Why does James choose two people like Abraham and Rahab as his prime exemplars of faith in action? Various ideas have been suggested. (1) Perhaps it was because each came from a “Gentile” background and each became ideal prototypes of converts. (2) Perhaps it was because each was celebrated in Jewish tradition for their hospitality. (3) Perhaps it was because each was from an opposite end of the moral spectrum, thus illustrating the need for faith and actions for both types of readers. (4) Perhaps James himself provides the answer by alerting us earlier in the passage to the importance of including a male and female when he departs from his use of the generic “brothers” to condemn the one who neglects either “a brother or a sister” who is in need (2:15). Or could it be a combination of all four of these reasons?
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ῥαὰβ ἡ πόρνη And in the same way was not Rahab the prostitute With the second δὲ in this paragraph (see 2:20), James introduces his second exemplar of faith and deeds—Rahab, the prostitute (2:25). James resists the attempts by later Jewish writers to blunt the nature of Rahab’s profession as a “harlot” (πόρνη). In an effort to present the ancient stories of Israel in their best light to his Greek readers, Josephus later referred to her as an “innkeeper” in Ant. 5, 8. The Greek word in the LXX and the Hebrew it translates (זוֹנָ֛ה), however, are quite clear about the nature of her profession.
ἐξ ἔργων ἐδικαιώθη justified by deeds. As was the case with Abraham, no mention is made of Rahab’s faith. But hearers and readers of James’ homily/encyclical would have been aware of her confession of faith that was clearly recorded in Josh 2:9–11. That she was an evident “believer” to the readers of Joshua’s account is shown by the fact that she became a heroine in Jewish religious history. Later rabbinic tradition mentions that she married Joshua and became an ancestress of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Meg. 14b, 15a). Matthew’s genealogy states without any apology about this Jericho prostitute that her husband was “Salmon” and thus she was an ancestress of Jesus (Matt 1:5).
ὑποδεξαμένη τοὺς ἀγγέλους καὶ ἑτέρᾳ ὁδῷ ἐκβαλοῦσα; when she received the scouts and sent them out by another way? This prostitute who had come to faith in the God of Israel received “the scouts” and then sent them out another way. This translation of τοὺς ἀγγέλους has been chosen because it is hard to see how they were “messengers.” James does not employ the LXX verb in Joshua (κατασκοπέω) nor the noun that is used in Heb 11:31 (κατάσκοπος). I suggest that he consciously chose this word in reflection on Abraham’s earlier hospitality to the ἄγγελοι (see Gen 19:1). As Abraham showed acts of kindness to those ἄγγελοι that came to him, so Rahab showed the same actions to the ἄγγελοι who came to her. Although no clear mention is made of Rahab’s faith, readers would know about her faith from her confession in Josh 2:9–13. James emphasizes that no matter what she said, she acted out her faith by sending out the scouts “by another way” (ἑτέρᾳ ὁδῷ). That “way” was the hill behind Jericho, which today is known as the Mount of Temptation.
The deeds of Rahab exemplify the “mercy” that triumphs over judgment (2:13) and pull together these two sections (2:1–13 and 2:14–26). Furthermore, her two deeds seem to both parallel and to contrast with the condemned actions of that heartless interlocutor in 2:16: “be warmed” and “go your way.”