Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)

Rahab seemed a pretty obvious candiate for a discussion and photo, but before we consider her lets look at the other nomination…

I was rather amused by the Israelite inability to count dead bodies. Remember these are the dead ones, that aren’t milling around and being difficult. Perhaps they weren’t entirely sure if Bruce son of unpronoucancablename was dead or not, because even when he was alive he wasn’t particularly … well… lively?

But the Israelites can’t really count as a character. I thought “The Commander of the Lord’s Army” seemed a pretty good chap and I’m sure I could have done a bit about him instead. I thought his answer to question about whose side he was on was interesting. Whilst he does indeed appear to work for the good of the Isrealites – I guess it is they that are on his side, rather than the other way around.

So back to Rahab. Time for a shock revealation? Rahab wasn’t a tart! Well, I don’t believe she was. The handy NIV footnote to the effect that prostitute might mean inn-keeper got me thinking about that. Let’s consider the situations and note a few of points:

1. A couple of well behaved Israelite spies wander over into Jericho – assuming they’re reasonably well undercover – where are they going to choose to stay? Probably the local b&b, not the brothel, afterall they’re well behaved. The men then go back and tell Joshua the situation and the promise they have made – they’re not going to own up to that if she’s a hooker – particularly if they were married.
2. The king of Jericho asks Rahab about the blokes, and then accepts her answer. Surely he’s not going to accept the answer of the local working-girl, and I’m sure he could fine some volunteers to help with the search in her house. But perhaps he would accept the answer of a well respected inn-keeper.
3. And to borrow a point I hadn’t thought of – She’s still in communication with the rest of her family, which would be unlikely if she’d dishonoured them.

So Rahab isn’t a tart!

Other interesting notes I found out is that Some Jewish scolars now hold that position too (of not thinking that she is a prostitute, not of being one themself!), but Rabbinical literature would hold that she was until the fall of Jericho at which point she became a good girl and married Joshua.

An alternative husband (not a second one, just that the Rabbis might have got it wrong) is Salmon (as Israelite, not a fish). And that she was the mother of Boaz, and an ancester of Jesus. How cool is that!?

The photo

Many thanks to my friend Jennie for volunteering for this photo. I’d like to make it absolutely clear that Jennie doesn’t work in any of the lines of business discussed here, and that she is a very nice girl.

And to the other friend that I asked (in jest) to be the model for today: See I wasn’t being rude about you at all!

SB800 of camera, shot through red plastic bucket (my daughters toy). 50mm @ f8.0 1/125s

He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.

Within 3 days of doing this, I’ve gone from a named person to an animal. Sad isn’t it! Can an animal count as a character? I’m sure Balaam’s donkey can so why not a goat? Leviticus is pretty heavy reading. There is the odd incident where people do things wrong but nothing stood out to me like the goat did. The scapegoat is a pretty lucky fellow really – he narrowly avoids sacrifice and instead gets released. Not that I’m sure about how bad it is being released into the desert with all the sins of the Isrealite nation apon you when you are a goat. I’ve never been a goat.

My new testament theology understand of sacrifice largely revolve around the sin offering I guess. Done something unholy which must be punished? Solution: pick a perfect substitute and sacrifice that to God. And Jesus stepped up to be that perfect Lamb for all of us. So I don’t really get where the Day of Atonement fits in with that. Is Jesus taking the place of both goats? Or just the one that gets sacrified? If so, who’s the escape goat?

A quick Google later… (to A Mighty Fortress ) and a bit of Hebrews and I conclude… it doesn’t really matter. What matters is the Jesus’s sacrifice for our sins was necessary and is sufficient. God is gracious.

The photo

I finally found a goat in my village! Two in fact. They were very friendly and were happy to sign a model release.

38mm@ f4.2 1/200s