Rahab

Rahab (/ˈreɪhæb/;[1] Hebrew: רָחָב, Modern: Raẖav, Tiberian: Rāḥāḇ, "broad", "large" "رحاب") was, according to the Book of Joshua, a Gentile and a Canaanite woman who resided within Jericho in the Promised Land and assisted the Israelites by hiding two men who had been sent to scout the city prior to their attack.

[7] The Hebrew אשה זונה (ishah zonah), used to describe Rahab in Joshua 2:1, literally means "a prostitute woman".

[8] While the Talmud holds to that interpretation, some sources in Rabbinic literature insists that she was an "innkeeper," based on Targum Jonathan and other texts (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: פֻנדְקֵיתָא, romanized: pundǝqeṯā[9]).

[10] The Hebrew zōnâ may refer to secular or cultic prostitution, and the latter is widely believed to have been an invariable element of Canaanite religion, although recent scholarship has disputed this.

[8] A number of scholars have noted that the narrator in Joshua 2 may have intended to remind the readers of the "immemorial symbiosis between military service and bawdy house".

[12][13][14] William L. Lyons observed that biblical interpreters have viewed Rahab as a model of hospitality, mercy, faith, patience, and repentance in her interaction with Joshua's spies.

10 For we have heard how GOD dried up the waters of the Sea of Reeds for you when you left Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, whom you doomed.

[23] As the first non-Israelite person, and in particular the first Canaanite woman, to ally with Israel, Rahab's convictions led her to protect the men sent by Joshua despite her background.

(Babylonian Talmud, Zevahim 116a–b).A similar tradition has Rahab declaring, "Pardon me by merit of the rope, the window, and the flaxen [the stalks of flax under which she concealed the spies]."

[29] The rabbis viewed Rahab as a worthy convert to Judaism, and attested that following her conversion, Rahab married Salmon (Hebrew: שַׂלְמוֹן Śalmōn), also called Salmah (שַׂלְמָה Śalmā, Greek: Σαλμών), and their descendants included the prophets Jeremiah, Hilkiah, Seraiah, Mahseiah, Baruch, Ezekiel and the prophetess Hulda,[30] although there is no report in the book of Joshua of the leader marrying anyone, or having any family life.

[35] In the New Testament, Rahab (Greek Ῥαάβ) of the Book of Joshua is mentioned as an example of a person of faith[3] and of good works.