Rahab
The name Rahab means “large; extended (name of a woman)”
Summary
Profile
Rahab was a prostitute and a woman of faith. She remains mysterious even hundreds of years after her brief role in Israel's history. She believed in Israel's God and helped two Israelite scouts who visited her house. Because of this, her life was spared when Israel captured Jericho.
Rahab's house was on the city wall, so Joshua's scouts went there when they entered Jericho. Rahab might have been both an innkeeper and a prostitute. Other documents from the Old Testament era mention women who were both innkeepers and prostitutes. If Rahab's house was an inn, it would have been a sensible place to go. Joshua's scouts could hope to avoid unwanted attention there.
Rahab's agreement with the scouts was a strong statement of faith in Yahweh, the God of Israel (Joshua 2:8–21). As a Canaanite woman, Rahab likely followed the fertility cult of Baal, the god of storms and rain, and his partner Asherah, the earth goddess. However, after hearing about Israel's progress toward her land, Rahab realized that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is "God in the heavens above and on the earth below" (Joshua 2:11).
After Joshua conquered Jericho, Rahab married Salmon from the tribe of Judah. She had a son named Boaz (Ruth 4:21; Matthew 1:5). Rahab became Ruth's mother-in-law, another foreign woman who joined Israel. Rahab was also King David's great-great-grandmother. She is listed with Moses, David, Samson, and Samuel as an example of faith shown through good deeds (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). Rahab is one of five women, including Mary, mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, the human family tree of God's Son (Matthew 1:5). Rahab shows the wide reach of God's grace.
Passages for Further Study
Joshua 2:1–21; 6:17, 22–25; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25
Glossary entries
Family members
Alternative names
Mentions
- Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
- So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they have come to spy out the whole land.”
- Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent.
- So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.
- And Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her father’s household and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. So she has lived among the Israelites to this day.
- Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,
- By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.
- In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?