Jesse Tree Ornament - The Red Rope

"Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee." Joshua 2:18 (KJB)

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"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." Hebrews 11:31 (KJB)

For this Jesse tree symbol, roll out three long ropes of clay on a floured surface and braid these together. Paint Rahab's rope red and hang it on your Jesse tree to remember her bravery.

       Rahab; an hostess of the city of Jericho, who received and concealed the spies sent by Joshua. The Hebrew calls her zuneh, (Joshua 2:1) which Jerome and many others understand of a prostitute. Others, however, think she was only a hostess or innkeeper, and that this is the true signification of the original word, from zoom, to provide food. Had she been a woman of ill fame, would Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah, have taken her to wife? Or could he have done it by the law? Besides, the spies of Joshua would hardly have gone to lodge with a common harlot, they who were charged with so nice and dangerous a commission. Those who maintain that she was a harlot, pretend that she perhaps one of those women who prostituted themselves in honor of pagan deities. But such women are called kadeshah, not zuneh, in the Hebrew.

       Rahab married Salmon, a prince of Judah, by whom she had Boaz, from whom descended Obed, Jesse, and David. Thus Jesus Christ condescended to reckon this Canaanitish woman among his ancestors. St. Paul magnifies the faith of Rahab, 

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