Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. Some lessons of the story lie on its surface. How the publicans and the harlots may enter the kingdom of God before Sadducee and Pharisee — not in their sins, but washed from them, and inclined towards the possibilities of grace by the very fact that at least self-satisfaction is impossible — that at least boasting is excluded. Also we find here the recognition of a very imperfect knowledge and a very elementary faith, as having in it "the root of the matter" if it will but work. What was Rahab's knowledge, what was Rahab's faith, when she received the two Hebrew spies, hid them from discovery, and "sent them out by another way"? What Rahab knew was only this — that the God of Israel had wrought a great deliverance for His people, first in the exodus from Egypt, then in the wars of the march, and that evidently no power could stand against Him — she and her nation were foredoomed to discomfiture before this mighty God and this favoured race. Upon this small and elementary foundation of dogmatic truth was reared the superstructure of a changed and transformed life. She "received with peace," with friendliness and hospitality, the emissaries of the invading people, protected them with ready inventiveness from the instant search and pursuit of her king — and was herself, in the terrible slaughter of her countrymen, incorporated, with all her house, into the conquering race, to become the ancestress, as St. Matthew teaches, of king David, and of the Messiah Himself. It would be a mistake, at anachronism, to apply to a dweller in one of the old Canaanite cities, amidst the worshippers of false and cruel deities, destitute of one ray either of law or gospel light, principles of conduct and character which we owe to the revelation of all truth and all duty by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Epistle is contented to say only this, Behold in the example of this woman the working of that faith which grasps the unseen. Behold the action of faith upon evidence presented and upon an alternative of conduct. Behold the inference of truth honestly drawn, and the preference, on the strength of it, of the future to the present. Behold, St. James adds, how faith differs from opinion, and evidences its existence by the sign of work. The hearts of other inhabitants of Jericho were melting, she tells us, with the terror of Israel — she alone acted upon the conviction and added another element to the "great cloud of witnesses." We all see why the apostle should have singled out for mention the faith of this woman of Canaan. She was an instance of faith lifting a life out of the prejudices and partialities of birth and companionship, and making it willing, at the call of duty, to seek a new kindred and a new citizenship, amongst strangers, amongst aliens — if need be, amongst enemies. Her example is like that of Abraham leaving his birthplace, of Moses forsaking his palace — like these, yet, in degree, rising above them. For Abraham pitched his tent not amongst foes — and Moses, in renouncing the land of his adoption, returned to the citizenship of his birth and of his ancestry. She cast herself upon a hostile race, and had to unlearn every association, every habit, every feeling of the past. Thus might it be, at no distant day, with these Christians of Palestine. They were to suffer the sword of Rome to fall upon apostate Jerusalem — they were to raise no arm in her defence — on the contrary, when they saw her compassed with armies, when they saw the abomination of desolation stand in her holy place, they were to recognise the predicted token, and themselves to flee to the mountains. Christ must be more than country to those who would be worthy of Him. (Dean Vaughan.) Parallel Verses KJV: By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. |
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