Monday: Value in Unexpected Places
Daily Lesson for Monday 6th of October 2025
Read Joshua 2:2-11, Hebrews 11:31, and James 2:25. What do these texts tell us about Rahab?
Central to Rahab’s story is the lie told to protect the spies. In considering her lie, we have to realize that she was embedded in a society that was extremely sinful, which finally led to God’s decision to judge that society (Genesis 15:16, Deuteronomy 9:5, Leviticus 18:25-28). While it is true that the New Testament commends her faith, a careful analysis of the New Testament references to Rahab’s act reveals that none endorse everything about her, and none validate her lie.
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Hebrews 11:31 confirms her faith in casting her lot with the spies instead of choosing to hold on to a corrupt culture. James 2:25 commends her offer of lodging to the two Israelite spies and for giving them directions on how to return by a safe route. In the middle of a decadent, corrupt culture and Rahab’s own sinful lifestyle, God, in His grace, saw a spark of faith through which He could save her. God used what was good in Rahab—which was manifest faith in Him and in her choice to belong to His people—but never commended everything she did. God valued Rahab for her exceptional courage, for her brave faith, for being an agent of salvation, and for choosing Israel’s God.
After seeing what was happening, she declared, “ ‘For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath’ ” (Joshua 2:11, NKJV). It’s significant to hear a Canaanite woman acknowledging that Yahweh is the only God, especially on a roof where, in her pagan religion, prayers were usually offered to what they believed were celestial deities.
The expression of Rahab is previously found only in the context of God’s exclusive right to receive worship (Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 5:8). Her words bear witness to a premeditated, conscientious choice to acknowledge that the God of the Israelites is the only true deity. Her confession demonstrates her understanding of the close relationship between God’s sovereignty and the judgment under which Jericho is doomed.
Her moral choice recognizes that, in light of Yahweh’s judgment, there were only two possibilities: to continue in rebellion against Him and be annihilated, or to choose to surrender in faith. By choosing the God of the Israelites, Rahab became an example of what could have been the destiny of all the inhabitants of Jericho had they turned to Israel’s God for mercy.
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What does this story teach us about how God must have our ultimate allegiance? |
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A lot of debate exists today about Rahab's lie and why God would go easy on her. Some wonder why her occupation as a harlot is even mentioned or why the spies would lodge in her home upon entering Canaan. The debate explores the possibility of a "righteous" lie. Some argue that , just as the Hebrew midwives lied to Pharaoh to save Israelite babies (Exodus 1:15-22), Rahab's lie to save the spies can be seen as a benevolent act that prioritized life and righteousness over absolute obedience to unjust authority. Others argue that her motive was more important than strict morality. Unfortunately, we've lost sight of the real context by focusing on Rahab's occupation and the lie instead of the mission and purpose of Joshua 2. I believe we're treating the wrong object as the main subject.
Let's look deeper. Rahab role here is more about testimony or witness of God's works. Without needing a 40-day and night survey of Canaan, without bringing a sample of the land's produce, and without reporting on the might and military strategy of Canaan, like they did 40 years back (Numbers 13:25-33), the mission was complete with just Rahab's statement: (Joshua 2:9). Just like that, Rahab became the ultimate undercover spy, confirming Canaan was ripe for an overthrow.
But there's something else. From the outside looking in, Rahab, the harlot, was keenly watching, listening, and quickly believed, then received the true God as her Master and ruler, and acted accordingly. She was justified for righteousness (Hebrews 11:31). Is it also possible, that today, while we think we're "in," someone we've branded as "unworthy" is receiving the "present truth," and God is accounting the "unworthy" as righteous?
Joshua 2:4–6
Rahab hid the spies and misled the king’s men. Was this right?
Adventist understanding emphasizes principle over act:
Ellen G. White (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 546):
> “Rahab’s faith was imperfect, but it was accepted by God, for her heart was right.”
Rahab acted with limited moral understanding — yet with growing faith.
God did not reward deception, but the faith that motivated her courage.
Lesson: God meets us where we are. He values the direction of our faith more than the perfection of our actions.
As we consider Joshua 2, let's not miss the "prime objective" and "subject matter."
Two spies are sent to Jericho to analyze the situation on the ground before a takeover (Joshua 2:1). The two spies return with an exact, positive "situation analysis" (Joshua 2:24).
Although the two spies present (Joshua 2:24) an report of their host Rahab's statement (Joshua 2:9), it's a green light confirming what God had promised before: "God will go ahead of them."
The story of Rahab the prostitute as recorded in Joshua Chapter two is a very clear demonstrative and illustrative portrait of salvation by grace shining in darkness. In a City that was completely laden with idolatry, moral corruption and spiritual blindness, it is ironic that one “jewel” was found. How possibly can this paradox be explained? Did the sovereign grace of God orchestrate the heart of this individual? “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” (John 6:65, KJV). Coming to God is not merely a human effort alone but it is an outcome of the grace of God calling and enabling a response of faith. Rahab’s faith was enabled, and she got the courage and strength to draw near to the calling of God. Rahab responded to the grace of God through faith which is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Like Rahab, we are not passive actors in our redemption story but active participants. We must accept the prompting of the Holy Spirit who directs us to the point of safety.
Jericho like the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was ripe for destruction because her sins had reached the climax. Can anything good come out of a city condemned for destruction? Who can possibly fathom the mystery of divine grace? Yet in a city whose moral corruption and rebellion had reached the boiling point, there was “a jewel of grace”. This seems “strange” or even “illogical” from human thinking, but God is able to save to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25). To God, there is no such thing as “unexpected places” nothing can surprise Him in heaven or on earth for He created them all.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”(Isaiah 55:8–9, KJV).
In August 2000, the world was stunned by the story of a man from French Polynesia who hid in the landing gear of a Boeing 747 bound for Los Angeles and survived. Against all odds, he endured freezing temperatures of nearly 50 degrees below zero and almost no oxygen for over seven hours. Medical experts at UCLA were astonished, saying his body temperature had dropped to levels that are normally fatal as nobody known had survived such a drop of body temperature and survived. Yet somehow, he lived (Daily Press, 2000). This account reveals that not everything in life can be explained by human reasoning alone. Some events defy natural explanation and point to the mysterious providence of God, who sustains life even in circumstances that seem impossible.
In a similar way, the story of Rahab in Joshua chapter 2 illustrates how God’s divine hand works through unlikely people and improbable situations to save desperate situations. The Spies were cornered and probably thinking it was their last day...alot was going through their minds in Rehab house and the soldiers were interviewing and pressing their host, they might have even been regretting their obedience to God, and why He had allowed them to go through that. Rahab despite being a common prostitute in Jericho chose to protect the Israelite spies because she believed that the God of Israel was the true God. Her faith led to her salvation when the city was destroyed, and her name was later recorded in the lineage of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5) and in the “hall of faith” (Hebrews 11:31). Like the man who survived the unimaginable, Rahab’s deliverance shows that God’s mercy and power often appear in unexpected ways, revealing that nothing happens outside His sovereign will.
Moreover, both stories demonstrate that God intervenes dramatically to preserve life and accomplish His purpose. Out of His deep love, He will not let us destroy ourselves with sin but will orchestrate events even extraordinary ones that bring us to repentance and faith. 2 Peter 3:9 says, God “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Just as He preserved the stowaway and redeemed Rahab, God still intervenes in our lives today—sometimes through miracles, sometimes through mercy to draw them closer to Himself and reveal the depth of His saving grace.
Joshua 2:1–4
God led the spies not to a warrior’s fortress or a priest’s home, but to the house of a prostitute. This was not coincidence, but divine appointment.
God was already at work in Rahab’s heart before Israel entered Jericho.
Like Cornelius in Acts 10, she responded to the light she had.
Her confession (Joshua 2:9–11) shows deep faith: “I know that the Lord has given you the land…”
Lesson: God’s mission is not hindered by human reputation. His grace seeks those who are open to truth, wherever they are.
Rahab chose God, in the midst of a people who had one of the worst reputations of idolatry. I don't mean they just had hobbies that took them away from spending time with God. They were rich, all their riches were taken given to their gods of graven images. No wonder to lead them away from temptation of idolatry, God said all should parish except Rahab and her family, who were the only ones in Jerico who turned in commitment to God to God in commitment. When again did God express His desire to keep us from temptation. "Our Father who art in heaven halloweth be thy name..lead us not into temptation, but delivereth us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever Amen." Matthew 6:13. And he will, the story of the fall of Jerico is a lesson to us that His promises are true through the ages.
"Standing on the promises of Christ my King.
Through the eternal ages let His praises ring;
Glory in the highest I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God." Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal page 518.
What makes Rahab special is that she believed in the Israelite God, even though she was from a different culture and had a sinful past. She showed faith by choosing to help God’s people and trusting in God’s power to save her and her family.
Because of her faith and actions, God saved Rahab and her family when Jericho was destroyed. Rahab’s story teaches us that God values faith and courage, even when people come from unexpected places or backgrounds. She trusted God and acted on that trust, and this changed her life completely.
Rahab's decision led to a journey that kept the lives and that of her family safe through God's faithfulness to us in HIS word that HE will always protect and provide for us!
Surely before this week is over there will be mention that Rahab is one of only two women Matthew points out to the Israelites in Jesus’s genealogy. God knew her heart and willingness to support His cause before the spies entered the city. Coincidence that they ended up at Rabah’s house? No. Perhaps they could have been protected without a lie but it is what it is. The story is shared as it happened for a reason. It is encouragement to me that God takes me where I am as he did Rahab.
good to see you here, Karen!
True Karen! Interesting point - I've also realized that two of those ladies Tamar (Matthew 1:3) and Rahab (Matthew 1:5) were not only Canaanites but also beguiled and were involved in prostitution.
God works His wonders beyond limitation.Everybody is deserving to Him.
There are 4 women - 5 if you count Mary. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. 3 of the 4 were foreigners.
Yes!
How would we compare the story of Rahab if there had been another story in the book of 2 Samuel, of how someone in Israel had hidden spies from the Philistines, and had lied to David about their whereabouts?
Clearly no such story exists, but it does bring up some questions:
We call it faith when it serves God’s people — but would we call it sin if it served their enemies?
Is it ok to mislead, as long as we feel it’s for the right purpose?
Is it ok to bend the truth, as long as we can justify it to ourselves?
Is it ok to act unrighteously, as long as we judge that we really know right from wrong?
Is it ok to choose the lesser evil, as long as we convince ourselves we’re with the good guys?
Is it ok to excuse ourselves, as long as we believe we’re on God’s side?
Is it ok to do what we know isn’t right, as long as the outcome seems holy?
Is it ok to twist reality, as long as it’s “for the best of our country”?
How does this apply today? Is it ok to support a government or policies that treat people inhumanely, simply because we feel like we're somehow on higher spiritual ground "for the best of our country"?
Nationalistic justification is the most dangerous form of moral blindness.
In case, some are confused by the questions posed in this comment, I suggest that most of the scenarios proposed are not at all like Rahab's experience.
Rahab believed the God of the Hebrews to be greater and better than the gods of her people. She acted out her belief in protecting the spies.
Rahab did not mislead "because she felt it was right or because she could justify it to herself." She was protecting representatives of the great God of the Hebrews from death. She acted in faith, not "unrighteously". (Heb. 11:31; James 2:25) As a result, she became a progenitor of the Messiah.
Rahab did not act "unrighteously." She did not even violate the 8th Commandment. See Maurice's comment.
Rahab did what she knew was right by protecting the spies from death.
References to "country" and "nation" move even further from being "parallel," and I don't consider them appropriate discussion points for this lesson.
A valid question would be: Which is more "righteous" -- to "righteously" state the facts and expose others to certain death or to mislead to keep others alive?
(I'm not sure there is a perfect answer. Corrie Ten Boom considered it more righteous to mislead, but her sister absolutely could not tell a lie. God honored both of their convictions and He helped them save hundreds of Jewish people from death.)
🤔🤔
Get's confusing at times, Manlio!
It's okay you are asking these questions.
It may look like this story is justifying deception if only it's benefiting the "good" side, but maybe as we close the week a lot will unravel as we get to Joshua 9.
This week we are focusing on God's grace and mercy as God works with "fallible" beings. It may not be really about justification of actions we might see, but more about God's amazing love to humanity.
I think we can get clarity on the issue if we remember that the One Great Law of God is the law of self-renouncing love - the law that Christ demonstrated with His life and death.
In each situation which forces us to make a moral choice, we can ask ourselves, "Which choice is in the spirit of the law of self-renouncing love?" or, alternatively "Which choice serves my self-interest?"
So let's apply this principle to Rahab:
Without faith in God, which choice was in Rahab's self-interest?
Which choice could put her life at imminent risk?
It seems to me that, without faith in God, it would have been in Rahab's best interest to give up the spies to those who searched for them.
What do you think?
It seems Rahab's immediate reaction would be to give up the spies to preserve her life. However in essence she offered her life to preserve the life of the spies to serve the living God.
The natural man will do anything to preserve their precious self but the spiritual man will give his life for another.
I returned home late yesterday after a trip to Gulgong, but I thought it useful to add a comment on the topic or Rahab's lying to protect the spies.
I am reminded of reading “Flee the Captor,” a biography of Johan Hendrik Weidner, a Seventh-day Adventist Resistance Worker in France during World War 2. He and his coworkers were responsible for moving about 800 Dutch Jews and over 100 allied airmen to safety to Switzerland or Spain through Nazi occupied France. Clearly, in his interactions with the Nazis, he lied about what he was doing and what he knew. Somewhere in the book, there was a discussion about the ethics of truth and lying. I don’t remember all the details now, but the main point was that the deceit was used to save lives.
And that raises the issue of the wording of the ninth commandment:
This commandment is repeated several times in the Old Testament and is alluded to in the New Testament also. In almost every case it is used in the sense of using false statement to condemn the actions of others.
The corollary to this is that lies should not be used to protect or justify one's own actions.
In both Rahab's and John Wiedner's cases, untruths were used to protect life, and that is very different to "bearing false witness".
And importantly, that is not an open invitation to tell untruths whenever it is convenient. Most lies are told for the sake of personal convenience and they are never justified.
Perfect explanation, thank you.!!! Killing is justified to protect the weak but murder of innocents for selfish gain is prohibited,
Does anyone think the spies 'just happened' to find safety from their enemies when stepping into Rahab’s place? Poor, marginalized people's homes where located on the wall; actually between the inner and outer wall. Spies sent to find weakness in the fortifications were led to a save hiding place there.
In my opinion, it was God who set this plan in motion. Not knowing of others called to help, everyone touched by God contributed their part to the mission's success willingly. Choosing the right people, places, and circumstances for the mission to succeed. God's plans do not include 'coincidences'.
God determined for the walls of Jericho to come down, but spared Rahab and her family living on this same wall. She did what she was told – "ty a scarlet cord in your window to signal the destroying army to spare your home". We can observe Grace, Faith, and Hope at work - this is the most beautiful part of this story.
P.S. The Hebrew word for the scarlet cord, tiqwat hashshani, is related to the Hebrew word for “hope”.
I know the commandments do not sanction lying, but I don’t see Rahab’s account of the spies’ whereabouts as a simple falsehood. In the context of war, it was an act of allegiance—a strategy of war rather than deceit for personal gain. Rahab had shifted her loyalty from the doomed kingdom of Jericho to the God of Israel, and her actions reflected that new allegiance. Her faith led her to protect God’s messengers, even at the risk of her life. God honored her faith, not her words, and through her, we see how grace works with imperfect people who are learning to trust Him.
I am just a little puzzled why, in Rahab's case, we bring up the 10 Commandments, which were intended for the people of the covenant—Israel—yet Rahab was a Canaanite who may not have heard these commandments. Her rules of engagement were very different. Furthermore, considering that even the children of the covenant, who saw God's miracles firsthand and vowed to keep God's laws and statutes, struggled more.
Unfortunately, as humans, we tend to judge other people's lives by our own rules of engagement, which may not be familiar to them.
But here's the under note: just like Abram, who was serving other gods when God reached him, Rahab, a lying prostitute from a "banned" nation, gained favor from God because of her faith in Him.
I think we would agree that the 10 commandments are for all people. Just because they were given to Israel does not change that. God judged the nations for the sins listed in the 10 commandments - killing, stealing and so on.
Also, there is nothing in the Bible that says Abram served other gods. Joshua 24:2 says that Terah was one of Israel's forefathers who served other gods. But it doesn't say that was true of Abram.
I knew we would have a lot of debates on Rahab's lie. I am perhaps of the minority view that it was not wrong and we don't have to justify her. Lying to protect someone is not the same as lying for selfish reasons as Maurice pointed out. There are other examples of Bible characters doing similar things and they knew more about God than Rahab did. Some examples that come to my mind are the midwives, Samuel not being totally truthful when he came to anoint David, the woman who hid the priests' sons during Absalom's rebellion (see II Samuel 17 - actually quite similar to Rahab's lie) and Jeremiah concealing part of why he was meeting with King Zedekiah (see Jeremiah 38). Yes, we could argue some of these are more lies of ommission, but they are still lies.
Also, during World War II many people lied to protect the Jews, Corrie Ten Boom and her family among them.
Maurice is right that the commandment never says "Thou shalt not lie." It is about bearing false witness which fits much more with gossip and slander.
Most lying is wrong - it is done for selfish reasons. But when lives are at stake, we choose the lesser of two evils. That's what I believe in.
I am not in the position neither to justify nor to comdemn the so called lie of Rahab, the harlot of Jericho. I cannot look into her heart. Only Jesus knows the inner condition (John 2:25). I also do not know all things, nor the whole situation that God knows. Jesus knows all things (John 16:30). He is in the position to justify or to condemn. Even the Father is not judging by Himself. He has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22,27,30). Christ also is not judging by Himself. He and the Father who has sent him, are judging together in unity. (John 8:16).
I think, there are three points to be emphasized: (1) The whole situation to be judged, only knows the all-knowing God. (2) Only the Creator knows the inside of men and women as the object of judgment. (3) Open sin, such as adultery, is not to be justified by any situation. This would amount to justifying sin by that situation, which is self-justification. In this case, Christ as the only mediator between God and sinner would not be needed (1 Timothy 2:5). Also, the Father and Christ in their unity of judgment would be substituted by the transgressor who judges himself as his own judge. (4) There should not be a separation between the commandments of God and love to God and to our neighbour (Matthew 22:36-40). Both are an inseparable unity.
I think, we should be humbly waiting for Christ to justidy us by His substitutionary death on the cross, as He has suffered punishment and judgement that we have deserved in order to be granted His grace which we do not have deserved.
Winfried Stolpmann
God sees through someone what humans cannot. It doesn't matter who I am or what my profession is; God sees my heart. God saw Rahab's heart; although a marginal character, she recognized God's power: that was probably her best chance to change her life.