Why is it that we seem to have so much difficulty trusting God? I can look back over the 40+ years of my life and see times where it was absolutely, without a doubt, the hand of God that caused things to turn out in my favor. Do I trust God? Yes. Do I still waver in trusting Him? Yes. Trust can be tough.
A little over a month ago, one of the pastors at our church taught on Rahab. Since then, I’ve had Rahab on the brain. I think I’ve looked at this from so many angles that I’m having trouble keeping my thoughts from shooting out in every direction due to excitement. Most people in the church have heard of Rahab. She was a prostitute in Jericho who hid the Israelite spies. She was not an Israelite. She was not considered one of God’s chosen people – or was she? Take a look at Joshua 2.
Joshua sends out 2 spies to check out the land – especially Jericho – and report back to him. They go and enter the home of the prostitute, Rahab (Joshua 2:1). They know that it won’t look suspicious if men enter the home of a prostitute. Pretty smart. But the king of Jericho finds out there are spies and where they are. When asked, Rahab admits they had been there, but that they had already left, that she didn’t know they were spies, and encourages the king’s men to hurry up and catch them. Little did they know, Rahab knew who they were and had helped them hide on her roof (Joshua 2:2-7). So, let me get this straight: Rahab is a prostitute (mark against her), she’s not an Israelite (another mark), and now she’s lying to representatives of her king (since she was successful, she’s probably had some experience with lying). But this next part is what gets me.
Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Joshua 2:8-11 NIV
All Rahab knows about God is summed up in that last bit: for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Notice that she doesn’t claim Him as her God. She’s just gone through explaining that she and everyone in the land has heard of the power and might of the God of the Israelites. They’re terrified – melting in fear – because they know that God can and will destroy them for the sake of the Israelites. That’s a lot like trust. They trust that God can. They trust that God will. And now Rahab acts boldly: she asks that she (and all her family) be shown kindness (Joshua 2:12-14).
It’s easy to get caught up in the fact that she’s a prostitute. It’s easy to get stuck on the fact that she lied. Throw in that she’s part of the enemy nation that God is going to level and her future looks pretty bleak. But I can’t help thinking that the Israelites – the very people who were eyewitnesses to God’s power – needed to take lessons from Rahab on what it meant to trust God. I can take lessons from Rahab on what it means to trust God.
On reading the rest of the chapter, she is given the promise of kindness when God gives them the land, she tells them where to go to avoid detection or capture and is given the instructions of the scarlet cord. She and her household will only be saved if they stay in their home during the destruction of the city and if a scarlet cord is hanging out of the window (Joshua 2:15-21). As soon as the spies leave her home through the window, she hangs the scarlet cord. She doesn’t need time to think about it – her decision is made. She’s trusting that she will be saved. I call this decision a no-brainer.
Isn’t that what our salvation looks like? We’ve sinned – lying, cheating, manipulating, prostituting, thieving, coveting… all the things. We’re on the course for destruction and death. But there’s a scarlet cord. The scarlet cord is deliberately mentioned – everything in God’s Word is done deliberately. The cord alone is not enough – it has to be scarlet. Something had to die in order for the cord to be scarlet. Something had to die for us to have life.
Cord: in Hebrew, this is the word tiqwah. It is only translated into the word cord in Joshua. In other contexts, it is translated to mean hope.
Scarlet: in Hebrew, this is the word saniy/shaniy. It is always used for the color scarlet. Interestingly enough, another word was used in this context, tola (meaning worm) and refers to a specific insect that was used to dye things red. This insect was called the crimson worm – coccus ilicis.
This crimson worm is very different from other worms. Looking more like a grub, the mother worm (coccus ilicis) will attach itself to a tree to lay her eggs. This is where I get chills: her babies then feed off of her living body for three days, the mother then dies, but as she dies, she oozes a crimson fluid that stains her offspring and the tree a crimson color. The mother, drained of all life and color, has turned white and falls to the earth, looking like snow. She gave her life to her offspring and stained them, giving them her crimson identity.
In Psalm 22, we read of the sufferings of Jesus. In verse 6, we see that word, tola, again, translated as worm. Here’s the picture of Jesus, quite literally attached to a tree (cross), pouring out His life in order to give us His very own identity of righteousness. It’s not an accident that the coccus ilicis was used as a scarlet dye. It’s not an accident that the worm attaches itself to a tree, gives its life so others can live, and passes on its identity. And it’s not an accident that it was used in the passage in Joshua when Rahab is told that she can be saved from the coming destruction by hanging a scarlet cord out of her window. Something had died for that cord to be scarlet. Something had to die for her to be saved.
During the very first Passover, something had to die so that those in the home could be spared (Exodus 12 &13). The blood was to be put on the doorposts and the lintels as a sign that something had died so that there need be no more death. Jesus had to die so that we could have life – and His very identity of righteousness! God spared Rahab and those who were in her home at the time of Jericho’s destruction. He showed her mercy (Joshua 6:22-25), commended her for her faith (Hebrews 11:31), and gave her a place of honor in the lineage of His own Son, Jesus (Matthew 1:5).
Rahab was given a brand-new identity, a brand-new family, and a brand-new future. This is what He has for all who will trust Him. Do you trust Him? Will you hang your scarlet cord that represents the hope you have because He died? Even with all of the interwoven cords of His grace and love, I still find myself faltering on occasion. I want to be more like Rahab, not wavering in who she knows God to be, being brave and filled with hope in her actions for herself and her family, and leaving behind everything that opposed God’s goodness to embrace a new identity as a child of God.