Rahab — From Jericho's Prostitute to Jesus's Genealogy, and the Faith-and-Works Debate

Few Old Testament figures get cited by multiple New Testament authors, for multiple different arguments, as often as Rahab. A character within the narrative of Joshua, she reappears throughout the New Testament as both a model of faith and the center of a real theological debate.

What the text actually says

In Joshua 2, Rahab hides two Israelite spies sent to scout Jericho. When the king’s men come looking for them, she lies, saying they’ve already left, and lowers the spies down from her window in the city wall. She confesses to the spies: “I know that the Lord has given you this land… we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt… When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:9-11). She asks that she and her family be spared, and the spies agree, telling her to mark her house with a scarlet cord.

Hebrews: “by faith”

Hebrews 11, the so-called “faith chapter,” lists Rahab alongside Abraham, Moses, and Gideon: “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient” (Hebrews 11:31). New Testament scholar William L. Lane, in his Hebrews 9-13 commentary (WBC), notes that including Rahab in this list is a striking choice by the author of Hebrews — she was not an Israelite, and her occupation was itself morally scandalous. And yet Hebrews places her faith — hearing that the Lord was the true God and responding immediately in action — on equal footing with Israel’s own patriarchs.

James: “by works”

James 2 seems to cite her in the opposite direction: “In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?” (James 2:25). This verse has long appeared to clash with Paul’s teaching of justification by faith. Douglas J. Moo, in his commentary on The Letter of James (Pillar New Testament Commentary), argues the two texts don’t actually conflict: Hebrews emphasizes the existence of Rahab’s faith, while James emphasizes that her action was what proved that faith was genuine. James’s point isn’t that works replace faith — it’s that genuine faith necessarily shows up in action, and Rahab’s story was chosen because it displays both truths — the existence of faith (Hebrews) and the proof of faith (James) — in one and the same event.

How to read the lie

Whether Scripture endorses Rahab’s lie about the spies’ whereabouts has long been debated in interpretive history. Richard S. Hess, in his Joshua commentary (Tyndale OT Commentaries), explains that neither the original text nor its later New Testament citations hold up her lie itself as praiseworthy — the focus is always on her faith and her action to protect Israel’s people. This is the same pattern that appears earlier with Shiphrah and Puah in Exodus: the text centers on the action taken to preserve life and God’s approval of it, rather than adjudicating the truthfulness of what was said.

The name that stays in Jesus’s genealogy

Matthew 1:5 records, in the genealogy of Jesus, “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.” Rahab — a Gentile and a prostitute — being written directly into the lineage of David’s house, and ultimately of Jesus Christ, is widely read as a defining example of how inclusive the biblical story of salvation is from the start.

A note for preachers

Rahab may be the most theologically “reused” figure in Scripture. Preaching this passage is well served by pointing out that she’s cited in three separate New Testament texts for three distinct arguments — the inclusiveness of salvation history, the authenticity of faith, and the necessity of works — which helps a congregation move past the false “faith or works” dichotomy and see the two as integrated within one genuine faith.

Sources

• Richard S. Hess, Joshua (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, IVP Academic, 1996)
• William L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13 (Word Biblical Commentary, Word Books, 1991)
• Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James (Pillar New Testament Commentary, Eerdmans, 2000)

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