God’s countenance, but a
great sinner groping after Him. There is sufficient in her conduct to manifest
a heart truly sincere and anxiously solicitous for the welfare of God’s people,
willing to risk her own life to save theirs.
IV. Turn now to the
confession of her faith. He that believes with the heart confesses with the
mouth. All the believing add to their faith virtue, boldness in confessing the
truth; all are witnesses. To the spies Rahab said, “I know that the Lord hath
given you the land,” &c. She does not say, “I think,” “I suppose,” “I
fear,” but “I know.” She believes as firmly in the promises of God as any in
Israel. And as she believes in the promises of God, so she believes in the God
of the promises. How clear and unmistakable is her confession of the name of
Jehovah; how high, and exalted, and spiritual; how wonderful, in the mouth of
one trained from infancy to worship stocks and stones, trained to think that
the power of the different deities was local and circumscribed: “The Lord your
God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath”!
V. Next let us
ponder the trial of her faith. Faith is always tested, that it may be
manifested as Divine. Had Rahab sought to add anything to the instructions of
the spies, had she consulted her own ideas as to the best means of ensuring her
safety, she would have manifested her folly, and would have miserably failed.
So trust in any other means than those which God has provided, trust in
anything but the blood of the Lamb, is a manifestation of folly and a sure
cause of failure.
VI. Consider also
the solicitude of her faith. She was anxious not only about her own safety, but
about that of those who were dear to her. She was not selfishly absorbed in
looking after her own welfare, content if she herself escaped; but, with true
affection, arranged for the rescue of her relatives. The work of Rahab, in
bringing in others, is similar to that of every saved soul. After we ourselves
are saved we are not to rest content; we are not to sit down in idleness and
ease because all is well with us for ever. We are to bear on our hearts those
who are still exposed to the Divine judgment; we are to be up and doing,
instant in season and out of season, if by any means we may save some.
VII. Consider the
reward of her faith. When the dread day of Jericho’s judgment came, what a joy
must it have been to Rahab to know that all dear to her were safe. But who can
tell the rapture of those who have saved a soul from eternal death, and covered
a multitude of sins? Surely such a glorious reward, such a monument of
everlasting renown, is worth labouring for, worth living for, worth dying for.
Rut turning again to the ease before us, why did the multitudes in Jericho thus
perish without pity? Was it because the cup of their iniquity was full? Yes,
truly, for they had fearfully corrupted their ways. But, while many sins
characterised the Canaanites, the Holy Ghost selects one sin as emphatically
that which caused their destruction. Which sin? Unbelief. That which
distinguished Rahab from the rest was not superior morality, higher
intelligence, a more exemplary life, a better natural disposition, but
faith in God. She believed; they believed not. Because she believed, she
was saved; because they believed not, they perished. Even so, many sins may
characterise you, and each one is like a millstone round your neck, fitted to
drag you down to endless destruction, but your great, culminating, condemning
sin is unbelief (Mark 16:16). But Rahab was not only
rescued from the judgment of Jericho, she was also received into the number of
God’s people. Even so the sinner who believes in Jesus is not only saved from
wrath to come, but is received into the Church, the house of the living God,
there to be instructed more fully in the ways of God; there to learn all the
lessons that the grace of God can teach; to deny ungodliness and worldly lust;
to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ. (A. B. Mackay.)
Rahab’s reasoning
The woman had an eye to see and an ear to hear. She knew better than to
suppose that a nation of slaves by their own resources could have eluded all
the might of Pharaoh, subsisted for forty years in the wilderness, and
annihilated the forces of such renowned potentates as Sihon and Og. She was no
philosopher, and could not have reasoned on the doctrine of causation, but her
common sense taught her that you cannot have extraordinary effects without
corresponding causes. It is one of the great weaknesses of modern unbelief that
with all its pretensions to philosophy it is constantly accepting effects
without an adequate cause. Jesus Christ, though He revolutionised the world,
though He founded an empire to which that of the Caesars is not for a moment to
be compared, though all that were about Him admitted His supernatural power and
person, after all was nothing but a man. The gospel that has brought peace and
joy to so many weary hearts, that has transformed the slaves of sin into
children of heaven, that has turned cannibals into saints, and fashioned so
many an angelic character out of the rude blocks of humanity, is but a
cunningly devised fable. What contempt for such sophistries, such vain
explanations of facts patent to all, would this poor woman have shown! How does
she rebuke the many that keep pottering in poor natural explanations of plain
supernatural facts instead of manfully admitting that it is the arm of God that
has been revealed and the voice of God that has spoken. (W. G. Blaikie, D.
D.)
Gradual enlightenment
If we ask, How could Rahab have such a faith and yet be a
harlot? or How could she have such faith in God and yet utter that tissue of
falsehoods about the spies with which she deluded the messengers of the king?
we answer that light comes but gradually and slowly to persons like Rahab. The
conscience is but gradually enlightened. How many men have been slaveholders
after they were Christians! Worse than that, did not the godly John Newton, one
of the two authors of the Olney hymns, continue for some time in the slave
trade, conveying cargoes of his fellow-creatures stolen from their homes,
before he awoke to a sense of its infamy? Are there no persons among us calling
themselves Christians engaged in traffic that brings awful destruction to the
bodies and souls of their fellow-men? That Rahab should have continued as she
was after she threw in her lot with God’s people is inconceivable; but there
can be no doubt how she was living when she first comes into Bible history. And
as to her falsehoods, though some have excused lying when practised in order to
save life, we do not vindicate her on that ground. All falsehood, especially
what is spoken to those who have a right to trust us, must be offensive to the
God of truth, and the nearer men get to the Divine image, through the growing
closeness of their Divine fellowship, the more do they recoil from it. Rahab
was yet in the outermost circle of the Church, just touching the boundary; the
nearer she got to the centre the more would she recoil alike from the foulness
and the falseness of her early years. And yet, though her faith may at this
time have been but as a grain of mustard seed, we see two effects of it that
are not to be despised. One was her protection of the Lord’s people, as
represented by the spies; the other was her concern for her own relations. (W.
G. Blaikie, D. D.)
Rahab’s faith
Faith in the human heart is a Divine work and a Divine
wonder. Jesus wondered when He beheld the witness of it in the message of the
centurion, and in the cry of the Syro-Phoenician, and sometimes it occurs among
circumstances so strange and unlikely as to compel the wonder even of our hard
hearts and dull minds. The faith of Rahab is of this class--strange,
unaccountable on merely natural grounds. That this plant of heavenly renown
should take root and spring up in such uncongenial soil is what we do not
naturally look for. Her faith reminds us of a tree we have seen in the
Highlands of Scotland. At the bottom of a wild glen stood a huge boulder, which
towered high above those which had toppled with it from the mountain side, and
it had a strange crown. On its summit, as if rising out of the rock, grew a
young tree--green, vigorous, and healthy. From its peculiar position, it
attracted the notice of every passer-by; it was the only tree for miles around,
and there, in that wilderness, and on that rock, it grew, planted as it were by
the finger of God. Even so the faith of Rahab is a great wonder, a tree of
paradise, planted by the hand of God, in the midst of a wilderness of moral and
spiritual desolation.
A mixed character
They are mixed characters and mixed actions in the moral sense;
and just as we may take a conglomerate mineral and single out one ingredient
for remark, so we may fix our minds upon one aspect of a complex action,
disregarding all other aspects for the time, with admiration or condemnation.
It is what we do continually. We speak highly of an author’s genius--without
approval of his principles; we praise the skill of some diplomatist--whose
policy we strongly condemn; we do not grudge our admiration to the powers of
Napoleon--though we may believe him to have been a monster of iniquity. In a
famous essay John Foster illustrates decision of character by a number of
striking instances. He refers to the untameable soul of Milton as portrayed in
“Paradise Lost”; to the sublime height to which Pompey was raised by his
ambitious spirit; to the constancy of purpose with which a Spaniard pursued and
at last accomplished his revenge; to the indefatigable industry with which a
ruined spendthrift regained his fortune and died a miser. But none is so
foolish as to accuse the essayist of commending obstinacy, ambition, revenge,
or miserliness. Now, the same principle must be applied to an interpretation of
Scripture. The unjust steward, e.g., was a bad man: he was selfish,
unprincipled, a downright rogue. But withal he was prudent; he forecast the
future; he directed his energies towards providing for it; and he succeeded. In
his prudence, then, is he set forth as an example for us. (Sunday School
Times.)
Our hearts did melt.--
The powers of evil in terror
I think that testimony stands yet. We, who are fighting
Joshua’s battle to-day, should take to heart this word that has leaked out from
the headquarters of the devil’s army; and the word is this, that with all the
devil’s swagger, and bravado, and bluster, he is a bigger coward than we are,
and that is big enough. He is really not so bold as he is trying to pretend. He
knows that the doom is coming, and Rahab is the testifier; and she ought to
know: she has been near him and is intimate with the latest information on that
side. I say, I think that we should all take this. It stands here. This is a
bit of the Word of God that “liveth and abideth for ever.” And its great value
to you and me who are fighting to-day in the wars of the Lord under the
heavenly Joshua is that, all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, the
fear of us and the terror of us are working yonder before we arrive. God is
making a way for His conquering purpose before we thunder at the enemy’s gate.
Therefore let us nerve ourselves. Therefore let us be strong. Therefore do not
let us be daunted by the colossal and seemingly impregnable powers of evil.
There is a trembling and a quivering in the devil’s host. “Your terror is
fallen upon us.” Who would think it, to read the secular press? What nonsense
clever men talk about religion, as if it were a feeble kind of thing, such as
they would call in Scotland “a fozy turnip”--a half-rotten, effete, useless
thing. “We are going to have reforms, and we are going to make things a great
deal better, but we will have no religion.” Did ever anybody hear such
addle-headed talking by clever men? No religion! Oh, indeed! You are going to
bow out Jesus Christ? You ought to have been born a long while before you were,
if you are going to do that. You have come into the world much too late to put
it right without Christ. He is here, and He means to be here, and I trust we
are all with Him. Oh, what encouragement there comes to us out of this! What
encouragement--that the kingdom of darkness in all its domain is tottering to
its fall, and it knows it! Strange it is that we who are serving under the
heavenly Joshua, and have all these things to fortify us and to infuse strength
into us, are so nervous and womanish. Oh, to be strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might, and to be strengthened by what we read here as to the
condition of things in the enemy’s camp! They are just about to surrender if we
would put on a bold front. (John McNeill.)
The Lord your God, He is
God.--
Our God, God over all
I. The lord your
God. I am aware that “our Lord” and “our Saviour,” and so on, are phrases that
are frequently employed thoughtlessly, ignorantly, and profanely; but this does
not render their value less. Whatever faith is in exercise, so that the
believer can really claim his affinity, his relationship, it is most blessed so
to do. Nay, more; there is no solid happiness and permanent peace for any child
of Adam until that child of Adam can claim this relationship: “the Lord our
God.” But oh! “wonder, ye heavens, and be astonished, O earth,” at this amazing
condescension: that the great Eternal--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost--should give
to His elect family each of the Persons, and all the perfections and attributes
of self-existent Deity, as the Church’s portion and inheritance.
II. He is God in
heaven. AS for myself, the fact that Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel, is
“my God,” makes me look up to heaven and think of heaven with the utmost
confidence; aye, without a scruple; aye, upon scriptural assurance of calling
it my home. Now, mark two or three things arising out of this fact that “He is
God in heaven above.” All the records of heaven written and kept by Him; all
the enjoyments of heaven bestowed, communicated, imparted, in His presence; all
the inhabitants of heaven His own choice, His own redemption, His own
workmanship. He is absolute Sovereign “in heaven” of the fixed decrees of
heaven; absolute Sovereign “in heaven” of all the glories of heaven; and
absolute Sovereign “in heaven” of all the inhabitants of heaven. Oh! what
security is here! “The Lord your God is God in heaven above.”
III. He is God in
earth beneath. Here we have a solution of the mystery of His providence. He is
God in earth, as well as in heaven; tell Him all about it. Go with thy sorrows,
thy cares, thy domestic woes, thy bodily afflictions, thy circumstantial
trials, thy matters of business, thy little things as well as thy great things;
for “He is God in earth.” “The Lord your God is God in earth beneath.” Oh! I
had saved myself a thousand sorrows if I had always lived upon this principle.
I had saved myself a thousand woes, if I had lived as if there was “a God on
earth.” (J. Irons.)
Bind this line of scarlet
thread in the window.--
The scarlet line
In Scripture we find the blessing of God and the curse of God
concentrated not only in individual souls, but also in cities. Thus Jerusalem
is constantly set forth in Scripture as the city of blessing (Psalms 48:1-3; Psalms 50:2). On the other hand, Jericho
is the city of the curse (Joshua 6:17). These two cities, then, are
evidently representative cities. Jerusalem, the city of blessing, represents
the Church of God, destined to eternal life. Jericho, the city of the curse,
represents the world, alienated from God, and destined to destruction. And then
what will Rahab represent but those who are gathered out of the one into the
other, not on account of anything good in themselves, any natural excellencies
or attainments, but by the grace of God, and according to His good pleasure.
And specially does she, herself a Gentile, seem to represent those of the
Gentiles who are brought to God. Rahab’s faith showed itself in this, that she
recognised God. She looked above second causes. It was not Israel’s power and
prowess, but God’s hand, which she saw (Joshua 2:9-11). All this throws much
light on the nature of true faith. It shows us, first, that living faith
carries us straight to God. Our hearts are very prone to get entangled in
second causes--to look at the hand of man, and forget the hand of God. The
language of faith is, “It is the Lord.” It elevates the heart above second
causes, and enables it to rest, not, it may be, without many struggles, on the
will an arm of God. Again, we see in this history that faith is the principle
of a new life. Rahab’s life had been an unhallowed one, and she had sunk lower
than many others in Jericho. But now through Divine grace she rises higher than
all (Hebrews 11:31). And faith is always the
same; the same in its object, which is God; the same in its principle, which is
His grace; the same in its result, which is holiness of life. Rahab believed in
the approaching doom of Jericho; she felt that its days were numbered. The true
Christian now believes that a more awful and universal judgment is coming upon
the world, and he flees from the wrath to come--flees to the only Refuge from
the storm. But Rahab went further. She wished to have some assurance that her
life, and the life of her family, would be spared. It is not wonderful that she
should have desired this token; and we may well imagine what comfort she must
have felt when the scarlet line was floating in the air at her window. Very
solemn thoughts must often have weighed upon her heart--thoughts of the awful
destruction which awaited her fellow-townsmen; but she felt no anxiety about
herself and family. The scarlet line silenced every fear. And if it was natural
in Rahab to desire a token of her safety, is it not even more natural in the
true Christian to desire it? And one there is which is granted sooner or later
to those who walk with God. It is not always given at once; often it grows up
by degrees. But yet, sooner or later, it is given. The blood of Jesus secures
pardon, and also produces assurance. But notice that there is a wide difference
between the two. Forgiveness is one thing; the knowledge of forgiveness is
another. Forgiveness of sin we must have, to be Christians. Assurance is a
privilege which Christians should seek, and seek until they find, and then
watch, that they may retain it. If, then, you would have the scarlet line
floating at the window of your hearts, you must trust simply in Christ. This of
itself is enough to bring, and does often bring, assurance; but if not, endeavour
to walk with God. Be diligent in doing His will and work, and perhaps God will
meet you then, and will crown some act of faith and self-denial and devoted
service with a true token, a scarlet line of His assurance-love. Having
proceeded thus far with the history of Rahab, we must say a few words about its
conclusion. What a difference that little piece of scarlet line made! It was
not a mere token arranged between man and man; it was sanctioned in heaven.
God’s eye as well as man’s was fixed upon the scarlet line, and Rahab was
protected. And if that scarlet line made so great a difference in her case, and
secured her protection, oh, how much more shall the blood of Christ secure that
of the true Christian I Is it sprinkled upon your heart? Does God’s eye see it
there? Then all your sins, however many, are forgiven; all your enemies,
however strong, will be overcome. But there is still one other point to be
noticed in Rahab’s history. You will find it stated in Joshua 6:25, where it says, “She dwelleth
in Israel unto this day.” So that from that time forth, though she had been a
sinner of the Gentiles, she was put among God’s children, reckoned as one of
His own Israel; and even, we learn from Matthew 1:5, so honoured of God as to be
one of the line from whom Jesus was descended. And do we not learn from this
how completely the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin? how real a thing is
the forgiveness of sins? how great and entire is the change which the grace of
God makes in the heart? (G. Wagner.)
Rahab saved
I. The sovereign
mercy of God was magnified in the previous character and position of the
individual to whom it was vouchsafed.
II. The oneness,
the primeval, constant, and continued identity of the way of salvation, from
the blood that flowed upon Abel’s altar, and I doubt not upon Adam’s also, to “the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” By that line--as
with Rahab, so with the Church--the messengers that brought it to her and
taught it to her had already escaped; it had borne their weight, proved its
efficacy; and the Church knows it to be strong enough still. She knows it to be the
cable-line which rivets her to the anchor of hope, “sure and steadfast, which
entereth into that within the veil.” Ah! who that has ever tried it, who that
has ever “fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before him,” hath not
found the promise fulfilled in his happy experience--“I will draw them with the
cords of love, with the bands of a man”! Blessed Jesus! Thou art this “scarlet line,” dyed
with the blood of propitiating mercy.
III. Another
exemplary feature in the act of Rahab’s faith is its great simplicity. What
could be simpler than tying a scarlet line in a window? Had the gospel assumed
a more scientific and imposing
form--had its principles been more elaborate and philosophical had it required years of
study to comprehend it, and thereby attached some literary reputation to the
ultimate adept in
it--had it been like the rabinnical lore of the Hebrews, or the mythological mysteries of
the Greeks, beyond the reach of the vulgar, and a consequent badge of
distinction to the initiated--had its prophet required us to do some great
thing--were its peculiar privileges obtainable only by the pomp of a ritual,
the costliness of sacrifice, or the toil of pilgrimage--then the evangelical
Sion had never been destitute of its thousands of devotees and ten thousands of
disciples; but when it appears in the guise of a system of which a child can
appreciate the beauty, and which only requires the spirit of a child to learn
and entertain it--when “the wayfaring man,” as he runs upon his business may read
it--when its elastic principles expand their comprehensive arms to the embrace
of all men, and like the outstretched arms of its crucified Author upon the
Cross seem to offer mercy on the right hand and on the left--when its whole
system is summed up in a single sentence, “Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved”--then the world turns its back upon the
Church, is ashamed of the fellowship of children and vulgar and illiterate
people, the simplicity of the truth is mistaken for vulgarity, and the house of
God is eschewed and avoided, because, instead of the sumptuous drapery and
tinselled garniture of the noble, the poetical, the dramatic, the speculative,
and the vain, its only ornament and ensign is the Cross of Christ--its sole
phylactery is “the scarlet line in the window.”
IV. Rahab’s act of
faith extended a blessing, as every act of faith does, to the whole family. She
gathered her father and mother and brethren and all her kindred into her house;
and the emblem in the window spared them all. Yet I suppose it will scarcely be
contended that it was the bit of thread that saved them, rather than the
covenant of which that thread was the sign. But just as idle is the theory that
the sacrament is salvation, instead of the sign of the Saviour; as inaccurate
is the impression that faith itself saves, and not His blood and righteousness
which faith appropriates. Why, there is no more saving merit in faith than
there is in works--not a jot. I am not saved because I believe, but I am saved
by Him in whom I believe. There is all the world’s difference between those
propositions. (J. B. Owen, M. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》