ShareFacebook X Pinterest Tumblr Reddit WhatsApp

Bible Lessons from Rahab,
Deborah, Ruth and Hannah

God used Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, and Hannah to teach us valuable lessons about Himself. Here are some of those lessons!

Rahab

Rahab became a believer when she saw the mighty works that God had done in delivering the Israelites (Joshua 2:8-11). She was kind to the spies and they returned her kindness in saving her. By faith she and her family did not perish:

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies (Hebrews 11:31).

By faith, Gentiles today will be saved by obeying the Gospel:

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed (Galatians 3:8).

Like Abraham, by this same faith, Rahab is part of the lineage of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:2,5) and all those that are born again are in the lineage of Jesus Christ as His sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18).

Deborah

In my mind, there is no doubt that Deborah knew the story about Moses building an altar and calling it Jehovah-Nissi after the victory over the Amelkites (Exodus 17:8-16). Moses knew that God went before the Israelites and so did Deborah:

And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him (Judges 4:14).

As Christians we need to trust that Jesus is our banner and goes before us every day of our lives in all circumstances.

Ruth

Ruth, a Moabites, married into an Israelite family that had moved to Moab because of a famine in Israel (Ruth 1:1). Ruth was able to discern from the witness of this family that she wanted their God to be her God:

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God (Ruth 1:16).

Similarly, Christians need to be a testimony to Jesus Christ in their daily lives so that the world will readily see a difference between them and us such that they will want to be born again (John 3:3) to enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5).

Hannah

We can learn many things from Hannah but the one I want to focus on is that it is vitally important to keep our word to God. This is always true but especially if we are asking God to do something in exchange for something we want. I don't recommend that we ever do this, but Hannah actually did:

And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head (1 Samuel 1:11).

And Hannah kept her word! After Samuel was weaned she dedicated Samuel to God (1 Samuel 1:24-28), just like she promised. No doubt, this woman of God knew the word of God:

If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth (Numbers 30:2).