RAHAB (Heb. Rāḥāb). - A harlot of Jericho, who received and hid two spies sent by Joshua (v.), encamped beyond the Jordan.

Impressed by what was told of the Hebrews who had come out of Egypt and convinced that God had decreed their dominion over Palestine, she protected the two spies, diverting her fellow citizens' search. In reward she obtained the oath that she would be spared together with her family on the day of the occupation; she fulfilled the agreed condition (a red cord at the window) and the promise was kept (Josh. 2:2-21; 6:17-25). Converted to the Israelite religion, she married Salmon of the tribe of Judah and had as her son Boaz, the future husband of Ruth (Ruth 4:21; Matt. 1:5). Her faith was praised in writings of the New Testament (Heb. 11:31; James 2:25).

In Ps. 86:4 and Isa. 30:7 R. is the symbolic name of Egypt. Elsewhere (Ps. 88:10 ff.; Job 9:13; 26:12 ff.; Isa. 51:9) it indicates a monster, which personifies pride and rebellion against God; today such texts are usually seen as containing a literary reference to the myth

[He was a member of the] Propaganda [Fide] in Rome, a priest on 12 April 1873, was consecrated bishop of Edessa on 2 November 1887, elected patriarch in the Synod of Mardin on 13 September 1898.

A pastor of extraordinary activity, he founded churches, schools, seminaries, religious houses, orphanages and printing presses, defended and comforted his flock especially during the war of 1914-17, and worked successfully for the return of the dissidents (1 patriarch, 5 bishops, 30 priests or religious, thousands of faithful). As bishop, he was the soul of the national Synod of Sharfa (1888).

Through the publication and translation of several unpublished Syriac writings, and especially of the apocryphal Testamentum Domini (Mainz 1899), R. won the esteem of European scholars. Among the liturgical books, recast according to the text of the ancient manuscripts that he had examined and copied in the libraries of Europe and acquired in the East, mention is made of the Ritual (1914-22) and the Missal (1922). He founded an Arabic monthly review (Documents of the East) from 1926 and crowned his scholarly work with the boldly documented work, though not free from inaccuracies, Les liturgies orientales et occidentales étudiées séparément et comparées entre elles (Beirut 1929). Also important are: Acta ss. confessorum Guriae et Shamonae exorata Syriaca lingua a Theophilo Edesseno a. Chr. 297 (Rome 1899); S. Ephraemi Hymni de Virginitate (Sharfa 1906); Studia Syriaca seu Collectio documentorum hactenus ineditorum (5 fasc., ibid. 1904-s. d.).

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: G. Stété, Un grand patriarche: Sa Béatitude Mgr I. E. R., Beirut 1929; I. Armalet, Il dolore da lontano e da vicino, in Documenti d'Oriente (in Arabic), 4 (1929), nos. 6 and 7 (with a complete biography); A. Rücker, I. E. R., in Oriens christianus, 3rd series, 3-4 (1930), pp. 275-82.

Simon Jargy

@incollection{ec10_rahab_ebr_rahabh, author = {Jargy, Simon}, title = {Rahab (Ebr. RĀḤĀBh)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {498--499}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/rahab-ebr-rahabh} }

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