A number of years in the past I used to be invited to write down notes for a brand new examine Bible for ladies. The mission was sudden and felt uncommon to me, as I personally had by no means learn a ladies's Bible and was skeptical in regards to the want for such a Bible. Why can't all of us learn the identical Bible? However after I prayed in regards to the supply, I felt led to just accept—I hoped to have the ability to supply one thing of worth to the ladies who picked up the Bible. However I had no concept how transformative the mission would find yourself being me!
In 4 many years of working in Christian faculties, church buildings, and different companies—and with three Bible levels beneath my belt—I’ve by no means been requested to learn the Bible. as a lady and for ladies. I by no means got here to the Bible once I requested What is going to ladies surprise after they learn this? What is going to trouble them? What is going to get their consideration?
As a result of my pastors and theology professors had been all males, and many of the books I learn in regards to the Bible had been written by males, I realized to learn Scripture generally—ignoring myself as a lot as doable so I might see the world by way of their eyes. A few of my professors thought in regards to the plight of girls or ladies's roles, however none of them had the embodied experiences that helped them enter the biblical tales of girls. It wasn't their fault and it didn't make their teachings irrelevant, however my understanding of Scripture was incomplete.
As I reread the Previous and New Testaments, specializing in each the ladies within the textual content and the ladies who would learn it, so most of the Bible's tales got here alive for me in an entire new means. I used to be compelled to wrestle with troublesome passages that girls discovered troublesome. However as I wrestled with these tales with the assistance of others, I found profound insights into God's goodness.
Studying on behalf of girls additionally sensitized me to feminine characters in Scripture who’re too usually sidelined or caricatured with one-dimensional labels like prostitute, nurse, temptress, widow. Not solely are these portrayals generally inaccurate, however they’ll usually distract from extra necessary features of their character—akin to their braveness, loyalty, creativity, and dedication—in addition to their important contribution to God's redemptive plan outlined within the biblical narrative.
One such character is Rahab – to her identify we hasten so as to add –prostitute. The story of Rahab generally boils right down to a trite matter: God is prepared to make use of even the bottom of sinners to perform His functions, even international prostitutes! However her character provides the story of Israel far more significance.
Rahab was a citizen of Canaan, one of many “enemies” occupying the Promised Land that Yahweh referred to in his promise to the folks of Israel: “I’ll make all of your enemies flip and flee” (Ex 23:27, NLT). . God's plan included eradicating the Canaanite worship of Baal and different gods—a method or one other. So we should always discover it exceptional that the primary recorded dialog with the Canaanite girl within the guide ends with God's promise to guard her and her family.
Joshua usually will get a nasty rap for portraying a violent God who thirsts for Canaanite blood, however the story of Rahab reminds us to not learn the guide too completely. To correctly gauge our expectations, let's start with God's particular directions as to precisely what the Israelites had been to do after they entered the land: “Tear down their heathen altars and break their sacred pillars. Minimize down their Asherahs and burn their idols” (Deuteronomy 7:5). You’ll not discover any blood in these verses as a result of the destruction that God orders will not be directed on the folks, however on the stones they worshipped.
As for the Canaanites themselves, the Israelites had been forbidden to marry or make covenants with them. The rationale for this prohibition was not racial, however non secular: “For they may take your kids away from me to worship different gods” (v. 4). Individuals had been Areaor forbidden to the Israelites. God's plan A was to drive the Canaanites out of the land (which isn’t doable if they’re useless). Sure, the Canaanites died when the Israelites entered the land, but it surely wasn't about killing them – it was about eradicating their pagan worship and protecting the Israelites devoted.
Within the 2010 DreamWorks movie The best way to Practice Your DragonA Viking village spends huge vitality on protection and safety from dragon assaults. Their kids even study to kill dragons at college. However when a village boy (the aptly named Hiccup) encounters an injured dragon (a “night time fury” he names Toothless), he doesn't kill the dragon, however befriends it, even inventing a synthetic tail wing to assist it fly once more. Hiccup's habits is taken into account reckless and even treacherous by his village. Taming the dragons wasn't the plan – and neither was “taming” the Canaanites.
So why was Rahab spared the destruction that was to return on the battle of Jericho?
Let's begin firstly of the story when Joshua despatched two spies to analyze issues in and round Jericho earlier than the assault (Joshua 2:1). Satirically, given God's directions to not develop into sexually concerned with the Canaanites, these spies took refuge within the residence of a prostitute named Rahab. Maybe the home of unwell reputation was the one institution on the town the place guests might pay for a room, or maybe it was the most secure place to remain beneath the radar and keep away from pointless consideration.
Both means, the king nonetheless discovered them and requested Rahab at hand over the spies. As an alternative, she hid them and lied, sending the king's males on a wild goose chase. In change for his or her security, the spies promised Rahab that she and her household could be spared within the coming battle. However the query is, did the Israelite spies apparently disobey God's directions concerning the Canaanites? Or is Rahab a particular case?
A key issue to think about is Rahab's loyalty to Yahweh and Israel quite than the king of Jericho. Her soliloquy to the spies is among the strongest statements of religion coming from the mouth of a foreigner in all the Hebrew Bible: “I do know that the Lord has given you this land,” she instructed them. “We’re all afraid of you. Everybody within the nation lives in terror. For we’ve heard how the Lord made a dry passage for you thru the Crimson Sea while you got here out of Egypt” (vv. 9-10).
Rahab recounted Israel's victories over Sihon and Og, the Amorite kings who refused to allow them to move peacefully on their method to the promised land. She concluded, “No surprise our hearts melted with concern! Nobody has the braveness to combat after listening to such issues. For the Lord your God is the sovereign God of the heavens above and the earth beneath” (v. 11).
Rahab's testimony is unequivocal; acknowledges Yahweh because the supreme deity. Her phrases echo the tune of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 15, which introduced:
The nations hear and tremble;
nervousness grips those that dwell in Philistia.
The leaders of Edom are terrified;
the nobles of Moab tremble.
All who dwell in Canaan will vanish;
terror and dread fall upon them. (vv. 14–16a)
For all intents and functions, Rahab is now not a Canaanite. She declared her allegiance to the God of Israel. Sparing Rahab is according to God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3: “I’ll bless those that bless you.”
Returning to our cinematic illustration, Rahab is the Toothless dragon and the spies are Hiccup in Israel's plan to drive out the Canaanites. However the author of the E book of Joshua doesn’t body spies' habits as problematic. Actually, Rahab is proven to avoid wasting the day, and the Israelites save her life in return. And we all know that Rahab's story ends fortunately ever after as a result of she marries into the Israelite neighborhood. Curiously, Rahab's husband Salmon was the fourth technology grandson of a Canaanite girl, which can have formed his view of so-called foreigners.
Rahab and Salmon later give beginning to a son, Boaz, who turns into King David's great-grandfather after he marries Ruth, a Moabite widow—one other “forbidden” foreigner who turned an Israelite (see Ruth 4:18-22; Matt. 1:2-6 ). Due to their loyalty to the God of Israel, these ladies develop into not simply peripheral to Israel's story, however central to it. Rahab, like Tamar and Miriam and Zipporah and lots of others, are usually not mere equipment however main devices in God's plan of redemption as instructed in Scripture.
Like Tamar the Canaanite (Gen 38), Jael the Kenite (Judges 4) and Ruth the Moabite (Ruth 1-4), Rahab turns into a mannequin of religion and an ally of God's folks. In rescuing Israeli spies, he humanizes the “different” and participates within the realization of Yahweh's divine plan. Rahab is a shining instance of what’s doable: a world by which these destined for destruction can be a part of the folks of Israel in worshiping the one true God.
So maybe we shouldn’t be stunned that Rahab is talked about within the Gospel of Matthew as a forerunner of Jesus, who additionally selected to avoid wasting and “tame” those that had been as soon as enemies of God – though we too had been destined for destruction.
Carmen Pleasure Imes is Affiliate Professor of Previous Testomony at Biola College. She has contributed notes to 2 examine Bibles for ladies, the primary of which can be revealed on April 23, 2024. Each Girl's Bible (NLT) is obtainable from Tyndale Home Publishers.