
Rahab and the Emissaries of Joshua (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
Hey person, I just got here and there are words already on my blog. I wanted you to tell me a story about Joshua. You know, the guy who took over after Moses died.
Really? God said those words to Joshua when He told him to go take the Promised Land?
Do you think God would say those words to me the next time there’s thunder?
I would too listen to God.
I do too listen to you. Okay, I’m listening now.
Joshua sent two spies across the Jordan River to look over the land. He told them to especially look over Jericho. So the spies went to Jericho and stayed at the house of a prostitute named Rahab.
The king of Jericho heard that the men had come and he sent messengers to tell Rahab to bring them out.
Was that king going to give those men special honor? That’s pretty cool – a king wanted to see them.
I am listening.
Rahab hid the men and told the king’s men that they had gone. She sent the king’s men down the road looking for them.
Rahab was pretty sneaky, wasn’t she?
I’ll listen. I promise.
Rahab talked to the men she had hidden and told them that everyone in the land was afraid of their people because of the things God had done for them. She asked them to spare her life and the lives of her family.
The men agreed that if Rahab didn’t tell anyone what they were doing they would treat her kindly and faithfully. Rahab’s house was part of the city wall, so she let the men out of a window by a rope and told them to go into the hills for three days so they wouldn’t be found.
The men had climbed down on a scarlet cord, and they told Rahab that if she tied it in her window and brought her family into her house they would be spared.
Rahab agreed and sent the men on their way. They hid in the hills for three days, then forded the Jordan River and told Joshua everything that had happened to them.
So what happened next? Did Joshua and the Israelites go give those people in Jericho what for?
What? I have to wait to find out what happens next? Maybe I’ll go to Jericho and huff and puff and blow the walls down.
What do you mean I have the wrong story? I am not a big, bad wolf!