Two spies had been sent to Jericho in advance of the Israelites’ taking of that city.

Josh 2:1 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.
2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.”
3 So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.”
4 Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
5 “And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.”
6 (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.)
7 Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.
8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof,
9 and said to the men: “I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you.
10 “For 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 the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
11 “And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you,
for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
12 “Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token,
13 “and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”
14 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.”
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall.
16 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.”
17 So the men said to her: “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear,
18 “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.
19 “So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.
20 “And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.”
21 Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.
22 They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them.
23 So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them.

24 And they said to Joshua, “Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”

“Tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window”

Rahab allowed the Hebrew spies to escape from Jericho by letting them down through her window by means of a rope made of scarlet thread. As they departed, the spies told Rahab, “Tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window”

(Josh 2:18)the promise that she and her household would be kept safe in the coming invasion.

By faith, Rahab obeyed: “And she tied the scarlet cord in the window” (verse 21).

Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho:
Josh 6: 23 And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.
24 But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
25 And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

God didn’t leave Rahab outside the camp. He brought her smack dab to the center of Jesus’ family tree.

Heb 11: 31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

Matt 1:(NKJV) 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.

“Jesus is heir of a line in which flows the blood of the harlot Rahab, and of the rustic Ruth; he is akin to the fallen and to the lowly, and he will show his love even to the poorest and most obscure.” —Spurgeon
Jesus identifies with sinners in His genealogy, even as He will in His birth, baptism, life, and His death on the cross.

The Bible mentions a scarlet thread in several different contexts, from an unusual childbirth to the high priestly garments to the conquest of Canaan.

The Bible also mentions scarlet thread or scarlet yarn as part of the tabernacle’s curtains (Exodus 26:1) and the high priest’s ephod (Exodus 28:6), along with threads of gold, blue, and purple. Scripture does not comment on the significance of those colors in the curtains or ephod, but some commentators surmise that the gold, blue, and purple foreshadow Christ’s glory, heavenly origin, and kingly position, while the scarlet thread represents Christ’s atoning work on the cross through the shedding of His blood.

3 Life Lessons of Rahab’s Scarlet Thread

1.God saves those with a past.

No matter what our past whispers to us, no matter what our past holds, our past is the reason Jesus was born.

2. God uses those with a past.

Maybe you can nod and amen that God can save anyone with a past but here’s where you get stuck: believing that God can use anyone with a past as well.

3. God redefines those with a past.

When scripture mentions Rahab, she’s almost always called Rahab the harlot except in Matthew’s genealogy. Matthew calls her Rahab, mother of Boaz.
God redefined Rahab
from a fallen woman to a chosen woman,
from a bad girl to a bride,
from a mess to a mother and
from prostitute to progenitor of the Messiah.

The scarlet rope—the color of blood—worked for Rahab much as the blood of the Passover lamb had worked during the exodus: every home marked with blood was spared death that night (Exodus 12:13).

Theologians and Bible students sometimes refer to “the scarlet thread running through the Bible.” By this they mean that the Bible’s theme is Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for the redemption of mankind.

The blood of Christ runs throughout the entire Bible, symbolically. It is seen in the animals killed in Eden to provide garments for Adam and Eve, the ram that took Isaac’s place on the altar of Moriah, the Passover lamb, the institution of the sacrificial system, the scarlet rope of Rahab, and the thousands of years of sacrifices performed at the tabernacle and temple. The scarlet thread runs all the way up to John the Baptist’s declaration, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) and to the foot of the cross, where Jesus finally says, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22), and that’s why the symbolism of the scarlet thread in the Bible is significant.

The scarlet thread is the theme of atonement found throughout the pages of Scripture.

Eph 2: 4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
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