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Job 26 · a question people ask

Is this the Rahab of Jericho?

In the text

No. In English the two names look the same, but in Hebrew they are different words. The Rahab of Jericho is "a prostitute whose name was Rahab" (Joshua 2:1), and her name is written rachav, with the letter chet. The Rahab of "by his understanding he strikes through Rahab" (26:12) is written rahav, with the letter he. The name of 26:12 comes once more in Job, also in Job's words: "God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him" (9:13). The chapter doesn't say who or what this Rahab is, and these notes don't supply an explanation from outside the text.

The verses

“Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.”
Joshua 2:1 · World English Bible
“He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.”
Job 26:12 · World English Bible
““God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.”
Job 9:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 26

Job 26: The outskirts of his ways

Job's "How small a whisper do we hear of him!" (26:14) uses a Hebrew word that comes only twice in the Hebrew Bible: here, and in Eliphaz's "My ear received a whisper of it" (4:12). And the Rahab of 26:12 isn't Rahab of Jericho: the names are different Hebrew words.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions