Whose Side is God on?

Last updated on: March 15, 2018 at 11:05 am by Kelley Mathews

Whose Side is God on? 2018-03-15T11:05:07-05:00 Kelley Mathews

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Rahab

When the Israelites were preparing to attack Jericho, spies snuck in ahead to check things out. They lodged in the home of Rahab, the prostitute (Josh 2:1), who lied on their behalf to redirect authorities searching for them. Then she utters these amazing words to the spies:

I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for Yahweh your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. ~ Josh 2:9–11 (emphasis mine)

This Canaanite woman—in a pagan city, living a sinful life, utterly outside the chosen people—lectured Israelite men, reciting the forty-year-old miracle stories of their people and their God, and declared Yahweh’s preeminence over all things. She then negotiated her rescue—and any of her family who gathered in her home during the coming invasion—in exchange for the spies’ lives. In her extraction from the tumbling walls of Jericho and eventual marriage to an Israelite, Rahab represented the nations that Abraham’s family would bless. Her statement of faith in their God paved the way for her inclusion into the chosen people. God wasn’t on her side; she joined his side.

A few days later, Joshua prepared to attack Jericho. He met a sword-bearing man whom he realized was sent from Yahweh, the “Commander of Yahweh’s Army.” Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” (Josh 5:13). He was expecting, of course, to hear, “For you,” since God himself sent Joshua to lead the conquest of the land. But the Commander surprised him by saying, “Neither.” He then “gives Joshua instructions for conquering Jericho in such a way that demonstrates that the victory belongs to God alone. This concept—that God is for God—confounds the insider/outsider themes as understood by the Israelites, and it makes room for Rahab within the community of faith” (Bleeker, Vindicating the Vixens, p.55).

Through Rahab’s short vignette, God illustrates his invitation for any to come to him. Was she any more sinful than the idolatrous Israelites? Even the spies’ arrival at her home raises suspicion regarding their motives and behavior (Bleeker covers this territory thoroughly—I recommend her chapter on vindicating Rahab). No, a quick reading of the Bible reveals the depravity of Israel’s heroes and “sinners” alike. In a culture in which one’s nationality and vocation gave a person her identity, Rahab certainly seemed “outside” Yahweh’s approval. But neither of those earthly characteristics mattered in the end. Only her faith did.

Does this remind you of another biblical woman?

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