I like Rahab. God does too. That lying prostitute got her name in the List of Names-- she was in the lineage of Jesus! She was a smart woman. She knew how to get what she needed, and she protected her family in the meantime.
I like women like that. I like women who are strong and protective and devoted to the ones who matter to them. I know plenty of women like that. I am one of them myself. Many of the women in my Bible study at the jail are that way. Ironically, today our Bible study is going to be about purity. Purity? Who even talks about purity any more.
Look at Rahab: Rahab was a prostitute. That's not exactly pure. She had a little house on the outskirts of town where she entertained traveling men who were looking for a little impurity.
I wonder though, how did she end up there? I'll bet you know. People don't just end up in places like that without someone helping them get there. How can a young woman get so off track? Obviously, purity wasn't a big priority in her family of origin.
Here are some possibilities: She had some kind of defect that made her "unmarry-able", so she decided to use her wiles to make some money for the family. She was made impure by someone -- she was raped, in other words, by someone in her family or in the town. She had been married, but her husband abandoned her -- leaving her no option -- in her mind -- but becoming a prostitute. Maybe her familiy was in dire straights -- no money or food, so she sold the only thing she had. However she ended up "impure" by the standards of the day she lived in, she was the kind of woman who didn't just sit back and feel sorry for her situation. She got up and did something about it.
When the big break came -- the day that she met God's chosen people, who were scouting out her land so they could conquer it -- she saw her opportunity clearly. Despite the impurity in her life, there was a window of wisdom -- Rahab could see the hand of God. She did not hesitate to take advantage of the situation for the good of herself and the people and property in her house.
She made a deal: I'll get you out of your dilemma, but you do something for me. When this whole thing comes down and you are destroying my town of Jericho -- which I know you will do -- don't forget about me and my people and my property. I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine: I'll save your life if you save mine.
Something in Rahab told her the truth: these men represented something greater than herself, her family, her town, and she was going to hitch a ride on the greater thing, leaving behind the bitterness and self-pity another kind of woman might easily have been chained to. These men were not there to take a bit of her, pay up, and leave. These men brought something to her. Something greater. Something better. Something more substantial. Something more worthy.
This is the instant of Redemption for Rahab. I wonder if those men had told her about God, or if she had heard it from someone else. How did she know to go for it? Was it good, tough-woman instinct? Was it the voice of God? Rahab was a risk taker, no doubt. But this was a huge one. If she were caught harboring these men, she along with everyone in her house would have been killed. She took a chance. Something told her to believe.
And what was the result? They kept their part of the bargain. She let down that blood-red scarf from her window as the city was being attacked by God's people. Rahab, her mother, father, and brothers, along with her property were all protected. Somewhere down the road, after they went off with the God-followers, she met a man named Salmon who apparently didn't see her as impure. He saw her as marriage material. He saw her as the mother of his son, Boaz, who married another tough woman named Ruth - - they gave birth to Obed, who gave birth to Jesse, who had a son named David....and on down the line...to Jesus -- the Savior of the world.
The people whom Christ has redeemed with his blood, as well as by his power, will obtain joyful deliverance from every enemy. He that designs such joy for us at last, will he not work such deliverance in the mean time, as our cases require? In this world of changes, it is a short step from joy to sorrow, but in that world, sorrow shall never come in view. (Matthew Henry)
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