Rahab’s faith
Rahab the Amorite and Joshua are connected through the walls of Jericho. God had been working in her heart before the children of Israel besieged the city got there. How often do we miss the presence of God in the life of the person not yet connected? Joshua sends spies into Jericho and they meet Rahab who declares that the Lord has given you the land. Here we see a prophetic utterance from a surprising source, Rahab the prostitute. Knowing the Israelites would conquer the land, Rahab asked the spies to spare her life and the lives of her family members when the assault came. The spies agreed to do so if she would keep their secret, place her family safely inside her house, and tie a scarlet ribbon in her window as a signal to the Israelite army to spare her home. Through the scarlet cord she and her household were absorbed into the nation of Israel. For her courageous faith, this woman with a bad reputation was enrolled among the faithful in the book of Hebrews—the only woman, besides Sarah, named there (Hebrews 11:31). James used Rahab as an example of how a character can be transformed by a living faith that yields works (James 2:25). And eventually, she was no longer known as the harlot who hid the spies but as the wife of Salmon, the mother of Boaz, and the ancestor of Jesus (Matthew 1:5–16). However low you have been there is no limit to the height you can go. Invite someone to take a closer look at Christ and his church.
