Q3. Prostitutes

[Irmela]

Q3. (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25; Matthew 1:5)

By faith the prostitute, Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

In the same way, was not even Rahab, the prostitute ,considered righteous for what she did, when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction.

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of king David, . . .

Why is a prostitute honored by being mentioned three times in the New Testament?

Rahab was the one mentioned in the New Testament in the genealogy of Yeshuah. She was the same one who helped the spies escape the soldiers of the king of Jericho.  She believed that God was indeed the god of Heaven and Earth.  She trusted and believed the report about Him, that was the God she wanted to serve. Because of her faith God was able to change her life around, and she was honored for it.

How does God look on prostitution?

Prostitution is sin in God's sight.

How does God look on prostitutes?

Christ shed His blood for all kinds of sinners. Thieves, liers, prostitutes. murderers. adulterers, etc., He loves us all,  but hates the sin.

How did Jesus treat prostitutes?

He was caring to all who came to Him.  He did not make a difference between the rich and the poor, the ones accepted in society and the cast outs. He in fact said that He came for the 'sinners'.  It was them that needed Him.

What does this teach us about God's attitude toward sinners and sin?

He hates the sin but loves the sinner. He shows mercy and forgiveness to the repentant sinner.

[Krissi]

The Bible doesn’t include Rahab among the disobedient in Jericho. In fact, it seems not to condemn her at all. The “oldest occupation” as a prostitute has about the same moral weightiness as the woman who sold purple cloths. It’s just another occupation.

Honestly, I find this amazing and have never noticed it. It’s difficult to condemn someone who may be coerced by social pressure or worse. In past centuries/millennia, women were routinely forced into prostitution if their families were impoverished. Some were even married while prostituting themselves. Today, women and men live together before marriage which is a form of controlled prostitution, I suppose. In many European countries, particularly France, getting married is considered anachronistic … old-fashioned. Prostitution is legally sanctioned, in comparison. The US isn’t far behind.

This teaches us that God’s attitude toward sins we happen to consider particularly egregious may not be the same as He regards sin. It also teaches that God does regard some sins as worse than others. What angered God at this time was idol worship – this was the sin for which Jericho was punished.

Perhaps this is the calculus: Sins against God are weightier in His eyes than sins against people; likewise, sins that harm other people are greater than sins that harm only ourselves.