This past Sunday, we heard another installment of Pastor Benji's sermon series. As we spend a few days reflecting on the importance of salvation for the entire household, we'll take a look at the story of Rahab and the two spies (Joshua 2).
Joshua was familiar with the idea of sending out spies prior to engaging a whole army or a whole community in the process of transfer, conquest, and change. After all, it was he and Caleb who, with ten other men, served as spies under the leadership of Moses. And it was Joshua and Caleb who stood as the only surviving members of the original group of Israelites that had left Egypt.
So, two young men were sent by Joshua to investigate the city. Presumably they would have sought out information that would be helpful in a military sense: the layout of the city, the main roads, the sources of water or food, the level of security inside the city gates, and so forth.
We are not told the specific answers regarding any of the spies' investigations in the Rahab story, but we do know that there was some sort of counter-spy network already existing in the city of Jericho. How do we know? Because the king was aware of the last known location of the young spies from Israel, and the king took the information seriously. Essentially, in today's terms, he sent officers who showed up at Rahab's house with a verbal arrest warrant: "Bring out the two men..." (Joshua 2:3).
I wonder if we, in this twenty-first century, would be "caught" if someone were scoping this city on the lookout for the people of God. Would an arrest warrant be put out for us, or have we so blended into mainstream society that no one would point us out as being Christians?
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