The Israelites had feared the people of the Land, had
doubted Moses and the Lord forty years before and had failed to enter the
Land. Now, Joshua does what Moses had
done and sent spies into the Land. They
hear from Rahab that the people have feared them for forty years, they had
heard about the Red Sea, heard all that God had done, and they had lived in
fear and dread of the Jews. They had
also heard what had more recently happened with the kings of the Amorites. The men of Jericho had seen these men come
into the city and although it certainly seems strange to us, they had also seen
them come to a prostitute’s house. It
would be a safe way to conceal your mission to go to a prostitute but I don’t
recommend it. Rahab, however, is no
ordinary madam, she knows something of the God of the Israelites, that He is
God of both heaven and earth, a way of saying He is God of all, which would
certainly distinguish Him from the local gods of her people and the surrounding
peoples. Her price for their safety is
her own safety when they take the city.
Rahab is the mother of Boaz, the male hero of the book of Ruth and
therefore the great-great-great grandmother of David. God is good.
We need always be prepared, no matter the delay. The virgins were to accompany the bridegroom
to the post-wedding feast and the preparations took longer than expected so
they were wise in bringing extra oil, prepared for the possibility of delay. They are not unkind in refusing to share
their oil, if they do, none will be able to share the joyous occasion. The others would have to go and buy
additional oil, meaning that they would show up late to the feast and be
considered interlopers and refused entry.
We need always to replenish the oil in our lamps that we might be
prepared at any moment for the call to go for the Lord. Today we might use a sports analogy of being
prepared to be called on to go into the game and perform at any moment.
Everyone gets into the kingdom the same way, by the grace of
God. The Jews have not been rejected by
God on account of their sins, grace is available to them just as it is to the
Gentiles but they and we have to stop trying to do it ourselves, that way won’t
work. They are not shut out, God’s
covenants are irrevocable and they are eternal.
Paul’s argument is essentially that they have stumbled as they have at
other times in history and that stumbling has opened a door for those who come
in faith to be saved by grace. They
remain His prize possession, his treasure, even if we are grafted into the
body. They will always be special to Him
and we are blessed to share that inheritance through faith in Jesus. We are like Rahab, we have heard of the Lord
and come to believe in order that we might be saved from His wrath.
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