156: TO WHOM DO WE LOOK?

Last night my family watched part of the History Channel's, 'The Bible'. It is a 10 hour miniseries airing on Sunday nights. While I am not necessarily recommending it due to the excessive violence and alot of the false historical interpretations, it has been one way for my kids to remember some of the Old Testament Stories.

One story that our family was not familiar with is the story about the woman named Rahab. If you look up in our LDS Bible Dictionary, it only states, Rahab: the harlot who hit the spies at Jericho. I realize that Bible definitions need to be concise, but there is alot more to this woman's story then what we read in the dictionary. First of all, not many female names are mentioned in the Old Testament, so when a woman's name is mentioned, it is important. Rahab lived in the city of Jericho. When Israelite messengers entered her city, she hid them, saving them from being killed. For her kindness, she was told that if she put a "scarlet line/thread" in her window, she and  her family would be saved from the coming destruction when the walls of her city "come tumbling down".

...

"Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. 

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." Joshua 2:18; 6:25

There is a connection with the scarlet thread that Rahab placed in her window, to the red blood of the Passover lamb smeared on the doorways of the Israelites in Egypt.  Both were a type and shadow of the blood ultimately shed by Christ for the human race that saves us.

Just an interesting sidenote: I read that every other occurence for the Hebrew word for “line” (thread) is is translated “hope” or “expectation.”  Faith is associated with hope. So not only the Rahab's hope/faith by placing the scarlet line (the symbol of Christ) that saved her family; so was the red blood on the doorways that saved the first-born of the children of Israel. Their all-important faith in these red symbols were but shadows of the ultimate faith in the precious blood of Christ which “saves” us today.

So, my question today is To whom do we look for our protection and safety? To whom do we have hope in? To whom do we have faith in?