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In this depraved time, it was first and foremost Jeremiah to whom was delegated the task of proclaiming the word of God. He was a descendant of Joshua and Rahab, and his father was the prophet Hilkiah. He was born while his father was fleeing from the persecution of Jezebel, the murderess of prophets. At his very birth he showed signs that he was destined to play a great part.
Rahab promised them deliverance, only she exacted from them a promise in return that they would save alive her father and her mother and her loved ones; and when she let them down by means of a cord from the window of her home they said to her, "Bind this scarlet cord in the window and gather your loved ones here and they shall be saved."
She would find herself alluded to in a biblical parallel with "the Egyptian midwives," with Nebuchadnezzar, and Rahab the harlot. Her acquaintance with these amiable idolaters may have been slight, but the comparison was odious, and far from tactful.
As Jeremiah was a kinsman of the prophetess their common ancestors were Joshua and Rahab the king felt no apprehension that the prophet take his preference for Huldah amiss. The proud, dignified answer of the prophetess was, that the misfortune could not be averted from Israel, but the destruction of the Temple, she continued consolingly, would not happen until after the death of Josiah.
Antony gave it to Cleopatra, and Herod bought it from her for a winter palace, where he died. Nothing fine or brave, so far as I can remember, is written of any of its inhabitants, except the good deed of Rahab, a harlot, and the honest conduct of Zacchæus, a publican. To this day, at the tables d'hôte of Jerusalem the name of Jericho stirs up a little whirlwind of bad stories and warnings.
Lightfoot, the story of Rahab, is not quite in point, because it is narrative, and narrative both in Clement and the other writers of his time is dealt with more freely than discourse. The passage before us is also of greater length than is usual in Clement's free quotations.
They also burnt the whole city, and the country about it; but they saved alive Rahab, with her family, who had fled to her inn.
Again, is there such a length? such a length in the arm of the Lord, that he can reach those that are gone away, as far as they could? then this should encourage us to pray, and hope for the salvation of any one of our backslidden relations, that God would reach out his arm after them: Saying, "Awake, O arm of the Lord, art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
"It cannot be denied that they have attained a very high standard of goodness who never lie except to save a man from injury; but in the case of men who have reached this standard, it is not the deceit, but their good intention, that is justly praised, and sometimes even rewarded," as in the case of Rahab in the Bible story. "There is no lie that is not contrary to truth.
But was not Rahab the harlot in like manner justified by works, when she entertained the messengers, and sent them away by a different road? For as the body without breath is dead, so faith without works is dead also. MY brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive a severer judgment. For in many things we all offend.
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