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| Chapter XII.—The rewards of faith and hospitality. Rahab. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
On account of her faith and hospitality, Rahab the
harlot was saved. For when spies were sent by Joshua, the son of Nun, to
Jericho, the king of the country ascertained that they were come to spy
out their land, and sent men to seize them, in order that, when taken,
they might be put to death. But the hospitable Rahab receiving them,
concealed them on the roof of her house under some stalks of flax. And
when the men sent by the king arrived and said “There came men unto
thee who are to spy out our land; bring them forth, for so the king
commands,” she answered them, “The two men whom ye seek came
unto me, but quickly departed again and are gone,” thus not
discovering the spies to them. Then she said to the men, “I know
assuredly that the Lord your God hath given you this city, for the fear
and dread of you have fallen on its inhabitants. When therefore ye shall
have taken it, keep ye me and the house of my father in safety.”
And they said to her, “It shall be as thou hast spoken to us. As
soon, therefore, as thou knowest that we are at hand, thou shall gather
all thy family under thy roof, and they shall be preserved, but all that
are found outside of thy dwelling shall perish.”53 Moreover, they gave her a
sign to this effect, that she should hang forth from her house a scarlet
thread. And thus they made it manifest that redemption should flow
through the blood of the Lord to all them that believe and hope in
God.54
54 Others of the
Fathers adopt the same allegorical interpretation, e.g., Justin Mar.,
Dial. c. Tryph., n. 111; Irenæus, Adv. Hær., iv. 20. [The
whole matter of symbolism under the law must be more thoroughly studied
if we would account for such strong language as is here applied to a
poetical or rhetorical figure.] | Ye see, beloved, that there
was not only faith, but prophecy, in this woman.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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