Rahab
A prostitute of Jericho who hid the two men Joshua sent to spy out the city and was spared with her family when it fell. The New Testament names her as an example of faith and lists a Rahab among the ancestors of Jesus.
Rahab lived in a house on the wall of Jericho. She hid the two spies sent by Joshua, told them that she knew the Lord had given Israel the land, and let them down from her window by a rope in return for an oath that her family would be spared (Joshua 2:1–21). When the city fell she and her relatives were brought out alive, and the book of Joshua says that she lived in Israel from then on (Joshua 6:22–25).
The New Testament returns to her three times. Hebrews counts her among those who acted by faith (Hebrews 11:31), and James cites her beside Abraham as one “justified by works” (James 2:21–25). Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus names a Rahab as the mother of Boaz (Matthew 1:5).
In the timeline
- c. 1406 or c. 1220 BC, traditional dateCrossing the Jordan and the Fall of Jericho
The book of Joshua tells how Israel crosses the Jordan on dry ground, camps at Gilgal and keeps its first Passover in Canaan. Jericho’s wall falls after a seven-day procession around the city, and Rahab, who had sheltered Joshua’s spies, is spared.