Some of the greatest love stories you’ll ever read are true. The happily-ever-after part is usually hard-fought and only partly-true. But a great love can last a lifetime and be mostly happy. Consider this one:

Rahab the Harlot. Better known in our day as a prostitute. She shows up in the book of Joshua in the Bible and is famous for hiding some spies. This is the second time the Israelites have sent spies into the land God promised to give them. But Joshua doesn’t send his spies on a “let’s see if we can” mission. Joshua had been on one of those forty years before, and it ended badly.

This was a reconnaissance mission. A special forces, elite group sent in to gather intel and report back for a battle plan. There would be no doubt about taking land this time.

Even the people about to be taken knew that. When Rahab met the spies, she trembled. “We’ve heard the stories about your God,” she said. “We know we don’t stand a chance against Him.”

In that fateful encounter, Rahab risked her life to help the spies. In return, they promised safety for her and her family in the coming siege. It is a beautiful story of salvation, foreshadowing what Jesus will do for all of us. But the text of the love story is subdued. It first shows up in chapter 6, verse 25 where the writer says that Rahab and her family were saved. “And she lives in the midst of Israel to this day.”

We have to go forward several books in the history of Israel to see Rahab again. In the New Testament book of Matthew, she shows up as the great-great grandmother of King David. And here is the interesting twist in the plot. Let’s go back again and meet Rahab’s husband.

His name was Salmon, and he would have been less than forty years old when he met Rahab. He was a descendant of Judah and a member of the new generation of Israelites. (One of the spies, perhaps? Pure speculation.) But we do know where he would have been shortly before the battle. Imagine Salmon standing on the plains of Moab during the farewell speech of Moses. (It would later become known as the Book of Deuteronomy). Imagine Salmon looking over into the land and listening as God said through Moses:

“No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. As long as you live, you must never promote the welfare and prosperity of the Ammonites or Moabites. Deut. 23:3,6 

A short time later, Moses dies. Joshua leads the people into their promised land, and Salmon the zealous son of Israel marries Rahab the prostitute from Jericho. He definitely promotes her welfare, and together they create a legacy that leads to Jesus.

I have no idea what their love story looked like. What it took to make such a marriage work. I only know this: It must have been beautiful, because it inspired their son, Boaz, to offer the same love to a Moabite widow named Ruth.

In this family, not once but twice, mercy triumphed over judgment. And that is the greatest Love Story of them all.