I know that I started this blog thing so that I could share pictures of my extremely good looking family and our amusing happenings.
Like when the Daddy and some kids were eating peppers and told Josiah he wouldn't like them and he finally said, "I big and strong!"
He got a pepper and said, "HOT SAUCE!" (Which is what he says for anything hot).
But he ate it.
However, when the Daddy gave him a little carrot yesterday he said, "Dat's gross!" And he spit it out. Then he took another bite. When he repeated his actions his daddy took that carrot. He had something to say about that too - I'm just not sure what he said or how to spell it.
I don't know where he gets such strong opinions from.
There will be pictures soon. My camera is charging (it is now so that I could type out this sentence and not be lying).
(After thought - during the writing of this post some unnamed girls dropped my camera. It is DEAD. We did get a few in before it's demise).
Gene, one evening during his studies, asked me what I knew about Rahab. I told him. But her life has been on my heart and mind since then. What a sermon she preached. Just living her life.
This one's been a long time coming, ya'll. Hang on and lets see where God leads my heart this time.
Part of Joshua (As retold by me).
(Chap. 2) Now Rahab was a "normal" single lady of her day. Working (the street corner) to make ends meet. Not the most admired job even in that day, but she seems to have had her own house in the poor district and be on decent terms with her folks.
The children of Israel had come into the land of Canaan and God was giving them BIG victories over some tough, godless kingdoms. This caused other nations/peoples to be mighty scared. But there was this one lady, who heard about these Hebrew people and believed on their God. So, when Joshua, the brave Hebrew leader, sent two spies to her neighborhood who do you think they just happened to run into?
Rahab, that new believer.
Coincidence? Or just that One True God working anonymously?
Rahab took these boys home with her. I imagine she fed them and they spent the night talking with this pretty lady. Maybe they talked about her city and people and they told her of their people and what they had witnessed in their lives and the stories told to them from their parents who came out of Egypt. I think that by early morning the three of them worshiped together. Can you hear them quietly singing praises to God?
(v. 2-3) Perhaps some noisy neighbor, or jealous lover, or pimp realized that something different was going on at Rahab's house that night. Whoever it was told the king of Jericho, "Look, some fellers are here looking around." And they must have mentioned Rahab's name because the king called her up right away. Mr. The King of Jericho told Rahab, "We know you had some men at your house," (was this a surprise?) "you need to send them on out. They are SPIES!" (horrors!)
(v. 4-6) Well, Rahab was no airhead. She hid those men (reckon it was the first time she'd had to hid some man/men?) She had taken "her" boys up to the roof and hid them under some flax. (I looked up, "stalks of flax laid in order" - seems you make a small bundle and then lay them out or hang them to dry out before you can use the seeds and stalk fibers to make all sorts of stuff - she was "keeping house" - and nobody would have thought it odd to see her on the roof working during the morning if they saw her).
She told Mr. Kingie-poo, "There were some men here," (of course) "but I didn't even bother about where they came from. When it was nearly night, you know, just before the city gates shut. Well, they just up and left. Now, I have no earthly idea where they could have gone. But, I bet if you run, you could catch them."
(v. 7-8) Now, this whole conversation took place before the spies had time to get comfortable because Rahab went right back "to work" while the king's men ran off on a goose chase. They even shut the city gate behind them, just in case.
(v. 9-22) Rahab and the spies had a very important conversation up on that roof with the flax all around.
"I know that the Lord is giving you the land. Everybody knows it really. Why, we are just plumb faint we have been so terrified. No man seems to have any courage left, just melted hearts. Because,
The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth below."
She made them promise that when they did take the city they would repay her kindness with their own and spare all her father's household. Father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all their families.
They promised, if she would just keep her mouth shut about the whole plan. BUT while she and her family waits everyone has to stay in her house the whole time. Don't even think about going back out the door or they are taking their life in their own hands.
She tied a "scarlet line" (possible made from flax - neat huh?) in the window and the fellas shimmied out down the city wall and high-tailed it to the hills. (Convenient how her house is on the wall.)
Rahab had promised not to breath a word about the "business" she had with the spies. I wonder what she said to her family to make them come home with her. My over active imagination can hear her sister-in-law mumbling under her breath something about "that house" and "that woman." Her father's reluctance to pack up and her mother weeping.
Were they on the verge of believing too? Did she bribe them? Were they just scared enough to try anything to survive?
God gave her a little time. Like, three chapters!
The Hebrews listened an obeyed God. (A great feat).
They crossed the Jordan (which was a BIG deal) ON DRY LAND (which was an even bigger deal - and made the peoples in the land loose all spirit).
They built a memorial to God with big stones they dragged out of the dry river.
They ALL got circumcised (they didn't do that while wondering around in the wilderness). And they "abode" in their camp and healed.
They celebrated passover. They started harvesting the corn and fruit of their new homeland.
And they did all this at a little place called Gilgal, just a couple of miles from Jericho. (Seems teasing).
And (Chap. 6) "Jericho was shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in."
Ya'll have all sang the song
"Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho". That's what happened.
And during all that marching around, there sat Rahab and her family. They just thought they were scared before. Now, as the Hebrews did nothing but get some daily exercise, they were also confused.
But Rahab and her family stayed in the house on the wall, waiting, and working her flax.
And one day, those Hebrew children just kept marching. Around and around.
And Jericho sat quietly.
At last there was a great shout and noise. Rahab's house shook violently. They heard a mighty crash and screams all around them. They stayed put.
The Hebrews rushed in and destroyed ALL that was in the city. All the Hebrew men except two. Rahab's boys. They rushed in and "brought out Rahab, and her father, and mother and brethren, and all that she had."
The spies brought her family to the edge of their camp and ran back to battle. Rahab's family stood watching the smoke rise while what had been their home was utterly destroyed. Nothing was left.
What would become of them now?
They dwelt in Israel. They were grafted in. The belief of one lowly woman, Rahab the harlot, in the God of heaven and earth, brought life. Life for the spies, life for herself, life for her loved ones, and life for you and me.
What? What was that? Life for you and me?
How am I in anyway related to Rahab the harlot?
Stick with me now. You've followed my retelling so far. I'm getting to the point.
Do you really think that Rahab said, "Oh God, use me. I wanna be a big star and known to all generations." I doubt that!
I think she was just doing the right thing. She was just somebody. Nobody.
She acted on her version of right and wrong based on what she had seen and heard. She made a choice. She was given a once in a lifetime opportunity and she took it.
Seems to have paid off well for her.
But now, take a little trip with me (turn right and go about 829 pages) to Matthew 1:5. She got married and had kids. And her kids had kids and four generations later - TA DA! - it's King David.
But keep going, because God made a promise to David, and well, people just kept making babies.
Twenty-eight generations after David and, look who that is!
Jesus, Son of God, Savior of the world.
Jesus, who would "save his people from their sins." Just like Rahab was saved from hers. Just like I was saved from mine. She was grafted into the line of Abraham - just like me.
Just some chick God used. Just some nobody.
I like what
C. Jeanne Serrão had to say about Rahab, "She is listed in the faith hall of fame in Hebrews 11 as "Rahab, the prostitute" (11:31). What a transformation must have taken place in her life for her to be listed in Hebrews 11! An anonymous ancient Christian writer commented: 'Since Salmon was considered noble among the children of Israel and was of the tribe of Judah and the son of the prince, he saw the faithful Rahab thus converted to goodness and beloved by God and led from Jericho at God's command and counted among the daughters of Israel. Such a wonderful woman surely deserved to become Salmon's wife.' Her story certainly affirmed the power of God to transform a life from both ignorance of God and a sinful lifestyle to a woman who was beloved by God and praised for her goodness."
Wow! Dare to be a Rahab.
If you feel outcast and against the wall, God loves you. Turn to him. Believe.
If the world around you seems to be shaking to the ground. Trust God's promises. Stay put. Be firm.
If you feel stuck in the everyday, mundane. Rejoice! You may find your best and most important work is done in a conversation while working your flax.
Keep your eyes open.
Pray. Be brave.
Praise God!
[*KJV Bible; *biblos.com; *Meet Five Unique Women in Jesus' Family Tree by C. Jeanne Orjala Serrão, Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio.]
