March 18 I Friday

Deuteronomy 32-34

Mark 15:26-47

“Joshua commanded the army, ‘Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!…Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared…’”   —Joshua 6:16-17

What a scene it must have been when the walls of Jericho fell! Many theologians believed that the top wall of the city collapsed and fell into the retaining wall below it, creating the perfect siege ramp for the Israelites to charge into Jericho. This would pose a real risk to the house of Rahab that was built into that very wall, since Joshua and the army were not in control of how the walls would collapse. However, after the loud shout and the trumpet blast, standing untouched was a small section of the wall and hanging from the window was a scarlet cord.

      Rahab placed her faith in the name of the Lord to rescue her. In the midst of devastation, God brought salvation. Just as God rescued Lot and his family, while carrying out judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, God knew how to preserve the life of His faith-filled followers while still carrying out His judgment against those who resisted Him and stubbornly dug into their ways.

      Certainly, Joshua and the entire army of Israel recognized God’s hand of preservation upon Rahab. God miraculously spared the life of this Canaanite woman with a questionable past. In that army was a young man who took notice of Rahab and her family. He was from the tribe of Judah, which was the most prominent tribe in the nation of Israel. He was determined to marry her. This young man’s name was Salmon.

      One wonders the scrutiny that Salmon faced when he made that choice. Out of all the Israelite women he could have picked, he chose a Canaanite woman with a past that nobody wanted to talk about. Just as God saw Rahab’s faith and rescued her from destruction, Salmon did not see a Canaanite woman with a questionable past, but a woman who loved and feared God in a way that he had never witnessed before. Captivated by her faith, he took her to be his wife. By God’s grace, this woman would forever be included in God’s promise to redeem the world. 

      Rahab is listed in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ as a reminder that God does not simply see our past, but when we place our faith in Him, He sees past our sin into what He will transform us into. It does not matter how messed up our life is or the sins we have committed; if we call on the name of the Lord and place our faith in Him, we will be saved. He can rescue anyone and He can redeem us and make us part of His redemptive purposes.

Prayer: Almighty God, thank You for seeing past my sin into what You will transform me into. I praise You for rescuing, redeeming and making me part of Your redemptive purposes. Amen!