Scripture Daily

Context No. 446 of 4322 · Joshua

Context · Reflection

Joshua 2:14-24: in context

14The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when the LORD gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” 15Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall. 16She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.” 17The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear. 18Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. 19It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him. 20But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.” 21She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window. 22They went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but didn’t find them. 23Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, crossed the river, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. They told him all that had happened to them. 24They said to Joshua, “Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.”

This is the resolution of the Rahab story. Rahab, a prostitute living in the wall of Jericho, has hidden the two Israelite spies from the king's men, because she has come to believe that their God is the true God who is giving them the land. Now she lowers them by a rope through her window to escape, and they strike a bargain to spare her when the city falls. But look carefully at the terms of her rescue, because they are precise. Tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, the spies tell her, and gather your father and mother and brothers and all your father's household into your house. Anyone who is inside the house, under that scarlet sign, will be safe. Anyone who goes out into the street forfeits the protection.

There are two things worth holding here. First, the scarlet cord in the window is unmistakably an echo of the Passover, when the blood on the doorposts marked the homes that judgment would pass over. Rahab's marked house becomes an island of safety in a doomed city, a place where judgment does not fall on those under the sign. Second, and this is easy to miss, Rahab's faith does not save only Rahab. It becomes the shelter for her entire family. Her believing, her single act of siding with the God of Israel, opens a refuge into which she can gather everyone she loves. But, and this is the sharp condition, each of them has to actually come in. Being Rahab's relative is not enough; being near the marked house is not enough. They have to be inside it, under the scarlet cord, when the walls come down.

That says something worth carrying about faith and the people we love. One person's faith really can create a shelter for a whole family, and part of the believer's job, like Rahab's, is to gather people in. But no one is saved by proximity to a believer; each person has to come in under the mark. Am I actively gathering the people I love into the shelter of faith, the way Rahab gathered her family into the marked house, and do I understand that being close to me, or to any believer, is not the same as being safely inside, under the scarlet sign?

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