“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” Hebrews 11:31
The Scriptures tell us that Joshua, Moses’ successor, sent two spies to check out Jericho before the Children of Israel captured the city. Somehow, the king of Jericho got to hear about them and sent men to Rahab’s house to tell her to bring them out so they could be taken captive. The Scriptures explicitly say Rahab was a harlot, a prostitute, who lived in a house on the walls of the city, an advantageous position for such an occupation as, no doubt, the soldiers who guarded the city were the most frequent by-passers of her front door. Rahab though had heard that Yehovah was with the Israelites and she knew He would deliver the city into their hands. So, instead she struck a deal with the spies, hiding them from the soldiers until they could escape. Because of this, and her faith in Yehovah’s coming deliverance, they told her to hang a red cord in her window so that it would be seen, and she would be protected when they attacked and took over the city. It is worth noting that although the walls of the city collapsed after the Israelites walked around it once a day for 6 days and 7 times on the 7th day, Yehovah obviously preserved the portion of the wall where her house was situated and, as a result, she was spared certain death. Some things to note about Rahab. Whenever she is mentioned in the book of Joshua and in James 2:25, she is referred to as “the harlot.” And yet, because of her faith in Yehovah, taking Yehovah as her personal Saviour, she became the grandmother of Boaz, the husband of Ruth, who was the grandmother of King David. You will see then in Matthew 1, that she was a great-grandmother of Yeshua Himself. She is later listed in the “Hall of Faith”, the people listed in Hebrews 11 (v31). Even here, her former occupation is brought up. Yet, what more evidence do we need that she was justified (made ‘just-as-if-she-had-never-sinned’) and righteous (‘in-right-standing-with-Yehovah’) than being chosen to be a great-grandmother of Yeshua and be listed alongside the likes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as one of the heroes and heroines of our faith?