Woman living before Israel's Monarchy
Rahab
A prostitute of Jericho who hid Joshua’s two spies under stalks of flax on her roof and sent the king’s men the wrong way (Joshua 2:1–7). She told them that all the land had heard what Yahweh had done for Israel, that “Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath,” and asked that her family be spared (Joshua 2:9–13). The spies told her to tie a scarlet thread in her window. When Jericho fell, Joshua saved Rahab and her father’s household, and “she lives in the middle of Israel to this day” (Joshua 6:22–25).
She married Salmon and became the mother of Boaz, and so an ancestor of David and of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). The New Testament praises her faith (Hebrews 11:31) and her works (James 2:25).
Family
- Husband
- Salmon
- Children
- Boaz