A Character Study of Rahab
Rahab is a notorious stereotype that God uses in a positive role. Putting his often brutal edge on the matter, Luther calls Rahab a whore (Hure) in his German translation. Perhaps in part, as a matter of confidentiality for her clients, she did not hand over the Hebrew spies to the king of Jericho (Jos 2:4-5) and even misled him. From this we see that the disreputable character of “prostitute” has a cunning integrity under pressure when she believes that the Lord is involved. “I know that the LORD has given you the land…” (Jos 2:9) Yet, as one might guess, she is not without the ability to transact a shrewd business deal and has the spies, while they are yet at her mercy, swear to her that they will act kindly toward her family and spare them from what she knew to be imminent slaughter. (Jos 2:12-13) At first glance this seems to be a selfless request but then the word “our” appears in verse 13, and so it would also seem that she means to include herself in the saving.
She may have left them to their own devices but in the later tradition of tarnished heroines in war movies, Rahab further assists the Hebrew spies with a daring rescue feat, letting them down the city wall by rope under cover of darkness. She marks the spot with a “scarlet cord” whereby the Hebrew spies might later remember to spare that household from destruction. Indeed, when Joshua invades Jericho in chapter six, Rahab and her family are remembered, spared, and brought out of Jericho. This is significant. She is brought out of one community to live in another; one may think of it as leaving an unholy city for a holy city or at least, for God’s habitation. As she is brought out to this better place, she is still called “the prostitute.” What she is or what she has done does not seem to be at issue here. Keeping her covenant with the spies seems to be the only test of character for her, and further, for her entire family. A harlot would seem to us to be an unlikely choice for a savior but God will liberate who he will by whom he will.
To put a finer point on it, God will reconcile all through One that, based on his family tree, might seem disagreeable to us. Rahab was brought into the Hebrew community and evidently enjoyed full rights of citizenship “to this day” (Jos 6:25). She went on to become the great-great grandmother of King David himself, which makes her a distant grandparent to the Messiah Jesus—to be sure, on his earthly father’s side, lest we think the Savior born into too “rude” a stable. In Matthew’s genealogy, Rahab is still remembered as a Hure as if to remind of us of either her crude character or the redeemableness of our own.
The writer of Hebrews recalls her faithful obedience despite the stereotype, adding her to the so-called “Hall of Faith” (Heb 11). Rahab’s obedience is considered here within the theme of faith. Recalling Joshua, Rahab also had heard about what the rest of Jericho feared. (“For we have heard…” Jos 2:10) Fear righteously manifested itself in Rahab since she did something about her dread of the Hebrews. Indeed, her alarm went beyond these mere men, whom she seemed to have some skill in dealing with, to their God. It was not so much these foreigners whom Rahab feared but their Lord, Jehovah. She heard that it was God who dried up the Reed Sea, not men. Rahab seemed to understand that the God of the heavens is also God upon the earth (Jos 2:11) and responded to his movements there. It was this response to what she had heard that saved Rahab, as James briefly notes. (Jas 2:25) Faith for Rahab came from hearing and faithfully responding. Rahab’s response to what she had heard becomes a central teaching of both testaments and also becomes a dominant doctrine in the New Testament (Rom 10:17).