June Yates-Boykin

True story.  Long ago in a city large and strong, lived a people who considered themselves untouchable.  That is, until they heard about the God of Israel.  The Israeli army itself may have been no threat, but their God had performed miracle after miracle to bring victory.  Knowing they would likely be the target of Israel’s next conquest, the people of Jericho counted on their impregnable walls to protect them.

But one young lady was not so confident.  Rahab was her name.  Maybe her lifestyle caused her to be more cautious than others, for she had taken on the role of a prostitute in order to help provide for her family.  Her career likely left her feeling as though few people can be trusted and nobody is above harm.

Rahab’s occupation in itself made her a risk taker.  Hers wasn’t a protected office with respectable clients.  It was a bedroom that permitted strangers, many of whom might think nothing of hurting her in some way.  All the while she kept her life behind closed doors, she kept her eyes and ears open.  She remained always alert to signs of danger.

As God would have it, some spies entered her home, spies from among the people of God. They opened up to Rahab.  The army was coming, and God was going to deliver Jericho into their hands. 

The street walker was in trouble.  In fact, the entire city was about to be attacked, with the possibility that none would be spared.  But who would hear her desperate plea?  Who would help her or try to protect her?  Certainly not the townspeople.  She was rejected by the women of the city and shunned during the day by the very men who crept into her chambers at night.

She didn’t know Israel’s God, but she had heard of Him.  She heard how He miraculously delivered the people from the strong hand of the Egyptians by parting the Red Sea to let them cross over, then closing it up again to drown Pharaoh’s entire army.  Risking execution for treason, she determined in her heart that her family would be safer in the hands of this God than in the hands of Jericho’s military.  So after hiding the spies from those sent to find them, she offered them a deal.  She would help them escape, if they would promise to protect her family and herself. 

It was agreed.  When the battle began, she would hang a scarlet cord from her window.  In the midst of a violent battle, the soldiers would somehow see that blood-colored thread.  She and her family would be found and escorted safely out of the city.  The men of God gave their word.  With her life literally hanging by thread, she placed her confidence in those called by His name. 

God indeed caused the great Jericho walls to crumble.  The Israelites took the city, sparing none save Rahab and her family.  Rahab later became one of God’s own, and an ancestor to our Lord Jesus.  Rahab’s rescue and transformation were not because she was a Christian.  It happened because she came in contact with some that lived up to that name.

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  
Matthew 5:13-16, NKJV

⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8, NKJV

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1, NKJV

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