Joshua unquestioningly accepts the Lord's orders and does exactly what He commands. What great faith! God promises that Jericho's impregnable walls will collapse at His command–and they do, without harming the Israelites encircling it (Joshua 6:20).

This is amazing, considering what was involved. Excavations of Jericho have revealed that the city's fortifications featured a stone wall some 4 metres high. At its top was a smooth stone slope that angled upward at 35 degrees for 10 metres, where it joined massive stone walls that towered even higher.

But what's even more amazing is what archaeologists have found in the extensive layers of ruins and remains of Jericho, considered to be one of the world's oldest cities. One layer shows the collapsed walls around the city–except for one spot. There, in the early 1900s, two archaeologists discovered what appeared to be Rahab's house and several next to it.

This is especially significant, as we shall soon see. Joshua 6:25 tells us that ″Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho–and she lives among the Israelites to this day.″ Spared the fate that befalls her city, Rahab turns away from worshipping idols to follow God, and becomes a part of God's people. Later, she would marry a Jewish husband, Salmon, and have a righteous son, Boaz–who would in turn become the ancestor of David and, ultimately, Jesus (see Ruth 4:21-22; Matthew 1:5, 16).

How good that the Lord gladly saves us, no matter our nationality, family background, or our past. What's more, how good that God rewards the faith of all who earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

How good are the Lord's rewards? In this case, Rahab's unswerving faith in the one true God (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25) not only gives her a place of honour as the great great-grandmother of King David, but also a distinguished place of honour in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. What good rewards, indeed!