Talk:Rahab

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 August 2019 and 5 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Wendy072310.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 07:45, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

The {} sign/s
One or more of the sign/s: placed on this page without any discussion, explanation or reasoning have been removed pending further discussion. (The category Category:Bible stories is now up for a vote for deletion at Categories for deletion) Thank you. IZAK 10:48, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Rachav in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible)
"When the city of Jericho fell (Joshua 6:17-25), Rahab and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies, and were incorporated among the Jewish people. She afterwards became the wife of Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah (Ruth 4:21; 1 Chr. 2:11). With him she had a son Boaz, who was an ancestor of David."

This is absolutely incorrect. Only in Christian belief did Rachav marry into Yehudah and/or Salmah. In the Hebrew Bible her narrative ends without any mention of who she married, but Jewish tradition says she married Yehoshua ben Nun of Ephraim, and the two had no children. I have edited this passage to correctly reflect what the Book of Yehoshua actually says. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.17.146.166 (talk) 18:03, 12 January 2007 (UTC).

Deprecation
Prostitution is not "deprecated" - that means that it is planned to be discontinued - which definitely does not apply here. But I'm not sure of the exact status of prostitution in Jewish law, so I can't correct it. --대조 | Talk 18:23, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Prostitute or not?
The Aramaic word used to describe Rahab as a prostitute (which is mentioned only once, but the way) also means "inn keeper" or "one who rents a room to strangers" and does not necessarily refer to trade in sexual favors. It is quite possible that the two trades were considered the same thing in the ancient world as they were often the same person, but not necessarily so. The New Testament authers refer to her as a harlot, but they may have just been quoting Old Testament scripture, making the same assumption. Josephus refers to her as an Innkeeper, nothing more, although Josephus's account differs from the standard New Testament one in several particulars.


 * I have created a separate section to deal with this issue.--Jack Upland (talk) 09:25, 4 January 2011 (UTC)


 * The "Rahab's profession" section currently begins with the sentence: "Rahab is commonly believed to be a prostitute, though the Book of Joshua does not make this explicit."


 * If the Hebrew word for innkeeper and harlot are one and the same (הַזּוֹנָה), there is no way the book of Joshua could have made her work as a prostitute any more explicit than by using this word.


 * Of the four references to the Rahab of the book of Joshua which are cited in this article, three (Hebrews, James, and Josephus) are contemporaneous with each other (1st century C.E.). The fourth, Rashi, who wrote approximately one thousand years later than the others, seems to have been speculating about Rahab's profession as a food seller apart from any textual evidence. Of the three first century references, two (Hebrews and James) use the Greek word "πορνη" - whore. It is likely that the authors of these works used "πορνη" because they were working from the Septuagint's Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures which translates "הַזּוֹנָה" as "πόρνης" in reference to Rahab. This however does not cast doubt on the intent of the author of Joshua that his/her readers understand that Rahab was a harlot. Rather, the fact that the 2nd & 3rd century B.C.E. translators of the Septuagint used "πόρνης" combined with the above observation that prostitues and inkeepers "were considered the same thing in the ancient world as they were often the same person" only lends support to the proposition that it was the author's intent to characterize Rahab as a prostitute. After all, the translators of the Septuagint, being Jewish, were both chronologically and culturally nearer to the original author than any of the other sources mentioned here.


 * Further Josephus does not suggest that Rahab was an inkeeper to the exlusion of being a prostitute. In fact he doesn't call Rahab an inkeeper directly. He merely mentions that Joshua's spies stayed at her inn. The relevant passage from Josephus' "The Antiquities of the Jews":


 * "but at even they retired to a certain inn that was near to the wall, whither they went to eat their supper; which supper when they had done, and were considering how to get away, information was given to the king as he was at supper, that there were some persons come from the Hebrews' camp to view the city as spies, and that they were in the inn kept by Rahab, and were very solicitous that they might not be discovered. So he sent immediately some to them, and commanded to catch them, and bring them to him, that he might examine them by torture, and learn what their business was there."


 * In light of the above, there appears to be a preponderance of evidence that the author(s) of the book of Joshua intended readers to understand that Rahab was a prostitute. It is quite appropriate to mention in the context of a Wikipedia article that there has been some historical and scholarly debate about this issue. However, the wording of this section currently bears a distinct bias against the historically accepted view that Joshua's author(s) meant to call Rahab a harlot. I will make the appropriate changes. Schlemazl (talk) 17:58, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Resemblance to Antenor
Rahab, as a character, bears a striking resemblance to Antenor in Greek mythology - who betrayed his home town Troy in a very similar way. I think, this should also be mentioned.--80.141.250.174 (talk) 11:11, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Reference to Tractate Megillah
The Tractate Megillah (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Talmud/synmegillah.html and linked chapters) appears to make no mention of Rahab. Is there any reason not to delete the paragraph "The Gemara mentions in Tractate Megillah that Rahab was one of the most beautiful women to ever have lived; so much so that simply stating her name twice would bring on immediate ejaculation. This is further clarified by the assertion that this is only the case with those who knew her.[citation needed]"? HIXIH (talk) 12:53, 4 November 2011 (UTC)


 * I just came (no pun intended) to this page after this odd story about saying Rahav's name was referred to in Tractate Megillah, page 15, in my Daf Yomi study; she‘s definitely mentioned there. Whether this is notable enough for Wikipedia purposes is another issue, although judging by the number of References to the Tanach and New Testament as though they were secondary sources (which they're not), I suspect a lot on this page is not notable for Wikipedia purposes.  NewkirkPlaza (talk) 23:03, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

More scholar perspective
Hello! I noticed that the section titled "In the Hebrew Bible" includes Michael Coogan's scholarly perspective of the structure of the Book of Joshua and how Rahab fits into it. I would like to add a small blurb about Tikva Frymer-Kensky's perspective of Rahab's personality and contributions relating to the Israelites' entry into Canaan. Frymer-Kensky was a Yale-educated author, professor, and winner of a National Jewish Book Award for Women’s Studies. I will probably be adding about 55 words. If anyone wants to comment on these changes, please let me know on this Talk Page or on my Talk Page. - Wendy072310 (talk) 09:41, 21 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Yeah, that was good. StAnselm (talk) 19:16, 21 November 2019 (UTC)

Rahab as Egypt and/or a sea monster?
Hello.

According to Biblegateway, Rahab was apparently not only a woman but also a name for a beast or sea, as well as a reference to Egypt;

"''Rahab Cut in Pieces

''Psalm 89:10

''Rahab was not only the name of an actual female character (see href="/id/38414138-3246-4338-2D31-3142452D3341">Rahab), but was also a poetical name for Egypt, conveying the idea of haughty and inflated arrogance. “Rahab sitting still” was a political caricature, but she was cut in pieces (Psalm 87:4). Rahab was most likely a Coptic name for a large sea or river monster, symbolic of Egypt (see Job 9:13, 26, 27), which God conquered and crushed (Isaiah 30:1-7)."

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/all-women-bible/Rahab-Cut-Pieces

Just thought I would bring it up for discussion as it hadn't been mentioned as of yet. Okama-San (talk) 00:43, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

Dog
hello

Correction (minor)
Please correct misspelling in References (#5): “ Sherwood, A. A leader's Misleading and a Prostitute's Proffession…” (Profession) 2601:281:CB00:510:94C7:3562:32B7:DD3A (talk) 16:27, 14 April 2024 (UTC)