“Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?”
NOTE:
This post has been withdrawn. The post will be published in my book, Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel. The book introduces an amazing group of women who made an impact on the political, religious, and the economic life of early Israelite society. The book will be published in the Fall of 2024 by Kregel Academics.
Visit my Amazon author’s page to purchase the book (click here).
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
A Note About This Post:
Before “Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?” was withdrawn for publication, “Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?” was read by 10,934 readers. “Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?” was also shared 27 times by readers who enjoyed reading the post. You can read “Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?” and other articles on the amazing women of the Old Testament by reading my forthcoming book Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel. Below is the content of the book:
Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel
CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1 Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel
Part 1
Israel’s Social Concern for Women
Chapter 2 Israel’s Concern for Women
Chapter 3 The Status of Women in Israelite Society
Chapter 4 The Deuteronomic Concern for Women
Chapter 5 The Tenth Commandment (Deuteronomy 5:21)
Chapter 6 The Law of the Hebrew Slave
Part 2
Women Prophets
Chapter 7 Women Prophets in the Old Testament
Chapter 8 Miriam the Prophetess
Chapter 9 Deborah the Prophetess
Chapter 10 Isaiah’s Wife
Chapter 11 Huldah, A Prophet in Israel
Chapter 12 Noadiah the Prophetess
Chapter 13 The Nameless Prophetesses in the Book of Ezekiel
Chapter 14 The Seven Prophetesses of the Old Testament
Chapter 15 Women Who Proclaim the Good News
Chapter 16 The Daughters of Heman
Chapter 17 “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy”
Part 3
The Mothers of Israel
Chapter 18 Sarah: A Mother in Her Old Age
Chapter 19 Hagar: The Surrogate Mother
Chapter 20 Rachel: The Struggles of a Barren Woman
Chapter 21 Moses’s Two Mothers
Chapter 22 Sisera’s Mother: The Humanization of the Enemy
Chapter 23 Samson’s Mother: A Mother’s Disappointment
Chapter 24 Hannah: “The Barren Has Borne Seven”
Chapter 25 Rizpah: Reflections on a Mother’s Love
Chapter 26 Bathsheba: A Mother with Determination
Chapter 27 Solomon and the Two Mothers
Chapter 28 Jeroboam’s Wife: A Mother’s Agony
Chapter 29 Jesus’s Great-Grandmothers
Chapter 30 The Other Great-Grandmothers of Jesus
Chapter 31 Jezebel: A Great-Grandmother of Jesus
Chapter 32 The Genealogy of Jesus According to His Great-Grandmothers
Part 4
Abused Women
Chapter 33 Dinah, the Daughter of Jacob
Chapter 34 Tamar, the Wife of Er
Chapter 35 The Levite’s Concubine
Chapter 36 Bathsheba, the Wife of Uriah
Chapter 37 Tamar, the Daughter of David
Part 5
Women of Distinction
Chapter 38 Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?
Chapter 39 Deborah, A Judge in Israel
Chapter 40 Jael: A Heroine in Israel
Chapter 41 Ruth, the Moabite
Chapter 42 Ahinoam, the Mother of Amnon
Chapter 43 Abishag, the Shunammite
Chapter 44 The Greatness That Was Jezebel
Chapter 45 Esther, the Queen of Persia
Bibliography
Index of Scriptures
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
Index of Hebrew Words
I hope you will enjoy reading the book and develop a new appreciation for these amazing women of Ancient Israel.
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
If you enjoyed reading this post, you will enjoy reading my books.
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Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
Excellent commentary on rehab Dr
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Ralph,
I am glad to know that you enjoyed my post on Rahab. I hope you subscribe to my blog so that you can receive future posts by mail.
Claude Mariottini
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It’s possible Rahab was both an inn keeper and a prostitute. It’s my opinion, as is common today in Motels, and hotels that her inn also served as a brothel. She might have become rich and stopped prostituting herself but no doubt sex was among the services offered in her inn.
A retired teacher who runs a group of schools though, he may no longer be a class teacher will continue bearing the title of a “teacher”. This true to any other profession including “Doctor”. And sometimes the title sticks even when you have transited to a different profession.
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David,
You have a great point there. What you suggest is possible and I cannot disagree with you. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Claude Mariottini
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You say that there is no reason to avoid the embarrassment of calling Rahab a prostitute. However, your article also calls out that perhaps Rahab is called a prostitute rather than an innkeeper as a function of historical misogyny. I agree.
Further, to continue calling Rahab a prostitute is probably also a function of misogyny, not embarrassment.
As I understand it, it is equally valid to translate the original text to either “innkeeper” or “prostitute.” (Other articles make a stronger argument for this than yours does.) If we take out that particular phrase and read the text of the story, Rahab acts far more like an innkeeper than a prostitute. So…why do we persist with prostitute?
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Kristin,
Thank you for your comment. I do not doubt that Rahab was an innkeeper. However, the Hebrew word translated as “prostitute” cannot be translated as “innkeeper.” Those who translate the word zonah as innkeeper cannot find another example in the Hebrew Bible where zonah is translated as “innkeeper.”
It is possible that there is some misogynistic intent in calling Rahab as prostitute, but in interpreting her story, we only have the biblical text to guide us. Everything else is eisegesis.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Claude Mariottini
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Would you know the meaning of Rahab’s name, please? I’m trying to understand the difference between the meaning of her name and the meaning of Rahab the sea creature. I found that in the original Hebrew, the spelling is slightly different between the two but I can’t find anywhere the meaning of Rahab the prostitute’s name. Thank you!
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Raquel,
Thank you for your good question. In English, the two names are written the same, but they are written differently in Hebrew. I need to do some more research, but the name of the woman means “broad” and the name of the sea monsters means “storm.” I am not sure about this, however. I will do some research and in a few days will write a post on the two Rahabs.
Thank you for visiting my blog, and thank you for a questions that compels me to do some research.
Claude Mariottini
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