What does the Bible say about Rahab?
Joshua 2:3 - 7
ESV - 3 Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land. 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, "True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
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Asked January 19 2021
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Wanda Carmona
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Tim Maas
Rahab, whose story in the Old Testament is found in Joshua 2 and Joshua 6, lived in Jericho in the land of Canaan. Although translations of the Bible commonly refer to her as a harlot or prostitute, Aramaic translations of the Hebrew text indicate that she may in fact have been an innkeeper. She knew that God was with the Israelites following their exodus from Egypt, and she was willing to defy the rulers of the city by giving shelter to the Israelite spies who had been sent to scout out the city in preparation for Israel's conquest of it, and to mislead the authorities (who were looking for the spies) about where they were. In return for her aid, she and her extended family were spared by the Israelites when God caused the walls of Jericho to fall, allowing the Israelites to overrun the city and kill its inhabitants. In addition, she is mentioned multiple times in the New Testament. Matthew's genealogy of Jesus through Joseph indicates (in Matthew 1:5) that she married Salmon, and was the mother of Boaz. She was therefore also the great-great-grandmother of King David, and was thus an ancestor of Jesus through both His mother and His earthly father. She is spoken of favorably in the epistle of James (James 2:25) and in the epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 11:31) as well, as someone who gave witness to her faith through her actions.
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