Joshua 2:8-14 is a narration of God’s grace. It is a story of God extending His arm of grace to a heathen. It tells us that God’s grace can reach anyone regardless of a person’s sordid past. Hailed from a heathen race, Rahab was a Canaanite and a harlot by profession. She probably would be the most unlikely candidate for salvation. There was nothing about her that should commend her to God, yet the mercy of God reached down to her and changed the course of her life altogether. She was granted a place of honor in the history of redemption. Like her, none of us has anything in us that should attract the grace of God, yet in His mercy, God reaches out to us. This is a divine privilege. O, how marvelous to be a candidate of His grace!
It seems quite clear that the grace of God was working in Rahab’s life prior to the arrival of the spies. She had hidden the two spies in the attic of her house and had them covered with flax. Then she sent the men who came searching for the spies away in the wrong direction. She now went up to where the two spies from Israel were and revealed to them the condition of the land. The power of God demonstrated in the deliverance of the people of Israel was known, and it had brought great fear to everyone living in Canaan. They had heard of how God had delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt and even cut a dry path in the Red Sea for them to get away from the pursuing army of Pharaoh. God not only did that marvellous miracle but also enabled them to utterly defeat the strong forces of two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan. The people of Canaan were now engulfed by fear and every heart had melted. It underscores for us that fear can drive people away but it can also drive people to God. So, we see in Rahab, who while fearful like the rest of the Canaanites, was driven to faith in Jehovah God. She saw God’s hand in all the miracles which He had demonstrated in the life of His people. And from all she had heard, she could only conclude that Israel’s God is truly the Lord of heaven above and earth.
Being divinely inspired, her faith in God was quickened and she took a positive step to align herself with Him. She knew that the only way she and her family could be preserved would be to align their hearts with God. So, she came to the spies to cut a deal for the preservation of her life and that of her family. From her actions, we see faith in action. Faith always initiates in positive actions. To believe and do nothing is not faith. It is merely giving mental assent to what we believe. True faith always results in us taking positive steps to draw near to God. That was precisely what Rahab did. From her actions, we can detect true faith in Jehovah. She was sure that the land of Canaan would be Israel’s because of God. So, she made the spies swear to her in the name of the Lord to save her and her family from destruction when they conquered the land. In this, we can also see that true faith requires total abandonment. She was willing to risk everything she had just to be accepted. Doesn’t this ring a bell? Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow after me.”
Finally, in the bargain that the spies had with Rahab, we can see that faith demands that we be willing to give something in exchange for the favor of God. We must be willing to abide and flow with God’s plan so that we can receive divine favor. The pledge the spies made her give was to ensure that she would be willing to flow with the plan and purpose of God. Like Rahab, if we are to be the recipient of God’s favor, we need to have faith and then flow with His plan and purpose.
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