In a previous article on Rahab, we examined those “Rahab” verses from Job, the Psalms, and Isaiah, where that name refers to a principality, power, and/or demonic entity representing pride and its manifestations of greed, confusion, lust, etc. However, the verses concerning Rahab the ex-harlot from Jericho were omitted. This article shall focus on the verses pertaining to this former prostitute who became the great-great-grandmother to King David.
Is there any connection between Rahab the invisible entity from the kingdom of darkness and Rahab the Bible character? Rahab (the Bible character) became a righteous woman of God who repented of her old ways and received a new identity, a place among the people of God, and even the honor of being part of the human lineage of Jesus Christ Himself. Yet when Rahab was born and given the name Rahab, where did that name come from? Could it be that her Canaanite parents named her after the gods whom they served?
Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. 2 It was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” 3 And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.”
--Joshua 2:1-3 NASB1995
Rahab was a harlot or a prostitute. The Bible passages about “Rahab” in Job, the Psalms, and Isaiah describe a spiritual sea serpent responsible for influencing entire populations or nations such as Egypt to think and act in ways characterized by pride, confusion, lust, greed, sexual immorality, etc. Rahab (the Canaanite woman) may have been named after such an entity who influenced the way her parents viewed the world, and this might be a factor for the lifestyle that Rahab lived until she encountered the God of Israel.
Many people today are also named after the gods worshiped throughout the culture, particularly in the country of India. Yet just as Rahab changed the way she thought and the way she lived when she feared [took seriously with reverential respect], honored, and embraced the Living God, so also can anyone receive a new identity, a new heart, and be transformed by the renewing of their mind through an encounter with God the Father through Jesus Christ by the miracle-working power of His Holy Spirit.
"At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, 'Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. 17 The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it."
--Joshua 6:16-18 NASB1995
The Canaanite nations were so deeply involved in the worship of demonic entities that even their possessions carried deadly curses with them. If an Israelite took any money or possessions from the conquered city for oneself, then such miserable curses would attach themselves to the Israelites and they would not succeed and other people would die needlessly for not taking God’s loving instructions at face value. This is precisely what happened when an Israelite named Achan coveted and took some gold and other “harmless trinkets” from Jericho’s remains (see Joshua 7).
"Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, 'Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.' 23 So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel.
24 They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. 25 However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."
--Joshua 6:22-24 NASB1995
Because Rahab feared God and chose to serve Him, God graciously also saved the lives of her family at her request as she made an agreement with God through her commitment to faithfully assist God’s ambassadors on their assignment. The only truly safe place is to fear God [acknowledge His power and to take Him seriously, for He always keeps His word], to keep His commandments, and to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength as we understand how wide, long, high, and deep is His love for us. See Romans 5:8; Ephesians 3:17-19; Ecclesiastes 12:13, Matthew 22:37-40.
“Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.”
--Matthew 1:4-6 NASB1995
Rahab (the satanic entity) could be classified as a “marine spirit,” as passages from Job, Psalms, and Isaiah describe “Rahab” as a sea serpent. The fact that Rahab the woman married a man also bearing the name of an aquatic animal (“Salmon”) may be completely arbitrary. Perhaps the more important thing to notice from this passage is the grace of God, that He redeems even horrible mistakes such as sexual immorality and adultery to bring about good in the end.
Sin still has negative consequences, for David’s struggle with sexual immorality was likely intensified from that which he inherited from his half-Moabite and half-Canaanite ancestors who had victoriously come out from cultures that worshiped demonic powers. The iniquity of one’s ancestors will visit one’s descendants to the third and fourth generation. That does not mean that the descendants have to submit to those inevitable temptations; it simply means that they must be prepared to submit to God and resist the devil when those iniquities pay their visit through temptation.
No temptation cannot be resisted and overcome through submission, trust, and obedience to God. See 1 Corinthians 10:13; Galatians 5:16; James 4:6-7; 1 John 5:4. Further good news from Jesus’ human-side genealogy in Matthew 1:4-6 is that God can take the most horrible mistakes or messiest things from our past and turn them into something beautiful.
God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (see Romans 8:28). Two of King David’s maternal ancestors, Ruth and Rahab, came from cultures that were filled with relational dysfunction, abuse, addiction, alcoholism, and toxic behaviors, yet they chose to leave their old lives behind and to enter into the redemptive story that God intended for them as they made a commitment to God and to His people.
“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.”
--Hebrews 11:30-31 NASB1995
By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient. How can we “by faith” “not perish along with those who [are] disobedient?”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
--John 3:16 NASB1995
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
--John 3:36 NASB1995
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
--John 10:27-29 NASB1995
“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
--James 2:24-26 NASB1995
Rahab the woman became an ancestor to the Messiah, Jesus. Jesus was fully man and fully God, for Jesus existed as God for all eternity past, for it was His words that spoke the universe and mankind into existence. See John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-20. Jesus had to be fully man, becoming like us and going through every temptation and attack that we have been through, in order that He could restore us back into the intimate relationship with God that we had lost through our rebellion against God.
For more information on entering into a personal relationship with God, see “Get Your Priceless Gift from God Now” or another article about this “Good News.”
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