Joshua Chapter Two
G.S.Munro, Panania-Milperra Anglican Church, May 14th, 2000.
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm

And so in the opening chapter God reminds him of his promise to their forefather Abraham, that he will give them this land. And then he says this: "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and very courageous… Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." And God told Joshua that the source of his courage and strength was to be the Word of the Lord. He must meditate on God's Word day and night in order to be successful and courageous.

Last weekend about 140 of us from the Parish went to Gilbulla conference centre for our annual church weekend away. Matthew Meek taught us from the scriptures about Encouragement. And it really was a very encouraging message, the sort of thing that inspires you to life changing decisions. But you come home Sunday night, and then the reality of Monday morning hits! Life goes on in the Real World! And the challenge is not to lose sight of the insights you gained from God's Word over the weekend. That's the situation Joshua and the people of Israel face in chapter two. They've heard the theory in chapter one. They've come to the end of their retreat in the desert. From chapter two onwards we find out whether, and how well, they will put that theory into practice.

Now Joshua is trusting the Lord, but in doing that he exercises the military skills God has given him. And God seems happy for him to proceed in that manner. He sends out spies to find out the strong points and weak points of the Canaanites, and especially to find out how they feel about this Israelite horde gathered on their borders. Are they afraid? Will they give in easily? Or are they confident in their military strength and ability to withstand a siege?

Verse 1: Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

Now there is a lesson for us even in this opening verse. The New Testament tells us that we are engaged in warfare also. Not the same kind of warfare as Israel. It is a spiritual warfare. And we have a different purpose. Israel under Joshua were God's instrument of judgement upon the evil practices of the Canaanites. But we are God's instruments of salvation, when we bring people to Christ. We are fighting for the souls of people. Our weapons are the weapons of the gospel - preaching the Word of God, prayer, love, and so on. So our battle is of a different kind to Joshua's. But like Joshua, we know that the battle is the Lord's. He is the one who converts people, not us. He fights the battle for us, just as he fought the battle of Jericho for Israel. But that does not mean we just sit down on our backsides and wait for God to act from heaven! That's not what Joshua did. He made careful plans and put them into action. If we want to be obedient to God's calling and strong and courageous like Joshua was, then we need to be preparing ourselves. Like the Israelites, we need to understand our situation and develop appropriate tactics. We need to reconnoitre the land. Do you understand the society you are living in? Are you working out the best strategies for reaching your workmates, your friends, you neighbours, your family, with the gospel? Have you learnt a simple gospel outline? Do you know how to give your testimony? Could you explain to someone what the message of Jesus is? Or are you just sitting back and letting it flow? Thinking, God will do something somehow, someday.

Well, let's get back to the text. The spies go out and they come to Jericho, which is just across the Jordan, about twenty kilometers to the West from where the Israelites are camped. And they stay in the house of Rahab, a prostitute. Now this is a most strange thing, isn't it? Why did they go to the house of a prostitute? Well the simple answer is the text doesn't tell us. And the only sure answer we can give is that God planned it this way because Rahab too was one of his chosen people, even though she was a Canaanite. Even though she was a prostitute. Were the spies playing up while they were away from the strict regime of the camp? Were they enjoying a little illicit R & R? They may have been - but I suspect not. I think probably they didn't want to draw attention to themselves. So they didn't try to find lodgings with more respectable citizens, but sought out the lowest kind of lodging house they could find, where they thought they might not be noticed by anyone important. They went to the House of the Rising Sun rather than to the Jericho Hilton.

In any case, it didn't work, because we read:

Verse 2: The king of Jericho was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." 3 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."

There was obviously already a kind of 'cold war' in progress between the two sides. Joshua was not the only one gathering intelligence. The king of Jericho probably had his own spies in the Israelite camp, because notice that he says "they have come to spy out the whole land." How did he know that? That's exactly what Joshua said to the spies - "go, look over the land, especially Jericho."

This story has all the ingredients of a movie plot. There are spies who use disguise and cunning to escape from death by the skin of their teeth. There is a chase scene later in the chapter. As well as these heroes, these is a heroine, who has to choose between being on the side of right and being patriotic to her people. Like Julia Roberts' character in the movie "Pretty Woman," the heroine is a prostitute, so there's the sex angle. And in the end she marries a Prince of Israel, so you've got the fairytale romance too. There is conflict, suspense, earthquake, destruction for the bad guys, and a happy ending for the good guys. What more could a movie-maker ask for?

Now some people like movies that are all sweetness and light, pure escapism, or that don't make you think too much. And I guess I occasionally just want to 'veg out' and watch that kind of mindless trash. But personally, the movies I like most are those that raise the difficult questions of human existence on this planet. Movies that deal with the big issues like Morality, Ethics, Love, Death, and the Meaning of Life. Joshua is that kind of book.

Why was Rahab and her family chosen to survive while other more respectable people in Jericho weren't? After all, she was a prostitute, an immoral woman. Why did God save her and have other people put to death, including no doubt, good family women who loved their children? Even worse, she was a traitor to her own people wasn't she? Does God encourage betrayal and deceit? Well, if Rahab had been motivated solely by the desire to save her own neck, yes, we could call her a traitor. But there was more to it than that. It was not a choice between her life and her country. It was a choice between the True God of all the earth and her country.

Rahab must have been thinking about this for some time - in verse 8 she says to the spies, "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. 10 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. 11 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."

So whilst God does not applaud betrayal as such, he does reward those whose allegiance is to him above all other allegiances, even allegiance to kin and country. We need to take that to heart too, and I'll say more about that at the end.

But there is another problem this text raises. Let's read verses 4 to 6 again:

4But 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. 5At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." 6(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7So 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.

Rahab actually lied to the King of Jericho when he asked her where the Israelite spies were. Is it ever right for a believer to lie?

That's a hard question. And different Christians give different answers to it. A friend of mine has the viewpoint that Rahab's lie was a sin, but that it was forgiven because of her faith. But I don't think that does justice to the text, or to what other bible passages make of Rahab's actions. Some commentators say that it was Rahab's hospitality that the bible praises, not her deception, which was morally wrong. But I don't think that is an adequate answer either. Now Hebrews 11 does say, "By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient." The New Testament looks back at this story as an example of faith working through actions. James writes: "25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

So the New Testament sees it in terms of faith working through righteous actions.
But to exclude Rahab's deception of the king from those righteous actions, doesn't do justice to what the bible actually says about her, as opposed to what we want it say. Because it is the totality of Rahab's actions that is praised, including her falsehood.

In Joshua 6:17, when the city is destroyed, Joshua says this: "Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent."

Rahab hid them from the King. Rahab's actions, as much as her words, were deceitful to the king's men. She lied by what she did as well as by what she said, and what she did is what the bible commends. I don't see any way round that. But remember also that the very actions of the spies themselves, by necessity, involved falsehood. Spies cannot answer truthfully if someone asks them who they are and why they are there. But that kind of falsehood is I think qualitatively different from a personal lie told for personal gain. Rahab's falsehood was not for personal gain but to protect God's servants. And it was done in a very specific situation - that of warfare. Let me be plain about something lest you misunderstand me. I am not saying that the End always justifies the Means. Nor am I advocating what someone has called "Situation Ethics." That is, the idea that there really is no absolute right and wrong, but that it is entirely dependent upon circumstances. That is not true - the bible clearly teaches that there are absolutes. For example, no set of circumstance could ever make denying Christ the right thing to do. However, I believe the bible also gives examples of special situations in which actions which would normally be morally dubious or wrong, are allowed. And espionage in warfare is one of those situations. Of course the warfare itself has to be just, or everything you do in that conflict is wrong, not just spying. But if you think that spies are wrong to be deceitful, or that Rahab did the wrong thing to lie about their presence, let me ask you this. Last time you went on holidays, did you do any of the following things:

Did you ask someone to take the mail out of your letterbox each day so it would appear you were still home? Did you leave lights on, or have a timer so that electrical appliances like the TV come on at the usual time? Did someone stay, or park their car in the driveway, to make the place look occupied when it really wasn't?

If you did any of those kinds of things, you deliberately engaged in deception. You lied to potential burglars who may have been in the area. What the spies did, and what Rahab did, was no different in principle. In fact it was more clearly the right thing to do than you deceiving burglars, since they did it out of more altruistic motives. When you deceive burglars, it is with a self-centred motive - to avoid losing your property. Rahab did it to save the lives of God's people, to save her family, and above all, because she feared God more than she feared the King of Jericho.

Furthermore, it is clear that in warfare, killing is allowed. Killing is prohibited in the Ten Commandments. But in warfare it is acknowleged as a necessary evil, even by the bible. Killing is also allowed in the Old Testament when it is done by an executioner, who is carrying out a just sentence. So if killing is not always sinful, then why should there not be a situation where falsehood is permitted? What the spies did, and what Rahab did, was no more a sin than Israel's army killing in battle.

Now of course that raises an even more serious problem for us. How can what Joshua's army did to Jericho be justified? How can Jews and Christians claim that it was right for Joshua to slaughter every living thing in that city (apart from the family of a traitoress!), but it was wrong for Hitler to annihilate millions in concentration camps? How can we say Joshua is a hero but the late notorious Arkan was a villain for his campaign of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo? What the Hebrews did to the Canaanites was far more thorough ethnic cleansing than what the Serbs did in Kosovo! How can it be right?

Well, we will consider this important question more fully when we get to chapter 6. But let me say briefly now, that we must draw an absolute distinction between Israel in the Old Testament and any other nation at any other time in history. No other nation, including the modern state of Israel, has the mandate from God that Israel had at that time. And they destroyed the Canaanites, not as an act of ethnic vengeance, but because they were acting directly under God's explicit command to do so. In the same way that an executioner is not committing murder when he kills, so also the Israelites were innocent of the blood of the Canaanites.

Now that may open up another whole can of worms. But we will deal with that issue again when we get to chapter 6. If we don't, or if you can't wait until then, then talk to me after the service.

Let me summarise what are the lessons we can take away from this story of faith. First of all, the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews says about all the Old Testament heroes he lists as examples of faith, including Rahab:
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Rahab did not receive what was promised, she only received an earthly shadow of the heavenly reality to come in Jesus Christ. She received her physical life and that of her family. She received a share of the Promised Land with God's Old Covenant people. She married Salmon, a prince in Israel. But the reality came only later, the reality in which Rahab at the Resurrection on the final day will share with us. A reality that was brought in by one of her own descendants. For Rahab became the great grandmother of Ruth, and Ruth became the great grandmother of King David. And of course descended from King David was the Messiah, Jesus.

Just before the spies left, they confirmed their agreement with Rahab. Her house had to be identified by a scarlet cord hung from the window. She and her family were to remain in the house during the attack on the city. And the contract would be void if Rahab exposed their mission. This story was much like the deliverance experienced in the last plague God brought on Pharaoh and on Egypt when He killed the firstborn in every household, but He spared the Israelites because of the blood of the Passover lamb which had been sprinkled on the two doorposts and the lintel of their houses. And I don't think it is too far fetched to think of the scarlet thread as a picture of Christ and his blood shed for us.

Throughout scripture the theme of salvation from judgement develops. In the days of Noah, there was safety and refuge for those who entered into the door of the ark. In Egypt there was safety and refuge for those who were gathered behind the doors that were sprinkled with the blood of the Passover lamb. In Jericho, Rahab and her family were saved by staying in the room with the scarlet cord in the window. For you and me, there is safety and refuge from eternal judgment-but only if we also use the only means of salvation God has given: Jesus Christ alone. As He said in John 10:9, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved."

Second, this is a story of faith. The story of Rahab is used by the New Testament writers as an example of faith acting through what she did. Rahab's actions in giving up her own natural allegiance to her people for the sake of faith in the True God, showed that she was willing to risk death to be counted among His people. Like Rahab, God calls us too to give up our natural allegiances in favour of His Kingdom. We can't call ourselves real Christians unless we do that. Rahab and her family had to separate themselves from the rest of the city. Don't think that you can keep the world and gain God too. You can't live the same way as those who don't know Christ.

Let me remind you of another prostitute in the bible. Revelation 18 describes the proud world we live in as the harlot Babylon. And it says, ""Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues…" and it goes to describe how Babylon will be destroyed. Our world, like Jericho, is under God's Condemned Order. It will be brought to complete ruin. Judgement is coming. So come out of her, change your allegiance from worldly values to Christ-like values.

Third, it is not only a story of faith, but a story of faithfulness - by God. God promised to save Rahab, and her trust was not in vain. He kept his promise. It must have been a terrifying experience for Rahab and her family. There must have been doubts and fears along the way. But despite the unlikeliness of it all, the fairytale ending happened. And it will happen for us too. As unlikely as it seems, God really has promised those who put their faith in Jesus, eternal life with Him. There will be fear, doubt and danger, as we struggle with sin, persecution, disappointment and all the problems of life in this imperfect and ungodly world. But we cling to the one thing that Rahab had. The bare Word of God, and trusting that word, we take up the scarlet thread of Christ's blood shed for us.

G.S.Munro, Panania-Milperra Anglican Church, May 14, 2000.
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm