Rahab

Ra’hab the form, in the A. V., of two names quite different in the Hebrew.

I. (Heb. Raechab’, רָחָב, wide; Sept. ῾Ραχάβ [and so in Matthew 1:5, “Rachab”], ῾Ραάβ; Josephus, ῾Ραχάβης, Ant. v, 1, 2.) A woman of Jericho at the time of the Eisode, whose name has become famous in that connection (Joshua 2) and in Jewish lineage (B.C. 1618). In the following accounlt of her we chiefly follow the Biblical and other ancient authorities, with additions from modern sources. SEE EXODE.

1. Her History. — At the time of the arrival of the Israelites in Canaan she was a young unmarried woman, dwelling in a house of her own alone, though she had a father and mother, and brothers and sisters, living in Jericho. She was a “harlot,” and probably combined the trade of lodging- keeper for wayfaring men. She seems also to have been engaged in the manufacture of linen, and the art of dyeing, for which the Phoenicians were early famous; since we find the flat roof of her house covered with stalks of flax put there to dry, and a stock of scarlet or crimson (שָׁנַי, shani) thread in her house — a circumstance which, coupled with the mention of Babylonish garments at 7:21 as among the spoils of Jericho, indicates the existence of a trade in such articles between Phoenicia and Mesopotamia. Her house was situated on the wall, probably near the town gate, so as to be convenient for persons coming in and going out of the city. Traders coming from Mesopotamia or Egypt to Phcenicia would frequently pass through Jericho, situated as it was near the fords of the Jordan; and of these many would resort to the house of Rahab. Rahab, therefore, had been well informed with regard to the events of the Exodus. She had heard of the. passage through the Red Sea, of the utter destruction of Sihbon and Og, and of the irresistible progress of the Is.aelitish host. The effect upon her mind had been wht one would not have expected in a person of her way of life: it led her to a firm faith in Jehovah as the true God, and to the conviction that he purposed to give the land of Canaan to the Israelites. When, therefore, the two spies sent by Joshua came to her house, they found themselves under the roof of one who, alone, probably, of the whole population, was friendly to their nation. Their coming, however, was quickly known; and the king of Jericho, having received information of it — while at supper, according to Josephussent, that very evening, to require her to deliver them up. It is very likely that, her house being a public one, some one who resorted there may have seen and recognised the spies, and gone off at once to report the matter to the authorities. But not without awakening Rahab’s suspicions; for she immediately hid the men among the flax-stalks which were piled on the flat roof of her house, and, on the arrival of the officers sent to search her house, was ready with the story that two men — of what country she knew not — had, it was true, been to her house, but had left it just before the gates were shut for the night. If they pursued them at once, she added, they would be sure to overtake them. Misled by the false information, the men started in pursuit to the fords of the Jordan, the gates having been opened to let them out, and immediately closed again. When all was quiet, and the people were gone to bed, Rahab stole up to the house-top, told the spies what had happened, and assured them of her faith in the God of Israel, and her confident expectation of the capture of the whole land by them — an expectation, she added, which was shared by her countrymen, and had produced a great panic among them. She then told them her plan for their escape: it was to let them down by a cord from the window of her house, which looked over the city wall, and that they should flee into the mountains which bounded the plains of Jericho, and lie hidden there for three days, by which time the pursuers would have returned, and the fords of the Jordan be open to them again. She asked, in return for her kindness to them, that they should swear by Jehovah that. when their countrymen had taken the city, they would spare her life, and the lives of her father and mother, brothers and sisters, and all that belonged to them. The men readily consented; and it was agreed between them that she should hang out her scarlet line at the window from which they had escaped, and bring all her family under her roof. If any of her kindred went out-of-doors into the street, his blood would be upon his own head; and the Israelites, in that case, would be guiltless. The event proved the wisdom of her precautions. The pursuers returned to Jericho after a fruitless search, and the spies got safe back to the Israelitish camp. The news they brought of the terror of the Canaanites doubtless inspired Israel with fresh courage, and within three days of their return the passage of the Jordan was effected. In the utter destruction of Jericho which ensued, Joshua gave the strictest orders for the preservation of Rahab and her family; and, accordingly, before the city was burned, the two spies were sent to her house, and they brought out her, her father, and mother, and brothers, and kindred, and all that she had, and placed them in safety in the Israelitish camp. The narrator adds, “and she dwelleth in Israel unto this day;” not necessarily implying that she was alive at the time he wrote, but that the family of strangers of which she was reckoned the head continued to dwell among the children of Israel. May not the three hundred and forty-five “children of Jericho” mentioned in Ezra 2:34; Nehemiah 7:36, and “the men of Jericho” who assisted Nehemiah in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 3:2) have been their posterity? Their continued sojourn among the Israelites as a distinct family would be exactly analogous to the cases of the Kenites, the house of Rechab, the Gibeonites, the house of Caleb, and perhaps others. SEE JERICHO.

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Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia

Keywords: Rahab

Bible reference(s): 1 Peter 3:20, Ezekiel 29:3, Ezekiel 33:3, Ezra 2:34, Hebrews 11:31, Isaiah 30:7, Isaiah 51:9, James 2:25, Job 16:12, Joshua 6:23, Matthew 1:5, Nehemiah 3:2, Nehemiah 7:36, Numbers 13:3, Psalms 68:31, Psalms 74:13, Psalms 87:4, Psalms 89:10

Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.

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