Was Salmon, father of Boaz, married to Rahab and one of the spies?
The genealogy that opens Matthew names four women, and one of them is tied to Salmon: "Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab." Readers naturally ask two things — is this the same Rahab who hid the messengers in Jericho, and was her husband one of the men she hid?
The Rahab of Matthew is the Rahab of Jericho
The name in Matthew appears in a Greek form, which has led some to wonder whether a different woman is meant. One dictionary settles the question from the grammar of the text itself, and draws out why such a name is there at all:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThat the Rachab of Matt. 1:5 is the same as Rahab is shown by the article; it was the Rachab mentioned in the Old Testament (the Greek language having no letter H, a CH [Χ] is substituted). That such women as Rahab and Tamar should be mentioned in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus shows the divine origin of the list, for man would probably have left these names out. Putting them in exalts the grace that overflows above all sin.
Who Salmon was
Salmon is no minor figure. He belonged to the leading family of Judah, which makes the marriage all the more startling:
George C WillisYou know Rahab: but do you know her husband and her son? She was only a prostitute in Jericho; but who was she in Israel? She married Salmon (Matt. 1:5), who was the son of Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah (1 Chron. 2:11): the leader of the tribe that had marched first through the wilderness (Num. 10:14). And so she was brought directly into the royal line of Israel, into one of the most honoured families of all, and became an ancestor of the promised Messiah, and is one of the four women mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord.
Was Salmon one of the spies?
Here the answer is less certain. Scripture never names the two men Joshua sent into Jericho, and the entry for Salmon in the same dictionary lists only that he was son of Nahshon and father of Boaz — nothing about the mission. One writer, going through the names in Ruth's family list, offers the identification as a likelihood rather than a fact:
William J HockingSalmon (Salma), son of Nahshon, married Rahab the prostitute, and was the father of Boaz (Matt. 1:5). Salmon was probably one of the two men whom Joshua sent secretly to Jericho and the neighbourhood, and who lodged in Rahab's house (Joshua 2).
So the marriage is stated by Matthew; the spying is an inference. Treat it as a reasonable guess, not as something the Bible asserts.
How she came into Israel before she came into the line
Her place in the family tree was not sudden. She was first given a home among the people, and the marriage followed:
The Bible TreasuryIn chapter 7, "she gets a dwelling-place in Israel, as it is said to this day," and in time she is married to Salmon, one of its princes, and becomes a link in that famous genealogy through which the Messiah Himself was brought into this world.
Nor was she a remote ancestor tucked away centuries back. Commentators point out that she stands only three generations before David — Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David — so the Gentile blood is close to the throne, not distant from it.
What put her name there
The women in this list are not all there for the same reason. One writer draws the contrast between Tamar and Rahab, and ties Rahab's place to her belief:
The Christian's FriendAnd who can doubt that it was Rahab's faith that brought her into the genealogy, as sin had brought Tamar? Without faith she would have died with those shut up in Jericho, a cursed woman of a cursed race. Faith removed that curse from her; faith brought her in among the people of God, if it did not attract to her the heart of Salmon.
And the setting sharpens the point. Matthew wrote for readers who prized pure descent:
William KellyAnd who and what was she? A Gentile, and once a prostitute! But Rahab is taken out of all that belonged to her — separated from everything that was hers by nature. And here she is, in this gospel of Jesus written for the Jew — for the very people who despised and hated Him because He would look on a Gentile… brought into and made part of Israel on earth — yes, by sovereign grace part of the royal line out of which the Messiah had to come.
Summary
- Same woman. The Greek spelling differs, but the article marks her out as the Rahab already known from Jericho.
- Same faith. What carried her out of a doomed city carried her into the people of God — faith, not sin, brought her into the list.
- Same household. That faith placed her in the first family of Judah, married to Salmon, son of Nahshon, the tribe's prince.
- Same line. From that marriage came Boaz, then Obed, Jesse, and David — she is close to the throne, not distant from it.
- Open question. That Salmon was one of the two men she sheltered is offered only as probable; Scripture does not name the spies.