God originally chose the Israelites to be His people. They alone were given His Law, and they alone were chosen among all nations to bear His Name and carry His presence with them wherever they went.
However, in Joshua chapter 2, we see the kindness of God toward an outsider named Rahab. God not only saved her life and that of her family, but He also brought her into His eternal kingdom family and gave her an inheritance among the chosen.
Rahab is a picture of you and me, as we will see in this lesson.
When the Israelites came to the Promised Land, Joshua sent out two spies into the city of Jericho to gather information about the city and then report back. While the spies were in the city, a prostitute by the name of Rahab hid them from the leaders of her city thereby saving their lives. She did this because she had heard about the Lord and feared Him, and wanted to be saved from the coming judgment on her city of Jericho.
She asked to be saved in Joshua 2:12-13 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them —and that you will save us from death.”
The two spies assured her that she and all her family would indeed be saved. However, these men required that Rahab do something very specific and interesting in order for her, and her family, to be saved. We read about it here:
Joshua 2:17-18 (NIV) Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.
Question 2. Why do you think God recorded this event, specifically that a scarlet cord was used to save Rahab and her family?
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Mike L. writes, "I think that God recorded this event to show that He can use anybody for His purposes as Rahab was in the lineage of Jesus. I believe the scarlet cord was used in the same sense as the the blood on the door post of the Israelite's in Egypt, so the Angel of death knew to pass-over that home. Just as the Israelite's knew not to harm anybody that was in the home with the red cord hanging in the window."
Kelly writes, "It's interesting that the God says a "scarlet" chord. That got me to thinking, so I looked up the word "scarlet" in my dictionary. It's defined two ways, a brillant red color; and of an offense of sin, wicked and evil.
Only the brillant wisdom of God could come up with something as beautiful and terrible as the Cross. The shed blood of His own perfect and holy Son to remove the wickedness of our sins and the heinousness of our guilt."