Rahab and the SpiesJoshua chapter 2:1-24
Joshua sent 2 spies to spy out the city of Jericho and they entered into the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king sent to her house to discover the spies but the prostitute had hidden them. Then she told a lie about them having already left the city when they were hidden on the roof. She explained to the spies that the entire city was living in fear of the Israelites and asked them to protect her and her family when they came to attack. The spies escaped through her external window out of the city. She was instructed to hang a scarlet cord out of the same window so that the Armies of Israel could see the red cord and save all who were in her house. Ultimately she, a prostitute, was in the lineage of Jesus. She was a great greatgreat …… grandmother to Jesus.
Opening questions:
1. What clothing do you wear that identifies you with a cause or a group? Have you ever been misjudged when wearing those items? Tell us…
2. If you went incognito or “underground” as a spy, what kind of identity would you want?
3. So far in your life, what was one of the most daring things you tried?
4. When have you totally misjudged someone by what they looked like?
Dig Questions:
1. Why did the 2 spies go straight to a prostitute’s house? a. for the same reason anyone else would, b. it was the first house they came to, c. Rahab’s house (perhaps an inn) would have been a good place for strangers to enter without suspicion, d. would have been a good place to gain information without undue alarm, e. God led them to her.
2. Given her disreputable occupation and her obvious lie, what in this story builds Rahab’s reputation as a woman of faith (see Matt 1:1,5 Hebrews 11:31)?
3. What do you think Rahab opinions were of the Hebrew God?
4. Which do you think was Rahab’s greatest concern: that the king of Jericho would find out she had lied and was harboring spies or that the Israelites would wipe out Jericho? Why do you suppose Rahab felt safe harboring two spies? What if she had been caught by her own people or turned against by the spies she had no prior reason to trust?
5. What was strategic about the location of her house? How did the spies escape the city? (vv. 15)
6. What did the spies ask her to have tied and hanging from her window when they attacked the city? What would this provide those found within her house?
7. What benefit did Rahab and those in her house gain from hanging the scarlet cord from the window of her house? Why the color red?
8. What is the resemblance between the scarlet cord and the Blood of the Passover Lamb? The Blood of THE Lamb (Jesus)? (all provided salvation and deliverance.)
9. Matt 1:1,5 shows that Rahab, the prostitute, was in the lineage of Jesus – that she was a great greatgreat …… grandmother to Jesus. How does that make you feel to know that the Savior of the World, Jesus, had a prostitute in his blood line?
Apply Questions:
1. Rahab’s actions spared her family. What can you do to help insure the salvation of your family?
2. What “scarlet thread” (or life-line) will you hold out, and hold onto, for life?
3. If God were to come to your household and need your help, what would you be willing to give up or risk for the cause of Jesus Christ?
4. State a time when you had to stand up for what you believed in against the peer pressure to do wrong?