| Why Rahab? - article by Joel Hempel
Why Rahab? Of all the biblical characters James could write about to illustrate a living faith, why choose a prostitute (James 2:25)? I mean, Abraham makes sense; he was the patriarch of a nation, a national hero. Rahab was a woman of ill repute. Rahab’s story is spread over four books of the Bible: James, Joshua, Hebrews, and Matthew. The authors of three of the four books refer to her as a prostitute. However, Joshua (chapters 2 and 6) gives the most facts – not about her sinful escapades but her heroism. A resident of the walled city of Jericho, her house was literally built into the wall. The location of her house was critical because it would become the way of escape for Israel's spies. In the Book of Joshua, we learn that Joshua sent his men on a mission to find out what Israel would face in their battle against Jericho. "Joshua… sent two men secretly…as spies, saying, 'Go, and view the land, especially Jericho.' And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.” As soon as the king of Jericho got wind that there were spies in his land and they were holed up in Rahab's house, he sent troops who demanded that she turn them over. But Rahab lied, saying something like, "I don't know what you are talking about. There are no spies here. Look for yourselves. The soldiers did not find the men because Rahab had cleverly hidden them on her roof. Upon completing their mission, the spies escaped by being lowered outside the city wall. There are many questions this brief story does not answer, questions like: How did the spies know to go to Rahab’s house? How did she hear about the stories of God’s mercy that brought her to faith? Why is she identified as a prostitute if she was already a believer? And what happened to Rahab after Joshua rescued her and her family from Jericho, resulting in her ending up in Jesus' genealogy (Matt. 1:5)? The one question that does have a clear answer is, Why Rahab? Think about it. If you want an example of an evil human being, you choose someone like Putin or Hitler. If you want an example of a day-to-day reprobate, who better than a prostitute? Among the lowest professions, they hide in plain sight at night and pander to base desires. So God, the Father of all mercy, the Giver of unmerited love, directs James to present Rahab to show that no one is beyond God’s grace. Rahab is you and I: People whose past would condemn us; people whose present remains embarrassingly checkered! Thank God he offers Rahab as the saint we can all identify with. Like Rahab, we are chosen by God not because we are good people; rather, we are chosen by a Good God who makes us good. As people of God’s grace, we can only pray to be as courageous as Rahab – ready to risk it all for Jesus. | 
