The story of Rahab of Jericho is briefly told in Joshua 2 and 6: 22-5. In that story, she saves two Israelite spies from the king of Jericho as well as herself and her family. Her words and actions identify her as one of a handful of non-Israelites in the Hebrew Bible who choose to worship the God of Israel. A careful analysis of the text as well as its context show why it happened that in later times she was sometimes identified as an ideal proselyte.

A quick look at a concordance shows that the word “Rahab” appears in the Hebrew Bible several places other than in Joshua, like Job 9:`13, 26:12, Psalms 87:4 and 89:10, as well as in Isaiah 30:7 and 51:9. The word “Rahab” when used outside of Joshua is another name for Egypt, so those references are not relevant to this discussion. “Even though they seem like the same word in English, in Hebrew they are not. This is because what looks like an h in the middle of the word is actually two different letters in Hebrew. The h in the Egypt word is a he, but the h in the Rahab word is a het.”

Rahab is not the only person in the Hebrew Bible who was not an Israelite but who chose to worship YHWH. She was probably a Canaanite, though the text does not say specifically. Other non-Israelite believers include Ruth, a Moabite (Ruth 1:4), and Naaman, a commander in the army of the king of Aram (2 Kings 5:1). All of these people witnessed to God’s power and mercy, whether by hearsay like Rahab, or by experiencing another’s loving kindness like Ruth, or by God’s healing power like Naaman. In each case, the result was an expression of faith in YHWH by an individual, so that someone who was not born a descendent of Abraham became a member of God’s people.
Rahab’s story appears in Joshua, but unlike Ruth’s story it is not the main point of the book. It is, as it were, a side-story to the main plot, which tells how the Israelites invaded and conquered the land from just after the death of Moses (1:1) to the deaths of Joshua (24:29) and Eleazar, son of Aaron (29:33). Joshua asks the spies to “view the land” (2:1), and they seem to go straight to Rahab’s house (2:1). David

Melling points out that one could suggest that Rahab’s house in Jericho might have served similar multiple purposes (lodging, food, drink, and sexual favors), given the small size of the Jericho community? This would then explain how the Israelite spies knew where to find lodging and why they went there. Rahab’s house would have been the expected place of lodging (and comfort) for strangers.
And, one might add, for information. However, the only information that seems to have been gained was about the morale of the people (2:11). Nevertheless, Melling takes a wider view of the significance of Rahab’s story. He describes her role as “pivotal to the larger Israelite effort and setting” because while Caleb (another significant character in Joshua) speaks for himself Rahab speaks for all those who are “people of the land.” Therefore, Rahab’s story makes a significant point about the Israelite people and their relationship with other nations. I will take up this point again later in the essay.

Rahab is described as a “prostitute.” The Hebrew word is the same one used in Judges 16:1 to describe the woman whom Samson visited in Gaza. Rahab may indeed have been one, but there is nothing in the story which condemns her behaviour. Indeed, quite the opposite.

However, Mellings writes:
Attempts to distance Rahab from harlotry undermine the literary intentions of the Biblical writers. That she was a harlot provides the initial drama in the story. On the other hand, nothing in this story implies that Rahab sold herself to the two spies undermines the intentional literary twist in the story: an immoral woman giving allegiance to YHWH and becoming part of his chosen people. No Israelite, hearing the confessional affirmation of Rahab, would have supposed she had involved herself in immoral acts in the short time-frame of the story.

Later Jewish writers such as Josephus take a different view, perhaps influenced by the tradition that Rahab married Joshua.
It is extremely embarrassing that Rahab, who is such a heroine in the story of Joshua’s conquest of the land and who, according to rabbinic tradition, became a convert to Judaism, became the wife of Joshua himself, and became the ancestress of eight prophets and of the prophetess Huldah, is described in the biblical text (Josh 2:1) as a harlot. Unlike the Septuagint, which speaks of her as a prostitute …, Josephus, like the Targum, translates the noun describing her status as “innkeeper” (5.8).

Once the spies are safe after Rahab has hidden them, she discloses that she believes that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given them the land of Canaan (2:8). Though the army of Israel has not yet crossed the Jordan River, she states in effect that the Conquest is as good as over. In addition, she reveals to the spies that the inhabitants of Jericho as well as the rest of Canaan are demoralized (2:9, 11). She has heard the story of the power of Israel’s God which parted the Red Sea for the Hebrew slaves 40 years before and gave them victories over Sihon and Og, the mighty kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan (Joshua 2: 10; Numbers 21: 21-35). Merling has a chart in which he cites six points made by Rahab which correspond directly to six statements made by God in the books of Exodus, Deuteronomy and Joshua. Thus, Rahab’s words show “how the word of YHWH was being fulfilled.”

Further confirmation of the importance of this point is made by Elie Assis, who has found a chiastic structure in Rahab’s words. He sets it out as follows:

A I know that the Lord has given you the land,
B and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear because of you.
C For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt,
C’ and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
B’ As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you.
A’ The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below.

He explains the chiasm like this:
In addition to the verbal link between A and A’, a clear thematic connection exists between them: the conviction that God has given the land to Israel (A) derives from the idea of the absolute sovereignty of the Almighty (A’). Components B and B’ articulate the fear that fell upon the Canaanites because of Israel. The middle components include the source of their fear: the splitting of the Red Sea and Israel’s victories over the Transjordanian nations.

Rahab has responded to what she has been told about the mighty works of God and believes, trusting in his power and mercy. However, she does not stop there. She goes on to seek
a pledge from the Israelite spies to return her kindness [in hiding them] by keeping her and her family safe. The key term here, hesed, is used in the Old Testament to denote the faithfulness expected in a covenant relationship, the kind of faithfulness God showed to Israel. Rahab argues that her hesed towards the spies (v. 12 a) should require Israel likewise to act with faithfulness towards her and the members of her household (vv. 12b – 13).

Walter Moberly says the same thing in different words:
Rahab is prima facie a maximally unpromising figure: a Canaanite, a woman, and a prostitute. Yet she assists the Israelite spies, she acknowledges YHWH in language that resonates with Israel’s primary affirmations—“the LORD your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below” (Josh. 2:11)—and she practices the primary divine quality of “steadfast love” (ḥesed, 2:12: “since I have dealt kindly with you”). Both her words and her deeds are exemplary from the perspective of Israel’s faith.

And, furthermore, the response of the spies to her request is immediate and decisive, agreeing that when they take Jericho the Israelites will keep the ḥeseḏ agreement. In return for Rahab’s hesed in not giving the spies up to the king of Jericho, they will extend hesed to her by saving her and her family. The little follow-up in Joshua 6: 22-5 confirms the successful outcome of their covenant agreement.
So, what is the point of including this story in the book of Joshua? One suggestion is that it is an etiological story, that is, one which explains an event or situation. Richard Nelson seems to agree with this point of view:

At this level the saga provides an etiology for the continued existence of a non-Israelite group, the “house of Rahab” in or near Jericho (6:25)…. Although the continued existence of Rahab’s clan may not have been too pressing a concern for greater Israel, the larger issue of the presence of alien peoples would remain important into the monarchy and long afterward.

Be that as it may, and the debate continues, it is also possible to understand the story with the rabbis as showing that redemption is possible for anyone who believes in the God of Israel, that serious sinners and even Gentiles will receive both mercy and provision from God if they believe.

In short, Rahab is not an Israelite, yet she finds favor with God. She may have been a prostitute, an innkeeper or even madam who managed prostitutes, and prostitution was not an acceptable profession for Israelite women (Leviticus 19:29). None of this matters; the most important thing is that she acknowledges the God of Israel and demonstrates her belief through her covenant relationship with the two spies. Thus, she may be held up by the People of God as an ideal example of a proselyte.

Bibliography
Assis, Elie. “Chiasmus in Biblical Narrative: Rhetoric in Characterization.” Prooftexts 22, no.
3 (2003): 273-304.

Baskin, Judith. “The Rabbinic Transformations of Rahab the Harlot.” Notre Dame English
Journal 11, no. 2 (1979): 141-57.

Bible Study Tools, Concordances, http://biblestudytools.com, copyright 2014, accessed November 28, 2015.

Brenner, Athalya. The Israelite Woman: Social Role and Literary Type in Biblical Narrative. Sheffield: JSOT, 1994.

Creach, Jerome F.D. Joshua, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1989.

Feldman, Louis H. “Josephus’s Portrait of Joshua.” Harvard Theological Review 82, no. 4
(1989): 351-76.

Hess, Richard. Joshua. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996.

Lockwood, Peter. “Rahab: multi-faceted heroine of the book of Joshua.” Lutheran Theological
Journal 44, no. 1 (2010): 39-50.

McConville, J. Gordon and Stephen N. Williams, Joshua. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
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Merling, David. “Rahab: the woman who fulfilled the word of YHWH.” Andrews University
Seminary Studies 41, no. 1 (2003): 31-44.

Moberly, R.W. L. Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture,
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.

Nelson, Richard D. Joshua: a commentary, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1997.

Pardes, Ilana. “Imaging the Promised Land: the Spies in the Land of Giants,” History and
Memory, 6, no. 2 (1994): 5-23.

Robinson, Bernard P. “Rahab of Canaan—and Israel.” Scandinavian Journal of the Old
Testament 23, no. 2 (2009): 257-73.

Sharp, Carolyn. “The Formation of Godly Community: Old Testament Hermeneutics in the
Presence of the Other.” Anglican Theological Review 86, no. 4 (2004): 623-36.

Wall, Robert W. “The Intertextuality of Scripture: The Example of Rahab (James 2:25).” In The
Bible at Qumran: text, shape, interpretation, edited by Peter W. Flint, 217-40. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001.

Source: by Thomas Luke, MA in Theological Studies | Associate Professor at Genesis University

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Genesis University.

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