Fear Led to Christ || Very Important Women #2

The Holy Spirit is in the middle of this series. As I progressed through the book of Genesis, this series was to be the next one in the book. I had scheduled this series back early in the winter. However, I just realized that Mother’s Day has just passed, and celebrating the influential women in our lives will continue. How fitting to continue our series, “V.I.W.: The Very Important Women in Jesus’ Family Tree.”

This series focuses on four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. We’ll discuss their roles in the family tree and what we can learn from their stories.

In the second part of this series, we will focus on Rahab.

Joshua 6:22-25

22          Meanwhile, Joshua said to the two spies, “Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute’s house and bring her out, along with all her family.

23          The men who had been spies went in and brought our Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel.

24          Then the Israelites burned the town and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the treasury of the Lord’s house.  

25          So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden spies Joshua sent to Jericho. She lives among the Israelites to this day.

The unique part of Rahab’s story is that she kept the family line alive by hiding the spies. I know we need some more context for this story, so let’s dig into that.

Her story starts in Joshua 2. Joshua sent two spies out to scout the Promised Land. That’s when they met Rahab. They stayed with her on their scout mission. Someone leaked the information that they were there to the King of Jericho and demanded that Rahab release them to him. Rahab didn’t. She hid them in the bundles of flax that were laid out. After she distracted the soldiers, she talked with the two spies. She’s looking for safety with them because she knows they will take over the town. They agreed to do so if she didn’t betray them. She gave them an escape route and made them aware of a safe place to lie low. They continued forming the agreement, and she accepted the terms. The King’s soldiers gave up, and the two spies returned to Joshua, telling him all that happened.

After all this, she had a son, Boaz. He will also play a positive role in Jesus’s family line, but we’ll cover that in Part 3.

The trust Rahab had in the two spies allowed her to be rescued from the destruction that was coming. The two spies also picked the person’s house, which kept them alive. Does her story end there? No.

Hebrews 11:31

31          It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroying with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

When Joshua planned to take over Jericho, he sent the two spies. The spies met Rahab, and she had two strikes against her based on Israelite values – she was a Gentile (a non-believer) and a prostitute (see Part 1 for an in-depth understanding of what that meant). Yet, Rahab showed that she had faith in God by welcoming the spies and by trusting God to spare her and her family when the city was destroyed. Rahab rejected the King’s demand and knew what God was doing. Let me share with you what she told the spies.

Joshua 2:9-11

9            “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror.

10          For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.

11          No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord Your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth blow.

She witnessed the work of God unfolding through their actions after crossing the Red Sea. She recognized the power of the God they served. She refused to succumb to fear like the rest of her city. She chose to stand with them, in safety, trusting that their God would shield them completely. Her unwavering faith in their God made her a part of the family that would lead to our almighty Savior.

And so, we conclude the story of Rahab, a woman who became an integral part of the family of Christ. In the next part, we’ll delve into the story of Ruth and Boaz and how her faithfulness further enriched the family line. Until then, may you be blessed!