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Did you know there are 3 Rahabs in the Old Testament?<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course you didn\u2019t. You probably never even bothered to think about it. You\u2019ve just been going about your life, carefree, thinking \u201cI\u2019m sure there is only on Rahab in the Bible\u201d and that\u2019s that.<\/p>\n This is why I\u2019m here. This is what I do.<\/p>\n (1) The Rahab\u00a0most of us know is the\u00a0prostitute and resident of Jericho<\/strong>\u00a0i<\/span>n the book of Joshua<\/a>. She\u00a0was spared along with her family when the Israelites attacked and the walls fell. She is also mentioned in Matthew\u2019s genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5<\/a>), Hebrews 11:31<\/a>, and James 2:25<\/a>.<\/p>\n [Side issue:<\/span> I\u2019ve always wondered\u00a0why the Israelite spies, who were sent out\u00a0secretly<\/i>\u00a0to gather military intelligence,\u00a0immediately\u00a0<\/em>entered a\u00a0prostitute\u2019s house upon entering the city. The text doesn\u2019t explain but the wording not just a little suggestive:<\/p>\n Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, \u2018Go, view the land, especially Jericho.\u2019 So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there<\/span>.\u2014<\/em>Joshua 2:1<\/a>.<\/p>\n This\u00a0sounds like a topic for another post altogether, but let me point out that what they were doing in there is left to the reader\u2019s imagination\u2014barely. And this wasn\u2019t a secretive move on their part. In the next\u00a0verse we read that\u00a0the spies are immediately<\/em>\u00a0found out, since\u2014think about it\u2014a prostitute\u2019s house was like Grand Central Station. If you\u2019re trying to sneak around, this is the one place you do NOT go. Very, very bad spies. But I digress.]\n<\/p>\n (2) Less familiar is Rahab the ancient mythic sea monster<\/strong>\u00a0that God slew at creation. This creature is not mentioned in the main creation<\/span> story of\u00a0Genesis 1,<\/a> but we do see it in Job 9:13<\/a> and 26:12<\/a>, Psalm 89:10,<\/a> and Isaiah 51:9<\/a>.<\/p>\n [Side issue:<\/span> And that just goes to show us that a \u201cbiblical\u201d view of creation can\u2019t just camp out in Genesis 1-2 and make up all sports of nonsense about how we can see the Big Bang or evolution there if we look hard enough. Ancient Israel\u2019s view of creation is diverse and mythic <\/em><\/strong>and ALL of the information at our disposal\u00a0needs to be accounted for if we are going to claim to be truly biblical.\u00a0But I digress again.]<\/p>\n (3) Even less familiar is Rahab as another name for Egypt<\/strong><\/span> (Psalm 87:4<\/a> and Isaiah 30:7<\/a>). I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s going on here, but my guess is that the imagery of mythic Rahab (defeated by Yahweh) is being applied to Egypt (defeated by Yahweh).<\/p>\n [Side issue:<\/span> this Rahab is not nearly as interesting as the other two.]<\/p>\n And with this, you are equipped\u00a0to impress your pastor and show off to your lazy Bible reading friends. You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n PBTB #3 coming your way in a week or so.<\/p>\n This blog was first posted in October 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n ***If you want to read books of mine that contain no trivia whatsoever, here are some: How the Bible Actually Works<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (HarperOne, 2019), The Bible Tells Me So<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(HarperOne, 2014),\u00a0\u00a0Inspiration and Incarnation<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Baker 2005\/2015),\u00a0The Sin of Certainty<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(HarperOne, 2016), and\u00a0The Evolution of Adam<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Baker, 2012).***<\/p>\n<\/div>\n