Lying with Rahab

Rahab’s story is first told in Joshua 2 when she helps spies survey the land they will eventually conquer. It’s retold in Hebrews 11 as an act of great faith. I’m sure “the prostitute” is still attached to her name to remind readers how God redeems all kind of folk. But I wish other titles could be attached to her name too. 

It’s hard to say if lying was a habit

or just her way to stay alive,

part of her life’s trick,

make it look easy to survive.

“They went thataway,”

she says while they too lie in wait.

“you can probably catch them,”

she adds, just like they wanted her to say.

Everyone in town had a house

where they could stay

but it was the lie right off her tongue,

the one that brought home her pay,

that brought these spies of Promise

to put their trust in her that day.

“I am worth

what they leave on the dresser,”

she lies to herself,

in the recently emptied room.

“You can’t hurt me,”

she lies to the men

as if her body,

and theirs,

are empty too.

“For the right price,

I will hold all your secrets,”

she lies

to the neighbors,

miscalculating

what one body can carry.

“I would help you break this city

brick by brick,

and light the match

to burn down what stands,

take all its gold and silver

to bankroll God’s plans,

break my own body

if it’s what the Voice commands,

but spare the ones I love,

whose lives are held up by my hands.”

Her tongue finally let go

Of the truth

her life protects.

Call her Rahab. Only add “the Prostitute.”

Tell the lie down the line.

Leave out Rahab “the daughter”

whose truth kept her loves alive.