Whom Do You Fear?
“And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.” Joshua 2:2-3
Joshua, Moses’ successor who led the Hebrew people into the promised land, wasted no time in preparing to cross the Jordan River to begin Israel’s conquest of the land that God had given them. Many areas of the land in which Joshua and Israel were to settle were already occupied by people who did not know the God of Israel nor were they interested in getting to know Him. These were mostly the Canaanites, descendants of Canaan, Ham’s son and Noah’s grandson. They were descendants of Adam but not Abraham.
Since God created the world and put man in it, it was and is His prerogative to place people wherever and whenever He chooses. The Canaanites may have assumed ownership of the land of Canaan, but God did not give it to them. He allowed them to live there until such time as He designated it for His chosen people, Israel. It was now the task of Joshua to strategize exactly how the men of Israel would overtake and occupy this land. The city of Jericho was about 22 miles northeast of Jerusalem and was the place from which Joshua and Israel would begin their conquest into the western side of the promised land.
Joshua ordered two men to secretly go into Jericho as spies to search out the city to gather information so that Joshua could prepare a method of attack. When the two spies arrived, they stopped at a house which belong to a prostitute named Rahab. Bible commentators believe that because of her actions in helping these two spies that her life as a prostitute was in the past. However, as often happens, a name sticks long after it no longer applies. It appears that her home was now a public house, a hotel for travelers in which to lodge from their journeys. This would be the place where God would send these two spies from Israel to spend the night.
Apparently, the king of Jericho also had spies which kept watch over the city to keep track of any strangers who entered the gates. When word of the entrance of the two men of Israel came to the king, he was suspicious. The people of Jericho had heard about the miracles that were performed upon the people of Israel, and that made the people of Jericho fearful. Somehow the word got out that these two men were spies. We know from Rahab’s choice to help these spies that it wasn’t her who spread the word. The king of Jericho sent men to Rahab’s inn to demand that she bring the two men out to them because they were spies, and it was a matter of public safety that they be captured. This was an order by the king. What was Rahab to do? She felt a need to protect them because they were her guests and because God had given her some knowledge that this was all in His plan. On the other hand, though, what would happen to her and her family if she disobeyed the command of the king? She decided to help the two men escape rather than turning them over to the king. Apparently, the urge to protect the men and her fear of God were greater than her fear of the king of Jericho.
Fast forward to today. After seeing some of the violent protests by the pro-abortion crowd and thinking back a couple of years ago to the violent chaos which erupted after the death of George Floyd, it has confirmed to me that fewer and fewer people have any fear at all of God. They do whatever they feel like doing with a clenched fist raised to heaven as if they were daring God to stop them. He will stop them, but in His own timing. When they made it unconstitutional to read God’s word, to pray, or to have a copy of God’s word in schools, they took away the only spiritual training that some children had. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children about God and His word, but many parents today, as products of the abandonment of spiritual nurturing in their childhood, have no real interest in teaching their own children something that they were never taught. And thus, it has become a vicious cycle which has turned into a vicious society with no regard for God, for others, or for life. They are like the Canaanites who had no interest to know the God of Israel.
I fear God. He is the sovereign, holy, righteous, and omnipotent God, and I know that He can do whatever He desires, whenever He desires, to whomever He desires, and in doing so is perfectly justified. That is what it means to fear God. We are not to cower before Him as if He were some ogre in the sky ready to zap us if we step out of line, but rather to respect, honor, obey, and submit to Him as our Lord. We know that He loves us because He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die so that we could have an eternal home with Him and not have to face eternal judgment which will be the end result of all those who defy Him in their love of sin, their pride, and in their rejection of Christ. The only way they can be changed is for God to change their hearts, but if they are not willing to repent and submit to Him, they will spend their lives searching for an elusive peace in the things of the world rather than have the peace of and with God, the most valuable possession in all of eternity.