Conversation points for the story of Rahab and Matthew 3:1-12

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
Joshua 2:1-9, 12-15, 22-24; 6:15-17, 20-22
• In 2:12, 18, and 6:23, the story refers to Rahab’s whole family, starting with her father. This, then, is not a story of Rahab’s house, but of her father’s. Placing Rahab’s mother next to her father pokes at the patriarchal norms, but the father is still certainly the head of the household. That Rahab is the central character of the story tells us something about the economic status of the family; her family’s dire need has forced her into the role of supplying for the family.
• Rahab is identified as a prostitute, and by far the most common reason for entering prostitution in the ancient world was poverty. The story is meant to appeal to debtor families who, rather than condemning Rahab for her prostitution, would relate to the economic system that forced her into the role of provider, and cheer for her as she outsmarted the king to whom she was indebted. The story is a traditional folk narrative about poor people against kingly wealth and power.
• Rahab, like Tamar, is a Caananite, and thus an outsider. That is the source of her stigma, not prostitution.

Matthew 3:1-12
• The description of John’s clothing and diet separate him from urban society and identify him with the wilderness from which he comes. Locusts are a ritually clean food (Leviticus 11:22), and are a common protein for poorer people in desert cultures.
• The word “baptize” comes from the Greek verb baptizo, meaning to dip or to immerse. Various water rituals existed in Judean culture at the time and were probably a model for John’s baptism ritual. But John changed it, instead of ritually repeated event like ritual washing in the Jewish faith, John’s baptism is a once-for-all practice with eschatological implications.
• “Brood of vipers” calls to mind both images of snakes running before a fire and an insulting term for the poisonous false teachers who lead people astray. “Brood of vipers” in the Greek is literally “sons of snakes,” in comparison to Jesus as the Son of God.

Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.

Coote, Robert B. “The Book of Joshua.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume II. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998.