The Walls Of Jericho Fall

Introduction

Well, David, that was a nice thought. But you might need to get your watch checked. I had closer to 11. But if I did get up here at 10 to 11, that means I preached for 40 minutes, and you were a very patient audience, if that is the case. It is an enthralling Old Testament story. The occasion of the walls of Jericho falling flat before the armies of Israel. As a young person, I pictured that scene in my mind many times what it must have been like for the armies of Israel to witness. And as archaeological digs have evidenced at the city of Jericho, the walls did indeed slide down the hill in a quite unusual manner. Anything that’s ever been found in archaeology only corroborates the Bible story because these words are true.

Several years ago, I was confronted by one of our students at Eastside who came out of the Bible class and they wanted to stump the preacher with a Bible question. And the question was, how many times did the Israelites march around the city of Jericho? And I quickly replied, 13. And to the child’s chagrin, I was correct. 13, the unlucky number, which was very, well, not lucky. Divinely aided victory. They marched around one time for six days, and then on the seventh day they went around seven times. And they shouted. And the walls fell flat. And Joshua in chapter six tells them to do so without uttering a word on that final day. I’ve often thought what it must have been like to have been stationed on the wall.

As on the seventh day they march around and then they keep going around and around. This is not like days one through six. And around and around in the quietness. It must have been heary. For those last few moments they were alive. And then, of course, the armies of Israel rush upon the city of Jericho, and they slaughter everything as God told them to, with one exception. Not all were slaughtered. In Joshua chapter six and verse 23. The young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab. And of course, the spies who had been sent in would know her by sight. Brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all that she had. In verse 25, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared.

And she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. The spies had made an oath with her because she had preserved the lives of the two spies. The story is actually recounted several chapters earlier in chapter 2. I find it interesting that on this occasion only two spies are sent. Of course, more than that would have been probably very conspicuous. But they went and came to the house of a harlot, whose name was Rahab who lodged there. How did they end up in Rahab’s house? Providence of God is written all over this story. And it was told the king of Jericho, sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.

And apparently someone had seen them go to Rahab’s house. And so they come to her house, and they say, Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when it came about that it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan, to the fords.

And as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away 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 who were beyond the Jordan to Sivon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted, and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you.

For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth.

Our only way out of this is to somehow get these men to preserve us. Spare my father and my mother and my brothers and sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death. And so the men said to her, our life or yours, if you do not tell this business of ours. And it shall come about when the Lord gives us the land, that he will deal kindly and faithfully with you. These verses evidence that Rahab believed in the God of Israel. And of course, she would be preserved, verse 18, as the spies tell her to place a cord of scarlet thread in the window in which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house, your father and your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.

1. Rahab Is an Unlikely Hero

And so when the city of Jericho is destroyed, Rahab and her family are preserved, because, as Hebrews 11 and verse 31 indicates, she had welcomed the spies and provided for them and was delivered through this oath that they had given to her. Well, I want to make some observations about this character Rahab. The first of which is that she is an unlikely hero. Unlikely for a couple of reasons. Consider how little information she had regarding the God of Israel, a God that the people of Jericho did not serve and did not honor. But the little information she had was sufficient to promote faith in her. She wasn’t as privileged as the Israelites to see the ten plagues that God had brought upon Egypt. I mean, the Israelites had witnessed that.

They had heard the cries from the death of the firstborn. They had walked through the sea on dry ground. She hadn’t seen any of that. Jesus always made it a point to indicate how impressed he was with faith from unlikely sources. Gentiles. In Matthew chapter 15, a Cyrophoenician woman. And a centurion, about which Bolke says, I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. We have much more than Rahab had. We have been given more evidence than even the Israelites possessed. Oh, we haven’t seen those miracles with our eyes, but we have seen the complete unfolding of God’s plan. Does that provoke great trust in us of our God? And I want you to consider, too, an unlikely hero from the standpoint of her evil surroundings.

Remember, Israel did not come in to possess the land until the iniquity of the people of that land was full. Remember, God kept telling Abraham that until their iniquity became full. His descendants would not inherit this place. And so when they did finally come to the land flowing with milk and honey, it was because this was an exceedingly wicked place. And over and again, the scriptures tell us she was a harlot. Harlots figure prominently not only in the Old Testament story, but also in the New Testament story. And remember what Jesus said in the parable of the two sons. We looked at the parable of the vineyard that follows that in Matthew 21, the parable just before that probably really irritated the Pharisees. The parable of the two sons, and he says, Well, let me tell you the application of the story.

The tax gatherers and the harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you. Harlots, really? The sexually immoral? And yet it was a number of harlots who actually responded very favorably to Jesus. Remember the one in Luke 7? Who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped his feet with her hair? And the one caught in adultery in John chapter 8, in the very act, he would tell her ultimately after her accusers walked away, go and sin no more. There were those who were formerly harlots who would be numbered among the disciples of Jesus. There’s something we need to understand about the practice of harlotry in biblical times. It was not based so much in many instances on unbridled lust as it was merely an economic motivation.

It’s not like if you were without a husband or your husband had died, that you could go down and get a job somewhere downtown in the city. Women didn’t have the same kind of job opportunities as men. And so often it was an economic motivation for a woman to get a little bit further along in regard to material things, for her to consider this immoral business.

Obviously, some changes are going to result, but she finds refuge. And so I called this sermon refuge for Ritrath, because that’s what we might look at. Somebody who lived in the city of Jericho and who practiced harlotry. She was undeserving of grace.

But so are we. And while we may have never practiced harlotry, anyone who sins and falls short of the glory of God becomes dependent upon God’s grace for salvation. And despite her immoral surroundings, she chose faith in God. And that should forever dispel the notion that my circumstances are so severe that temptation is so strong that immoral things are happening so much all around us that I cannot possibly refuse the immorality. It is too great, it’s too strong. I think a lot of people are thinking today that it’s almost impossible to refrain from profanity or to refrain from at least an occasional alcoholic beverage, that it’s almost impossible to avoid lasciviousness, much less fornication with a boyfriend or a girlfriend. I mean, it’s our culture. Our culture is so exceedingly wicked.

2. Rahab's Conversion Story Is Not Without a Snag

Yet we have examples of people like Rahab who choose faith in the midst of evil surroundings, or someone like Lot, who was vexed, his soul was tormented by the unrighteousness all around him. We can choose faith in immoral surroundings. And so while we might place Rahab in the category of riprath, she moves from the category of riffrath to repentance. She is numbered now among the Israelites. But Rahab’s conversion story is not without a snag. She didn’t tell the truth. We read that in Joshua chapter 2. Yes, Dave, I’m preaching this sermon as you requested. She didn’t tell the truth when they came to inquire. She said they had already gone. And she sent them another direction when they are actually in the house. One commentator, Richard Hess observes, it’s best not to excuse Rahab’s actions, but neither to be troubled by them.

You know, some people want, okay, what are we going to do with the fact that Rahab lied? Is God approving of lying? Is God approving of lying in some circumstances? Look, I think this is an easy answer. God cannot approve of behavior that is opposed to his own character.

Paul makes that observation in Titus chapter 1 and verse 2. The Hebrew writer makes the same observation in Hebrews chapter 6. And therefore we can have strong encouragement because God is reliable and he has sworn with an oath, and it’s impossible for God to lie. And Jesus said of himself, What? I am the way, the truth, and the life. He did not lie, he was without sin. He does not lie. And so when somebody says, well, it doesn’t say that what she did was wrong when she hid the spies and told an untruth about their location. But the Bible in the Old Testament does not always provide editorial comment. Even about the action of its heroes. It doesn’t say in regard to Abraham’s lies, for instance, in Genesis 12 and Genesis 20, which are very similar to Rahab’s lies.

Rahab’s lie in Joshua chapter 2. It doesn’t say, oh, and by the way, Abraham lied. Oh, and by the way, Abraham lied. One of the instances where that happens is in the story of David and Bathsheba, where it looks like David’s covered it all up. And the very last verse of chapter 11, it says in 2 Samuel 11, but the thing David did was evil in the sight of the Lord. Okay, there you get the editorial comment. Yes, what David did is wrong. But you don’t get that in every place in the Old Testament. It doesn’t mean that God approved of the action. And yet some people will come along and say, ah, here we have a case of something that is higher, setting aside something that is lesser.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this. The same attempt is made in Matthew chapter 12, where Jesus uses the illustration of David eating the show bread and the priests profaning the Sabbath. And see, there are certain occasions when there’s a greater need, like the disciples needing to eat grain. It was okay for them to violate the Sabbath. I’m not going to talk all about Matthew chapter 12 tonight, but I’ve been studying it a lot lately. No, the disciples did not violate the Sabbath. Jesus could not stand by and let them violate the Sabbath because he’s the Lord and He can do whatever He wants. Wrong interpretation. That passage is not talking about it’s okay sometimes to set aside the laws of God. Some would say, well, protecting someone’s life.

If I’m protecting someone’s life, then I can lie. I can tell something that’s not true because that’s a more important thing. Okay, once you go down that road of higher laws, setting aside lesser laws, how can not being a truth teller be a lesser law? When God is a God of truth and does not lie. How can that be a lesser law? And once you start going down this avenue, God actually approved of what Rahab did. Who gets to decide which are the higher laws and which are the lesser laws? Do you have a passage on that says, oh, and by the way, these are the higher laws, and these are the lesser laws, and when the two come in conflict, you get to ignore the lesser one.

Where’s that list? Does anybody find that? Well, the only thing sort of like that might be Matthew 23 and verse 23, when he talks about their emphasis on tithing, and he says, there are weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. But he wasn’t saying by that. Well, if you have justice and mercy and faithfulness in your heart, tithing doesn’t matter. Because he goes on to say these things you ought to have done, not left undone. No, he still wanted them to tithe, but he first wanted them to have the right attitudes of heart that are also a part of God’s law for man. So again, once you start going down this higher law, setting aside a lesser law, where do you come up with that?

What scriptural basis do you have for that kind of thinking? I would submit to you that this is simply a matter of God’s providence. Providence does not argue approval. Because once you go down this path that because God uses this to ultimately accomplish his purposes of the destruction of the city of Jericho, that he’s now approving of the lie that Rahab told. That doesn’t follow anymore that he was approving of Judas betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver so that he could die on the cross and accomplish redemption for the human race. Do you think that’s okay that Judas did that? Do you think it’s okay? That the rulers of the Jews put Jesus to death, and yet God took the evil that men did and incorporated it into his plan and his will for man.

It’s providence. It wasn’t right for Judah and his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery. Do you think that was right for them to do that? By the way, there wasn’t any editorial comment there either in the scripture, but I think we get it. You shouldn’t sell kids. Don’t sell your brother or sister into slavery. Now, but what happened ultimately, God preserved all the descendants of Jacob alive because Joseph ended up in Egypt, and you know all that story. The providence of God does not argue that God approved of Rahab’s act. Here’s the most plausible answer. I mentioned how little she knew. She wasn’t at Sinai. She didn’t receive the law. I don’t know how God had communicated with the city of Jericho and made known his moral law for them.

3. Rahab's Decision to Shelter the Spies Involved Risk

But whatever she had available to her, it was not as privileged as the nation of Israel. She’s not spiritually mature at this point. She has not grown and learned everything that she will once she becomes associated with God’s people. So no doubt her embrace of the God of Israel and her embrace of his will was further strengthened as she lived among the Israelites. There is no reason to point out the case of Rahab and to suggest that any occasion would ever be acceptable for us to lie. There’s another observation that I want to make of the story of Rahab Hess in his commentary, I quoted him earlier, contends that the text emphasizes Rahab’s deception only to magnify her personal risk in protecting the spies. Rahab’s decision to shelter the spies involved risk.

By welcoming the spies, she placed herself in the midst of peril. Somebody said, Well, but she’s mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 because she lied. That’s not what the text says. In Hebrews 11 and verse 31, it says, by faith Rahab, the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace. What the Hall of Faith remembers is that she welcomed the spies of Israel and wanted to provide assistance for them because she believed in the God of Israel. She had faith. It was not a full-grown faith. It still evidenced this immaturity. Somebody said, But what if she had ratted them out? What if she had said, I’ve got to tell the truth. And then the two spies are killed.

Well, I guess they wouldn’t have conquered Jericho. Really? You mean they couldn’t have pulled it off? If the spies had been killed? Perhaps maybe the foreknowledge of God knew what Rahab would do. And again, he is providentially working things to accomplish his ultimate purpose. Well, let’s get to something very practical here. When you launch out in faith, that could potentially mean some risk. As we’ve often talked about, your peers might not accept you. They may reject you. They may not want you to be your friend because you won’t do the things that you do. Whenever you step out in faith, that involves a risk. The passage we looked at in our Bible class this morning, he who confesses me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

He who denies me before men, him will I also deny before my father who is in heaven. There is an application of that to what we do before baptism, but in the context of Matthew chapter 10, it’s about the potential loss of your life. It’s about that someone could harm your body. They could kill you for what you believe. And you may be forced to make a confession of your faith. And so I don’t want to sugarcoat any of that for you young people because faith involves risk. And it involved risk for Rahab. I mean, you think about it. Who in her city is going to approve of what she does here? She’s going out on an island here. Because of her faith in the God of Israel.

What if this thing doesn’t work out? There’s a lot of risk involved. But the strength of her faith caused her to do what she did.

4. The History That Matters Revolves Around Those Who Serve God

So understand that point. There’s a final observation that I want to make from the story of Rahab. And that is in regard to the Lord’s history for the last few minutes. I want to talk about this. Of all the women of the Old Testament, the most often referenced and noted woman in the New Testament is not Rahab, sorry. I led you into that. Sarah. Abraham’s wife. But second is Rahab the harlot. Now, that says how impressed God was with this woman living in a wicked city to do what she did. She’s mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 31 in the hall of faith. I mean, you look at all the people who were people of faith who are not in Hebrews chapter 11. I still think somehow Jonathan should have been in there.

And maybe a little expanded section on David would have been good. Time would fail me, the Hebrew writer said, but it did not fail him to include Rahab. And then in James chapter 2, the father of the faithful, Abraham. He had a faith that works. And we look at that whole section. James chapter 2, 14 through 26. Faith without works is dead. Abraham, father of the faithful. Let me tell you who else is in there. Rahab. Rahab makes James chapter 2. That’s remarkable. That’s not all. Matthew chapter 1. She’s in the genealogy. She’s one of the ancestors of Jesus. She marries someone in Israel from the tribe of Judah. And a harlot finds her way into the ancestry of the Savior of the world. That’s an interesting thought, too.

In this list are Gentiles like Ruth, harlots like Rahab, men and women, Jew and Gentile, all of them sinners, all of them needing saving by the one who would come as their descendant. And this makes me think.

Cyrus, king of Persia, and Alexander the Great is referenced in the book of Daniel, though not called by name. It’s obviously a reference to him, but there are some great figures that our young people study about in history classes, in world history of ancient times, and their names aren’t found in this book. Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. They’re not in here. But Rahab. It’s mentioned several times. And what that tells us, young people, is the history that matters. Revolves around those who serve God. These are the people that he remembers. God is not unjust to forget our work and labor of love, which we have displayed in ministering to his saints and having ministered. And so often in our lives we get focused, and again, where’s your frame of reference?

We get focused on I’m going to do well scholastically. I’m going to be the valedictorian of my class or the salutatorian of my class. I’m going to graduate in the upper 5% of my class. I’m going to get this degree, and I’m going to have these initials behind my name. And I’m going to have this particular job. I’m going to be a CEO. Somebody with some power and some dollar figures behind my name. And we get focused in on that kind of achievement. But ultimately, the achievement that matters is the achievement of faith. And having one’s name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. God remembers and lauds Rahab, a former harlot. Not Pharaoh or the builders of the pyramids. That sort of glossed over me.

That’s not even mentioned. Who built the pyramids? One of the great wonders of the ancient world. That’s not important in the biblical record. Today, not sports heroes, not entertainers, not singers with multi-platinum albums, not actors and actresses, not CEOs and kings and presidents, not fashion designers. And those whose lives are chronicled in the lifestyles of the rich and famous. But the righteous. God remembers them. In rabbinic tradition, Rahab was regarded as one of the four most beautiful women in the world. And was the ancestor of eight prophets, including Jeremiah. And Holdah the prophetess. Now, this isn’t confirmed by the biblical record, but again, according to Jewish tradition, she had such a place among God’s people. I don’t know how beautiful she was. Somebody in Judah thought she was beautiful enough to marry her.

Conclusion

But the most important thing was not what she was physically in her outer appearance, but who she was inwardly as a person of faith. And so who are you on the inside? Do you have this kind of trust in the God of Israel? Will you take your stand with him regardless of the cost? If there’s anyone in this audience tonight who needs to put on Christ to become a child of God by faith, to choose the life of faith as Rahab did. In the midst of great obstacles and opposition, we’re here to encourage that response, and we want you to be numbered among the Lord’s people, the most important and significant place in this world. If you’re subject to the call of the gospel, come now while we stand and sing.