Dictionary articles on Rahab

(רַהַב, rahabh, lit. “storm,” “arrogance”): A mythical sea-monster, probably referred to in several passages where the word is tr as a common noun “pride” (Job 9:13), “the proud” (Job 26:12; cf Ps 89:10). It is used in parallelism with tannīn, “the dragon” (Isa 51:9). It is most familiar as an emblem of Egypt, ‘the boaster that sitteth still’ (Isa 30:7; Ps 87:4; cf 89:10). The Talm in Bābhā’ Bathrā’ speaks of rahabh as sar ha-yām, “master of the sea.”

Nathan Isaacs, “Rahab,” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, ed. James Orr et al. (Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1915), 2525.

[8105] רַ֫הַב rahab 6× Rahab, a sea monster of chaos that opposes God; used of the land of Egypt, with a focus on affliction or arrogance [7293 & 7294]

Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, HGK8105, p 1039

Biblical references to the sea monster Rahab fall into two groups: allusions to the dragon defeated at the time of creation (Psa 89:10; Job 9:13; 26:12), and metaphorical references to Egypt (Psa 87:4; Isa 30:7)…

Faithlife Study Bible, Is 51:1

In three of its six occurrences KJV reads “Rahab” (so ASV and RSV consistently, though twice ASV marg., “arrogancy”). In the latter three instances “Rahab” represents the Nile crocodile and stands figuratively for the haughty Egyptians (in usage paralleling liwyātān “Leviathan,” q.v.).

In describing God’s irresistibility (Job 9:12), Job insists that those who would be helpers of rahab “pride” (v. 13), must stoop before him. Later, however, he cites rahab in connection with nāḥāš “serpent” (26:12–13; cf. tannîn “large reptile” in Isa 51:9). When therefore Job refers also to God’s power over the sea, the phrase that follows seems best rendered that “he smites through the “crocodile,” not the “proud” (v. 12b; see KJV). Historical specification for both sea and creature appear in Isaiah: “in the generations long ago, was it not Thou who cut rahab in pieces … was it not Thou who dried up the sea, who made the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to cross over?” (51:9–10; cf. Ps 89:9–10). Confirmation is furnished by the prophet’s ironic comparison of the Egyptians with a torpid crocodile, “They are a rahab who sits still” (30:7). This symbol was indeed so well understood that the Korahites could employ it, without comment, for Egypt as the companion power of Babylon (Ps 87:4).

Just as in the parallel figure of “leviathan,” negative criticism seeks to discover in “Rahab” a belief in pagan mythology rather than recognizing its symbolic use by the inspired prophets and poets of the OT (IDB, IV, p. 6). The sea (Ps 89:9 [H 10]) is identified with a Canaanite water deity, yam, overcome by Yahweh at creation. Rahab is seen as the chaos monster Tiamat, crushed in primordial combat with, originally, Marduk, god of Babylon; and the “helpers of pride” (Job 9:13), with her eleven demonic deputies (nma liš, 1:105–7).

But all of these suggested connections and derivations fail to explain the complete absence in the OT of belief in the existence or reality of any of these mythological figures that are alluded to. If such figures are alluded to, they would be analogous to Milton’s use of Greek mythological figures in Paradise Lost. Cf. Albright, YGC, pp. 183–193.

Bibliography: HDB, IV, pp. 194–95. Payne, J. B., Theology of the Older Testament, Zondervan, 1971, pp. 138–39. Smick, E. B., “Mythology and the Book of Job” JETS 13:101–8. Albright, W. F., YGC, pp. 183–93. Schunck, “Jer 30:6–8 und die Bedeutung der Rahab im Alten Testament,” ZAW 70:48–56.

J. Barton Payne, “2125 רָהַב,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 834–835.