You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. (Psalm 89:10)
Wait, really? I thought we liked Rahab! I know she's a prostitute, but she and her family were saved in Joshua, she is given as an example of someone who trusted God in Hebrews. Why has she been crushed?
I did some reading and found a few references to Rahab being defeated by God (Job 26:12), and even as being a nation (Psalm 87:4).
It turns out that there are two Rahabs. One is the prostitute of Joshua, the other is some sort of ocean creature like a leviathan, which God is said to have defeated when he created the world. It sometimes symbolises the chaos of the sea, so when God parted the sea for Israel he defeated Rahab again. Eventually Rahab ended up as a synonym for Egypt, as in Psalm 87:4.
How interesting!
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