Rahab… a Liar and a Whore!

Yet, God still found her faithful.

In my previous post, Jealous?, Heather from 1 Free Heart made an off-handed comment about Rahab receiving good for her lie. Heather’s comment was more to do with the command “thou shall not lie”… or as she corrects “thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” (by the way, feel free to read my post The Ten Commandments? for a different perspective on the “ten” – I would love some feedback/correction/whatever).

In my reply to Heather I said that I was not too sure that Rahab received good for her lie. She asked me to elaborate, so this post is my attempt to elaborate on my understanding of Rahab, the Faithful.

First, let me preface this by saying that I am in no way implying that Heather believes anything I am about to write. I am merely writing observations I have made in the past, long before I ever knew Heather (or her husband Brandon from Eleutheros).

With that said, in the past, I have heard people say that Rahab was seen as faithful because she lied to the messengers of Jericho.

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? – James 2:24-25

Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. It was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. – Joshua 2:1-6

A lot of people see James talking about Rahab’s lie… that is, they think that James is telling us that Rahab was faithful because she received the Jericho messengers, she lied to them, and she sent them another way – I disagree.

This is what Paul said about Rahab, By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace. – Hebrews 11:31

James and Paul, at first glance, seem to disagree. Paul is saying that Rahab’s faith was in welcoming the spies in peace. James is saying that Rahab’s faith was in receiving and sending the messengers out by another way.

I think Joshua 6 might shed a little bit of light on this:
The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. – Joshua 6:17

They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. – Joshua 6:24-25

Notice the word “messengers.” I think James is referring to the messengers (i.e. spies) that Joshua sent… not the messengers that the King of Jericho sent. Rahab was faithful to God, and that faith was revealed by her actions of 1) receiving Joshua’s messengers, 2) hiding Joshua’s messengers, and 3) sending Joshua’s messengers out through her window, in the opposite direction of the King of Jericho’s messengers.

Her faithfulness was rewarded, it was not her initial lie that was rewarded. So those of us who have a hard time understanding how the Bible can condemn lying on one hand and praise lying on another hand can rest assured… Rahab is not being praised for her lie, but for her faithfulness. I also feel it is important to note that we as people do not deserve rewards and blessings from God. They stem from our Father’s grace. We all sin, yet God has offered us a reward beyond measure, the Christ, Jesus. There are times that we see people being temporally blessed, yet we would consider them the worst of the worst sinners – meanwhile, we also see Job, losing everything.

P.S. To Heather’s credit, in a later comment she did say, “Perhaps I should not have said that she was blessed because she lied. I didn’t mean to imply that her good was a direct result of a lie…”