Most of the women in the Old Testament are there because of their connection with the Hebrew story. Sarah, Abraham's wife was somewhat interesting. She longed for a child all of her life. Without the birth of Isaac in her 90th year there would have been no Hebrew race as we know it.
Rebecca the wife of Isaac and Mother of Esau and Jacob appears to be a strong devious women with some sort of second sense as to how the story of Genesis should proceed.
I love the story of Ruth. Ruth married Boaz who's great great grandmother was Rahab. Boaz and Ruth were the great greats of Jesse who was the father of King David through which the lineage of Christ comes. That is one of the reasons the story of Rahab is so interesting.
Rahab lived with her family in the wall of Jericho. The walls were thirty feet wide and thirty feet high. There were probably many apartments and dwellings all around the wall. I can visualize the comings and goings of tradesmen in a bazaar-like atmosphere. No doubt the wall area would be a village within the town. The kings and lords who ran Jericho were there to guard a road that led up the mountain to a look out area where all of Canaan could be seen. This is the reason the Israelites needed to capture Jericho. If they were really going to take the entire country then they needed this only lookout area.
The spies were sent by Joshua to scout out the city and see if it could be overtaken. As they approached they probably wern't aware that their reputation of previous won battles preceded them. By the time they reached the wall, they understood their plight and entered Rahab's house.
They begged her to hide them and she agreed but only if, when they took over the town the Israelites would save her and her family. They all lived in the house together. She took them to the roof and hid them under drying flax. They made an agreement, and she was to hang a scarlet cord in the window to let the army know she had helped save them. When the king's men came to hunt them down she said, "Oh yes they had been there, but the last she saw of them they had left the city and were headed down the road." Later after dark she sent them into the hills to hide in the caves. Eventually they made their way back to camp.
Now the other part of the story of Rahab, is that she was a prostitute. We learned that many young women in the middle east at that time were used by their families as a source of income in this way. She loved her family and they were included in the bargain but this was the way things were.
Rahab knew all about the one God that the Israrelites worshiped. Egypt actually ran Jericho with all these lesser kings. It makes sense that stories were told for a couple of generations of how the Israelites had escaped Egypt. Being a poor girl who yearned for something better, she visualized this one God as the special God of the world who she could believe would save her from her oppressive unhappy life. According to our discussion her faith was what allowed her to protect the spies. She wanted a better life and was hopeful the Israelites and their God could bring it to the city. It showed great courage to do what she did. She put the scarlet cord in the window, and the day the walls came down the spies took her and her family and gave them safe haven within the Hebrew community. She was sent to the tribe of Judah, and married Prince Salmon. We actually don't know anymore about her except God used her to incorporate gentile blood into the Jewish race. We agreed this was a symbolic way for God to include the rest of the world when he sent Christ as his only son to save the world.
My purpose in telling this story is just that I have been thinking a lot about the history of women lately. Women have been real players on the world's stage, and much of the time behind the scenes, as we all know. Of course Queen Elizabeth ruled England through default, and we really don't know how much she actually ran things, but we do know that under her wing much exploration of the new world took place. Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake come to mind.
I plan to continue my writing about women through particullarly our American History. I will need to do some research as I go along, but I already have a wonderful history of American women that I can get started with. My friend Liz recommended it and it is definitely outstanding. I will be glad to loan it out when I'm done with it. In my next chapter I will probably start with Virginia Dare.
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