Chapter 3–Rahab: A Horrible Life Redeemed
Laurie’s Thoughts on This Chapter and Rahab are here:
http://maybeillblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/twelve-extraordinary-women-rahab.html
My first thought about Rahab came with the introductory verse of this chapter which comes from Matthew 1:5-6:Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
I found this almost stunning that Boaz who married Ruth was the son of Rahab. Even though the scriptures in Joshua state that she was living among the Israelites, it just doesn’t seem possible that her SON would be the one to marry Ruth.
I don’t know why exactly. Perhaps I didn’t think about the chronology happening that fast or that the Israelites would have no drought for longer than than for Rahab’s son to be born and maybe be mostly grown. Because that’s about as long as it would have taken if Ruth’s first husband and his parents left the promised land to avoid the drought.
Nonetheless, here we have the Bible stating in Matthew that she was the mother of Boaz and in I Chronicles 2, Salmon is listed as the father of Boaz just as he is in Matthew so I have no reason to doubt that Rahab was the second mother-in-law of Ruth, the Moabitess.
To me, the love that Salmon must have had for Rahab explains a lot about the love that Boaz showed for Ruth.
Rahab was a businesswoman in every sense of the word. There are those who would have her be nothing but an innkeeper but the plain facts of the culture and time was that innkeepers frequently provided ALL services for their clients including sexual favors. It was also known that Jericho was a hideously sinful town. It deserved to be destroyed.
And it was to this town that two spies were sent by Joshua, knowing what they would find but looking for the information Joshua needed to march on the city. What they found was that Rahab knew that the city was afraid of the Israelites already. They had heard and reported what was being said about them in the land. More importantly, Rahab was ready to abandon her life and live among the Israelites.
This is an important step in Rahab’s life just as it is in our lives. We don’t realize that we become followers of the One True God just as Rahab did.
First, Rahab heard about God and what He had done for the Israelites. First, we hear from others, a pastor, evangelist, friend, Sunday School teacher, parent, what God, through Jesus has done for them.
Second, Rahab admitted to her fear. Second, we admit we are afraid of life without God.
Third, Rahab asked the spies to spare her and her family. Third, we ask God to spare us and save us by being sorry for our sins and accepting His amazing grace.
So, Rahab’s journey wasn’t any different from our journey to salvation. True, probably none of us had to go round up our relatives and tie a scarlet ribbon on the window sill but many people do round up their families and have a baptismal service to celebrate their new life.
And from there we know that Rahab continued to live among the Israelites. And that’s it–until Matthew notes that she was the mother of Boaz who married Ruth.
It is said that you can tell a lot about a woman by looking at her children. We find in Boaz a generous, protective man. He told Ruth to stay near the servants so she wouldn’t be molested. He told the gleaners to leave extra grain for her to pick up. He was concerned with Ruth’s reputation and her protection. He went to the city gate to ask for redemption for her as a protector. He took his job as near relative seriously and this is a reflection on his mother as being a woman he could admire, love and learn protection from.
It’s also a reflection on his father Salmon who loved and married Rahab knowing that all Israel would be recounting the story for his children to hear. No doubt he had a story of love and redemption to tell Boaz as he grew to manhood about how different Israel was called to be and how wives were to be protected and cared for. Rahab left that life and lead a quiet life among the Israelites and though we never hear about her rocking Obed, no doubt she did if she was still living.
Rahab would have much to learn on her journey of new faith that she expressed by hiding the spies and sending them on their way. She needed to learn to give up all the corruption and sin that she knew as normal from living in Jericho.
That, too, is not so unlike the rest of us as we journey from the self-centered life we were born to to the Christ-centered life we are saved to.
Rahab is much like we are. We may not have done all the things that Rahab did as part of her old life but then, maybe some of us have and it’s almost certain that the longer the American culture falls into a self-centered atmosphere where sex is common and not protected for marriage and children are sacrificed for the selfishness of their parents lives, we are going to have many more women who live like Rahab.
Hopefully, we will have more and more women who have the faith of Rahab and the change of Rahab to become the wife of men like Salmon and the mother of men like Boaz.
We don’t hear much about Rahab beyond the fall of Jericho unless we read between the lines. She went on to become a worker for God and to live a Godly life.
We can see that in the life of her son.
