(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)
There’s a pagan whore in the genealogy of Jesus and a very smart one at that. This was no accident. She was purposely worked into the stories of the lineage of Christ. Actually, Christ’s ancestors are all sinners, the whole lot of them, no one worse or better than the rest, but we needed at least one who was outwardly sinful lest we miss the point that grace was mercifully extended to them all. We always put on our best face but we’re scoundrels nonetheless. I think God loves to work in a little color into our stories.
Rahab was the Canaanite prostitute from Jericho who took in the two Israelite men who were spying out the city before they attacked it. When authorities came to her house because they had heard the spies were there, she hid the spies and told them “They went ‘thataway’.” Then she let them escape down a rope out her window which was on the outer wall of the city, but not before telling them how much fear there was of them in Jericho because everyone had heard about them crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan, and destroying a number of cities and two Canaanite kings. “For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below (Joshua 2:11),” Rahab said, obviously believing in the Hebrews’ God. For her kindness, she was spared along with her parents and brothers and sisters when Joshua and his army came to town.
So Rahab joined the Israelites and she married Salmon and gave birth to Boaz, who married Ruth, whose son was the grandfather of King David. And on it goes for 25 more generations right up to Jesus. Jesus came from a long line of sinners who will be eternally grateful for what He did on the cross to save them.
Rahab was so well-thought-of by God that He had her included in the list of heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11, and she was mentioned by James as an example of not just believing, but doing — acting on her faith.
There’s a pagan whore in the genealogy of Jesus, and aren’t you glad?
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