Lesson 5: Faithful obedience without regard to consequences

Read Joshua 3 and 4

Rahab chose to follow the instructions from the spies – things that probably did not make sense to her – over the things she could see. The armies of Jericho were surely on alert. They guarded the gates and manned the posts on the walls for the attack they expected at any moment.

Rahab waited. We know she waited the three days she had urged the spies to hide in the mountains to the west, until the soldiers quit looking for them. Another three days (Joshua 3:2) passed while Israel prepared to cross the Jordan River after the spies had returned to camp. The day of the crossing of the Jordan River came next, and then at least another four days while Israel celebrated the Passover in their promised land for the first time.

We are not told how many days came after this until Israel began their “battle” against Jericho, but we do know that for six days the armies of Israel simply marched silently around the city and returned to their camp without making a sound.

*What do you do when God has promised you something and you do not see it happening immediately? Do you begin to wonder if God has forgotten, or if He has changed His mind?


Had God forgotten the promise made to Rahab? No, He had not. But while He was preparing His people for the battle, He was also testing Rahab’s faith.

What does it mean when God tests your faith? It does not mean that He does not know the faith you have, for He knows it better than you do. He tests your faith so YOU know what your faith truly is. If you become impatient during the test, then your faith may not be in Him but only in what you want FROM Him. If you begin to question whether you truly have a promise from Him, then it may be that your faith is in your understanding rather than in His promise. If you give up and walk away, then it may be that your faith is still too weak. In any case, your response to a faulty faith should be for you to seek Him more earnestly through the Bible so you know without any doubt at all the foundation for your faith.

We do not read that Rahab’s faith faltered during this time, though it would be understandable if she cried to this God she did not yet know to ask Him why the delay was happening. But God was also preparing a place for her while she waited. He was preparing the heart of a man who would have had many fears in marrying a prostitute, because of the punishment just a few weeks prior of thousands of people who had taken such women into their homes. (You can read the story of how Balaam first blessed the people of Israel in Numbers 22-24, and then told King Balak how to bring God’s curse on them by sending temple prostitutes into their camp in Numbers 25. This happened about 6-8 weeks before this campaign against Jericho. Twenty-four thousand people died as a result of this sin.)