#One Spy Informant
Daily Reading: (Joshua 2:1-7):
“Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.”
The word "secretly" in this place means that Joshua concealed their mission from everyone, even in Israel. This clearly was done to avoid the mistake that followed the earlier example of sending out spies (Joshua 2:1).
Rahab lists not the people of Israel’s accomplishments, but the accomplishments of the Lord. The thing that will put fear in the heart of the enemy is a reminder of the victory of God given through Jesus (Joshua 2:10-11).
“We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. You see even the things God did in the past is setting you up for success in your future.
“And that you will save us from death.” There is only one way that you might be saved from eternal death and that is the scarlet cord. What saved Rahab was faith in God or the hanging of the scarlet cord (Joshua 2:21). The scarlet cord is a sign of the blood of Jesus that is applied to our life through faith and is what saves us. We are made prefect by the blood of Jesus, nothing else. Although our actions, just like Rahab’s lie (Joshua 2:5) are not perfect.
Because of her faith, Rahab became Jesus’ great, great, great, great — add another 24 greats grandmother.
When the Israelite army arrives when they see the scarlet cord they instantly are reminded of the blood of the Passover lamb that was applied over the doorposts of their homes that saved them. God had promised the Israelites, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13). God was not only saying that He would pass over their homes, but that He would stand guard over them as well. The same is true of us when we have put our faith in Jesus Christ. When the devil wants to come and wreak havoc in our lives, he recognizes that we belong to Jesus Christ. We come under His protection, because the blood has been applied. Claim the blood of Jesus and see the enemy flee.
So, the scarlet cord would have emboldened the army as a reminder of what God did for them in Egypt and that He was with them giving them the land (Jericho) He had promised them.