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About Our Name
We take our name from Rahab the Harlot, whose story is told in the
Book of Joshua. Rahab, who throughout history has been labeled as
one of the “bad girls of the Bible,” saw God’s power
working through the people of Israel and provided them with hospitality
and shelter in a dangerous time and place. Her family was saved
and one of her descendents was David, son of Jesse.
Like Rahab, we operate at the edge of the city. Like Rahab, we
seek to honor God by providing hospitality and shelter in a dangerous
time and place, and by giving “friendly welcome” to those
who would otherwise be on the streets. In our name—Rahab’s
Sisters—we claim solidarity, not only with one another in providing
this ministry, but also with all those on the street who bear the
label “prostitute.”
Our hope is that the light in our window will bring light into
the lives of the women we serve.
Rahab's Story
Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as
spies, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho."
So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was
Rahab, and spent the night there. The king of Jericho was told,
"Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land."
Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, "Bring out the
men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have
come only to search out the whole land." But the woman took
the two men and hid them. Then she said, "True, the men came
to me, but I did not know where they came from. And when it was
time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men
went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them."
She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with
the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof.… As soon
as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. Before they went
to sleep, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men: "I
know that the Lord has given you the land, and that dread of you
has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt
in fear before you.… The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven
above and on earth below. Now then, since I have dealt kindly with
you, swear to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal kindly with
my family. Give me a sign of good faith that you will spare my father
and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them,
and deliver our lives from death." The men said to her, "Our
life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we
will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us
the land." Then she let them down by a rope through the window,
for her house was on the outer side of the city wall and she resided
within the wall itself.
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