Woman Wednesday

Hello bloggers!

I hopefully will be resuming my journey through the book Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. I've read Eve's and Sarah's chapters, and today's post is about Rahab.

Once again, I'm grateful for MacArthur's work and effort to fill in the background of these women's lives. It makes these women's stories so much richer when I understand their background and see the similarities and differences and grow in belief that nothing is out of the reach of God.

Rahab was one of the most "unsavory characters" in the Bible and lived in a culture that celebrated sin and everything against God. Simply put, she was a prostitute and she lived in a sinful city that allowed her to live this way and she profited from this culture. As far as everything that we know about Rahab, she should have been part of the downfall God had planned for Jericho by the Israelites. But, God had a different plan for Rahab.

Before the Israelites spies came to Rahab's house on the wall, God had been softening Rahab's heart. She heard stories of how the God of Israel had saved his people from the Egyptian pharoah and how he led them through the desert with wonders and miracles. Subsequently, when the spies did arrive, Rahab tells them of how Jericho became faithhearted because of what the Israelites and their God would do to Jericho.

Now here's the amazing part about Rahab's story: her fear of God surpassed fears of her fellow countrymen and the loss of her lifestyle. She lived in a fortified city and experienced great wealth. Why would she give that up because 2 foreigner spies came to her house? Because she had heard of the God of the spies and she believed that it was better to be a friend than a foe. Her faith in God sprung into action when she hid the spies and helped them to escape the city and report back to Joshua. Before the spies left, she asked them to spare her and her family and they told her to hang a scarlet cord in the window as a sign that the house was not to be touched. When Israel took over Jericho, they brought Rahab and her family out of the city and took them in. Rahab later became part of the genealogy of Christ and is noted in the list of heroes of fath in Hebrew 11.

Before MacArthur ends the chapter, he discusses in length the impacts of Rahab's story throughout the ages. Some scholars have tried to waterdown her sin because how can you explain that a prostitute could be the Christ's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother? But according to MacArthur, it was no accident that God placed her in the lineage because it would fulfill the description of the Savior of having nothing in Him that would attract us to Him and the earthly life of the Savior as being an outcast and a public disgrace.

MacArthur also places a quote by CH Spurgeon who spoke against glossing over Rahab's sins by saying "this woman was no mere hostess, but a real harlot. . . I am persuaded that nothing but a spirit of distaste for free grace would ever let any commentator to deny her sin." (p.67)

How true that is! Unless I have a true view of my sin, I will never have a true experience of grace.

I love how MacArthur summarizes Rahab's life and I will end the post with it. He writes, "Rahab was redeemed not because of any meritorious works she did. She did not earn God's favor by any good deeds," even harboring the spies. "But she was not given to us as an example of the power of human works. She is not a lesson in how to better ourselves through self-improvement. She is a reminder that God by His grace can redeem even the most horrible life." (p. 66-67)

Toodles!