Women in the Bible: Rahab, the Savior

Joshua 2:1-22
Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. The king of Jericho was told, ‘Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.’ Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.’ But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, ‘True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.’ She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

Before they went to sleep, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men: ‘I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. As soon as we heard it, our hearts failed, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. Now then, since I have dealt kindly with you, swear to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal kindly with my family. Give me a sign of good faith that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.’ The men said to her, ‘Our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.’

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the outer side of the city wall and she resided within the wall itself. She said to them, ‘Go towards the hill country, so that the pursuers may not come upon you. Hide yourselves there for three days, until the pursuers have returned; then afterwards you may go on your way.’ The men said to her, ‘We will be released from this oath that you have made us swear to you if we invade the land and you do not tie this crimson cord in the window through which you let us down, and you do not gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your family. If any of you go out of the doors of your house into the street, they shall be responsible for their own death, and we shall be innocent; but if a hand is laid upon any who are with you in the house, we shall bear the responsibility for their death. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be released from this oath that you made us swear to you.’ She said, ‘According to your words, so be it.’ She sent them away and they departed. Then she tied the crimson cord in the window.

They departed and went into the hill country and stayed there for three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had searched all along the way and found nothing.


If you have ever felt like an outsider, than have we got a story for you today!

Allow me to introduce you to today’s “Woman of the Bible”: Rahab. Here’s what we know about her:
• She was a prostitute,
• The king knew her (he sent word to her, specifically, about the men who had come to her),
• She believed that YHWH was the God of heaven and earth,
• She wanted to protect her family,
• She was from a poor family who apparently depended on her for livelihood
• She had courage,
• She observed Passover (because of the flax on the roof of the house she lived in),
• She was the mother of Boaz, one of the main characters in the story of Esther and the reason Rahab is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew,
• She was shrewd, a quality that Jesus seemed to approve of when it came to
negotiating the entrance of the kingdom of God.

So, why her? Why today? What do we need to hear about this woman’s witness to the love and life of God?

You may have noticed the job description I have given her in the sermon title for today: Rahab, the Savior. This is in no way meant to be offensive but to provoke your thought and imagination about the many ways that God’s hand saves us in many different situations. Without Rahab, Joshua might not have been able to “fit the battle of Jericho,” and Rahab would not have married Salmon, the father of Boaz, and we might not have had a window into the ways that God loves and works through even the most unexpected and, in our eyes, undeserving human beings.

Much has been written about King David and his shameful act of just taking a woman he wanted away from her husband by having him killed. But he was a king, beloved already by God, and went on to great things and a great legacy among the Hebrew people, so he is excused: beloved and excused. More and more is being conceptualized about Prostitute Rahab and her courageous act in helping the spies from the camp of Joshua, who was working hard to make the vision of the promised land come to pass for the Hebrews who had been rescued from Egypt in another generation by God through the life of Moses. Perhaps she, too, deserves a great place in the history of the people of God: a place in the generational lineage of Abraham to Jesus, a place among the great ancestors of faith mentioned in the letter to the Hebrews, a place in the definition of works as a demonstration of faith in the letter of James. Rahab is on the scene, just like the men of her day, offering her life for the salvation of her people and the people of God.

Now when I say her people, I mean that in the Southern way we talk about our “people.” Surely you’ve heard or maybe even said it yourself: “I know some of her people,” or “You know, her people are from up north in the mountains.” Rahab’s people were her family, and they were likely poor and unnoticed by the rest of the society of Jericho and the land of Canaan—the very place God had promised to the Hebrews as their new homeland. As a poor woman from a poor family, whose options for making a living were extremely limited, she did what she had to do to support her mother and father and siblings and family. And she lived not belonging to any group within Canaanite society but on the margins—literally living in the wall between the city of Jericho and the outside world. She was about as much of an outsider as you could find—no one wanted her as her best friend, lover, wife, mother, or even child.

…until they needed her. Of all the houses and all the prostitutes in the world, how lucky those spies were to have walked into the life of Rahab!

A little Joshua background: Joshua was the one to take over leadership of the Israelites in exile from Moses. He was a fairly young guy, probably on the biggest conquest of his life. He loved and served God and encouraged the people to keep faith and heart as they continued to journey toward the new life of freedom that God had promised them as they were coming out of Egypt. In fact, think back to that time of passing over from slavery to freedom for those folks: there are some references to the first Passover in the story of Rahab. The flax on the roof of the house—a tradition of Passover. The crimson cord by which Rahab would communicate safety to Joshua’s spies—a symbol of the blood of the lamb to be put over the doors of the Hebrews during the slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt as the Hebrews were being delivered. These signs of a connection between Rahab and one of the most important holy observances of the Hebrews are important indicators that in heart she is one of them: finally a place for her to belong and contribute.

I think one of the reasons we often feel marginalized is that we cannot find ways to contribute to communal life. Have you ever said to yourself, “If only they knew what I have to give?” I think it’s a question that resonates with people in a very deep place: belonging is not just about getting along with most everybody. It is also about having a place and a purpose for being in that group. This was Rahab’s moment; after a life of living in between and making decisions that isolated her from any community, this was finally the time for her to matter, for her life to make a difference.

Are you wondering when that time will come for you? It’s easy to get wrapped up in the tasks of daily life—work, taking care of family, connecting with friends, to do lists—and to forget that there is a bigger purpose for each of us as we make our way through life on this earth together. There is a place for each one of us to belong in the reign of God: there are gifts for each one of us to use; there is courage for each one of us to exercise; there is acceptance for each one of us to feel; and there is work for each one of us to do. Salvation from death, whether it be at the hands of sin, depression, disease, war, or anything else that pursues us in this life, is available to us. Jesus showed us that salvation from God is open to all people as he overturned death in his resurrection. Rahab showed us that really anyone can participate in salvation as she came from the margins, from outside the Hebrew community and tradition, recognized our God as the God of all, and offered salvation to the Israelites through putting her own safety at risk and her marginalized place in society to good use. Without that red cord, where would the people of God be today?

We don’t thank God for the life of Rahab because she was a prostitute, because she lived on the margins, or because she was a woman. We give thanks to God for her life because she had courage to respond to the goodness of God in a terrible situation for herself and her family. She had the courage to recognize that God could save her and her family from indebtedness that could never be repaid and a life of slavery to that debt. She had the courage to help people she didn’t know but whom she knew were out to kill her and her fellow Canaanites. She embraced the power of God to save others, not for her own sake, but for the sake of people whom she loved.

I like to think of Rahab as the first one at the middle school dance to get up from the row of chairs around the wall of the gym and go ask someone to join her on the dance floor. She may not be wearing the best dress, but she has the courage to make a place for herself. She will be remembered for generations and her story told.

Because of Rahab’s belief in the saving power of God, she, herself, became a kind of savior for others. She believed so much in the power of God to save even folks outside the recognized “family” that she took a step out in faith that God would save her, too. It takes courage to believe in God, my friends. It takes courage to believe that you don’t have to stay on the outside or continue to be marginalized. Our sister Rahab has shown us with her life that no matter who you are, God loves you, looks after you, and can use you to help others. You may think you are on the outside, that you have nothing to give, that no one cares about you. But God has made you, loves you, and helps you find your place in the life of the community to contribute, to give back, to belong.

This may be your place. This body of faithful folk may be the one where you can let God’s love pull you in, you can find the courage God has given you to reach out to others who are on the outside, where you help save someone else. Rahab is not some far away, fairy tale character in the Bible. She is us, and we are her.
So muster up your courage, my friends, to find the place in God’s reign where you belong, where you are needed, where you can contribute. And there you will find Rahab, a prostitute, a poor woman, one whom the rest of the community was willing to overlook. And she will be there cheering you on, handing you a red cord, and giving you courage to help someone else.

May it be for you.

Amen.