Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I have an interesting question for you to begin our time together today. Have you found the record of some events in the Bible just plain confusing? Have you noticed that while God is HOLY, God’s engagement with our world often takes place in the middle of our natural, evil, unholiness? Come with me, my friends, back to about 1400 bs, to the huge encampment of the Israelites who have been wandering around in the desert for 40 years. They are beyond anxious to get out of the sand and into land which will grow things and feed animals, a land where they can settle down and build a future.
Oh, this generation knows very well WHY all they’ve known for 40 is the heat and hopelessness of the Sinai desert. Their parents, 40 years ago, had said NO to God! Even after God’s miracles of delivering them from Egyptian slavery; bringing them through the Red Sea water tunnel; providing water pouring out of solid rock; and dropping a daily bread delivery from heaven which they called Manna. Still, when given the opportunity to trust God and follow Him into the promised land, 40 years ago, that fearful generation said NO to God! Now 40 years later that generation was all gone, having died natural deaths in this desert over the past 40 years. Moses too is gone, and Joshua is the leader of this next generation of Israelites.
Yesterday we saw that God had given Joshua the shocking news that God would be with Joshua as He had been with Moses (Joshua 1:5,6) and God would lead these more than 1 million Israelites across the flooded Jordan river into the new land, (Joshua 1:2-4) and it would happen within the next few days! (Joshua 1:11)
In these first weeks and months with Joshua as the new leader, I imagine each time he faced a situation calling for him to lead, Joshua would pause and think ‘Now, what would Moses do in this situation?’ Perhaps Joshua even scratched his head trying to remember if he’d ever been witness to Moses facing a similar situation and then trying to remember exactly what Moses did and what the results were.
While the location was different and God’s promise of moving into the promised land was different, Joshua could remember very clearly that 40 years before he and Moses had faced a very similar situation as they prepared to enter the land of God’s promise. Perhaps that’s why Joshua chapter 2 tells us Joshua selected two men and sent them secretly into the land on a reconnaissance mission?
Can you see Joshua, alone with these two guys he has chosen, quietly commissioning them to a mission all too familiar to Joshua? “Go, look over the land, especially Jericho.” (Joshua 2:1) Having been in Israel myself, my friends, only a few days ago, I can see it quite clearly in my mind. From modern day Jericho, built very close to the ancient ruins of Jericho in Joshua’s day, you can look east, across the flat, barren landscape and see the Jordan river only a few miles off in the distance and the fertile green pastureland along the river on the far side. It’s not difficult to imagine a huge throng of people camped there, on the far side of the river, as far as the eye can see.
As Joshua sent these two young men his mind of course went back 40 years to the day he and Caleb, along with 10 other carefully selected men, all considered young leaders among the Israelites, went off, commissioned by Moses, to explore the promised land. That event is recorded in Numbers 13 & 14, and I’m sure you know the story! The entire Israelite community had lived the past 40 years with the disastrous consequences of the bad report those 10 spies gave, while only Joshua and Caleb called the people to trust God. Now, Joshua and the next generation are having a second chance with God!
Watch that, my friends. Do you know God loves to give people second and even third chances? Perhaps you’ve experienced that amazing opportunity. With God confession, which means I agree with God’s perspective; and repentance, which means I turn away from my prideful, selfish rebellion and I submit to God; results in God’s forgiveness and often a second chance to be part of what God is accomplishing in our world.
However, have you learned my friends that while we are forgiven by God for our sin when we confess and repent of our sin, we usually live with the consequences of our sin. After 40 years of wandering in the hot desert, my guess is Joshua, Caleb and the next generation were not going to make the same faithless, rebellious mistake, this time!
Pause for a moment and let me ask an important question. Have you and I learned from the lessons our parents have taught us? Especially the lessons they learned in their times of disobedience or even rebellion with God. Have you and I been courageous enough to tell our children and grandchildren about the lessons we’ve learned in our rebellion against God? Oh, these Israelites knew full well the second chance God was giving them to enter this land of promise. So, off those two men go, probably under the cover of night, toward Jericho, while Joshua waits and probably prays, asking God for great wisdom.
Joshua chapter 2 is one of those stories in the Bible which may cause you to scratch your head a bit. My translation tells the story this way: “So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.” (Joshua 2:1) Now we understand prostitution is one of the oldest industries in the world and it’s in every society. Normally men don’t enter a prostitute’s house for coffee and conversation. So why would God include that in this story? Well, perhaps, as in some translations of the Bible, Rahab was actually the innkeeper of a travelers inn and while prostitution may have taken place in that hotel many Bible scholars believe Rahab herself was not a prostitute and the men sent by Joshua were not seeking sexual pleasure as their first order of business in Jericho, but in fact were seeking to overnight in the normal place any traveler would stay.
Rahab’s part in this story is not her vocation but rather the condition of her heart and the significance of what she told these two unknown, Israelite travelers. “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt…when we heard of it our hearts melted in fear because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.“ (Joshua 2:8-11) WOW! Now that is a very powerful and profound statement, isn’t it?
Of course, the name “The LORD” is the name God gave Himself when first meeting with Moses at the burning bush, when Moses asked God what His name is! (Exodus 3:14,15) How Rahab knew that name we have no idea, but it’s clear she and all the people of Jericho knew about the God of the Israelites, the one, true, living, Almighty God! There is no evidence anyone in Jericho, including Rahab, worshiped the LORD, but clearly the God of the Israelites had a reputation in Jericho and that reputation had those people living in fear as they perhaps heard reports the huge traveling Israelite nation was moving up from the desert along the east side of the Jordan!
May I ask a question? What is the reputation of Jesus in your city? Why? What has shaped the reputation of Jesus, the Son of God; or Almighty God the Father; or the Holy Spirit of God in your town?
Rather than my telling you the story of Rahab and these spies, I’d like to invite you to listen to the Dramatized Audio Bible link at the end of this “Walking with Jesus”. It won’t be hard to put yourself into the story! As you do, be quiet as you are hiding under the flax on the roof of Rahab’s hotel, and careful as you enter into a contract for Rahab’s safety during the forthcoming Jericho invasion! And may I give you these questions to ponder as you listen to Joshua 2…
1. Why do you suppose Rahab hid the spies, at great personal risk, rather than turning them in to Jericho authorities?
2. What do you think is the significance of the scarlet cord in the window?
3. What do you think was the reputation of the LORD of the Hebrews in Jericho when, as far as we know prior to these two spies, no person in Jericho had ever seen an Israelite?
4. How do you compare the brief report these two spies gave to Joshua, upon their return from Jericho, (Joshua 2:23,24) with the report of the spies Moses had sent in 40 years before? (Numbers 13:26-33)
I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow for one of the most exciting events in history, Joshua chapter 3.
Today’s Scripture is Joshua 2.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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