These Bible readings recount the lives of Rahab the Canaanite harlot, and Achan the Jew. They are very different people with very different outcomes; each one based upon their faith and their actions resulting from that faith. The accounts of their lives teach us many wonderful things about our Creator. These dramas are set about 1500 years before the birth of Christ. The Jewish nation had been freed from Egyptian slavery, and were ready to enter the promised land; being led by Joshua. The inhabitants of the land God promised them worshiped false gods, and were thus guilty of such demonistic practices as child sacrifice. Because of their badness, God was giving their land to the Jews. (The original language Old Testament Hebrew name of Almighty God) had made himself famous among all these demon worshipping nations, and they were free to join themselves to the Jewish nation as proselytes; and thus to become servants of the true God. As this Bible reading reveals, some individuals among those wicked nations did express faith in God, and gained their lives as a result. God's eyes are always roving about in the earth, to show his power in behalf of those upright in heart. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
Reading these accounts should make us very happy. We today can have a personal relationship with יהוה based upon our faith in Christ Jesus as our savior; our faith in what Jesus came to teach. (John 17:3) Very different from our knowing Christ, (2 Cor 3:4-6; 1 John 2:8; John 13:34-35; John 6:28-29; Rom 8:1-4) the ancient Jewish nation, during the period of this Bible reading, was under a covenant relationship with through the Law given through Moses. They, as a nation of people, swore to obey that Law Code; and the relationship that resulted included every member of the nation as a whole. The "whole" nation received the rewards of that covenant. And, if one member of the nation broke the covenant, it was broken by all, and all shared jointly in the responsibility and the punishment. Today, under the arrangement of friendship with God through faith in what Christ Jesus taught, (John 15:14-15) each one stands or falls on his or her own merit. (Rom 14:10-13; Rom 14:1-4) We also learn, in the example of Rahab, how wisdom manifests itself in those who have faith in יהוה . The Jewish nation and it's God were famous throughout the earth of that day. Rahab and her city, and all the nations round about, had heard of and the powerful works he was doing in behalf of his people. Based on that knowledge, Rahab acted in harmony with her faith in the God of the Jews, and so she brought salvation to her household.
Achan, on the other hand, was a Jew who lived in that covenant relationship with . He well knew about the Red Sea being split, and many other miracles God performed. He was present, and walked across on dry ground, when יהוה dried up the Jordan river at flood stage so his nation could cross. Even though Achan had all that knowledge, he would push ahead and steal something belonging to . The whole nation, in the same covenant relationship with God as Achan, was punished for Achan's sin. His household would have been aware of the bad committed by Achan. By hiding Achan's sin, they shared in his punishment. They all should have known better. Since the whole nation was profaned by their bad act, they brought harm not only to themselves but to others as well.
Rahab and Achan stand as sterling examples: The one had great faith, and the other apparently had no real faith at all. Even though Achan had every reason to have faith, it was all meaningless to him. Even though Rahab was a member of a Pagan nation, she sought the true God and was rewarded. What about your faith? Jesus said the "truth" of the Bible was a treasure more valuable than anything else. (Mat 13:44-50) Knowledge of "truth" does also bring responsibility. We must act in harmony with the knowledge we gain. Loving our Creator, and our neighbor as ourselves, is the test of whether we are doing so. Knowledge of as revealed in the Bible can impel us toward that love. This reading takes a few minutes but is very rewarding.
We take up this account where Joshua sends spies into Jericho before their invasion.
Joshua 2:1-24 GNB . . . Then Joshua sent two spies from the camp at Acacia with orders to go and secretly explore the land of Canaan, especially the city of Jericho. When they came to the city, they went to spend the night in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. (2) The king of Jericho heard that some Israelites had come that night to spy out the country, (3) so he sent word to Rahab: "The men in your house have come to spy out the whole country! Bring them out!" (4) "Some men did come to my house," she answered, "but I don't know where they were from. They left at sundown before the city gate was closed. I didn't find out where they were going, but if you start after them quickly, you can catch them." (Now Rahab had taken the two spies up on the roof and hidden them under some stalks of flax that she had put there.) (5) (SEE 2:4) (6) (SEE 2:4) (7) The king's men left the city, and then the gate was shut. They went looking for the Israelite spies as far as the place where the road crosses the Jordan. (8) Before the spies settled down for the night, Rahab went up on the roof (9) and said to them, "I know that the LORD () has given you this land. Everyone in the country is terrified of you. (10) We have heard how the LORD () dried up the Red Sea in front of you when you were leaving Egypt. We have also heard how you killed Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. (11) We were afraid as soon as we heard about it; we have all lost our courage because of you. The LORD () your God is God in heaven above and here on earth. (12) Now swear by him that you will treat my family as kindly as I have treated you, and give me some sign that I can trust you. (13) Promise me that you will save my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families! Don't let us be killed!" (14) The men said to her, "May God take our lives if we don't do as we say! If you do not tell anyone what we have been doing, we promise you that when the LORD () gives us this land, we will treat you well." (15) Rahab lived in a house built into the city wall, so she let the men down from the window by a rope. (16) "Go into the hill country," she said, "or the king's men will find you. Hide there for three days until they come back. After that, you can go on your way." (17) The men said to her, "We will keep the promise that you have made us give. (18) This is what you must do. When we invade your land, tie this red cord to the window you let us down from. Get your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's family together in your house. (19) If anyone goes out of the house, his death will be his own fault, and we will not be responsible; but if anyone in the house with you is harmed, then we will be responsible. (20) However, if you tell anyone what we have been doing, then we will not have to keep our promise which you have made us give you." (21) She agreed and sent them away. When they had gone, she tied the red cord to the window. (22) The spies went into the hills and hid. The king's men looked for them all over the countryside for three days, but they did not find them, so they returned to Jericho. (23) Then the two spies came down from the hills, crossed the river, and went back to Joshua. They told him everything that had happened, (24) and then said, "We are sure that the LORD () has given us the whole country. All the people there are terrified of us."
Joshua 3:1-17 GNB . . . The next morning Joshua and all the people of Israel got up early, left the camp at Acacia, and went to the Jordan, where they camped while waiting to cross it. (2) Three days later the leaders went through the camp (3) and told the people, "When you see the priests carrying the Covenant Box (The Ark of the Covenant - it was about 4 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet, carried on poles so as not to be touched, and contained the ten commandments.) of the LORD () your God, break camp and follow them. (4) You have never been here before, so they will show you the way to go. But do not get near the Covenant Box; stay about half a mile behind it." (5) Joshua told the people, "Purify yourselves, because tomorrow the LORD () will perform miracles among you." (6) Then he told the priests to take the Covenant Box and go with it ahead of the people. They did as he said. (7) The LORD () said to Joshua, "What I do today will make all the people of Israel begin to honor you as a great man, and they will realize that I am with you as I was with Moses. (8) Tell the priests carrying the Covenant Box that when they reach the river, they must wade in and stand near the bank." (9) Then Joshua said to the people, "Come here and listen to what the LORD () your God has to say. (10) As you advance, he will surely drive out the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. You will know that the living God is among you (11) when the Covenant Box of the Lord of all the earth crosses the Jordan ahead of you. (12) Now choose twelve men, one from each of the tribes of Israel. (13) When the priests who carry the Covenant Box of the LORD () of all the earth put their feet in the water, the Jordan will stop flowing, and the water coming downstream will pile up in one place." (14) It was harvest time, and the river was in flood. When the people left the camp to cross the Jordan, the priests went ahead of them, carrying the Covenant Box. As soon as the priests stepped into the river, (15) (SEE 3:14) (16) the water stopped flowing and piled up, far upstream at Adam, the city beside Zarethan. The flow downstream to the Dead Sea was completely cut off, and the people were able to cross over near Jericho. (17) While the people walked across on dry ground, the priests carrying the LORD's ('s) Covenant Box stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan until all the people had crossed over.
Joshua 4:1-24 GNB . . . When the whole nation had crossed the Jordan, the LORD () said to Joshua, (2) "Choose twelve men, one from each tribe, (3) and command them to take twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests were standing. Tell them to carry these stones with them and to put them down where you camp tonight." (4) Then Joshua called the twelve men he had chosen, (5) and he told them, "Go into the Jordan ahead of the Covenant Box of the LORD () your God. Each one of you take a stone on your shoulder, one for each of the tribes of Israel. (6) These stones will remind the people of what the LORD () has done. In the future, when your children ask what these stones mean to you, (7) you will tell them that the water of the Jordan stopped flowing when the LORD ()'s Covenant Box crossed the river. These stones will always remind the people of Israel of what happened here." (8) The men followed Joshua's orders. As the LORD () had commanded Joshua, they took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each of the tribes of Israel, carried them to the camping place, and put them down there. (9) Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, where the priests carrying the Covenant Box had stood. (Those stones are still there.) (10) The priests stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything had been done that the LORD () ordered Joshua to tell the people to do. This is what Moses had commanded. The people hurried across the river. (11) When they were all on the other side, the priests with the LORD's ('s) Covenant Box went on ahead of the people. (12) The men of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and of half the tribe of Manasseh, ready for battle, crossed ahead of the rest of the people, as Moses had told them to do. (13) In the presence of the LORD () about forty thousand men ready for war crossed over to the plain near Jericho. (14) What the LORD () did that day made the people of Israel consider Joshua a great man. They honored him all his life, just as they had honored Moses. (15) Then the LORD () told Joshua (16) to command the priests carrying the Covenant Box to come up out of the Jordan. (17) Joshua did so, (18) and when the priests reached the riverbank, the river began flowing once more and flooded its banks again. (19) The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho. (20) There Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan. (21) And he said to the people of Israel, "In the future, when your children ask you what these stones mean, (22) you will tell them about the time when Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. (23) Tell them that the LORD () your God dried up the water of the Jordan for you until you had crossed, just as he dried up the Red Sea for us. (24) Because of this everyone on earth will know how great the LORD's ('s) power is, and you will honor the LORD () your God forever."
Joshua 5:1-2 GNB . . . All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the Mediterranean Sea heard that the LORD () had dried up the Jordan until the people of Israel had crossed it. They became afraid and lost their courage because of the Israelites. (2) Then the LORD () told Joshua, "Make some knives out of flint and circumcise the Israelites."
Joshua 6:1-25 GNB . . . The gates of Jericho were kept shut and guarded to keep the Israelites out. No one could enter or leave the city. (2) The LORD () said to Joshua, "I am putting into your hands Jericho, with its king and all its brave soldiers. (3) You and your soldiers are to march around the city once a day for six days. (4) Seven priests, each carrying a trumpet, are to go in front of the Covenant Box. On the seventh day you and your soldiers are to march around the city seven times while the priests blow the trumpets. (5) Then they are to sound one long note. As soon as you hear it, all the people are to give a loud shout, and the city walls will collapse. Then the whole army will go straight into the city." (6) Joshua called the priests and told them, "Take the Covenant Box, and seven of you go in front of it, carrying trumpets." (7) Then he ordered the people to start marching around the city, with an advance guard going on ahead of the LORD's ('s) Covenant Box. (8) So, just as Joshua had ordered, an advance guard started out ahead of the priests who were blowing trumpets; behind these came the priests who were carrying the Covenant Box, followed by a rear guard. All this time the trumpets were sounding. (9) (SEE 6:8) (10) But Joshua had ordered the people not to shout, not to say a word until he gave the order. (11) So he had this group of men take the LORD's ('s) Covenant Box around the city one time. Then they came back to camp and spent the night there. (12) Joshua got up early the next morning, and for the second time the priests and soldiers marched around the city in the same order as the day before: first, the advance guard; next, the seven priests blowing the seven trumpets; then, the priests carrying the LORD's ('s) Covenant Box; and finally, the rear guard. All this time the trumpets were sounding. (13) (SEE 6:12) (14) On this second day they again marched around the city one time and then returned to camp. They did this for six days. (15) On the seventh day they got up at daybreak and marched seven times around the city in the same way---this was the only day that they marched around it seven times. (16) The seventh time around, when the priests were about to sound the trumpets, Joshua ordered the people to shout, and he said, "The LORD () has given you the city! (17) The city and everything in it must be totally destroyed as an offering to the LORD (). Only the prostitute Rahab and her household will be spared, because she hid our spies. (18) But you are not to take anything that is to be destroyed; if you do, you will bring trouble and destruction on the Israelite camp. (19) Everything made of silver, gold, bronze, or iron is set apart for the LORD (). It is to be put in the LORD's ('s) treasury." (20) So the priests blew the trumpets. As soon as the people heard it, they gave a loud shout, and the walls collapsed. Then all the army went straight up the hill into the city and captured it. (21) With their swords they killed everyone in the city, men and women, young and old. They also killed the cattle, sheep, and donkeys. (22) Joshua then told the two men who had served as spies, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring her and her family out, as you promised her." (23) So they went and brought Rahab out, along with her father and mother, her brothers, and the rest of her family. They took them all, family and slaves, to safety near the Israelite camp. (24) Then they set fire to the city and burned it to the ground, along with everything in it, except the things made of gold, silver, bronze, and iron, which they took and put in the LORD ()'s treasury. (25) But Joshua spared the lives of the prostitute Rahab and all her relatives, because she had hidden the two spies that he had sent to Jericho. (Her descendants have lived in Israel to this day.)
Rahab and all her father's household were spared alive because of her faith; and her actions based upon what she knew through faith to be "truth." We see 's loving kindness both toward her and toward those who made promises to her. It is unlikely the spies who made promises to her knew was going to knock down the wall of the city when they told her to take refuge in that wall. took their promises into account and left that small section of the wall standing when he knocked the rest down. Surely He is a God worthy or our love and trust and worship.
Fun facts about the Canaanite harlot Rahab and the Moabite woman Ruth. Rahab married a Jewish Man named Salmon and their son Boaz married Ruth. So, Rahab was mother-in-law to Ruth, in the midst of a Jewish nation sometimes known to be judgmentally prejudice... Both women were ancestress's of Jesus Christ. (Mat 1:1-6)
We continue on in the account as Achan decides to steal what had devoted to destruction. Remember, this man was a Jew who well knew the stories of what had done for he and his people. He had just personally crossed the mighty Jordan river on dry ground as God held back those waters. He had just seen the walls of Jericho fall down and he was very much aware what said about the things he stole. He was not [or should not have been] ignorant and so he was responsible for his actions. His family was aware of what he did as well. They should have exposed him. The whole nation, jointly in the covenant relationship with him, suffered because of his badness.
Joshua 7:1-26 GNB . . . The LORD's ('s) command to Israel not to take from Jericho anything that was to be destroyed was not obeyed. A man named Achan disobeyed that order, and so the LORD () was furious with the Israelites. (Achan was the son of Carmi and grandson of Zabdi, and belonged to the clan of Zerah, a part of the tribe of Judah.) (2) Joshua sent some men from Jericho to Ai, a city east of Bethel, near Bethaven, with orders to go and explore the land. When they had done so, (3) they reported back to Joshua: "There is no need for everyone to attack Ai. Send only about two or three thousand men. Don't send the whole army up there to fight; it is not a large city." (4) So about three thousand Israelites made the attack, but they were forced to retreat. (5) The men of Ai chased them from the city gate as far as some quarries and killed about thirty-six of them on the way down the hill. Then the Israelites lost their courage and were afraid. (6) Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothes in grief, threw themselves to the ground before the LORD's ('s) Covenant Box, and lay there till evening, with dust on their heads to show their sorrow. (7) And Joshua said, "Sovereign LORD ()! Why did you bring us across the Jordan at all? To turn us over to the Amorites? To destroy us? Why didn't we just stay on the other side of the Jordan? (8) What can I say, O LORD (), now that Israel has retreated from the enemy? (9) The Canaanites and everyone else in the country will hear about it. They will surround us and kill every one of us! And then what will you do to protect your honor?" (10) The LORD () said to Joshua, "Get up! Why are you lying on the ground like this? (11) Israel has sinned! They have broken the agreement with me that I ordered them to keep. They have taken some of the things condemned to destruction. They stole them, lied about it, and put them with their own things. (12) This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They retreat from them because they themselves have now been condemned to destruction! I will not stay with you any longer unless you destroy the things you were ordered not to take! (13) Get up! Purify the people and get them ready to come before me. Tell them to be ready tomorrow, because I, the LORD () God of Israel, have this to say: 'Israel, you have in your possession some things that I ordered you to destroy! You cannot stand against your enemies until you get rid of these things!' (14) So tell them that in the morning they will be brought forward, tribe by tribe. The tribe that I pick out will then come forward, clan by clan. The clan that I pick out will come forward, family by family. The family that I pick out will come forward, one by one. (15) The one who is then picked out and found with the condemned goods will be burned, along with his family and everything he owns, for he has brought terrible shame on Israel and has broken my covenant." (16) Early the next morning Joshua brought Israel forward, tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was picked out. (17) He brought the tribe of Judah forward, clan by clan, and the clan of Zerah was picked out. Then he brought the clan of Zerah forward, family by family, and the family of Zabdi was picked out. (18) He then brought Zabdi's family forward, one by one, and Achan, the son of Carmi and grandson of Zabdi, was picked out. (19) Joshua said to him, "My son, tell the truth here before the LORD (), the God of Israel, and confess. Tell me now what you have done. Don't try to hide it from me." (20) "It's true," Achan answered. "I have sinned against the LORD (), Israel's God, and this is what I did. (21) Among the things we seized I saw a beautiful Babylonian cloak, about five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing over one pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. You will find them buried inside my tent, with the silver at the bottom." (22) So Joshua sent some men, who ran to the tent and found that the condemned things really were buried there, with the silver at the bottom. (23) They brought them out of the tent, took them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and laid them down in the presence of the LORD (). (24) Joshua, along with all the people of Israel, seized Achan, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, together with Achan's sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys, and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned; and they took them to Trouble Valley. (25) And Joshua said, "Why have you brought such trouble on us? The LORD () will now bring trouble on you!" All the people then stoned Achan to death; they also stoned and burned his family and possessions. (26) They put a huge pile of stones over him, which is there to this day. That is why that place is still called Trouble Valley. Then the LORD () was no longer furious.
Nothing is ever hid from him with whom we have an accounting. (Hebrews 4:13) Let us do our utmost to be upright before him, and before all. The rewards are great indeed, and he is worthy! (Revelation 4:11)
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