Joshua 2:18–19: “unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.”

March 23rd, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This is a very interesting story, rich in symbolism. Joshua sent 2 men to secretly spy on the land, especially Jericho. The men went and lodged in Jericho with a harlot named Rahab. The king of Jericho heard that they were there and sought them, but Rahab hid them and helped them escape, asking in return that she and her family be spared when the children of Israel returned to take the city. Rahab believed in God and His power. The spies told her to bind a scarlet cord to her window, which would mark her as safe.

Rahab had 3 strikes against her. She was a pagan, a woman, and a harlot, but she believed. The token or sign of her belief and deliverance was the scarlet thread tied to her window. That its color was scarlet, the color of blood, was not a coincidence. It marked Rahab and her family as being under God’s blood promise of safety. This scarlet thread was a beautiful symbol of the blood of the Messiah that was to come. There is a scarlet thread flowing through the entire Bible from Old Testament to New Testament, representing faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. Blood sacrifices began immediately following the entrance of sin into Eden as God supplied the animal-skin coverings for Adam and Eve through the first blood sacrifice for sin. Many more such sacrifices followed, leading ultimately to the Messiah’s blood flowing down the cross of Calvary, the perfect and final sacrifice for sin.

Rahab is mentioned twice in the New Testament. The book of Hebrews says, “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace” (Heb. 11:31). And when we read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, we see that Rahab eventually married into the line of Judah. And King David and Jesus were directly descended from her. We all, like Rahab, have been taken from being a despised sinner, separated from God, to being lifted into the lineage of Jesus Christ by faith, through the shed blood of Jesus. Each of us needs to do for others as Rahab did for those she knew. We need to gather father and mother, sons and daughters, family and friends to share with us the shelter under the scarlet blood of Jesus Christ.

“Thank you, LORD, for Your strong shelter from the storm of judgment to come.”

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Joshua 2 KJV

¹ And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.   ² And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. ³ And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. ⁴ And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: ⁵ And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. ⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. ⁷ And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. ⁸ And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; ⁹ And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.  ¹⁰ For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. ¹¹ And as soon as we had heard these things , our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.  ¹² Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: ¹³ And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. ¹⁴ And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. ¹⁵ Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. ¹⁶ And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way. ¹⁷ And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear. ¹⁸ Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.  ¹⁹ And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. ²⁰ And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. ²¹ And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window. ²² And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found themnot. ²³ So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them: ²⁴ And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.