New AllegianceRead Joshua 2:12 –21 and Exodus 12:13 , 22, 23. How do the texts in Exodushelp you understand the agreement between the spies and Rahab?________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rahab’s deal is very clear: life for life and kindness for kindness. Theword cḥesed (Josh. 2:12 ), “loving-kindness,” has a richness of meaning that is difficult to express in one word in other languages. It refersprimarily to covenantal loyalty, but it also carries the notion of faithfulness, mercy, benevolence, and kindness.The words of Rahab also are reminiscent of Deuteronomy 7:12 , whereYahweh Himself swore to keep His cḥesed toward Israel. “ ‘Then it shallcome to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and dothem, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and themercy [cḥesed] which He swore to your fathers’ ” (Deut. 7:12 , NKJV).Interestingly enough, the same chapter (Deuteronomy 7) prescribesthe ban (cḥerem) on the Canaanites. Here is Rahab, a Canaanite who isunder the ban, and yet she claims, by her emerging faith, the promisesthat were given to the Israelites. As a result, she is saved.The first image that inevitably comes to mind related to the conversation of the spies with Rahab is the Passover at the Exodus. There,in order for the Israelites to be protected, they had to stay inside theirhomes and mark the doorposts and lintels of their houses with the bloodof the sacrificial lamb.“ ‘ “Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where youare. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shallnot be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” ’ ” (Exod.12:13 , NKJV; see also Exod. 12:22 , 23).“By obedience the people were to give evidence of their faith. So allwho hope to be saved by the merits of the blood of Christ should realizethat they themselves have something to do in securing their salvation.While it is Christ only that can redeem us from the penalty of transgression, we are to turn from sin to obedience. Man is to be saved by faith,not by works; yet his faith must be shown by his works.”—Ellen G.White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 279.In that case, the blood was a sign that saved them from the destroyingangel of God. As God spared the lives of the Israelites during the lastplague in Egypt, the Israelites were to save Rahab and her family whendestruction reached Jericho.What powerful gospel message can we find in these two stories?What gospel lessons can we take from them?