The Scarlet Cord
These verses introduce us to Rahab. They account how Rahab and all who belonged to her Father's house were saved by Rahab's faith; demonstrated by hanging a Scarlet Cord from her window. The Scarlet Cord prefigured the faith the Bible encourages we should have in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the son of the
God of Israel. Jesus
(and his sacrifice) is the
theme of the Bible; running through from Genesis to Revelation. Rahab's family's salvation was God's gift to her because she showed faith, by hiding his people's spies and then helping them escape. Her paying attention to what the true God was doing, and her faith in that reality, preserved her alive. Her hope and faithful actions would surely have been foolishness to her neighbors. Jesus being the Bible
theme begins with the introduction and first knowledge of his sacrifice in
Gen 3:15, and then, like a cord runs all the way through to the Revelation of Christ as King of God's Kingdom. (
1 Cor 15:12-28)
The Scarlet Cord thus seems one of God's
Cords of Love drawing us to him. (
Hos 11:3-4)
Fun facts about the Canaanite harlot
Rahab and the Moabite woman Ruth.
Rahab married a Jewish Man named Salmon
and their son Boaz married
Ruth.
So... Rahab was mother-in-law to Ruth, in the midst
of a Jewish nation sometimes known to be judgmentally prejudice...
Both women were ancestress's of Jesus Christ. (
Mat 1:1-6)