I'm sorry for my error. I corrected it in post #59.
Rahab was the wife of Salmon (one of the Israelite spies).
I cannot find that anywhere in scripture. What I do find is that "Rachab" was the wife of Salmon....the father of Boaz [Matthew 1:5]
[Joshua 6:25] And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. This is the last place in the Old Testament with reference to "Rahab" the harlot. No where is it mentioned that she was married to Salmon....or anyone else for that matter.
The problem with this story as I see it is the similarity between the names Rahab and Rachab. In the New Testament Rahab is mentioned in [Hebrews 11:3] By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. She is also mentioned in [James 2:25] Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? Rahab is mentioned in the Old Testament in [Joshua 2:1;2:3;6:17;6:23&6:25. In three of these passages she is referred to as a harlot and the other two passages are in the same paragraphs where she is called a harlot.
[Matthew 1:5] And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse. This lady spells her name differently, is not referred to as a harlot....nor it is mentioned that she helped the spies as it does in all the other verses.
Some how this tradition of Rahab being the wife of Salmon got started and the only thing I can imagine as a purpose would be to put a stain on the genealogy of Our Lord. If Salmon actually did marry Rahab we can assume that it would have been shortly after the fall of Jericho. If Boaz were born shortly thereafter, he would have been 115/120 years old when he married Ruth. The genealogies listed in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 show only four generations from the fall of Jericho to the birth of King David.....some 460 years.
No....we're talking about two different women here and more importantly God's own Laws would not have allowed such a union. [Deuteronomy 7:1-4] When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou. And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
Furthermore according to what I understand from Jewish law, the offspring of a Gentile father and Jewish mother was a Gentile. But the offspring of a Jewish father and Gentile mother was Jewish, and after that birth, the mother was considered to be a daughter of Israel in good standing.