Wall Fall - Rahab - The One Year Women in Christian History Devotional

Joshua 2; Matthew 1:5

Hebrews 11 is the famous “faith chapter,” detailing the exploits of a number of Old Testament heroes. A woman named Rahab is in that list. What’s her claim to fame?

When the Israelites were about to invade the land of Canaan, they sent two spies into the walled city of Jericho. They found shelter in the home of Rahab, a prostitute. Even when the king of Jericho suspected her of hiding the spies, she continued to conceal them, and she sent the king’s men off on a wild goose chase.

Why would she take such a risk to help the Israelites? Because she knew the story of God parting the Red Sea and allowing the Israelites to cross while the Egyptians drowned, as well as other stories of what the God of Israel had done. “The LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below,” she told the spies (Joshua 2:11).

You might remember how the Israelites marched around Jericho once a day for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day—and, as the Sunday school song says, “the walls came tumbling down.” Then the army stormed the city, but Rahab and her family were not harmed. Her assistance to the spies was rewarded. At the end of that story, the book of Joshua reports, “She lives among the Israelites to this day” (6:25)—and she apparently married and had a child because she also appears in the genealogy of Jesus.

It’s amazing to see the positive attention Rahab receives in Scripture. Not only was she a foreigner, but she was also a prostitute—not the holiest career choice. And yet she acted courageously to help God’s people because she trusted in the God of the Israelites. Her faith brought her into the core of the Israelite community despite her past life and nationality.

This was exactly the sort of thing that Matthew, James, and the author of Hebrews wanted to emphasize. Rahab’s story indicated that God had always welcomed Gentiles into the community of faith. You didn’t need a pure pedigree or a perfect record, just faith in the true God and willingness to act on that faith. That is still true today.

Rahab the prostitute . . . was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.

James 2:25