The Hall of Faith : Rahab the __________

EXPOSITORY ARTICLE | Reagan McClenny | Lufkin, Texas

What word immediately comes to your mind to fill in this blank? Rahab the … what? If you’re like me, “Harlot” is the word that comes to mind. Indeed, that’s the way the New Testament authors identify her.

Hebrews 11:31, “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.”

James 2:25, “Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justiffied by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?”

It has long bothered me that she is identified in this way. Doesn’t it bother you? Think about it personally: If you had to put your most egregious (“worst” or “greatest”) sin after your name, what would it be? Reagan the_____? Now imagine that this is preserved in print as the way you are identified for all generations to follow! We would likely judge this to be cruel if it were done to us. So, why does the New Testament text do this to Rahab? Surely this phrase is chosen as more than just the easiest way to identify the specific Rahab to which the authors are referring.

I suggest that referring to her as “Rahab the Harlot” is for our benefit. This description is not a “scarlet letter” implying she is still being punished or she hasn’t been forgiven her immoral past. Instead, it is to remind us, the readers, that she was a harlot. Why?

Rahab Was a Harlot: Expressed in 4 Ways

This is a true, accurate description of who she was when we come to know her in the text, and the Bible purposely doesn’t minimize the sins of its people.
Often, this makes us uncomfortable. Even with Rahab, scholars going back to Josephus^[1] have tried to turn this description of her in Joshua 2:1 (“a harlot named Rahab”) into something besides a harlot, like an “innkeeper.”^[2] Perhaps there is some argument from the Hebrew for this interpretation, but from the Greek there is none. James and the Hebrew writer both use the Greek word porne meaning “prostitute” or “whore”^[3] (See Matthew 21:31; Luke 15:30; 1 Corinthians 6:15; and Revelation 17:15).The Bible purposely doesn’t minimize her sinful profession because sin is destructive and should not be minimized or swept under the rug. It is what it is—and we are better off dealing with it head on than dancing around it. The Bible never hides sin because sin thrives in darkness; it grows and spreads when it’s hidden or allowed to continue (1 Corinthians 5:6). Sin can only be defeated and dealt with when brought to the light of reality by confession and repentance. We see this play out over and over, in the Bible and in our own lives.

What would follow the “the” if we filled in the worst sins of some of our favorite Bible heroes?
– Noah the…strangely declothed drunkard
– Jacob the…deceptive, heartless trickster
– David the…lying, murderous adulterer
– Peter the…impetuous, arrogant denier
– Paul the…insolent, persecuting, blasphemous chief of sinners

Paul describes himself in these terms in 1 Timothy 1:12-16:

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, (13) although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. (14) And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. (15) This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (16) However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

Paul uses himself, and his sinful past, as an example of what God can do with any sinner! The sins of Bible characters are ugly, shameful, and destructive, just like our sins, but God includes them in His Word as clear opportunities to show the beauty and power of His redemption. Whatever our sins are (whatever fills your blank), God can forgive and restore.

Specific examples of the sins God can forgive in the lives of real people are found in the list in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, (10) nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Are there sins on this list we are tempted to think are irredeemable? Perhaps, but what does the text say? 1 Corinthians 6:11 “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” Whether you are “the” fornicator, the felon, the addict—whether drugs, pornography, or food—the liar, the thief, the tax-cheater, the marriage-cheater, the homosexual, the drunkard, or whatever other sin it might be, God has the power to forgive. Do you believe that about others? Do you believe that about yourself?
This is who she “was,” but then she wasn’t anymore. Like her, your greatest sin doesn’t have to define you.
Acknowledging the reality of the sin in the past doesn’t mean that that is who you are now, nor who you have to be forever. We may be tempted to look at ourselves or others that way. Others may look at us this way, too. But this is not how God views us, and He is the only one that matters. So where should our focus be placed?When we are the sinner ourselves, we need to be concerned about making that sin right with God and those we’ve sinned against. Beyond this, we can only “bear fruits in keeping with repentance,” (Luke 3:8) and let the test of time prove that our repentance is genuine.

When we see other sinners, we need to be concerned about who someone is and who they have the potential to be, not who they were in their sin. Again, this perspective imitates the viewpoint of God.
This is where she started, but not where she ended up among God’s people. Wherever you’re starting from, God can use you in unimaginable ways, if you have faith that works.Rahab has this kind of faith. This is seen clearly in the account in Joshua (Joshua 2:1-13; Joshua 6:22-23) and in the New Testament.
Some people try and use this passage to justify lying under certain circumstances, but that totally misses the point of Rahab’s story! Rahab was not praised for lying any more than she was praised for being a prostitute—these are merely recorded facts of the account.

Instead, she was praised in Hebrews 11:31 for “receiving the spies in peace” in contrast to those who “did not believe.” She was praised for her faith and acceptance of the God of heaven and earth (Joshua 2:11). She was praised for the part she played in God’s plan, and she was spared from destruction because of her faithful actions or “works” (James 2:25).

God commends her faith because it enabled Him to work through her. God can work with real, active faith. Obviously, she couldn’t continue being a harlot and she couldn’t continue lying, but the fact that she did do those things is not what is most important, it is what she did from that point forward! And, while she is not mentioned by name again in the Old Testament, we do know something of what she continued to do by faith. Joshua 6:23 says she continued to dwell in Israel, and the Gospel of Matthew tells us who she married, and who her son was.

Matthew 1:1, 5-6a “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham… (5) and 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…”

Rahab “the Harlot” became Rahab “the Great-Grandmother of King David” and one of the matriarchs of the Messiah. God used her to bring about His Son.

There is one more point hidden in this detail. Can anything good possibly come from the sins you have committed? Please don’t misunderstand the question: sin has consequences, and it is always better not to have sinned than even to sin and be forgiven. Yet, God is so great that He can take the circumstances of sin (especially repentant sin) and make it “work…for good” (Romans 8:28).

This truth about her past likely framed how she viewed others and taught her loved ones to view others. Likewise, you can influence others in a different way because of your sin, and the empathy it gives you for sinners.
Why was Boaz, the son of Rahab, willing to marry Ruth “the Moabitess” (as she’s called 5 times in the Book of Ruth)? On the surface, a “Moabitess” is not as bad a description as a “harlot,” but for an Israelite, it was essentially the same.In the time of the Judges, the women of Moab were the worst example of being led astray by foreign wives in the history of Israel. Numbers 25:1 says that Israel “committed harlotry with the women of Moab” at the temptation of Balaam. In that time and place, “Moabitess” was almost synonymous with a “harlot.”

Ruth even says to Boaz, “why have I found favor in your eyes since I am a foreigner?” (Ruth 1:10). Thank God, Boaz was apparently a man who has been taught (by his mother, Rahab, perhaps?) to look beyond who someone was—where they came from, what they had done in the past—to who they are now. This is how he judged Ruth. He had empathy for her circumstances because of his own mother’s past circumstances.

Whatever temptations or sins you have experienced (and overcome by the grace of God), you have the responsibility to influence others facing similar temptations. When you see their plight, do not hide your past, but go to the one being tempted. Like Solomon in Ecclesiastes, say to them, “I know where this path leads because I’ve walked it, and I beg you not to walk it, too.”

I encourage you to be the fulfillment of God’s promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Conclusion:

Rahab the Harlot is a true, accurate, and Biblical description of this woman of faith. However, in the final judgment, that’s not how she will be known. To use the terms of Hebrews 11-12, she will be known, along with many others, as Rahab the “faithful” (Hebrews 11:31), Rahab the “perfected” (Hebrews 11:39-40; 12:23), Rahab the “witness” (Hebrews 12:1), and Rahab the “child of God” (Hebrews 12:5-8). Whatever your sin, you can be known by a new term, too: “the Christian!”

Bio:
Reagan McClenny was raised in Afton, Texas (a small community near Lubbock). Upon leaving home, he earned his B.A. in Biblical Studies from Florida College, followed by a M.Ed in Educational Leadership from UTTyler. He has preached the gospel since 2004, at the Lindale church of Christ in Lindale, Texas from 2004-2010 and at the Timberland Drive church of Christ in Lufkin, Texas from 2010-Present. Reagan and his wife Stephanie have two daughters: Madison and Brooklyn.

^[1] Antiquities of the Jews, 5.1.2
^[2] Wiseman, D.J., “Rahab of Jericho.” Tyndale Bulletin 14 (1964), 8–11.
^[3] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 854.

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October 2024 | GROW magazine