Rahab of Jericho

A Northern reader who believes that the “Rachab” mentioned in Matthew 1:5 is identical with Rahab of Jericho sends us the following extract from Alford’s Notes on Matthew. Although we do not agree with Alford on this point, we wish to express our sincere thanks for the extract, which many of our readers will find interesting and, perhaps, conclusive.

“It has been imagined on chronological grounds that this Rachab must be a different person from Rahab of Jericho. But those very grounds completely tally with their identity. For Nahshon (father of Salmon), prince of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:10), offered his offering at the setting up of the tabernacle (see Numbers 7:12) 39 years before the taking of Jericho. So that Salmon would be of mature age at, or soon after, that event; at which time Rahab was probably young, as her father and mother were living (Joshua 6:23). Nor is it any objection that Achan, the fourth in descent from Judah by Zara, is contemporary with Salmon, the sixth of the other branch: since the generations in the line of Zara average 69 years, and those in the line of Pharez 49, both within the limits of possibility. The difficulty of the interval of 366 years between Rahab and David does not belong to this passage only, but equally to Ruth 4:21-22, and is by no means insuperable, especially when the extreme old age of Jesse, implied in 1 Samuel 17:12, is considered.”

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Author: P. H. Adams

Keywords: Rahab, Rahab Boaz, Rahab of Jericho

Bible reference(s): Josh. 6:23, Josh. 6:25, Josh. 7:18, Matt. 1:5

Source: “Problems: Rahab of Jericho,” The Testimony, Vol. 22, No. 258, June 1952, pp. 221-2.

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