Rahab: When God Re-Writes Your Story

“Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.’ ~ Matthew 21:31-32 NKJV

Joshua 2 recounts an interesting story of a woman named Rahab. She was a prostitute in the city of Jericho. Just before the children of Israel conquered it, Joshua sent two spies from the camp of Acacia with orders to go and secretly explore the city, and they ended up in the house of Rahab. The king of Jericho heard that some Israelites had come into his land that night to spy out the whole country, and he sent word to Rahab saying;

“Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.” Joshua 2:3 NKJV

Rahab had made a wise decision to hide the two spies, and she gave this reply to the king’s men;

“Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” ~ Joshua 2:4-5 NKJV

I don’t know what was going through her mind all this time she was playing around with their intelligence, but I find it amazing that she knew there was a life-saving opportunity before her, and she couldn’t waste it. She went up the roof where she had hidden the spies, and Joshua 2:8-21 recounts what happened. The spies safely escaped the city, returned to Joshua and reported everything to him. The children of Israel crossed the Jordan into Canaan and laid siege to the city of Jericho. The city was completely destroyed, and every man, woman, and child in it was killed except Rahab and her family. At the end of it all, Rahab got married to Salmon, an Israelite from the tribe of Judah. Her son was Boaz, the husband of Ruth, and she is one of the four women recorded in the genealogy of Jesus.

Rahab’s story doesn’t begin with a nice picture of her. She is introduced to us as a prostitute. A prostitute, according to modern day society, is a woman who has neither dignity nor respect for herself. She is shameless and sells her body or gives herself to men for money and other material benefits. Rahab was such a woman. Her life was nothing to write home about, but God blessed her so much that it is worth noting. This means that how it begins is not as important as how it ends. Your beginning may be messy and shameful, but the end of the story is written by God Himself. If you put your trust in Him, He will take away your shame and disgrace.

Rahab was not an honorable woman. We all know that prostitutes have little, if any honor, dignity, or respect. She was a Canaanite and Jericho was one of the principal seats of idol worship being especially devoted to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the moon. This means that it was a godless city where people did not know or worship the true God.

It’s also very clear from the scriptures that she was perceptive, intelligent, and well-informed. She identified the spies and knew who their God was, what He had done, and what He was about to do to Jericho. Interestingly, she did not mess with them although she was a prostitute. She was also ready with a ‘makeup’ story which she used to deceive the king’s men, who ended up ‘buying’ it. Rahab also gave the spies excellent advice by telling them to go to the hill country and hide for three days before going back, and it worked.

From her actions and decisions, we can faithfully say that she was a self-leader. A self-leader is a person with the ability to lead and influence oneself towards achieving their set goals. Self-leaders know what they want to achieve and accomplish in their lives. They are self-motivated people who take action toward achieving their goals, and they don’t allow anything to deter them from accomplishing them. They act, take all the risks, and make decisions alone. Those close to them may not even be aware of what they are doing. They counsel, motivate themselves, and figure out what to do and how to do it. They manage their affairs and prove to be leaders by leading themselves first. Rahab did everything she did all by herself, and thanks to her, God showed mercy to her and her entire family.

She was not the ideal woman for salvation because she was under the power of sin and in condemnation because her life was not right before God, and the city she lived in had been marked for destruction. She may have succeeded in breaking other people’s homes and marriages and hurting her fellow women by taking away their men and sleeping with them. It is also possible that she had made many men’s lives miserable. Not only that, she was part of a corrupt, depraved, pagan society and culture, and there was nothing godly in her. Money and the pleasures of the world had taken pre-eminence in her life, and that’s what defined her – it’s what she lived for. Yet she was not a fool. Within her was another kind of a woman who believed in the supreme power. She knew that she could not save herself and her family and she had to let it out. She had learned and gathered enough to conclude that God is God in heaven above and on earth below. And all of this prompted by faith saved her and her family.

‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. ‘ ~ Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV

Rahab was saved because of her faith in God, and all of us are saved through faith in Christ Jesus. This is where it all begins. Her faith enabled her to turn away from her culture, people, religion and past life to the Lord. Once we come to Christ, our past lives no longer matter. God takes the responsibility of cleaning up our mess. All we need to do is to embrace His Son Jesus Christ and His gift of salvation. She was no longer viewed as an unclean prostitute, but as one worthy by grace to be part of the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are unworthy because of our sins, but the grace of God always comes to our rescue.

Just as she was grafted into the line of Christ, so we become God’s children and partakers of His inheritance. We are saved by the amazing grace of God that can save even the worst of sinners and bring them into an abundant life in Christ Jesus.