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RachelAid to Bible Understanding
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prominent tribe of the northern kingdom. In the second case, Rachel’s being the mother not only of Joseph but also of Benjamin, whose tribe formed part of the southern kingdom of Judah, would make her a fitting symbol of the mothers of all Israel, their bringing forth sons now seeming to have been in vain. Jehovah’s comforting promise, however, was that the exiles would “certainly return from the land of the enemy.”—Jer. 31:16.
This text was quoted by Matthew in connection with the slaughter of infants in Bethlehem at Herod’s order. (Matt. 2:16-18) Since Rachel’s grave was at least relatively near Bethlehem (though apparently not at the traditional site), this figure of Rachel weeping was appropriate to express the grief of the mothers of the slain children. But even more so was this quotation of Jeremiah’s prophecy appropriate in view of the similarity of the situation. The Israelites were subject to a greater Babylon, in whom is found the blood of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth. (Rev. 17:5, 6; 18:24), and the killing of the children was by a representative of a foreign power that dominated the Israelites. The “land of the enemy” into which the children had gone was obviously not a political region as in the earlier case. It therefore appears to refer to the grave, the region ruled over by ‘King Death’ (compare Psalm 49:14; Revelation 6:8), death being called “the last enemy” to be destroyed. (Rom. 5:14, 21; 1 Cor. 15:26) Any return from such “exile” would, of course, mean a resurrection from the dead.
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RaddaiAid to Bible Understanding
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RADDAI
(Radʹdai) [beating down].
Jesse’s fifth-named son; an older brother of David in the tribe of Judah.—1 Chron. 2:13-15.
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RahabAid to Bible Understanding
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RAHAB
(Raʹhab).
1. [Heb., Ra·hhavʹ, wide, broad]. A prostitute of Jericho who became a worshiper of Jehovah. In the spring of 1473 B.C.E. two Israelite spies came into Jericho and took up lodging at Rahab’s home. (Josh. 2:1) The duration of their stay there is not stated, but Jericho was not so big as to take a long time to spy it out.
That Rahab really was a harlot or prostitute in the common sense of the word has been denied in some circles, especially among Jewish traditionalists, but this does not seem to have support in fact. The Hebrew word za·nahʹ always signifies an illicit relationship, either sexual or as a figure of spiritual unfaithfulness, and in each instance where it denotes a prostitute it is so translated in the English versions. It is not rendered “hostess,” “innkeeper” or the like. Besides, among the Canaanites harlotry was not a business of ill repute. Rahab’s having flax on her roof and scarlet cord available would indicate that she was industrious.
Rahab’s two guests were recognized as Israelites by others, who reported the matter to the king. However, Rahab quickly hid the men among the flax stalks drying on the roof so that when the authorities got there to pick the men up she was able to direct them elsewhere without arousing their suspicions. In all of this Rahab demonstrated greater devotion to the God of Israel than to her own condemned community.—Josh. 2:2-7.
At what point Rahab had become aware of the spies’ purpose there and Israel’s intentions concerning Jericho is uncertain. But she now confessed to them the great fear and dread existing in the city because of reports about Jehovah’s saving acts for Israel over the past forty years or more. She asked the spies to swear to her for the preservation of herself and her whole family—father, mother and all the rest. To this they agreed, provided she gather all the family into her house, hang a scarlet cord from the window, and remain silent concerning their visit, all of which she promised to do. Further protecting the spies, she enabled them to escape through a window (the house being on the city wall) and told them how they could avoid the search party that had headed for the Jordan fords.—Josh. 2:8-22.
The spies reported back to Joshua all that had happened. (Josh. 2:23, 24) Then after Jericho’s wall fell down, Rahab’s house, “on a side of the wall,” was not destroyed. (Josh. 6:22) On Joshua’s orders that Rahab’s household be spared, the same two spies brought her out to safety. After a period of separation from Israel’s camp, Rahab and her family were permitted to dwell among the Israelites. (Josh. 6:17, 23, 25) This former prostitute then became the wife of Salmon and mother of Boaz in the royal ancestry of the Davidic kings; she is one of the four women named in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. (Ruth 4:20-22; Matt. 1:5, 6) She is also an outstanding example of one who, though not an Israelite, by works proved her complete faith in Jehovah. “By faith,” Paul tells us, “Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who acted disobediently, because she received the spies in a peaceable way.” “Was not also Rahab the harlot declared righteous by works, after she had received the messengers hospitably and sent them out by another way?” asks James.—Heb. 11:30, 31; Jas. 2:25.
2. [Heb., Raʹhav, storm, arrogance]. A symbolic expression first used in Job (9:13; 26:12), where it is translated “stormer.” (NW) In the second of these passages, the context and parallel construction connect it with a great sea monster. Similarly, Isaiah 51:9 links Rahab with a sea monster: “Are you not the one that broke Rahab to pieces, that pierced the sea monster?”
Rahab, a proud, arrogant “sea monster” came to symbolize Egypt and her Pharaoh who opposed Moses and Israel. Isaiah 51, quoted above, alludes to Jehovah’s delivering Israel from Egypt in the next verse: “Are you not the one that dried up the sea, the waters of the vast deep? The one that made the depths of the sea a way for the repurchased ones to go across?” At Isaiah 30:7 “Rahab” is again connected with Egypt. Psalm 87:4 mentions “Rahab” where Egypt appropriately fits, as the first in a list of Israel’s enemies along with Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Cush. The Targums use “the Egyptians” in this verse, and at Psalm 89:10 they paraphrase “Rahab” in such a way as to link the term with Egypt’s arrogant Pharaoh whom Jehovah humiliated.
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RahamAid to Bible Understanding
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RAHAM
(Raʹham) [love, compassion].
A son of Shema in the Calebite branch of Judah’s genealogy.—1 Chron. 2:4, 5, 9, 42-44.
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RainAid to Bible Understanding
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RAIN
Rain is a vital part of the cycle by which water that rises into the atmosphere as vapor from land and water surfaces of the globe later condenses and falls to the ground, thus providing moisture necessary for plant and animal life. The Bible mentions rain in connection with this wisely arranged and dependable cycle.—Job 36:27, 28; Eccl. 1:7; Isa. 55:10.
At an early point in the history of the preparation of the earth “God had not made it rain upon the earth” but “a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground.” The time referred to is evidently early on the third creative “day,” before vegetation appeared. (Gen. 2:5, 6; 1:9-13) The first instance in the Biblical record when rain is specifically mentioned as falling is in the account of the Flood. Then “the floodgates of the heavens were opened,” and “the downpour upon the earth went on for forty days and forty nights.”—Gen. 7:11, 12; 8:2.
FORMATION
Among the questions that Jehovah put to Job, emphasizing man’s limited understanding of the forces and laws of creation and the earth, was: “Does there exist a father for the rain?” (Job 38:28) Though meteorologists have studied extensively the formation of rain, the volume The World We Live In (1955, p. 79) observes: “The processes by which a cloud manufactures rain remain obscure; it appears that several
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