Her story, told honestly
Rahab
Rahab is the Canaanite woman of Jericho, a harlot who hid Israel's spies because she believed their God was the true God. Her faith saved her house, and she stands in the very line of Christ.
“And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.”Joshua 2:1
“And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;”Matthew 1:5
Her story
Her story. When Joshua sent two spies into Jericho, they came to the house of Rahab, a harlot built into the city wall. The king's men came searching, but Rahab hid the spies under stalks of flax on her roof and sent the pursuers away on a false trail (Joshua 2:4-7). Then she told the spies why: "I know that the LORD hath given you the land . . . for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath" (Joshua 2:9-11). She had heard of the Red Sea and of God's mighty acts, and she believed. She asked that when Jericho fell, her father and mother and family be spared, and the spies swore an oath, telling her to bind a line of scarlet thread in her window and gather her family inside. She let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the wall. When Israel took Jericho and burned it, "Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had . . . and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day" (Joshua 6:25). The outsider became an insider among the people of God.
What her life shows
What her life shows. Rahab's life shows that no past and no people place a person beyond the reach of saving faith. She was a Canaanite, a harlot, a member of a doomed city, and yet she is one of the Bible's great examples of faith. She heard what God had done and drew the right conclusion where her whole city drew the wrong one; she staked her life and her family's on the LORD being God. Scripture does not hide what she was; it plainly calls her Rahab the harlot even in the New Testament, precisely so that grace shines clearer against it. Her faith was not mere words but action: she risked everything to shelter God's people. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace" (Hebrews 11:31). James adds that she was justified by works that proved her faith real (James 2:25). Her life shows that God saves by faith the very people the religious might write off, and that true faith acts.
Where it points to Christ
Where it points to Christ. Rahab is named in the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew records that Salmon begat Boaz "of Rachab," and Boaz is the great-grandfather of King David (Matthew 1:5), placing this Canaanite harlot in the royal line that leads to the Messiah. That is the gospel in a name: Christ came from a line that includes an outsider saved by grace, so that no one need think themselves too far gone. The scarlet cord in her window, the sign that saved her household from judgment, has long been seen as a picture of salvation through the blood, as the blood on the doorposts spared Israel at Passover. Rahab believed a report of what God had done and was saved; the gospel calls sinners to believe the report of what God has done in Christ and be saved (Romans 10:9). The friend of publicans and sinners was, in His own ancestry, the descendant of a redeemed harlot.
Questions people ask
Was Rahab really a harlot?
Yes. Scripture calls her Rahab the harlot plainly, both in Joshua and in the New Testament (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). The Bible does not hide her past; it holds her up as a striking example of saving faith precisely because grace reached someone the world had written off.
How is Rahab connected to Jesus?
She is named in Christ's genealogy. Matthew 1:5 says Salmon fathered Boaz "of Rachab," making Rahab the great-great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus. A Canaanite convert stands in the Messiah's royal line.
What was the scarlet cord?
The spies told Rahab to bind a scarlet line in her window so her household would be spared when Jericho fell (Joshua 2:18-21). Christians have long seen it as a picture of salvation through the blood, echoing the blood on the doorposts at Passover.