(raw' hawb) Name meaning, “arrogant, raging, turbulent, afflicter.” 1. Primeval sea monster representing the forces of chaos God overcame in creation (Job 9:13 ; Job 26:12 ; Psalm 89:10 ; Isaiah 51:9 ; compare Psalm 74:12-17 ). 2 . Symbolic name for Egypt (Psalm 87:4 ). Isaiah 30:7 includes a compound name Rahab-hem-shebeth . Translations vary: “Rahab who sits still” (NRSV); “Rahab who has been exterminated” (NAS); “Rahab the Do-Nothing” (NIV); “Rahab the Subdued” (REB). 3. The plural appears in Psalm 40:4 for the proud, arrogant enemies.

RAHAB (‘wide’). 1 . The story of this woman, called a harlot, of Jericho is given in Joshua 2:1-24 . The two spies sent out by Joshua to view the Promised Land come first to the house of Rahab, in Jericho. The king hears of it, and bids Rahab bring them forth; but she asserts that they have left her house and that she does not know where they have gone; she had, however, previously hid them among stalks of flax upon the roof. After their pursuers have left, Rahab comes to them, professes her belief in Jahweh, and adjures them to spare her and her kinsfolk when the attack on Jericho is made; this they promise shall be done; and after arranging that a scarlet thread is to be hung from her window, in order to denote which house is to be spared when the sack of the city takes place, the two spies escape from her house by a rope ( Joshua 2:1-24 ). The promise is duly kept, and Joshua spares her when the city is burned ( Joshua 6:22-25 ). In Matthew 1:5 Rahab is mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord. 2 . A name for the Dragon , applied also to Egypt. This name is not the same as that just considered, which is written Rachab in Hebrew, while this is written Rahab . It is the name given to a mythological monster who is frequently referred to in the Bible. In Isaiah 30:7 the old myth that Jahweh in the beginning subdued Rahab (= Tĕhôm , the ‘Great Deep,’ the Bab. ^[1] Tiamat ) is employed to show that Jahweh will in like manner subdue Egypt (cf. Psalms 87:4 ), and that it is therefore vain for Judah to trust to it. The words in RV ^[2] , ‘Rahab that sitteth still,’ imply that Rahab had been subjugated, but not annihilated, i.e. it was believed that Rahab was still living somewhere in the depths of the sea; the final destruction is referred to in Revelation 21:1 ‘And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more .’ The next reference to Rahab is in Isaiah 51:9-10 , a very important passage, which shows distinctly that Rahab, the Dragon, the sea or the ‘Great Deep’ ( Tĕhôm ), are all names for one and the same monster. The belief is also expressly stated that in ‘the days of old’ there was a conflict between Jahweh and Rahab, and that the latter was overcome. Further references to the Rahab-myth are to be found in Psalms 89:9-10 , Job 9:13 ; Job 26:10-11 ; it is important to note how in all these passages the myth is treated as well known, it is taken for granted that the reference is perfectly understood. ^[3] W. O. E. Oesterley.

Insolence; pride, a poetical name applied to Egypt in Psalm 87:4 ; 89:10 ; Isaiah 51:9 , as "the proud one." Rahab, (Heb. Rahab; i.e., "broad," "large"). When the Hebrews were encamped at Shittim, in the "Arabah" or Jordan valley opposite Jericho, ready to cross the river, Joshua, as a final preparation, sent out two spies to "spy the land." After five days they returned, having swum across the river, which at this season, the month Abib, overflowed its banks from the melting of the snow on Lebanon. The spies reported how it had fared with them (Joshua 2:1-7 ). They had been exposed to danger in Jericho, and had been saved by the fidelity of Rahab the harlot, to whose house they had gone for protection. When the city of Jericho fell (6:17-25), Rahab and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies, and were incorporated among the Jewish people. She afterwards became the wife of Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah (Ruth 4:21 ; 1 Chronicles 2:11 ; Matthew 1:5 ). "Rahab's being asked to bring out the spies to the soldiers (Joshua 2:3 ) sent for them, is in strict keeping with Eastern manners, which would not permit any man to enter a woman's house without her permission. The fact of her covering the spies with bundles of flax which lay on her house-roof (2:6) is an 'undesigned coincidence' which strictly corroborates the narrative. 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" (Geikie's Hours, etc., ii., 390).

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, Hebrews 11:31 ; and her works justified her (before men). James 2:25 . That the RACHAB of Matthew 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 ^[1] 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.

The name Rahab appears in English versions of the Bible as belonging to a woman who features in the book of Joshua, and to a mythical sea monster that features in the poetical books. But in the Hebrew Bible the two do not share the same name. There is a difference in spelling. A woman in Jericho Before Joshua opened his attack on Canaan, he sent two men to spy out the first city they would meet, Jericho. In Jericho the men met Rahab, a prostitute whose house was attached to the city wall. Rahab had heard sufficient of Israel’s God to fear his power, but she believed in his mercy to save her. She protected the spies from the local authorities, and in return asked protection for herself and her family when the Israelites attacked Jericho (Joshua 2:1-14; Hebrews 11:31). Rahab further demonstrated her faith by being obedient to the instructions that the spies gave her. She protected the spies as requested, and did as they had told her in preparation for Israel’s attack. As a result the Israelites preserved her and her family when Jericho fell, and accepted them into Israel as part of the nation (Joshua 2:15-24; Joshua 6:17; Joshua 6:22-25; James 2:25). If this Rahab is the person of that name who married Salmon, she was mother of Boaz and an ancestor of Jesus the Messiah (Matthew 1:1; Matthew 1:5-6). A mythical sea monster Rahab the mythical sea monster was considered by people of the Middle East to symbolize the forces of chaos over which God had victory in creating an orderly world (Job 9:13; Job 26:12; Job 38:8-11). Poets at times wrote about God’s overthrow of Egypt in the Red Sea as if it were the overthrow of the sea monster Rahab (Psalms 89:9-10; Isaiah 51:9-10). From this there developed the poetical usage of ‘Rahab’ as another name for Egypt (Psalms 87:4; Isaiah 30:7).

Operated an inn located in the walls of the city of Jericho. When Joshua sent two spies to survey Jericho in anticipation of the Israelites’ impending invasion of Canaan, they stayed at her inn. When the Canaanites got wind of the spies whereabouts, she hid them on her rooftop and sent the Canaanites on a wild goose chase. In return, the Israelites spared her and her family. According to the Midrash, she later converted to Judaism and married Joshua.

("insolence".) A poetical name for Egypt (Isaiah 51:9). In Isaiah 30:7 De Dieu translated "I called her Arrogance (Rahab) that sitteth still." She who boasted of the help she would give, when put to the test, sat still (Isaiah 36:6). Psalms 87:4-5; Psalms 89:10, "Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain." Egypt is put foremost, as first of the great world powers that opposed God. She was reduced to corpse-like helplessness By God's stroke at the Red Sea, and at the slaying of the firstborn previously. (compare Psalms 74:13-14). Rahab occurs in the Hebrew, Job 9:13; Job 26:12.

Joshua 2; Joshua 6. The harlot of Jericho who received Joshua's spies. She had a house of her own, separate from her father, mother, brothers, and sisters; perhaps a lodging convenient for travelers, being situated on the wall. The flax she spread on her roof and the scarlet line make it likely she manufactured linen and dyed, as did the Phoenicians; compare Joshua 7:21 the "Babylonian garment," implying a trade in such articles with Mesopotamia. Jericho, near the fords of Jordan, would be an emporium between Phoenicia and Babylon and Egypt. Hence, Rahab knew the facts of the Exodus, the miraculous passage of the Red Sea, and the overthrow of Sihon and Og. God made the truth bring the conviction to her mind that Israel would conquer Canaan, and that "Jehovah Israel's God is God in heaven above and in earth beneath." Faith induced her, at the risk of her life, to shelter the spies under the stalks of flax spread on the flat roof. Her deceiving the king of Jericho and saying they had "gone she knew not where" is not commended in Scripture, but only the faith which was the mainspring of her conduct. Scripture forbids a lie, or any "evil doing, that good may come" (Romans 3:7-8). (See JAEL.) Next, she told them of the panic which Israel's advance caused among her countrymen, and obtained from them the promise that when Israel took Jericho she and her father, mother, brethren, and sisters, and all of the household, should be saved; the scarlet line by which they were let down from her window in the wall was the pledge, placed in the window. By her counsel they hid three days in the mountains (Quarantana , abounding in caves, a wall of rock rising 1,200 ft. precipitously) bounding the Jericho plain on the N.; and when the pursuers had returned, and the Jordan fords were clear, they escaped back to Israel's camp. Their tidings must have much encouraged the army. Joshua faithfully kept the promise to her at the destruction of Jericho, causing the two spies to bring out Rahab and all her kindred from her house, which was under the protection of the scarlet line. Salmon, then a youth, who married her, was probably one of the two whom she had saved, gratitude leading on to love and erasing the remembrance of her former life of shame. Her faith was richly rewarded, she becoming mother of Boaz (Ruth 4:21), an ancestress of Messiah; one of the four women, all foreigners, Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, named in Matthew's genealogy (Matthew 1:5). In it "none of the holy women are included, only those whom the Scriptures blame, in order that He who came in behalf of sinners, being Himself born of sinners, might destroy the sins of all" (Jerome). Possibly the 345 "children of Jericho" were posterity of her kindred, settled in Israel (Ezra 2:34; Nehemiah 3:2). Harlotry was not counted "sin" among the pagan, though not respectable; but when she adopted a pure faith she began a pure life. Believing knowledge of God's purpose concerning Israel and Jericho made her renounce the lower duty, patriotism, for the higher one, piety; she could only have been faithful to her country by unfaithfulness to her God. She renounced the pollution of her country's gods, with which her own harlotry may have been connected, to join Jehovah and His people. Her provision for her parents' and relatives' safety shows that self was not her sole consideration. Her hospitality to the spies was for their Lord's sake (Matthew 10:40-42). Hebrews 11:31; "by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that disobeyed not (apeitheesasin , God's will manifested by miracles in Israel's behalf) when she had received the spies in peace," i.e. securing them from hurt. The season, as otherwise comes out, was four days before Passover, "on the tenth day of the first month," barley harvest time, when Jordan periodically overflowed its banks. The flax harvest was simultaneous with barley harvest, it appears from Exodus 9:31. In undesigned coincidence with these casual notices, Rahab "hid the spies with the stalks of flax," doubtless just cut down and spread on the roof of her house (Joshua 2:6; Joshua 3:15; Joshua 4:19; Joshua 5:10-11). Paul quotes Rahab as exemplifying "faith"; James (Romans 10:9-10) quotes Rahab as exemplifying justification by works evidentially. Therefore Paul's justification by faith alone means a faith, not dead, but working by love (Galatians 5:6). Again, Rahab's act cannot prove justification by works as such, for she was a woman of bad character. But as an example of grace, justifying through an operative as opposed to mere verbal faith, none could be more suitable than the saved "harlot." She believed, so as to act on her belief, what her countrymen disbelieved; and this in the face of every improbability that an unwarlike force would conquer a well armed one, far more numerous. She believed with the heart (James 2:25), confessed with the mouth, and acted on her profession at the risk of her life. A woman of loose life, and a Gentile, is justified even as Abraham, the father of the Jews, the friend of God, was; showing that justifying, working faith manifests itself in every class. The nature of the works alleged, not works of charity and virtue, but works the value of which consists in their being proofs of faith, proves that James quotes them as evidences of faith, faith expressed in act. We are "justified by works" in the sense that we are justified by a faith which always works where it has the opportunity. The scarlet line typifies Jesus' blood, that secures from wrath the Gentiles and even harlots and notorious sinners (Matthew 21:31-32), within His church, even as the sprinkled blood of the paschal lamb secured Israel in their houses, and typified the same all-atoning blood. Rahab is an instance of the call of Gentiles anticipatory of that under the gospel.

RAHAB.—The mother of Boaz, and thus an ancestress of our Lord (Matthew 1:5). ‘These names ^[1] are probably introduced as those of women in whose case circumstances were overruled by the Divine providence which, as it might have seemed, should have excluded them from a place in the ancestral line of the Messiah. They were in a sense forerunners of the Virgin Mary’ (W. C. Allen, Com. ad loc.). The ‘faith’ of Rahab is extolled in Hebrews 11:31, and her ‘works’ in James 2:25.

The memorable woman of the city of Jericho, of whose faith the Holy Ghost hath given such honourable testimony, Hebrews 11:31. Her name is derived from Raah, and signifies proud. And if there be aught upon earth to make sinful dust and ashes proud, surely the faith this woman possessed formed the strongest temptation to it; when we consider who she was, what she was; where she lived, and how she acted in the cause of the Lord. Her history is as great and striking, in the illustrious actings of her faith, as any in the records of truth. She was one of the inhabitants of Canaan, a Gentile, an alien, and by nature an enemy to the commonwealth of Israel, "without hope, and without God in the world." Moreover, she was, as we say, a publican, and an harlot, not only kept an inn, exposed to numberless temptations, but a woman of notoriously known for such a character. She lived also in the accursed city of Jericho, a city devoted to destruction before the Lord, and of peculiar malignity of evil in the Lord's sight. And yet with all those disadvantages, this Rahab, this harlot, was a believer in the Lord God of Israel! Oh, the wonders of distinguishing grace! And what tends yet more to raise our views of the Lord's peculiar manifestation and love to this poor harlot, is the consideration that from the stock of this woman, after the flesh, the Lord appointed the future advent of his dear Son. By her marriage to Salmon; from whom sprang Boaz; and by the marriage of Boaz with Ruth, sprang Obed; and from Obed, Jesse; and from Jesse, David; and from David, after twice fourteen generations after the flesh, sprang Christ. (See Matthew 1:1-17) What subjects of wonder the glorious redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ involves in it! Here, as in a thousand instances beside, we learn that the Lord's ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts! I pray the reader to give a diligent attention to her history, Joshua 2:1-24 throughout. We meet with the mention of another Rahab, Psalms 87:4. And in Psalms 89:10, Rahab is said to be broken in pieces: by which is meant most probably, Pharaoh and his host. We find, and not unfrequently, names figuratively used to denote the Lord's enemies. Thus the Psalmist elsewhere saith, "Thou brakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness." (Psalms 74:13-14) Here is an evident allusion to the destruction of Pharaoh; and his host in the Red Sea; and afterwords causing the people, when at any time in their wilderness-state, to meet with difficulties, that the recollection of this mighty deliverance might become food to their faith, to help them through any present trouble.

Proud; quarrelsome (applied to Egypt)

was a hostess of the city of Jericho, who received and concealed the spies sent by Joshua. The Hebrew calls her Zona, Joshua 2:1 , which Jerom and many others understand of a prostitute. Others think she was only a hostess or innkeeper, and that this is the true signification of the original word. Had she been a woman of ill fame, would Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah, have taken her to wife! Or could he have done it by the law? Beside, the spies of Joshua would hardly have gone to lodge with a common harlot, they who were charged with so nice and dangerous a commission. Those who maintain that she was a harlot, pretend that she was perhaps one of those women who prostituted themselves in honour of the Pagan deities; as if this could extenuate her crime, or the scandal of her profession if she was a public woman. It is also observable that such women are called kadeshah, not zona, in the Hebrew. Rahab married Salmon, a prince of Judah, by whom she had Boaz, from whom descended Obed, Jesse, and David. Thus Jesus Christ condescended to reckon this Canaanitish woman among his ancestors. St. Paul magnifies the faith of Rahab, Hebrews 11:31 . Rahab is also a name of Egypt, Isaiah 30:7 ; Isaiah 51:9 .

A poetical name, signifying 'insolence,' given to Egypt. Psalm 87:4 ; Psalm 89:10 ; Isaiah 51:9 . The same word occurs in Isaiah 30:7 , where the R.V. reads "therefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still."

Rahab (râ'hăb), large. 1. A woman of Jericho, who received and concealed two Hebrew spies. In the siege of the city Rahab and her family were spared by the Hebrews from the general massacre of the inhabitants. Joshua 2:1-24; Joshua 6:17-27. She is called "a harlot;" but the proof of her reformation is found in the eminence of her faith. Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25. She subsequently married Salmon, a prince of Judah, and became an ancestress of David, and appears in the genealogy of Christ. Ruth 4:20; Matthew 1:5. 2. Rahab, pride. An appellation for Egypt, designating the insolence and violence of its princes and inhabitants. Psalms 87:4; Psalms 89:10; Isaiah 51:9.

(raw' hawb) Name meaning, “arrogant, raging, turbulent, afflicter.” 1. Primeval sea monster representing the forces of chaos God overcame in creation (Job 9:13 ; Job 26:12 ; Psalm 89:10 ; Isaiah 51:9 ; compare Psalm 74:12-17 ). 2 . Symbolic name for Egypt (Psalm 87:4 ). Isaiah 30:7 includes a compound name Rahab-hem-shebeth . Translations vary: “Rahab who sits still” (NRSV); “Rahab who has been exterminated” (NAS); “Rahab the Do-Nothing” (NIV); “Rahab the Subdued” (REB). 3. The plural appears in Psalm 40:4 for the proud, arrogant enemies.

Proud; quarrelsome (applied to Egypt)

The English word Rahab represents two different Hebrew words: 1. Joshua 2:1-21 6:17-25 . Her faith, in doing this, is commended in Hebrews 11:31 James 2:25 . The Jews and many Christians endeavor to show that Rahab was only an honest innkeeper; but more probably the designation of "harlot" given to her in our Bible is correct. If she had at some time led a dissolute life, she had evidently repented; and she afterwards became a worshipper of Jehovah, and the wife of Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah, Ruth 4:21 Matthew 1:4 . The penitent publican and sinner are always welcome to Christ; and many such a one, through the renovating power of grace, will shine gloriously in heaven, while the unbelieving moralist will perish in his sins. 2. Psalm 87:4 89:10 Isaiah 30:7 51:9 . In the last of these passages, Egypt is further symbolized as a ferocious sea-monster; but it is doubtful whether the word Rahab itself is ever used to denote a sea-monster.

RAHAB.—The mother of Boaz, and thus an ancestress of our Lord (Matthew 1:5). ‘These names ^[1] are probably introduced as those of women in whose case circumstances were overruled by the Divine providence which, as it might have seemed, should have excluded them from a place in the ancestral line of the Messiah. They were in a sense forerunners of the Virgin Mary’ (W. C. Allen, Com. ad loc.). The ‘faith’ of Rahab is extolled in Hebrews 11:31, and her ‘works’ in James 2:25.