Context No. 2965 of 4322 · Joshua
Context · Reflection
Joshua 6:15-19: in context
15On the seventh day, they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. On this day only they marched around the city seven times. 16At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city! 17The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18But as for you, only keep yourselves from what is devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so you would make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. 19But all the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD. They shall come into the LORD’s treasury.”
On the seventh day Israel marches around Jericho seven times, the priests blow the trumpets, and Joshua tells the people to shout, for the LORD has given them the city. The city is devoted to destruction, but with two exceptions carefully named: Rahab the prostitute and her whole household are to live, because she hid the spies; and the silver, gold, and bronze are set apart as holy to the LORD.
This is a hard passage, the devotion of a whole city to destruction, and it should not be smoothed away; it belongs to a particular and terrible moment of judgment in Israel's story. Yet two mercies stand out even here. Rahab, a Canaanite and a prostitute, is spared with her entire family because of the faith she showed in protecting the spies, and she will be woven into the very line of the Messiah. And the victory is plainly God's gift, not Israel's achievement, they only walked and shouted, and God gave the city. Even in a scene of judgment, grace reaches the outsider who trusts.
Do I see that even in scenes of judgment, God's mercy reaches the outsider who trusts him, as it reached Rahab?
Sources
- Joshua 6:17: "Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her... because she hid the messengers."
- Hebrews 11:31: "By faith, Rahab the prostitute didn't perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace."
- Joshua 6:16: "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city!"