Joshua 2
February 2, 2004
God of All Mercy
Last year’s come from behind movie, Seabiscuit, portrays a character Tom Smith, who is a broken-down unemployed cowboy. Millionaire Charles Howard, who is about to engage in a horse racing enterprise, interviews Smith, and asks why he bothered rescuing an old, lame horse that was sentenced to death because of a broken leg. Tom replies,
"You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a bit." Every horse is good for something, Tom claims. His devotion to horses convinces the millionaire that Tom should be his trainer.
Together they find and purchase Seabiscuit, a horse whose physical shortcomings and temperament make it an unlikely prospect for racing success. Tom's method of training, while unorthodox, is tailored to cure the horse of his inner demons - a byproduct of the neglect shown by its previous owners. Tom hires a second-rate jockey named "Red" Pollard to ride Seabiscuit. At 5'7", Red’s too tall to be anything but a bush-league jockey and a bad match for this undersized horse. But Tom spies a mystical connection between Red and Seabiscuit. Red has another handicap. He is blind in one eye, a handicap he concealed fearing track officials would no longer allow him to race. During a crucial race at Santa Anita, Red's limited vision allows a competing horse to overtake Seabiscuit on Red's blind side, costing them the victory. Tom, the trainer, is outraged that Red failed to urge Seabiscuit to keep the winning pace, pressing Red to explain how he’d let this happen. Finally, in a burst of emotion, Red shouts, "Because I'm blind!"
Stung by the loss and betrayal, Tom scornfully urges Mr. Howard to fire Red. To Tom's surprise, Mr. Howard requests that Red remain as his jockey. Dumbfounded, Tom demands a reason.
Mr. Howard states, "You don't throw away a whole life just because it's banged up a bit."
Such sentiments make for great theater and in life we love to know there are second chances for banged up lives, but only when we are the ones who get the second chance. If a second chance is given, we best be assured the person will some how be worthy of such mercy, otherwise we will feel tricked.
What of God’s mercy? It is a topic we love to consider, enjoy thinking about it in the abstract, but when it comes to the particulars, we are often a bit slow to consider its implications. There are times mercy is comfortable, such as when we are the recipients. But there are times when mercy is contemptible, such as when those shone mercy are not the kind of people we consider worthy.
But the more we consider mercy, we see that whenever God’s mercy is poured out on people, we all stand convicted of the truth that mercy, by its very nature, rescues and restores those who otherwise have no hope, those who are more than just a bit banged up, but who are washed up. This mercy of God is seen in Joshua 2. READ
God’s mercy is comfortable with people like us
God’s mercy barely raises an eyebrow, but should arrest us
Israel has gathered east of the Jordan, preparing to enter the Promised Land. With Moses gone and Joshua commissioned to lead the people, two spies are sent to scout out the land. In verse 1 God’s mercy is subtle, but still evident. His mercy is given again and again to His people.
The spies are sent from Shittim, a land that was conquered only after a tremendous price was paid. In Numbers 25 it is at Shittim that Israel engaged in immorality and idolatry with the people of Moab. Just as they were about to receive what God promised, they turned their backs on God and 24,000 died of a plague. Despite the pain of that loss, God was merciful and the people repented.
So it is with some irony in our story that these spies, leaving from the site of immorality, soon find themselves under the watchful care of a prostitute named Rahab. A second chance is given. Will they fail again?
What is more their activity, spying, is reminiscent of another past failure. Forty years had passed and a generation had died after twelve other spies went out to check on Canaan. The spies reported that the land was beautiful, but ten of them spoke with fear of the giants in the land. With this Israel rebelled, God was angry and a generation died in the wilderness. Yet, God was merciful as he permitted this generation to inherit what their parents rejected.
One wonders whether this time the spies’ report will be met with faith, faith not in their innate abilities, but in God’s mercy to give them the land which they do not deserve. Yet no sooner do the spies go out but we are told that they are found out by the King of Jericho.
God’s mercy may mistakenly be thought to be due us
It is all too easy for us who speak freely of God’s grace and mercy to forget that God’s mercy is ours not based on who we are, but on God’s own character. We sometimes imagine mercy is ours after we’ve endured enough heartache, after we’ve been extra good, after we’ve mended our own lives.
In our passage we come face to face with a most unworthy recipient of mercy, Rahab. Mercy is warm and comforting as long as it comes our way, as long as its recipients are like me … not too bad. But mercy may become contemptible when those kinds receive mercy.
God’s mercy is contemptible with immoral people
God’s mercy extends to the immoral
By the second verse we are arrested by the place where the spies find lodging, a brothel. To their defense, a brothel is perfect for a spy. There is anonymity and stealth. It would not be unusual for a traveler to make such a stop, especially as it was common for such a woman to operate several businesses simultaneously, including the services of an inn.
But she is more than just an inn keeper. The NIV places an alternate translation of innkeeper in the margin, as if to ease the discomfort. But the word can not be so twisted. Twice in the New Testament she is expressly called porne, a prostitute. What is interesting, this story could be easily told without that detail, and told with much more comfort. But that would not be good for us. We are meant to feel the discomfort, even contempt, so as to be shocked by mercy.
God’s mercy is poured out on this woman, the least person in the city we would expect. There must have been better specimens of humanity behind those walls? Would there not be more moral people, the simple craftsman who labored every day to put food on the table, the small child whose very face shone with innocence? In a matter of days they would die, but she, of all people, would live, along with her family.
If you were to meet Rahab on the street her clothes, attitude, language would draw a condemning and disdainful glare. But what makes us so uncomfortable here is that if we look too harshly at her, we will see ourselves only as well dressed sinners. The foulness of her nature is subtly hidden in our lives too. Yet we somehow want to believe our incremental goodness counts for something.
Would we doubt her faith? Would we quickly counsel her not to speak of her past life, but only her new found virtue? It is easy to be comfortable with grace as long as we don’t think too long on how far God will go to show how merciful he is, for if He is merciful to a whore, what does that say about me? Am I that depraved? But it is God’s electing grace to find the dregs of society and put them on gospel thrones. But we try to polish the saints and lessen grace.
God’s mercy extends to those outside the covenant
When God determined to show mercy to this woman, it was on not only an immoral person, but a citizen of an immoral population. God decreed these inhabitants were destined for destruction.
God’s Word and history tell us they offered their children as sacrifices, employed prostitutes of all sorts. Sex was the focus of their worship in the forms of Baal and Ashtoreth. These people were reviled not just by the Jews, but the Egyptians and Hittites who surrounded them likewise wrote of their degenerate culture. God had given them more than 600 years to repent but now it was time for the hammer to fall.
God’s mercy extends to those whose actions conflict
What happens next in the story has attracted attention far beyond its value in the story – what are we to make of Rahab’s lie. I thought of ignoring this question in the passage but knew I would only have to field questions later. As we look at this, keep in mind that twice in the New Testament (Heb 11:31 and Jam 2:25) Rahab is commended for her faith, but there is no mention of the lie.
When the king’s messengers come to Rahab, there is an assumption that she would have knowledge of the spies. The king expected Rahab to do her patriotic duty and turn the spies in. The ancient law code of Hammurabi contains the following provision: “If felons are banded together in an ale-wife’s [prostitute’s or innkeeper’s] house and she has not haled [them] to the palace, that ale-wife shall be put to death” (Driver & Miles, The Babylonian Laws, 1956 2:45)
She had a duty to turn them in. But instead, she hid them and boldly lied about them.
Two absolute principles of moral behavior seem to have come into conflict by her lying
The principle that it is wrong to tell a lie and the principle that one must protect human life.
How do we determine what to do when face with such a conflict?
To this there are three options ethicists have identified. (from Howard, Joshua 106-112)
Hierarchicalism – or graded absolutism
This view sees an ordered hierarchy of absolutes with some values having priority over others. Where it is impossible to obey both commands, one should act according to the greater good or the higher norm, and is thus exempt from the lower norm. In some strictly defined situations, certain actions usually labeled as sins are not in fact sins, that is, their usual nature as sins is set aside, redefined.
This view is similar to situation ethics, in which we determine what the hierarchy is based on what serves our needs at the moment. To say that what Rahab did was not a sin or is excusable is to demean truth and throw all ethics into the hopper.
Non-conflicting absolutes
This view says that in any given situation, seemingly opposed absolute norms do not conflict in reality. God does not set aside or exempt certain absolutes in certain situations, but he holds them absolutely. There is always a third way which avoids sin.
Since the ends do not justify the means and since we may not do evil so that good may come, Rahab should have told the truth and allowed the fate of the men to fall into the hands of God’s providence. God will always provide a way.
This view certainly takes seriously what God’s Word says about lying.
Truth telling is rooted in God’s nature, because he is truth (Jn 14:6; 1 Jn 5:20) and cannot lie (Tit 1:2; Heb 6:18). Truth comes from God (Ps 43:3) and his word is truth (Jn 17:17). We are to be truthful because he is truthful.
The difficulty here is it doesn’t solve the conflict nor does it tell us what the other options are going to be. If Rahab told the truth, the lives of the spies would be in jeopardy.
Conflicting absolutes – or the lesser of two evils
In a fallen world sometimes two or more absolute principles of moral behavior will conflict absolutely, and that there is no recourse in the situation but to sin.
The presumption here is that our sin in Adam has created an ethical mess from which we sometimes cannot extricate ourselves.
Our obligation is to determine which the lesser evil is, do what appears better and repent of the sin in the area we chose to violate God’s decreed will.
You may recall in The Sound of Music how the two nuns, aiding the Van Trapp to escape, come to Mother Superior, seeking absolution for their sin and then reveal they have stolen the distributor cap from the Nazi’s car.
The first view should be rejected as it does not take sin seriously and leaves the question of ethics up to the individual without regard for God’s Word. The second is ideal, but in practice difficult to implement in the most extreme of cases. It is where we should always start. But if and when we see a conflict of absolutes and feel forced to choose one over another – repentance is our only option.
Fortunately, sinlessness is not a requirement for salvation. Heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11, of which Rahab is one, all were terrible sinners. Rahab is commended because she gave the spies lodging and sent them out safely. Just as we would not approve of her occupation as tool in aiding God’s people. Likewise, we must never justify her lying as if it were permissible.
Rather than rationalize our sin, thinking God’s hand propels us to break God’s Law, we can rejoice that God is bigger than our sin, that he is not bound by my righteousness, for if that were the case, we would all be doomed. Providence, circumstance, and immature faith do not cancel out guilt. But God is still merciful – even when I sin.
The focus of our attention must not be Rahab’s lie, but Rahab’s true confession. Verses 8-14 form the central portion of this chapter and here we see God’s mercy all the more. It is tragic when people snag their pants on the nail of Rahab’s lie, quibble endlessly about the matter, and never get around to hearing Rahab’s truth, which the writer has conspired to make the center of the whole narrative. That is like a wife who proudly opens the refrigerator door to show her husband the scrumptious salad and dessert she has prepared for their dinner guests; but her husband, scarcely glancing at those delicacies, instead rubs his finer across the top of the fridge and goes off muttering that there seems to be a good bit of dust on the top of the frig, he missed the whole point. He didn’t understand his wife’s intention at all. His focus was all wrong. The NT does not fall into this trap. It consistently stresses the faith of Rahab. (Davis, Joshua, No Falling Words, 26)
It is here that God’s mercy is convicting to all of us
God’s mercy is convicting to all of us
God’s mercy is seen in her life
Rahab knows that God is to be feared.
She rehearses God’s mercy to Israel: from the crossing the Red Sea, to the most recent, the defeat of Sihon and Og at Shittim. These events have melted the hearts of those who are about to know God’s wrath. What is more, she confesses that the LORD, using the covenantal name of God, is God over all.
What causes fear in her fellow Canaanites causes her to seek God’s mercy. The same events are interpreted in two distinct ways. She sees not wrath, but mercy.
Rahab knows that God will be merciful.
In v12 she moves from the terror of God to his mercy. Again the words she uses shows her faith in the God who promises to be merciful. The word kindly (hesed) refers to God’s covenantal compassion, tender mercy, and loving kindness.
She asks for a sign, a token, a promise. Because of her faithful actions, she and her family will be saved. The sign is the scarlet cord from her window. All those in her house when the conflagration comes, will be rescued. While it is tempting to draw an analogy to the blood of Christ, we must be cautious not to read too much in this. But what we do see is that God’s promise to be merciful is not a shallow promise. No matter how banged up by sin, destroyed by our own rebellion … we can rest in God’s mercy as we look in faith to him and take him at his word.
How have you seen God’s mercy in your life?
Are you able to look at the series of painful choices, of failed attempts, of unfortunate events where God broke through, grabbed your attention and showed you his mercy? Have you stepped out in faith, like Rahab, confessed your allegiance to Christ in both word and deed, declaring to the world that you are a follower of Christ, trusting in his mercy alone?
God’s mercy is seen in her lineage
She is in the line of Christ.
The promise made to Rahab and her family continued. In Matthew 1:5 her name is listed again as the wife of Salmon and the mother of Boaz, who was the great great-grandmother of David. This one time prostitute pagan is the ancestor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God’s mercy given to Rahab benefited her family; it flowed from one generation to the next. In Jericho the offer of salvation was extended to her household. They, in turn, needed to remain in the house, but it was for them. It continued all the way to the Messiah.
She is in the hall of faith.
What is more, she is listed among God’s great saints in Hebrews 11:31, a faith explained further in James 2:26. There she is the example of how our faith is to be active, not in word only. We are in her lineage, when we know ourselves to be unworthy sinners, but God in his grace and mercy declares us to be his children.
Apart from God’s mercy we are all broken down. You and I can not get past our past. It will paralyze us, constantly reminding us of our failure … until we come face to face with God’s mercy in Christ. You can’t rehabilitate yourself, you can’t make it better.
That is why God poured out his mercy on us by sending Christ in our place.
Have you been grabbed by God’s mercy, a mercy that convicts us that we, whether externally moral or not, all deserve wrath. But as we cast our lives on Christ, looking to him alone, that we, like Rahab, will both confess with our mouths and live out in our lives, God’s merciful grace. We, like Rahab are trophies of God’s grace, monuments to his mercy.
That is why we come to this table, to eat of his mercy, to taste of his grace and look to Christ, clinging to that scarlet cord as our only hope.
