ACC ~ Hebrews 11 v31

FAITH COVERED THE WOUNDS OF SIN. THEODORET OF CYR: Lawlessness of life did not prevent salvation; faith covered the wounds of sin. Now, it is worth admiring the apostle’s wisdom—or, rather, we ought sing the praises of the activity of the divine Spirit in associating a foreign woman and prostitute with Moses, Abraham, Noah, Enoch, and the other saints so as to establish the power of faith and repress the Jews’ conceit. After all, six hundred thousand of them were consumed in the desert on account of lack of faith, as they gained no benefit from the way of life of the law. She on the contrary, though removed from kinship with Abraham, living outside the way of life of the law and spending most of her time in licentious behavior, through faith reaped salvation and foreshadowed in type the church. Just as she with faith gave admission to the spies, so the church did to the apostles. And as she was given the scarlet cord as a sign of salvation, so the church through the Lord’s blood enjoyed the eternal goods. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 11.

RAHAB ALONE WAS PRESERVED. CHRYSOSTOM: It would be disgraceful, if you should appear more faithless even than a harlot. Yet she merely heard what the men related and then believed. Thereupon the end also followed, for, when all perished, she alone was preserved. She did not say to herself, “I shall be with my many friends.” She did not say, “Can I possibly be wiser than these judicious men who do not believe—and shall I believe?” She said no such thing, but [she] believed what had taken place, which it was likely that they would suffer. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 27.3.

FAITH THROUGH THE RUMORS. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Indeed, through the rumors about the miracles which had happened in Egypt and the desert, she believed that they would have possessed the land of Canaan, as God had said to Abraham. The apostle also added some words about the “explorers,” who “were received by her in peace,” because he wanted to show that they came out of her house in purity and honesty. In fact, they had not entered that place for the sake of fornication. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

SHE RECEIVED THE TRINITY. IRENAEUS: So also did Rahab the harlot, while condemning herself because she was a Gentile, receive the three speculators who were spying out the land—which three were doubtless the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—and hid them in her home. And when the entire city in which she lived fell to ruins at the sounding of the seven trumpets, Rahab and all her house were preserved, through faith in the scarlet sign. So the Lord declared to those who did not receive the Lord—the Pharisees, that is—and to those who despised the scarlet thread, which signified the Passover and the redemption and the exodus from Egypt, that “the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you.” AGAINST HERESIES 4.20.12.

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. JUSTIN MARTYR: The red rope, which the spies sent by Joshua, son of Nun, gave to Rahab the harlot in Jericho, instructing her to tie it to the same window through which she lowered them down to escape their enemies, was a symbol of the blood of Christ. By [this blood] those of every nationality who were once fornicators and sinful are redeemed, receiving pardon of their past sin and avoiding all sin in the future. DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 111.

THE CHURCH RECEIVES THE LAW AND PROPHETS. HILARY OF POITIERS: This episode in the Old Testament is a series of important types [sacramenta] of future spiritual events. The harlot takes into her house the two spies sent by Jesus [Joshua] to survey the land. The church, which was a sinner, receives the law and the prophets, sent to spy out the faith of men, and acknowledges that “God is in heaven above and on the earth beneath.” She receives from these same spies the scarlet sign of salvation, a color which is manifestly the color of royalty when considered as a dignity, and, when looked at, the color of blood. Both these features were found in the passion—the Lord was clothed in scarlet, and blood flowed from his side. Manasseh also received scarlet as a sign. The dwellings in Egypt marked with blood were spared, and with blood the book of the covenant was sprinkled and the people sanctified. Every member of the family found outside the house was guilty—a lesson that those apart from those called are responsible for their own death. TRACTATE OF THE MYSTERIES 2.9.154-56.

OUTSIDE THE CHURCH THERE IS NO SALVATION. ORIGEN: She who was formerly a harlot receives this injunction: All who shall be found in your house shall be saved. . . if anyone wishes to be saved, let him come into the house of her that was a harlot. Even if anyone of this people [the Jews] wishes to be saved, let him come into this house to obtain salvation. Let him come into this house in which the blood of Christ is the sign of redemption. Let there be no mistake, let no one deceive himself: outside this house, that is outside the ecclesia, there is no salvation. If anyone does go forth, he is the cause of his own death.HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 3.5.

RAHAB IS A TYPE OF THE CHURCH. GREGORY OF ELVIRA: Rahab, who is a type of the church, suspended the scarlet thread from her window as a sign of salvation, to show that the nations would be saved through the Lord’s passion. … The house of Rahab and all those with her were saved through the scarlet sign when Jericho was destroyed and burned and its king, a type of the devil, slain. So when this world is destroyed by fire and the devil who now has dominion over the world is overthrown, no one will be preserved for eternal salvation if that one is not found inside the house of the ecclesia which is marked with the scarlet sign, that is, with the blood of Christ. Or again, as in the flood, no one escaped the drowning of the world save those who were preserved in the ark of Noah, which is a type of the church. ORIGEN’S TRACTATE ON THE BOOKS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 139.

EVERY ONE OF US WAS THE HARLOT. ORIGEN: Our Jesus [Joshua] sent his spies to the king of Jericho. There they are welcomed by a harlot. But this harlot who received the spies sent by Jesus did so that she might no longer be a harlot. The soul of every one of us was that harlot when we lived in the desires and lusts of the flesh. But our souls received the messengers of Jesus, the angels, whom he has sent before his face to prepare his ways. Every soul who receives them with faith, lodges them not in unworthy and inferior places but in those which are more elevated, because we do not receive Jesus from low and earthly places but as coming forth from the Father and descending from heaven. HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 1.4.