Rahab the Harlot
	Rahab the harlot is mentioned favorably in multiple places in both Testaments. Obviously her means of livelihood was immoral. Since the NT mentions that she was justified, we conclude that she turned away from making her living as a harlot. Let’s look at what two NT texts say about her, then view the background from Joshua, & end up in the NT again.
	Hebrews 11:31 “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.”
	James 2:25 “Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?”
	OK, which way was it? Faith or works? The short answer is, “Yes.” Yes, Rahab was saved from perishing in the fall of Jericho by her faith. She was also justified by works. And the two passages refer to the same set of events.
	In Joshua 2:9, two Israelite spies have crossed the Jordan into Jericho to check it out and bring a report back to Joshua. They are at the house of Rahab, who has hidden them on her rooftop (evidently she lives on the top floor of the wall surrounding Jericho). She says to them, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (vv. 9-11).
	Clearly, Rahab had become a believer in the God of Israel. Knowing that God would deliver Jericho into the hands of Israel, Rahab wisely pleaded w/ the two spies to spare her and her family when the time came. Continue with me in vv. 12, 13 – “Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”
	The spies agreed to do this, provided that she hang the scarlet cord from her window wh/ she used to let the spies down to the ground so they could escape, and provided that she would gather her family members into her house when the time came. Only those in her house would be spared.
	Now, in Joshua 6:22, 23 “But Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the country, ‘Go into the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.’ And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.”
	So we see that Rahab had both faith and works. Had either one been lacking, she and her family would have perished right along with the other inhabitants of Jericho, besides which she would have had no relationship with the true God.
	As it turned out, Rahab married an Israelite named Salmon. One of their children was Boaz, who became the husband of Ruth. Matthew 1:5 records all of this, and shows that Rahab is in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
	This is a good example of the way that faith and works operate together. Much of the religious world teaches that faith and works are opposite of each other. But James says that faith without works is dead. Rahab did not merit anything, but was saved by God’s grace when she believed and obeyed.
	--Joe Slater (Justin, TX)