“When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”
(Josh 2:11 NIV)
Rahab heard about what had happened at the Red Sea FORTY YEARS AGO. It wasn’t a far distance for news to travel, only an 11 day journey, but the stories were still going around after 40 years. It was probably a story she heard from her mother or grandmother, unless she was an old lady herself.
The thing she reveals here is one of the totally supremely unique things about the One true God. He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. These people all worshipped some far-away god, one that had to be pleased and was mysterious etc etc. But here come the Hebrews and even foreigners that are miles and miles away have heard that God is WITH them. So many poeple at this time thought that gods were geographical, hence phrases like ‘the gods of the Hittites’ because wherever the Hittites were in their land, that’s where their gods were. But here comes a people whose god was with them in Egypt, a land of Egyptian gods, and with them in the desert, and now as they are coming into this land of foreign gods, their god is coming with them here too! Not only that, but despite their hometown advantage, this Hebrew God is driving out all of the gods of the Hittites, etc.
the best thing about this is that He is the same today. He is in heaven but also down here with us.
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