Joshua- Prostitutes and Promises

Joshua is an exciting book. It follows the death of Moses and the rebellious generation of Israel that refused to trust God to lead them into the Promised Land.

At Moses’s request, God raises up Joshua to shepherd the people into their new land. Most theologians believe Joshua is a foreshadowing of the coming Messiah. Even the similarities of their names in Hebrew, Joshua and Jesus, have the same meaning- Jehovah saves. God speaks to Joshua and assures him that His presence will be with him.

Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses My servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then your will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:5-9

There is a lot to unpack in these few verses. Let’s look at just a few.

Notice how many times God commands Joshua to be strong and courageous? God is aware of the dangerous wars that will be fought for this land, but this strength and courage is also necessary for the Israelites to not fall into the temptations they will face in relation to all the pagan peoples they will come across.  They will certainly be tempted to fall into the ease of worshipping their visible idols and the intrigue of unusual customs.

Note that God also commands Joshua to keep the Law on his lips and meditating on it both day and night. This is an echo of the same commands we saw in Deuteronomy. The laws and deeds of God were to be at the forefront of their minds and the reason for each action of their hands.

We also see this same language used in Psalm 1.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the LORD and on His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:1

The fact that this phrasing is repeated throughout Scripture helps point to a cohesive story- one that could only be written by One Author over a multitude of generations. It also reiterates that the Author wants us to understand this important theme in following Him.

On a personal note, I love the language chosen in verse 9. God tells Joshua not to be frightened- as we pointed out he would face many fierce adversaries. But He follows that with “do not be dismayed.”

This word could be translated “to be shattered” or to “be broken.”

While this conversation is explicitly given to Joshua about his task of leading these historically stiff-necked people, it brings to mind for me the encouragement Paul speaks over the Corinthians.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed; always carrying in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10

The God of Ages is encouraging His people in similar ways all throughout Scripture. Jesus Himself promises to be with us, even until the end of the age as He ascends to the right hand of God after His resurrection (Matthew 28:20).

Joshua is a fascinating book, and if you read it from beginning to end (as I hope you will!), you will see the themes of God’s presence abiding with His people which is the true source of their military strength, that God is the ultimate protector of the covenant and fulfills all of His promises, and also that His judgment is certain when His authority is disobeyed.

There’s one other major theme was see early in Joshua. We’ll set up our tents here to camp out for this article as this character is unique, but also is a foreshadowing of how God grafts unexpected individuals into His people and will continue to do so throughout the remaining pages of Scripture.

Psalms and Jonah tell us that “salvation belongs to the LORD.” (Jonah 2:9) And just as the grumpy prophet was perplexed at the salvation of the wicked Ninevites, the Israelites are about to watch as God throws His garment over the shoulders of another unlikely character.

Rahab.

She is introduced in chapter 2. Joshua sends in 2 spies (in contrast to the 12 Moses sent to scout out the land, where only 2 spies- Joshua included- believed the Lord would give them the land). These 2 spies are sent out from Shittim, which is a location thrown out as a seemingly insignificant phrase in verse 1. But the astute reader will recognize the name of this place from Numbers 25.

While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.

Numbers 25:1-3

God commands Moses to hang all of the chiefs of the people who yoked themselves to Baal. One man was so brazen, he brings a Midianite woman through the camp, directly past the tent of meeting, where God regularly met with Moses, and into his family’s tent. Aaron’s grandson grabs a spear and drives it through both the man and woman, possibly as they are engaging in intimacy. This definitive termination of evil appeased the righteous anger and ended the plague sent out by the Lord.

We don’t know if Rahab was alive to have known the people involved in that story. But it seems that sexual sin, and sexual acts used in worship to the pagan Baal stained the area around her.

We don’t know what circumstances brought Rahab to prostitution. Perhaps she had been assaulted and thus could find no honorable man for marriage. Sometimes sons and daughters were removed from families to serve as temple prostitutes in worship to their false gods. Occasionally, prostitution for pagan worship was considered an honor. It is unclear whether prostitution was her choice or against her will.

But we are certain she has heard of the Israelites and their mysterious God.

Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.”

Joshua 2:8-11

Notice that she uses God’s proper name, and she has clearly heard the stories of what He has done over the last 40 plus years. Having a revolving door of talkative men coming through her home, she’s also aware that all the men of Jericho are terrified of this Living God.

Compare her response to the stories she has heard to the responses of the Israelites who actually lived the experiences.

The Israelites must be commanded to constantly remember the works of the Lord. They are quick to fall into worship of foreign gods. But Rahab, with no connections to the Israelites, no commands to meditate on His good works, and no prompts to worship Him, recognizes His ultimate authority in heaven and on earth.

And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the LORD gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”

Her house is built into the city wall, a place commonly thought to be housing for the poor of the city, and she lets them down by a scarlet cord through her window, leaving it as a mark to protect all who will remain inside during the siege.

When God gives the command for the Israelites to take the city, Joshua warns everyone that Rahab and all who remain with her are to be spared.

I wonder about this part of the story. Did her family love her or were they ashamed of her? Was it difficult for her to convince them to come into her home? Did they wound her with their words as she begged them to come? Did they believe the Israelites’ God would save someone like her?

As the wall fell and warriors swarmed the city, slaying everyone in their path, the two spies go directly to Rahab’s house and bring her and all her relatives outside of Israel’s camp as the city is burned.

The destruction of Jericho concludes with “and she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” (Joshua 6:25)

Her acceptance into the tribes of Israel must have been long and difficult.

Human hearts have a remarkable tendency to be similar across all generations, so take a moment to consider what your church’s reaction would be to having a known (former) prostitute sit amongst the saints on a Sunday morning. Would the women whisper or even consider inviting her into their friendship circles? Would the men see her as anything other than an object for their own sexual gratification? Do you think people would avoid her for fear her past would somehow mark them or interfere with the exclusivity of their own marriages?

I imagine Rahab and the woman at the well who meets Jesus would have been friends.

Across the generations, the Israelites and Christians alike, have a tendency to keep sinners at arm’s length, hiding behind the promise of our heritage as if it veils the truth that we are sinners just the same as those we see at the end of our noses.

This is not the last time we hear of Rahab.

In Matthew, we see she was indeed married into the tribe of Judah to a man named Salmon (who some believe was one of the two spies she hid), and they became the parents of Boaz, who we will meet in the book of Ruth.

Rahab joins the list of Jesus’ genealogy with 3 other women. Interestingly, each of those women are listed by name in a list filled with kings and great heroes of the faith. All of the women have stories of deep pain and their lives are each marked in unique ways by odd sexual stories.

Tamar was denied her rights to bear a child to carry on her dead husband’s line and orchestrated a plan to become pregnant by her father in law. Rahab was a prostitute. Ruth lay at the feet of an unmarried sleeping man. And Mary became pregnant out of wedlock by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is an interesting commonality in these histories. The strange parts of each woman’s story overlap with her personal desires to pursue justice and righteousness. God seems pleased to list their names alongside kings and righteous leaders and grand them the honor of ancestry to the King of all kings.

The author of Hebrews mentions Rahab in the great chapter of faith.

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

Hebrews 11:31

James, the half-brother of Jesus, uses her as an example of how our heart’s faith must move our hands into action.

And in the same way was not also Rahab ethe prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 2: 25&26

Rahab’s life is unique as it carries all the details that make an epic tale.  One being a life of pain, with no end in sight unless a miraculous turn of events takes place. Even if prostitution was her choice, surely Rahab had known deep evil in the hearts of the worst kinds of men, yet she chose to risk it all for two spies in the hopes they will agree to spare her family. She opened her home to them, with no guarantees that they would not harm her on the spot.

Despite the harshness of the life she endured, her heart remained tender enough to hear the truth in the whisperings of a Righteous God making His way directly towards her.

She surely endured painful stares and words as she began a new life in an entirely new culture. Her faith saved her and elevates her as an example to us even to this day.

As we walk our own paths, I hope we can share a portion of Rahab’s faith and courage. Her belief moved her to action.

And because God saved Rahab, generations later, her Descendant would move to save us too.