The book of Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus/Yeshua
This post is not intended as an in depth study, this is a look at the next woman in the line of 5.
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by
TAMAR,
and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,[a]4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon
,5and Salmon the father of Boaz by
RAHAB,
and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth,
and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon bythe wife of Uriah, Bathsheba
7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,[b]8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,[c] and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,[d] and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of
Miryam/Mary,
of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
Rahab in Hebrew:
רָחָב
Rachab
Rahab; meaning: broad, large;
From the verb רחב (rahab), to be wide or spacious.
This courageous woman is really the second in line, as from Genesis; remembering we highlighted Mary/Miryam first even though she is the last one mentioned in the scripture.
Rahabs’ story begins in the book of Joshua, the children of Israel were ready to take possession of the land they had been promised after they had been in the wilderness for 40 years.
Moses’s successor Joshua send two spies secretly to check out the first City of Jericho. Joshua 2:1 tells as they came to a house of a woman named Rahab.
“And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there”
Joshua 2:1.
The scripture says she was a harlot, or prostitute.
But was she really?
Three times Rahab is referred to as
the harlot,
the Hebrew term zoonah,
and the Greek word porne
these words have never meant anything else but
harlot
dictionary defined as:
a woman who yields herself indiscriminately to every man approaching her.
Some branches of Jewish tradition emphasize Rahab as an innkeeper, who, may or may not have found other ways of bringing in revenue, as she was a businesswoman.
The Hebrew word, zōnâ, is interpreted in the Septuagint as pórnē.
The women are designated in the Hebrew text as zōnōṯ (זוֹנוֹת), which is the plural form of the adjective zōnâ (זוֹנָה), prostitute. However, some propose a different meaning for this word in the context of the story, such as:
tavern owner or innkeeper.
Below an example of a medieval tavern/inn.
The Hebrew zōnâ may refer to secular or cultic prostitution, and the latter is widely believed to have been an invariable element of Canaanite religious practice, although recent scholarship has disputed this. However, there was a separate word, qědēšâ, that could be used to designate prostitutes of the cultic variety, (referenced in Part 2).
Another example of the use of this word is in the story of Samson; (Hebrew: שִׁמְשׁוֹן , Shimshōn, man of the sun); showing it can also symbolize the fickle love and loyalty shown by the children of Israel. His night with the prostitute (זנה zōnâ) recalls God’s charge against the Israelites for prostituting (זנה zānâ) themselves with all manner of foreign gods in spiritual unfaithfulness, fornication and adultery.
Judges 12-16.
It may very well have been that Rahab was a religious prostitute in connection with the canaanite pagan practices.
The Hebrew term
bayith-ishahah
בּיִת אִשָּׁ֔ה
The Hebrew word for woman is אִשָּׁ֔ה
(ishshah, also transliterated ishah).
It normally means woman, female, or wife.
The Hebrew word for house is בּיִת bayith (beit/beth/bet)
Phonetic Spelling: (bah’-yith) a house, a. dwelling, habitation.
so
bayith-ishahah
literally means:
house woman,
could also mean innkeeper.
The word translated harlot, zona
from the root word zanah,
which normally means: to act as a harlot or commit fornication; could also indicate a woman who had legitimate commercial associations with men.
It was probably a rowdy place, frequented by unscrupulous and idle men. Notoriously bars, and red light districts have often functioned as infamous meeting places for military and other forms of espionage.
So, we should not be surprised that Joshua’s spies knew to go to Rahab’s Place. It is possible that the men hid there because people would be accustomed to seeing strangers come and go at all hours of the night. So their arrival would not have been suspicious.
Picture above: The city itself was surrounded by an inner and an outer wall, as most cities were at the time above, a picture of a reconstruction, of ancient Jericho, with outer and inner walls, walls in bad repair, and houses/rooms built into the outer wall itself; the collapsed walls made it much easier for Joshua and the Israelites to gain access to the city.
The outer walls surrounded the whole city, protecting it from foreign intruders. The inner wall enclosed a central administrative compound for palace, temples, and large-scale food storage. Wealthier people lived in the central compound. Apparently, those considered, poor and disreputable people (like Rahab) lived in the outer compound, between the two walls. They could be filled with earth in times of siege to make a strong defense against battering rams and similar siege engines. They also formed an inner ring road circling the town, in several Palestinian cities houses were built up along it close to the inner wall, and the inside of the wall used for storage or housing.
This would explain why they lodged/stayed in her house as it was an inn where people would stay when they came to the city, it was situated right by the walls, probably close to the city entrance with easy access and why it was in, as in attached/built into, the city wall which were up to 60feet/20 metres thick.
Houses had flat roofs, often shaded with a thick woven cloth; women used this space as a work and storage area.
Other occurrences of words from the root word zanah (nearly 100), are clearly meant to imply physical or spiritual harlotry. Again this kind of harlotry often referred to worshiping false idols and foreign gods and was often termed adultery meaning unfaithfulness to the one true living God.
The New Testament/Brit Chadashah, associates the word porne with Rahab. Interesting as that is the beginning of our word for pornography which we usually shorten to the word porn.
This word porne in Greek means prostitute as in Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25, however again, it can refer to spiritual unfaithfulness.
But that’s not all, Rahab was also a Canaanite, who were the hated enemies of Israel.
The grace of God can transform lives,
however sinful,
however seemingly impossible,
often taking the most unlikely of candidates for His purposes to be fulfilled and revealed!
Paul was a great example calling himself the chief of sinners 1Timothy 1:15
We need to remember that in
Ephesians 1:4-6we are accepted in the beloved because of the sacrificial blood of Jesus/Yeshua.
Why?
Because
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world!
Their lives became endangered when the king heard about them, when, during the night there was a banging on the door of her inn. When she answered, two soldiers stood there.
They were looking for Hebrew spies and the men sent to seize the spies asked Rahab to bring them out.
Stalks of flax drying.
Instead, Rahab covered them under bunches of flax on the roof, protecting them from being captured
and she said to the spies:
“I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. “Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.” Joshua 2:9-13
Joshua means ‘Yahweh/God is my salvation’
Rahab lied when asked where they were, telling the inquirers..
vrs 4-5
sending them on a wild goose chase in the wrong direction.
Vrs 9,11-14
seem to indicate that she had come to believe in the God of Israel.
Rahab recognized the God of Israel.
She trusted in Him for the righteousness she could not produce in her own life!
Click link below for more on the Biblical meaning of the color scarlet.
When Joshua ordered the attack against the city and Jericho fell, because of Rahab’s agreement with the spies she and her entire family were saved.
Meanwhile the two men were still in mortal danger, trapped in a hostile city.
The resourceful Rahab took care of that too.
Maybe her house had small rooms, which were enough to house a family, built into the otherwise solid mass of the city wall.
One of these rooms must have had a window large enough for a man to pass through, and she, presumably with some help from her family members, let the two men down on a rope through this window to the ground below.
She told them to escape into the hills and stay there for three days, by which time the coast would be clear.
15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”
After escaping, the spies agreed to spare Rahab and her family after conquering the city, even if there were to be a slaughter
IF
she would mark her house by hanging a red/scarlet cord out of the window.
This was just a beginning because she was then joined by marriage into the tribe of Judah and her family were included among the Jewish people and Rahab became a part of the genealogy of the Messiah, Yeshua/Jesus.
In the chart below we see that Salmon was destined to become great, great, grandfather of King David.
He married Rahab, their child was called Boaz,
he in turn became Ruth’s husband.
All the people in the genealogy of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua show the grace and mercy of God in lives down through the generations.
Boaz, her son, was one of the main characters we read about in the book of Ruth, and it’s clear that Rahab had raised a very godly son. He was a wealthy well respected businessman who was a righteous man; being a leader in the town of
Bethlehem in Judea!
He showed great compassion concerning Ruth’s situation, even though she was a downtrodden foreign widow.
Rahab would have had no idea what the future impact of her decision to help the spies sent by Joshua would be. In fact it is true to say the future of the world was at stake!
The faith and courage of a canaanite woman saved herself and her entire family. She was a pagan idol worshipper and yet she became inserted directly into the genealogy of God’s Beloved Son. There is no reference to her raising Boaz in the Scriptures; to those who serve the Lord in ways that the world cannot see; it is an encouragement that the Lord sees and He rewards every act of devotion and service in His Will, plan and purpose.
It is not normal practice for families to hang skeletons on their front doors for everyone to see, scandals are normally kept hidden in the closet; yet here in scripture we have the facts for all to read.
Whether Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute, or an inn keeper; Our Heavenly Father chose her to become part of the genealogy of our savior; to be included in the Royal line of Israel’s Messiah Matthew 1:1 -6, remembering that this gospel was originally intended for Jewish readers.
Rahab left a red cord at her window to save herself and her family. There are echoes here of the red blood on the doorways of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, when the Angel of Death passed over their house so that the family within was safe.
This was a condition of attaining her salvation just as the blood on the door posts of the Israelites and also for every believer the blood of Messiah is our scarlet cord of redemption IF we will accept His conditions.
Joshua the agent of her deliverance was a type and shadow of Jesus/Yeshua, the meaning also in their name; plus the fact he was the first of a generation to step into the promised land.. we too are on our WAY into the promised land…Messiahs blood on the doorposts of our hearts.
Here on the first page of the Brit Chadashah/New Testament in Matthew, she is clearly in Jesus/Yeshuas’ genealogy placed here as a respected member of Israel and in Hebrews 11:31 she is raised as an example together with the great people of faith.
James associates her with the faith of Abraham whose willingness to sacrifice His son is probably one of the greatest examples of faith in Hebrew Scriptures. In both the references the true nature of faith is reflected Rahab’s actions.
We may wonder how her lie James 2:25 could be considered justified by works. Rahab did what she probably had done hundreds of times to protect herself, she was a very new believer and although it was wrong, according to the 10 Commandments; we all continue the process of Gods transformation by His grace and mercy, and as we mature we throw off the habits that are in direct contradiction to the Word of God.
James was not talking about the faith that saves us from sin but the faith that delivers and saves us from failing the test in trials that come in every believers life. Those trials which is the testing of our faith is how we react to the situation.
It would seem that Rahab was being shown to be already righteous because she received the messengers and sent them out another way James 2:25 she had already acknowledged to God of Israel as the God in heaven above and on the Earth beneath.
Joshua 2:11
The Greek word for justify is used in 2 ways one is
to declare righteous, dikaioo, in
Romans 3:23-24; 27 – 30.
There’s a second meaning in Luke 7:29 and James 2
to show to be righteous.
Genesis 22
Abraham was shown to be already righteous because he was
willing to sacrifice Isaac
so he was declared righteous by God.
Interesting after the events at Jericho, Rahab is not mentioned again in the Tenach, the final Scripture concerning her is in Joshua 6:25 and the Tenach does not indicate her fate. so the only direct reference to her inclusion in the royal lineage comes in Matthew chapter 1 although the Jewish genealogy do mention the family into which she married they never mentioned her specifically.
Whatever Rahab was before Israel crossed into the land of the Canaanites, she became someone new in the promised land.
For Rahab believed.
She not only believed in God but she also acted.
For Rahab trusted in the God who fulfilled the covenantal promise to Abraham, that he would be given land from which would bring a nation, and a descendant, who would bless the earth.
And we must always remember that this woman, Rehab, was chosen by the Creator of His universe to be a chosen instrument in bringing about salvation to the ends of the earth.
“And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way” James 2:25
Rehab became a central, strategic figure of incomparable courage as she helped Israel to enter the promised land and subdue her own people.
When the army of Israel entered Canaan,
Rahab acted
according to a prearranged plan and
hung out a scarlet cord from her window.
Thus, she and her family were saved.
It is significant that a scarlet cord, likely, an emblem of ill-repute, became a sign of salvation. In the same way it is a beautiful thought that it is a scarlet cord of the covenant of God’s grace that binds all of the Word of God together; and in Messiah Yeshua/Christ Jesus, the blood-stained, crimson cross of shame became the gleaming symbol of faith hope and salvation for whosoever will.
Rahab’s faith in Israels’ God engrafted her into a new family.
Rahab’s husband is chronicled in both the Old and New Testaments
1Chronicles 2:10-11,Ruth 4:20-21, Matthew 1:4-5 and Luke 3:32
The woman who had been called a harlot became a godly wife and mother in Israel. She and her husband became the parents of a boy named Boaz. And that boy would one day marry a widow woman by the name of Ruth. Ruth 4:5,10.
Thus, as God worked all things together for the good, using the humble and the most unlikely,
God raised up a harlot to become the great-great-grandmother of King David.
From the line of Rahab came the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world, our God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no more touching story of God’s glorious grace than the genealogical introduction to the birth of Yeshua/Jesus by faith through the line of Joseph in the first chapter of Matthew. Among the many stories that are interwoven in that wonderful section of the Bible, the woman of the scarlet cord takes her honored place.
If we ask how could Almighty God, the Holy God of heaven, use sinners like us? We need look no further than the woman with the scarlet cord, the relative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ/Yashua HaMashiach.
She is not remembered for her sin.
She is remembered for the remarkable transformation in her life
and her womb/racham, became a carrier of His line.
Rahab – one of five chosen in a line unbroken…
The word harlot is undoubtedly repeated so that we will know that whatever we have done…. God will forgive us if we come to Him by faith in His Son Jesus/Yeshua. Rahab is the ever-present message of God to each of us:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” 2 Cor.5:17
This genealogy is in the Bible to let us know that He had forebears with backgrounds a lot like ours.
He called himself the friend of sinners, and He said He
didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
He said,
The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost Luke 19:10
The same grace that Rahab experienced is now available to each and every one of us.
Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek the Lord while He may be found, call you upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Shalom, shalom, mishpachah!
You are loved and appreciated and prayed for daily.
Please don’t leave this page without the knowing in your heart you are totally His.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
Its all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.
The book of Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus/Yeshua
Stalks of flax drying.
