Rahab

Rahab was, according to the Hebrew Bible in Joshua 2:1-24, a Canaanite who resided within Jericho in the Promised Land and assisted the Israelites by hiding two men who had been sent to scout the city before their attack.

In the New Testament, she is lauded both as an example of a saint who lived by faith, and as someone "considered righteous" for her good works. According to biblical research, the author intended that she did not contribute to the fall of Jericho, but instead saved herself and her family from death at the hands of the Israelites.

• I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any man, because of you; for the Lord your God is he who is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now then, swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house...
  • Joshua 2,9-12 (NKJV).

• The book [of Joshua] places on Rahab's lips a profession of faith in the style of Deuteronomy (cf. Deuteronomy 4:39). Rahab was saved because of her faith (Hebrews 11:31), justified because of her works (Epistle of James 2:25). This foreign woman, who saved her entire household through her faith and charity, became an image of the Church for the Fathers.
  • Jerusalem Bible, as quoted in La Bibbia di Gerusalemme, Edizioni Dehoniane, Bologna, 1999. ISBN 88-10-80526-7, p. 409.

• And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout; for the Lord has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
  • Joshua 6,16-17 (NKJV).

• By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies.
  • Hebrews 11,31 (NKJV).

• Salmon the father of Bo′az by Rahab, and Bo′az the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.
  • Matthew 1,5 (NKJV).

• You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
  • James 2,24-25 (NKJV).

• Tu vuo' saper chi è in questa lumera | che qui appresso me così scintilla | come raggio di sole in acqua mera. || Or sappi che là entro si tranquilla | Raab; e a nostr'ordine congiunta, | di lei nel sommo grado si sigilla.
  • Dante Alighieri, divina Commedia, Folchetto di Marsiglia: IX, 112-117.