Jos 2:12-14 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 men said 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.”
After this confession Rahab entreated the spies to spare her family (father’s house), and made them promise her on oath as a sign of their fidelity, that on the capture of Jericho, which is tacitly assumed as self-evident after what had gone before, they would save alive her parents, and brothers and sisters, and all that belonged to them (i.e., according to Joshua 6:23, the children and families of her brothers and sisters), and not put them to death; all of which they promised her on oath. “A true token,” lit. a sign of truth, i.e., a sign by which they guaranteed the truth of the kindness for which she asked. This sign consisted in nothing but the solemn oath with which they were to confirm their assurance, and, according to Joshua 2:14, actually did confirm it. The oath itself was taken in these words, “our soul shall die for you,” by which they pledged their life for the life of Rahab and her family in this sense: God shall punish us with death if we are faithless, and do not spare thy life and the lives of thy relations. Though the name of God is not really expressed, it was implied in the fact that the words are described as swearing by Jehovah. But the spies couple their assurance with this condition, “if ye utter not this our business,” do not betray us, sc., so that we should be pursued, and our life endangered; “then will we show thee mercy and truth” (Keil)
Putting herself at risk, Rahab rejected her past identity as a Canaanite and wanted to be identified with the people of God, with Israel. She married a man from the tribe of Judah named Salmon. They had a son named Boaz, who married a Moabite woman named Ruth. They had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David (Matthew 1:5-6). Rahab was a direct ancestor of David, the great king of Israel, and assuming no generations are left out of the record, she was his great-great-grandmother (the grandmother of David’s grandfather Obed). (Guzik)
Note how in their discussion with Rahab she told them of the fear the people of Jericho had of the God of Israel. They believed in the power of God and the blessings He gave to the Israelites. They heard of His awesome power, wonders, and might. And yet, It was only Rahab and her family that had faith to trust in the God of these people.
Scripture tells us that just like in the times of Noah, when people were told of coming judgment, they rejected it. Just as life in Sodom and Gomorrah was prosperous and people thought only of themselves and their hearts were filled with lusts of the flesh, judgment came. People know of God, and yet they reject Him, deny Him, and give no thought to His coming judgment. Here in Jericho the people knew and gave thought to it. They feared the God of the Israelites. Only Rahab and her extended family, by faith, trusted in the agents of this God, the spies.
There is a time coming soon, when Jesus will return in the air and take all of His to be with him forever, and after this begins the tribulation period for the remaining people on earth. There will be people who, upon seeing the rapture of Christians, will believe, come to faith, and witness to others about faith in God. Note; all of those who remain after the rapture are the ones who had previously rejected Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Salvation.
How many times in the bible does it say; “He who has an ear, let him hear”. Upon hearing there must be some form of action. That action leads to eternal life. Hear, repent, believe, trust, follow, obey, and rely in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the redemption of your soul. This is the action required upon hearing the Gospel. To reject it will end as it has in hundreds of examples given in scriptures, judgment, death, and eternal separation from God in total darkness and torment.
