April 17, 2024 | Be God's Light
Spies Survey Jericho
Scripture: Joshua 2 (NIV)
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.
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.”
4 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. 5 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.” 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.) 7 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.
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “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. 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 in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
12 “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 13 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.”
14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”
15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 She 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.”
17 Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 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. 19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. 20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”
21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”
So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
22 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. 23 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. 24 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.”
Devotional
One of the consistent themes of the Bible is that God often picks the unlikeliest of people to carry out His purposes. Jacob was a deceiving manipulator when God renamed him Israel. Joseph was a self-centered braggard when the Lord used him to save the world from starvation. Moses was a murderous fugitive when God gave him a forty-year assignment. And Rahab was a pagan prostitute when she helped the Israelites conquer Jericho.
It doesn’t stop there for Rahab. She became the mother of Boaz who married Ruth. Through that lineage, Rahab became the great-great-great grandmother of David, the greatest king in Israel’s history. And the genealogy of Jesus shows that Rahab the prostitute was His ancestor (see Matthew 1:1, 5).
Why do you think that God uses flawed people for His perfect plans?
The Zondervan Study Bible helps us see how Rahab’s declaration in verses 9-11 is spoken in such a way that the first half (abcde) is a mirror image of the second half (edcba). Take a look.
a: I know that the Lord has given you this land
b: and that a great fear of you has fallen on us
c: so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you
d: We have heard
e: how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt (at the beginning of the 40 years)
e: and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed (at the end of their 40 years)
d: When we heard of it
c: our hearts melted in fear
b: and everyone’s courage failed because of you
a: for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below
These patterns helped the people of God discover and remember what was written in Scripture long before the printing press. What can you discover about God from this declaration?
Poem
The Scarlet Cord
A promise made for safety
A blood red, scarlet cord
Protection for God’s people
A sinner’s great reward
Salvation for the trusting
Who dwell in hiding place
The cover of the shielding host
Meant for the human race
It’s origin at altar
The sacrificial site
Exchanging foul existence
For fully righteous life
This cord weaves all through hist’ry
From Eden to the cross
A bow on every gracious gift
Bestowed on all the lost
O, Scarlet Cord of Rescue,
May you my signal be
O, may I run for cover
Let death pass over me
Your blood poured out, full scarlet
The dye upon my door
Your scarlet cup of blessing
My covenantal core
Until the final battle
When comes the victory
My banner furled, your scarlet cord
In love, remember me
