Rahab (Hebrew: רַהַב‎, Modern: Rahav, Tiberian: Rahaḇ, "blusterer") is used in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

to indicate pride or arrogance, a mystical sea monster, as an emblematic or poetic name for Egypt, and for the sea.

Biblical usage

As primeval seamonster

Rahab appears in

Psalm 89 Psalm 89 is the 89th psalm in the biblical Book of Psalms, part of the Hebrew Bible, described as a maschil Charles H. SpurgeonPsalm 89 in "Treasury of David" or "contemplation". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septua ...

:10,

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "th ...

51:9-10, and

Job Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...

26:12. Rahab, in these passages, takes the meaning of primeval, chaotic, multi-headed sea-dragon or Leviathan. The

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state ...

ns told of a sky-god,

Marduk Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time o ...

, and a sea-goddess,

Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial cre ...

, battling for supreme power over the other gods, in the

Enūma Eliš The ' (Akkadian Cuneiform: , also spelled "Enuma Elish") is the Babylonian creation myth (named after its opening words). It was recovered by English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in 1849 (in fragmentary form) in the ruined Library of Ashurba ...

. It has been speculated these two characters in the Babylonian myth are parallel to the creation stories found in the biblical passages containing the name Rahab.

As insolence or pride

30:7, ''rahaḇ'' becomes a proverbial expression that gives an allusion to the Hebrew etymology ''insolence''. In the

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

, ''rahaḇ'' occurs in the Hebrew text and is translated in the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

as "proud".

Egypt

Rahab is a poetical name for Egypt. It might have Egyptian origins that were accommodated to the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

language. However, there is nothing revealing in the

Coptic language Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: , ) is a language family of closely related dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language, and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third-century AD in Roman Egypt. Copti ...

Jewish folklore

In medieval

Jewish folklore Jewish folklore are legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of Judaism. Folktales are characterized by the presence of unusual personages, by the su ...

, Rahab is a mythical

sea monster Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and often imagined to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or tentacled beasts. They can be slimy and scaly and are ofte ...

, a dragon of the waters, the " demonic

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inc ...

of the sea". Rahab represents the primordial abyss, the water-dragon of darkness and chaos, comparable to

Leviathan Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to so ...

and

. Rahab later became a particular demon, inhabitant of the sea, especially associated with the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

Modern culture

Rahab is the official Hebrew name for the planet

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 time ...

in a vote organised by the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 2009."Uranus and Neptune get Hebrew names at last"
Haaretz.com"Hebrew names to Uranus and Neptune"
Hayadan.org.il Several

Israel Navy The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense For ...

submarines also bear the name, including the fifth

Dolphin class submarine The ''Dolphin'' class (Hebrew: הצוללות מסדרת דולפין) is a diesel-electric submarine developed in Israel and constructed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) in Kiel, Germany, for the Israeli Navy. The first boats of the ...

slated to enter service in late 2015, the

INS Rahav ''Rahav'' has been borne by three ships of the Israeli Navy and may refer to: * , a S-class submarine launched in 1945 as HMS ''Sanguine'', she was transferred to Israel in 1958 and decommissioned in 1968. * , a launched in 1977 and decommissio ...

. In the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

'' Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver'', the boss character Rahab is a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

who has evolved into a marine fish-like creature, possibly a reference to the mythic sea monster.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahab Demons in Judaism Dragons Jewish legendary creatures Mythological aquatic creatures Sea monsters Tiamat Leviathan