Lesson 2: A life of sin
Hebrews 11:31 - By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
The Bible says Rahab was a prostitute. This was God’s view of her, and it was true.
However, to understand this story a little better, we need to see who Rahab was as the world would have seen her. It will also tell us more about what God did in the first few chapters of Joshua as He led the people of Israel to defeat Jericho.
Jericho was called the “Queen of the Valley” by the people of the area. The city had defenses most armies would have considered unbeatable. Jericho was also the leading city for the worship of Ashteroth, the goddess of fertility. Therefore, since the Bible tells us Rahab owned her home and her home was located at the top of the wall, we can believe she was a priestess in this temple worship, and very probably the high priestess (or about to become the high priestess). When we read about the rites these people followed to crown a new high priestess as the human goddess, we see many very familiar parallels between these rituals and the instructions God gave Joshua for how the people were to “attack” Jericho.
Therefore, if this is true, God began conquering the land of Canaan as He had conquered Egypt a little more than 40 years earlier – by displaying His power as greater than the gods of the land! But in conquering the gods of the land, God also showed His mercy and grace as He saved only Rahab and her family from the destruction. God showed that it does not matter how deeply we have been enslaved to sin. He can save even the one who would be a high priestess in the worship of another god, if that person turns to Him in repentance and forsakes all this world has to offer and seeks Him alone.
Romans 3:23-24 tell us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” No matter what our life has been, we are sinners before God. No matter how highly respected we might be in the eyes of those who know us, God calls us by the name we truly are, just as He called Rahab a prostitute even though she was a highly respected and powerful woman of her day.
Not one of us can impress God and buy our way into His favor through money or good deeds or influence. We must each come to Him in sincere repentance, knowing we deserve our death sentence, believing in Him. Believing in Jesus is far more than saying so or giving mental agreement to believing. It is an action. It is, as Rahab found it, a believing that burns all other bridges behind it with the full knowledge that if He is not telling the truth then all that was before has been lost. She turned her back on every part of life she had ever known, every god she had ever served, and trust only that this God of the Hebrews could deliver her.
*How are you seeking God alone in your life?