RAHAB INTERVENES:
SPIES FROM ISRAEL AVOID BEING CAPTURED
Joshua 2:1,3-4,6,8-13,15-16,18-22
[1]Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.
[3]So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.”
[4]Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
[6](But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.)
[8]Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof,
[9]and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you.
[10]For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
[11]And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
[12]Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token,
[13]and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”
[15]Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall.
[16]And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.”
[18]unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home.
[19]So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.
[20]And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.”
[21]Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.
[22]They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The sought them all along the way, but did not find them.
PROPHETESS DEBORAH INTERVENES
HELPS BARAK PURSUE ARMY OF SISERA:
Judges 4:1,4-10,14-16
[1]When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord.
[5]And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
[6]Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;
[7]and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
[8]And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
[9]So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
[10]And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up with him.
[14]Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
[15]And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.
[16]But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
JAEL, WIFE OF HEBER INTERVENES:
ADVISES SISERA
Judges 4:17-21
[17]However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
[18]And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.
[19]Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him.
[20]And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”
[21]Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
TODAY'S PRAISE SONG:
FRED HAMMOND:
