Today’s Sermon Notes: 3-30-2025
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Joshua: Courage Over Fear
A Sermon Series
“The Scarlet Thread of Faith”
Joshua 2
Introduction
The first person we meet in the book of Joshua (other than Joshua) is a non-Jewish prostitute named Rahab. What we will discover is that God brought two men across her path for the purpose of her and her family’s salvation. So, from the beginning, the story of the conquest of the Promised Land is one of judgement of sin[1], but it is also a story of salvation from the judgement of God. It is a story of wrath and mercy. And from the beginning of the Bible until the end is that those who understand the consequences of sin, must have faith in how God has provided for the forgiveness of that sin.
Prayer
The Mission (v. 1a)
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”
The Misdirection (v. 1b-7)
And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. 2 And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.”[3] 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. 7 So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.
Why would this woman help two people she had never met, even though there were high stakes, great risk to her and her family’s lives?
The Misdirection Explained (vv. 8-14)
8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, hour hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign 13 that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” 14 And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”
Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” There is power in the hearing of the mighty deeds of God.
Exodus 15:15b-16 “all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.”
Romans 10:17 again says “faith comes from hearing and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”
Steps of Faith Taken (vv. 15-21)
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. 16 And she said to them, “Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.” 17 The men said to her, “We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. 18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. 19 Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. 20 But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.” 21 And she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord[6] in the window.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” . . . “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies” (11:31).
James 2:21, 25 “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?… And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?”
The Mission Encouraged (vv. 22-24)
22 They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing. 23 Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them. 24 And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land smelt away because of us.”
Numbers 13:23 “And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.” . . . “However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large.” They brought back proof that the land was “flowing with milk and honey.”
“everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” Joel 2:32.[9]
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[1] “The sin of the Amorites had not yet reached its’ full measure” Genesis 15:16.
[2] Donald H. Madvig, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 3 (Grand Rapids. Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1992) 259.
[3] “The Hebrew concept of truth is not only conformity with fact but also faithfulness. Rahab chose to be faithful to the Israelites and their God. In so doing she committed an act of treason against her own people. Psalm 25:3 speaks of those “who are treacherous without excuse,” which suggests that there may be times when treason is justified. Madvig, 264.
[4] It was actually against the law to do this. “The ancient law code of Hammurabi contains the following provision; “If felons are banded together in an ale-wife’s [prostitute’s or innkeeper’s] house and she has not haled [them] to the palace, that ale-wife shall be put to death” (S.R. Driver and J.C. Miles, The Babylonian Laws (Oxford; Clarendon, 1956) 2:45).
[5] Madvig, 262.
[6] Typological connections between the color scarlet of the rope and the blood of Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross should be taken with great care.
[7] “And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous.” Alan Seeger, from “I Have a Rendezvous With Death.”
[8] Madvig, 263.
[9] Madvig, 264.
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