Two men set out on a dangerous assignment. It was a secret spy mission involving a trek of 2-3 days. They were to cross the Jordan river by swimming or fording, infiltrate into enemy country and spy out military information.
They were nearly captured and had to be lowered down a city wall to escape. A token left behind of a ‘scarlet cord’ carries rich symbolism for Christians ever after. The colour red would be powerfully significant in salvation. It holds special significance for New Testament Christians at Passover.
The men were ‘spies’ Joshua sent to search the land, especially Jericho (Joshua 2:1). They apparently had no fear of mixing with the locals as they entered the city. Possibly their dress and speech weren’t too much out of place. When they walked the streets they may have browsed for a while before seeking somewhere to stay the night. They ended up at Rahab’s ‘Inn’ for lodging.
The Biblical record tells, however, they were nonetheless observed and identified as ‘Israelite spies.’ Perhaps their dialect gave them away. Maybe others listening close by might have observed Rahab’s animated conversation with them after she deduced they were Israelites. The King sought their arrest by sending Rahab instructions to deliver them up to him. He seems to have expected her to do it. Perhaps this suggests Rahab had some influence and standing in the city.
Now emerges a remarkable turn of events. In this ‘chance’ meeting, the spies discover Rahab knows much about Israel. She is in a way ‘counting the cost’ of leaving her polytheistic background. And we find her family members are similarly agreed in her newfound belief. Could God have led the spies directly to her, as He did Peter for the gentile centurion Cornelius? Did God intend to call her to the faith? We can’t say for sure from the account but can read how her faith is commended twice, in Hebrews 11:30-31 and James 2:25.
Rahab in her fledgling faith is more concerned about saving the spies than about telling a misleading story to the king. By her subterfuge the king’s troops are misdirected to the fords of Jordan. Rahab instead hides them under drying bundles of flax on the roof. After deceiving the troops she goes to the spies in a remarkable confession. In Joshua 2:8-11 Rahab recounts her newfound faith.
‘I know the Lord has given this land to you’ (verse 8). This is a belief in the power of the true God. ‘A great fear has fallen on us, all who live here are melting in fear of you.’ This offers the military intelligence the spies are to report back to Joshua. It shows God’s hand already at work to bring the overthrow of Jericho.
‘We have heard what the Lord did in drying up the Red Sea and what you did to the two kings Sihon and Og.’ A remarkable statement. The defeat of the two kings was fairly recent, across the other side of the Jordan. But the Red Sea event was some 40 years previous.
How old was Rahab? When did she learn this? Did it come from her parents when she was a child? It shows that significant awe of biblical events had spread during the wanderings and how neighbouring nations were familiar with Israelite history. The defeat of the two kings suddenly brought everything into sharp focus for a city across the Jordan next on the list. Rahab believes biblical history and is now converting to Israel’s God.
Also remarkable is how her parents, brothers, and sisters are all equally believing. We know this because the spies tell her all must remain in the house and not leave. It appears they obeyed.
Their belief is in sharp contrast to Lot’s family members who just mocked the angelic warning. Here they are saved through Rahab. She acknowledges, ‘The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath’ (Joshua 2:11). The spies now had to trust her to not tell the King of their escape until safe to cross the Jordan and report to Joshua. Now the remarkable illustration of the scarlet cord.
In return for their safety they vowed to protect her when the Israelite assault began, provided she fulfilled two conditions. One, she and all hers must stay inside her house during the attack. Two, she must tie a piece of red cord to her window to identify the location to attacking troops.
Where the scarlet cord came from isn’t revealed. It may have been in Rahab’s house or tying the flax bundles. But we might wonder whether the spies had it with them to tie their clothes, backpacks, or sleeping gear. We also can ponder whether God intended the event to become a symbolism for all time. She lowers them down from her window on the wall after they first establish that in order to be protected she must tie the ‘scarlet cord’ in the window. This way her house would be unobtrusively identified to an Israelite search party (verses 18-19).
We assume the section of the wall that enclosed her house was the only section still standing at the collapse of the city walls. But the ‘red cord’ tied to the window was to be the proof of her faith. The two spies no doubt excitedly explained all these events to Joshua who in response accepted the vow to protect Rahab and her family.
As the Israelites approached Jericho, God explained He would bring down the walls (Joshua 6). Joshua must have wondered how the vow would be honoured when the walls were to fall. Did it mean ALL the walls, or enough of the wall structure to enable the troops to rush in and take the city? It implies all the walls. It must have been astonishing when the dust settled to see that the section of wall where the ‘red cord’ was tied to a window still stood upright.
What amazing deliverance. What a lesson of trust and faith for not just Rahab, her father and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had (verse 13), but also Joshua and the Israelites. (Yet how short lived was awe from this miracle with Achan when it came to the conquest of Ai!).
Joshua immediately told the spies to take Rahab and her family outside the Israelite camp (they were Gentiles). Then they burned the city. The biblical directive means it must have also included the standing wall of Rahab’s house. Millennia of erosion means there is little evidence among the archaeological Jericho sites to enhance this miraculous event.
Now let’s consider why Christians are impressed with the ‘scarlet cord’ in the window. It forces itself upon us in the light of Scriptural teaching about the blood of Christ.
Red blood from slain lambs splashed over the door posts of Israelite homes in Egypt protected them from the ‘slayer of the firstborn’ (Exodus 12:13).
The ‘scarlet cord’ symbolised in type Rahab’s acceptance of the ‘lamb’s blood’ in her life. What the blood on the door posts on the first Passover night in Egypt was to the houses of Israel, so the scarlet cord in the window was to the house of Rahab. It became Rahab’s identification as one to be saved in a day of calamity. It was the acting out of her faith. Her sinful years overlooked (Acts 17:30, 31) she later married Salmon of Judah and became the ancestress, as did Ruth, of David and of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1, 5, 6).
What the blood of the first Passover did for the Israelites, the ‘scarlet cord’ did for Rahab.
What Christ’s poured-out blood on the stake did for mankind’s sins, the red wine symbol each Passover similarly renews deliverance for believers. Christians celebrate ‘deliverance’ from the bondage of sin. Despite human weakness, God views ‘cleansed’ believers as ‘unleavened’ (1 Corinthians 5:7).
With that confidence we march on, as did the Israelites, towards the Promised Land.
