Joshua 2 (4)

“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.” So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” Joshua 2.12-14

Reflect.
1.  The fear of the Lord moved Rahab to act kindly toward the Hebrew spies. Is fear a proper motive for getting people to do good? 

2.  In the parable of the talents (Matt. 25.14-30), one servant’s fear of his master led him to inaction. Why? Why did the master fault him? For fearing him?

Think about it.
This is a very complex passage. Let’s begin by acknowledging that God approved everything that transpired in Joshua 1.1-14, including the deceit, the outright lying, the deal-making, and the dispiriting of the hearts of His enemies. It’s all good. For all its complexity and even apparent contradictoriness, this is God working out His covenant promises for His people. Indeed, His ways are not our ways, and His ways are past finding out (Is. 55.8, 9; Rom. 11.33; Eccl. 3.11).

Now let’s examine today’s verses more closely. Notice that Rahab acted in kindness toward the spies without any promise of reciprocation (v. 8-12). This was an act of faith, motivated solely by the fear of God. What a powerful affection the fear of the Lord can be! No wonder God requires it of His people (cf. Deut. 10.12, 13; Ps. 86.11).

Next, Rahab opens a window on God’s covenant promises that has been rarely glimpsed to this point: the incorporating of Gentiles into His favor. She probably did not know that God had actually promised this (Gen. 12.1-3). Otherwise, she might have reminded the spies. This is God’s grace at work in her. Moreover, she dares to go beyond what might be reasonably expected – the sparing of her own life – to include all the members of her family as well. This is daring faith, indeed!

Third, the spies grant her request, but not without conditions (v. 14). One does not enter the covenant of God without conditions. Further, they would not have been able to do what she asked apart from God’s grace flowing to them according to His promise (v. 14, cf. Josh. 1.1-5; Deut. 7.12-24). They understood that they would only be able to act kindly toward Rahab once God had acted kindly toward them.

Finally, Rahab requests “a true token” (Hebrew, אוֹת, a sign, pledge, or symbol) from the spies as a tangible reminder of her kindness performed and their kindness promised. Entering into covenant with God always involves some token to provoke remembrance of deeds accomplished and promises yet to be realized.

Meditate and discuss.
1.  In this situation, clearly an act of kindness flowed from a heart of fear. Do you think if Christians were more conscious of fearing the Lord they might act more consistently with kindness toward their neighbors? Why or why not?

2.  From verses 1-14, describe the relationship between fear, faith, obedience, blessing, and hope in the life of faith. Do you think churches are as consistent as they should be in teaching these matters? Explain.

3.  How do the sacraments function as “true tokens” for God and His covenant people?

“Rahab is a prefigurement of the church, which was at one time mixed up in the prostitution of the demons and which now accepts the spies of Christ, not the ones sent by Joshua the son of Nun, but the apostles who were sent by Jesus the true Savior. ‘I learned,’ she says, ‘that your God is up in heaven and down on the earth, and that apart from him there is no God.’” John Chrysostom (344-407 AD)

Lord, use me today as a token of Your grace and kindness by…

Pray Psalm 128.
As you pray, meditate on God and His works. Ask Him to unite your heart to fear Him (Ps. 86.11), and thank Him for the blessings promised to all who do.

Psalm 128 (Fountain: There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
How blest are they who fear You, Lord,
Who walk within Your ways!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word,
They prosper all their days!
They prosper all their days, they prosper all their days!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word,
They prosper all their days!

Their homes with happy children bloom
Who fear Your holy Name;
Their tables and their every room 
Declare Your glorious fame!
Declare Your glorious fame, declare Your glorious fame!
Their tables and their every room
Declare Your glorious fame!

O Lord, from Zion send Your peace,
And prosp’rous make our ways;
Thus may Your blessings e’er increase
Upon us all our days!
Upon us all our days, upon us all our days!
Thus may Your blessings e’er increase
Upon all us all our days!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).