Rahab and the Red Cord

“The LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.” — Joshua 2:11

After forty years in the desert, the Israelites were ready to go into the promised land at last. Moses had died, and God had chosen Joshua to lead the people.

Across the River Jordan was a big city with high, thick walls, called Jericho. Joshua sent two spies to look at the city secretly.

The two spies went to the house of a woman named Rahab. She was not one of God’s people, and she had not lived a good life. Her house was built right into the city wall.

But somebody saw the spies, and told the king of Jericho. The king sent men to Rahab’s house. “Bring out the men who came to your house,” they said. “They are spies!”

But Rahab had already taken the spies up onto her flat roof, and hidden them under piles of stalks of flax that she had laid out there to dry.

“Yes, the men came to me,” Rahab told the king’s men. “But I didn’t know where they were from. They left when it got dark, just before the city gate was shut. I don’t know where they went. Hurry after them, and you might catch them!”

So the king’s men rushed off towards the River Jordan to look for the spies.

Then Rahab went up onto the roof. “I know that the Lord has given you this land,” she told the spies. “Everyone here is terrified of you. We heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. When we heard it, our hearts melted. For the Lord your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.”

Rahab had heard about the true God, and she believed in Him! “Now please promise me,” she said, “that you will be kind to my family, because I have been kind to you. Save my father and mother, and my brothers and sisters, and everyone in my family.”

“Our lives for your lives!” the spies promised. “If you don’t tell anyone what we’re doing, we will be kind to you when the Lord gives us the land.”

Rahab’s house was in the city wall, so she let the spies down from her window on a rope. “Go to the hills,” she said, “and hide there for three days, until the men chasing you have come back.”

“When we come into the land,” the spies told her, “tie this scarlet cord in the window you let us down from. Bring your whole family into your house. Everyone inside will be safe.”

“I agree,” said Rahab. And after they left, she tied the red cord in the window.

And when the day came, Rahab and her whole family were saved. She went to live among God’s people.

Looking ahead to Jesus: Rahab became part of God’s family in a very special way. She married an Israelite, and she became the great-great-grandmother of King David. The Bible lists her in Jesus’ own family tree (Matthew 1:5)! God welcomes people from any country and any past who put their trust in Him.

Read it in your Bible: Joshua 2; 6:22–25

Dear God, thank you that you welcome anyone who trusts you, wherever they come from and whatever they have done. Help me to trust you like Rahab did. Amen.