You Go, Rahab!

Talk about ending well.

She's a hooker. A prostitute. A whore.

Plain and simple. That's where she finds herself in life.

And she lives in Jericho, a city given over to wickedness.

And the holy people of God are coming... ...to destroy the city.

That doesn't sound like a very pretty package. Anyone signing up to be Rahab?

Well it turns out better than one might expect. Much better. But I didn't realize just how much better until today, when I did a quick perusal of where her name shows up in the Bible.

I knew her name was in the genealogy of Christ. That's something you can hang your hat on all by itself. The honor of having Jesus Christ as one of your descendants. No mean feat for a hooker living in a dark city about to be destroyed.

But it gets better. Yes, she's in Matthew's genealogy. But she shows up elsewhere in the New Testament, and the shocker for me this morning was to note that she shows up in two somewheres. Hebrews and James.

And the thing that tickles me pink, amongst all the back and forth of the great debate about faith and works (and which is the one which "saves" us), is that she is listed in both categories.

Hebrews 11:31
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

OK, so the book of Hebrews points out that by her faith she was saved (literally).

But wait...

James 2:25
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? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

So let the great debate continue. As a parenthetical comment, I really don't think Paul, James or the author of Hebrews had any disagreements on any of this. It's just us moderns who seem to struggle with the obvious unity of faith and works.

But regardless... whichever side one picks (if one indulges in this modernist debate at all) one thing is sure.

Rahab the prostitute is in the winning camp.

But why should we be surprised? She found herself in the winning camp a long time ago, when by all rights her life was finished. She found herself amongst the victorious Israelites. She alone, of the entire city of Jerico pulls off this amazing feat.

And then, as icing on this cake, she somehow ends up not simply bumping along bottom amongst her new people, but in the lineage at the top. As already noted, she found her way into the lineage of King David – and therefore also of Jesus Christ himself.

There is a bit of ambiguity on this point, however, but I'm pretty sure where to go with it. What do I mean? Well, Rahab didn't apparently have a husband in Jericho. She negotiates with the Israelite spies for her life and the life of her close family. Siblings, parents, etc... No mention of husband. Over the course of the story, this list of close relatives is repeated in two or three places. Never a mention of a husband.

Hookers don't easily acquire (or keep) husbands. So while the scriptures are rather quiet about the matter, I think the answer is somewhat obvious. She left Jericho sans husband. But she fixed that problem after joining the Israelites. That's how she ended up in the lineage of Christ. At least, that's how I suspect she did it.

In any case, to say Rahab found her way into the family of God gives new meaning to the words double entendre and understatement.

You go, Rahab!