A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Rahab
RAHAB,
A woman of Jericho. When Joshua, the leader of the Israelitish host, sent out two spies, saying, "Go view the land, even Jericho," it is recorded "that they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there." The King of Jericho hearing of their visit, sent to Rahab, requiring her to bring the men forth; but instead of complying, she deceived the king, by telling him that they went out of the city about the time of the shutting of the gate, and whither they went, she knew not, but doubtless if the king pursued after them they would be overtaken. In the meantime, while the messengers thus put upon the false track pursued after them to the fords of Jordan, Rahab took the two men up to the roof of the house, which, after the custom of eastern cities, was flat, and hid them under the stalks of flax which she had spread out there to dry.
This strange conduct, in defence of two strangers, she explained to the spies, by telling them, after they reached the roof, that "she knew that the Lord had given the children of Israel the land, for they had heard of their doings from the time that they came out of Egypt, so that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you."
In return for her care, she made them swear unto her that they would save alive herself and all her family,—father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all that they had. Having thus secured herself from threatened destruction, she let them down by a cord through a window, for her house was upon the town wall, and they escaped to the mountains, whence, after three days, they returned to the camp of Joshua,
For the important service rendered to these spies, herself and kindred were saved from the general massacre which followed the capture of Jericho, her house being designated by a scarlet cord let down from the window out of which the spies escaped.
Several commentators, anxious to relieve the character of a woman so renowned from the imputation cast upon her by the opprobrious epithet usually affixed to her name, would translate the Hebrew word Zonah, which our version renders harlot, by the term hostess or innkeeper. But the same Hebrew word in every other place means what the old English version says, and we see no reason to make its use here an exception; besides, there were no inns in those days and countries; and when, subsequently, something answerable to our ideas of them were introduced, in the shape of caravanseri, they were never kept by women.
It is a remarkable feature of the Bible, that it glosses over no characters, but freely mentions failings or defects, as well as goodness and virtue; and hence, when errors of life are spoken of as connected with any individual, it is not incumbent on us to defend all the life of that individual, if the character is good from the time that it professes to be good; the evil living which went before, may freely be named without compromising or reflecting upon subsequent goodness.
Her remarks to the spies evince her belief in the God of the Hebrews, and her marriage, at a later period, with Salmon, one of the princes of Israel, proves her conversion to Judaism. The Jewish writers abound in praises of Rahab; and even those who do not deny that she was a harlot, admit that she eventually became the wife of a prince of Israel, and that many great persons of their nation sprang from this union.
According to the Bible, Rahab was a woman of fidelity, discretion, and a believer in the God of Israel; and the only individual, among all the nations which Joshua was commissioned to destroy, who aided the Israelites, and who was received and dwelt among the people of God as one with them. St Paul quotes her as one of his examnles of eminent faith. These events occurred B. C. 1451.