Gaining Confidence in the Mission of God
In chapter one God has made a promise to Joshua that he will be successful wherever he sets foot in.
Joshua 1 v 3 to 4: I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates – all the Hittite country – to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
With a promise like that it would have been easy for Joshua just to sit back and relax and allow God to do what he has promised.
Here in chapter two Joshua decides to send some spies to the promised land to spy out the land and the people before he mobilises the people to enter it. Is this a lack of faith in God by Joshua or good preparation for the task he has been given? It is definitely not a lack of faith on Joshua’s part. He knows God will honour his promises. Here he is being faithful to God and the mission set before him, by making good preparations for the task ahead, to enter the promised land.
Last Monday I was invited to see my niece and her family in Reading, somewhere I had never been before. I could have just got in the car, set the satnav to her postcode and driven there. I did trust the satnav to get me there; however, I looked it up on Google Maps before I went and looked at the directions. For me it was making good preparation for the journey ahead. The satnav did get me there and it followed the directions that I had looked at in Google Maps. It was the same for Joshua. He was making sure he knew what the land and the people were like before he went. So, he sends two spies
Joshua 2 v 1a : Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’
In Numbers 13 Joshua was one of twelve spies sent by Moses to spy out the land of Caanan. Of the twelve who were sent out only Joshua and Caleb gave a positive report about the victory they would have over the people and take the land. This time Joshua was not going to repeat the same number of spies, but he decided to send only two spies into Jericho.
- Confidence in doing the unexpected
The spies mission was to check out the people and the land, especially Jericho. They went with the blessing of Joshua and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Any spies working in other countries, to be successful, must blend in with the people that they are spying on, or they will stand out as being different. By blending in they seem to do something that is surprising for men of God.
Joshua 2 v 1b: So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
Why would they enter the house of a prostitute, this would normally be a place that they would pass by on the other side. So why was the Spirit leading them into the Rahab’s house. We can be sure it was not for what other men would go in there for, for sex. I believe they went there for two reasons; firstly, if people were watching these men visiting their city, what would be normal, would be for them to visit the house of a prostitute. This would be seen as nothing unusual and would not draw attention to themselves. Secondly, that God had a plan to save Rahab and her family from what he had planned for Jericho.
We know that God looks on the heart and not necessarily on the outward appearance. Rahab had caught God’s attention by being someone who feared God more than her own king. Rahab would have heard about what God was doing in the region, including the parting of the red sea and the destruction of pharaoh and his army. If God was this powerful and his people were on the other side of the river Jordan then impending disaster is not far away from Jericho.
Joshua 2 v 9: ‘I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.
God was not only going to save her and her family but use her in his plan to bring a saviour into this world. She is named in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew.
Matthew 1 v 5: Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth
If we are called to do something for God, do not be surprised if he calls us to do something unexpected. Just have a confidence that he knows what he is doing and do it.
- Confidence in God’s power working for us
In doing the unexpected and trying to blend in they are seen and at the point of being caught.
Joshua 2 v 2 and 3: The king of Jericho was told, ‘Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.’ So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: ‘Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.’
The king commands Rahab to bring the spies out and surrender them to him. However, she ignores his commands and decides to hide the spies. She has faith in God that she and the spies would be protected. Not only does she hide them but lies to the king and his men. She tells them that they have left her and she does not know what direction they have gone. The passage does not tell us that her premises were searched for the spies, they seem to have just accepted what she told them and left the city in pursuit of the spies. We are told in verse 6 that she hid them on the roof and covered them over with stalks of flax. Maybe the king’s men had a quick look through the house, rather than a detailed search.
This is God’s power at work not only in Rahab but also in the kings’ men. God does not want the spies to be caught as they still had a mission to complete, nor Rahab to be in serious trouble for harbouring the spies. She now has the spies in her house and no means of getting out of the city as the gates are closed for the night. She has a plan ready for their escape. Rahab knows God is powerful as she has seen God at work in protecting her and the spies from the king and his men. Rahab needs the spies to do something for her. She does not want them to leave until they have promised her that she and her family will be saved when their people enter the land.
- Confidence in the promises of God
This is what she asks of the spies and God:
Joshua 2 v 12 and 13: ‘Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them – and that you will save us from death.’
Rahab knows that if the spies swear in the name of the Lord that God will honour the promise they make. Again, her faith in action. God’s promises come with an action on our part for us to receive it. For example, John 3 v 16 ‘whoever believes in him will have everlasting life’ We must believe in Jesus to receive God’s promise of eternal life. For Rahab and her family to receive the promise of protection she is required to take some action.
Joshua 2 v 17 and 18: Now the men had said to her, ‘This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.
The spies know that Rahab has faith in God and will do as she has been told to do. For the family to receive the promised protection they must be present in Rahab’s house. In addition, a scarlet cord must be put in the window of her house. A reminder of the blood painted over the doors of the houses of God’s people, which protected the firstborn of God’s people and animals. If they are not there, or any part of the requirements are not in place then the promise will not be honoured for them.
Rahab is not done yet with the spies yet, and gives then specific instructions for them to escape:
Joshua 2 v 16: She said to them, ‘Go to the hills so that the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there for three days until they return, and then go on your way.’
The spies now have a choice, either to have faith in her instructions, or ignore them and do their own thing. They have seen God at work since they entered her house and agree to do as she suggests. They return to Joshua and report back that the people are melting in fear because of us. Mission complete and God honoured by their words and actions.