Rahab

Rahab was a Canaanite woman of Jericho who sheltered the two Israelite spies sent by Joshua before the conquest (Joshua 2). She confessed her faith in Israel's God based on the reports of the Exodus and God's mighty acts, and in exchange for protecting the spies she was promised protection for her household if she hung a scarlet cord from her window. When Jericho fell, Rahab and her family were spared and she was incorporated into Israelite society (Joshua 6:22–25). Remarkably, she appears in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5 as the mother of Boaz, and both Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 cite her as a heroine of faith and works, making her a striking Old Testament model of salvation by grace.