Talk:Rahab (term)

Rahab (the harlot)

In the Book of Joshua, Rahab was a prostitute living in Jericho. Rahab and her family were saved from the complete destruction of Jericho because she hid spies from the army of israelites who were encamped across the Jordan river.

Rahab was the original "scarlet" woman as she had to hand a scarlet thread in her windows as a sign to the invaders that it was to be spared.

She joins the israelites and later marries Salmon, one of the spies she had saved. Her descendants include David and Jesus (see geneology in Matthew 1).


 * The talk on Rahab the harlot seems out of place here, it belongs here: Rahab... yet since Rahab is a Cananite demon/deity, it may be that Rahab the harlot was named after Rahab the Demon/deity, in which case this COULD be relevant? --Jlc46 21:01, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

The statement "This name was also applied to Egypt, and the destruction of the Pharaoh after the exodus of the Israelites from that country, was compared with the slaying of Rahab, perhaps a late corruption of Rahab slaying the Pharaoh (the Red Sea drowning his troops)." Surely seems flawed doesn't it? Myth logically, it is the slaying of the waters by Ba'al, or Marduk that is important here... so it is the drying of the Red Sea that is important. Thus this seems to be a Ba'al polemic, saying that Jehovah is mightier than Ba'al and is the real slayer of the waters, as evidenced by his drying of the Red Sea. If there is a myth where "Rahab slay[s] the Pharaoh" which could be an earlier source I am not aware of it, and surely a reference should be given or the entire paragraph should be cut. If the author is just referring to the Exodus itself where the waters slay Pharaoh, then where is the evidence that Rahab is another name for Egypt, since it is Egypt that is being slain? I haven't cut it yet, to provide someone an opportunity to speak for its survival here first. Can someone give a reason why it should remain, or does someone have a reference for this supposed original myth that this is a corruption of??? In general the thinking appears incorrect. --Jlc46 21:01, 3 August 2006 (UTC)


 * References

I added a reference to Day (1985) even though I'm not suggesting it supports all the statements made in this article. If someone wants to read this book and edit Rahab and Lotan and possibly Leviathan accordingly, it's an excellent book and would be very helpful to the community. Yonderboy 20:56, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

The name for Rahab (the harlot) is a different Hebrew word than Rahab as Egypt/sea monster.

http://biblehub.com/hebrew/7343.htm vs http://biblehub.com/hebrew/7293.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.93.118.80 (talk) 22:35, 20 July 2017 (UTC)

Old Testament monster
probably refers to the same legend as Psalm 89, but would it be OR to include that? Or can we source it somewhere? It's useful and verifiable information IMO, and borderline OR at worse. But interested in other views. Andrewa (talk) 23:37, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I wonder, is this really even part of the topic Rahab (Egypt)? The connection between the mythical monster and Egypt seems a bit tenuous. At the very least least, the connection is not well explained in the current article.

Two possibilities... One is to split the article, the other, to rename it to a better disambiguator than (Egypt), something that covers both the monster and the imagery. But not sure what... Hmmmm... Andrewa (talk) 06:20, 17 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Andrewa, OR (original research) here on WP basically refers to a novel idea, argument, link or hypothesis being proposed for which there is no source. In order to prove something is not one's original OR, one needs to show an externally published source (but not a blog or such) where the same link is made. So if it is verifiable as you say, it should be a simple matter to come up with a source mentioning it somewhere in connection with the article topic, then we can paraphrase and attribute the view in that source. Til Eulenspiegel (talk) 12:05, 17 December 2011 (UTC)


 * What about (Monster) as a disambiguator? Benji man (talk) 22:17, 18 February 2014 (UTC)


 * You know what, the "monster" stuff is first attested only in the Later Mediaeval Ages and comes directly out of the use in Old Testament times as a name for Egypt per most commentators, so I'm not sure there's any need to either split or rename this article, the best course of action would be to look for the best sources for more detail. Til Eulenspiegel /talk/ 23:15, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Military
Added new section before video games. Military. Added that Rahab is name of the 5th Dolphin class submarine being built for the Israeli Navy. Irondome (talk) 02:16, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Edit suggestions
Hello everyone! I am a student at Miami University Ohio. I am currently in a course that studies the religions of the old testament and found this topic to be quite intriguing. Upon reading about the word "Rahab" I wrote the following thoughts about the topic:

For the article w:Rahab_(Egypt): Prior to the Medieval adoption of "Rahab," to mean demon or sea beast, the name also appears in Psalms: 104, Psalms 89; 5-12, as well as Job 38: 8-11 and Isaiah 51:9-10. Rahab, in these passages, take the meaning of primeval chaotic sea, multi-headed dragon or Leviathan. It can be assumed that long before Jewish mythos, the ancient Jews emulated the creation fables told by their predecessors. The Babylonians, for example, told of a thunder god, Marduk, and a Sea Beast, Tiamat, battling for supreme power over the other gods, in the Enuma Elis. It can be speculated that these two characters in the Babylonian myth, are parallel to the creation stories found in the Biblical passages containing the name Rahab. [1] Jump up ^ Coogan, Michael D. (2014). The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Hebrew Scriptures. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 34–40. ISBN 978-0-I9-994661-7 Check |isbn= value (help). ZarathustraSay20 (talk) 14:30, 10 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi User:ZarathustraSay20! You could be a little clearer about the myths in which these creatures/gods are found. You could also make clearer connections between the Babylonian creation stories and those found in Genesis, as well as make a reference to the vestigial nature of the polytheistic undertones in creation stories in the Hebrew Bible. Sctimmons (talk) 20:21, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Rahab before Creation
Hello, I am a student at Miami University in Oxford, OH and was looking at the page for a class I am taking. I found something that I think would be a useful addition to the folklore section. Underneath the section labeled "Jewish folklore" I plan on adding this sentence.

"Rahab has also been mentioned in connection with Biblical Creation, that Rahab was destroyed by the creator before he began his work of creation."

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Dkcincy (talk) 04:36, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

Rahab is not known outside the Bible, and nothing in the Bible puts Rahab before creation, it is an assumption people make based on the Babylonian Marduk-Tiamat creation battle myth (see especially Gunkel, Creation and Chaos, 1895, English translation 2005). Much confusion comes from a failure to recognize the fact that the Bible portrays the crossing of the Red Sea event as a re-eanctment of the first three days of creation (Exodus 14:20-22); the division between light and darkness, separation of the two armies by "heaven" (cloud/angel of God), and dry ground coming out of the sea. The drowning of the Egyptians is in effect the slaying of Rahab (Isa 51:9-10)(note Rahab can also be a nickname for Egypt). This does not mean Rahab is only a nickname for Egypt; elsewhere he is called "the evil serpent" (Job 26:13). Most translations do not use "evil" for the word here (bariach); the verb has the idea of getting away (often translated "flee"), but a "Janus [2 sided] parallelism" in Job 9:25 suggests another meaning, "evil," "My days are swifter than a runner, they (1) flee away / (2) they are evil: they see no good. Rahab thus points to the spiritual father of the wicked, the serpent cursed in Genesis 3:15.

Leviathan is also called "evil serpent" in Isa 27:1, which is pointing to the future, not creation. The name is usually related to Canaanite L-t-n (Lotan or Litan), a seven-headed dragon (no connection to creation with him either). In Psalm 74 the psalmist recalls his defeat at the Red Sea, so we can see Leviathan and Rahab as alternate names for the one later called "Satan." I have a paper on this at academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/7783524/Creation_or_Redemption_When_Did_God_Defeat_Rahab_Leviathan?email_work_card=view-paper — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jlronning (talk • contribs) 16:26, 15 May 2020 (UTC)