Rahab, Bathsheba

February 7, 2021

Randy Hageman

When we look at Jesus’ genealogy, we see that it’s made up of very imperfect, flawed people, even in individuals like David or Abraham, yet God

these flawed individuals to be Jesus’ ancestors, and to even point us to Christ and his ministry.

God has always had a purpose for each of our lives, and taking a life seemingly broken beyond repair and restoring it to something

is often how God works.

Rahab and Bathsheba were unlikely members of Jesus’ genealogy for at least two reasons:

1. They were

.

2. They had reasons in their place of

or

Reveal Answer

circumstances to further disqualify them.

Bathsheba

…David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife —Matthew 1:6 (NIV11)

Uriah was an

in David’s army and was a member of his elite fighting group called “the Thirty.”

[Bathsheba] said to [King David], ‘My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the LORD your God: “Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.” But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it.… My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.’ —1 Kings 1:17-21 (NIV11)

We can affirm a couple of things about Bathsheba:

1. The sting of

would probably follow her all her life.

2. She was a

of David’s kingship and power, but we don’t get the impression that she acted the part of a

Reveal Answer

.

Rahab

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.… —Matthew 1:5-6 (NIV11)

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. —Joshua 2:1 (NIV11)

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.’ —Joshua 2:2-3 (NIV11)

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.) —Joshua 2:4-6 (NIV11)

Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, ‘I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 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.’ —Joshua 2:8-11 (NIV11)

Rahab is recorded as saying the Lord God’s name – Yahweh or LORD – and

He is God of heaven and earth.

‘Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.’ ‘Our lives for your lives!’ the men assured her. ‘If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.’ So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. She said to them, ‘Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.’ —Joshua 2:12-16 (NIV11)

Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.’ So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. —Joshua 6:22-23 (NIV11)

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. —Hebrews 11:31 (NIV11)

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. —James 2:23-26 (NIV11)

Rahab showed her faith in God through her

.

The Lausanne World Pulse website: More Than Dreams (morethandreams.org):

For decades, a well-documented phenomenon has been occurring in the Muslim world—men and women who, without knowledge of the gospel, or contact among Christians in their community, have experienced dreams and visions of Jesus Christ. The reports of these supernatural occurrences often come from “closed countries” where there is no preaching of the good news and where converting to Christianity can invoke the death sentence. But these are more than just dreams. Setting them apart is the intense reality of the experience and the surrender of one’s heart and mind to Christ in the wake of the dream. A common denominator appears to be that the dreams come to those who are seeking—as best they can—to know and please God. —Lausanne World Pulse

Rahab sought “to know and please God” the best she could, and she was counted as

for this.

With both Bathsheba and Rahab, we see God using the most

people.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. —2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NLT)

Next Week: Ruth & Boaz