Rahab's Story (Summary)

     Rahab is a woman who has been imortalized in the Old Testament book of Joshua; she is famous for being a kind-hearted harlot, but there was a time when she was more than just a prostitute.  She was once a daughter, a sister, a weaver with hopes and dreams.  In Rahab's Story Ann Burton tells of the before, the after, and everything between the two.

     It begins with adolescent Rahab.  After living under her stepmother's tyrannical oppression for years, she is silent yet boiling with anger.  She tolerates the abuse for the sake of her younger sister, Tezi, and for her love of her father.  Rahab's secret worship of the Semitic god, Jehovah, leads to a fight that will push things too far.  Before she can explain the truth to her father, she is accused of black magic and witchery.  Without a chance to defend herself against these grave falsehoods, she is cast out of her bet ab, her father's house.  Her name is struck from the scroll of ancestors and she is left to die in the gutter with the dogs.

     Bearing her shaved head-- a symbol of shame-- she is scorned by society and driven out of the high class merchant's quarter.  She wanders into Meshnedef, the most dangerous part of Riha (Jericho).  Exhausted, terrified and starving, she is nearly resigned to her fate as one of the miskin, the poor and miserable.  That is, until, she tries to steal from the House of Palms.  Fortunately, she is intercepted by Tiamat, the proprietor of the House.  Tiamat is a gentle, nurturing Egyptian woman.  She is also a Zonah, a prostitute.  In fact, all of the women in the House of Palms are prostitutes.  The House is one of the best brothels in the city.  With nowhere else to go, Rahab lives with the zonah and eventually becomes one of them. 

     But this is not her biggest secret; she must keep quiet that she is a Semite, for they are being executed by order of the king.  Semitism is appalling to the Canaanites, but prostitution is accepted, even revered. 

     Years pass, but Rahab does not forget her faith or her sister.  When two Semitic spies seek sanctuary in her house of harlots --a very dangerous request-- she gives them two conditions:  that they take Tezi when they leave the city, and that they spare her household when the Semites destroy Jericho. 

   

Rahab in the book of Joshua (condensed)

     I recently finished a book called Rahab's Story.  This is an account of Rahab from the book of Joshua from Zondervan's NIV Teen Devotional Bible.  

(2:1)  Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim.  "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho."  So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.... (3)  So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab:  "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house because they have come to spy out the whole land."  (4)  But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.  She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.  (5)  At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left.  I don't know which way they went.  Go after then quickly.  You may catch up with them."  (8)  Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof (9) and said to them, "I know that the L-rd has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.... (12)  Now then, please swear to me by the L-rd that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you.  Give me a sure sign (13) that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, that you will save us from death."  (14)  "Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her.  "If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the L-rd gives us the land."  ...(6:21) They [the Israelites] devoted the city to the L-rd and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it-- men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.  (22) Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her."  (23) So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her.  They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.... (25) But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho-- and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

Words I don't know: Who knew there was a glossary?

     I was really surprised when I finished Rahab's Story several pages sooner than I expected, and then I felt really dumb when I realized it was because there's a glossary in the back of the book.  That would have come in handy more than once, not to mention it could have saved me two pages of notes.  So here's a mix of Canaanite, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Urgartic.   

Ayin-yada:  voyeurism
Asherim:  wooden posts in Canaanite temples, used for sacrificial rituals
Astarte:  Canaanite goddess, Queen of Heaven
Baal:  Canaanite fertility god
Beqa:  Unit of monetary weight, equal to one-half sheqel
Bet:  house
Bet ab:  house of one's father
Bid'lem:  sacred word for servant of the gods
Boset:  shame
Dagon:  Canaanite godhead; "father" of all Canaanite gods.
Din:  judgment
Hapiru:  nomadic raiders
Hazrat(a):  courtesan(s)
Hesed:  kindness
Hokhmah:  wisdom
Hohkmah nisteret:  sacred wisdom
Jehovah:  god of the Semites
Khamsin:  sandstorm
Kelb'lim:  dog of the gods (profane term)
Kele:  jail
Khopesh:  a sickle-shaped sword
Kiatta immadi:  Semite phrase; literally "for you are with me"
Kluv:  cage
Lehem:  bread
Marianu:  elite Canaanite warrior caste; king's guard 
Masseboth:  stone pillars in Canaanite temples, used for sacrificial rituals
Meloyikah:  an edible Egyptian vegetable that is also a source of jute fiber
Mina:  monetary weight, equal to sixty sheqels
Mirii:  Canaanite underworld
Miskin:  poor, miserable
Moloch:  Canaanite god of fire
Mut'a:  euphemism for a specific type of prostitution; a temporary marriage in which time with a "wife" is purchased with money
Qedesh:  holy prostitutes who serve in the temples of Baal, Astarte, and Moloch
Riha:  native name for the city of Jericho
Shakab:  sex 
Taliyah:   garlic fried with salt and coriander
Tiph'eret:  splendor, pleasure (sexual)