Women of the Word February: Rahab #2

February 07, 2023

Women of the Word February: Rahab #2

Hello! I hope you are having a wonderful February so far! It is the 7th today and we are going to have our second installment about the courageous woman, Rahab.

If you remember from last time, Rahab lived in Jericho and her inn was located right near the entrance gates to the city. A very ideal location for her business as well as a place for two weary men to find out about the comings and goings.

At this same time, Joshua was leading God's Chosen People to the Promised Land. God told Joshua that they would be crossing the Jordan River and heading into Jericho. One of my FAVORITE verses of the Bible is in this chapter:

Joshua ended up sending two spies. The Bible says they went to the house of a prostitute and stayed there. SOMEONE went to the King and said that there were two Israelite spies. Obviously, they must have seen them go inside of Rahab's inn, because the King sent a message to her. I wonder how her relationship was with him. Was she afraid for her life? What had her past communications with the King been?

But Rahab knew. No. She didn't just understand what was going on. She KNEW. She hid the two spies from the King and his men because she KNEW about God.

“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. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] 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.[b] 11 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." - Joshua 2:9-11

This to me makes it sound like not only Rahab believed in the Israelite's God, but others did too. But Rahab was the only person to act on it.

Rahab lied to her King. She said the two men had come to her inn, but they had left. The truth was - she was hiding them. They were on her rooftop lying underneath some flax. Now flax was very important at this time as it made most of the clothing people wore. It was woven into linen.

Flax Seed Flowers

Flax Stalks

Flax Seed

We will leave off there for today - but I have a couple more resources for you. First is this map of the battle of Jericho:

And a few books where you can find Rahab:

FICTION BOOKS: This list is from Wikipedia

Rahab is depicted as a virtuous soul (in The Third Circle of Heaven) in Dante's Divine Comedy
Rahab is a figure in the mythos of William Blake. She is pictured as a harlot, akin to the whore of Babylon, and figures alongside Blake's character of Tirzah, as representing materialism, false religion, and fallen sexuality. Rahab's embrace of Urizen, who loosely represents fallen reason, is seen as the consolidation of error necessary to bring about the Final Judgment.
The claim of Hugh Broughton, a controversial historian, that Rahab was already "a harlot at ten years of age" is used by Humbert Humbert to explain or perhaps justify his attraction to young girls in Nabokov's Lolita.^{[citation needed]}

Fictional accounts of Rahab's life

Afshar, Tessa. Pearl in the Sand (2010)
Burton, Anne. Rahab's Story (2005) Book 2 in Burton's "Women of the Bible" series.
Havel, Carlene and Faucheux, Sharon. The Scarlet Cord (2014)
MacFarlane, Hannah. The Scarlet Cord (2009)
Morris, Gilbert. Daughter of Deliverance. Book 6 of "Lions of Judah" Series.
Rivers, Francine. Unashamed: Rahab (2000) Book 2 in Rivers' "A Lineage of Grace" series. ***I would recommend this one!
Slaughter, Frank G. The Scarlet Cord: A Novel of the Woman of Jericho (1956)
Smith, Jill Eileen. The Crimson Cord: Rahab's Story (2015).
Book 1 in Smith's "Daughters of the Promised Land" series.
Wolf, Joan. This Scarlet Cord: The Love Story of Rahab (2012)
Jennings, Jenifer. "Crimson Cord" (2017)
Craig, Naomi. "Rahab's Courage" (2021)