"Bara Rachav, skökan, skall få leva" (Jos 6:17) : En narrativ undersökning av Rachavs rädding i Josua 2.

Sammanfattning: In this thesis, the story of Rahab in Joshua 2 is analysed, with narrative criticism. Several Christian exegeses have been made upon Joshua 2, and they tend to see Rahab as a character who is saved since she is righteous by faith. In this thesis the purpose is to find the reason why Rahab is saved. The story of Rahab is studyied in it's contex the book of Joshua in the Deuteronomic history. In this essay, I answer the questions: Why is Rahab saved? What function has her confession in Jos 2:11? What consequenses does this have for the book of Joshua? My conlussion is that Rahab is saved since she is good towards the people of Jahve, when she helps the spies. She betrays her own people since she knows who the god Jahve is. Her confession informs us that she knows who Jahve is and of what he is capable, and hence feels great fear of him. The fear is what motivates her. Since Rahab is a harlot, she has no loyalties, neither towards her own people nor the Israelites. This makes her control the situation of the story. She uses the situation of the spies comming to her to save herself and her house/family. The function of her confession is that it motivates the spies to enter the convent, even though it is against the law in the Deuteronomy. The implied author shares the evaluative point of view of the Deuteronomy, therefor it is important that Rahab makes the confession in Jos 2:11. The implied reader doesn't expect Rahab to be a righteous woman since she is a harlot of a foreign people. The implied author proves the implied reader to be wrong. Rahab is, even though she is a harlot among a condemned people, righteous throuhg her actions and confession. What consequences does this have for the book of Joshua? Joshua 2 is the beginning story of the book of Joshua. A central theme in the book is how obeying the Deuteronomic law of Jahve leads to succes for his people. In Joshua 2 the spies are disobeying the law through making a convent with a woman of Canaan, which is strictly forbidden. This is an interesting way for the implied author to begin the book of Joshua. This show us that Jahve is a dynamic character, who can change if people manage to convince him.