The story of Rahab in Joshua 2 is one of the most radical reversals in the Bible. A harlot, living in the wall of a condemned city, becomes the unlikely agent of divine purpose. Through the perspective of manifestation and the Law of Assumption, her narrative transforms from a historical account into a symbolic blueprint for inner transformation. The name “Rahab” (רָחָב, Rachav) in Hebrew means “broad,” “spacious,” or “wide”—a fitting image for the subconscious when it opens itself to receive and hold a greater truth.
In Neville Goddard’s framework, a harlot represents the imagination or subconscious that has been joined to unworthy ideas—prostituted to outer appearances rather than devoted to inner truth. But this imagery is not to condemn; rather, it reveals the profound power of redemption. The same faculty once misused can become the sacred womb of transformation, the vessel of divine fulfilment, once it embraces the right assumption.
Neville taught that your assumptions, persisted in, harden into fact. What you accept inwardly—regardless of how improbable it may seem—must express itself outwardly. In this light, Rahab is not merely a woman of ill repute. She represents the subconscious mind, receptive and fertile, willing to shelter the seeds of a new reality even while surrounded by the old.
Jericho: The World as It Appears
Jericho is the fortified city of fact. It is the world as it currently stands—armoured against change, ruled by appearances, and driven by fear. Just as Jericho was tightly shut up because of the approaching Israelites, our current state of being often closes itself off to transformation, viewing the assumption of a new identity as a threat.
But the walls of Jericho—just like any hard fact—are no match for the unseen power of imagination. The spies are not warriors with swords, but messengers of potential. They symbolise new assumptions, tentative but full of promise, sent into the heart of the subconscious.
Rahab: The Subconscious that Chooses Belief
Rahab receives the spies and hides them. She tells the king’s men they have left, while in truth she has protected them. In Neville’s language, this is the moment the subconscious chooses to accept a new idea rather than submit to the demands of the external world.
Though the king (representing current belief or dominant state) demands compliance, Rahab is loyal to a deeper truth. She has heard what is coming. She believes in the power of the unseen. This is the subconscious mind choosing to nurture a new assumption, even when it goes against everything visible and known.
Her so-called disrepute becomes irrelevant. As Neville often emphasised, it is not who you have been, but who you assume yourself to be, that matters. Rahab chooses to align with the victorious future—not because she is worthy by outer measure, but because she dares to believe in it.
In fact, the label of harlot deepens the symbolism: Rahab is the imagination once bound to surface-level beliefs—worldly, limited, reactive. But the moment she turns within and embraces the messengers of promise, she becomes the sanctified subconscious. The inner ground where divine ideas are gestated.
The Scarlet Cord: Conscious Attention and Inner Marking
Rahab is instructed to hang a scarlet cord from her window so her household will be spared. This simple act carries deep symbolic weight. The window, like the eye, is the place of perception. The cord—scarlet, bold, and deliberate—represents the thread of focused consciousness, the mark of belief amidst collapse.
To live by assumption is to mark your inner world with conviction, even while all else crumbles around you. The scarlet cord is the bridge between belief and safety, between the current state and the coming reality. It is the visible sign of an invisible choice.
Her House: A Dwelling for the Assumption
Interestingly, Rahab’s house is in the wall of the city itself—the very boundary between inside and outside. She exists in the liminal space, neither fully part of Jericho nor fully with the Israelites. This is the space of transformation, where old beliefs are being dismantled, and new ones are being tested.
Her house becomes a place of salvation—not because of its structure, but because of the assumption it holds. Like the imaginal act, once accepted and persisted in, it becomes the container for the new manifestation.
From Outcast to Ancestor
Rahab’s reward is not just survival. She becomes part of the lineage that leads to David, and ultimately to Jesus. This is no accident. In symbolic terms, Rahab shows us that the subconscious, once aligned with the truth of imagination, becomes the womb of divine manifestation.
The harlot becomes holy. The misused imagination becomes sanctified the moment it chooses to serve the truth of the inner world rather than the tyranny of outer facts.
Neville often reminded his listeners that imagination creates reality. Rahab’s story tells us that the power to receive and protect the imaginal act—no matter how unlikely the vessel—leads not only to personal transformation but to generational change.
Conclusion: Dare to Receive What Is Not Yet Visible
Rahab’s decision to side with the unseen—against all logic, reputation, and circumstance—is the very essence of the Law of Assumption. She receives what is coming as though it is already here. She protects it, nurtures it, and marks her space with it.
We are all Rahab when we choose to believe in the truth of our imaginal act over the evidence of the senses. We are all Jericho when we resist change, clinging to appearances. And we are all the spies when we send our assumptions forward, to find shelter in the subconscious.
May we be brave enough to shelter what the world mocks, mark our inner house with scarlet conviction, and trust that the walls must fall to what we have already received within.
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