07/12/2026 - "Kindness in Unlikely Places" (Joshua 2:1-21)

Scripture: Joshua 2:1-21

Joshua, Nun’s son, secretly sent two men as spies from Shittim. He said, “Go. Look over the land, especially Jericho.” They set out and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab. They bedded down there.

Someone told the king of Jericho, “Men from the Israelites have come here tonight to spy on the land.” So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Send out the men who came to you, the ones who came to your house, because they have come to spy on the entire land.”

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. Then she said, “Of course the men came to me. But I didn’t know where they were from. The men left when it was time to close the gate at dark, but I don’t know where the men went. Hurry! Chase after them! You might catch up with them.”

But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the flax stalks that she had laid out on the roof. The men from Jericho chased after them in the direction of the Jordan up to the fords. As soon as those chasing them went out, the gate was shut behind them.

Before the spies bedded down, Rahab went up to them on the roof. She said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land. Terror over you has overwhelmed us. The entire population of the land has melted down in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Reed Sea in front of you when you left Egypt. We have also heard what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan. You utterly wiped them out. We heard this and our hearts turned to water. Because of you, people can no longer work up their courage. This is because the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below. Now, I have been loyal to you. So pledge to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal loyally with my family. Give me a sign of good faith. Spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, and sisters, along with everything they own. Rescue us from death.”

The men said to her, “We swear by our own lives to secure yours. If you don’t reveal our mission, we will deal loyally and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.”

So she lowered the spies on a rope through the window. Her house was on the outer side of the city wall, and she lived inside the wall.

Then she said to them, “Go toward the highlands so that those chasing you don’t run into you. Hide there for three days until those chasing you return. Then you may go on your way.”

The men said to her, “We won’t be responsible for this pledge you made us swear unless, when we come into the land, you tie this red woven cord in the window through which you lowered us. Gather your father, your mother, your brothers, and your whole family into the house with you. Those who go outside the doors of your house into the street will have only themselves to blame for their own deaths. We won’t be responsible. If anyone lays a hand on those who are with you in the house, we will take the blame for their death. But if you reveal our mission, we won’t be responsible for this pledge you made us swear.”

She said, “These things will happen just like you said.” She sent them away and they went off. Then she tied the red cord in the window.

~

What is the kindest thing someone has ever done for you?

Maybe it was when a family member showed up at three in the morning to watch your children when you needed to rush to the hospital.

Maybe it was a complete stranger stepping in to help clean up your spilled coffee, keeping you from completely breaking down on a day where things just couldn’t get any worse.

Or maybe it was when friends showed up with sympathy and care after the passing of a loved one, like you all have done for Noah and I these past few months.

Or maybe it was somebody helping you to hide from forces sent to kill you, and getting you safely out of an enemy city that she fully knows will be attacked by your people soon.

If it’s that last one, I want to hear that story!

The story of Rahab is one that’s often looked at as a story of fearlessness and the power of God to speak to and work through anyone, no matter who they are or where they’re from. But I think it’s also a story of kindness showing up in people and places where it’s least expected - in a doomed city, in foreign spies, and in a woman living on the outskirts of her community due to her profession.

That being said, Rahab’s profession is somewhat in dispute. Some rabbinic scholars have proposed that she was actually an innkeeper, living in the inn that she owned. As it wasn’t uncommon for inns and brothels to be in the same building, she could’ve been both an innkeeper and a madam of sorts. It then makes more sense why the spies would’ve entered her home, or the inn. As foreign travelers it would’ve naturally been where they went to stay, and an inn is a great place to gather intelligence.

That being said, most scholars are as confident as they can be that the translation of Rahab’s profession from the Hebrew into English as “prostitute” is accurate.

So most likely the two spies weren’t exactly focused on their mission when they met Rahab.

And they’re not careful in visiting her either, because they’re spotted and reported to the king.

Maybe their accents are identified, their struggles in navigating the city are noticed, or they’re just easily identified as Israelites by their looks.

Or, maybe they aren’t spotted. Maybe the king hears that there are potentially spies in his kingdom, and he just knows the first place to check is Rahab’s.

And given Rahab’s response of, and I quote, “Of course they came to me!” when the soldiers come to question her, the story seems to suggest that it’s the latter.

But however the king finds out, Rahab has no intention of turning the men over to the king.

Instead she hides them underneath the flax drying on her roof from the recent harvest. When the soldiers knock on her door and tell her to send out the men, she lies. She tricks the soldiers into leaving the city at dark and shutting them out for the night so they won’t come back and search her house once they realize her deception.

But why? Why is Rahab willing to hide the spies, help them escape, and essentially hand her home over to invaders on the promise that she and her family won’t be harmed?

Her answer to that in the passage is that Jericho has heard of what the Israelites have done to other kingdoms and other cities, and it has terrified them. A feeling of doom has settled over the kingdom, and for Rahab at least, she attributes it to them knowing that the Israelite's God is superior to any of their gods. But even still, there is story after story in Scripture of people up against impossible odds, doing everything they can to keep their community safe, even when they’re terrified and it feels impossible. She could’ve easily turned the spies over in the hope that by thwarting their information gathering, the attack would be called off. And based on the horrifying stories Rahab has heard, she has no guarantee that the spies would honor their oaths, even if she made them swear on their God. Both options in front of her require a similar amount of trust and hope, either in a king she knows, or in two spies she doesn’t.

So why does she show kindness to the spies in hiding them and helping them flee?

I think there are a lot of potential answers to this, but the one we’re going to look at today may be one of the simplest.

What if they were kinder to her than her own people, her own king, had been?

What if she knew exactly how she would be treated if Jericho stood?

What if she was willing to risk death for a potential new life as an outsider in a foreign culture, over the life she already knew?

Just like today, prostitution was heavily stigmatized during this time. Rahab is unmarried, her only family are her parents, brothers, and the rest of her family, there’s no husband mentioned. While we don’t know why, it’s possible she never married due to her family all being involved in prostitution in some way or another. So she just became one because nobody would want to marry the daughter of a prostitute. So she was already born into a marginalized family and forced to turn to one of her only options in order to be able to live and support herself.

And Rahab, quite literally, lives on the outskirts of her society. Her home is built into the walls that surround Jericho. Meaning that if and when the kingdom was ever attacked, her window would be one of the first to be climbed up to and broken into by any invaders looking to try and get into the city. Her position in the physical kingdom is incredibly vulnerable, just as her position in society is incredibly vulnerable. And as an outcast, she’s treated as the kind of person whom everyone, including the king, assumes foreign spies would quickly seek out if they ever came to Jericho. So with all that, I wonder if Rahab trusted the spies because they were kind to her. Kind enough that it contrasted with her treatment by her own people, and made her more willing to believe they would keep their promises.

Maybe they chased out a customer who was getting aggressive.

Maybe one of them helped her fix the door that didn’t quite shut all of the way.

Or maybe they were just polite, treating her with a dignity and respect that few others did.

Or maybe, they didn’t do anything kind at all, and that’s just how desperate her situation was.

Either way, Rahab shows kindness by hiding the spies and saving their lives, tricking their pursuers, and getting them safely out of Jericho. This kindness is complicated, fraught with a desperation to survive.

And oftentimes when we think about kindness, we think about doing something for someone else without expecting anything in return. This isn’t one of those situations. Rahab is clearly expecting something in return for saving the spies and helping them escape. As an outcast, living on the margins of society, Rahab didn’t have much ability to not think about her own survival when she showed kindness.

The spies, on the other hand, hold a little more power. There is nothing Rahab can do once they have escaped to ensure that they will keep the promises they have made. And once the spies escaped, their survival wasn’t contingent on them holding to their promise to save Rahab’s family.

But they still do. They tell Joshua about the promises they made, and he helps them keep them.

Rahab’s house and family are spared when the walls of Jericho are brought down.

The spies risk their lives to get through the rubble and the fighting to get Rahab and bring her and her family to safety.

And the last time Rahab is mentioned in the book of Joshua is when it’s said that her family still lives among the Israelites at the time in which the book was written, which was potentially hundreds of years later.

But that’s not the last time Rahab’s name is mentioned in the Bible.

In Matthew, she is mentioned as being one of the ancestors of Jesus.

And in Hebrews, she is mentioned as being one of the elders of the newly growing Christian faith, specifically for the kindness she showed to the spies, welcoming them in peace.

Even though there may have been conditions to her kindness, Rahab is still lauded in Scripture and held up as an example for us to follow. Her circumstances were taken into account with empathy and understanding, and the courage of her kindness is praised.

But most of the time we are not Rahab; we have resources and time and money and security that we don’t have to think twice about the impact on our finances or safety when we’re kind to someone else. We are more like the spies, who as Christians have made promises to show kindness to those who are marginalized, who are poor, and who are vulnerable in our society.

Our survival doesn’t rely on showing someone else kindness and hoping they’ll do the same in return.

But Rahab’s survival depends on our kindness.

Her family’s survival does too.

Even if we don’t agree with someone’s life choices, whether they freely chose it or were coerced into it by circumstances, we are still called by God to show them kindness.

We are still called to make sure they are safe, and that they have a place to live in peace and raise their families.

We are still called to care for them, just as God cares for them and for us.

So may we be the ones who freely give kindness and freely receive it in all the forms it comes in.