Rahab

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Rahab (center) in James Tissot's The Harlot of Jericho and the Two Spies.

Rahab (

righteous" for her works.[4] According to biblical research, the author intended that she did not actually contribute in conquering the city, but rather saved herself and her family from death by the Israelites' forces.[5][6]

The King James Version renders the name as Rachab, after its literal spelling in Greek, which differs from the spelling for Rahab in James and Hebrews. Most modern versions render it as Rahab ignoring the distinction.[7]

Rahab's profession

Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld

The Hebrew אשה זונה (ishah zonah), used to describe Rahab in Joshua 2:1, literally means "a prostitute woman".

Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: פֻנדְקֵיתָא, romanized: pundǝqeṯā[9]). Rahab's name is presumably the shortened form of a sentence name rāḥāb-N, "the god N has opened/widened (the womb?)".[10] The Hebrew zōnâ may refer to secular or cultic prostitution, and the latter is widely believed to have been an invariable element of Canaanite religion, although recent scholarship has disputed this.[8] However, there was a separate word, qǝdēšâ, that could be used to designate ritual prostitutes.[8]

spies to gather intelligence.[8] A number of scholars have noted that the narrator in Joshua 2 may have intended to remind the readers of the "immemorial symbiosis between military service and bawdy house".[8]

In the Christian

harlot" or "prostitute") to describe Rahab.[12][13][14]

William L. Lyons observed that biblical interpreters have viewed Rahab as a model of hospitality, mercy, faith, patience, and repentance in her interaction with Joshua's spies. Thus the harlot of Jericho became a paragon of virtue.[15]

In the Hebrew Bible

Rahab Receiveth and Concealeth the Spies by Frederick Richard Pickersgill (1881)

According to the book of Joshua,[16] when the Hebrews were encamped at Shittim in the Arabah or Jordan Valley opposite Jericho, ready to cross the river, Joshua, as a final preparation, sent out two spies to investigate the military strength of Jericho. The spies stayed in Rahab's house, which was built into the city wall. The soldiers sent to capture the spies asked Rahab to bring out the spies.[17] Instead, she hid them under bundles of flax on the roof. It was the time of the barley harvest, and flax and barley are ripe at the same time in the Jordan valley, so that "the bundles of flax stalks might have been expected to be drying just then".[18]

Rahab told the spies:

9 She said to the men, “I know that GOD has given the country to you, because dread of you has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land are quaking before you. 10 For we have heard how GOD dried up the waters of the Sea of Reeds for you when you left Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, whom you doomed. 11 When we heard about it, we lost heart, and no one had any more spirit left because of you; for the ETERNAL your God is the only God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now, since I have shown loyalty to you, swear to me by GOD that you in turn will show loyalty to my family. Provide me with a reliable sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”

— Joshua 2:9–13[19]

After escaping, the spies promised to spare Rahab and her family after taking the city, even if there should be a massacre, if she would mark her house by hanging a red cord out the window. Some have claimed that the symbol of the red cord is related to the practice of the red-light district.[20]

When the city of Jericho fell,[21] Rahab and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies and were incorporated among the Jewish people. (In siege warfare of antiquity, a city that fell after a prolonged siege was commonly subjected to a massacre and sack.)

Tikva Frymer-Kensky regards Rahab as "smart, proactive, tricky and unafraid to disobey and deceive her king". She also credits Rahab with being "one of Israel’s early saviors" due to "her allegiance to God and Israel".[22] As the first non-Israelite person, and in particular the first Canaanite woman, to ally with Israel, Rahab's convictions led her to protect the men sent by Joshua despite her background.[22]

etiological narratives that explain the origins of religious rituals, topographical features, genealogical relationships, and other aspects of ancient Israelite life, and that the legend of Rahab is such an example. The story of Rahab would therefore provide an answer as to how a Canaanite group became part of Israel in spite of the Deuteronomistic injunction to kill all Canaanites and not to intermarry with them.[23][24][25]

Some scholars see the parallels between Joshua 2 and Genesis 19, which narrates the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, Jericho was presumed to be equally as wicked, with Rahab challenging Jericho's "oppressive establishment" by siding with Jericho's destroyers (i.e. the Israelites).[26] Coincidentally, these cities were believed to lie among a major fault line extending 1,100 kilometers from the Red Sea to Turkey.[27]

In rabbinic literature

In the

Babylonian Talmud
, Rahab was so beautiful that the very mention of her name could cause arousal (Megillah 15a). Rahab is said to have converted at the age of 50, after practising prostitution for 40 years, and repented according to three sins, saying:

Master of the Universe! I have sinned with three things [with my eye, my thigh, and my stomach]. By the merit of three things pardon me: the rope, the window, and the wall [pardon me for engaging in harlotry because I endangered myself when I lowered the rope for the spies from the window in the wall]." (Babylonian Talmud, Zevahim 116a–b).

A similar tradition has Rahab declaring, "Pardon me by merit of the rope, the window, and the flaxen [the stalks of flax under which she concealed the spies]."

Because of this, rabbis interpret Biblical verses that talk about the citzens of Jericho "melting in fear", such as Joshua 2:9–11 and Joshua 5:1, as describing their inability to maintain erections upon hearing Israelite military victories. Rahab knew this because "there was no minister or prince that did not pay a visit to Rahab the harlot".[28]

The rabbis viewed Rahab as a worthy convert to Judaism, and attested that Rahab married Joshua following her conversion; their descendants included the prophets

Na'aman as "positive examples" of the converts who joined Israel,[31] and another midrash has Rahab acting as an advocate for all nations of the world.[32][33]

Some believe that the genealogies described in Jeremiah 1:1 and Ezekiel 1:3 served to dispel accusations that Jeremiah and Ezekiel were descendants of Rahab. At the time, the Israelites discriminated against these prophets for this alleged heritage.[34]

In the New Testament

In the New Testament, Rahab (Greek Ῥαάβ) of the Book of Joshua is mentioned as an example of a person of faith[3] and of good works.[4] Rahab is referred to as "the harlot" in each of these passages.

A different spelling of the name, Rachab (as transliterated in the King James translation of the Greek Ῥαχάβ) is mentioned in the

Salmon of the Tribe of Judah and was the mother of Boaz. Most other English Bibles
transcribe her name as Rahab.

In fiction

  • Rahab is depicted as a virtuous soul (in The Third Circle of Heaven) in Dante's Divine Comedy (Paradiso 9.112 ff.)
  • Rahab is a figure in the mythos of William Blake. She is pictured as a harlot, akin to the whore of Babylon, and figures alongside Blake's character of Tirzah, as representing materialism, false religion, and fallen sexuality. Rahab's embrace of Urizen, who loosely represents fallen reason, is seen as the consolidation of error necessary to bring about the Final Judgment.
  • The claim of Hugh Broughton, a controversial historian, that Rahab was already "a harlot at ten years of age" is used by Humbert Humbert to explain or perhaps justify his attraction to young girls in Nabokov's Lolita.[35]

Fictional accounts of Rahab's life

Television portrayals

See also

References

  1. ^ Represented as "rā´hăb" at "Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide". Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Accessed 25 February 2012.
  2. ^ Joshua 2:1–24
  3. ^ a b Hebrews 11:31
  4. ^ a b James 2:25
  5. JSOT
    , 31, 1, 2006, 43-61
  6. ^ Zakovitch, Y. Humor and Theology or the Successful Failure of Israelite Intelligence: A literary-Folkloric Approach to Joshua 2, Text and Tradition, S. Niditch (3d.), Atlanta, Georgia, 1990 75-98
  7. ^ "Rahab meaning". Abarim Publications.
  8. ^ a b c d e Boling, Robert G. (1981). Joshua, Vol. 6. Anchor Bible Series. pp 144-145.
  9. ^ "pwndqyt". cal.huc.edu. Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon. hostess JLAtg, LJLA. TgJ Jos2:1 : וְעָלוּ לְבֵית אִיתְתָא פֻנדְקֵיתָא וֻשמַה רָחָב‏. TgJ 1K3:16 : תַרתֵין נְשִין פֻנדְקָאָן/פֻנדְקָוָן/פונדקין/ לִמדָן קֳדָם מַלכָא‏. TgTosPr Judges.11:1 : וכד הות איתתא דרחימא גברא דלא הוה משבטהא נפקא מבית אינשה בלא אחסנתא והוו אינשי קרן יתה פונדקיתא‏ when there was a woman who loved a man who was not of her tribe, she would leave her family without property rights; and people would call her "hostess" [MT זוֹנָה].
  10. ^ Noth, Martin, "Israelitischer Personennamen im Rahmen der gemeinsemitischen Namengebung", Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament III,10, 193.
  11. ^ Josephus. The Antiquities of the Jews. 5.1.2. Hosted at Wikisource.
  12. ^ James 2:25, 1881 Westcott-Hort New Testament.
  13. ^ Hebrews 11:31, 1881 Westcott-Hort New Testament.
  14. ^ Joshua 2, Greek Septuagint (LXX).
  15. ^ Lyons, William L. (July 2008). "Rahab through the Ages: A Study of Christian Interpretation of Rahab". Society of Biblical Literature Forum.
  16. ^ Joshua 2:1–7
  17. ^ Joshua 2:3
  18. ^ Geikie, John Cunningham (1881). Hours with the Bible, volume 2. London: S.W. Partridge & Co. p. 390.
  19. ^ "Joshua 2:9-13". www.sefaria.org.
  20. .
  21. ^ "Joshua 6:17-25". www.sefaria.org.
  22. ^
    OCLC 49823086
    .
  23. ^ Deut 20:16–18
  24. ^ Deut 7:1–4
  25. ^ Coogan, Michael (2009). A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament. Oxford University Press. pp. 162–164.
  26. – via De Gruyter.
  27. .
  28. ^ Robertson, Amy Cooper (27 June 2019). "Rahab the Faithful Harlot". TheTorah.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024.
  29. ^ Talmud, b. Megillah 14b
  30. ^ "Joshua ben Nun". Jewish Virtual Library. Accessed 25 January 2021.
  31. ^ "Rahab". JewishEncyclopedia.com. Accessed 25 January 2021.
  32. JSTOR 42614492
  33. ^ Kadari, Tamar (2024). "Rahab: Midrash and Aggadah". Jewish Women's Archive. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024.
  34. ^ Nabakov, Vladimir. Lolita (Penguin Modern Classics). p. 12.
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