Whore

I'm preaching on Rahab tomorrow, to fulfill sermon requirements of (1) preaching from the First Testament and (2) preaching on a female character.  I figure since I'm well on my way to reading every single ATLA article that uses Joshua as a text, and since I just did a paper on Rahab, I'd go ahead and stick to what's easy.

I stumbled across this while reading commentaries:  "Rahab appears to have been an innkeeper; and if she had formerly been one of bad life, which is doubtful, she had left her evil courses."

See, Rahab was a prostitute.  Don't believe me?  How about the Bible?  Rahab is called a prostitute five times (Joshua 2:1, 6:17, and 6:25; Hebrews 11:31; and James 2:25).  People like the guy quoted above are quick to argue that in ancient Hebrew, "prostitute" and "innkeeper" are the same word.  However, the words are different in Greek (porne and pandoceus), which is what the authors of Hebrews and James were using.  Plus there is absolutely zero reason to think the Hebrew text is talking about an innkeeper.

What cracks me up is how some commentators/preachers bend over backwards to claim she wasn't a prostitute, as if a prostitute couldn't do something good, and definitely is not worthy of mention in the Bible.  You know, alongside the Son of God who was born out in the barn with a bunch of animals.  OK kids, I think if you're trying to cover up a convert's sin, you're missing the point.

To be fair, most preachers do say Rahab was a prostitute.  In fact, they love saying it.  That she was, was a prostitute, until she came to Jesus.  Yes, seriously.  I just read a sermon that said Rahab came to Jesus.  These sermons are all about how Rahab had faith, which is (to be generous) a gross anachronistic application of modern concepts of monotheistic faith within the lens of the Christian religion to an ancient henotheistic pre-Christian context where there was really no such thing as faith, because religious conviction was just an extension of society.  One's god was fact, not a proposition to be believed.

But here's the best part: they all say Rahab went from prostitute to woman of faith, from harlot to heroine.  That she quit being a prostitute.

I suppose it is possible that the (fictional) character stopped being a prostitute, but we have no reason to assume that.  Know why?  Because the Bible doesn't say that.  The whole question is totally irrelevant to the story, which really doesn't portray her as a sinner at all.  Just mentions (five times) that she was a prostitute.

No judgment here.