The Choice of Rahab
When it comes to doing things the usual way, God really is not that interested. Take chapter 2 of Joshua for example. Why does God use a prostitute to bring about His plan for Jericho and the children of Israel? Seems as though it would have been a lot cleaner to have a Sunday School teacher involved.
So the two Jewish spies enter Jericho and find the house of a prostitute? Not Grandma’s cottage or the local florist? I get the idea of staying in a home attached to the wall - quick get away and all that, but a hooker?
Rahab provided the sure sign of the red rope.
"You know God, your Word really doesn’t put the best light on Rahab’s occupation? Maybe there is someone else that is more fitting and can better represent you in this one?"
God’s reply, “Nope. Rahab’s got this.”
Why Rahab? In our human state we tend to put limits on God by suggesting that He will not deal with certain individuals. He cannot do this because that person is a ——. He won’t do that because of her ——. He can’t use me because of ———.
God does not work that way. He used Rahab because she knew Him. Remember that Rahab comes from a culture that has no knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There were no Bible studies or Sunday Schools happening on every third street corner. All they knew was what they heard. The Israelite nation was kicking tail and they were coming to Jericho. They saw the evidence of Israel’s favor with God and they did not like it.
But Rahab takes her understanding a step further. She heard all that Israel was doing, taking down nation after nation. They seemed unstoppable. But her statement in verse 11 shows that she truly knew where Israel’s power came from, “… for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.” Rahab’s knowledge of God extended beyond the limit of Israel’s conquest of other kingdoms. She understood God to be who He is - the One True God. God over all things - heaven and earth.
To Rahab this revelation meant that she better get on God’s side. It did not matter to her what her occupation was. Prostitute or not, she needed to get right with God Almighty or it would not go well. Evidently it did not matter to God that Rahab was a prostitute either. He was willing to use her to accomplish the work that He had planned.
In case my emphasis on Jericho was a little misleading, let me state that the planned work God had for Rahab was not simply the fall of Jericho. Rahab and her father’s house were saved from that destruction for sure (Joshua 6:25). But the plan of God was still at work, and He was not through with Rahab. God turned Rahab, the harlot, into a wife to an Israelite named Salmon. He then gave her a son named Boaz and through Boaz a great, great grandson named David, the king of Israel.
But God was not done with Rahab yet. Through David was the lineage of a man named Joseph who wed a young girl named Mary. This would be the same Mary who was chosen to bear a special child by the name of Jesus, the Son of God. It is said that God moves in mysterious ways. God moves in Mind Blowing, Radical, Wild ways that we cannot comprehend. He chooses us, regardless of our pedigree or position or occupation.
If our hearts are open, He will use us and like a prostitute in Jericho, our lives will be saved from destruction and used to change the world!