Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro
I want to begin straight off with our text this morning.
God is at work in the world around us all the time.
Do we take the time to recognize what the Lord is doing?
The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
It was no small group of people.
The people of Canaan knew about the Israelites.
It is likely that the last time the people were on the edge of the Jordan, they began to prepare for war.
They have now had 40 years to see God at work through His people.
They have heard about the mighty works God has done.
They have heard how the Israelites have taken the land of their neighbors.
In our story for today we see an example of a woman, defying her own people, her own culture, and placing her faith in the Lord.
Through Rahab’s actions, we see an example of saving faith by her turning away from her own culture.
Pray
Courageous faith.
V. 1-7
One of the first things that comes to my mind as we come into this chapter is, Joshua, what are you doing?
Don’t you remember what happened when Moses sent you and the other men into Canaan to spy out the land?
Is Joshua acting of his own accord here, sending the spies, or is he doing as God told him?
We already know that Joshua believes the Lord’s promise to give the people the land so why would he need to send in spies, especially when he himself had already been in the land.
Not only that but it is also interesting where the men end up.
The go into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab.
What were these men doing going into the house of this woman?
We must look and understand that there is more going on here.
There is more at stake.
God is at work, through every action that is taking place.
Rahab’s occupation.
So the two spies, enter the land and make their way to Jericho.
Jericho was a special city with a purpose.
This city was the first line of defense for the nation.
It was fortified and likely primarily had fighting men living there to protect their land, especially with threat of the Israelites looming on the other side of the river.
The Hebrew word translated “harlot” can also mean “one who keeps an inn.”
If all we had was the Old Testament text, we could absolve Rahab of immorality and call her the “proprietress of an inn.”
But there is no escape, for in James 2:25 and Hebrews 11:31, the writers use the Greek word that definitely means “a prostitute.”
Rahab’s home would have been a logical place for the two men to go as it was a sort inn, or tavern.
A public gathering place.
This place was more than just a brothel.
Looking purely at the text and the meaning of the words, Rahab’s occupation as well begins a play on words of the situation.
In the meaning of the word translated prostitute we see also has a figurative understanding of a improper relations with foreign nations.
It causes us to begin to think about Rahab in a bit of different light.
Rahab was a Canaanite, who was taking in spies from Israel into her home, as as we see continuing in the chapter, she hides the men from the rest of her people.
Rahab’s conversation with the king.
For a secret mission, the men must not have been doing a very good job because it does not appear to take long for the news of their arrival to make to the king of Jericho.
This is our first real crisis in the story.
The men have been found out, what is going to happen to them?
Will they be handed over and killed?
The king sent his men to Rahab telling her to bring them out, because they were spies who had come to search out the land.
Rahab apparently knew of their mission as well because before the kings men arrived, she had taken the two spies and hidden them.
God’s provision in this situation is clearly evident.
The two men go into the hostile city, they meet with the one person in the city that believed in the Lord.
Rahab had faith in the Lord, even before the spies arrived in town.
Her faith now is marked by courage.
Rahab took her life in her hands when she welcomed the spies and hid them, but that in itself was evidence of her faith in the Lord.
True saving faith can’t be hidden for long.
Since these two men represented God’s people, she was not afraid to assist them in their cause.
Had the king discovered her deception, he would have slain her as a traitor.
Rahab rejects any suspicion that she cooperated with the spies, suggesting that they came to her establishment, like most of her visitors, to fulfill their fleshly desires, and left.
If she had not lied, she should not have been able to claim that the men had already left.
Skewing the intentions of the spies made a good alibi for Rahab that she did not know where they came from.
If we wanted to liken Rahab’s actions to those of more recent ones, we could perhaps compare them to those of Christians, hiding Jews from the Nazis in WW2
It took a great amount of courage for them to do son.
The courageous action that we see take place is also spoken of by NT writers.
Both Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 indicate that Rahab had put her faith in Jehovah God before the spies ever arrived in Jericho.
Rahab’s faith was not a faith of complacency.
James uses Rahab’s faith as an example of action.
Action that believers are to replicate.
Action that shows the different between a simple professed faith, and true saving faith.
What would our reaction be if we were in Rahab’s place.
We are all called to do more than simply profess our faith.
If all we do is join a church, say “I’m a Christian!”
What good is it really?
All believers are brethren in the body of Christ.
There is fellowship, friendship, family.
We are to work together as the body of Christ on earth.
We are to work together with the goal of God’s kingdom in mind.
Being bold in our lives to tell others about Jesus.
To make disciples,
Because of her faith, Rahab took courageous action in hiding the men and misleading the king and his servants.
What courageous steps do you need to make in your faith?
We all have a role to play.
God has a job for each and every one of us.
We must have the boldness, the courage to step out in faith, even if it means losing, as in Rahab’s case, her life.
That took courage, that took faith.
Confident faith.
V. 8-11
We know why Rahab hid the spies but they likely did not know why she acted on their behalf.
Beginning in verse 8 she explains to them why she hid them.
What Rahab knows.
v.9
Rahab makes some pretty bold statements to the men.
The Lord has given the land to Israel.
The fear of the Israelites is upon the people of Canaan.
The inhabitants of Canaan melt away before them.
Why?
The message that God has given this land to Israel has made it to more than just the people of Israel.
It makes sense that Rahab would have heard this, considering the business she runs.
She see strangers and outsiders on a regular basis.
How many people fled the land east of the Jordan when those kings fell?
The people had heard how God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt.
God used the battles with Sihon and Og to cause fear.
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