Editing Rahab (section)

== In the Hebrew Bible ==
[[File:Pickersgill Rahab.JPG|thumb|210px|''Rahab Receiveth and Concealeth the Spies'' by [[Frederick Richard Pickersgill]] (1881)]]
According to the book of Joshua,<ref>{{bibleverse||Joshua|2:1–7|HE}}</ref> when the [[Hebrews]] were encamped at [[Abila (Peraea)|Shittim]] in the [[Arabah]] or [[Jordan River|Jordan Valley]] opposite [[Tell es-Sultan|Jericho]], ready to cross the river, [[Joshua]], as a final preparation, sent out two spies to investigate the military strength of Jericho. The spies stayed in Rahab's house, which was built into the city wall. The soldiers sent to capture the spies asked Rahab to bring out the spies.<ref>{{bibleverse||Joshua|2:3|HE}}</ref> Instead, she hid them under bundles of [[flax]] on the roof. It was the time of the barley harvest, and flax and barley are ripe at the same time in the Jordan valley, so that "the bundles of flax stalks might have been expected to be drying just then".<ref>Geikie, John Cunningham (1881). [https://archive.org/details/HoursWithTheBible/page/n395 ''Hours with the Bible''], volume 2. London: S.W. Partridge & Co. p. 390.</ref>

Rahab told the spies: {{blockquote|She said to the men, “I know that [[Yahweh|GOD]] has given the country to you, because dread of you has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land are quaking before you. For we have heard how GOD dried up the waters of the [[Yam Suf|Sea of Reeds]] for you when [[the Exodus|you left Egypt]], and what you did to [[Sihon]] and [[Og]], the two [[Amorite]] kings across the Jordan, whom you doomed. When we heard about it, we lost heart, and no one had any more spirit left because of you; for [[Names of God in Judaism|the ETERNAL]] your God is the only God in heaven above and on earth below. Now, since I have shown loyalty to you, swear to me by GOD that you in turn will show loyalty to my family. Provide me with a reliable sign  that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”|Joshua 2:9–13<ref>{{cite web |title=Joshua 2:9-13 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Joshua.2.9-13?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>}}

After escaping, the spies promised to spare Rahab and her family after taking the city, even if there should be a massacre, if she would mark her house by hanging a red cord out the window. Some have claimed that the symbol of the red cord is related to the practice of the [[red-light district]].<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Mobley
  | first = Gregory
  | title = The Return of the Chaos Monsters: And Other Backstories of the Bible
  | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
  | year = 2012
  | location = Grand Rapids, MI
  | page = 60 
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ewbRlQRlgFgC&pg=PA60 
  | isbn = 978-0-8028-3746-2
}}</ref>

When the city of Jericho fell,<ref>{{cite web |title=Joshua 6:17-25 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Joshua.6.17-25?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> Rahab and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies and were incorporated among the Jewish people. According to some rabbinic authorities, Rahab was treated as a [[beautiful captive woman]] in order to bring her into a marital union with Israel.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Zechariah ha-Rofé |author-link=Zechariah ha-Rofé |editor-last=Havazelet |editor-first=Meir |title=Midrash ha-Ḥefetz |volume=2 |publisher=[[Mossad Harav Kook]] |location=Jerusalem|year=1992|page=417 (Deuteronomy 21:10) |language=he|oclc=23773577 |title-link=Midrash ha-Hefez}}</ref> (In siege warfare of antiquity, a city that fell after a prolonged siege was commonly subjected to a massacre and sack, while others taken captive.)

[[Tikva Frymer-Kensky]] regards Rahab as "smart, proactive, tricky and unafraid to disobey and deceive her king". She also credits Rahab with being "one of Israel’s early saviors" due to "her allegiance to God and Israel".<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/readingwomenofbi00frym|title=Reading the women of the Bible|last=Frymer-Kensky, Tikva Simone.|date=2002|publisher=Schocken Books|isbn=0-8052-4121-3|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=49823086|url-access=registration}}</ref> As the first non-Israelite person, and in particular the first [[Canaan]]ite woman, to ally with Israel, Rahab's convictions led her to protect the men sent by Joshua despite her background.<ref name=":02" />

[[Michael Coogan]] says the book of Joshua, more than any other book of the Bible, contains short [[etiological]] narratives that explain the origins of religious rituals, topographical features, genealogical relationships, and other aspects of ancient Israelite life, and that the legend of Rahab is such an example. The story of Rahab would therefore provide an answer as to how a Canaanite group became part of Israel in spite of the Deuteronomistic injunction to kill all Canaanites and not to intermarry with them.<ref>{{bibleverse||Deut|20:16–18|HE}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Deut|7:1–4|HE}}</ref><ref>Coogan, Michael (2009). ''A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament''. Oxford University Press. pp. 162–164.</ref>

Some scholars see the parallels between Joshua 2 and Genesis 19, which narrates the fall of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]]. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, Jericho was presumed to be equally as wicked, with Rahab challenging Jericho's "oppressive establishment" by siding with Jericho's destroyers (i.e. the Israelites).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kozlova |first=Ekaterina E. |date=2020 |title=What is in a Name? Rahab, the Canaanite, and the Rhetoric of Liberation in the Hebrew Bible |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opth-2020-0106/html?lang=en |journal=Open Theology |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=572–586 |doi=10.1515/opth-2020-0106 |via=De Gruyter|doi-access=free }}</ref> Coincidentally, these cities were believed to lie among a major fault line extending 1,100 kilometers from the Red Sea to Turkey.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Neev |first1=David |title=The Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jericho: Geological, Climatological, and Archaeological Background |last2=Emery |first2=K.O. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0195090949 |edition=1st}}</ref>

Rahab is identified in Christian theological interpretation as the first recorded convert in the Promised Land, whose faith in the God of Israel led to her rescue during the fall of Jericho ({{bibleverse|Joshua|2:11}}; {{bibleverse|Joshua|6:25}}). In Evangelical and Reformed traditions, she is viewed as a sign of divine grace extended to Gentiles and sinners. Matthew Henry wrote that “free grace wrought that which the terrors of the Lord did not work in the rest of her neighbors.”<ref>Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible. Zondervan, 1991.</ref> John Calvin described Rahab as offering “a singular proof of faith, having embraced the promise of God before she had seen anything accomplished.”<ref>Calvin, John. Commentaries on the Book of Joshua. Trans. Henry Beveridge, 1854.</ref> Christopher J. H. Wright notes that Rahab “stands as a prophetic sign that the blessings of Abraham would indeed extend to all nations.”<ref>Wright, Christopher J. H. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative. IVP Academic, 2006, p. 268.</ref> Tremper Longman III writes that her story “demonstrates God's openness to those outside Israel who respond in faith.”<ref>Longman, Tremper III. Joshua, Judges, Ruth. NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan, 2001.</ref> Some commentators also compare Rahab to Gomer in the book of Hosea, both symbolizing God's redemptive love for the unfaithful.<ref>Kidner, Derek. The Message of Hosea. InterVarsity Press, 1981.</ref>