The Story Week 7

We should technically be in week 6 this week, but I want to combine week 6 and the first part of week 7 focusing on the story of Rahab. Before we talk specifically about Rahab we need to understand something about the Canaanites in general. Part of their religious practice involved temple prostitution. In order to please the gods of fertility and to ensure future harvests they had prostitutes permanently employed by the temples. These prostitutes were not disrespected but were actually very respected. They were seen as mediators between the gods and people. In some cases they were as venerated as the priests. This is the world of Rahab.

We are introduced to Rahab the prostitute in this chapter. Now, even if she is not sacred prostitute of a temple, she is not the social outcast we imagine in our context of the word. In her culture there was nothing wrong with what she did for a living. For us, and the ancient Jews for whom this story is recorded, Rahab is the quintessential sinner. Amazingly, we’re about to find out this pagan hooker had more faith than the Israelites. But first, lets get the fuller picture of whom Rahab is.

There are several sexual innuendos in this part of the story that lose their innuendoeyness (it’s a word) because of language and culture differences.
1. The spies go, without explanation, straight to the prostitute’s house. It could be they thought this would draw the least attention since dudes were constantly going in and out of the house anyway. It could be that they thought this might be the best place to get some good intel on the city…since dudes were constantly going in and out. It could be that Rahab rented a room and this was the only space available. OR, it could be that the spies wanted to mix business with pleasure. There’s no way to tell, but the fact that there’s strangely no explanation means the author probably wanted to leave that option open.
2. The spies “stayed there”. The word for stay here is shakab. It’s a lot like our word sleep. It doesn’t literally mean anything sexual, but was often a slang way to refer to sex. “We slept together” has nothing to do with sleep. Capeesh? Using this word in a story about a prostitute would stand out to the Jewish reader as possibly meaning more than “stayed there.”
3. Rahab’s name means broad. Nothing tricky here. It’s the same way we use the word; a super-casual and often objectifying way to refer to a woman.
4. When the king’s men show up they tell Rahab to give up the men who “came to you and stayed here.” A more literal reading of text is give up the men “who entered into you.” That’s pretty messed up.
All of this is to say Rahab is as Canaanite as you can get. The author purposefully includes all of these innuendos and sexual references to exaggerate the point that there is nothing good in Rahab. There is seemingly nothing redeemable about her. She is a pagan worshiping harlot who is so scandalous she may have even seduced some of Israel’s men. It is against this backdrop that we start to see Rahab as one of the heroes of the story. THE hero of the story.

What Rahab says about God and about Israel is remarkable. The theme through chapter 6 is that Israel has been wondering around the desert for 40 years because of a lack of faith, and the whole time they’re out there they keep saying “God has brought us out here to die!” But Rahab says “I know Yahweh has given you this land.” She says she knows she and her people should be terrified of Israel because Yahweh will do what he said he would do. She has more faith even than Joshua. If he completely trusted God why would he send out spies? She even recounts to the spies how God brought Israel through the Red Sea. And then, if that stuff weren’t enough, she says “the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” This phrase is only used by three people in scripture: by Moses, by the wise king Solomon, and once by a prostitute.

Rahab does not seem to be the likely choice to round out the trifecta of faith heroes with Moses and Solomon, but she is! Because of her faith and trust in God’s power she get’s grafted into the family of God. She gets adopted into Israel, not by genetics, but by faith. She marries Salmon and becomes the mother of Boaz, the husband of Ruth. Rahab is the great, great grandmother of King David and is in the direct ancestral line of Jesus! She is listed in Hebrews 11 among other heroes of the faith. James uses her as an example of what is looks like to act on faith.

So, here are the Israelites, God’s chosen people with the law and the tabernacle and the priests, they have been brought through the Red Sea, have been eating magical bread and quail that falls from the sky every day and figure out where to travel based on which direction the giant pillar of fire moves; yet their constant complaint is, “God has forgotten us. He brought us here to die.” Then there’s the pagan prostitute who has no miracles or reasons to believe who says, “I know Yahweh will give you this land and we should be terrified of you.” God looks at that genuine faith and says, “I like that. You’re in.”

For the rest of scripture Rahab is continually referred to as “Rahab the prostitute” or “Rahab the harlot”. She is never able to get rid of this unfortunate moniker. I think this is because God wants to continually remind us of his grace to the sinner. God constantly reminds us of her past to emphasize what faith does in someone’s life.

Implications: 1 Rahab was saved by faith, not religious perfection. So are we. 2 Someone can be saved by faith and still be in the sinful situation they lived in before. Clearly, as growth happens some things need to change, but that doesn’t mean perfection happens over night or God kicks you out on your butt. 3 God saves the unlikelies. Not just saves, but lifts up, exalts and uses them for his Kingdom.