Who was Rahab in the Bible?

You all know the story. You know she was a Canaanite Gentile: one of those appointed to utter destruction. You know she was a harlot. But have you ever pondered her faith, and the reward she won for it? You remember her name is inscribed on that 'Honour Roll of Faith' in Hebrews 11.

The harlot who secreted the spies that Joshua sent into the land. She had heard of the wonders of God in delivering Israel out of Egypt, and she was aware of the fear that had fallen on the inhabitants. In faith she risked her life in hiding the spies. Her stratagem was successful, and she made an agreement with the spies, that if she did not betray them, her life and the life of her family should be saved when the city was taken. This was only to be binding on them if she brought all into her house, under the token of the scarlet line, hung out at the window from which the spies were let down, the house being built upon the wall. Joshua was careful that the compact should be respected, and she and her relatives were saved. Joshua 2:1-22; Joshua 6:17-25.

Rahab was a traitor to her country, and lied to the king; but it was to throw herself under the protection of the God of Israel. Her falsehood is not commended; her faith is, Heb. 11:31; and her works justified her (before men). James 2:25. That the RACHAB of Matt. 1:5 is the same as Rahab is evidenced by the article; it was the Rachab mentioned in the O.T. (the Greek language having no letter H, a CH [Χ] is substituted). That such women as Rahab and Thamar should be mentioned in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus shows the divine origin of the list, for man would probably have omitted these names. Their insertion exalts the grace that superabounds over all sin.

Tamar is the first. Her shameful history of fornication is recorded in Genesis 38. What a dark story it is, full of the evil deeds of the flesh. Sin in its blackness is seen there. But how did she get into the genealogy? The answer is, by her sin. It was her shameful sin that puts her here in the genealogy of Him who has come to save that which is lost, the Saviour of men. The Holy Spirit has put her name in and shows by it that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners. He has come to save the vilest and the lowest. And the second one is Rahab. Who was she? A Canaanitess. Unclean and outcast, a harlot full of abomination. Yet here is her name too linked with Salmon (meaning clothed) and Boaz, her son, which means, "In strength." She had believed the messengers as they had come, and the scarlet thread, the sign of her deliverance from the doomed city, was in her window. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace" (Heb. 11:31). It was faith by which she came into line. Every Jew knew her history and knew too that she had come in to share Israel's blessings. Still the proud Pharisees murmured when Jesus sat down and ate and drank with the publicans and the sinners and the outcasts gathered around Him, murmuring because He sought the lowest.

God has not only given the history of Rahab in the Book of Joshua, but the commentary of the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 11, "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace." What would be accounted an act of treason by men is viewed in its true light, by the Searcher of hearts, as an act of faith. Rahab believed that the living God was with the armies of Israel, and that Israel were His people, and she risked her life that she might be saved when the vengeance of God overtook the guilty nations of Canaan.

What a change it meant for Rahab! She left behind in the judged and ruined city of Jericho a life of sin to have part with the people of God, and to be chosen of God, not only to live in the royal tribe, but to be in the royal line, the grandmother of Boaz, who was to be the great-grandfather of King David. No provision was made in the law of Moses for bringing a Canaanite, under any circumstances, into the congregation of the Lord; they were to be utterly destroyed (Deut. 20:16-17); but God's sovereign mercy prevailed in Rahab's case to bring her into a place of blessing beyond any-thing she ever could have conceived.

We have now in Rahab's story, very plainly, the testimony of salvation, and the answer of faith. Joshua sends spies across Jordan to "view the land, even Jericho." Jericho, at the entrance of the land, presents the opposition of the enemy in those cities walled up to heaven which Israel before had spoken of so despairingly. But the power of the enemy, as we have seen, acts through the world, which, as darkness, opposes the light, in which is the inheritance of the saints. (Col. 1:12.) Jericho, at the entrance of Canaan, and significantly close by Jordan, the river of death, is the world, upon which faith must, as it were, execute the judgment of God before we can possess ourselves of our heavenly portion.

The story of Rahab, with its New Testament comments, is so plain in its meaning that this is recognized by all who see any spiritual meaning in these histories at all. "Rahab" means enlargement." As the psalmist says, "Thou hast set my feet in a large room," so could this Canaanitish woman say. Not in figure merely, but in fact, she is a sinner saved from impending judgment. One of those nations upon whom, as having filled up the measure of their iniquities, the curse was already pronounced; among these a harlot, sinner among sinners; she is a witness that from whatever "end of the earth" a soul looks to God, there is salvation for it. And how beautiful to see that in such a case as this it is, where the lesson is one so needful beyond all others, the vail, elsewhere maintained, drops almost altogether, and fact and type come together as one!

From Moses we pass on to the people of Israel in verse 29 and to Joshua — though he is not named — in verse 30, and we reach Rahab, a Gentile, one of an accursed race, in verse 31. Had it not been for this verse we might never have discerned that faith was the root of her actions and words. Reading Joshua 2 we might have supposed that she was a woman of poor morals and no principle, who was anxious to escape her doom. But the fact was that her eyes had been opened to see God. The Canaanites merely saw Israel. "Your terror is fallen upon us," said she, "all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you." (Josh. 2:9). Her attitude however was this: — "I know that the Lord has given you the land." This was faith; and her actions expressed the fact that she dared to side with the God of Israel. This courageous faith did not mean suffering for her since God was at once intervening in power.

Rahab, in presence of all the as yet unimpaired strength of the enemies of God and His people, identifies herself with the latter before they had gained one victory, because she felt that God was with them. A stranger to them (as to the flesh), she by faith escaped the judgment which God executed upon her people.

By hiding the spies and lying to the King of Jericho, she shows her faith and the weakness of it. To her was also given a place of honor in the first chapter of the New Testament as one of the ancestors of Him who, according to the flesh, is the Son of David.

Joshua 2. The spies learned that the fear of Israel had fallen upon the people of the land, and the faith of Rahab saved her and her family. A Gentile gets a place in the promised possession by faith. See RAHAB.

It is noted in verse 26 that Rahab, her father's house and all her possessions were spared, and she dwelt in Israel still at the time this record was written. This exception, being mentioned a few times, is intended to impress us with the reality of the grace of God in His willingness to save souls, even though God had decreed the destruction of the city and the entire country. Just so, today God has decreed the judgment of the world (Acts 17:31), yet in grace He is saving souls out of the world when in faith they receive the Lord Jesus as Savior.