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and was saved. This is sound doctrine; anything else is but vain jangling of words to no
profit.
The word translated "line" (tiqvah) in Josh. 2: 18 and 21 occurs here for the first time
in the Scriptures. Although it occurs in the O.T. some 34 times, it is never translated
"line" again; but "hope" 23 times, "expectation" 7 times, "thing that I longed for" once,
and "expected" once. In Joshua, tiqvah is used figuratively, the figure called Metonymy,
where one name is used instead of another, to which it stands in some relation. In this
case, it is the Metonymy of the adjunct, where something pertaining to the subject is put
for the subject itself. Without the figure being translated, Josh. 2: 18 and 21 would
read:--
"Thou shalt bind this HOPE of scarlet thread in the window" (Josh. 2: 18).
"And she bound the scarlet HOPE in the window" (Josh. 2: 21).
She had asked for a "true token" and she received it. Rahab figures in Heb. 11: as an
example of those who had faith such as is explained in Heb. 10: 1: "Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for."
The scarlet line in Rahab's window thus become a type of the faith which confidently
expects God to honour His Word.
The reader will doubtless expect some reference to be made to the presence of Rahab
in the genealogy of the Saviour. Matt. 1: 5 reads: "And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab."
The only other references to Rahab in the N.T. are found in Heb. 11: 31 and
James 2: 25, and in both these cases she is called "Rahab the harlot" even though at the
time of which these writers spoke Rahab was a woman of faith. The only references to
Rahab in the O.T. are in Joshua (2: 1 and 3; 6: 17, 23 and 25); and in these five
references she is three times called "the harlot", even though there could be no possibility
of confusion. There is no record in the O.T. that Salmon married Rahab the harlot. We
have simply assumed that the Rahab mentioned in Matt. 1: 5 must be the same person as
is mentioned in Joshua, Hebrews and James. If the reader consult Young's Analytical
Concordance, he will find that there are seven entries under Rahab, divided into two
sections:--
"(1) A woman of Jericho who received and concealed the two spies, B.C.1452.
(2) The wife of Salmon, and mother of Booz."
It is evident, therefore, that Dr. Young felt it wise to keep the two references separate.
In the Babylonian Gemara* (* - See articles on "The Volume of the Book",
Volume XXI, pp. 127, 128), the tradition is preserved that Rahab "being made a
proselytess, was married to Joshua". This is also asserted by Kimchi when speaking of
Josh. 6: Some scruples, however, were entertained as to how Joshua could marry Rahab,
when it was not lawful for any Israelite to contract marriages with the Canaanites, even
though they became proselytes. If it would have been sinful for Joshua to have married a
Canaanite, would it have been less sinful for Salmon to have done so? It seems best