Think what a moral mixture the human heart may hold, what a mass of contradictions it is! Rahab, loyal lover to her kindred, traitor to her king, gifted with insight above her fellow-citizens, yet exposing herself to the scorn of man, possessed of a crude faith, yet selling her honour for gain l Surely the warp of heaven and the woof of hell were never woven together more strangely. Surely there never was such a peculiar character thrown off from the loom of life. But no, such contradictions are common, and that may be one of the reasons why her name is left on record. How many men do you know who are of perfectly simple moral character, who act from one motive, who are dominated by a single passion, whose conduct, under given circumstances, you can infallibly calculate? How many saints do you know who bear on them no traces of sin? How many sinners who show signs of nothing else? The best have their weak points: the worst retain some features of good.
2. Observe how independent religion may be of morality, how strong a hold faith in God may have in those on whom righteousness have a most imperfect grasp. Rahab’s faith still held; while of her morals the less said the better. This is the perplexity of the present time, that so many men are honestly and ardently in love with goodness, and are yet able to do without God; and the converse, that a man may have faith in God and yet be wicked. Religion and righteousness are two different things, though ultimately one. They satisfy different needs of our nature. We may seek God for shelter. A man finds the world crumbling beneath his feet and he hides himself in the Eternal; or he is oppressed by the meagreness of his range of vision, and he flees to Him in whom there is no darkness at all; or he is crushed by pain, or he seeks help from Him who bears the cares of the world, and who can bring peace in the midst of sorrows. But morality! That is the soul’s working day and loins must be girded. Rest here means idleness, apathy, death, Moral progress must be struggled for; advance in purity implies a hotly-contested race. Religion brings rest; morality means toil. The noble, impassive soul, strong in affection but weak of will, makes much of religious help and consolation. He is not dishonest, but the ideal has never dawned on him of religion and morality clothed in double raiment, offering at the altar, body, soul and spirit.
3. Notice the power of even a rudimentary faith. In Rahab’s case, a little religion went a long way. As some one says, faith is the one before the ciphers on the cheque presented at the bank of heaven. It is the beginning of all virtues. It may be crude at first, but it cannot continue so; for it brings the Spirit of God into the heart. The harlot Rahab, by her crude faith, stepped forth from the ranks of heathendom; and so the most disgraced child of man can be rescued from his sin, through faith in God. (A. Martin, M. A.)
Rahab’s faith:
Some lessons of the story lie on its surface. How the publicans and the harlots may enter the kingdom of God before Sadducee and Pharisee--not in their sins, but washed from them, and inclined towards the possibilities of grace by the very fact that at least self-satisfaction is impossible--that at least boasting is excluded. Also we find here the recognition of a very imperfect knowledge and a very elementary faith, as having in it “the root of the matter” if it will but work. What was Rahab’s knowledge, what was Rahab’s faith, when she received the two Hebrew spies, hid them from discovery, and “sent them out by another way”? What Rahab knew was only this--that the God of Israel had wrought a great deliverance for His people, first in the exodus from Egypt, then in the wars of the march, and that evidently no power could stand against Him--she and her nation were foredoomed to discomfiture before this mighty God and this favoured race. Upon this small and elementary foundation of dogmatic truth was reared the superstructure of a changed and transformed life. She “received with peace,” with friendliness and hospitality, the emissaries of the invading people, protected them with ready inventiveness from the instant search and pursuit of her king--and was herself, in the terrible slaughter of her countrymen, incorporated, with all her house, into the conquering race, to become the ancestress, as St. Matthew teaches, of king David, and of the Messiah Himself. It would be a mistake, at anachronism, to apply to a dweller in one of the old Canaanite cities, amidst the worshippers of false and cruel deities, destitute of one ray either of law or gospel light, principles of conduct and character which we owe to the revelation of all truth and all duty by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Epistle is contented to say only this, Behold in the example of this woman the working of that faith which grasps the unseen. Behold the action of faith upon evidence presented and upon an alternative of conduct. Behold the inference of truth honestly drawn, and the preference, on the strength of it, of the future to the present. Behold, St. James adds, how faith differs from opinion, and evidences its existence by the sign of work. The hearts of other inhabitants of Jericho were melting, she tells us, with the terror of Israel--she alone acted upon the conviction and added another element to the “great cloud of witnesses.” We all see why the apostle should have singled out for mention the faith of this woman of Canaan. She was an instance of faith lifting a life out of the prejudices and partialities of birth and companionship, and making it willing, at the call of duty, to seek a new kindred and a new citizenship, amongst strangers, amongst aliens--if need be, amongst enemies. Her example is like that of Abraham leaving his birthplace, of Moses forsaking his palace--like these, yet, in degree, rising above them. For Abraham pitched his tent not amongst foes--and Moses, in renouncing the land of his adoption, returned to the citizenship of his birth and of his ancestry. She cast herself upon a hostile race, and had to unlearn every association, every habit, every feeling of the past. Thus might it be, at no distant day, with these Christians of Palestine. They were to suffer the sword of Rome to fall upon apostate Jerusalem--they were to raise no arm in her defence--on the contrary, when they saw her compassed with armies, when they saw the abomination of desolation stand in her holy place, they were to recognise the predicted token, and themselves to flee to the mountains. Christ must be more than country to those who would be worthy of Him. (Dean Vaughan.)
Rahab’s faith
I. SAVING FAITH.
II. A SINGULAR FAITH.
III. A STABLE FAITH, which stood firm in the midst of trouble.
IV. A SELF-DENYING FAITH.
V. A SYMPATHISING FAITH. Desired mercy for her relations.
VI. A SANCTIFYING FAITH. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Rahab
I. SHE POSSESSED SINGULAR FAITH.
1. She received no instruction from her parents.
2. She was not in a believing country.
3. Her means of knowledge were very slender; and therefore, the food of her faith was comparatively scant.
4. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about her faith was that she should be a woman of such a character. She was apparently the most unlikely person to become a believer in Jehovah. She was a harlot, a woman that was a sinner, and universally known to be such.
5. The subject of her faith was difficult.
II. HER FAITH WAS ACTIVE.
1. It was active mentally. When she believed, she began to think.
2. Her faith was active in her own sphere. Home duties are one of the very best forms of the activity of faith, especially in Christian women.
3. She did all this to the best of her ability, and she used her common sense.
4. She was also active at great risk.
III. RAHAB’S FAITH WAS MARRED WITH GROSS WEAKNESS. She lied unto the men who came to the door to seize the spies. There were, no doubt, in her conscience indistinct glimmerings of an idea that to lie was an evil thing, but, nevertheless, her surroundings prevented her clearly knowing it as we know it. To this very day among many orientals it is far more usual to lie than to speak the truth. You must judge individuals from their own standpoint, and consider their circumstances, or you may do them an injustice. I am not going to excuse Rahab’s lie. A lie in Rahab, or in Abraham, is as bad as in any one else; but in this case there is this to be said, she had not been taught, as most of us have been, that a lie is a degrading sin. Her fault was by no means one which we can afford to throw stones at; avoid it carefully, but do not censure it self-complacently.
IV. Rahab’s was A FAITH THAT WAS NOT ABOVE THE USE OF OUTWARD SIGNS AND SEALS. There are persons in the world who altogether despise the outward ordinances; they may be good, but they are not wise. Rahab first of all required from these spies an oath that they would preserve her, and next they gave her a token, a scarlet line, which was to be hung up in her window. This was the blood red flag of Israel. Was it not hoisted on the Passover night, so that the angel might pass by and deliver the people?
She felt great comfort when she had placed the token in her window. She was not superstitious; she did not believe that anything mystical was in the red cord, but she put it there, because she had been told to do so. Now, the highest faith in Christ is perfectly consistent with the obedient use of Christian ordinances.
V. HER FAITH WAS SAVING FAITH. I have shown how it was grievously marred, but it was effectual notwithstanding. So, true faith in Christ, despite its weakness, will save us, separate us from the world, join us unto God’s Israel, give us kinship with the Lord Jesus Christ; and what higher dignity is it possible to receive?
VI. HER FAITH BECAME WITH GOD ACCEPTABLE, SO THAT SHE WAS THE MEANS OF THE SALVATION OF OTHERS. Oh, I like this in Rahab, that she did not bargain for her own safety alone. Her sin had not hardened her heart as sin does in many cases. She thought of her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and her sisters. Now, wherever there is a real child of God there will be anxiety for his family. If you do not want to have)’our children saved, you are not saved yourself. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sovereign grace:
Observe here
1. The person spoke of, Rahab, a Gentile, an Amorite, an harlot, who kept a victualling house in Jericho, and so was both harlot and hostess, defiled both in body and mind with idolatry and adultery.
2. What is spoken of her: she believed. Behold here a blessed instance
(1) Of the sovereignty and freedom of God’s grace.
(2) Of the power and efficacy of Divine grace, in calling and converting a person given up by her own choice to the vilest of sins; but no sinner nor sin is to be despaired of, in whose cure sovereign grace is engaged.
3. The effect and fruit of her faith, she received the spies with peace; that is, entertained them safely.
4. The benefit and advantage she received by her faith, she perished not; that is, when the credulous and idolatrous people of Jericho were destroyed, she and her family were preserved.
From the whole learn
1. That God is ready to show wonderful mercy to penitent sinners, if they return to Him and believe in Him, how great soever their sins have formerly been.
2. That true faith, wherever it is, will show itself by some eminent effect, and notable fruits of it.
3. That the rewards of faith are excellent and truly glorious; as she was preserved from the common ruin at Jericho, so shall all believers be saved from the wrath and destruction which shall come ere long upon the impenitent and unbelieving world. (W. Burkitt, M. A.)
Faith recognised and rewarded in the unworthy
I. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE NATURE OF FAITH.
1. The character and circumstances of Rahab show that faith is not necessarily a Christian grace.
2. Her faith was but the reasonable acting of a thoughtful mind.
3. Its reality proved itself by works.
II. AN ILLUSTRATION OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS.
1. God’s ready response to true faith, though it be characterised by ignorance and unworthiness.
2. This is seen in the remarkable preservation of Rahab.
3. And in her abundant reward for all her faith had hazarded in His cause.
III. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE CONVERTING POWER OF FAITH IN GOD.
1. It separated her in character and doom from all her surroundings.
2. It made her the means of preserving all her kindred.
3. It allied her, an outcast Gentile, with the people of God. (C. New.)
