Soldiers

Joshua 2:1

Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there.

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I am just a new boy,
Stranger in this town.
Where are all the good times?
Who's gonna show this stranger around?
Ooooh, I need a dirty woman.
Ooooh, I need a dirty girl.

"Young Lust" by Pink Floyd By Roger Waters and David Gilmour

The land of Israel was open for business, but not quite yet. The Israelites knew that to receive the land the Lord promised them they would have to follow the Lord into the land and, well, displace its current residents. So to prepare for the migration, Joshua sent spies to check out the land.

They went to the home of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there. When the king of Jericho went to Rahab's home seeking the spies, she said they had left and if the army followed quickly they could catch up. She kept Joshua's men safe from the men of Jericho.

She is a soldier in the army of the Lord. For this she is remembered in the Psalms. For this she is remembered in the book of Hebrews as a hero of the faith. You know, we want our daughters to be remembered as heroes of the faith, but we don't want them to come home from Career Day at school with information on becoming a prostitute. So how do we use this lesson?

This is important, God will use us, each and every one of us, as fits every purpose under heaven. God saved Rahab and her family from the destruction of Jericho because she participated in the Israelite migration. She was a good soldier. She is a hero of the faith.

Still to those who judge a book by the cover, it is the Lord who writes the words in the pages of the book of our lives. And sometimes we need someone to show a stranger around. God uses all of us, even the dirty woman.