Posted By Joe on February 24, 2010

UPDATE 02/28/2010: Welcome from Caffeinated Thoughts!

It amazes me how often "experts" and the average person will casually dismiss the Bible for what it really is. Have they actually read the Bible?

Then again, the natural man won't be able to comprehend what he is reading. Certainly when I first became a Christian I had no idea of the treasures that God's Word would reveal to me over time.

One of these treasures that was recently revealed to me is found in the book of Joshua. The term for it is a "remez," which basically means a hint of something deeper.

I believe that everything in the Bible--every place name, person, event, etc.--is there for a reason. Some may not be as exciting as others, but if you dig a little deeper at things you read, generally God will have a little treasure for you in the text.

Rahab and the Spies

In Joshua, there is the story of the two spies who find shelter in Rahab's house. There is a passage where they are having a conversation with her about how they will hide themselves and what sign she will hang outside her house so that the Israelites wouldn't destroy her house when they invade.

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall. --Joshua 2:15.

Just a simple, informative verse, right? The word to pay attention to here is the word "rope." The King James Version uses the word "cord." Either way, the Hebrew word used is "חֵבֶל" which is transliterated "chebal."

The two meanings for this word are:

1. a cord, rope, territory, band, company
2. pain, sorrow, travail, pang (pains of travail)

Interesting dichotomy of meanings, aren't they?

Let's look at the next verse:

She said to them, "Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way." --Joshua 2:16.

What she's telling them is to hide out from the men of her city. She's protecting these two Israeli spies, basically. We'll come back to this verse. Let's look at the next two verses.

Then men said to her, "We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household." --Joshua 2:17-18.

The phrase to key into here is "cord of scarlet thread." The King James Version calls it "this line of scarlet thread." The Hebrew word used is "תִּקְוָה" which is transliterated "tiqvah."

The two meanings of this word are:

1. cord
2. hope, expectation (things hoped for)

Again, completely different meanings, right?

Have you picked up on this yet?

What separates the meaning of these two words for "cord?"

Three days.

Do you see something remarkable hidden in the text yet?

What happened at the Cross of Christ? Pain, sorrow and travail!

What happened next? He was three days in the grave!

What happened next? He rose to give us hope and expectation!

The Bible, friend, is not a collection of writings by men of old. The Bible is the Word of God, the creator and king of the universe. The Bible is God's plan of salvation.

Don't casually dismiss the Bible. Don't criticize the Bible unless you've  spent time in it. Read it! It is the only truly life-changing book in all history.

May He Increase!

Categories: Joshua, Prophecy
Tags: cords, cross, Joshua, rahab, remez, salvation