Lesson 7: A new way of life

Read Joshua 7 and 8

When Rahab and her family left Jericho, they were taken to the Israelite camp. This chance to live, saved from destruction in Jericho, meant she had to give up everything she had ever known. Whatever her job had been in Jericho, she lost it. Whatever her position in society had been, she lost it. She would have to learn a completely new way of life to be able to fit into the Israelite camp. It meant hard work for her.

In her old life, she held a status in her society which women in the Israelite camp could not hold. She had been head of her home, and in her new life this was not allowed. She had owned many possessions, and in this new nation women were not allowed to own their own homes or even inherit from their fathers unless there were no sons in the family.

This social structure did not mean God thinks women are less valuable or important than men, it only means God had given a pattern for family which He wanted everyone to follow. Family has always been God’s first plan for society. The husband and wife are equal partners in the family, but God made the husband/father the one responsible for his family as the spiritual leader and provider.


*When changes come to your life, how do you respond to these changes?

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we too become members of a new family, citizens of a new kingdom. We also cannot keep our old ways and habits of life; we adopt the new ways that belong to His kingdom (Ephesians 4:32). We learn a new language – the language of His love (1 Corinthians 13). We are all children who obey our Father, just as Jesus did when He was on earth (John 6:35-40).

Rahab could have given up hope and just run away to one of the other cities of the land if she had wanted to, if she had thought it cost too much to stay. Do you think she was treated badly in the Israelite camp by some of the people who were afraid? Remember, just about six weeks before this, the Israelite camp had seen many people killed because they had been friendly with prostitutes from Moab. Many would have been afraid of being friendly with Rahab!

Rahab did not give up. She did not run away. The Bible does not tell us she became angry over all the changes in her life, though it would be understandable if she became discouraged from time to time. But the Bible does say her trust in God was real (Hebrews 11:31).

The Bible also tells us the name of the man who became Rahab’s husband – Salmon. He was of the tribe of Judah, and he was an ancestor to King David. Rahab was one of only four women named in Matthew as an ancestor of Jesus.