The Spies and Rahab

Notes

To some, the preservation of Rahab and the statement that she was saved by faith, taken in connection with the fact that she was a harlot, and that to conceal the spies she told a deliberate lie, seem to be a mystery. They imagine that there is an incongruity, and that she was saved because of her falsehood. On the contrary, there was nothing in the transaction, on the part of God, that was inconsistent with righteousness; and her case is a perfect illustration of the way in which God saves sinners—of righteousness acquired by the faith of Jesus Christ.

The student must not forget the antecedents and surroundings of Rahab. She had been brought up a heathen, in one of the most depraved of heathen cities. Geikie ("Hours with the Bible," chap. 13) says that Jericho was "a city famous for its wealth and luxury, no less than for its position, but the object of the bitter hatred of Israel, as a center of that idol worship which had left amongst them the burning memories of Baal-Peor. It was, indeed, the local seat of the worship of Ashtaroth, the consort of Baal—its very name meaning the City of the Moon, which was the symbol of that goddess. Hence, it represented all that was foulest and most revolting in the heathenism of the Canaanites." Since the practice of vice formed a part of heathen worship, it is not surprising that it formed a part of their daily lives. Moreover, it was a maxim even among the best and wisest of the heathen, that a lie was to be preferred to the truth if anything were to be gained by it. Consequently, when Rahab lied in order to conceal the spies, she had no thought but to preserve the messengers of the people whom she had come to believe were the servants of the true God. In one sense, it is a wonder that all the Canaanites were not willing to acknowledge the God of whose wonderful works they had heard so much; but really it is a wonderful thing that, in the depraved and benighted city of Jericho, one family should be found to believe on him. Rahab believed in the God of Israel; but as yet she knew nothing of his moral requirements. God accepted her faith, and by it delivered her from heathenism to a place among his chosen people, as one of the ancestors of the Messiah. The case of Nineveh shows that God would have spared Jericho if all the inhabitants had possessed the faith of Rahab. He has no pleasure in the death of any. The Son of man came to save that which was lost, and he saves all who, from the depths of the mire into which they have sunk, lay hold upon him. Their faith may be very crude and uninstructed at first; but if they simply believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, they have that which can lift them to the heights of holiness; for the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, that is, from a low degree to a higher. Since it is by grace that we are saved, through faith, not according to our righteousness, but according to God's mercy (Eph. 2:8, 9; Titus 3:4-6), it follows that God accepts the faith of sinners, no matter how depraved, and that this is the lever by which they are made righteous. To the everlasting glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Jews said in designed reproach, "This man receiveth sinners." Luke 15:2.