HEBREWS CHAPTER ELEVEN (part eight)

In this article we are going to look at one verse about a woman named Rahab.
Hebrews 11:31 (KJV)
31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the
spies with peace.
We are looking at the Old Testament Hall of Fame of men and women who believed God. Believing is
not hard. As a matter of fact it really is quite simple. Believing is an action verb and connotes, indicates
represents, means action. That is exactly what Rahab did. She believed God and put her believing into
action.
Joshua 2:1-21 (KJV)
1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the
land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged
there.
2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the
children of Israel to search out the country.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee,
which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.
4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I
wist not whence they were:
5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went
out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax,
which she had laid in order upon the roof.
7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which
pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.
8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;
9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror
is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came
out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side
Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any
more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above,
and in earth beneath.
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness,
that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token:
13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all
that they have, and deliver our lives from death.14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be,
when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall,
and she dwelt upon the wall.
16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide
yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.
17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us
swear.
18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window
which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy
brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.
19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood
shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house,
his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.
20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us
to swear.
21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they
departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
Many people try to make small the miracle of the wall of Jericho falling down because they say
it was on a fault line or an earthquake just happened at the same time. Let me just point out that
Rahab’s house was on the wall and it was the only piece of the wall that didn’t fall down. So,
was it God and the believing of Rahab, Joshua and others that kept that house intact or was it a
mere coincidence that when the wall of Jericho fell down the only house that survived was the
one house with the people in it that had been promised deliverance by God’s chosen people? I’d
put my money on it being God!
The next passage is regarding Israel’s last day of walking around Jericho. Israel had finished
walking around Jericho seven times and Joshua commands everything in the city to be destroyed
EXCEPT Rahab and her family.
Joshua 6:15-17 (KJV)
15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and
compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city
seven times.
16 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said
unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.
17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the
harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that
we sent.
Joshua 6:22-25 (KJV)
22 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and
bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.23 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother,
and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the
camp of Israel.
24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels
of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she
dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out
Jericho.
Believing is not only something that the Chosen of God can do, but, anyone can do! Rahab was not of
the Tribes of Israel and, yet, she believed and got her deliverance. So too, the Cannanite woman of
Matthew chapter fifteen and the Centurion of Matthew chapter eight. None were of the House of Israel,
yet, all believed and got their deliverance. All of this leads up to anyone who wills may come.
Romans 10:9,10 is laid out for every person to get their deliverance. I doubt any of us is of the lineage of
the Tribes of Israel. Yet, when we believe(d) we pass from death unto life.
By the way, Rahab was not an harlot. She was an innkeeper. Many women of that time that were
innkeepers were, also, harlots, but, not all of them were. Rahab happened to be an innkeeper that
wasn’t a harlot.
To be an outsider and, yet, be mentioned in the Hall of Fame of Old Testament believers is a tribute to
the stand this woman had to make. It is, also, an example of how far we can go with God.