Perspective: From Humility to Honor

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

From Humility to Honor

Scripture:

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

James 4:10 (CEB)

How can this be?
A love so unfailing
Reached down and lifted me
From ashes to beauty

And You invite me in
Doesn't matter where I've been
Your arms are open wide
There's nothing left to hide

From "You Invite Me In" by Meredith Andrews

After God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, they spent a long time traveling through the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. Forty years later, they finally reached the land promised to their ancestors. When Moses died, a man named Joshua was charged with the task of leading the Israelites in a series of battles against the inhabitants of the land. The Book of Joshua tells the story of Israel's conquest of the Promised Land. Parts of the Bible like this can be hard to read, disturbing, and even shocking at times, but even in the Book of Joshua, in the midst of destruction and wholesale slaughter, there is a story of salvation, redemption, and mercy.

Before leading Israel across the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Joshua decides to send out two spies on a reconnaissance mission to the fortified city of Jericho. After entering the city, the two end up in the house of a prostitute named Rahab.¹ Word reaches the king of Jericho that Israelite spies have entered the city, so he sends some of his men to Rahab's house. Rahab hides the two spies on the roof under stalks of flax and lies to the king's men, telling them that the spies have already left the city. The men then leave Jericho in search of the two Israelites.

Rahab then tells the spies that word has spread about how God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and gave them the victory in a previous battle. She knows that God will also give them the victory when they attack Jericho, so she begs the two spies to spare her life and the lives of her family. Since Rahab protected the spies from the authorities, they swear on their lives that she and her family will be spared as long as she keeps the Israelites' plans a secret.

Rahab lives in a house that was built into the city wall, so she helps the two escape the city through a window. The spies then instruct her to gather her whole family into her house when the Israelites attack and to hang in her window the same rope with which she helped them escape. When the two spies return to base, they report to Joshua that the people of the land are afraid of the Israelites.²

The Israelites cross the Jordan River and prepare to attack Jericho. When the time to attack comes, the Israelites march around the city with the Ark of the Covenant while the priests blow trumpets.³ This happens once a day for six days. On the seventh day, the Israelites march around the city seven times. After the seventh time, the people shout and blow trumpets, and the city walls miraculously fall. The Israelite army then proceeds to kill all people and livestock in the city. Because Rahab had protected the two spies, she and her family are spared and welcomed into the community of the Israelites.⁴

I do not want to sugarcoat Rahab's story, because I think it is very powerful. Rahab was a prostitute, a person who makes a living by having sex with strangers. Some theorize that she may have been a cult prostitute, one who performed sex acts as part of religious rituals. Others think she was simply trying to provide for her family, considering her concern for her family's safety. Many people go into prostitution because they believe that it is the only way they can provide for themselves and for their families. Perhaps this was the case for Rahab.⁵

Regardless of the circumstances that led Rahab down this road, her profession does not seem to matter very much in the eyes of God. Not only are Rahab and her family spared during the razing of Jericho and welcomed among the Israelites, Rahab is also honored throughout the Bible as a hero and as a woman of great faith.

The eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews is often called the "Hall of Faith." In this chapter we read about the faith of people like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Samson, and King David. Near the end of this chapter we read the following:
By faith Jericho’s walls fell after the people marched around them for seven days.
By faith Rahab the prostitute wasn’t killed with the disobedient because she welcomed the spies in peace.⁶
St. James, in his letter, honors Rahab as a righteous woman who not only had great faith but lived out her faith in her actions.⁷

Rahab's recognition in these two letters is not the most profound way in which she has been honored. Rahab married an Israelite named Salmon, and the two had a son named Boaz. Boaz married a woman named Ruth. Boaz and Ruth had a grandson named Jesse. Jesse had a son named David who would become the king of Israel. The most famous descendant of King David is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who redeemed humanity when He died on the cross and arose from the dead.⁸ In this way, God included Rahab in His plan for our salvation.

People, especially Christians, like to cast judgment on women like Rahab. Many of us would look on her with disgust for the type of life she led, but God sees people so much better than we do. While society would see her as an undesirable element, God sees her as a woman of great faith and heroism. St. James writes, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." This is exactly what Rahab did. Rahab knew that God was real and that His hand of protection was on the Israelites. She humbled herself before God when she protected the spies, when she acknowledged her belief in God, and when she pleaded for her family's safety. God then lifted her up from a place of disgrace to a place of honor.

When I consider Rahab's story, I cannot help but think about what Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day: "I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you."⁹ On another occasion He said, "Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do... I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners."¹⁰

Jesus did not come into the world for people who think that they're good. Jesus came into the world for people who know that they're bad and cry out desperate for redemption. Christ came to seek and to save people who made bad choices in life like Rahab and the unnamed woman who washed Christ's feet with her tears.¹¹ He came to seek and to save people like Matthew and Zacchaeus who sold out and took jobs as tax collectors for an evil empire.¹² He came to seek and to save people like the prodigal son who waste everything and come home with nothing but brokenness.¹³ He came to seek and to save people like the terrorist who was crucified beside Him and asked for salvation.¹⁴

We need to remember that we are all in the same boat as Rahab: we are all lost, helpless little sheep. We need to remember that we all in desperate need of God's saving and transforming grace. We all need to humble ourselves in the sight of God and to let Him lift us up.


Notes:
1 - Go figure.
2 - To read the story of Rahab and the two spies in its entirety, see Joshua 2.
3 - The Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of God's covenant with Israel. It contained, among other items, the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written.
4 - To read about the Battle of Jericho in its entirety, see Joshua 6.
5 - Dr. Gary Thompson. "God Protects", Adult Bible Studies Summer 2011. Cokesbury. p. 22
6 - Hebrews 11:30-31 (CEB)
7 - James 2:24-26
8 - Matthew 1:1-17
9 - Matthew 21:31 (CEB)
10 - Matthew 9:11-12 (CEB)
11 - Luke 7:36-50
12 - Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 19:1-10
13 - Luke 15
14 - Luke 23:39-43


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