It's a long jump from the last lesson on Noah to eons later when we meet Rahab, one of the most unlikely saints in the Bible.

God has established a beachhead for God's salvation in a particular people, the descendants of Abraham. Over the centuries, they became enslaved in Egypt. God miraculously delivered them and led them back to the land that God had promised to Abraham many years before. They are about to enter that land, but they face the fortress city of Jericho. Wisely, their leader Joshua sends out spies to check out the fortifications and find any weaknesses.

The spies decide to stay at the house of Rahab, the prostitute; after all, it's the place where strangers might be expected to visit. Still, the spies arouse the suspicions of the people of Jericho, and a military party is sent to find them. Now Rahab does the most surprising thing. Instead of keeping her nose clean, taking the safe route and turning them over to the authorities, she hides them under sheaves of flax and tells the soldiers they've already left.

That night, Rahab visits the spies and we find out why she took such a chance. Her speech is astounding. "I know that the Lord has given you this land. . . . We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea.... When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear . . . for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below" (vv. 9-11). This prostitute, who, because of her profession lives at the crossroads and hears all the rumors, knows what's going on. And she sees it not just as a geo-political matter, but as a revelation of the power of the God of Israel.

Of course, there's some self-interest here. She asks that she and her family be saved when the inevitable victory over Jericho comes. But who doesn't want to be on the right side of a showdown of the gods? She chooses to be with Israel because she believes in the power of Israel's God.

So they strike a deal. She lets them down from the city wall by a scarlet cord. When the invasion comes, she will tie that same cord in her window. On seeing it, the Israelites will save her and all who are gathered with her.

Over the years there's been much speculation about what the scarlet cord means. Some have even suggested that its color points to the shed blood of the one who ultimately guarantees our salvation, Jesus Christ. Another view seems much less "spiritual," but may be closer to the truth. Some think the scarlet cord was like the candy stripe sign for a barber shop, recognized as marking a "house of ill repute."

I like the second possibility because it expresses one of the great truths of this story. The Bible seems to emphasize that many people who play a crucial role in the story of salvation are not moral heroes. Not Jacob or David in the Old Testament, or Levi or Zacchaeus in the New Testament. God chooses people not because of their moral character but because of their faith and obedience. God's free grace and their deep faith qualifies them for the task assigned. That's why we find the prostitute Rahab as one of only four women named in the ancestry of Jesus Christ.