Biblical Profile: Rahab

Rahab

Rahab, a prostitute and a woman of faith, remains enigmatic centuries after her brief appearance in Israel’s history. Because she placed her faith in Israel’s God and helped the two Israelite scouts who came to her house, her life was spared when Israel captured Jericho.

Because Rahab’s house stood on the wall of the city, Joshua’s scouts went there when they entered Jericho. Rahab might have been an innkeeper as well as a prostitute; other documents from the Old Testament era record women innkeepers who were also prostitutes. If Rahab’s house was in fact an inn, it would have been a reasonable destination; Joshua’s scouts could hope they would not attract unwanted attention.

Rahab’s arrangement with the scouts was a stirring declaration of faith in Yahweh, Israel’s God (Josh 2:8-21). As a Canaanite woman, Rahab would have practiced the fertility cult of Baal, god of the storm and life-giving rain, and of his consort Asherah, the mother earth goddess. Yet based on reports of Israel’s progress toward her land, Rahab recognized that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is “the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below” (2:11).