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In 1 Clement, the author reads the scarlet thread hung from the house of Rahab in Joshua 2 as a sign of the blood of Jesus and calls her a prophet, the earliest known case of an interpretation that many later Christian writers repeated.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Joshua 2:18
Septuagint
17 And the men said to her, “We are free of this oath of yours. 18 Look, we will enter part of the city, and you will set a sign: This scarlet thread you will fasten to the window through which you will let us down. Now, your father and your mother and your siblings and everyone in your father’s house, you will gather them to yourself in your home. 19 But anyone who should go out the door of your of house, outside, he is liable to himself, and we are free from this oath of yours. But as many as are with you in your house, we will be liable for them.
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 12:7
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Early Christian
6 And they said to her, ‘It shall be just as you have spoken to us. Whenever you see that we are coming, you shall gather all your household beneath your roof, and they shall be saved; for as many as shall be found outside the house shall perish.’ 7 And moreover, they gave her a sign, that she should hang a scarlet thread from her house, thereby showing beforehand that through the blood of the Lord there shall be redemption for all who believe and hope in God. 8 You see, dearly beloved, not only faith, but prophecy, is found in this woman.
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Notes and References
“... The earliest Christian writer outside the New Testament canon, Clement of Rome, recounts the story of Rahab to illustrate the virtues of faith and hospitality, and makes her a prophetess to boot, since the scarlet rope by which she let the spies down from her window on the city wall, and by which her house was identified at the capture of the city, foreshowed “that through the blood of the Lord all who trust and hope in God shall have redemption” (I Clem. 12:7). [...] So also Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, 111; Irenaeus, Heresies iv. 20. 12, and many another since their day. ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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