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Today we continue our series on the ‘Bad Girls of the Bible.’
We are exploring some of the stories of women in the scriptures that might have a bad rap.
There are clearly important lessons for us to learn from them, and we saw that last week as we looked at the story of Eve.
Her name means life, but we saw how her pursuit of the knowledge of good and evil led to the fall of humans.
We don’t just need to know things; we need wisdom, and it comes to us when we pursue it, and work to make the right decision for this moment in time.
Other Bad Girls have important lessons for us, too, so now we move from Eve to the story of Rahab.
You may not know that name, but she appears in the Book of Joshua, in a story where Israel has left enslavement in Egypt and is marching into the Promised Land.
Gay/Sal is going to read our scripture for today.
The Israelites have gone the long way, entering from the East after 40 years wandering the desert and the first challenge they face in this new land is this massive fortress of a city, Jericho.
How could they ever overcome it?
A well fortified city could withstand a siege for months, if not years.
If they can’t win here, how could they ever be safe in this new place?
What they need is someone on the inside.
Let’s hear some of the story of how Israel faced these impossible odds.
This is from Joshua 2:1-14.
Hear now the word of the Lord.
[And from John 6:40]
This is the word of the Lord for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Let’s pray as we listen for God’s word: Lord, may we be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ.
Help us to discern your will, to rise from the ashes, and be God’s people whatever odds we may face.
In Christ we pray, Amen.
When my oldest son, Davy, was just about 5 years old he convinced his mother to read a book to him.
The book was called ‘Goosebumps’ written by R.L. Stine.
Its a series of books that is appropriately scary for eight year olds, but Davy was a voracious reader and would read just about anything he could find.
So when he finally wore his mother down with requests for Goosebump stories, she agreed to one and only one short story.
It was a classic trope about a ventriloquist dummy that comes to life.
After the story was over Davy had to go to bed, but that didn’t last very long.
His imagination brought him visions of a dummy leaning out of his closet door peering at him.
To this day Davy requires closet doors to be closed when he goes to sleep at night.
Goosebumps stories have never again appeared in our home, but the fear that he felt has somehow managed to linger.
Me, on the other hand, I avoid scary things as much as I can.
I just don’t have any interest in movies or any other kind of media designed to make you feel fear.
I get enough of that in everyday life.
I remember when I first found out that my wife, Emily, was pregnant.
We had to go to the doctor to have ultrasounds.
That was so nerve wracking to wait to hear first hand whether my child was healthy and able-bodied.
What if he had been sick, or not viable?
Then we had to start making plans for this new baby.
I had never had a budget for my finances in my entire life, but when we knew we had a baby coming, I started writing down the numbers.
Emily was going to stop working, so I had to support the family on just my income.
When I finished the calculations I was on the phone with my dad, “Hey dad, it looks like I’m not going to have enough to support my family.
Can you help?”
He told me to pray about!
Can you believe his nerve?
I was scared I wouldn’t be able to support my family, so I did pray.
A couple of weeks later I got a phone call from my boss telling me that I would be heading to a new church and the salary was exactly the amount we needed to survive on one income.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt more relief in my whole life.
Essentially the day Davy was born I started a new job to support the whole family.
Those first few months were filled with fear, too.
When Davy would finally go to sleep I couldn’t get any rest.
I had to compulsively check on him to make sure everything was alright and he was still breathing.
There are plenty of things to be afraid of just as the world is; I don’t feel compelled to imagine new ones to add to it.
Now I know that’s not true for everyone.
Some people thrive on those feelings of fear.
Some use it as a powerful tool to change the world around them.
In Russia there is this drug that people take to help them stop drinking nicknamed ‘the torpedo pill.’
The drug blocks the bodies ability to properly metabolize alcohol, which can cause all kinds of problems.
The more permanent form of it involves a doctor putting an implant into their body that is supposed to make them violently ill if they even have a single drop of alcohol.
To test it the patient takes one pill by mouth, and then a single drop of alcohol.
They feel headaches, nauseous…they might feel like they will faint or even are about to die.
A doctor interviewed about it was asked if someone could indeed actually die from this and he said, “well, probably not.”
It is a serious risk to use this, but the effects are unbelievable.
Something like up to 80% of patients report breaking their addiction to alcohol after using the torpedo pill, a very real drug called disulfiram with very real and scary side effects.
Could you imagine doing that to yourself?
Making yourself so sick so that you never want to touch something again, never do something again.
That’s the power of fear, but I’m not convinced that’s the best way forward.
In fact, there are multiple places throughout scripture where the command from God or an angel is “Fear not.”
It happens to Abraham, it happens to Joseph’s family, Moses, Israel; on and on it goes, “Fear not.”
God is here, God is with you, God is on your side.
When Joshua is preparing to go to battle with this city, Jericho, he might ordinarily have reason to fear.
Jericho is known as the oldest city in the world, settled since 9000 BC.
And there’s a reason its been inhabited for so long.
The city sits in a strategic position between the Jordan River and Jerusalem.
It also defends the path to Bethel, another significant city to the west.
There is a spring of water that runs all the way to the Jordan River so they have food and water.
Its also the only place to cross the Jordan easily for about 20 miles, so they have built up the walls over centuries to defend this important passageway.
If you look on a map even today, you can see how the area around Jericho is very green, while its essentially surrounded by desert.
Jericho had everything they needed to defend against the invading Israelite army.
Yet God says “fear not.”
How in the world could they possibly win?
This army, as big as it is, needs a ton of food and water.
They can’t sustain themselves for long.
They have to have quick victories in this new land or they are done for.
And here stands Jericho, an impenetrable fortress, blocking them from truly entering the Promised Land.
If I were Joshua, leading these people in, I think I would be scared.
A false move here could ruin the people and bring a swift end to this invasion.
Joshua is skilled, though, and not afraid.
He sends in some spies, which is typical in this time.
The men would have posed as either deserters or refugees.
So getting into the city is not as big of a problem as getting out.
They need to surreptitiously find out how many soldiers there are and inspect the food and water supplies.
If they get caught, its over.
If they can find a weakness, though, it could bring the battle to a quick end.
Unfortunately, there is no weakness.
This is bad news, and on top of it, it seems someone figures out they are spies, tells the king and so soldiers are at Rahab’s home trying to catch them.
Now Rahab is a harlot, her occupation sticks out like a sore thumb.
Over and over the scriptures refer to her as Rahab the harlot.
Joshua, multiple times, Hebrews and even the Book of James attaches that.
They won’t let go of her name in connection with her occupation.
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