Psalm 87 · a question people ask
Who, or what, is "Rahab" in 87:4?
The psalm doesn't explain the name. It puts it first, beside Babylon: "I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me" (87:4) (tap Rahab). The lexicons speak of the name. Strong's gives this entry as "an epithet of Egypt". Brown-Driver-Briggs gives two uses of the name, "mythical sea monster" and "emblemat. name of Egypt", and the entry quoted here doesn't say which verse has which. Strong's gives this number, H7294, to two other verses: "You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain" (Psalm 89:10), and "Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?" (Isaiah 51:9). It isn't the name of Rahab of Jericho, "a prostitute whose name was Rahab" (Joshua 2:1): the two names are spelled with different Hebrew letters. These notes don't identify the psalm's Rahab further than the lexicons do.
The verses
“I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: “This one was born there.””
“You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.”
“Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?”
“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.”