The Woman Who Made the Family Tree

Matthew opens his gospel with a genealogy, and hidden in the list of fathers are four women. One of them ran a brothel in Jericho. Matthew 1:3 English - ESV Matthew 1:5-6 English - ESV

Matthew 1:5 English - ESV

Her name is Rahab, and Joshua 2 tells her actual story: a Canaanite woman who ran an inn, or worse, on the wall of Jericho. Joshua 2:1 English - ESV Two Israelite spies hide in her house. She lies to the king's men to protect them Joshua 2:4-5 English - ESV, then asks for one thing in return: when your people take this city, remember me. Joshua 2:12-13 English - ESV

That is the whole faith on display. Not a clean record, not a religious pedigree, just a bet that Israel's God was real and worth siding with before there was any proof it would work out.

Joshua 2:12 English - ESV

Generations later, Matthew names her again, next to Ruth and Bathsheba, in the line that produces David and then Jesus. God did not just spare Rahab. He wrote her into the family.

Ruins near Canaan, the world Rahab actually lived in, long before she became a name in a genealogy.

Joshua 2 Berean Standard Bible - Bob Souer