J2-5: The Lord Will Even Cause Our Enemies To Betray Their Masters To Help Us

“The king of Yericho sent a message to Rachav, ‘Bring out the men who came to you and are staying in your house, because they have come to reconnoiter all the land.’ However, the woman, after taking the two men and hiding them, replied, ‘Yes, the men did come to me; but I didn’t know where they had come from.  The men left around the time when they shut the gate, when it was dark. Where they went I don’t know; but if you chase after them quickly, you will overtake them.”  Actually she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them under some stalks of flax she had spread out there.”-Joshua 2:3-6

In response to the troops sent by the King of Jericho to inquire about the whereabouts of the men who were staying with her, Rahab’s response was as bold as it was surprising.

She flat out lies and tells the soldiers that yes the men had stopped by but had left as the sun was setting.

Rahab took the dangerous risk of siding with the spies knowing full well if the king had found out, it would have been her neck.

There’s a couple of quick logistical points I want to share here.

FIRST, it was common during Bible times to shut the city gates of the walled cities just before the sun set to keep out predators whether human or animal.

This wouldn’t be any different than us closing our windows or locking our doors before retiring for the night.

The tendency of dangerous elements of society to be most active during the night is something that hasn’t changed in any civilization anywhere at any time.

SECOND, a quick word about the roofs on houses in the ancient Middle East.

Roofs during the Biblical era and even today in the Middle East and 3rd world countries were used in many different ways.

During the hot summer months, the roof was where the whole family slept.

It was also used as a guest space for friends or relatives staying over for the night…

…or in some cases it was even offered to strangers passing through the town as a generous gesture of hospitality.

In addition, the roof as you can guess was also the perfect place to hang out laundry …

…and it was also used to hang and cure meat or dry out organic material such as the flax mentioned in Joshua 2.

Flax was sliced into tall stalks after being harvested and then spread out on the flat surface of the roof to dry.

It was underneath the flax where Rahab had hidden the spies.

So what’s the takeaway for today?

Here’s what I felt the Lord had communicated to me.

When entering enemy territory, the Lord will even cause members of the enemy camp to betray their master to help you…

…which is exactly what we see Rahab doing here.

Therefore, we shouldn’t fear when we’re sent by God into dangerous or enemy territory to accomplish a mission for Him.