Joshua 2
THE Israelites were now come close to the land of Canaan. They were sorry that Moses was dead; but Joshua was now to take care of them instead of Moses. Joshua was to tell them what to do. God would speak to Joshua, and Joshua would tell them what God said.
The Israelites would soon have to fight a great deal. Whom would they have to fight against? The wicked people who lived in Canaan. God chose that they should be killed to punish them for their wickedness, and God chose that the Israelites should live in their land instead of them.
There was a great river that rolled between the wilderness and Canaan. The Israelites would be obliged to cross the river before they could get into Canaan. The Israelites could see the green hills of Canaan on the other side of the river, and they saw a great town also, with high walls all round it. This town was called Jericho. It was in Canaan, and wicked people lived in it. The Israelites knew that they would soon have to fight against the people who lived in this town.
Joshua told two of the Israelites to go to the town, and to look at it, and to come back and tell him about the town, Sand about the people who lived in it. These men were called “spies,' because they were sent to spy, or to look at the town.
Joshua did not wish the people of Jericho to know when these two spies came into the town, lest the wicked people should kill them. So they went to the town when it was almost dark. The spies got over the river; there was one place in the river where the water was not very deep, and where people could get over. This was called a ford.
The gate of Jericho used to be shut when it was dark; but the spies came just before the gate was shut. They went to the house of a woman named Rahab, who kept an inn. Her house was built upon the wall of Jericho. The spies hoped that nobody had seen them come into Jericho; but some people had seen them, and these people went and told the King of Jericho that two Israelites were in Rahab's house. The King of Jericho knew that the Israelites meant to come and fight against him; so he wanted to kill these two spies, and he sent some men to Rahab's house to bring them to him.
What could the poor spies do? Where could they go? But God took care of them. He put it into Rahab's heart to be kind to them. Rahab had taken the spies, when they first came, to the top of her house to hide them. The roof of her house was not slanting like the roof of your house; it was flat, like the floor. On the roof of Rahab's house there were a great many stalks of flax. What is flax? Flax is a plant; and the stalks of flax are made into thread. Rahab had spread these stalks upon the roof of her house to dry them. When the spies had climbed up the stairs to the top of the house, she told them to lie down; and she covered them all over with the stalks, so that nobody could see them.
The men who were come to bring the spies to the King of Jericho could not find them in. Rahab's house; so they went to look for them outside the city, among the hills, and by the riverside.
When the King of Jericho's men were gone, Rahab crept up the stairs to speak to the spies. It was night, so she could talk to them on the roof without being seen. The men came from under the heaps of flax. Rahab had been taught to worship idols; but you will see that she now believed in the true God and not in idols. She had a great favor to ask of the spies. She was very much afraid lest, when the Israelites should come over the river to fight against Jericho, they should kill her and her friends,; so now she begged the spies to promise to save her and those she loved.
Poor Rahab said, "I know that God will let the people of Israel come and live in Canaan. Everybody is very much frightened lest you should kill them. We have heard how your God helped you to pass through the Red Sea. I know that your God is the only true God. Now, promise that when you come to this town, you will not kill me, and my father, and mother, and brothers, and sisters. I have been kind to you, and Will you be kind to me?”
Do you think that the spies would promise to save Rahab and her friends? Oh yes! How kind she had been to them in hiding them! Besides this, Rahab feared God. The spies promised that they would not let her be killed, or her father, or mother, or brothers, or sisters.
How glad Rahab must have been when they made, her this promise! There was one thing the spies desired her not to do; that was, not to tell anybody about their having been to Jericho. The spies said, "If you will not tell anybody about our having come here, we promise to save your life, and the life of your father and mother, and brothers and sisters.”
Then Rahab helped the spies to get out of the town. Could the spies go out at the gates? It was night, and the gates were shut. If the spies waited till the morning, the people of Jericho would see them going out, and would kill them. But Rahab found a way of letting the spies go.
Her house was built on the wall of Jericho; one of the windows in her house looked towards the green hills outside of Jericho. This window was high; so Rahab took a rope, and tied the rope round one of the men, and let him down from the window; and then she tied the rope round the other man and let him down.
When the men were standing on the ground outside the wall of Jericho, they called to Rahab, who was looking out of the window, and they said, "Take that red rope, and bind it to your window; bring your father and mother, and brothers and sisters into your house. If they stay in it with you, we promise that they shall not be killed when the Israelites come to fight against this town; but if you or any of your relations are walking in the streets when we come', then perhaps you or they may be killed. Neither may you tell any other person about our having come here: you must keep it a secret." When the spies had said this, they went away, and they hid themselves among the hills for three days; lest the men of Jericho should be watching by the river to kill them. At the end of three days they gat over the river, and came back to Joshua, and told him all that had happened. Joshua was glad to hear that the people of Jericho were so much frightened, and he felt sure that God would help him to conquer all the people in Canaan.
The spies told Joshua about Rahab. They said, "You will know which house is Rahab's, because she has bound a red rope to the window." Joshua desired that nobody would kill the people in the house with the red rope on the window.
Do you think that Rahab forgot to bind the red rope on the window? Oh no she bound it there, and she brought her father and mother and brothers and sisters into her house; and she did not tell any of the wicked people of Jericho about the spies.
Nobody knew why she bound a red rope to her window.
Do you think that Rahab felt frightened now? Could she not trust the spies? Would they break their word? How Rahab must have thanked God for promising to save her, when the people of Jericho would be killed My dear children, is there a day coming when a great many wicked people will be killed and burned in the fire? You have heard of the Judgment Day. Do you not hope that God will save you in that Day? Then do as Rahab did. Ask God to promise to save you. He will save you if you ask Him. If you are really afraid of God, as Rahab was, you will not do wicked things to make Him angry; but you will often pray to Him to make you good, and to forgive you for Jesus Christ's sake.
God will hear you, and He will remember His promise in the Judgment Day, and He will not let you be hurt.
Hymn 33
With softest step and troubled air,
In silence. Rahab climbs the Stair;
Screened by the darkness of the skies,
Upon the roof, with Israel's spies,
She trembling stands, before them falls,
And earnestly for mercy calls.
"O people, whom the Lord has led,
Your deeds have filled the earth with dread:
We've heard how once you crossed the sea.
And how you made two nations flee.
What pangs of terror then we felt!
How did the hearts of warriors melt!
Against your God what can we do?
The only God, the great, the true—
Your armies soon will tread this shore,
Oh, now for mercy I implore!”
Thus Rahab pours her humble prayer;
Nor do the spies refuse to swear
Their kind deliverer's life to spare.
Now gratefully poor Rahab hastes
To bind a cord around their waists
The spies observe its scarlet hue,
And choose it for their token true;
Gently to earth they both descend,
Then cry, "Let Rahab now attend;
This cord unto your window bind,
So you, and those you love shall find
Beneath that roof a safe retreat,
When all besides destruction meet.”
How gladly Rahab binds the thread
Which shall from danger shield her head!
How quickly bids her kindred come,
And find a refuge in her home!
Child
Is there no thread that I may bind,
And in the judgment mercy find?
Ah! yes, the blood that Jesus shed,
Was imaged by that scarlet thread.
Oh, may this blood my soul adorn,
In that tremendous Judgment morn!
Let none mistake me while I sing:
I speak not of an earthly thing;
This blood is sprinkled upon all
Who on their dying Savior call;
By angels shall the mark be seen;
That Sign from death their souls shall screen.
And I would join in Rahab's prayer,
And cry, "O God, my kindred spare
My father, who protects my youth—
Oh, let him know Thy power and truth;
And her who nursed my infancy,
And those who share her love with me,
Within some secret chamber hide,
When thousands fall on every Side."