RAHAB: HARLOT HERO

We first meet Rahab at her home located within the walls surrounding Jericho, the City of Palms. 🌴🌴🌴

As a Canaanite, a woman, and a harlot (prostitute), Rahab is triply marginalized in the Biblical narrative, and yet, she shines as a hero to the Hebrews—especially the spy who loved her. 😉

Sidenote: Ancient Jericho (think pre-wall-drop) was surrounded by two walls with around 12-15 feet between them. “Houses of sun-dried bricks were built over the gap between the two walls. Rahab’s house was in one of these strategic points, and her window looked out on the outer wall” (Deen).

Not long after Rahab welcomes two Hebrew men into her home for the night, someone informs the king of Jericho (cities had kings back then) that her guests are Israelite spies scoping out his city for a possible invasion. The king sends his men to her home with orders to retrieve the spies.  

HARLOT WITH A HEART

Rahab intuitively discerns the situation, and in the heat of the moment, she chooses sides: She allies herself with the spies. Later, we learn has heard about their powerful God and their previous exploits. Her gut instinct is that the city will fall to the Hebrews, and she hatches a plan to save her family.

• First, Rahab ushers the spies up to her roof and hides them under stalks of flax which she previously laid out to dry.

• Next, when the king's messengers arrive, she admits the supposed spies had been in her home, but convinces them the men had already left.

• Then, she sends them on a wild goose chase outside the city gates.

The spies owe Rahab their lives, and she knows it.

Once the coast is clear, Rahab returns to her rooftop and states her price for protection. She asks the spies to ensure her family’s safety during the invasion, and they strike a deal.

She helps them escape out her window in the outside wall of the city, and from this exact same window, she will hang their scarlet cord. The cord will be a sign to the Hebrews to leave everyone in that house alone.

Sidenote: “Rahab is the head of her household, which was not only a dwelling but also a social unit. The extended family in her household consists of her parents, siblings, and “all who belong” to her parents and siblings (2:13, cf. 2:18; 6:22-23), presumably nieces and nephews and possibly servants. The household was the most numerous unit of society in ancient Israel.” (JWA)

It’s not long until Joshua marches his troops around the city of Jericho for a week. They must have passed the scarlet rope dangling out Rahab’s window in the wall thirteen times. By the time wall fell, they knew exactly which dwelling to avoid.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO, "HMMM..."

Isn’t it interesting that Rahab’s family is “passed over” in the invasion due to the crimson cord hanging from her window? Does this remind you of anyone else who was “passed over” due to crimson markings on the outside of their dwellings?

Rahab is a hero to the Hebrew people, and not merely because she defies her king and saves the spies. She becomes a model proselyte whose prophecy that Israel would occupy the land came true.

Eventually, she marries a Hebrew man named Salmon (one of the spies?) and gives birth to a son named Boaz. This makes her the great-great-grandmother of King David (see Matthew 1:5).

CONCLUSION

Rahab is one of only four women mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, and as a foreigner, her inclusion is a sign that Jesus is a savior for all peoples. Rahab is also one of only a few women listed in the "Hall of Faith" in Hebrews 11; and she is held up as an example of faith—evidenced by works—in James 2.

You can read Rahab's story in Joshua 2-6.

Additional Resources:

• "Rahab: Bible" in the The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women (Online). Jewish Women’s Archive.

• All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

• “Before Boaz and Ruth: Salmon and Rahab? An Enigmatic Bible Romance that Preceded the Bible Romance” by Christopher Eames. Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology (Online) 2021. 

Photo Credits:

Photo by Kamaji Ogino on Pexels.

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