<\/p>\n
Incidentally, Jewish tradition lists Rahab the Harlot (of Joshua 2) as one of the four most beautiful women in the Bible. That\u2019s only one of the reasons I like her.<\/p>\n
Lesson #1: The Atonement is Big<\/strong><\/p>\n The text isn\u2019t shy about Rahab\u2019s sexuality.\u00a0 <\/span>First, her story begins in Shittim, the place where Israel began to \u201cplay the harlot\u201d (Numbers 25: 1-5).\u00a0 <\/span>And then there\u2019s the bit about her name. In Hebrew, rhb <\/em>means \u201cbroad,\u201d and in Ugaritic (a relative of Hebrew) the root refers to female sex organs. There is even something symbolic and suggestive in her letting down a \u201c<\/span>scarlet<\/em> cord\u201d as a sign to the spies.<\/span><\/p>\n Still, the Rahab story isn\u2019t about her harlotry so much as her faith. When Rahab speaks to the spies, she bears testimony of the God of Israel, references Israelite history, and calls the Israelite God, \u201cGod in heaven above and earth beneath\u201d (Joshua 2:11)–a phrase that deliberately rejects the polytheism of her nation. Whatever she used to be, by the time the spies arrive, she has clearly accepted the Israelite God. If the Old Testament isn\u2019t clear enough on Rahab\u2019s faith, both Paul and James refer to her as an example of faith in their discourses (Hewbrews 11:31 and James 2:25), not many women are so honored.<\/p>\n I like Rahab because her story illustrates how big the Atonement is. We don\u2019t know everything that took place between Rahab as a harlot and Rahab as an Israelite heroine, but it\u2019s clear that she repented. Even the sins of the harlot, through repentance and the power of the Atonement, can be as white as snow.<\/p>\n Lesson #2: God is not a check-list God<\/strong><\/p>\n When Rahab is confronted by the King, she must chose between two evils, either lying to the King or acting against the oath she swore to the spies. Both John Calvin and Augustine get after Rahab for chosing to lie to the king\u2014even if it was to a good end. I like Martin Luther\u2019s take better, as he defends \u201ca good hearty lie for the sake of the good.\u201d (I feel safe assuming that God also approves of Rahab\u2019s lie\u2014afterall, He delivers her.)<\/p>\n Rahab is certainly not the first person in the Old Testament to tell one of these \u201cnoble\u201d lies, there are the Egyptian midwives (Exodus 1:16-20), Abraham and his \u201csister\u201d Sarah (see Exodus 12:11-17) and David in his lie to Ahimelech the priest (see 1 Samuel 21:1-3).\u00a0 <\/span>Each story suggesting that God, even in the thick of the Levitical law, deals with His children individually and not according to a set of fixed rules.<\/p>\n Elder Oaks said something nice along these lines, \u201cThe Final Judgement is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts\u2014what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts\u2014what we have become. . . . The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.\u201d<\/p>\n Lesson #3: It\u2019s character that counts<\/strong><\/p>\n I have a good friend who admits to feeling less than other members of the Church because she doesn\u2019t have a pioneer ancestry. I think the Rahab story illustrates how little pedigree matters when weighed against our actions. The first story in the book of Joshua is Rahab\u2019s. Immediately following the Rahab narrative, we are introduced to Achan (Joshua 7). The stories begin the same way (with spies) but end very differently. In the first story (Rahab’s), Israel is victorious and Rahab–the Canaanite–and her family are saved. In the second story (Achan’s), Israel is defeated and Achan–despite his choice heritage–and his family are destroyed. (Achan was punished for taking Jericho spoils.) The juxtaposition of these stories shows that God will not condemn or exalt a man because of his heritage. Rahab, the Canaanite, is saved because she has faith. Achan, the Israelite, is destroyed because he does not.<\/p>\n I think it is beautiful that each of the four Old Testament women who appear in Christ\u2019s line (Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, and yes, Rahab), each is a foreigner who becomes part of Isreal. Such is the inclusive nature of the Abrahamic covenant, a family that claims anyone who seeks it, for \u201cas many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name\u201d (Abraham 2:10). We\u2019re even told that Rahab, after forsaking Canaan, goes on to become the ancestor of at least eight priest-prophets, so that even though she did not have a covenant ancestry, her posterity–kings and priests to the Most High–were the very elect of Abraham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Incidentally, Jewish tradition lists Rahab the Harlot (of Joshua 2) as one of the four most beautiful women in the Bible. That\u2019s only one of the reasons I like her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1058],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9008,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8874\/revisions\/9008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}