Sermon Tone Analysis

Series Review

Several years ago I was listening to a program on public radio, and they were talking about a television series on the AMC Network.

The premise intrigued me: It was about a high school science teacher who was diagnosed with cancer.

The prognosis was not good, and he was worried about how his family would support themselves after he was gone.

To make more money, this teacher, along with a former student, turned to a life of crime, making and selling crystallized meth.

The program I’m referring to is Breaking Bad, which was one of top rated shows during its time.

Walter White was the main character, and he is a good example of an antihero.

The Bible is full of antiheroes.

They are not people we would normally call heroes: they are deeply flawed, they are often misunderstood, and yet they drive the story and God uses them for his glory.

Today we are looking at a prostitute named Rahab.

Sermon Introduction

If you ask Christians what is their most important story, they will say “The Resurrection.”

You ask a Jew the same question, the answer would always be the Exodus story.

God, through his servant Moses, delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery.

As a result of his faithfulness, Moses was given the most miserable job in the entire world.

He led them out of Egypt and the plan was to go to a land that God had set aside from them.

It took them much longer than it should have, because God’s people were stubborn, unbelieving and rebellious.

Most of them died before reaching the promised land - it was their children that inherited the land.

Even Moses died before they crossed the Jordan River and entered the land flowing with milk and honey.

In other words, it was good real estate.

But the real estate was occupied by enemy nations, so they had to be taken by force.

But the real estate was occupied by enemy nations, so they had to be taken by force.

In this story

In the story of Rahab, Joshua (Moses’ successor) sent two spies into Jericho, a huge, fortified city.

Spies, as you know, have to blend in with everyone else, so for the 2 spies this meant hiding out in...a brothel?They hid in the house of a woman named Rahab.

Who is Rahab?

Well, Joshua identifies her as a prostitute.

That doesn’t require a lot of definition.

Many authors as early as the 1700’s, referred to prostitution as the “oldest profession in the world.”

That’s not a fact of history, but that phrase was frequently used by authors as a delicate way of referencing prostitution in their writings.

Today’s text is a very ancient example of the profession, so it’s been around for a long time, and in many respects the industry hasn’t changed.

When I was working on a degree at a seminary in Pasadena CA.

Two weeks out of the year I would fly out to LA airport and take a van shuttle to the school.

One year the van was packed full of people who were going to Los Angeles, to the San Fernando Valley area.

The driver, who was acting as a tour guide, explained to me that if we were to come back later, there would be prostitutes on almost every street corner.

It might be easy for someone to look at these women and be offended and perplexed by their choice of profession, and their lack of morals.

But groups like the United Nations and California State University have conducted studies, and have found that prostitutes were frequently held against their will and were miserable victims of commercial sex traffickers.

Over 80% of the prostitutes they interviewed (it was hard to talk to them) desperately wanted to get out of this profession that generates over 9.5 billion dollars yearly - and this is just the United States.

Sex trafficking is a global problem.

It is overly simplistic (and wrong) to look at the story of Rahab the prostitute and preaching something like, “Rahab was a sinner, she made bad choices, but God forgave her.” Yes, she made the choice to become a prostitute, but she made that choice within the boundaries of choices that were made by men in power.

Men created economic structures that left widows and orphans without resources.

Men created religions that included temple prostitution.

Knowing what we know about Cannan culture, it makes more sense to see Rahab as a victim of a corrupt society than a woman who found a way to make good money.

That’s Rahab the prostitute.

women are frequently held against their will and are miserable victims of commercial sex by human traffickers, who generate approximately $9.5 billion yearly in the United States through the “oldest profession in the world”, according to a report produced by the United Nations.

Countless studies report that over 80% of prostitutes state they wish to get out of prostitution.

The two spies come knocking on her door - and the text is very careful not to imply that they were customers.

The last verb in the sentence, “stayed,” is not the word used when describing sexual relations.

Also, whenever the Old Testament refers to a person visiting a prostitute, the name of the house is never mentioned.

Why visit a prostitute?

The likely answer is because they were spies, they wanted to find a place where they would not be noticed by the king’s agents.

for the ones that do choose to be out there, that choice was on a broken foundation

Rahab knows these men are representatives of an invading army.

It would be easy for her to turn them in to the authorities.

Here’s where we learn that there is more about Rahab than just being a prostitute: She is an example of faith.

In this story makes a profession of faith and she backs it up with obedience.

(Trust and Obey?)

I want you to hear...

Here’s where we learn that there is more about Rahab than just being a prostitute: She is a woman of faith.

In the story she makes a

The text carefully avoids implying a sexual liaison between the spies and their hostess.

There is a common expression for going into buildings of all sorts (cf.

Judg.

9:5; 2 Sam.

12:20; 2 Kgs 19:1).

It does not imply sexual relations with a prostitute.

If the intention was to imply sexual relations, there would be no intermediate term, such as the house of, used when Samson visited a prostitute and ‘went in to spend the night with her’ (Judg.

16:1).

Further, the last verb in the verse, stayed there, is not used for sexual relations without the occurrence of the preposition ‘with’ followed by the designation of a partner.

Why then do the spies choose the house of a prostitute?

This house was more likely a tavern, hostel or way station, which could be used by visitors, than a brothel.

She may have been a cultic religious prostitute, an honorable status in most of the world at that time.

Under that title she could have operated a public establishment of some other sort, such as an inn.

On the other hand, she could have been a professional courtesan

Her Profession of Faith

We have heard what God has done for you.

God rescued you from Egypt, parted the waters so you could leave.

God has given your armies victory over powerful nations.

Quite frankly, we’re afraid of you.

- That’s her profession of faith.

Joshua 2:

I was baptized when I was in 3rd grade.

In the Baptist church we had to make a verbal profession of faith in front of the congregation before we were baptized.

Imagine asking a 3rd grader to do that.

The pastor made it easier for me - he asked me a series of questions like “Have you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior?”

For the adults they were on their own.

Some adults who weren’t public speakers were allowed to do that in a room with a few church leaders and the pastor would share their testimony from the baptismal pool.

Others would profess their faith right from the water.

I wonder how many of us here are ready to make a public profession of faith.

What would you say if a table of friends asks a question about your faith?

A friend is hurting and is asking the “God questions.”

Rahab the prostitute has some good ideas for us.

Her decision to protect the spies was not just about self preservation.

She lied to the king’s men because of her faith in Israel’s god.

Look at her profession of faith: She believes in God’s power: “We have heard how God divided the waters so you could cross the Red Sea.

We’ve heard of how your God helped your undermatched army defeat the great kings east of the Jordon river.

From the baptism pool I heard stories of how God’s power delivered them from sin.

God’s forgiveness was a powerful reality.

The people in that baptism pool talked about a God was personal and powerful.

God had given them a new life - or as Jesus said to Nicodemus in : They were born again.

In other words, they testified to God’s power.