the daughter of Laban, and sister of Leah. The Prophet Jeremiah,
xxxi, 15, and St. Matthew, ii, 18, have put Rachel for the tribes of
Ephraim and Manasseh, the children of Joseph, the son of Rachel. This
prophecy was completed when these two tribes were carried into captivity
beyond the Euphrates; and St. Matthew made application of it to what
happened at Bethlehem, when Herod put to death the children of two years
old and under. Then Rachel, who was buried there, might be said to make
her lamentations for the death of so many innocent children sacrificed
to the jealousy of a wicked monarch.
RAHAB was a hostess of the city of Jericho, who received and concealed
the spies sent by Joshua. The Hebrew calls her Zona, Joshua ii, 1, which
Jerom and many others understand of a prostitute. Others think she was
only a hostess or innkeeper, and that this is the true signification of
the original word. Had she been a woman of ill fame, would Salmon, a
prince of the tribe of Judah, have taken her to wife? Or could he have
done it by the law? Beside, the spies of Joshua would hardly have gone
to lodge with a common harlot, they who were charged with so nice and
dangerous a commission. Those who maintain that she was a harlot,
pretend that she was perhaps one of those women who prostituted
themselves in honour of the Pagan deities; as if this could extenuate
her crime, or the scandal of her profession if she was a public woman.
It is also observable that such women are called _kadeshah_, not _zona_,
in the Hebrew. Rahab married Salmon, a prince of Judah, by whom she had
Boaz, from whom descended Obed, Jesse, and David. Thus Jesus Christ
condescended to reckon this Canaanitish woman among his ancestors. St.
Paul magnifies the faith of Rahab, Heb. xi, 31.
Rahab is also a name of Egypt, Isa. xxx, 7; li, 9.
xxxi, 15, and St. Matthew, ii, 18, have put Rachel for the tribes of
Ephraim and Manasseh, the children of Joseph, the son of Rachel. This
prophecy was completed when these two tribes were carried into captivity
beyond the Euphrates; and St. Matthew made application of it to what
happened at Bethlehem, when Herod put to death the children of two years
old and under. Then Rachel, who was buried there, might be said to make
her lamentations for the death of so many innocent children sacrificed
to the jealousy of a wicked monarch.
RAHAB was a hostess of the city of Jericho, who received and concealed
the spies sent by Joshua. The Hebrew calls her Zona, Joshua ii, 1, which
Jerom and many others understand of a prostitute. Others think she was
only a hostess or innkeeper, and that this is the true signification of
the original word. Had she been a woman of ill fame, would Salmon, a
prince of the tribe of Judah, have taken her to wife? Or could he have
done it by the law? Beside, the spies of Joshua would hardly have gone
to lodge with a common harlot, they who were charged with so nice and
dangerous a commission. Those who maintain that she was a harlot,
pretend that she was perhaps one of those women who prostituted
themselves in honour of the Pagan deities; as if this could extenuate
her crime, or the scandal of her profession if she was a public woman.
It is also observable that such women are called _kadeshah_, not _zona_,
in the Hebrew. Rahab married Salmon, a prince of Judah, by whom she had
Boaz, from whom descended Obed, Jesse, and David. Thus Jesus Christ
condescended to reckon this Canaanitish woman among his ancestors. St.
Paul magnifies the faith of Rahab, Heb. xi, 31.
Rahab is also a name of Egypt, Isa. xxx, 7; li, 9.