Focus Verse: Hebrews 11:31 (NKJ)
By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

Chapter 2 of Joshua details the story of Rahab the harlot. When God sent Joshua and the children of Israel across the Jordan River and into the land of Canaan to take possession of the land, the first order of business was to destroy the city of Jericho. It was one of the largest, most prosperous, and most thoroughly fortified cities in the land. But the city was cursed of God and marked for destruction. The sentence of death had been passed upon it forty years earlier (Ex. 23:27-28). In the story of Rahab, two spies are sent to search out the city. These men would have to cross the …show more content…

(Joshua 2:12-13)

Rahab believed they would take the city, so in exchange for their protection, an oath is extracted from the spies in the name of the Lord. Oaths in the name of a deity or deities were in the ancient world. (Edward P. Blair)

So the men answered her, Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. And she said to them, Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way. So the men said to her We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, 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