Say Her Name: Rahab
LAST issue we began looking at some of the women in Jesus’s life in the Easter season. This week we look at Rahab.
I don’t know anyone with the name Rahab. At least not in Jamaica. It is a name we intuitively associate with prostitution, given the biblical reference. Yet, scandalously and intriguingly, her name is mentioned in the genealogy of the son of God.
In Joshua 2 we meet this interesting, strategic, family-focused, kind, God-believing harlot who put up two Israelite spies and lied to her king about it. And then she made a deal with the spies that revealed her awareness of the works of God and her confession that He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth.
Joshua 2:9-11: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the Earth beneath.”
This declaration of who God is, is what I believe paved the way for a new life for Rahab. She had heard the stories and recognised that this God was the real deal. She knew His track record and wanted to be on the right side. But she wasn’t only thinking of herself.
Joshua 2: 12-14: “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”
Of course, the story concludes with Rahab and her family’s lives being saved. She also gets a chance to start a new life with Salmon, birthing esteemed son Boaz. Up to this day, when women talk about finding Mr Right, they reference finding their Boaz, Rahab’s son.
As women of faith we are reminded by Rahab’s story that we can, in fact, get a second chance at life and live. It seems to be prefaced by a coming to faith, a belief that “the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the Earth beneath.”
But it wasn’t only her belief. It was also her choices and the actions she took. Look at what is said about her in James 2:25-26: “And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”
This Easter season, let us believe God and take action to fulfil purpose and in so doing change the trajectory of our lives and the lives of our family.
Passionate about faith and women empowerment, Shelly-Ann Mair-Harris is the author of several publications including God’s Woman and The Goodies on Her Tray. A woman of faith for several years, Shelly-Ann is the creator of Family and Faith Magazine and Women & Faith. She is also a podcaster, an award-winning playwright and poet as well as a trained and experienced media, marketing, employee engagement, change management, and strategic communications professional. Send comments to womenandfaithcommunity@gmail.com.
