The Harlot Who Pleased God: The Story Of Rahab Series

The Harlot Who Pleased God: the Story of Rahab

A Canaanite woman living in Jericho, Rahab is a prostitute who is also a biblical heroine. According to the narrative in Joshua 2, before the conquest of Canaan, Joshua sends two men as spies to see the land. They come to Rahab's house for lodging, information, and/or sex.

The Characteristics of Rahab

The Bible calls her Rahab the prostitute because that was her defining trait. The Bible used the word harlot to refer to prostitutes and anyone who worshipped idols–those who prostituted themselves before pagan gods.

Lived 1214 BC - 1114 BC

Spouse Salmon

Children Boaz (Son) · NN (2nd Son of Salmon of Judah) ... (Son) · Elimelech. (Son) · Tob (Son)

Parents Nahshon (Father)

According to the Book of Joshua, Rahab was a harlot who lived in Jericho. In its day, Jericho was the most important Canaanite fortress city in the Jordan Valley. It was a stronghold directly in the path of the advancing Israelites, who had just crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 3:1-17). The Hebrews were encamped to take Jericho. Before entering the land west of the Jordan, Joshua sent two spies to look over the land. The king of Jericho heard that two Israelite spies were within his city and ordered them to be brought out to him. Rahab, the woman with whom the spies were staying, protected them by hiding them on her roof.

The spies were sent to investigate the Jericho military strength. Rahab hid the spies in flax and barley; she only asked to be spared from the attack. Rahab is still known even today as “Rahab the harlot” because this is what the bible calls her. This title is undoubtedly how she defined herself and how the community defined her.

Many people are familiar with the story of the Israelites marching around the city of Jericho to bring down the walls. However, the account of Rahab is less well known in Joshua 2:1–24, 6:2–5, and 6:20–25. Just as the Israelites' faith in God led to their victory, Rahab's faith saved her family and played a vital role in the Israelites' success over Jericho.

Forty years after the Israelites had left Egypt, they could finally leave the desert and enter the Promised Land. However, the Promised Land was under the control of other nations. The Israelite leader, Joshua, sent two spies to survey the land, especially the city of Jericho before they sought to overtake it. The spies lodged at the home of a prostitute named Rahab. However, the Israelites' reputation for defeating the Egyptians and the Amorites preceded them. When the king of Jericho heard that spies had come into his city, he sent men after them.

Rahab, a prostitute in a house on the city's outer wall, was an unlikely character in the Israelites' epic defeat of Jericho. A humble and intelligent woman, she believed in the power of the Israelites' God. She told the spies, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. … the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath" (Joshua 2:9, 11). Therefore, she hid the spies on her rooftop and told the guards they had already gone. Once it was safe, she arranged to help the spies escape if they promised to spare her family when they besieged the city. "'Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.'

When the Israelites attacked Jericho, they killed everyone except Rahab's household, and she and her family joined the Israelites. Moreover, the men said to her, 'Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the LORD gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you" (Joshua 2:12–14). She lowered them by a rope out of her window and advised them to spend three days hiding in the hills until the guards returned to the city. They told her to put a scarlet cord in her window and keep all of her family inside of her house and that they would be spared.

In Hebrews 11, Paul lists Rahab as an example of faith (Hebrews 11:31). Her belief in the sovereignty of the God of Israel motivated her to help the spies and leave behind the world she knew. James talks about Rahab's faith being proven by her actions (James 2:25). Rahab is the first Gentile recorded in the Bible as having converted to Judaism. In addition, she is an excellent example of the power of God to transform us from our sinful state into the person He wants us to be. She shows that with forgiveness, there is no need to live in guilt and stay in our sinful ways. Once she joined the Israelites, Rahab married Salmon from the tribe of Judah, their son Boaz married Ruth, and their descendant was Jesus' earthly father, Joseph (Matthew 1:5). Rahab should be part of the lineage of Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice would reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God.