Theological term
Retrospective Benefit of the Cross
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The Conversion of Rahab the Harlot
Joshua 2 presents the conversion of Rahab the harlot as a sovereign interruption of divine mercy within the context of holy war and Israelite conquest. Before Israel kills a single Canaanite, the narrative compels the reader to stand in awe of a God who justifies a pagan prostitute by grace through faith alone — faith that is demonstrated by treason against Jericho and the sheltering of two spies. Rahab's confession that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on earth beneath places her alongside the great confessions of Scripture, and her inclusion in the Messianic genealogy of Matthew 1 reveals that the conquest was always inseparable from the redemptive purposes of God. The sermon calls hearers to resist self-righteous judgmentalism, to trust in a Christ who saves to the uttermost, and to marvel that the ancestress of Jesus was the shady lady of Jericho.