Thread by @AriLamm

Why Read The Bible In Hebrew?

Let's talk about Rahab in the Book of Joshua.

How does a Canaanite harlot end up as the hero of the Israelites’ journey into the Promised Land?

A thread (for non-Hebrew readers too!) 🧵1

Here's a quick review of Rahab's story:

The Book of Joshua begins with the Israelites about to enter the Promised Land. In advance, Joshua dispatches two spies to scope out the city of Jericho. They're almost captured and killed by Jericho's king, but Rahab hides them. 2

Rahab expresses to the spies her awe for the God of Israel and His miracles. She asks, in return for her kindness, that God spare her and her family from Jericho's doom. The spies agree, and ultimately Rahab and her kin join the people of Israel "to this very day" (6:25). 3

So why is Rahab such an unlikely Biblical hero? Well, first off, she's a prostitute ("zonah", from the root z-n-h). Why is that especially significant?

Okay so flip back real quick to Exodus 34—when God renews His covenant with the Israelites after the sin of the Golden Calf. 4

God warns of the spiritual danger posed by the Canaanites who "prostitute (z-n-h) themselves to their gods". In fact, "their daughters who prostitute (z-n-h) themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute (z-n-h) themselves to their gods" (34:15-16). 5

In identifying Rahab as a prostitute (z-n-h) from jump, the Book of Joshua wants us to recall God's warning in Exodus, which repeatedly uses that same root. She seems to be exactly what God demanded the Israelites avoid at all costs!

So how does she end up the hero? 6

Moreover, Rahab explains her decision to hide the spies by referencing all the miracles God had done for the Israelites—from splitting the Red Sea to the defeat of the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og (2:10).

Why on earth would a lowly harlot in Jericho care about these things? 7

To answer all our questions, we'll need to look at the Hebrew!

Let's start with a phrase that seems innocuous, but which actually unlocks this whole story: "The king of Jericho was told: Some Israelites have come (b-w-') here tonight (ha-layla) to search out the land" (2:2). 8

In that verse we find the Hebrew root "come" (b-w-') and the Hebrew word for "tonight" (ha-layla). The former appears literally thousands of times in Scripture, and the latter several dozen times.

But together? As in "arrive tonight"?

Only two times in the entire Bible. 9

One is in our story. The other?

The tale of the destruction of Sodom.

"They called to Lot: Where are the men who came (b-w-') to you tonight (ha-layla)?" (Gen 19:5).

A refresher: God—about to destroy Sodom—sends two angels to rescue Abraham's nephew Lot, who lives there. 10

Joshua wants us to read Rahab's story with Gen 19 in mind. And, in fact, while the two stories seem to have nothing at all to do with each other, turns out they possess a whole lot in common!

Both begin with two people entering a city on the brink of destruction... 11

In both the two take refuge in a local's home. The authorities demand custody of the guests, and the host tries to divert them. Then, after the city is destroyed, the host is saved.

But beyond just structure, Scripture ties these episodes together via Hebrew.

For example... 12

After bringing them inside, Rahab speaks to the spies "before they went to sleep (terem yishkavun)" (2:8). That phrase also only appears twice in the Bible.

Where else?...

Yup! Right after Lot brings the angels inside: "But before they lay down (terem yishkavu)" (Gen 19:4). 13

Or, take Rahab's advice to the spies: "Go toward the hill country (ha-harah), lest the pursuers come upon you" (2:16).

Where else have we heard that before?

...Yessir: "Flee to the hills (ha-harah), or else you will be consumed", the angels instruct Lot (Gen 19:17).

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I could list a dozen more of these...but the clearest, most emphatic example actually comes at the very end of Rahab's story. After Jericho's fall, Joshua instructs the Israelite soldiers to leave Rahab unharmed "because she hid the messengers (malachim) we sent" (6:17). 15

That's a super weird thing for Joshua to say. I mean, in what possible way could the spies be described as "messengers"? In fact, the Hebrew word here, "malachim", never—not once in Scripture—refers to spying or reconnaissance.

Okay, but then...what DOES that word mean?... 16

Well, it can refer to human emissaries. But it can also mean: divine messengers. As in angels! Want an example?

Yep! "The two angels (malachim) came to Sodom in the evening..." (Gen 19:1)

Joshua uses this word SPECIFICALLY so we'll connect the two spies to Lot's two angels! 17

Clearly we're meant to read Rahab and the spies in light of Lot and the angels.

But there's one MAJOR difference:

Lot is completely passive and indecisive. Rahab, by contrast, is active and confident. In Gen 19, the angels take all the initiative. But in Josh 2? It's Rahab! 18

What explains this? Why does Rahab jump at the chance to help the Israelites? Why is she so decisive?

In short, why is Rahab different from Lot?

The answer lies in appreciating the parallel between their respective cities. Jericho is Sodom. And that unlocks everything... 19

Let's start with Sodom.

Sodom is a place of injustice, cruelty and oppression. Take their treatment of Lot's guests:

"They called to Lot: Where are the men (anashim) who came to (b-w-' el) you tonight? Bring them out (hotzi) to us, so we may know them" (19:5). 20

Sodom's citizens demand Lot surrender the two "men" in order to sexually violate ("know") them. When their lust for domination goes unsatisfied, they threaten murder (19:9).

Why? Surely they'd protest that this was simply local custom. If you don’t like it you can get out! 21

Of course, these were excuses—a patina of rationality covering up a fundamentally exploitative, unjust pagan society. We expect Lot—at least eventually—to acknowledge this.

But he never does. And as the story progresses, it starts to feel like actually...he can't. 22

Or, more precisely, he doesn't want to.

Lot is wealthy, you see. He's got so much to lose! Besides, you can imagine Lot protesting, where else would I go?!

Lot doesn’t want to give up his status. Like, remember when the angels encourage him to flee for the hills (19:17)? 23

Lot demurs, and begs to flee to another nearby city: "Look, that city is near enough to flee to...let me escape there" (19:20)

You can see why, all these years, Lot stayed in Sodom despite its depravity: I’m a sophisticated urbanite! You want me to live in the boondocks?! 24

Ultimately, of course, Sodom corrupts Lot. He’s willing to surrender his own daughters to a gang of rapists to spare his guests (19:8). Once he agrees to flee the city he makes a halfhearted attempt to save his sons-in-law before abandoning them to their fate as well (19:14). 25

Lot had become a Sodomite himself. And the tragedy is that he didn't have to. He could've clung to a God who hears the cry of the oppressed.

Instead Lot chose moral complacency. He chose his cruel pagan neighbors. And in the end, for all his wealth, he was left with nothing. 26

Now compare Lot's city with Rahab's.

Jericho, like Sodom, was a wealthy city of the Jordan Valley plain. But, also like Sodom, it was a place of tyranny—built upon an exploitative Canaanite culture that maltreated the poor and vulnerable, and gloried in child sacrifice. 27

This was an ancient Near Eastern society whose entire cosmogony saw human beings as less than dirt—created to be mere slaves to the gods…and of course to the humans kings and princes who were their representatives.

Who would have been at the bottom of this cruel hierarchy? 28

Who would have been at the bottom of this cruel hierarchy?

Rahab. A prostitute.

Rahab was a vulnerable woman taken advantage of by Jericho’s more powerful citizens. And unlike Lot, she had no wealth to shield her from Jericho's ugliness.

Hence one more parallel to Gen 19.

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Remember when the Sodomites demand Lot surrender his guests?

Here's how the Bible depicts Jericho's king demanding the same:

"Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: Bring out (hotzi) the men (anashim) who have come to (b-w-' el) you" (2:3).

The Hebrew is identical! 30

Why does Joshua make this particular comparison?

To explain Rahab's plight.

Lot, you'll recall, is completely unsurprised by his neighbors’ threats—he even seems to anticipate it when he warns the two men against sleeping in the public square (Gen 19:3).

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This isn't—the Bible suggests—the first time something like this happened in Sodom.

Similarly, in Joshua, when Jericho’s king arrives to threaten Rahab, this wasn't simply a matter of national security. This was exactly how Jericho's citizens always treated someone like her. 32

Her life was dark. Bleak. Oppression was her daily bread.

But then…she starts to hear stories. Tales she hardly dared believed. Tales of a God who cared. A God who punished the Pharaoh of Egypt and the local Amorite tyrants alike for their treatment of a vulnerable people. 33

Dared she believe such stories? The people this God had rescued were so far away, after all.

Until one night...there they were! Israelites! On her doorstep!

She had to know.

And so, before they could even sleep (2:8), she confirms with them these tales that gave her hope. 34

In that moment, Rahab makes her decision—she will join herself to this God of hope and freedom.

But as she makes her declaration, we're meant to wonder. Will God accept it? Hadn't God, in Exodus 34, warned Israel against covenanting with the prostituting (z-n-h) Canaanites? 35

Here's where Joshua masterfully alludes to yet another story: "[Rahab] took the two men and she hid them (va-tizpeno)" (Josh 2:4).

Scripture has lots of different words for "hide". Why use this one? The answer is because of another place in Scripture it appears:

The Exodus. 36

When Moses's mother gave birth to him—in the face of Pharaoh's decree that all Hebrew baby boys be killed—Scripture tells us "she hid him (va-tizpenehu) for three months" (Exodus 2:2).

These—Joshua 2 and Exodus 2—are the only two places in the Bible we find this phrase. 37

Joshua is telling us that Jericho is not ONLY Sodom. It's Egypt as well. And just as God heard the Israelites' cries, He has heard Rahab too.

But there's more...

So, like, remember how on the eve of the Exodus God instructs the Israelites how to survive Egypt's destruction? 38

He tells them to place "a sign ('ot) for you on the houses where you live" (Exod 12:13).

What is the sign? Each family must adorn their house with red (blood), gather their family together, and stay inside lest they be destroyed along with the populace around them (12:22). 39

Now back to Rahab. On the eve of HER liberation she asks the spies, "Give me a sign ('ot) of good faith".

What is the sign ('ot)? You got it! ...Adorn your house with red, gather your family, and stay inside lest you be destroyed along with the populace around you (2:18-19). 40

Yes, Canaanite society was cruel. Oppressive. God would not suffer it in His chosen Land.

But Rahab? The downtrodden harlot? The one who suffered that oppression? The one who heard the God of the Exodus and dared to believe in Him?

She experiences her very own Exodus! 41

In fact, Rahab's Exodus is the perfect bookend to God's liberation of the Israelites.

How?

Well, think back to the very first thing God says to Moses at the burning bush: "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry..." (Exod 3:7). 42

In the very next verse, God proclaims that He will deliver the Israelites from bondage and—just as He assured Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—bring them to the Promised Land.

How does He describe that Land? "A good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey" (3:8). 43

See that word "spacious"? Know what that is in Hebrew?

"Rechavah". From the root r-h-v.

Know what other word has that exact same root?

Rahab (in Hebrew "Rachav")! Her name, too, means "spacious". The Promised Land, therefore, is quite literally "the Land of Rahab". 44

Rahab’s own name, it turns out, reflects the very first promise God made to His people in Exodus to implant them in the Land of Israel.

So to return to our original question: how does a Canaanite harlot end up the hero of Joshua's story?

Well...how could she not? 45

Rahab, like Lot, was trapped in an oppressive pagan society. But unlike Lot, whose complacency left him deaf to God's salvation, Rahab dreamed of something better—a God who loved justice and liberty.

So God's promises to the people of Israel were for Rahab a beacon of hope. 46

In dreams, though, begin responsibilities. When the time came, would Rahab respond? When God knocked, would she answer?

Her answer was a resounding yes. So God redeemed her just as He redeemed His people from Egypt, implanting her in the "spacious" Land that bears her name. 47

Rahab, then, is the mother of those who dare to believe.

That's why, in the end, "she dwelled in Israel to this very day" (Joshua 6:25). Of course. Where else would she make her home other than among the very people who first taught the world to hope?

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P.S. Thanks so much to @zenahitz for first enabling me to do these threads!

And if you liked this, check out the episode I just did with @EliLanger and @LivingLchaim on how the Bible thinks about technological innovation and economic growth. Good stuff!