God's Promise Sparknotes

One of the ways that the narrator is communicating the importance of God’s Promise is through Rahab’s important speech in verses 8-14. We know that Rahab has done something really nice for the spies, but we do not know why until this portion. Now, she goes up to the roof to explain to the spies why she has helped them. Her confession is unexpected because she is a prostitute, but she claims YHWH as God and describes the miraculous things she had heard that God had done for them. In referring to what God has done, she doesn’t ask about them like she just heard somebody randomly claim it; but she speaks about very specific things that he has done such as the crossing of the Red Sea. It doesn’t say how she knows these things happened, but probably
the word has circulated around about it. It is also clear in this speech that she knows about God’s power and understands that if she tries to resist God she will lose. She knows that God has promised the land to Israel and sides with Him now.
Another way that narrator shows the themes of the story is through the characterization of Rahab.
Rahab is clearly identified as a prostitute immediately although it is never clear in the story whether or not the spies slept with her, or just used her home as an inn. It seems to us that Rahab hiding the men and sending the officers away if a direct act to help fulfill God’s promise of the land. It is interesting though, that she lies in order to do so, which is never encouraged biblically. One important thing to notice is that Rahab is acting from an “underdog’s” standpoint. Her lying cannot be considered completely morally okay, but her lie worked in the same direction as God’s will for His people. Rahab’s lie shows human weakness, and yet through this God’s promise in confirmed.
The narrator also uses the Plot the emphasize the importance of God’s Promises. Some main plot events are the spies coming into the city and to the prostitute’s house, and the prostitute hiding and helping the spies. Both of these acts show ig risks being taken. The willingness to take these risks show their trust and confidence in God’s promise to grant the land to Israel. Both Rahab and the spies are putting their lives in danger in order to make things happen, and rather than being fearful or trying to take things into their own hands, they go ahead and do those things knowing that God is going to follow
through.
The last way that the narrator uses to exemplify his point is through the literary technique of irony. It appears that Joshua did not select certain spies based on any merit or skill that they have. They actually seem to be a bit silly and incompetent, but somehow it works out for them in the end. This kind of storyline often happens in comedies, but in this story it is used to show us how God is fulfilling his promises. One of ironic things about these spies is their lack of attempts to discover information about the city's defences that might actually help Joshua down the line. Instead we only read about how they go straight to the prostitute rahab’s house and stay there. It is also very ironic that Rahab is the one who had the biggest part in the success of the spies trip, when she is a prostitute, which is a very taboo thing to be when we think about God and the Bible.