Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Joshua 2,1-21. 17. Trinity

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Joshua 2,1-21 5219

17. Sn. n. Trinitatis 062

Colomann, Martyr in Stockerau (Vienna), Austria 1012

13. October 2019

1. O Christ Jesus, the Exalted One who humbled Himself; give us the wisdom and discernment when we should be humble or when we should be exalted, so that we have the best interest of You and our neighbors fore most in our thoughts and actions. Amen. (Luke 14,10-11)

2. »Rahab said: „We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you went out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.“ And the 2 Israelite spies replied to her: „Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.“« (Joshua 2,10-14)

3. The people of Jericho had heard what the Lord God had time to pharaoh in Egypt and with two kings of the Amorites. Now the Lord was leading the great host of Israel to Jericho, and the city was afraid. The Lord had plagued Egypt and decimated pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea. 40 years later Israel sought safe passage through Moab, but King Sihon denied such a passage and then attacked them. Israel conquered all 12 of Sihon’s cities and then went further north in conquer King Og. The Lord has Israel turn west toward Jericho so they can enter Canaan and take possession of the land He had promised to Abraham centuries earlier.

4. For 6 days the ark of the covenant lead the people in the march around Jericho (Joshua 6,14-15). On the seventh day, they marched around the city 7 times and on the 7. March they shouted and blew horns: the wall around Jericho fell flat and they captured the city. Every thing in the city was devoted to destruction: men and women, young and old, ox sheep and donkeys were all killed by the Israelites (Joshua 6,20-21). Only Rahab and those safe in her house were spared by the Lord and Israel. A whole city, save one family, was slaughtered … by the command of the Lord This Biblical account causes all sorts of angst among people: it presents, for many, a moral dilemma because the Lord orders this destruction.

5. Why does the Lord command this wholesale destruction of a city? It all goes back to God’s promise to Abraham: »Your offspring shall return here in the 4. generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete« (Genesis 15,16). Moses then tells us the sin of the Amorites: »You shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and cast down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire« (Deuteronomy 7,5). »Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants« (Leviticus 18,25). The nations in Canaan were incestuous, sexually immoral, adulterers, homosexuality, bestiality and offered their children up to Molech (Leviticus 18). »Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the Faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to 1000 generations, and repays to their face those who hate Him, by destroying them« (Deuteronomy 7,9-10). „God, who is long-suffering and patient, does not punish evil doers immediately. But this does not mean they escape entirely, for the time has been appointed when they will be brought to trial and will pay the penalties their crimes deserve“ (Luther 3,40). The ungodly are being reserved for the day of judgment in order to be punished (2. Peter 3,7), and these punishments are delayed by God so that they have ample time to repent (Romans 2,4). God meted out His punishment to Jericho through Israel.

6. While the inhabitants of Jericho remains stubbornly in their sins, Rahab sees the approaching host of Israel as judgment upon them by by the God of Israel. She says to the two spies: »I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us.« She confesses that the God of Israel is the God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. She pleas for mercy for her and her family. Before Jericho is destroyed, Joshua said: »Go into the prostitute’s house/inn and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her« (Joshua 6,22). The two men who had promised Rahab mercy went and saved Rahab, her parents, her brothers and all her relatives (Joshua 6,23). They then lived in Israel (Joshua 6,25), and she repents of her Molech and Asherah idols, turns unto the worship of the Lord and marries a Jewish man, Salmon of the tribe of Judah (Matthew 1,3.5). Salmon and Rahab had a son, Boaz, who married Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4,13.18-22), their son was Obed, who was the father of Jesse who was the father of David (Matthew 1,5); Rahab was the great-great grandmother of King David and Matthew mentions both Rahab and Ruth in his genealogy of Jesus.

7. In rabbinic literature, the Midrash, Rahab is named as one of the 4 most beautiful women the world has known (alongside Sarah, Abigail (David’s 3. wife) and Esther). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul declares: »By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies« (Hebrews 11,31), and James says: »Rahab the prostitute was righteous and her works testified to this righteousness when she welcomed the spies and sent them out another way« (James 2,25). God’s mercy is abundant in Rahab’s life and His blessings overflow as she is an ancestor of David. Luke tells us one of David’s distant descendants is Heli, the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 3,23). Thus, winding His way through history from Rahab at Jericho to Mary at Bethlehem, God creates a gracious, beautiful tapestry of salvation given to mankind.

8. With Jesus, we arrive full circle back to Jericho. The mass of Gentile sinners with their idols and immoralities were barricaded behind the walls they had erected to keep God out. But in Christ, God has gotten past our defensive barriers and has entered into our midst, walking among us, teaching us and showing us God’s grace upon sinners. The Jews also need this gracious God, for they had turned his law into the path of works righteousness meant to earn God’s favor, rather than to receive His mercy as a gift given at the temple with the sacrifices for sin. Christ leads His Israel into another siege where sinners will be put to the sword; another conquest for the mighty host of the Lord. Israel saw their Messiah and punished Him as that sinner and blasphemer. They demanded He be crucified. Jesus, they argue, is no better than idolatrous Jerichoites, and thus He must die.

9. Israel destroyed Jericho by God’s command. Jesus destroyed His body and three days later He raised it up (John 2,19). In his first apostolic sermon, Peter proclaimed: »Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works, wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins« (Acts 2,22-24.36.38).

10. In Christ, not just one family, but the entire city, yes, all men and women around the world, Jew and Gentile alike, have been forgiven by God. „Here is a love beyond the limits of our understanding. We cannot explain it. It drives solely from the heart of God before time and beyond time. From the cross I know that God loves me. That redeeming love is not only for me or a limited number of men“ (Nagel 119-20,10). „They [those baptized] confess Jesus Christ as the one who and all our gone-wrongness, suffered for our sins, answering for them in our place, so that our sins condemned in Him no longer condemn us for by Calvary we are freed from the dominion of sin. ... Through Him we know God to be gracious toward us, forgiving, and our Father who embraces us in Christ and His righteousness. God is the Creator loves us and we receive the gifts of His creation from His trusted hand“ (Nagel 118,4). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Christ, who shows us the steadfast love of the Father; hear our pleas for mercy, so that in receiving Your unconditional grace and forgiveness we respond with praise of Your faithfulness. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Nagel, Norman E. „The Gospel Is What Lutherans Care About“. The Springfielder, Vol. 37, No. 2 September 1973.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Joshua 2,1-21. 17. Trinity

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