Matthew 1:5

Matthew 1:5. Rahab. Another heathen woman, a sinner also. Undoubtedly the woman of Jericho (Joshua 2:1; Joshua 6:23; Joshua 6:25). But by heroic faith she rose above her degradation.

Ruth. Still another heathen woman; though personally not criminal, to her also a stain attached according to the Jewish law. The book which bears her name and tells her story is a charming episode of domestic virtue and happiness in the anarchical period of the Judges, when might was right. Its position in the canon is a recognition of the working of God's grace outside of Israel, and a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles. Compare the record in Ruth 4:18-22. The long interval between the taking of Jericho and the birth of David (366 years according to Ussher), has led to the supposition that some names are omitted here, as is certainly the case in Matthew 1:8-11. But Rahab was probably young at the time Jericho was taken, Boaz old at the time of his marriage, and David was the youngest son of an old man. See further under Matthew 1:17.