[EGW editor’s preface:  This article was prompted by questions I heard asked – one asked about the Hebrew midwives during a Bible-study class and another about Rahab in a discussion.
     (For more tips on good Bible-reading skills, click the subjects Hermeneutics and Bible study)]

[go to: “Why did God prosper people in the Old Testament for lying?” Part 1; Part 2]
     Sometimes we read things in the Bible that strike us as confusing and questionable.  And so we ask questions hoping to gain some clarity, but then the answers seem even more confusing to us.
     For example, we might be reading the story about Moses’ birth, and we think to ask “Why did God prosper the Hebrew midwives for lying to Pharaoh?”  Or, we read the story about how the walls of Jericho fell down, and we ponder “Why did God reward Rahab with a home among the Israelites for lying about the two spies?”  Similar questions could be raised about Abraham lying about Sarah, Tamar’s deception of Judah, Samson lying to Delilah about his strength, David’s attempt to cover-up his affair with Bathsheba, and so on.
     In part one of this article, we looked at the example of the Hebrew midwives in Exodus chapter 1.  We saw …

     (1) … that God hates lying, along with evil activities that depend upon lying (Proverbs 6:16-19);
     (2) … several reasons why more than likely the midwives actually did tell Pharaoh the truth and also made some preparation and effort to able to do so;
     (3) … the real reason God dealt well with them was “because the midwives feared God.” (Exodus 1:17, 20, 21)

     Now, in part two, we are going to consider Rahab’s situation in Joshua chapter 2.
     Perhaps later, in future parts, we will look at some of the people God had to punish for lying even while He prospered them.

     As we discovered in our discussion of the Hebrew midwives, the question “Why did God reward Rahab for lying?” is prejudiced against the possibility she told the truth.  If we simply assume without confirmation that she lied and our assumption (or “preconception”) is wrong, then we have biased ourselves against learning the real information in the passage.  Likewise, the question prejudges, without due process of the evidence, God as a rewarder of sin.  However, we would be mistaken and in error to think that.  As we saw in part one, the Lord does not reward people for their sins, … instead, He rewards people in spite of their sins.  Whenever we read into a Scripture passage our preconceptions and prejudices, they keep us from reading out from the passage its real meaning.  
     So, we should ask first, “Did Rahab tell the truth or a lie about the two spies?”  Let’s double-check this situation as recorded in Joshua chapter 2.

     1 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”
     So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.  2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.”
     3 So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.”
     4 Then the woman took the two men and hid them.  So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.  5 And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out.  Where the men went I do not know;  pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.”  6 (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.)  7 Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords.  And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

     In this case, the writer used verse 6 as his extra effort to clearly let us know that Rahab definitely lied in verses 4 & 5 when she informed the king of Jericho that the two Israelite spies had left the city.  Now our next question is, “Why did God reward Rahab in spite of her lie?”
     In the next several verses Rahab tells the spies about how frightened the local people are of the Israelites.  The people are frightened because they’ve heard “how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt” 40 years earlier, “and what you did to the two kings of Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed” shortly before crossing into Canaan.  Remember Rahab is a harlot (or prostitute) raised from childhood to worship the pagan gods of the Canaanites.  But the testified evidences, some old and some recent, about the true God have convinced her to believe in that God.  Notice how Rahab confesses her belief in God.
     “I know,” she confidently confesses in verse 9, “that the LORD has given you the land… .”  God has promised Canaan to the Israelites (see Genesis 15:12-21; 50:24,25; Exodus 3:4-10), and it’s no secret to the locals that these travelers are coming “home” after their long stay in Egypt.  Rahab considers that promise as good as fulfilled.  She asserts her confession again in verse 11, “for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”
     In verses 12 & 13, Rahab reveals her passionate desire for a true promise backed by God that she, too, can be under under God’s protection like the Israelites – “Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”  The men give her that promise, but with four conditions …

     1) … none of her family and household break their own promise and “tell about this business of ours” – verse 14;
     2) … according to God’s plan & schedule, “And it shall be, when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” – verse 14;
     3) … she must mark her dwelling so it will be spared, “We will be blameless of this oath … unless when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down” – verse 18;
     4) … to be saved, the family members must remain inside her dwelling with her, “We will be blameless of this oath … unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home.  So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless.  And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be upon our head if a hand is laid on him.” – verses 18, 19.

     Rahab confessed her faith and asked for a promise of God’s deliverance.  But how do we know her faith was real and genuine?  We know because she obeyed the conditions of the promise and was delivered.

     In verse 21, she agreed to their promise, she sent them on their way, and “she bound the scarlet cord in the window.”
     In chapter 6, verses 16 & 17, after the Israelites had marched around the city seven times on the seventh day of their siege and “when the priests blow the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: ‘Shout for the LORD has given you the city!  Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it.  Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.’” [dgc: my emphasis]
     Then in verses 22-25, after the walls of Jericho have fallen and they’ve begun to destroy the city, “But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, ‘Go in the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.’  And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had.  So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.  But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire.  Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the LORD.  And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had.  So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” [dgc: my emphasis]

     What would have happened if Rahab had not feared God and had instead revealed the two spies?  Or had not desired a promise of safety?  Or if she had not marked her house as instructed?  Or not stayed inside her house as instructed?  She would have died in the city’s destruction, of course.
     What would have happened to her father and mother and family if Rahab had not pleaded on their behalf or had not invited them into the safety of her dwelling?  Or if they had refused to come there or refused to stay there?  They would have died in the destruction, of course.
     God dealt well with Rahab and her family for the very same reason He dealt well with the Hebrew midwives … because they feared Him.   But this fear that God rewards has more to it than simple fright.  According to Rahab, all the people in Jericho were frightened by what God had done.  But only Rahab and her family had the kind of fear that respected God … and that respect motivated them to desire and seek a true promise of God’s protection.  They trusted and obeyed that promise and were delivered.  (Reminds you again of Romans 8:27-28, doesn’t it?)

     In spite of their mistakes, Rahab and her family loved God, and were called according to His purpose.  In spite of their pagan backgrounds they wanted to serve the one true God.  When the opportunity to serve Him came along, they recognized it and confidently took advantage when truly promised a conditional salvation from God’s punishment.
     How many religious people do you know have that same high confidence in God’s promise of salvation?  Enough to obey the conditions witnessed by Jesus in Mark 16:15,16, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”?  Or the conditions witnessed by Peter in Acts 2:38-39, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”?  Or the conditions witnessed by Paul in Romans 6:1-4, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” and in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
     Many religious people deny that God requires repentant believers to be baptized before He will save them … thus they fall short of Rahab’s faith and fail to believe God’s promise.
     Many other religious people “baptize” infants who have neither the ability to believe in God nor any sins to repent from having done … thus they fall short of Rahab’s faith and bind others to do likewise by failing to believe God’s promise.
     Others feel they may believe in God without actually making the effort of hearing and understanding His instructions for them … and fall short of Rahab’s faith.
     Still others see no connection between an informed belief and an active repentant belief … and they fail to believe God’s promise.
     Remember, Jericho was full of people who were afraid of God and believed He was real.  But only Rahab and her family believed in Him enough to obey Him.
     Something to think about.

[go to: “Why did God prosper people in the Old Testament for lying?” Part 1; Part 2]