The Chutzpah of Rahab

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. The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

          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.”

          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. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) (Joshua 2:1-6)

 

          For anyone who doesn't already know, I'm looking forward to meeting Rahab. She intimidates me, because in my imagination, she is one of those boisterous, fun-loving people persons that seem larger than life. She's also a business woman. In addition to being a prostitute, apparently she was involved in the high end textile (clothing) industry. Flax is used to make linen. I don't know whether her house was just her home, and she was the only prostitute there, or whether she was a madam, too, but she appears to have had a home in which she was in charge.

          At this point in the story, we discover that she's willing to lie to the king's men about the whereabouts of two strangers whom she knows to be a team of spies sent out to figure out how to defeat her people. That takes chutzpah (shameless audacity, impudence), and that term sums up Rahab to me. For the past couple days, we've been hearing everyone tell Joshua to be strong and courageous. Rahab does it without coaching. Here's another way we can pray for one another: for chutzpah when the situation calls for it.