Sermon 64 - Four Foreign Female Failures 2 - Rahab
Matthew 1:3-6
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife
Joshua 2:1
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
Joshua 6:25
But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
So, on to the second of the four foreign, female, failed ancestors in Jesus' genealogy.
Tamar may have played the part of a prostitute, even though some would probably want to argue that she never got paid, so she wasn't, technically, a prostitute. There is no such ambiguity with regard to Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute. We are told that clearly, repeatedly, and, in referring to her, generally we speak of "Rahab the Harlot."
Her name might not, in fact, be Rahab. Rahab, when used in other places in the Bible, seems to refer to Egypt. Therefore, Rahab may be a nickname. It might be a nickname referring to beauty, with regard to the splendor of Egypt, or possibly be a reference to gold and decoration.
The reference to Egypt might also be a reference to power or status of some sort. In the previous sermon, about Tamar, we noted the reference to a shrine prostitute. As discussed previously, this was common in the Canaanite religion. It probably had to do with a practice for fertility rights. It's possible that the Asherah poles that are frequently referred to in the Old Testament, are a reference to a fertility goddess. So Rahab may have been an important prostitute, in that she might have been a fairly central character in a large temple or shrine that was part of the Canaanite religion.
Once again, referring to Tamar's story, there were probably shrine prostitutes who practiced their trade along the road, or out in the countryside. But Rahab lived in Jericho. Jericho was a substantial and large city, fortified with a wall. A fairly significant wall, since Rahab's house was built into it.
The reference to Rahab's house was also is also an indication of status and power. The Bible refers to Rahab's household. She is, quite obviously, seen as the head of the household. If she was an important temple prostitute, in an important temple, she was probably fairly wealthy, fairly powerful in the community, and also the breadwinner for the household, even if the household was just her family. But having a house built into the city's wall would also seem to convey status. You probably weren't allowed to have one of the houses built into the city wall unless you were fairly trustworthy.
All of this is, of course, speculation. We are having to infer any of these points from the accounts and facts that we are told in the Bible.
What we are told in the Bible is that, in preparation for the invasion of the promised land, and the destruction of Jericho as a first step in this process, two spies go to reconnoiter Jericho's defenses. Somehow, they meet up with Rahab. Probably this would not be as unusual as it might sound, since a shrine prostitute might also be the sort of household where you could find a bed, even if you weren't known to the family. So, approaching a prostitute, as a spy, when you were trying to prepare to invade the city, and asking the prostitute to hide you, might not be as strange as it sounds.
Once again, we have to infer some of this, since we really aren't given too many details of the story.
Rahab hides the spies. She lies to the local authorities, and misleads them in a futile pursuit of the spies, in a place where she knows they are not.
And then she makes a deal with the spies. And it's obvious that she has been thinking about this. She tells the spies that the people of Canaan are afraid of the people of Israel. More specifically, she says that the power of God, in supporting the people of Israel in their invasion of the land, is known. Probably well known. And she wants to make a deal. She is willing to betray her own people, in order to save her life, and the lives of her family members.
Stated like that, it sounds pretty bad. But consider the actual situation.
As I say, the inference that Rahab is relatively wealthy, and relatively well regarded in the community, is speculation. But it is not completely unreasonable speculation. Furthermore, she is not only an important member of the community, and likely wealthy, but she is probably an important person in the Canaanite religious belief and practice. She is a prostitute, and, again somewhat by speculation, it's likely that she is a shrine or temple prostitute, and, given the major center in which she practices, probably a fairly important one.
So she is not just taking sides with Israel against her city or region. She is taking sides with God, as opposed to Baal and Asherah.
Rahab is betting it all on God. It is not overstating the case to claim that this is a leap of faith.
Rehab and the spies make a deal. The spies add a couple of caveats, mostly with regard to ensuring that Rahab's house is identified when they attack the city. The spies leave, the Israelites muster, they do the marching around, blowing trumpets, and shouting thing, the walls come a-tumblin' down, and the Israelites take the city, and destroy everything except Rahab's family.
Joshua honors the deal. Rahab and her family survive the attack. (The fact that they survived probably means that God honoured the deal as well. Given that the city wall collapsed, there must have been some divine protection involved.) We are told first that Rahab and her family live outside the camp, but then there is a mention that Rahab lives among them. Rahab then drops out of the story. We aren't told anything more about her. (I got the idea from somewhere that she married one of the spies, but I now find that I can't find any support, from the Bible, that that ever happened.) We do find in the second chapter of the first book of Chronicles that she must have married a guy named Salmon. Not until we get to the New Testament, and the genealogy of Jesus, do we learn that not only is Rahab an ancestor of both David and Jesus, but that she is the mother of Boaz. And Boaz is quite important in the next sermon in the series. Rahab is David's great-great-grandmother.
Rahab's life must have changed quite a bit. Possibly not as much as her previous neighbors, who all died, but still, it must have been a big change. As I noted before, we are having to infer, without much evidence, and certainly with no direct supporting statements, but it isn't unreasonable to assume that her life in Jericho was one of social, and possibly even political, status, and likely wealth. She was important in the religious life and practice of the community.
But she gives all of that up. She gives up her community, her city, her people, her religion, her job, her wealth. She throws in her lot with Israel. She gives up Baal and Asherah to follow God. Again making some assumptions, but not unreasonable ones, she probably does okay, because her son is a fairly wealthy individual when we meet him later on. But that isn't necessarily a guaranteed thing, and it wasn't part of the deal that she made with the spies. She just asked for her life and the life of her family, and was willing to give up everything else.
I'm having some difficulty in keeping these sermons separate, and speaking of the individual women, individually. And particularly here, because Ruth, whom we are going to look at next, has an amazingly beautiful statement about this very thing. Where are you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
That is, as I said, quite a leap of faith, to give up everything in order to follow God.
Four Foreign Female Failures series
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