Josue 2 - The Faith and Charity of Rahab

We come to the significant figure of Rahab in Josue 2.  I think it's important to stop and note how someone like Rahab suddenly makes a brief but meaningful appearance in Scripture at this moment, the moment before the Israelites are to enter the Promised Land and lay waste the city of Jericho.  Rahab the harlot exists in the quiet before the storm.  The pagans of Jericho are about to be victims of God's terrible judgment, but as a sign for all future ages, God through His Word gives us a figure of a repentant woman who expresses her faith in Him and then acts upon it by making a brave and charitable decision to aid two Israelite soldiers.  She is rewarded.  God has embraced her and forgiven her and welcomed her into His fold.  An act of faith and an act of charity has spared her.  The lesson for us is a monumental one.

The fact that Rahab is described as a harlot is significant.  It tells us she is one who has sinned but, presumably, has changed her ways.  The arrival of the two Israelites gives her the opportunity to demonstrate her faith to God.  Notice that Rahab's declaration of faith is not sufficient in and of itself, powerful as it is.  In Josue 2:11 she proclaims "the Lord your God he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath."  She highlights God's omnipresence, as opposed to the pagan gods' associations with certain geographical areas.  She knows of the wonders God worked for the Israelites as they journeyed from Egypt.  She evidently knows God to be the only god, and she knows His power.  St. Paul, in Hebrews 11:31 says, "By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with the unbelievers, receiving the spies with peace."  Paul accentuates Rahab's faith, her distinction from the other "unbelievers."  It is what saved her.  However, then we have this statement found in the Epistle of St. James: "Do you see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only?  And in like manner also Rahab, the harlot, was not she justified by works, receiving the messengers, and sending them out another way?" (James 2:24-25).  And so we have a simple woman of Jericho sitting at the center of one of Christianity's fundamental issues.  Is it by faith or by works that we are justified?  And why not by both?  If we are to look at God's Holy Word as a whole, and if we are to assume God would not contradict Himself, then both St. Paul and St. James have it right, they only highlight each one side of the debate.  Rahab was saved because she believed; she was also saved because she did the right and noble thing.  Were she to believe and not help God's people, her belief would have been fruitless and empty.  If she were to help God's people but disbelieve in Him, her good deed would have been in vain.  God would have been displeased with either Rahab's lack of faith or lack of charity.  Luckily, though, she had both.  Rahab holds a powerful key to understanding salvation. 

Josue 1 - And So It Begins

Unfortunately I just let another few months slip by without posting anything.  It's not the first time that's happened, but I think this time it was a bit more justified.  First off, my last post in October covered not just the end of Deuteronomy, but the end of the entire Pentateuch.  Finishing the first five books of the Bible felt like a solid accomplishment, and I may have subconsciously been taking a break before resuming my reading.  I spent over three years reading the Pentateuch.  It consumed me for much of that time.  I had never before delved so deep into the Mosaic Law.  What I came out with was a new and rewarding understanding of God.  Finishing Deuteronomy felt very much like getting to the finish line after a marathon.  And so I took a little time off to rest and rejuvenate before starting the Book of Josue and all the historical books.  But, the second and more probable reason for my hiatus was the adoption of my son.  In January my wife and I adopted a newborn baby boy whom we named Nathaniel David.  This life-changing event left me little time to read and contemplate Scripture.  However, now that we've settled in, and Nathaniel is already two months old, I finally feel the time is right to start my reading up again.  And now that I have a little boy who will one day need my instruction in spiritual things, I feel an even greater sense of urgency to finish what I started four years ago.  And so my journey officially continues.

Deuteronomy was an emotionally heavy book.  There was a lot of reflection on Moses's part, and consequently a lot of sadness as he thought on the Israelites' disobedience and ingratitude.  But when the Book of Josue starts up, a lot of that somber emotion is forgotten, as we feel like we're on the cusp of something great, that is, the final step of the journey, God's opening of the doors to the Promised Land.  Joshua is presented as a great leader, a worthy successor to Moses.  And what's more, the people seem eager to follow him.  Whereas Moses dealt with issues of insubordination and misbehavior among the Israelites, Joshua seems poised to avoid all that.  The people have finally fallen in line.  One interesting interpretation of this is that Moses represents the Old Law, under which the people constantly fell short and transgressed.  And Joshua, figuring Jesus Christ (his namesake), enjoys the promise and guarantee made when the New Law was established, that the Holy Spirit would not allow God's people (in the form of the Church) to fall to evil forces (cf. Matthew 16:18).

And so the Israelites triumphantly and confidently begin their march across the Jordan to claim the land promised to them.  It would seem, then, that Josue is a book filled with war, and as I recall it is indeed.  But my goal as I work through the book is to understand it on all levels, to the best of my ability.  As Josue begins with God voicing His intentions to fulfill His covenant with Moses, it promises to be a book filled with God's wonders.  Some of those wonders may seem terrible in our eyes, but God has a purpose, and He is about to use Joshua to realize that purpose in the coming chapters.  My journey now takes me across a barrier, or a milestone.  The Jordan River represents a separation between old and new.  No longer would God's promise be an intangible thing in the future; the Israelites were about to be rewarded for their obedience and faith.  God would be with them, and woe to those who were against Him.  I leave the workings of the Law behind, and cross into the real history of the Jews and Christians.