Rahab

“Mary and Eve” by Sr. Grace Remington, reprinted with permission.

Joshua 2:1-14

“By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient…”

(Hebrews 11:31a)

The Bible does not shy away from the topic of sex, even though we might blush at the first reference to it in the church. Instead, the Bible addresses sexuality as a part of normal human life naturally and, at times, graphically—in all of its beauty, brokenness, abuse, wonder, and shame. “Rahab the Prostitute” is how the Bible refers to this woman from the city of Jericho several times throughout Scripture. The passage quoted above comes from Hebrews 11, which many refer to as “The Hall of Faith.” God, in his wisdom, wants us to know that his grace extends to all kinds of people, especially Rahab the prostitute, a woman who did not belong to God’s ethnic people, living in a town that stood in opposition to God’s plans. Living a life that was counter to God’s intentions. A woman who most likely suffered much at the hands of evil and vile men who used and abused her so that she could scrape together enough money to survive. It was in Jericho where perhaps Rahab was waiting in bondage, longing to be rescued. God’s grace knows no bounds.

Rescue did come! Rumors began making their way throughout the countryside and into the city that God’s people were on the move and that this people’s God was not like any other. Rahab told the Israelite spies to whom she gave safe haven that she had heard about “how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt…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 2:10-11) Because of her great fear of the Lord and his purposes, Rahab was dealt with “kindness” and “faithfulness” (2:14), two things of which she, as a prostitute, probably did not experience in Jericho. God’s people were kind and faithful to her, and she was welcomed into God’s people and found her place in the genealogy of Jesus, the Savior of all kinds of people (Matthew 1:5).

The kindness and faithfulness that God’s people showed to Rahab was just a foretaste of the love and tenderness that Jesus the Messiah would show to scandalized and marginalized women (John 4, 8:1-11; Luke 7:36-49). Jesus himself, lashing out against the religious leaders of his day said, “Truly, I say to you…the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31). In Jesus’ Kingdom, the outsiders are let in, the thirsty are quenched, and the scandalized find themselves nearer to the heart of God than those who ride the moral high horse.

We live in a world where the vulnerable are still marginalized and victimized at the hands of evildoers. We long for the day when King Jesus will return and judge those who seek to harm others for their own pleasure. May we remember God’s love for sinful people like us. That his grace is enough to change the heart of the sex-trafficker; that his mercy is wide enough to change the life of the John looking to exploit another woman, and his faithfulness is steadfast for those who are most vulnerable and victimized. Come, Lord Jesus.