A few generations after Tamar, Matthew names a second woman in the genealogy of Christ–Rahab. Let’s look at her story.
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. (Joshua 2:1)
Let’s face it; Rahab did not have a noble profession. A resident of Jericho and a prostitute, she had heard of the things the Lord had done for the children of Israel. When the two spies came to her house, she told them what the people of Canaan had learned and how they were afraid. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. (Joshua 2:10)
When the king of Jericho learned the spies had come to Rahab’s house, she hid them and sent the pursuers away, lying about their whereabouts. She made an oath with the two men that her family would not be destroyed when the Israelites captured the city of Jericho.
Joshua chapter six tells that the Israelites spared Rahab and her family, and we do not read anything else about her until we come to the book of Matthew. And Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab… (Matthew 1:5a) Yet that is not the last mention of Rahab. The writer of Hebrews names her in what some refer to as the “hall of faith”.
By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. (Hebrews 11:31) A closer look back at the book of Joshua tells us something about her faith. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. (Joshua 2:11)
Rahab believed in the one true God. Not only did she show great faith, she wasn’t afraid to act upon that faith. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? (James 2:25)
Once a prostitute and a Canaanite, now a member of Jesus’ ancestral line and recognized for her faith. The third in this series is Ruth and I will write about her in my next post.
Linking with Beck’s Sister to Sister.
