Hebrews 11.31
September 21st 2014
Welcome to the MEAT Gathering of CAMPUS.
Prayer
Music
Silence
Okay. If you haven’t noticed yet the writer of Hebrews is not only presenting us with the Hall of Fame of Faith characters here in chapter 11 but he is simultaneously teaching us how God brought about the Nation of Israel and in particular, the faithful members of it.
Naturally he started with Abel and his offering (skipping Adam), then he went to Enoch, and Noah who brought the human race through the flood.
Then he moved on to Abraham, the Father of the faith.
But before I continue with what we read here in Hebrews about the faithful I want to address someone who is NOT mentioned here by the writer.
Ishamael.
We know from scripture that God elected the Nation of Israel to bring forth His oracles and His Law. We also know that by His foreknowledge He had the Lord Jesus Christ come through the same line.
Now, there is a lot of animus for the Muslims (and or the Arabs) in the world today – or better put, for the offspring of Ishmael, Abraham’s son through Hagar the Egyptian handmaiden.
Ironically this hatred often comes from those out of the House of Israel, out of the mouths of self-proclaimed Christians, and out of the mouths of much of the world who lump all Arabs into Islamic traditions, and all Muslims into radical fundamentalist camps.
As Christians who seek the Living God in spirit and in truth and who agree with scripture that tells us that we walk by faith and love, how are we to view Muslims, Arabs, and in the end all descendants of Ishmael.
With love – open arms, helping hands, prayerful concern.
Unfortunately we are often (especially in this age of post 9/11 and present Isis activity) met with the opposite attitudes in the church. I mean a real distrust and animus.
Now we know that in the picture of Ishmael and Hagar and Isaac and Sarah that we have a biblical illustration of the flesh (found in Ishmael) and the Spirit (found in Isaac).
In Galatians 4:21-26 Paul writes the following:
“Tell me, (he asks the believers at Galatia) ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?”
It seems that in order to fully express the nature and the effects of “the law” on fallen man, Paul introduces an illustration from an important point in the Jewish history.
Quite honestly, the allegory is not real easy to understand and in some respects scholars are at odds with the ultimate meaning behind it.
May the Spirit guide.
Simply put (to match my mind) the design of the comparison is not so difficult to understand.
Paul is trying to show the effect of being under the bondage or servitude of the Jewish law, compared with the freedom which the Good News of Christ.
It appears from verse 9 of chapter 4 of Galatians that the believers there had a real desire to be servants to the Law.
So he represented Christianity as a state of freedom, and Christians as the sons of God–not servants, but freemen.
To show the difference of the two conditions, he appeals to two cases which would furnish a striking illustration of them.
I would suggest that it presents an even more striking illustration for us today.
On the one side we have the story of Hagar and her son Ishmael.
Why did they represent bondage in Paul’s illustration? Because their lives they were treated with severity and were cast out and were persecuted – all the same end results of living under the law.
The interesting thing about the Hagar and Ishmael story is that what they endured was fair treatment – treatment that even God told Abraham to expose them to.
You see, Hagar was an Egyptian handmaiden, and she had no rights. In fact, Ishmael was really regarded by tradition as Abraham and Sarah’s son.
But this was not the bloodline God wanted.
So the ill-treatment, and the banishment, and the severe expose to the elements were all pictures of what it’s like to live life under the Law of Moses.
If we look to Islam today, to Arab nations as a whole even, we can still see vestiges of severity in their lives – so the illustration continues even to this day, as Islam is truly one of the most legalistic religions on earth.
Of course the other case mentioned in the comparison was that of Isaac. He was the son of a “free woman,” Sarah, and was treated accordingly.
You see, Isaac was viewed as a genuine son–not as a servant.
This was a good illustration of all who are made free by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
See, in the Gospel, which came in and through the nation of Israel, offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, there is utter liberty as we are all “dead to the Law” as Paul says.
To show the Jewish convert there in Galatia that to revert back to the law would be a mistake, he pulled from an illustration that showed one son a servant (to the Law, the product of a bondwoman) and the other free, the son of the freewoman.
He goes on and then delivers the comparative, saying:
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh (one with a common origin and non spiritual tie to God) but he of the freewoman was by promise (the promise that God would make Him a .
But he who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh – meaning he was of the ordinary course of nature, without any special promise, or any unusual divine interposition on his behalf, which was not the case of Isaac.
Who, in accordance with a special promise arrive with remarkable Divine interposition.
The idea here (of Paul) is, that the son of the slave was in a humble and inferior condition from his very birth. There was no special promise attending him. He was born into a state of inferiority and servitude, which attended him through his whole life.
Isaac, however, was met with promises as soon as he was born, and was under the benefit of those promises as long as he lived.
The object Paul is making has to do with being free or being a slave.
Bondage from birth is attended with evils from beginning to end – to the grave.
And this is what the Law produces is His point.
But to be born a Son, on the other hand, brings with it just the opposite.
So Paul continues and says:
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
They are an illustration, or they present great principles in the comparison between bondmen and free.
Paul then takes the illustration further and says
25 For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
In other words Hagar represents the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Now this passage brings with it all sorts of debate. But the plainest and most obvious sense seems to be a straight comparison between Hagar as Law and Sara as Liberty, with Hagar being likened to Mount Sinai, where the Law was given.
When Paul adds,
and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
He seems to be saying, speaking of Sinai and Hagar whom he compares Sinai to, that Jerusalem is now like Sinai, full of law and like her is in bondage with her children.
And then He adds
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”
And obviously he is now comparing the freedom that exists in the New Jerusalem, the spiritual Jerusalem, or the true church of God, which exists in heaven and to whom he is likening to Sarah and Isaac by comparison.
So, now, back to my point – what or how are believers today supposed to see the Arabs and the descendants of Ishmael – whether they be Muslim or simply Arab.
Paul certainly used Hagar and Ishmael as an illustration of bondage, but Paul also said – stay with me – that in Christ Jesus there is neither BOND nor FREE . . . male or female, Jew or Greek.
Also, remember what God Himself told Abraham and Hagar when He separated them.
God said:
Behold, I will make Ishmael a GREAT nation.
God said this. He would make them a great nation.
How did He do this? Like Jacob, Ishmael had twelve sons and one daughter, Basemath or Mahalath who married Esau.
Ishamael’s sons names were:
Nabeet
Qaidar (from whom Mohammed descends)
Adbeel
Mubsem
Masmou
Doomah
Masa
Tayman
Yathur
Nafees, and Quadamah
Why even cover this in Christian church?
I would suggest strongly that as the “redeemed of Christ,” we might want to work very hard to refuse cultural categorization and hasty generalizations – and see every Arab as potential benefactors of the Great News of Jesus Christ.
This begins – BEGINS with education. It will become a reality when we engage.
Granted, there is biblical difficulty with Ishmael fathering the Ishmaelites. They troubled Israel then. They trouble Israel now (and vice versa). I mean in terms of numbers, the “Ishmaelites make up 25% of it. Interestingly, only 15% of Muslims are Arab.”
It’s time we, as Christians, drop the fear, the bias, even the prejudice and reach to them no differently than we would reach to a Mormon, who too, are children of bondage.
Are some of them dangerous and duplicitous – of course – just like there are dangerous and duplicitous Christian’s.
But let’s not let fear and hatred rule over our hearts for all peoples.
Okay, after Abraham and Sarah, the writer presents the next link in the chain we call Israel – Isaac.
Then Jacob.
Then Joseph, and then Moses.
Then last week we read how the actual nation of Israel, by FAITh, crossed the parted Red Sea as if on dry ground.
And through this narrative the writer has clearly shown how God has carved the nation of Israel out.
From our text for today the writer pulls from one story two examples of faith.
The story is – the fall of Jericho and our first passage says:
Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.
The story of Jericho’s falling walls is found in Joshua 6 beginning at verse 1 which says:
Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
2 And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.
3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.
7 And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD.
8 And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.
9 And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
10 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.
11 So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
13 And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
14 And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
16 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.
17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD:
only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. (this verse is going to play into the next example of faith that the writer supplies – Rahab the Harlot)
18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
22 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.
23 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.
24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.
27 So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.
Now Jericho means, “place of fragrance,” and was a fenced city in the midst of a vast grove of palm trees, in the plain of Jordan, over against the place where that river was crossed by the Israelites.
According to Numbers 22:1 it was the most important city in the Jordan valley and the strongest fortress in all the land of Canaan. It was the key to Western Palestine.
This city was taken in a very remarkable manner by the Israelites (Jos 6:1-27). God gave it into their hands. The city was “accursed” and all the inhabitants and all the spoil of the city were to be destroyed, “only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron” were reserved and “put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah.”
Only Rahab “and her father’s household, and all that she had,” were preserved from destruction, according to the promise of the spies (Jos 2:14).
As an historical evidence of this defeaet in an Amarna tablet a man named Adoni-zedec wrote to the king of Egypt informing him that the Hebrews had prevailed and taken over the fortress of Jericho, plundering “all the king’s lands.”
The city of Jericho was ultimately given to the tribe of Benjamin (according to Joshua 18:21).
We don’t hear about it again until the time of David where 2nd Samuel 10:5.
In New Testament times Jericho stood some distance to the south-east of the ancient one, and near the opening of the valley of Achor.
It was known as a rich and flourishing town, having a considerable trade, and celebrated for the palm trees which were all around.
Jesus visited it on his last journey to Jerusalem and it was here that He gave sight to two blind men (Mt 20:29-34; Mr 10:46-52), and brought salvation to the house of Zacchaeus the publican (Lu 19:2-10).
So the writer here says “by faith the walls of Jericho fell” I would suggest that he is intimating that the walls did not fall from natural causes nor did the wind or noise from the horns cause them to fall.
God did, by the faith of those involved.
It was the confidence in God that means so little could accomplish a feat so great.
And this is yet another element of faith which God uses – He employs the little, humble, even the broken things to accomplish great events.
In this He is glorified . . . and not the other way around.
For me one of the fails of Mormonism is their appeals to the flesh, to the strong and the powerful to prove their validity.
If men and his institutions are strong and powerful and successful wherein is God glorified?
We have plenty of biblical examples of this right?
Why do continue to look to successes in the flesh, to numbers, and material supremacy to justify our heavenly value.
How is God and His power glorified when great numbers of men accomplish apparently great things?
I don’t get it.
It was 300 horns blown that felled the walls of Jericho, it was a shepherd boy and three stones that dropped Goliath, it was a babe born in a manger that changed and saved the world.
But we insist on forgetting these models – and employing our own wisdom.
Obviously, this old testament event is a picture and it’s a good one.
I suppose it could be understood or seen in a dozen different ways but to me the spiritual application is evident.
First, we can’t help but note that in verse one that Jericho was completely shut up.
Like the minds and hearts of individuals.
In verse two the LORD tells Joshua that He has given them Jericho. So we know who is behind the victory from the start.
Then God instructs them on how to do their part, saying that they should go around the city once, blowing their trumpets, and to do it six days in a row.
I would suggest this is a picture of preachers of the gospel (good and bad) blowing the good news against the strong hold surrounding the human heart.
Day one they blow – nothing.
Day two – nothing.
Day three, four, five, six.
The walls stand tall and strong.
Then on the seventh day they take the rams horns and blow but this time when the people hear the horns they give a shout – they add their witness, their voice, and the hardened wall built around Jericho – and the walls of every human heart – fall.
We note that the words the writer gives in the account say that when the people shouted the :
“wall fell down flat.”
Like they do in the human conversion experience.
And then we note what they did once the walls came down, right?
21 says it “And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.”
Again, the picture of why believers go to church – their walls around the content of their hearts have fallen, but then they need have the contents of their hearts destroyed!
In Jericho, they were destroyed by the edge of the sword. In Christianity, the contents are destroyed by the word of God, which, as scripture says, is SHARPER than any TWO EDGED SWORD dividing asunder soul from spirit!
One more observation in the story. Was everything destroyed? Everything – man, women, children and all the animals.
The only thing not destroyed was the gold and silver and the vessels of brass and iron.
Why? And what were they used for?
We read in Joshua such precious metals and useful items were not to be taken for personal use but for the Lord and the temple treasury.
The parallel to spiritual conversion? In my opinion, there were two areas within the human heart – the evil, no matter how old or young, the animalistic and bestial and then those things that had value and could be used in the work of God.
Amazing pictures, eh?
This brings us to the next example of faith the writer mentions in Hebrews 11 at verse 31 he says:
31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
For some this is frankly an amazing passage for obvious reasons – the writer of Hebrews, who skipped mentioning Eve, or Deborah the prophetess, or Ruth or Naomi or any of the female heroines of the Old Testament mentions Rahab – who was a harlot.
We have to wonder why?
One meaning of Rahab is “insolence and pride,” and in biblical poetry it is often given to Egypt (as in Psalm 87:4; 89:10 and Isaiah 51:9 calls Egypt “the proud one.”
Another meaning is broad or large.
In the final preparations to go in an invade Jericho Joshua sent in two men
to “spy the land.”
After five days they returned, having swum across the river, which at this season, the month Abib, overflowed its banks from the melting of the snow on Lebanon.
The spies reported how it had fared with them. They had been exposed to danger in Jericho but had been saved by the acts of Rahab the harlot, to whose house they had gone for protection.
When the city of Jericho fell Rahab and her whole family (as we read) were preserved according to the promise of the spies, and were incorporated among the Jewish people.
Later she became the wife of Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah.
To give some historical validity to the story of Rahab, we know in Eastern culture that when Rahab was told to bring out the spies from her house this was customary because no man could enter a woman’s residence without her permission.
Additionally, when we read that Rahab covered the spies with “bundles of flax which lay on her house-roof (Joshua 2:6) we have a wonderful proof text given us because at that time of the year the barley
and flax were harvested so that the bundles of flax stalks might have been expected to be drying at that time right up on her roof.
For her act of hospitality and kindness, they assured her of safety when the city should be destroyed, and directed her to give an indication of her place of abode to the invading Israelites, that her house might be spared.
In the destruction of the city, she was accordingly preserved by her act of faith.
How as faith expressed.
She was told that she and her family would be spared if she assisted them and she trusted in this, plain and simple.
Had she not trusted it, she would have given the spies up.
Now, let’s wrap today up with a little reality, shall we.
Over the course of scholarly Christian history this passage has caused quite a bit of a brou-ha-ha.
First of all, when I go back and read some of the attempts to re-write the plain meaning of this passage I have actually laughed out loud.
Why have men tried to re-invent this passage? Because the writer of Hebrews cites a harlot as a woman of virtue.
Back in the day – and in some places today – religious men have somehow believed that what other people do and or have done is worse (in the sight of God) than what they have said, thought and done.
In light of these very twisted views scholars have believed it necessary to rewrite the meaning of this verse.
If we really think about it what are the MOST egregious sins human beings can commit?
Where do those sins exist and exhibit themselves?
Many look to the Old Testament to see how some sins were punished to produce their hierarchy, forgetting that the Law was externally applied and was in place for the sustenance and continuation of the Nation.
Therefore whoredoms and murder and sedition was punished capitally.
But when Jesus came along He had the greatest problem not with the outward sinner but with those whose sins resided in the heart – sins like envy, pride, hypocrisy, and the like.
Missing this all together, like many Christians continue to do today, scholars and writers have suggested the following relative to the title Rahab the Harlot.
First, that the word rendered harlot does not necessarily denote a woman of abandoned character, but may be used to denote “a hostess.”
This just cracks me up – for a number of reasons. Others have said that the word means one who prepares and sells “food,” and because she receives strangers to feed them her wares the title has been misappropriated.
Then there are others who have supposed that the word means an “idolatress,” because those who were devoted to idolatry were frequently of a very bad character.
There COULD be a possibility of this definition holding water – that Rahab was idolatrous. But let’s ask ourselves a question, if we are going to play the what sin is worse game) what do you think displeases God more, a woman who let’s men sexually use her or a woman who worships a false God?
Perhaps the biggest problem is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for harlot found in Joshua (to describe Rahab) because its “porne” and there are no clear instances in which the Greek word and the corresponding Hebrew word–HEBREW–is used in any of these justifications of men.
In other words the usual and the fair meaning of the word is that which is given in our translation, and there is no good reason why that signification should not be retained here.
When this is admitted, we then go down the road where commentators will say:
“We must remember because Rahab is given the name harlot does NOT mean she was a harlot at the time she saved the spies.”
I get really bothered by comments like this for several reasons:
First, why does it trouble people so much if Rahab WAS a practicing harlot before, during and even after saving the spies?
To make issue with this misses the importance of the whole chapter – we are saved by faith, not our works or righteousness, and RAHAB had faith!
Why make bones about anything else. We have the same trouble with Jacob – He was a sneak, but unlike his brother, he was a man of faith!
Abraham lied to save his own skin – but he was a man of faith.
Noah got drunk – but he had faith!
When will we realize all of us stand before God as harlots, and drunks, and liars, and deceivers FROM the HEART – and that it is the faith in the solution that saves us . . . and nothing more or less.
(beat)
This is the point of the chapter.
Q and A
