Friday May 24
Rahab’s Covenant Faith
Joshua 2:15-24
17 So the men said to her: "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear,
18 unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home.
19 So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.
20 And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear."
21 Then she said, "According to your words, so be it." And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.
We are looking at the faith of Rahab the harlot. She had a courageous faith (vv. 1-7), a confident faith (vv. 8-11), a concerned and contagious faith (vv. 12-14), and today we will find that Rahab had a covenant faith (vv. 15-24).
A covenant is simply an agreement, a contract between two or more parties, with certain conditions laid down for all parties to obey. You find a number of divine covenants recorded in Scripture: God's covenant with our first parents in Eden (Gen. 2:16); God's covenants with Noah (Gen. 9), Abraham (12:1-3; 15:1-20), and Israel (Ex. 19-20); the covenant concerning the land of Palestine, as explained in Deuteronomy; the messianic covenant with David (2 Sam. 7); and the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ Jer. 31:31; Matt. 26:28; Heb. 12:24).
Before the two spies left Rahab's house, they reaffirmed their covenant with her. Since the men didn't know God's plan for taking the city, they couldn't give Rahab any detailed instructions. Perhaps they assumed that the city would be besieged, the gates smashed down, and the people massacred. The men were certain that the city would fall and that ultimately the land would be taken.
Often in biblical covenants, God appointed some physical or material "token" to remind the people of what had been promised. His covenant with Abraham was "sealed" by the rite of circumcision (Gen. 17:9-14; Rom. 4:11). When God established His covenant with Israel at Sinai, both the covenant book and the covenant people were sprinkled with blood (Ex. 24:3-8; Heb. 9:16-22). God gave the rainbow as the token of the covenant with Noah (Gen. 9:12-17), and the Lord Jesus Christ used the broken bread and the cup of wine as tokens of the New Covenant (Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26).
In the case of Rahab, the spies instructed her to hang a scarlet rope out of the window of her house, which was built into the wall (Josh. 2:18). This scarlet rope would identify the "house of safety" to the army of Israel when they came to take the city. The color of the rope is significant for it reminds us of blood. Just as the blood on the door posts in Egypt marked a house that the angel of death was to pass over (Ex. 12:1-13), so the scarlet rope marked a house on the Jericho wall whose occupants the Jewish soldiers were to protect. Rahab let the men down from the window with that rope and kept it in the window from that hour. This was the "sure sign" of the covenant that she had asked for (Josh. 2:12-23).
It's important to note that Rahab and her family were saved by faith in the God of Israel and not by faith in the rope hanging out the window. The fact that she hung the rope from the window was proof that she had faith, just as the blood of the slain lamb put on the door posts in Egypt proved that the Jews believed God's Word. Faith in the living God means salvation, and faith in His covenant gives assurance; but faith in the token of the covenant is religious superstition and can give neither salvation nor assurance. The Jews depended on circumcision to save them, but they ignored the true spiritual meaning of that important rite (Rom. 2:25-29; Deut. 10:12-16; 30:6).
Many people today depend for their salvation on their baptism or their participation in the Lord's Table (the Eucharist, Communion); but this kind of faith is vain. Rahab had faith in the Lord and in the covenant promises He had made through His servants; and she proved her faith by hanging the scarlet rope from the window. When the Jews captured Jericho, they found Rahab and her family in her house; and they rescued them from judgment (Josh. 6:21-25). Her faith saved her! “Then she said, "According to your words, so be it."
Today, is your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross?
God bless!
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