Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lewis Reich" <lewreich AT javanet.com>]

George Athas wrote onFebruary 07, 2000 3:56 PM:
Subject: Re: `ad hayom hazeh


> Yet, compare Josh 6:25 which states that Rahab the whore lived in Israel
`ad hayyom
> hazzeh.

Rahab is identified as a zonah, which, at least in all the other occurrences
of the word that I can recall, means whore.  Yet, if I recall correctly, at
least some of the traditional Jewish commentaries (I'll have to check which
ones when I get home) interpret her profession as something like
"innkeeper", attributing the word not as stemming from l'znot but from
la'zon, to provide sustenance.

If my recollection is correct, what can we make of that suggestion?  What,
other than a concern for the reputation of the two spies whom Rahab hid,
might have motivated the suggestion?

Lewis Reich