The PuritanBoard - View Single Post - Job 9:13

pastorway · #9 (**permalink**) 01-20-2004, 03:33 PM

Rahab in Hebrew is used as the name of the woman in Jericho (Joshua 2:1-3; 6:17, 23-25),

[quote:57ec01697e]
[b:57ec01697e]Joshua 2[/b:57ec01697e]
1 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and came to the house of a [b:57ec01697e]harlot named Rahab[/b:57ec01697e], and lodged there. 2And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country." 3So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country."

[b:57ec01697e]Joshua 6[/b:57ec01697e]
17Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only [b:57ec01697e]Rahab the harlot[/b:57ec01697e] shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

23And 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. 24But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25And Joshua spared [b:57ec01697e]Rahab the harlot[/b:57ec01697e], her father's household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. [/quote:57ec01697e]

and the name of Egypt (Ps 87:4; 89:10; Isaiah 30:7; 51:9).

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[b:57ec01697e]Isaiah 30[/b:57ec01697e]
7For the [b:57ec01697e]Egyptians[/b:57ec01697e] shall help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore I have called her [b:57ec01697e]Rahab-Hem-Shebeth.[/b:57ec01697e]

[b:57ec01697e]Isaiah 51[/b:57ec01697e]
9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut [b:57ec01697e]Rahab[/b:57ec01697e] apart, and wounded the serpent?

[b:57ec01697e]Psalm 87[/b:57ec01697e]
4"I will make mention of [b:57ec01697e]Rahab and Babylon[/b:57ec01697e] to those who know Me; behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia: "This one was born there."

[b:57ec01697e]Psalm 89[/b:57ec01697e]
10You have broken [b:57ec01697e]Rahab[/b:57ec01697e] in pieces, as one who is slain; You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. [/quote:57ec01697e]

Notice, every occurance and context where the woman of Jericho is the "Rahab" being talked about, it qualifies the word by saying the "[b:57ec01697e]harlot[/b:57ec01697e] Rahab". This is even true in the NT passages that mention her (Heb 11:31; James 2:25). The only exception is when Rahab appears in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1, but there it is clear that she is a mother, and hence the woman from Jericho.

So the usage in Job does not mention her as the harlot, and in fact, the Hebrew word [i:57ec01697e]rahab[/i:57ec01697e] means literally "arrogance."

The NKJV translates this verse correctly then, when it says, "God will not withdraw His anger, [b:57ec01697e]the allies of the proud[/b:57ec01697e] lie prostrate beneath Him."

Phillip