THE ROLE OF REHAB IN THE CONQUEST STORY OF JOSHUA AS A MANIFESTATION OF IGWEBUIKE THEOLOGY: A NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF JOSHUA 2

Abstract

In this work, the author has argued that Josh 2 does not interrupt the plot of the conquest story, rather it progresses it. The narrator, by letting us see the psychological condition of the inhabitants of Jericho through the lens of a Canaanite prostitute, prepared the ground for the conquest. This shows that Joshua chapter 2 fits into the larger narrative context. After a close reading of the episode, we discovered that despite being depicted as an "other" and a woman of loose virtue, the focus of the episode swings onto Rahab and evaluates her positively as a woman of wisdom and faith, and God's tool of ironic deliverance. Thereby showing that despite her "otherness," she still has a place in God's global plan of salvation; a role that further foreshadows her as the future ancestress of Jesus in the New Testament. The role of Rahab, as established in this paper, further reminds us of a theological twist which Yehezkel Kaufman calls "dual causality" - a theological principle that emphasizes the human course of events in a story that is guided by the Word of God. The aim of this piece is to investigate the narrator's interest and the theological import of Josh 2, with particular attention to the role of Rahab in the plot of the conquest story. This will help us see how the role of Rehab in the conquest story exemplifies a true manifestation of igwebuike theology. My approach will be synchronic; that is, taking the book of Joshua as a complete whole, I will try to argue for the place of Josh 2 in general and Rahab in particular to the literary unit called "the conquest story." I will also highlight how her role, from a literary point of view, becomes a prolepsis to an event which is to come.