Rev. Don Campbell

Joshua 5-8

THOUGHT FOR TODAY, March 24, 2019

“RAHAB’S FAITH REWARDED”

Most are familiar with the story of Rahab the prostitute who hid the spies and saved her whole family from being destroyed in the battle of Jericho. She and her family were not spared to simply fend for themselves. The record says, “But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho” (Joshua 6:25). She is enrolled in the great honor roll of faith in Hebrews 11: “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies” (v. 31).

There is another reward that Rahab received which is often overlooked. In the Book of Ruth, we read: “Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David” (4:21-22). Matthew tells us that the mother of Boaz was Rahab, so she was the great-great-grandmother of David.

In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, three women are named. We probably would have chosen Sarah, Rachel, and Rebekah. Not so! The women named are Tamar, who conceived by her father-in-law while posing as a prostitute, Rahab a prostitute, and Ruth a foreigner. There is one other “woman of ill-repute,” who is not named but is identified: the adulterous Bathsheba (Matthew 1:1-6).

Jesus was condemned for associating with such women and when one of them washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, a Pharisee named Simon, said, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner” (Luke 7:39). Jesus told Simon a parable about two debtors. One owned fifty denarii, and one owed five times that amount. Both were forgiven their debt and Jesus asked which debtor would love the man more, to which Simon replied that he supposed it would be the one whom he had forgiven most. Jesus replied that this woman who had sinned much was forgiven because of her faith (Luke 7:41-50).

CONNECTIONS

1. Is the lesson “Prostitution isn’t really all that bad,” or “Don’t look down on any person because of their past”?

2. Why, in your opinion, does the Holy Spirit seem to deliberately mention the four less-than-stellar women in the genealogy of Jesus?