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EVE & RAHAB:Learning To MakeBetter Choices

TThe women of the Bible tell us a lot aboutourselves. Although

times have changed, humannature has not. Women asdifferent as Eve and Rahab canstill help us see how a decisionthat we make today can shapeour lives tomorrow.

In the following pages,author, Bible teacher, andprofessor Alice Mathews showsus that women like Eve andRahab are especially importantbecause of what they tell usabout our God. She alsoexplores the timeless truth that in the wisdom and grace of God none of us lives abovethe power of a decision orbeyond the reach of our Lord.

Martin R. De Haan II

Managing Editor: David Sper Cover Art: Michelangelo (1475–1564), ceiling of Sistine Chapel Scripture quotations are from the New International Version, © 1973,1978,1984, by theInternational Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishers.© 2003 RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan Printed in USA

CONTENTS

Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

EVE:How To See Long-TermConsequences In LittleDecisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

RAHAB:How To Choose For God In Your Culture. . . 19

HP031 Eve & Rahab pp 4/5/04 3:58 PM Page 1

© RBC Ministries. All rights reserved.

CHOICES

FFrom the beginning ofrecorded time, womenhave struggled with

tough choices. They havewrestled with the restrictionsfencing them in. They havesometimes bowed to, andsometimes rebelled against,the powerful who ruledthem. They have lived outtheir lives balancing theirunderstanding of God’s will for them against thedemands others made uponthem. Some lived lives ofquiet desperation. Othersfound strength and comfortin their relationship to theliving God.

Some made wisedecisions. Others madedestructive choices. Evereached for a piece of fruit—just a piece of fruit—andbrought upon herself andupon all her sisters sincethat time the devastatingconsequences of the Fall.Rahab chose to hide the

Israelite spies and became an ancestress of the Messiah.

Choices. Life is full ofthem. We have to makethem. So how do we makethem well? We can turn tothe Word of God, the Bible,for help in wise decision-making. There we can learnby precept and by example.

In the pages that follow, we will watch twobiblical women wrestle with problems that are sometimes different from our own, andsometimes surprisinglysimilar to those we face. As we watch real women fail or triumph, we can findprinciples that will makeclearer the answers we seek.

To make wise choices wemust know God’s Word andapply it well. As we do that,we can become people ofworth, wise people whomGod can use.

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EVE:How To SeeLong-TermConsequences In LittleDecisions

WWhat are thetoughestdecisions you

have to make? Cafeteriasrank high among my moredifficult decisions. I hatestanding in that line, unsurewhat is 10 feet down thedisplay case that I’ll miss if I decide to take the food in front of me. I go to greatlengths to avoid having toeat in a cafeteria.

My hang-up withcafeteria decisions doesn’tmake a lot of sense. Thefood generally isn’t thatexpensive—or that good. So who cares if I could havemade a better decision?There’s always tomorrow!

Maybe you have atougher time deciding on

that new pair of shoes or themenu for Saturday night’sdinner party. Whatever it is that we hate aboutdecisions, the fact is that weall have to make them andmake them and make them.In a study a few years ago atthe University of Minnesota,Dr. Erich Klinger found thatall of us make anywherefrom 300 to 1,700 decisionsevery day of our lives.

We decide whether to getup in the morning. Then wedecide when to get up—early, late, somewhere inbetween. Then we decidehow to get up—both literallyand figuratively on the rightor the wrong side of the bed.Thereafter we really get intodecision-making—what towear, what to put on first,whether to brush our teethor brush our hair first, whatto eat for breakfast, whetheror not to wash the dishes,and on and on. A lot ofthose decisions don’t rankhigh as earth-shaking

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choices. Often they add up,however, to a good or badstart for our days.

Think about the mostimportant decisions you’vemade in your lifetime. Whatwere they? For some of you,choosing your marriagepartner is probably near or at the top of the list.Whatever you want to sayor leave unsaid about yourmarriage, you’ve probablymade few other decisionsthat rank with that one inchanging the direction ofyour life.

What other decisionshave you made that seemedmomentous to you at thetime? You may haveagonized over them. Yourfirst date with Mr. Right:What should you wear?Should you shop for a newdress? Should you shootyour budget for the next 6months on the “right” outfitfor this important date?

Perhaps you’reredecorating the living

room and can’t decidewhether to order the white brocade couch or the mauve velvet one. Whether6 months or 6 years later,you may not even remembersome of these decisionsbecause they turned out tobe not particularly importantat all.

Perhaps you’ve struggledwith whether to marry atall—or to remarry after abad marriage and a heart-ripping divorce. Or maybeyou are married and can’tdecide whether to havechildren. These are majordecisions.

Then there are thedecisions we make that, 6 months or 6 years later, startle us by theirimportance when we lookback on the results of thosechoices. You bought yourpresent house for all thewrong reasons, but aftermoving there you discoveredthat your new neighborhoodchanged your life. Perhaps

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your neighbor is now yourbest friend. She may havebrought you to a Bible studywhere you were introducedto Jesus Christ. You are nowa different person.

Or perhaps you met yourneighbor’s husband and havebeen enmeshed in a secretaffair that has changedeverything for you—thedynamics in your ownmarriage, your relationshipwith your neighbor, and your own sense of innerintegrity. The casualdecisions sometimes turn out to be the most dramaticand life-changing of all.

Decisions. We makethem. Then they turnaround and make us. Andsometimes they break us.Let me tell you about awoman who faced adecision. It was probablynot a decision most of us would put in thelife-changing category. It was a casual decisionabout a piece of fruit. The

fruit looked delicious. It had a nutritious smell to it as well. Someone said it would make her wise.

What’s the big deal? The next time you stand in the produce section ofyour supermarket andchoose the right bunch ofbananas or sort through thestrawberries, think aboutthis woman and the decisionshe made about some fruit.

The woman’s name wasEve. Actually, we don’t findthat out until the end of thestory. In the story as we readit in Genesis, the first bookof the Bible, she was merely

5

Decisions.We makethem.Then they

turn around and make us. Andsometimes they

break us.

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“the woman.” She was theonly woman. She didn’thave to be called anythingelse to be singled out of thecrowd. She stands at thehead of the female half ofthe human race. We canlearn a lot from thedecisions she made.

A lot started with Eve!She’s called “the mother ofall living.” She is also “themother of all dying.” Look at her in Genesis 1:26-28.

God said, “Let Us makeman in Our image, in Ourlikeness, and let them ruleover the fish of the seaand the birds of the air,over the livestock, over allthe earth, and over all thecreatures that move alongthe ground.” So Godcreated man in His ownimage, in the image ofGod He created him; maleand female He createdthem. God blessed themand said to them, “Befruitful and increase innumber; fill the earth and

subdue it. Rule over thefish of the sea and thebirds of the air and overevery living creature thatmoves on the ground.”As the climax to this

splendid hymn of creation,God majestically crowned all that He had done withthe creation of Man—humankind, male andfemale. Note that the firstman and the first womanwere created in the image of God.

It is on the basis of thisimage, this likeness, thatEve and Adam were givendominion over God’screation. It wasn’t that the man and woman werestronger than the lions,tigers, and hippopotamiaround them. It was thatthey stood between God and His created world asHis representatives. ImagingGod in the world, they had a responsibility to care foreverything God put underthem.

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In addition to rulingGod’s creation, Adam andEve were also told to befruitful and increase innumber. Have kids. As God looked over all He had accomplished, He said, “This is very good!”

So far, so good. We’veseen creation from adistance. Now as we moveinto Genesis 2, God takes us back for a slow-motionrerun of what happened inGenesis 1:27. We discoverthat God created the manand the woman in quitedifferent ways and thedifferences are significant.Read Genesis 2:7.

The Lord God formed theman from the dust of theground and breathed intohis nostrils the breath oflife, and the man becamea living being.Adam was created from

the dust of the ground, justas his name—Adamah inHebrew—states. If God were making him today,

He might call him “Dusty.”If you’ve read through

the next verses in Genesis 2, you’ve discovered thatAdam had a wonderful lifein Eden. In verse 8 we seehim placed in a garden of God’s design—surelysomething to see! In verse 9 we learn that he had anunlimited food supply thatwas both nutritious andaesthetically pleasing. In the following verses we readabout wonderful rivers forfishing or swimming andabout mountains of fine gold and precious stones. In verse 15 we see that Godgave him something to dothat would keep him activeand in good shape. So whatwas the problem? Readverse 18:

The Lord God said, “It isnot good for the man to bealone. I will make a helpersuitable for him.”Adam’s problem was that

as long as he was alone, hewas only half the story. He

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needed another person likehimself to define him. Godcreated him in His image.Adam could go fishing witha rhinoceros, but he couldnot discuss the next day’sschedule with him. Adamcould play catch with one of the newly-created cockerspaniels, but they could not

admire the sunset together.Adam was created in God’simage and the animals werenot. The Triune God hadbuilt a need into Adam forfellowship with anothercreature who also bore thisimage. All that was femininein the nature of God neededhuman imaging as well.

Eve was no afterthought.She was indispensable. InGod’s words in verse 18,

Adam’s being without Evewas “not good.”

With that fact established,you’d think that God wouldget right on with the task ofcreating the woman. Not so.Read Genesis 2:19-20.

Now the Lord God hadformed out of the groundall the beasts of the fieldand all the birds of the air.He brought them to theman to see what he wouldname them; and whateverthe man called each living creature, that wasits name. So the man gavenames to all the livestock,the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field.But for Adam no suitablehelper was found.God knew that the

animal parade was acharade. In bringing theanimals to Adam, He wassetting up an object lesson.He wanted Adam to learnsomething. He wanted himto learn that he did not yethave any counterpart on

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Eve was noafterthought. Shewas indispensable.

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earth. Adam had to discoverhis uniqueness as a humanbeing. God was preparingAdam for the big momentwhen Eve would be broughtto him. Adam had tounderstand that he and Eve would stand together ina circle of creation nothingelse in the world couldoccupy. Created in God’simage, only they could enjoyfellowship with one anotherand with their Creator.

Now that Adam was setup for it, God made His nextmove. Read Genesis 2:21-22.

So the Lord God causedthe man to fall into a deepsleep; and while he wassleeping, He took one ofthe man’s ribs and closedup the place with flesh.Then the Lord God madea woman from the rib Hehad taken out of the man,and He brought her to theman.“The man slept through

the woman’s creation,”Nancy Tischler has observed,

“and has been puzzled by woman ever since.”

Have you ever wonderedwhy God switched methodsof creation when He had theother one down pat? Up tothis point, God had madeliving organisms from theground. In verse 9, He made the trees grow out ofthe ground. In verse 7, Hemade man from the dust ofthe earth. In verse 19, Heformed all of the animalsand birds from the ground.You’d think, once He had a good method going, He’dstick with it. No. Godintroduced a new method,one that would remove allshadow of doubt that theman and the woman sharedan essential identity.

Adam could never say,“Eve, you were formed ofthe same stuff as I, but sowere the animals. Maybeyou’re more like them thanyou are like me.” No, Adamand Eve were of the sameessence. They were both

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created in the image of God.They both had dominion.They were both to share in populating the earth.

In Genesis 2:23 we readAdam’s ecstatic recognitionof this:

The man said, “This isnow bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh; sheshall be called ‘woman,’for she was taken out ofman!” He knew who she was.

She was “womb/man,” apart of his own being.

But who was this womanEve? She was a flawlesswoman in a flawless worldwith a flawless relationshipto her Creator and to herhusband. In her we see thecomplete woman. She wasfree to be human, and freeto be all that any womancould wish. Eve shows uswhat humanity was born to be.

Eve also shows us what humanity chose tobecome. Continue the story

in Genesis 3. There we finda serpent slithering up toEve to start a conversationthat ended in disaster. Butbefore we overhear the twoof them talking, we need topick up one more detailfrom Genesis 2:16-17.

The Lord Godcommanded the man,“You are free to eat fromany tree in the garden; but you must not eat fromthe tree of the knowledgeof good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”In the midst of all the

opulence of Eden stood atree whose fruit God hadtold Adam and Eve theycould not eat. Was Godplaying some kind of game with them? Was Hetantalizing them, temptingthem beyond their ability towithstand?

To understand that tree,we have to understand onemore thing involved in ourbeing created in the image

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of God. In the heart of theuniverse, the stars movepredictably in their cycles.Springtime and harvest arefixed in the natural course of things. All nature isprogrammed to respond as God designed it torespond. Birds fly. Fishswim. Deer run.

But in the midst of allcreation, a man and awoman were created with a difference. They couldchoose. They could chooseto love God and obey Him.Or they could choose to turntheir backs on God and gotheir own independent way. They were the oneunprogrammed element in the universe.

God validated choice,and He validated His imagein us by giving us the powerto choose. The tree wasthere so that Eve and Adam could voluntarilychoose to keep themselvesin fellowship with God.

All of our loves are

bound up in choice.Without the power tochoose, to say that we lovehas no meaning. We candemand obedience. Wecannot demand love. Thetree gave Eve and Adam the opportunity to love God meaningfully. The tree,through its very presence,was a visible reminder to theman and woman that theywere creatures, dependenton their Creator.

With that in mind, returnnow to the conversation inGenesis 3:1-7.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any ofthe wild animals the LordGod had made. He said to the woman, “Did Godreally say, ‘You must noteat from any tree in thegarden’?” The woman saidto the serpent, “We mayeat fruit from the trees inthe garden, but God didsay, ‘You must not eatfruit from the tree that is in the middle of the

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garden, and you must nottouch it, or you will die.’ ”“You will not surely die,”the serpent said to thewoman. “For God knowsthat when you eat of ityour eyes will be opened,and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.”When the woman sawthat the fruit of the treewas good for food andpleasing to the eye, andalso desirable for gainingwisdom, she took someand ate it. She also gavesome to her husband, whowas with her, and he ateit. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, andthey realized they werenaked; so they sewed figleaves together and madecoverings for themselves.Choices. What was the

choice Eve made? It wasjust a decision about a pieceof fruit. Or was it? Behindour little decisions often lurkbig decisions. For Eve it wasreally a decision to doubt

the goodness of God. It wasa way of saying that Godhad misrepresented Himself,that He really did not havetheir best interests at heart.

Eve chose to listen toSatan’s lie. She chose tobelieve that God had liedbecause He did not wantHis creatures becoming likeHimself. Her choice—andAdam’s choice, as he tookthe fruit from her hand and

ate it—demonstrates theparadox of being created inGod’s image: We are free toput our will above God’swill. We are free to ignoreour Creator. All around us

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The paradox ofbeing created inGod’s image is

that we are free to put our will

above God’s will.

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are people—perhaps in our families and in our circle of friendships—whohave decided that they can live without God anddispense with His Word and His will.

Out of that choice made by the first womanand the first man flow threeconsequences that you and I live with today. The firstone we have already seen inGenesis 3:7. Their eyes wereopened and they knew theywere naked. The symbolismis clear: They realized whatthey had done. They feltguilt about disobeying God.In the following verses wesee their confrontation withthe One from whom theywere now trying to hide:

The man and his wifeheard the sound of theLord God as He waswalking in the garden inthe cool of the day, andthey hid from the LordGod among the trees ofthe garden. But the Lord

God called to the man,“Where are you?” Heanswered, “I heard You in the garden, and I wasafraid because I wasnaked; so I hid.” And Hesaid, “Who told you thatyou were naked? Haveyou eaten from the treethat I commanded you not to eat from?” The mansaid, “The woman You puthere with me—she gaveme some fruit from thetree, and I ate it.” Thenthe Lord God said to thewoman, “What is this you have done?” Thewoman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (3:8-13).Fellowship with God

was destroyed. Adam andEve hid. The first alienationAdam and Eve experiencedwas alienation from God,their Creator.

Not only was the verticalrelationship broken. NoteAdam’s response to God’squestion: He shifted the

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blame to Eve. When Godturned to question Eve, sheshifted the blame to theserpent.

Blame replaced trust andlove. The human race wasnow divided. Alienationlurks at the root of everyrelationship. Psychologistsand psychiatrists are keptbusy by an entire societytrying to deal with theblame, the guilt, therecriminations, and thealienation that separate us from one another. We live in a world full ofproblems growing out of thishorizontal alienation. Ourdivorce courts testify to that.Our organizations to helpthe abused and the abusingwitness to that. Women facehorrendous problems in andout of marriage, in and outof the workplace, becauseblame and guilt havereplaced love and trust.

Disobedience to God broke the verticalrelationship between us

and God. It also broke thehorizontal relationshipsbetween men and women,between parents andchildren, between peoplebound up in every kind ofhuman relationship.

Third, it broke theharmonious relationshipGod had created betweennature and the first man andwoman. The woman wouldfulfill her destiny in bearingchildren, but she would now do so with pain. Theman would continue as agardener, but he would haveto contend with a cursedground, ground that wouldproduce thorns and thistles.Our relationship to God, ourrelationship to one another,and our relationship to thecreated world around us are all broken by anindependent spirit.

Note that neither thewoman nor the man wascursed. The serpent wascursed and the ground wascursed. To the woman and

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the man would come thenatural consequences ofliving in a fallen world anddealing with hostile nature.

Note too that theprophecies God madeconcerning Eve and Adamwere a way of turning thetables on their originalcondition. Eve, equal in

Eden, would be ruled by herhusband. Adam, taken fromthe ground and placed indominion over the ground,would now be sweating inpainful toil to make the

ground produce food for hisfamily. In the end he wouldreturn to the ground, “fordust you are and to dust you will return” (3:19).

As we follow the manand woman out of thegarden, we meet Eve onlytwo more times. In chapter 4 we read that she gavebirth to Cain, then Abel, and in verse 25 she gavebirth to a son named Seth.All of her other childrenremained nameless, and her own death passedwithout mention. Wearyyear followed weary year forthis woman. She bore twosons whose antagonismended in murder and exile.

Yes, she gained what she had been promised: aknowledge of both good andevil. She knew toil, pain,loss, and death. Manywomen have lived lives ofgreat tragedy. But no otherwoman has ever known theanguish Eve must haveknown as she moved

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Our relationship to God, our

relationship to oneanother, and our

relationship to thecreated world

around us are allbroken by an

independent spirit.

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from Eden to alienation—alienation from God, fromher husband, and from abenevolent environment. Tohave known the good as sheknew it must have made theevil that much more stark inits awfulness.

For Eve still reflected the image of God. It was amarred image, but it was theimage of God nevertheless.She was cut off fromfellowship with the One she was designed to relateto. She knew the emptiness,the anguish of rememberingwhat she was designed to be without the possibility

of becoming all she was meant to be!

Within the tragicdenouement of this story lay one tiny ray of hope for Eve. That tiny ray hasbecome a life-changingbeam of hope for us today.Buried in the curse on theserpent was God’s word that He would “put enmitybetween you and thewoman, and between youroffspring and hers; He willcrush your head, and youwill strike His heel” (3:15).

Even in the midst ofmeting out punishments and prophecies for the sin of Adam and Eve, God was concerned withreestablishing a relationshipwith those who bear Hisimage. He warned Satanthat his victory was notforever. The day would come when one would beborn of the seed of thewoman—an unusualstatement when “seed” orsemen always came from

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No other womanhas ever known theanguish Eve must

have known as shemoved from Eden

to alienation.

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the man—who would crushthe head of the serpent.

Here was the first word of promise, the first hint of a future deliverer from sin.The bad news containedgood news. God had notwritten off His creatures.The play had not ended.The curtain had not yet gone down on the final act.

If you think back to high school or collegeEnglish classes, you mayremember reading plays by Shakespeare and otherwriters. Some plays werecalled comedies. Otherswere labeled tragedies. Formany of us a comedy is afunny play with lots of greatone-liners. That isn’t theway, however, that comedydiffers from tragedy. Bothtragedies and comediesfollow the same basic plot.

In the first act, the writergets the woman up a tree. In the second act, a bearstands at the base of the treemaking growling sounds. In

the third act—well, that’swhere we find out whetherthe play is a tragedy or acomedy. The difference liesin the ending. In a tragedy,the story unwinds withouthope. Once it starts, wrongdecisions lead to wrongendings. A comedy, on theother hand, also includesbad decisions by theplayers. But somehow the crises and the hurts turn around, and in the end everything works out for the best.

God doesn’t writetragedies. Eve’s story istragic—not only for her butfor the whole human race.For you. For me. Once shemade that decision abouteating a piece of appealingfruit, she could not changethe ending for herself, forAdam, for Cain and Abel, for Seth, or for any of herdescendants.

But the Author could step into the story andchange the ending. God

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could take all the baddecisions and the pain and sorrow and use them to make a happy ending. Hegave the first hint of that inGenesis 3:15. He promisedthat a descendant of herswould defeat Satan and his power.

You and I live not as Eve lived, waiting for thefulfillment of God’s promise.You and I live with thatpromise fulfilled in our lives.Jesus Christ has come, andthrough Him you and I canhave a relationship withGod.

The apostle Paul knew that fact would makea difference in the lives offirst-century Greeks living in Corinth. He wrote tothem, “As in Adam all die,so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).

In Christ I can be madealive. In Christ you can be made alive. In Him wecan experience a verticalrelationship with our

Creator, a relationship Eveand Adam threw away inexchange for a shot at beinglike God. We can choose to have God write a happyending to the drama of our lives. We can choose

to have Him establish a relationship that is notbroken by our independenceand our bad choices. Wecan then watch Him bring healing to humanrelationships that weigh us down.

We can choose. If youhave not already made thatchoice, now is a good timeto choose a verticalrelationship with Godthrough Jesus Christ.

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We can choose tohave God write a

happy ending to thedrama of our lives.

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RAHAB:How To ChooseFor God In YourCulture

IImagine that you’re driving to the supermarket and

you are approaching anintersection with a trafficlight. When you are ahundred feet from thecrossing, the light turnsyellow. What decision areyou likely to make in thenext split second?

Will you hit theaccelerator hard and roarthrough, possibly on theyellow but probably on the red? Or will you hit thebrake and take no chances?

The decision you make inthat split second will dependon a number of factors. Forone, your schedule will havean impact on your decision.Are you running behind ordo you have all morning freefor grocery shopping?

Another thing affectingyour decision is how youfeel about obeying the law at all times. Some of us arecompulsive about that. Forothers, skating along the rimof the law is an invigoratingchallenge.

A third factor is the wayyou feel about getting aticket, having to explain it to your family, or havingto take the time to talk to apolice officer.

Of course, yourpersonality will affect thedecision you make. If you’rea Type A who can’t standwaiting at red lights, you’llprobably bear down on the accelerator and barrelthrough the intersection.

Once you’ve made thatdecision, you may havemore decisions ahead.Assume that you’ve finishedcollecting your groceries andyou’re now checking out.The clerk gives you a 10-dollar bill in your changeinstead of the 5 you should

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receive. What decision willyou make in the next splitsecond? Will you call herattention to the mistake or will you pocket the 10without saying anything?

Once again, yourdecision in that split secondwill depend on a number offactors. You may rememberthe times you boughtproduce in that store and it turned out to be rotteninside: The lettuce was rusty, the cantaloupe wastasteless, or the apples weremushy. Or perhaps the lasttime you bought cottagecheese there, you had totoss it out because it hadalready turned sour. In that split second you maydecide that you are merelyreimbursing yourself for all the times the store hascheated you with badmerchandise.

What you believe aboutthe store and what youbelieve about honesty andjustice will determine what

you do when you have tomake a split-second decisionabout the wrong change in acheck-out line.

This isn’t a new problem.People have faced choiceslike these for thousands ofyears. Ever since Eve madea decision about a piece offruit in that long-ago garden,people have had to makequick decisions in life.Those decisions are usuallymade on the basis of ourbeliefs about ourselves,about our society, and aboutthe universe. Is there a God?If so, how does He impactwhat I choose to do? Whatdo I believe about Him thatinfluences the decisions Imake every day?

When we turn to Joshua2, we see a woman whomade a split-second decisionthat changed her life frombottom to top. Her namewas Rahab. She practicedthe oldest profession onearth, prostitution. She hadalready made some major

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decisions about the worth of her body and the worth of her soul. In this passage,we meet her in as she facesanother decision.

To understand thatdecision, however, we needto move back 40 years andset the stage for Rahab’squick decision. God’speople, the 12 tribes of Israel, were held as slaves in Egypt. Under theleadership of a remarkablefamily trio—Moses, Aaron,and Miriam—God deliveredHis people. When throughunbelief these peoplerefused to enter thePromised Land, theywandered for 40 years in the Sinai Peninsula.During that time an entiregeneration died, and ourscene opens with the 12tribes now camped on theeast side of the Jordan River,ready to begin the conquestof Canaan under theleadership of their newcommander-in-chief, Joshua.

The first city the Israeliteswould have to take wasJericho, the City of Palms. It controlled a lush greenvalley. God had promisedHis people a land flowingwith milk and honey, andthe first city in their pathwas one that filled thatdescription perfectly.

The valley was fertile and well-watered,overflowing with abundantcrops and luscious fruits.The city itself was thestrongest of the fortifiedcities in Canaan. The mudwalls, about 20 feet high,seemed impregnable.Archaeologists tell us thatthere were actually two walls with a room-wide gapbetween them. If an enemysucceeded in scaling the firstwall, he would be trapped in this no-man’s-land, aneasy target for the defenders.Jericho was well protected.

Over the gaps in thesewalls were houses atintervals around the city.

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Strong timbers supportedthese houses spanning thegulf between the two sets ofwalls. It was in one of thesehouses on the walls thatRahab lived.

Our story begins inJoshua 2:1.

Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spiesfrom Shittim. “Go, lookover the land,” he said,“especially Jericho.” Sothey went and entered the house of a prostitutenamed Rahab and stayedthere.That’s the setting:

Israelite preparations forwar, spies, and questions ofloyalty and patriotism. Thespies had come to Jericho.Where could they stay?How could they learn what they needed to know?What better place to go thanto a house of prostitution?Visiting merchantsfrequently asked directionsto such places. We need notbe too surprised that the two

spies from Israel ended up at Rahab’s house on the wall.

But had the spiessucceeded in evadingsuspicion? Read Joshua 2:2-7.

The king of Jericho wastold, “Look! Some of theIsraelites have come heretonight to spy out theland.” So the king ofJericho sent this messageto Rahab: “Bring out themen who came to you and entered your house,because they have come tospy out the whole land.”But the woman had takenthe two men and hiddenthem. She said, “Yes, themen came to me, but I didnot know where they hadcome from. At dusk, whenit was time to close thecity gate, the men left. I don’t know which waythey went. Go after themquickly. You may catch upwith them.” (But she hadtaken them up to the roof

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and hidden them underthe stalks of flax she hadlaid out on the roof.) Sothe men set out in pursuitof the spies on the roadthat leads to the fords ofthe Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had goneout, the gate was shut.Clearly, the spies had

aroused suspicions amongsome of the people ofJericho and the king soonheard about them. He sent adelegation to Rahab’s houseto ask that the spies beturned over to the Jerichopolice force. Rahab wasfaced with having to make a split-second decision.

Would she do thepatriotic thing and turn overthe spies to the king? Orwould she lie and become a traitor by sheltering theenemies of her people?

That is a big decision foranyone to make. And Rahabdid not have several hoursor several days to think itover or to consult with

people she trusted. She had to make that decisionquickly. You know from thetext what decision shemade. The spies, at least for the moment, were safeunder the stalks of flax onher roof. The soldiers whohad come to her doorbelieved her story and wentoff to search for the spies onthe road back to the fords of the Jordan River.

Think about Rahab’sdecision. What on earthconvinced her that shewould do better betrayingher own people and riskingher own life just to save thelives of two men whom shehad never seen before anddidn’t know if she wouldever see again?

Like many of the split-second decisions we make,Rahab’s decision came outof who she was and whatshe believed about herself,about her world, and aboutGod. What she believedgave her the courage to go

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against her people and hergovernment when she wasfaced with a split-seconddecision.

Go with me in yourimagination to that rooftopon the Jericho wall. Listen towhat Rahab said to the spiesafter the soldiers left on theirfutile search. Sit with meunder the stars as shechatted with the two menfrom Israel. Feel the warmspring breeze. Smell the richscents of flowers on thenight air. See the riversparkling in the moonlight tothe east and the mountainslooming strong to the west.Read what Rahab said tothose two young men inJoshua 2:8-13.

Before the spies lay downfor the night, she went upon the roof and said tothem, “I know that theLord has given this landto you and that a greatfear of you has fallen onus, so that all who live inthis country are melting in

fear because of you. Wehave heard how the Lorddried up the water of theRed Sea for you when youcame out of Egypt, andwhat you did to Sihonand Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom youcompletely destroyed.When we heard of it, our hearts melted andeveryone’s courage failedbecause of you, for theLord your God is God inheaven above and on theearth below. Now then,please swear to me by theLord that you will showkindness to my family,because I have shownkindness to you. Give mea sure sign that you willspare the lives of myfather and mother, mybrothers and sisters, andall who belong to them,and that you will save us from death.What fundamental belief

caused Rahab to make that 24



decision to hide the spiesand betray her city? Rahabdecided to bet her life andher future on Israel’s God.She had become convinced,as she told the spies, thattheir God was “God inheaven above and on theearth below.”

And that is the only wayyou and I can confront ourculture or go against the tideof society around us. Wefind the courage to do thatonly when we are convincedthat “the Lord [our] God isGod in heaven above andon the earth below.”

Do I really believe thatGod is sovereign not only inheaven above but also onthe earth here below? Am Iconvinced that “my timesare in [God’s] hands” (Ps.31:15) and that God reallydoes have “the whole worldin His hands”? Can I besure His hands are goodhands and that He willcause justice to triumph andgood to win out in the end?

The American poet JamesRussell Lowell wrote:

Truth forever on the scaffold,Wrong forever

on the throne—Yet that scaffold sways the future,And behind the dim unknownStandeth God

within the shadow,Keeping watch above His own.

“Truth forever on thescaffold. Wrong forever onthe throne.” It seems likethat sometimes, doesn’t it? We look at our worldaround us and we seeinjustice triumph. We seethe good guys lose and thebad guys win. We see aclose friend having to copewith a broken marriage, not because she has been a poor wife, but because her husband has succumbedto the charms of anotherwoman. We see an honesthusband lose his job at the

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same time that a dishonestco-worker is promoted. Itdoesn’t look as if God issovereign on the earthbelow. We don’t have much to go on to believethat He is even sovereign inthe heavens above. Is Godreally standing “within theshadow, keeping watchabove His own”?

Whether you believeLowell is right or wrongdepends on what else youknow about God.

Rahab knew enoughabout God to believe Hewould use His great powerto benefit His own. She waswilling to bet her life on it.She knew how thick theJericho walls were. She livedon them. She knew howferocious the Jericho soldierswere. As a prostitute sheprobably had listened toenough of them brag abouttheir strength and prowesswhen they visited her. Shecould see how invulnerableJericho was to any invader.

But despite all of that, she had come to believe that the God of Israel would triumph, and that the Israelites were on God’sside. She believed that sothoroughly that she wasready to bet her life on thatreality. Rahab dared to standalone against her culturebecause she had a strongfaith in Israel’s God.

We learn somethingimportant about Rahab’sfaith when we move over to the New Testament. Toour surprise we find thisprostitute held up as anexample of outstandingfaith. Look first at Hebrews11:31.

By faith the prostituteRahab, because shewelcomed the spies, wasnot killed with those whowere disobedient.Here in this Hall Of

Fame for heroes of faith we find only two women—Sarah, the wife of Abraham,and the prostitute Rahab.

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Remarkable! But the writer of this letter to the Hebrews is not the only one who used Rahab’s faithas an example. Look also at James 2:25-26.

In the same way, was noteven Rahab the prostituteconsidered righteous forwhat she did when shegave lodging to the spiesand sent them off in adifferent direction? As thebody without the spirit isdead, so faith withoutdeeds is dead.Rahab’s faith led not only

to a strong statement aboutIsrael’s God: “Your God isGod in heaven above andon the earth below.” It alsoled to a strong action for thepeople of God. Someone hassaid that “faith is a step, notjust a statement.”

What demonstratedRahab’s faith? The writer tothe Hebrews said that thefact that she welcomed thespies demonstrated herfaith. James put his finger

on the same thing: “she gave lodging to the spiesand sent them off in adifferent direction”—awayfrom the Jericho soldiers.Rahab’s faith led her toaction. Her decision to actgrew out of her faith.

And what came of it? Inbetting her life on the realityand work of Israel’s God, didRahab choose well? If yougrew up in Sunday school,you know the story betterthan I can tell it.

After having sent theJericho soldiers off on awild-goose chase, she hadthat wonderful conversationwith the two spies on herrooftop under a star-studded

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Rahab’s faith ledher to action. Her

decision to act grewout of her faith.

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evening sky. She confessedher faith in Israel’s God. Andshe did one more thing. Sheasked that, in exchange forsaving the spies’ lives, the lives of her parents,brothers, and sisters bespared when God gaveJericho to the invaders.

“Our lives for your lives!”the spies assured her. Ontwo conditions: She mustnot tell their mission to theauthorities in Jericho, andshe must bind a red cord inthe window on the wall.Only those in that house at the time of the conquestwould be saved. Everyoneelse would be destroyed.

They all agreed on theconditions. She let themdown over the wall by aheavy rope and told them to hide in the mountainsuntil the search party hadreturned to Jericho empty-handed. She tied the redcord in the window. And she waited.

In Joshua 3, 4, and 5

we read the story of a hugenation of people crossing araging river and of the thingsthat happened as they setup camp not far fromJericho. Meanwhile, Rahabwaited. Our story resumes in Joshua 6:1.

Now Jericho was tightlyshut up because of theIsraelites. No one went out and no one came in.Then the Lord said toJoshua, “See, I havedelivered Jericho into yourhands, along with its kingand its fighting men.”And with that God gave

Joshua one of the strangestbattle plans ever recorded.He was to organize aparade. At the head were some armed soldiersfollowed by seven priestscarrying instruments madeof rams’ horns. Then camemore priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant,followed by more armedsoldiers. The seven priestswere to blow the horns all

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the way around the city, but the Israelites lining theparade route were to bequiet. Once the parade wasended, everyone returned to the Israelite camp for thenight. The people assembledand marched the first day.Again on the second day.The third day. The fourthday. The fifth day. Again on the sixth day.

What in the world wouldyou have thought was goingon, had you been a citizenof Jericho standing on thewall and watching themeach day? Day after dayafter day? Would you havebegun to wonder what kindof God would give suchinstructions to these people?

Or would it make youjust a little bit nervous towatch the processional, allthe while wondering whatwould happen next?

On the seventh day theparade formed as usual. TheIsraelites watched the armedsoldiers, the priests with

the horns, and the priestscarrying the Ark line up inthe customary formation.Everyone was quiet. Theywere supposed to be. But Isuspect that even withoutsuch a command fromJoshua, a lot of them wouldhave been silent anyway.This was the big test. WouldGod come through for them,or would they end uplooking as silly as they had looked all week?

One time around, twicearound, three times around,four times, five times, sixtimes, seven times. Andsuddenly Joshua gave the signal. The trumpetssounded. The peopleshouted. And, as the songputs it, “The walls came a-tumblin’ down.” Thosemassive walls—20 feetthick—collapsed in on thecity. The armed Israelitesoldiers were able to run upover the rubble and engagethe Jericho militia in battle.The destruction of Jericho

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was total. Or almost total.Left standing was a houseon a section of the wall.From the window of thathouse dangled a red cord.People crowded around thewindow inside that house,watching in astonishment all that was happening.

Joshua called the twospies and gave them a goodassignment: Go to Rahab’shouse and bring out everyonethere and keep them safe. InJoshua 6:23 we read:

The young men who had done the spying went in and brought outRahab, her father andmother and brothers andall who belonged to her.They brought out herentire family and put them in a place outsidethe camp of Israel.Safe! Rahab had bet her

life on Israel’s God. God hadcome through for her and for all who huddled with her inside that house on the wall of Jericho.

There is more to the story.In Joshua 6:25 the writer tellsus that Rahab lived amongthe Israelites to the day thebook of Joshua was written.She became one with thepeople of God. The fact thatshe had been a prostitutewas no longer relevant. Byfaith she was joined to thecommunity of God.

One of the remarkablethings we see when we look at Jesus’ contacts withwomen in the four Gospelsis that He often stoopeddown and lifted up “fallenwomen.” Remember thewoman with the alabasterjar of perfume in Luke 7 andthe woman taken in adulteryin John 8. Again and again,we see the compassion ofJesus reaching out to women who had broken the rules and had lived lives that “respectable”people looked down on.

Rahab reminds us thatbeing joined to the family of God has nothing to do

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with our goodness. It haseverything to do with God’sgrace. Through a prostituteGod teaches us that we aresaved by grace, not by beinggood.

But our story is still notover. Turn to Matthew 1—that dry, dull genealogy—and look at verse 5: “Salmonthe father of Boaz, whosemother was Rahab.”

Rahab the mother ofBoaz? That means she wasthe great-great-grandmotherof David, Israel’s greatestking. Even more amazing,she was an ancestress in thegenealogy of Jesus, the Lordof glory, the God-man, theSavior of the world.

Rahab, the prostitute.Wouldn’t you think thatGod would be a bit morechoosy about the lineage of His Son? For people for whom descent waseverything, wouldn’t Godtake their scruples intoconsideration and choose apurer line for the Messiah?

Apparently God wanted usto learn something else aswe look at Rahab.

Rahab stands as a tribute to the possibilitieswithin every one of us. Godsaw in her the possibility ofan active and invigoratingfaith. Never mind what shewas. He looked at what shecould become.

It is the same for us. Our past is irrelevant. Ourfuture alone matters to God.Faith can blossom in anyenvironment. Roses cangrow in manure piles.Whatever lies behind us isnot nearly as important aswhat lies before us. Thechoices we have made in

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Rahab stands as a tribute to the

possibilities withinevery one of us.

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the past have brought uswhere we are today. Thechoices we make today,tomorrow, next week, ornext year will determine our destiny.

Some of those choices will be split-seconddecisions. They will comeout of who we are and whatwe believe about ourselves,our world, and God. Thosedecisions will determine the actions we take.

Rahab heard aboutIsrael’s God. She respondedto what she heard by faith.She made a split-seconddecision to go with God bysaving the two spies. Herfaith gained her life in themidst of destruction. Itgained her the salvation ofher entire family. It gainedher a place in Israel andmarriage to Salmon, who,tradition tells us, was one ofthe two spies. It also gainedher a place in the genealogyof Israel’s greatest king anda place in the genealogy of

our Savior, Jesus Christ.What she had been

was irrelevant. What shebecame through active faithwas all that mattered.

What resources do you fall back on when youhave to make split-seconddecisions in your life? Areyour decisions grounded in your faith in a loving,compassionate God whosehand is on you for good? Do your actions show yourfaith as you go with Godand with His people? Lookup to Rahab. Look at thisprostitute who modeledvibrant faith for Israel andfor us today.

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This booklet is excerpted from A Woman God Can Leadby Alice Mathews, published by Discovery House Publishers © 1998. Alice is a regular participant on the RBC daily radio program Discover The Word.

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