2024_03_04 Insight Post- Kim Feld
This week’s reading- Joshua 2, Joshua 6:17-25, Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25
Many of us have less than social media perfect parts of our story. We may have things that have brought pain, shame, or even grief. We may have even felt those parts were beyond redemption in our darkest hours. Rahab’s story is one of many in the Bible that tell us something much different. No one is beyond God’s power to redeem and restore.
The book of Joshua tells us plainly that Rahab is a prostitute. Joshua sends two spies into Jericho to “scout out the land,” and somehow (we don’t get the details), they stay at Rahab’s house. We find out later that her house was built into the wall, so that could be why they chose it. Or, because she was a prostitute, perhaps they thought they would not be noticed entering her house. Whatever the reason, they stay with her, and when the king’s men come to search for them, Rahab hides them. In exchange for hiding them, she asks that she and her family be spared, and the two spies agree.
When Jericho is destroyed, Rahab and her family are rescued. In verse 25 of Joshua chapter 6, we learn that Rahab went to live among the Israelites. This brave woman is remembered in Hebrews 11 for her faith and in James 2 for a faith that was put into action. But most remarkable of all is what we see in Matthew 1:5. Let’s take a look:
Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
Matthew 1 gives us the list of Jesus’ ancestors, including a former prostitute named Rahab. God, in His infinite wisdom, chose a woman with a sordid past to be part of the bloodline of His son. On some levels, that makes zero sense. Rahab was a Canaanite. You would imagine the son of God to come from a pure line with an unblemished history. But that’s not what He chose.
Even with all the mess that our lives often are, God loves and pursues a relationship with us. He loved us so much that He put skin on and left all the splendor of Heaven to become one of us and live among us. He became like us to give us an opportunity for redemption. He knew we could never do it alone; He had to give Himself in our place. We may choose to separate ourselves from Him, but nothing separates us from His love once we are His.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39, NLT).
It was not an accident that Rahab was part of Jesus’ bloodline. I believe it was purposeful on God’s part, perhaps partly to show us that there’s no sin greater than His power to forgive.
Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach