RAHA_B (rd'h'313), (HebXfi, rah'khab, proud).
1. A name, signifying 'sea monster,' which is applied as an appellation to _Egypt in Ps. lxxiv: 13, 14; lxxxvii :4; lxxxix :to; Is. li :9 (and some times to its king, Ezek. xxix :3 ; xxxiii :3), which metaphorical designation probably involves an al lusion to the crocodiles, hippopotami, and other aquatic creatures of the Nile.
2. Properly Rachab (Heb. raw-kkaatb', large), a woman of Jericho who received into her house the two spies who were sent by Joshua into that city; concealed them under the flax laid out upon the house-top, when they were sought after ; and, having given them important informa tion, which showed that the inhabitants were much disheartened at the miracles which had attended the march of the Israelites, enabled them to es cape over the wall of the town, upon which her dwelling was situated. For this important service Rahab and her kindred were saved by the He brews from the general massacre which followed the taking of Jericho ( Josh. ii:t-2i ; vi :17 ; comp. Heb. xi :3t).
In the narrative of these transactions Rahab is called zonah, which our own, after the ancient versions, renders 'harlot.' The Jewish writers, however, being unwilling to entertain the idea of their ancestors being involved in a disreputable association at the commencement of their great undertaking, chose to interpret the word `hostess,' one who keeps a public house, as if from the He brew word meaning `to nourish' (Joseph. Antiq. v:1; ii and vii ; comp. the Targum and Kimchi and Jarchi on the text). Christian interpreters also are inclined to adopt this interpretation for the sake of the character of the woman of whom the Apostle speaks well, and who would appear from Matt. i :4 to have become by a subsequent
marriage with Salmon, prince of Judah, an an cestress of Jesus. But we must be content to take facts as they stand, and not strain them to meet difficulties ; and it is now universally admitted by every sound Hebrew scholar that zonate means `harlot,' and not `hostess.' It signifies harlot in every other text where it occurs, the idea of `hostess' not being represented by this or any oilier word in Hebrew, as the function repre sented by it did not exist. There were no inns; and when certain substitutes for inns subsequently came into use, they were never, in any Eastern country, kept by women. On the other hand. strangers from beyond the river might have re• paired to the house of a harlot without suspicion or remark. The Bedouins from the desert con stantly do so at this day in their visits to Cairo and Bagdad. The house of such a woman was also the only one to which they, as perfect stran gers, could have had access, and certainly the only one in which they could calculate on obtaining the information they required without danger from male inmates. This concurrence of analogies in the word, in the thing, and in the probability of circumstances, ought to settle the question. If we are concerned for the morality of Rahab, the best proof of her reformation is found in the fact of her subsequent marriage to Salmon; this implies her previous conversion to Judaism, for which in deed her discourse with the spies evinces that she was prepared.