An Unlikely Person

Read Joshua 2, Joshua 6:22-25 and Matthew 1:1-5

The story of Christ’s birth is indeed a miracle. That God would use a virgin to give birth to our Savior will never cease to amaze me. However, in Matthew 1 we witness another miracle of Christ’s birth – the inclusion of Rahab in the family tree.

In Joshua, we learn that Rahab was a prostitute who kept two Israelite spies safe as they snuck into Jericho to spy out the land. Because of her faith and assistance to the spies, her entire family was spared from death when the Israelites arrived to take the land. We don’t hear about her again until Matthew 1:5 when we learn she was one of Jesus’s ancestors.

We aren’t surprised to see great men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomon in Jesus’s genealogy, but a prostitute from Jericho? What was God thinking? Why would He include such an unlikely person? The answer is her faith. Rahab was familiar with the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Amorite kings. She believed the Lord of the Isrealites was “God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:11b). Not only did she have faith, but she put that faith into action by assisting the spies. Thousands of years later, her name is made known not only as a great woman of faith but as one of Jesus Christ’s ancestors – how awesome is that?

The story of Rahab proves God can use us regardless of our past. He wants use us to accomplish great things. We just need to trust in Him and take our next step of faith.