Rahab the Woman and the Monster

I came across an interesting textual concern as I was prepping for both my book of Joshua class and my Belmont prophetic lit class. Come to think of it, the chances of this seem pretty slim... but I was in Second Isaiah (ch. 40-55) and came across the name Rahab. Rahab in Isaiah? hmm. I was reading, translating, exegeting Joshua 2 which is Rahab's story just a couple hours earlier. She is a zona--a prostitute--who rescues two Hebrew spies and prematurely confirms success in the conquest of Canaan. So...what is Rahab doing in Isaiah? Commentaries do not even mention this odd recurrence of the word "rahab." There are two different contexts for this female name. First, in chapter 30, Rahab is the name for Israel's long time opponent Egypt. In chapter 51, Rahab is a great sea monster--a monster of chaos--that YHWH will overcome. This reference is also in Psalms and Job. Rahab the monster is connected with the infamous sea monster Leviathan. Is Rahab Leviathan's consort? No detail is given in the texts or in other sources.

Who is this woman Rahab? A great pillar of faith to be later included in the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth? Or something more unpredictable, more dangerous? For all Rahab's praise from Dtr History, one of the spies still wants reassurance that Rahab will not betray them or their cause at Jericho. I doubt my professors who think it is just happenstance Rahab shows up in Isaiah and Wisdom lit. I think Joshua 2 uses Rahab to speak great faith to Israel, but the author is also unsure of her. Whether the author of Joshua was aware of this other Rahab, it depends on when we think the book was written (an argument for another post). What readers of the existing canon can see as a removed and literary audience is the use of female metaphors and characters to represent 'heroic deception,' sinful modes of life (i.e. in prostitution as apostasy), and adding chaotic complications to patriarchal order. There is something dangerous and "fringe" about Rahab's existence in Israel as the Canaanite prostitute from the hole in the wall in Jericho. She represents the chaos of the enemy yet is persuaded by the greatness of YHWH. As an agent of the Other (Canaanites), she must be overcome for Israel to take their promised land. It is a testament to the greatness of YHWH that Rahab recognizes YHWH's power and forthcoming victory. But, there is a lingering theological problem. The spies in Joshua 2 forgot their Dtr theology and granted her asylum. Is she the beginning of the fall of Israel's residence in "the Promised Land?" Is her presence among other surviving Conquest victims as sinister as a great monster waiting in the darkness?