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The
hooker has caught my attention again.
She does that whenever I see her. She’s a woman—a woman?
Maybe she’s a girl; no one can say, no one knows for sure. In any
case, she’s a person who lives on the edge of town. She’s said by
some to be an innkeeper, but I doubt that. Those who’s opinion I
trust more say she’s a harlot.
I learned about her from a couple of spies. Honestly. They were
on a mission in another land when they met her, and stayed at her
place. Some might suspect what they did after the sun went down. Did
they use her services or not? I don’t know. They didn’t say, and
I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. But one way or
another she found out what they were doing, and that they intended to
annihilate her city soon.
As often happens with spies (I have heard) they were found out,
and their lives were in danger. Rahab—that was the harlot’s
name—Rahab hid the young spies. She sent her own people on a wild
goose chase, helped the spies escape, then told them where to hide
out. In short, she turned her city over the its enemies. If you wonder
as I do why she would do this, you can find out by listening to her.
The translation of what she says is, “I know the LORD
has given you the land, and the terror of you has fallen on us, and
that all the inhabitants of the land melted away before you. For we
have heard how the LORD
dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of
Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were
beyond Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when
we heard, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any
longer because of you; for the LORD
your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath…” (Joshua
2:9-11)
Rahab heard and believed in the Lord, the one true God.
When
the spies returned with their army, they completely destroyed her
city. Only Rahab, and those of Rahab’s family who chose to believe
her, survived.
Rahab
lived with the Israelites after that. (Joshua 6:25) Eventually one of
the Israelites must have taken interest in her, despite the profession
she once had, because he married her. His name was Salmon, or Sala in
Greek (Matthew 1:5, Luke 3:32) Don’t let the different names confuse
you. My legal name is Steven, but I am called Steve. My name comes
from the Greek name Stephonos. In Spanish I was called Esteban. The
same kind of thing happened to Salmon’s name.
In
time Rahab and Salmon became the ancestors of David, who became King
of Israel. (Ruth 4:21-22) Still later Rahab became the ancestress of
Jesus. (Matthew 1:5-16)
Look
at that again. Rahab is listed in the “Hall of Faith” of Hebrews
11 as “Rahab the harlot”, for the faith she displayed when she met
the spies. But later in her life she became a wife and a mother,
“the harlot” is dropped, and her name is simply listed in “book
of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” as “Rahab”. (Matthew 1:1-16)
She and Ruth are the only women listed in the Jesus’ genealogy, and
so she is honored.
How
could all of this come about for a former prostitute? By faith and the
grace of God. “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with
those who were disobedient, after she welcomed the spies with
peace.” (Hebrews 11:29)
Another
woman has caught my attention lately, a Moabitess.
The
Israelites, who were the people of God, were to have nothing to do
with the Moabites: “No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly
of the LORD;
none of their descendents, even to the tenth generation, shall ever
enter the assembly of the LORD,
because they did not meet with you with food and water on the way when
you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam, the
son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. Nevertheless,
the LORD
your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the LORD
your God
turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD
your God
loves you. You shall not seek their peace or prosperity all your
days.” (Deuteronomy 23:3-6)
The
reason for force of this ban can be found in the story of Balaam, in
Numbers 22-25. The Israelites “played the harlot with the daughters
of Moab, for they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods,
and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined
themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD
was angry
against Israel. And the LORD
said to
Moses, ‘Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad
daylight before the LORD…’”
(Numbers 25:1b-4a) Israel struggled with the results of this years
afterward. “Is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us, from which we
have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although a plague came on the
congregation of the LORD…”
(Joshua 22:17)
So
the Moabites were banned from the assembly of God “to the tenth
generation”. I once read in a commentary that the phrase “to the
tenth generation” might mean that no Moabite could ever enter the
assembly of God. Whether that is true, or whether it means a literal
ten generations, I don’t know, but two Israelites violated it, as
far as I can tell. Mahlon and Chilion went to Moab with their parents
to escape a famine. While they were there, the two of them married
Moabite women.
Mahlon,
Chilion, and their father all died in Moab, in a space of about ten
years. This left their mother, Naomi, with her two Moabite
daughters-in-law. When Naomi decided to return to her homeland, she
told both of them to stay home. Orpah did so, but Ruth refused. Then
Naomi said to Ruth, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people
and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” (Ruth 1:15)
Ruth
wanted nothing to do with this. She said, “Do not urge me to leave
you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go,
and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and
your God, my God”. (Ruth 1:16)
Ruth
chose to follow after the one, true God.
When
Ruth went to Israel, she met a man named Boaz—a descendent of Rahab
and Salmon. This began one of the most beautiful love stories in
history, one in which the theme of redemption runs through like a
river. Ruth was a widow and a foreigner, a person barred from entering
the assembly of God. But Boaz knew of Ruth’s faith. (Ruth 2:12) When
she signified that she wished him to redeem her, he said “…I will
redeem you, as the LORD
lives…”
(Ruth 3:13b) In this Boaz became a picture of Jesus Christ and his
redemption.
Ruth
was not the only one redeemed by Boaz. God enabled Ruth to conceive,
and so Naomi became a grandmother through her daughter-in-law. Naomi
once said that the God had dealt “very bitterly” with her and
“afflicted” her, but the women blessed God at the birth of
Ruth’s son, and God’s provision of a redeemer for Naomi. (Ruth
1:20-21, 4:13-16)
In
time Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David. (King David was
1/8th Moabite!) Like Rahab, Ruth became an ancestress of
Jesus. (Matthew 1:5)
There
was another woman who had more than her share of men, like Rahab. She
had had five husbands, and was living with someone besides one of
these five. She was also a member of a despised minority, somewhat
like Ruth. She was a Samaritan. Yet one day God, the Sovereign Creator
of the universe Himself, sat down at a well, and identified Himself to
her as the Messiah. She soon brought many of the city out to hear him.
Although many eventually believed Jesus more on the basis of His word
than her testimony, she was the one that initially brought them to
Him. The story is known as “The Woman at the Well”, and it forms
the largest part of John chapter 4.
Another
foreigner persisted with God, when He walked on earth, and her
daughter was delivered of a demon. (Mark 7:25-30)
Another
woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The religious leaders
callously used her for a political football. By a deft move of his
own, Jesus delivered her from certain stoning. Then he said to her,
“Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.”
(John 8:1-11)
Another
woman was immoral. “…there was a woman in the city who was a
sinner; and when she learned that He [Jesus] was reclining at the
table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of
perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to
wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her
head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with the perfume. Now
when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself,
‘If this man were a prophet, He would know who and what sort of
person this woman is who is touching Him, that he is a sinner.’”
(Luke 7:37-39)
This
woman had a reputation. The Pharisee knew it, but so did she. And so
did Jesus. Jesus also knew something about the state of the woman’s
heart. He said, “’her sins, which are many, have been forgiven,
for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.’
And he said to her, ‘Your sins have been forgiven.’ And those who
were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves,
‘Who is this man who even forgives sins?’ And He said to the
woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” (Luke 7:47-50)
Here
are stories of seven women. Rahab, Ruth, Naomi, and four whom God
chose to keep anonymous. Included is a harlot, an adulteress, a woman
who had serial marriages, and one who might be politely called
“loose”. These were women who were not proud of what they had
done. Two more women were originally outside the people of God, but
still received grace from God. One was part of God’s people, but
encountered despair, and learned redemption. These women had their
hearts wrenched in circumstances beyond their control, and they saw
God rise up and act on their behalf.
I
present these stories for those of you who see yourself in one or more
of these women. I hope you see what I see in them; God is gentle,
kind, protective, tender, and compassionate with such as you. He has,
in time, taken a wreck of a life, and turned it into a woman of beauty
and glory, to His own glory.
There
are times when I think, while watching some of you, that God takes an
excruciatingly long time in this work of changing you into a treasure.
I don’t know for certain why that is. But when I look at these women
in the Bible, and see how God has treated them, I am encouraged that
He is working in you, beyond what I can see, making you into something
beautiful. The anticipation grows to see His handiwork in you fully
displayed, for you will be a masterpiece, a work of loveliness.
Continue
to believe in the one, true God, who loves you.
© S. A. Miller, January 1999
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