Rahab

Rahab, (/ˈreɪ.hæb/;Hebrew: רָחָב, Modern Raẖav, Tiberian Rāḥāḇ ; "broad," "large") was, according to the Book of Joshua, a prostitute who lived in Jericho in the Promised Land and assisted the Israelites in capturing the city. She became a figure of fascination to the writers of the New Testament, where she is reckoned among the ancestors of Jesus, and is lauded as an example of living by faith, while being justified by her works.

Rahab's profession

The Hebrew 'šh zwnh, used to describe Rahab in Joshua 2:1, literally means "a woman, a prostitute". Rahab's name is presumably the shortened form of a sentence name rāḥāb-N, "the god N has opened/widened (the womb?)" The Hebrew zōnâ may refer to either secular or cultic prostitution, and the latter is widely believed to have been an invariable element of Canaanite religious practice. However, there is a separate word in the language that could be used to designate prostitutes of the cultic variety, qědēšâ.

The 1st century AD historian Josephus, mentions that Rahab kept an inn, but is silent as to whether merely renting out rooms was her only source of income. It was not uncommon for both an inn and a brothel to function within the same building, thus going into Rahab's building was not necessarily a deviation from Joshua's orders, and, as Robert Boling notes, "where better to get information than a bar?" A number of scholars have noted that the narrator in Joshua 2 may have intended to remind the readers of the "immemorial symbiosis between military service and bawdy house".

Rahab (disambiguation)

Rahab is a prominent character in the Book of Joshua. It is a girl's name but now rare.

Rahab can also mean:

Rahab (Egypt)

Rahab m.n. (Hebrew: רַהַב, Modern Rahav, Tiberian Rahaḇ ; "blusterer" is used in the Hebrew Bible to indicate rage, fierceness, insolence, pride.) Rahab is the emblematic name of Egypt and is also spoken of with the sea. In medieval Jewish folklore, Rahab is a mythical sea monster.

Biblical usage

Egypt

Rahab is a poetical name for Egypt. It might have Egyptian origins that were accommodated to the Hebrew language. However, there is nothing revealing in the Coptic language.

Creation narratives in Biblical texts

Prior to the Medieval adoption of "Rahab" to mean demon or sea beast, the name also appears in Psalms: 104, Psalms 89: 5-12, Job 38: 8-11, and Isaiah 51:9-10. Rahab, in these passages, takes the meaning of primeval chaotic sea, multi-headed dragon, or Leviathan. It can be assumed that long before Jewish mythos, the ancient Jews emulated the creation fables told by their predecessors. The Babylonians, for example, told of a thunder god, Marduk, and a sea beast, Tiamat, battling for supreme power over the other gods, in the Enûma Eliš. It can be speculated these two characters in the Babylonian myth are parallel to the creation stories found in the Biblical passages containing the name Rahab.