Moses is dead and now Joshua was to lead God’s people to the Promised Land. The Israelites camp near the Jordan, on the verge of conquering Jericho. With the promise of God’s presence and power to settle the land of Canaan in hand, Joshua sends two men to spy out the city of Jericho, a large city with thick walls and strong fortifications. It was a very wicked city, filled with sensuality and idolatry and worthy of utter destruction (Deut. 20:17). The two spies enter the city and find a place to lodge for the night in a home built on the wall of the city. It is no ordinary home; it is the home of a harlot named Rahab and a reflection of the city itself. Soon after the men arrive, messengers from Jericho’s king stand at Rahab’s door, demanding for the spies to come out. Rahab quickly hides them on her flat rooftop under stalks of drying flax. Then she tells the messengers that two men did come, but she does not know their origin and they left just before the city gates were closed for the night. She presses them to hurry because they would be able to overtake them! Rahab commits treason by hiding the enemy and lying to her king about it. Her life is in real danger. Why does this woman, who led such a wicked lifestyle, do this?

Surely, Rahab would have noticed instantly that these men were not her typical visitors. They most likely treat her kindly and with dignity and respect. For Rahab, this is a matter of life or death, but it also goes deeper than that. Here we see the beginnings of faith in her life. These are her confessions, “All the inhabit­ants of the land faint because of you” and “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” (Josh. 2:9-11). She confesses that the Lord is God of heaven and earth. She believes and acts on it immediately by hiding the spies and protecting them from the king. She doesn’t understand everything and likely was fear­ful, but in order for her to execute this daring plan, she has to have faith.

After talking with the spies, she pleads with them to show her and her family kindness when they come to destroy Jericho. The spies promise that they will deal kindly and truly with her, but she has to have a scarlet cord hanging from her window. She vows secrecy to cover their plan. Rahab believes their word and helps the men escape by going down the scarlet cord over the city wall. The cord would stay fastened there as a token of her faith as well as her deliverance. With the amazing fall of the city of Jericho, Rahab and her family are saved alive. The Bible records her heroic act of faith, “She dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho” (Josh. 6:25). And so Joshua welcomes this woman with her sordid past into the covenant community of Israel.

But this is not the end of Rahab’s legacy. In Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1, only five women are mentioned — and Rahab is one of them! What an amazing testimony of grace! Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Rahab’s wicked lifestyle and her salvation magnifies the one-sided work and mercy of God. She had done nothing to earn God’s favor — quite the opposite! Our lives are the same in that we cannot earn favor with God on account of our own works and things we feel or conjure up. Salvation is all of grace.

Rahab’s legacy is recorded again in Hebrews 11:31. There she is listed in the hall of faith because she believed and received the spies with peace. James 2:25 also mentions Rahab’s faith and works to prove the point that faith without works is dead.

Rahab is a powerful example of the grace of God on display in an unlikely soul, a harlot. While Jesus ministered on earth, He warned the Pharisees that the publicans and harlots would enter heaven before they would. Are we relying on grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone, or are we secretly banking on our religious upbringing or our morally decent life? Are we willing to receive and fully accept “outsiders” into our midst, even those with despicable pasts, or do we just stick tight to those exactly like us and look down on “those others”? Is our faith accompanied by works? Rahab by all counts was supposed to die in the destruction of Jericho because God had commanded that wicked city to be wiped off the face of the earth. But in His great love and mercy, God redeemed Rahab from the harlot’s house to the hall of faith. He is still the same God today. Call out to Him, for He is faithful and will not cast you out!