March 4, 2025
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Joshua and Timothy? Here’s today’s reading:
Joshua 2 (NIV)
Rahab and the Spies
1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”……Continue Reading
Such great faith Rahab shows here by helping Joshua’s spies. God can and will use any of us. Rahab was a prostitue and unlikely supporter of God’s plan and yet He was clearly speaking to her heart and led the spies to this home where she would protect and help them.
God used an unlikely person in an extraordinary way and when we are faithful, like Rahab, He can use us too but we must be listening to Him and prepared to do His work when it is time.
Because the spies chose sanctuary with Rahab, we have our Jesus of Nazareth. Remarkable, seemingly random choice paved the way for her physical security, and generations later, we are part of her story!
Joshua 1 and 2
Perfect example how God can use anyone for good. Even a prostitute. It was Rahabs faith and bravery that ultimately protected the spies. I think the 2 spies also showed faith and bravery by obeying Joshua knowing they were being sent in secret to spy the land. They surely must’ve considered the consequences of being caught.
This is also a story of integrity in keeping promises that we can all learn from.
Joshua sends out two spies to spy out the land and Jericho. They were faithful in carrying at Joshua`s instructions. However, despite people realizing that they were Israelites or at least foreigners, God led them to the household of Rahab where she protected them by hiding them. She also tells the two spies that the people are very afraid of Israel because of their God. Rahab makes an agreement with them to spare her and her family as she has spared them. She could have turned them over but instead believed in the Lord their God. Rahab is mentioned in Hebrews 11:31 as a woman of faith. Heb. 11:31 {By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.} And then again in James: when she put her faith into action by receiving the two spies and then sending them away safely. James 2:25 {Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?} This is another example of a Gentile coming to God in faith. Jesus came rescue sinners so they may have eternal life. I, as a Gentile, am so glad He did. Only those who acknowledge their sin can be saved. God bless you all.
”And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.“
Joshua 2:11 NKJV
Rahab believes in God. It interesting to consider how long ago the events of the Israelites leaving Egypt and the parting of the sea were. At least 40 years, and yet the surrounding nations know and fear the God of Israel.
As we read in Ezekiel for the Women’s Bible study a repeated theme for both Israel and the surrounding nations is “and they shall know that I am the Lord.” This is true for all mankind for all eternity.
The knowledge of God is everywhere and is therefore found at times in the most unlikely places. The key is for people to engage in that knowledge and believe and have their thoughts and actions transformed by it. Here Rahab is the last person you might expect to have connected with the work of God, but because she had, it is presumed that is why God led these spies to her. And what knowledge of God and His people does she show: that people are in fear of the Jews for how God has worked (which is the very thing God had said He would do if the Jews obeyed Him). And she believes, therefore, that they would be successful, so she wants to declare herself to be on their side and then help them, and seek to gain salvation from the destruction they will bring. It is all part of her believing the stories that have been told. All the rest are logistics that flow from that faith. Yes I will hide you, and let you down by a rope and tell you how to avoid capture. Just promise you will save me and my family. It is the way it has always worked and continues to: God reveals, we choose to believe, and then we choose to act in ways consistent with that belief.
Joshua 1-2
Joshua 2
Joshua 2