So the men said to her: “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, 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.” (Joshua 2:17-18)
Hope Is A Line Of Scarlet Cord
The army of Israel amassed outside the walls of Jericho, a strong Canaanite city. Its walls were so large that houses were built upon them. Israel would fight not only the residents of Jericho, but the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. Before approaching the city, Joshua sent two men to spy secretly to view the land, especially Jericho. The men entered the city and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, where they stayed. When the king of Jericho heard the men had come into the city to search the land, he sent men to search for the Israelite spies. Hiding the two men on the roof among stalks of flax, the men went undetected.
Before the men lay down, Rahab came to them and asked to be spared when the attack began. She was not born when Israel crossed the Red Sea, but as a child, she grew up hearing the stories of the Israelites in the wilderness. The people were terrified of the Hebrews. Rahab came to believe the Lord God of Israel was the God of heaven and earth. She asked the two men to spare her and her family from destruction. The men promised to spare her and her household, but with conditions. Rahab must bind a scarlet cord in the window, and anyone to be saved had to be in her home. Anyone not in the home would die with the rest of the inhabitants.
The Hebrew word for the scarlet cord means “hope.” It comes from the Hebrew, “bind together.” Rahab put the scarlet cord out her window in the hope and expectation that when the army of Israel attacked the city, she would be spared. It was a few days before Israel returned and began the siege of Jericho. Rahab did not know the battle plan. When she saw the army approach the city, her heart believed the word of the men that she would be spared. She had gathered all of her family on that first day, expecting the Hebrews to attack at any moment. Instead, Israel marched around the city and left. They did this for six days. No one knew the battle plan. Was Rahab’s heart tested? Did she doubt the promises of the men? Why did Israel not attack?
On the seventh day, everything changed. Israel again approached the city and marched around seven times. Then the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua told the people to shout, for the Lord had given the city to them. As the people shouted, the walls of Jericho fell flat, and the people of Israel swarmed across the doomed city, killing all the inhabitants. As the walls of the city fell, a great noise filled the house of Rahab. The earth trembled, but her house did not fall. Soon, two men appeared at her door and led Rahab and her family to safety outside Israel’s camp. Jericho was burned to the ground.
Hope is a scarlet cord that carries God’s promises. The Lord kept His promise to spare Rahab. Her faith saved her and her family. In the days before the fall of Jericho, Rahab looked at the scarlet cord as a promise the God of Israel made to save her. She believed to the saving of her household. Her hope lay in the impossible. Hope bound her heart together to believe the promise of salvation would be her salvation. Her scarlet cord was a covenant between her faith and the Lord God.
Christians have been given the greatest hope through Jesus Christ. Instead of a scarlet cord, the crimson blood of Jesus Christ is the assurance of the promises of God. When Jesus returns, He will be looking for those resurrected in the blood of Jesus Christ. Each person who has placed the crimson cord of Jesus Christ in their heart will be spared the destruction of the wrath of God. All who are outside the church will be destroyed. Only those in the body of Christ will be spared the eternal destruction. Rahab found salvation in the hope of the scarlet cord. The only hope given to the world is the crimson blood of Jesus Christ. Hope is a crimson cord of faith.
