Before we get to today’s story about Rahab and the two
Israelite spies she hid in her house, we need to talk about that weird word up
top: redux. Basically, “redux” is a fancy Latin word that means “to bring back
or be done again.” So, when I say that those hidden Israelites spies were in
the middle of Operation Jericho: Redux, this means that they were redoing a spy
mission that had failed before. So what went wrong last time? And why were the
Israelites trying this mission again now?
Well, to understand that, we need to do a little recap of some of
Israel’s history.
40 years before our story begins, God chose a man named
Moses to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. The Israelites had been
slaves in Egypt for over 400 years, meaning that the Egyptians forced the
Israelites to do all kinds of hard work almost all day long without ever being
paid. But when the Israelites cried out to God for help, God sent Moses to help
free the Israelites.
This took some convincing though. Pharaoh, the King of
Egypt, refused to let the Israelites go, so God sent plagues to change
Pharaoh’s mind. These plagues showed how powerful God was by making things like
frogs and bugs and hail and storms destroy Egypt. That’s a whole other story
for another day, but finally, after 10 plagues, Pharaoh let the Israelites go
free.
God did a whole bunch of other amazing stuff after that too.
He parted the Red Sea so that the
Israelites could safely escape Pharaoh’s army.
And when the Israelites got to the wilderness on the other side of the Red Sea,
God made bitter water turn sweet so that the Israelites would have water to
drink. God even appeared on a mountain in a storm of fire and lightning to show
the Israelites His incredible power!
Anyways, after a year and a half in the wilderness, the
Israelites finally made it to the Jordan River. On the other side of the river
was Canaan, the land that God had promised to Israel a long time ago. However,
the Israelites had no idea what was waiting for them in Canaan, so Moses sent
in some spies to check out the land first.
You can read the full story in Numbers 13. But long story short, this first spying mission was a disaster! When
the spies got back from Canaan, 10 of the spies freaked out that there were
giant people guarding giant grapes there, which the Israelites decided was a
giant problem. Too giant even for God to handle! In fact, this report made the
Israelites so scared of the Canaanites that the Israelites forgot everything
that God had done for them before and stopped trusting Him. And because of
this, God told the Israelites that they would have to wander in the wilderness
for another 38 years before they could finally enter Canaan.
Not all of these 12 spies forgot about God’s amazing acts
through. Two of the spies – Joshua and Caleb – remembered those amazing things
God had done for Israel, and they tried to convince the Israelites that God
would help them take over Canaan too. Unfortunately, the Israelites didn’t
listen to Joshua or Caleb, but at least in Joshua’s case, his faith in God was
one of the main reasons why God chose him to become the leader of Israel when
Moses died.
And this is where the story of Rahab and the spies begins.
Joshua has just become the leader of Israel, and it’s finally time for the
Israelites to enter Canaan. And I bet after 38 years of wandering in the wilderness,
they were super excited.
Which is why I find it so weird that Joshua decided to play
Mission Impossible yet again and send in a second round of spies. That plan had
backfired hugely last time! – Why in the world would Joshua want to go through
all that again? Sure, Joshua only sent in 2 spies this time instead of 12, but
I’m sure there were still some Israelites who were thinking, “Oh no, not
again!” as the spies made their way towards the closest Canaanite city:
Jericho.
Now these two new spies must not have been very good at
their jobs, because the Bible tells us that the king of Jericho knew the spies
were in Jericho the whole time! It didn’t take him long to send a message to
Rahab, that woman we mentioned before who lived in the house the spies were
hiding in, demanding that she send the spies out to him!
So how do you think Rahab responded to this? Honestly, with
spies hidden in her house, I bet she was pretty scared, just like the Israelites
had been 38 years earlier. Actually, the whole city was probably scared! You
see, the people of Jericho—
Hang on… We’ve talked about the Israelites and the
Canaanites. Don’t the people of Jericho get a cool name? The Jerichoites? Jerichonians?
Jerichoecians? Hmm… If you’ve got any good ones, feel free to throw a comment
down below. Otherwise, we’ll just have to figure it out as we go along…
As I was saying, the Jerichoites knew that the Israelites
had this huge army waiting just across the river. They had heard about the Red
Sea and about how Israel had completely destroyed their enemies in the
wilderness. So yeah, I’m sure it might have crossed Rahab’s mind to just hand
over the two spies to the king. The king wouldn’t have been angry with her, the
spies wouldn’t have been able to send their report back to Joshua, and maybe –
just maybe – this would stop the Israelites from conquering Jericho.
But Rahab knew better. She knew that God was fighting for
the Israelites and that Jericho probably wasn’t going to make it. So, instead,
she hid the spies on her roof and told the king, “It’s true that the men came
here. But I didn’t know where they had come from. They left at sunset, when it
was time to close the city gate. I know which way they went. Go after them
quickly. You might catch up with them” (Joshua 2:4-5, NIrV).
Now some of you might be thinking, “But wait a second… Rahab
lied! Isn’t that wrong?” And honestly, this is something that even confuses
adults. But what’s important here is what Rahab’s lie did. Yes, it was wrong of
her to lie, but she lied in order to save two people’s lives. So even though
God wouldn’t like it that she lied, He knows that she was trying to do the
right thing by helping the spies escape.
And that’s exactly what she did after she sent the
Jerichoecians on a wild goose chase. See, Rahab’s hose was built so that it was
connected to one of the walls of Jericho. So all she had to do was let the spies climb out her window and down the wall and they’d be safely outside the city!
But I’m sure the spies were confused. Rahab and the Jerichonese
were the enemies of the Israelites. Why was she helping them?
Did you catch that? The Jericoletians were terrified of the
Israelites and their God! And Rahab? Rahab had learned today’s lesson better
than the Israelites from 38 years ago who had seen God do all those amazing
things. The second she heard about God parting the Red Sea, she knew that
nothing was going to be able to stop Him from giving Jericho and the rest of
Canaan to the Israelites. God’s legacy was just that great!
What’s a legacy, you might ask? A legacy is all the stories
of the great things that someone has done. Wayne Gretzky’s legacy here in
Canada is being the greatest hockey player who ever lived. Abraham Lincoln has
a legacy for being one of the best US Presidents (and sporting an awesome hat
and beard). Jesus’ legacy (among other things) was dying on the cross and
rising again so that our sins could be forgiven. And Rahab’s legacy was showing
great faith by hiding the Israelite spies even when she was scared.
We remember all of these people for the great things they
did. In the same way, Rahab remembered and trusted God because of the
incredible things He did for the Israelites. And – SPOILER ALERT – because
Rahab remembered these things and trusted that God would save her if she asked
the spies for help, He did! When the walls came tumbling down on the Jerickiwis,
her house wasn’t destroyed.
Think about that for a second. Rahab’s house was PART OF THE
WALL!!! Her house should have crumbled like the rest of the walls of Jericho.
But because she trusted God, God did the impossible once again and somehow kept
her house safe and intact when the rest of the walls fell apart. That’s just
one more amazing thing to add to God’s legacy!
See guys: God’s
actions leave a legacy we can trust. And because Rahab trusted in the God that
she had heard so many amazing things about, she was saved! Just think: If the
Israelites had recognized God’s legacy 38 years earlier, they wouldn’t have
been stuck in the wilderness all that time. But when these two spies went back
to Joshua and told him all about their adventure, we see that the Israelites
had finally learned their lesson. They remembered God’s legacy and were finally
ready to follow Him into the Promised Land!
Honestly, this is why I’m so thankful God has given us the
Bible. It’s filled with stories that tell us all about God’s legacy and gives
us reasons to trust Him! So make sure you take the time to read some of those
stories. You’ll be amazed at the things you’ll learn! And it might just make
you want to trust God a little more, just like Rahab.
________________________
Hope you enjoyed that! Don't forget to comment your name for the people of Jericho. And come back next week when we talk about another really famous guy from the Old Testament: Samuel!
~Brentagious
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