“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” Hebrews 11:31
When the Lord God sent Joshua and the children of Israel across the Jordan River and into the land of Canaan to take possession of the land, the first order of business was to destroy the city of Jericho. Jericho was one of the largest, most prosperous, and most thoroughly fortified cities in the land. But the city was cursed of God and marked for destruction. The sentence of death had been passed upon it forty years earlier (Ex. 23:27-28).
Though the inhabitants of
Jericho prospered in the world, though they worked and played, labored by day
and partied by night, though they filled their lives with every amusement,
comfort, and pleasure they could find, though they were utterly ignorant of it,
they were a people cursed of God, a people whose numbered days were up, and a
people about to be forever damned!
They were as sure for hell as if they were already there when Joshua and the children of Israel crossed over the river Jordan; but they were oblivious to the fact of it!
The Scriptures tell us that the children of Israel marched around Jericho, carrying the ark of the covenant everyday for seven days. On the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times, blew their trumpets and shouted. When they did, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down and fell flat to the ground. The whole city was completely destroyed at once, except for one house. There was one small section of the wall that did not fall because there was a house on that section of the wall that could not fall.
Why? Why was that house preserved? The answer is found in Hebrews 11:31. There was a woman in that house who believed God. There was a woman in that house who was sheltered by a scarlet cord, which represented the precious blood of Christ. The story is recorded in Joshua 6
Though all of Jericho was destroyed under the wrath of God, Rahab and her father’s house were saved; the house of the town’s most notorious harlot could not fall.
When I read that, being the kind of curious, inquisitive person I am, I want to know why? Why was this one house left standing, while all the other houses were destroyed? Why, when the entire wall surrounding the city collapsed under the weight of God’s wrath, was this harlot’s house left standing? The Book of God shows us clearly that there are five reasons why Rahab’s house did not and could not fall when the judgment of God fell on Jericho: (1.) Rahab was the object of God’s sovereign, electing love. (2.) Rahab’s house was under the blood. (3. Rahab believed God. (4.) Rahab had the promise of God for her security and the security of her house. And (5.) Rahab stayed in the house.