📖 Biblical Definition
Rahab was the Canaanite prostitute in Jericho who hid the two Israelite spies sent by Joshua, confessed faith in YHWH ("the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath", Joshua 2:11), and tied the scarlet cord in her window as the sign of her household’s deliverance. When the walls fell, Rahab and her father’s house were spared (Joshua 6:22-25). She married into Israel — taking Salmon as husband — and became the great-great-grandmother of King David and an ancestress of Christ (Matthew 1:5). She is honored twice in the New Testament faith-rolls: Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25. The Gentile harlot becomes the great-grandmother of the King.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Jericho prostitute who hid the spies; ancestress of Christ.
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Canaanite prostitute in Jericho who sheltered the Israelite spies and confessed faith in YHWH ("the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath," Josh 2:11). Tied a scarlet cord in her window as agreed sign; her household was spared in Jericho's destruction. Married into Israel (to Salmon); became mother of Boaz, great-grandmother of David, and so ancestress of Christ (Matt 1:5). Cited in Hebrews 11 (faith) and James 2 (works) as example.
📖 Key Scripture
Joshua 2:11 — "And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath."
Hebrews 11:31 — "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace."
Matthew 1:5 — "And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Christian tradition has sometimes scrubbed Rahab's prostitution; the text and the New Testament both keep it visible.
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Some commentators have rendered zonah as "innkeeper" rather than "prostitute" to clean Rahab up. The Hebrew is plain. So is the gospel: God grafts a Canaanite prostitute into the messianic line. The cleaning was His; not ours to retroactively perform.
Recover the scandal: Rahab the prostitute is ancestor of Christ. The grace that received her is the same grace that grafts every sinner into the line.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Rachab.
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['Hebrew', 'H7343', 'Rachab', 'Rahab']
Usage
"Rahab the prostitute is in Christ's line."
"Faith works: she received the spies."
"The scarlet cord prefigures the blood."