A verse by verse commentary on Joshua 2 dealing with the prostitute Rahab and the spies. She helped them escape and tied the scarlet cord in the window.

1. JOSHUA 2 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Rahab and the Spies
1 Then Joshua son of un secretly sent two spies
from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said,
“especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the
house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed
there.
BAR ES, "An harlot’s house - In the face of the parallel passages (e. g. Lev_21:7 :
Jer_5:7) the rendering advocated for obvious reasons, namely, “the house of a woman,
an innkeeper,” cannot be maintained. Rahab must remain an example under the Law
similar to that Luk_7:37 under the Gospel, of “a woman that was a sinner,” yet, because
of her faith, not only pardoned, but exalted to the highest honor. Rahab was admitted
among the people of God; she intermarried into a chief family of a chief tribe, and found
a place among the best remembered ancestors of King David and of Christ; thus
receiving the temporal blessings of the covenant in largest measure. The spies would of
course betake themselves to such a house in Jericho as they could visit without exciting
suspicion; and the situation of Rahab’s, upon the wall Jos_2:15, rendered it especially
suitable. It appears from Jos_2:4 that Rahab hid them before the King’s messengers
reached her house, and probably as soon as the spies had come to her house. It is
therefore most likely that they met with Rahab outside of Jericho (compare Gen_38:14),
and ascertained where in the city she dwelt, and that they might entrust themselves to
her care. Rahab (i. e. “spacious,” “wide.” Compare the name “Japheth” and Gen_9:27,
note) is regarded by the fathers as a type of the Christian Church, which was gathered
out of converts from the whole vast circle of pagan nations.
CLARKE, "Joshua - sent - two men to spy secretly - It is very likely that these
spies had been sent out soon after the death of Moses, and therefore our marginal
reading, had sent, is to be preferred. Secretly - It is very probable also that these were

2. confidential persons, and that the transaction was between them and him alone. As they
were to pass over the Jordan opposite to Jericho, it was necessary that they should have
possession of this city, that in case of any reverses they might have no enemies in their
rear. He sent the men, therefore, to see the state of the city, avenues of approach,
fortifications, etc., that he might the better concert his mode of attack.
A harlot’s house - Harlots and inn-keepers seem to have been called by the same
name, as no doubt many who followed this mode of life, from their exposed situation,
were not the most correct in their morals. Among the ancients women generally kept
houses of entertainment, and among the Egyptians and Greeks this was common. I shall
subjoin a few proofs.
Herodotus, speaking concerning the many differences between Egypt and other
countries, and the peculiarity of their laws and customs, expressly says: Εν τοισι αᅷ µεν
γυναικες αγοραζουσι και καπηλευουσι· οᅷ δε ανδρες, κατ’ οικους εοντες, ᆓφαινουσι. “Among
the Egyptians the women carry on all commercial concerns, and keep taverns, while the
men continue at home and weave.” Herod. in Euterp., c. xxxv. Diodorus Siculus, lib. i., s.
8, and c. xxvii., asserts that “the men were the slaves of the women in Egypt, and that it
is stipulated in the marriage contract that the woman shall be the ruler of her husband,
and that he shall obey her in all things.” The same historian supposes that women had
these high privileges among the Egyptians, to perpetuate the memory of the beneficent
administration of Isis, who was afterwards deified among them. Nymphodorus, quoted
by the ancient scholiast on the Oedipus Coloneus of Sophocles, accounts for these
customs: he says that “Sesostris, finding the population of Egypt rapidly increasing,
fearing that he should not be able to govern the people or keep them united under one
head, obliged the men to assume the occupations of women, in order that they might be
rendered effeminate.” Sophocles confirms the account given by Herodotus; speaking of
Egypt he says: -
Εκει γαρ οᅷ µεν αρσενες κατα στεγας
Θακουσιν ᅷστουργουντες αᅷ δε ξυννοµοι
Τα’ ξω βιου τροφεια προσυνους’ αει
Oedip. Col. v. 352.
“There the men stay in their houses weaving cloth, while the women transact all
business out of doors, provide food for the family,” etc. It is on this passage that the
scholiast cites Nymphodorus for the information given above, and which he says is
found in the 13th chapter of his work “On the Customs of Barbarous Nations.” That the
same custom prevailed among the Greeks we have the following proof from Apuleius:
Ego vero quod primate ingressui stabulum conspicatus sum, accessi, et de Quadam
Anu Caupona illico percontor. - Aletam. lib. i., p. 18, Edit. Bip. “Having entered into the
first inn I met with, and there seeing a certain Old Woman, the Inn-Keeper, I inquired of
her.”
It is very likely that women kept the places of public entertainment among the
Philistines; and that it was with such a one, and not with a harlot, that Samson lodged;
(see Jdg_16:1, etc.); for as this custom certainly did prevail among the Egyptians, of
which we have the fullest proof above, we may naturally expect it to have prevailed also
among the Canaanites and Philistines, as we find from Apuleius that it did afterwards
among the Greeks. Besides there is more than presumptive proof that this custom
obtained among the Israelites themselves, even in the most polished period of their

3. history; for it is much more reasonable to suppose that the two women, who came to
Solomon for judgment, relative to the dead child, (1Ki_3:16, etc), were inn-keepers, than
that they were harlots. It is well known that common prostitutes, from their abandoned
course of life, scarcely ever have children; and the laws were so strict against such in
Israel, (Deu_23:18), that if these had been of that class it is not at all likely they would
have dared to appear before Solomon. All these circumstances considered, I am fully
satisfied that the term ‫זונה‬ zonah in the text, which we translate harlot, should be
rendered tavern or inn-keeper, or hostess. The spies who were sent out on this occasion
were undoubtedly the most confidential persons that Joshua had in his host; they went
on an errand of the most weighty importance, and which involved the greatest
consequences. The risk they ran of losing their lives in this enterprise was extreme. Is it
therefore likely that persons who could not escape apprehension and death, without the
miraculous interference of God, should in despite of that law which at this time must
have been so well known unto them, go into a place where they might expect, not the
blessing, but the curse, of God? Is it not therefore more likely that they went rather to an
inn to lodge than to a brothel? But what completes in my judgment the evidence on this
point is, that this very Rahab, whom we call a harlot, was actually married to Salmon, a
Jewish prince, see Mat_1:5. And is it probable that a prince of Judah would have taken
to wife such a person as our text represents Rahab to be?
It is granted that the Septuagint, who are followed by Heb_11:31, and Jam_2:25,
translate the Hebrew ‫זונה‬ zonah by πορνη, which generally signifies a prostitute; but it is
not absolutely evident that the Septuagint used the word in this sense. Every scholar
knows that the Greek word πορνη comes from περναω, to sell, as this does from περαω, to
pass from one to another; transire facio a me ad alterum; Damm. But may not this be
spoken as well of the woman’s goods as of her person? In this sense the Chaldee Targum
understood the term, and has therefore translated it ‫פונדקיתא‬ ‫אתתא‬ ittetha pundekitha, a
woman, a Tavern-Keeper. That this is the true sense many eminent men are of opinion;
and the preceding arguments render it at least very probable. To all this may be added,
that as our blessed Lord came through the line of this woman, it cannot be a matter of
little consequence to know what moral character she sustained; as an inn-keeper she
might be respectable, if not honorable; as a public prostitute she could be neither; and it
is not very likely that the providence of God would have suffered a person of such a
notoriously bad character to enter into the sacred line of his genealogy. It is true that the
cases of Tamar and Bathsheba may be thought sufficient to destroy this argument; but
whoever considers these two cases maturely will see that they differ totally from that of
Rahab, if we allow the word harlot to be legitimate. As to the objection that her husband
is nowhere mentioned in the account here given; it appears to me to have little weight.
She might have been either a single woman or a widow; and in either of these cases there
could have been no mention of a husband; or if she even had a husband it is not likely he
would have been mentioned on this occasion, as the secret seems to have been kept
religiously between her and the spies. If she were a married woman her husband might
be included in the general terms, all that she had, and all her kindred, Jos_6:23. But it is
most likely that she was a single woman or a widow, who got her bread honestly by
keeping a house of entertainment for strangers. See below.
GILL, "And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men,.... Or "had

4. sent" (p); for this was done before the above order to depart: it is a tradition of the Jews
(q), that they were Caleb and Phinehas; but they were not young men, as in Jos_6:23;
especially the former; nor is it probable that men of such rank and figure should be sent,
but rather meaner persons; yet such as were men of good sense and abilities, and
capable of conducting such an affair they were sent about, as well as men of probity and
faithfulness; two good men, Kimchi says they were, and not as they that went on the
mission of Moses; these were sent from Shittim, the same with Abelshittim, in the plains
of Moab, where Israel now lay encamped, Num_33:49, which Josephus (r) calls Abila,
and says it was sixty furlongs, or seven miles and better, from Jordan:
to spy secretly; or "silently" (s); not so much with respect to the inhabitants of the
land, for it is supposed in all spies, that they do their business in the most private and
secret manner, so as not to be discovered by the inhabitants, whose land they are sent to
spy; but with respect to the children of Israel, that they might know nothing of it, lest
they should be discouraged, thinking that Joshua was in some fear of the Canaanites,
and under some distrust of the promise of God to give the land to them: the word for
"smiths", and also for persons deaf and dumb, coming from the same root, have
furnished the Jewish writers with various conceits, as that these spies went in the habit
of smiths with the instruments of their business in their hands; or acted as deaf and
dumb persons, and so as incapable of giving an account of themselves, or of answering
to any questions put to them, should they be taken up and examined; their
commentators in general take notice of this:
saying, go view the land, even Jericho; especially Jericho, so Noldius (t); the land
in general, and Jericho in particular, because it was a great city, as Kimchi notes; of this
city; see Gill on Luk_19:4. Whether it had its name from the sweetsmelling balsam
which grew in plenty about it, or from the form of it, being that of an half moon, is not
certain, Strabo (u) says of it, that here was a paradise of balsam, an aromatic, and that it
was surrounded with hills in a plain, which bent to it like an amphitheatre. They were
not sent to spy the land, as the spies in the times of Moses, to see what sort of land it
was, and what sort of people dwelt in it; but to reconnoitre it, to know where it was best
to lead the people at first, and encamp; and particularly to observe the passes and
avenues leading to Jericho, the first city in it, nearest to them, of importance. Ben
Gersom thinks it was to spy or pick out the thoughts of the inhabitants of the land, what
apprehensions they had of the people of Israel, whether disheartened and dispirited at
their near approach, and what were their intentions, resolutions, and preparations to act
against them, offensively, or defensively; and which seems not amiss, since this was the
chief information they got, and which they reported to Joshua upon their return; though
Abarbinel objects to it as a thing impossible:
and they went, and came into a harlot's house, named Rahab; they went from
Shittim, and crossed the river Jordan, by swimming or fording, and came to Jericho;
which, as Josephus (w) says, was fifty furlongs, or seven miles and a half, from Jordan;
and they went into a harlot's house, not purposely for that reason, because it was such an
one, but so it proved eventually; though the Targum of Jonathan says it was the house of
a woman, an innkeeper or victualler; for Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret the
word it uses of a seller of food (x); and if so, it furnishes out a reason why they turned in
thither, where they might expect to have food and lodging; though the Jews commonly
take her to be a harlot; and generally speaking, in those times and countries, such as
kept public houses were prostitutes; and there are some circumstances which seem to
confirm this in the context; and so the Greek version calls her, and is the character given

5. of her in the New Testament: her name was Rahab, of whom the Jews have this tradition
(y), that she was ten years of age when Israel came out of Egypt; that she played the
harlot the forty years they were in the wilderness, became the wife of Joshua, who had
daughters by her, from whom came eight prophets, Jeremiah, Hilkiah, Maasia,
Hanameel, Shallum, Baruch, the son of Neriah, Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, and some say
Huldah the prophetess; but the truth is, she married Salmon, a prince of the tribe of
Judah; see Gill on Mat_1:5,
and lodged there; that is, they went thither in order to lodge.
HE RY, "In these verses we have,
I. The prudence of Joshua, in sending spies to observe this important pass, which was
likely to be disputed at the entrance of Israel into Canaan (v. 1). Go view the land, even
Jericho. Moses had sent spies (Num. 13) Joshua himself was one of them and it proved
of ill consequence. Yet Joshua now sent spies, not, as the former were sent, to survey the
whole land, but Jericho only; not to bring the account to the whole congregation, but to
Joshua only, who, like a watchful general, was continually projecting for the public good,
and, was particularly careful to take the first step well and not to stumble at the
threshold. It was not fit that Joshua should venture over Jordan, to make his remarks
incognito - in disguise; but he sends two men (two young men, says the Septuagint), to
view the land, that from their report he might take his measures in attacking Jericho.
Observe, 1. There is no remedy, but great men must see with other people's eyes, which
makes it very necessary that they be cautious in the choice of those they employ, since so
much often depends upon their fidelity. 2. Faith in God's promise ought not to supersede
but encourage our diligence in the use of proper means. Joshua is sure he has God with
him, and yet sends men before him. We do not trust God, but tempt him, if our
expectations slacken our endeavours. 3. See how ready these men were to go upon this
hazardous enterprise. Though they put their lives in their hands yet they ventured in
obedience to Joshua their general, in zeal for the service of the camp, and in dependence
upon the power of that God who, being the keeper of Israel in general, is the protector of
every particular Israelite in the way of his duty.
II. The providence of God directing the spies to the house of Rahab. How they got over
Jordan we are not told; but into Jericho they came, which was about seven or eight miles
from the river, and there seeking for a convenient inn were directed to the house of
Rahab, here called a harlot, a woman that had formerly been of ill fame, the reproach of
which stuck to her name, though of late she had repented and reformed. Simon the leper
(Mat_26:6), though cleansed from his leprosy, wore the reproach of it in his name at
long as he lived; so Rahab the harlot; and she is so called in the New Testament, where
both her faith and her good works are praised, to teach us, 1. That the greatness of sin is
no bar to pardoning mercy if it be truly repented of in time. We read of publicans and
harlots entering into the kingdom of the Messiah, and being welcomed to all the
privileged of that kingdom, Mat_21:31. 2. That there are many who before their
conversion were very wicked and vile, and yet afterwards come to great eminence in faith
and holiness. 3. Even those that through grace have repented of the sins of their youth
must expect to bear the reproach of them, and when they hear of their old faults must
renew their repentance, and, as an evidence of that, hear of them patiently. God's Israel,
for aught that appears, had but one friend, but one well-wisher in all Jericho, and that
was Rahab a harlot. God has often served his own purposes and his church's interests by
men of different morals. Had these scouts gone to any other house than this they would
certainly have been betrayed and put to death without mercy. But God knew where they

6. had a friend that would be true to them, though they did not, and directed them thither.
Thus that which seems to us most contingent and accidental is often over-ruled by the
divine providence to serve its great ends. And those that faithfully acknowledge God in
their ways he will guide with his eye. See Jer_36:19, Jer_36:26.
III. The piety of Rahab in receiving and protecting these Israelites. Those that keep
public-houses entertain all comers, and think themselves obliged to be civil to their
guests. But Rahab showed her guests more than common civility, and went upon an
uncommon principle in what she did; it was by faith that she received those with peace
against whom her king and country had denounced war, Heb_11:31. 1. She bade them
welcome to her house; they lodged there, though it appears by what she said to them
(Jos_2:9) she knew both whence they came and what their business was. 2. Perceiving
that they were observed coming into the city, and that umbrage was taken at it, she hid
them upon the roof of the house, which was flat, and covered them with stalks of flax
(Jos_2:6), so that, if the officers should come thither to search for them, there they
might lie undiscovered. By these stalks of flax, which she herself had lain in order upon
the roof to dry in the sun, in order to the beating of it and making it ready for the wheel,
it appears she had one of the good characters of the virtuous woman, however in others
of them she might be deficient, that she sought wool and flax, and wrought willingly
with her hands, Pro_31:13. From this instance of her honest industry one would hope
that, whatever she had been formerly, she was not now a harlot.
JAMISO , "Jos_2:1-7. Rahab receives and conceals the two spies.
Joshua ... sent ... two men to spy secretly — Faith is manifested by an active,
persevering use of means (Jam_2:22); and accordingly Joshua, while confident in the
accomplishment of the divine promise (Jos_1:3), adopted every precaution which a
skilful general could think of to render his first attempt in the invasion of Canaan
successful. Two spies were dispatched to reconnoiter the country, particularly in the
neighborhood of Jericho; for in the prospect of investing that place, it was desirable to
obtain full information as to its site, its approaches, the character, and resources of its
inhabitants. This mission required the strictest privacy, and it seems to have been
studiously concealed from the knowledge of the Israelites themselves, test any
unfavorable or exaggerated report, publicly circulated, might have dispirited the people,
as that of the spies did in the days of Moses.
Jericho — Some derive this name from a word signifying “new moon,” in reference to
the crescent-like plain in which it stood, formed by an amphitheater of hills; others from
a word signifying “its scent,” on account of the fragrance of the balsam and palm trees in
which it was embosomed. Its site was long supposed to be represented by the small
mud-walled hamlet Er-Riha; but recent researches have fixed on a spot about half an
hour’s journey westward, where large ruins exist about six or eight miles distant from
the Jordan. It was for that age a strongly fortified town, the key of the eastern pass
through the deep ravine, now called Wady-Kelt, into the interior of Palestine.
they ... came into an harlot’s house — Many expositors, desirous of removing the
stigma of this name from an ancestress of the Saviour (Mat_1:5), have called her a
hostess or tavern keeper. But Scriptural usage (Lev_21:7-14; Deu_23:18; Jdg_11:1; 1Ki_
3:16), the authority of the Septuagint, followed by the apostles (Heb_11:31; Jam_2:25),
and the immemorial style of Eastern khans, which are never kept by women, establish
the propriety of the term employed in our version. Her house was probably
recommended to the spies by the convenience of its situation, without any knowledge of
the character of the inmates. But a divine influence directed them in the choice of that
lodging-place.

7. K&D, "Two Spies Sent Over to Jericho. - Jos_2:1. Although Joshua had received a
promise from the Lord of His almighty help in the conquest of Canaan, he still thought it
necessary to do what was requisite on his part to secure the success of the work
committed to him, as the help of God does not preclude human action, but rather
presupposes it. He therefore sent two men out secretly as spies from Shittim the place of
encampment at that time (see at Num_25:1), to view, i.e., explore, the land, especially
Jericho, the strongly fortified frontier town of Canaan (Jos_6:1). The word “secretly” is
connected by the accents with “saying,” giving them their instructions secretly; but this
implies that they were also sent out secretly. This was done partly in order that the
Canaanites might not hear of it, and partly in order that, if the report should prove
unfavourable, the people might not be thrown into despair, as they had been before in
the time of Moses. The spies proceeded to Jericho, and towards evening they entered the
house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there, lit. laid themselves down, intended to
remain or sleep there. Jericho was two hours' journey to the west of the Jordan, situated
in a plain that was formerly very fertile, and celebrated for its palm trees and balsam
shrubs, but which is now quite desolate and barren. This plain is encircled on the
western side by a naked and barren range of mountains, which stretches as far as Beisan
towards the north and to the Dead Sea on the south. Every trace of the town has long
since passed away, though it evidently stood somewhere near, and probably on the
northern side of, the miserable and dirty village of Rîha, by the Wady Kelt (see
Robinson, Pal. ii. pp. 279ff., 289ff.; v. Raumer, Pal. pp. 206ff.). Rahab is called a zonah,
i.e., a harlot, not an innkeeper, as Josephus, the Chaldee version, and the Rabbins
render the word. Their entering the house of such a person would not excite so much
suspicion. Moreover, the situation of her house against or upon the town wall was one
which facilitated escape. But the Lord so guided the course of the spies, that they found
in this sinner the very person who was the most suitable for their purpose, and upon
whose heart the tidings of the miracles wrought by the living God on behalf of Israel had
made such an impression, that she not only informed the spies of the despondency of the
Canaanites, but, with believing trust in the power of the God of Israel, concealed the
spies from all the inquiries of her countrymen, though at the greatest risk to herself.
SBC, "Spies are a part of the unhappy machinery of war. They are counted as necessary
as the general, or as the boy who blows the bugle. It is with an army and in a war that
Joshua is now to display Jehovah, and he must employ all the arts of the soldier. It
would have gone hard with the two spies if they had not been so strangely housed.
Rahab took her own life in her hands not to endanger theirs, She was artful, she was
brave, she was noble, she was mean; she received them at her door in peace, she let them
out at her window by stealth; she sent her own townsmen an idle chase by the river, and
she sent the strangers in safety to the hills, just because she knew that the men were
Israel’s spies.
I. Rahab’s words (Jos_2:9-11) let us know the feelings with which the Canaanites
regarded Israel in the wilderness. The fame and the fear of Israel’s name had preceded
the people like the wind travelling before a thunderstorm. It was a thing of mystery—a
nation that fed from the night and drank from the stones; it was a phantom host that
fought no one knew how. Still Jericho was determined to resist. It might be in vain, but
its king would try his sword against this spiritual thing that called itself the people of
Jehovah. There was a different spirit in one breast in Jericho, and it was the breast of a
woman. As sailors have found a mere timber of a ship hopelessly but faithfully pointing

8. to the northern star, so from amidst the fragments of what was once a woman’s life, as
they drifted in the dusk along the streets of Jericho, Rahab’s heart was trembling away
towards the star that should come out of Jacob and the sceptre that would rise out of
Israel. There is a lesson for us here. Surely there is a Diviner duty for us than, like the
wind, to chase the withered leaves of a blighted life along our streets, if only far enough
from our church doors. Surely there is manlier work for men than to trample on the
faded flowers of the forest.
II. Thus from an unlikely quarter we are taught of the power of faith. In the affray of war
Rahab sat up there with her hope, trimmed to burning like a lamp, as unafraid as the
man in the tower when the storm is round the lighthouse.
III. We have also explained to us the nature of faith. Rahab did not know what the word
"faith" meant, but the thing itself was in her heart, and it found expression, not in words,
but in works.
Thus it befell the spies at Jericho; and after three days in the mountains, they took their
report to Joshua. He heard what they had to say, and in the night the tribes of Israel
struck their tents, and in the dawn of the morning the tall grey cloud above the ark of
Jehovah was feeling its way down to the fords of the Jordan.
Armstrong Black, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. i., p. 153.
CALVI , "1.And Joshua the son of un sent, etc. The object of the exploration now
in question was different from the former one, when Joshua was sent with other
eleven to survey all the districts of the land, and bring back information to the
whole people concerning its position, nature, fertility, and other properties, the
magnitude and number of the cities, the inhabitants, and their manners. The
present object was to dispose those who might be inclined to be sluggish, to engage
with more alacrity in the campaign. And though it appears from the first chapter of
Deuteronomy, (Deuteronomy 1:22,) that Moses, at the request of the people, sent
chosen men to spy out the land, he elsewhere relates ( umbers 13:4) that he did it
by command from God. Those twelve, therefore, set out divinely commissioned, and
for a somewhat different purpose, viz., to make a thorough survey of the land, and
be the heralds of its excellence to stir up the courage of the people.
ow Joshua secretly sends two persons to ascertain whether or not a free passage
may be had over the Jordan, whether the citizens of Jericho were indulging in
security, or whether they were alert and prepared to resist. In short, he sends spies
on whose report he may provide against all dangers. Wherefore a twofold question
may be here raised — Are we to approve of his prudence? or are we to condemn
him for excessive anxiety, especially as he seems to have trusted more than was right
to his own prudence, when, without consulting God, he was so careful in taking
precautions against danger? But, inasmuch as it is not expressly said that he
received a message from heaven to order the people to collect their vessels and to
publish his proclamation concerning the passage of the Jordan, although it is
perfectly obvious that he never would have thought of moving the camp unless God
had ordered it, it is also probable that in sending the spies he consulted God as to his
pleasure in the matter, or that God himself, knowing how much need there was of
this additional confirmation, had spontaneously suggested it to the mind of his

9. servant. Be this as it may, while Joshua commands his messengers to spy out
Jericho, he is preparing to besiege it, and accordingly is desirous to ascertain in
what direction it may be most easily and safely approached.
They came into a harlot’s house, etc. Why some try to avoid the name harlot, and
interpret ‫זונה‬ as meaning one who keeps an inn, I see not, unless it be that they think
it disgraceful to be the guests of a courtesan, or wish to wipe off a stigma from a
woman who not only received the messengers kindly, but secured their safety by
singular courage and prudence. It is indeed a regular practice with the Rabbins,
when they would consult for the honor of their nation, presumptuously to wrest
Scripture and give a different turn by their fictions to anything that seems not quite
reputable. (33) But the probability is, that while the messengers were courting
secrecy, and shunning observation and all places of public intercourse, they came to
a woman who dwelt in a retired spot. Her house was contiguous to the wall of the
city, nay, its outer side was actually situated in the wall. From this we may infer that
it was some obscure corner remote from the public thoroughfare; just as persons of
her description usually live in narrow lanes and secret places. It cannot be supposed
with any consistency to have been a common inn which was open to all
indiscriminately, because they could not have felt at liberty to indulge in familiar
intercourse, and it must have been difficult in such circumstances to obtain
concealment.
My conclusion therefore is, that they obtained admission privily, and immediately
betook themselves to a hiding-place. Moreover, in the fact that a woman who had
gained a shameful livelihood by prostitution was shortly after admitted into the
body of the chosen people, and became a member of the Church, we are furnished
with a striking display of divine grace which could thus penetrate into a place of
shame, and draw forth from it not only Rahab, but her father and the other
members of her family. Most assuredly while the term ‫,זונה‬ almost invariably means
harlot, there is nothing here to oblige us to depart from the received meaning.
TRAPP, "Joshua 2:1 And Joshua the son of un sent out of Shittim two men to spy
secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an
harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
Ver. 1. And Joshua the son of un sent out of Shittim.] Where the people then
encamped, [ umbers 33:49] and where the Midianites sometime, by the counsel of
Balaam, Satan’s spell man, outwitted the Israelites by setting fair women before
them, who soon drew them into those two sister sins, idolatry and adultery.
[ umbers 25:1-2; umbers 25:18]
Two men.] ot twelve, as umbers 13:2-3, for those were too many by ten; and did
much harm among the people.
To spy secretly.] Heb., Silently. Silence is oft no small virtue; and he is a rare man

10. who can both keep and give counsel.
Go view the land.] Of which though God had promised to possess them, yet Joshua
knew that means was to be used. So 2 Samuel 5:24. David had a promise of victory
over the Philistines; but yet so as that he must fetch a compass behind them; and
when he heard "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberries," then he was to
bestir himself.
Into a harlot’s house.] Or, Hostess, as some render it; but such as stuck not
familiarly to entertain strangers. [Hebrews 11:31 James 2:25] Upon her conversion
she was advanced to become grandmother to Jesus Christ; who by his purity
washeth off all our spots; like as the sun washeth and wipeth away all the ill vapours
of the earth and air.
BE SO , ". And Joshua sent — Or, had sent, before the directions mentioned in
the preceding chapter (Joshua 2:10-11,) were given to the officers. This best agrees
with Joshua 2:22 of this chapter, and the rest of the narrative. Two men — ot
twelve, as Moses did, because those were to view the whole land, these but a small
parcel of it. To spy — That is, to learn the state of the land and people. It is evident
Joshua did not this out of distrust; it is probable he had God’s command and
direction in it, for the encouragement of himself and his army. Secretly — With
reference not to his enemies, that being the practice of all spies, but to the Israelites;
a good caution to prevent the inconvenience which possibly might have arisen if
their report had been discouraging. Jericho — That is, the land about Jericho,
together with the city. Hebrew, the land and Jericho; that is, especially Jericho. A
harlot’s house — Although the Hebrew word ‫,זונה‬ zonah, here rendered harlot, does
also sometimes signify an innkeeper, or one who sells provisions; yet, as the former
is certainly the common meaning of the term, and the sense in which it must
frequently be necessarily taken, (see Genesis 34:31 ; 11:1; Hosea 1:2,) and as Rahab
is called a harlot by two apostles, (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25,) who use an
expression of no such equivocal meaning, it seems evident she had once been a
harlot, though undoubtedly was now reformed. They lodged there — Or, lay down,
as the same word is rendered Joshua 2:8, composed themselves to rest, but they
were hindered from that intention.
ISBET, "A OTABLE WOMA
‘An harlot … named Rahab.’
Joshua 2:1
We are to travel back into that remote past in order to study a woman who holds a
unique place in Bible history, one whose story is a romance, and whose character is
an enigma. The facts are sufficiently distinct to make a complete narrative, but we
may be pardoned if we admit a certain element of conjecture to fill in an occasional
gap; and it is almost inevitable that a modern writer should draw certain inferences
which a Biblical writer never thought of expressing. The Fathers treated these
characters and stories as types of the Gospel; we are tempted to treat them as
examples—singularly typical examples—of human character.

11. I. If we assume that the Psalmist (Psalms 87) meant by Rahab the same woman
whom the Epistle to the Hebrews celebrates in its roll of the martyrs of faith, how
appropriate and beautiful it would be! Here is the first convert to the congregation
of the Lord from the licentious heathen world. Here is a brand plucked from the
burning indeed. Here is the first suggestion of our Lord’s eternal truth that the
publicans and harlots may enter the kingdom of heaven. She, if ever man or woman
was, has been born in the mystical Zion. She is the pivot on which the Canaan of
unnameable abominations, the Canaan exposed to the curse, and blotted from the
face of the earth, becomes the Canaan of the promise, the land of the world’s desire,
the symbol of the heavens.
With our eyes fixed on Rahab the harlot, hope springs in our hearts for all the lost
and outcast world. Surely nowhere has God left Himself without a witness. The
heathen may be turned unto Him, for even in such polluted hearts the cry after Him
is not silenced, the possibility of faith and love is not quenched. And with this
notable example of a woman rescued from shame to become the noble mother of the
world’s salvation, we have an impressive command of God to revise our hasty and
pharisaical judgments about the forlorn sisterhood of fallen women.
II. We cannot, of course, argue from the tone of the Old Testament in touching upon
what we call the ‘social evil,’ to any Divine condonation of it; for moral ideas are the
growth of the ages and of broadening revelation. The profession of Rahab is
mentioned without comment of praise or blame. It is assumed as part of the
constitution of society, but not condemned. There is no hint of surprise in the
ancient author that such a woman should be susceptible of religious aspirations, the
one potential follower of Jehovah in the corrupted land. While polygamy was
recognised even for patriarchs and chosen kings, while men like Judah—a very
noble type of man—could commit what the ew Testament denounces as a sin
without a twinge of conscience, and while the right of a woman to her own soul was
not yet admitted, it was inevitable that men should treat lightly the sin which, in the
light of Christ, we have learnt to regard with repugnance. But it is that very light of
Christ itself which shows that the form which our repugnance takes is unjust,
selfish, and uncharitable. o one is so severe as He upon impurity. It is He who has
taught us to aim at purity of thought and intention, and to regard impurity in the
heart as equivalent to impurity in act. It is His Spirit that fills us all with a holy
horror of the unclean books and papers, the alluring sights and suggestions, the
inward passions and desires which are the first movements towards the vice which
we call in a special sense immorality. It is fallen man that is severe on fallen woman.
It is unfallen man that is stern to fallen man. Christ in His utter purity allowed the
harlots to approach Him, and to love Him. And the seven devils went out of them at
His touch, and they were pure as in the days of their childhood. And if we read the
story of Rahab with the eyes of Christ we may possibly arrive at a somewhat
startling conclusion. For almost every fallen woman some man is to blame; for the
perpetuation of her fall and the trampling in the mire men are always to blame.
Illustrations

12. (1) ‘Rahab had no scruple in telling a lie. Probably there are even Christian women
who would tell such a lie to save those whom they loved. We cannot therefore pause
to censure this untruth in a Canaanitish woman of the thirteenth century b.c.; and
we may lay aside at once the charge of treason against her country and her town,
not only on the ground that such a woman is a kind of outcast from her own society,
but also because she was supernaturally convinced that the doom of her country was
sealed, and her only hope lay in the direction of saving her own beloved family. She
unblushingly assured the officers that the two men who lay concealed on her house-
roof had gone out just before the city-gate was closed, and could be overtaken by a
rapid pursuit.’
(2) ‘It might be asked, was not Rahab a very sinful woman? Yes. Did she not lie to
the king of Jericho? Yes. How then could such a one be saved? She was saved by
faith, not by her own righteousness. God saved her, not because she was good, but
that she might become so. It is not to be supposed from Hebrews 11:31 and James
2:25 that God commended Rahab’s falsehood any more than he commends her
other sins. These passages point out her real living faith, which was manifested by
her works which followed. In the same way the thief on the cross was saved by faith,
and not by works; and he abundantly proved the reality of his faith by his works
which followed—namely, confession of his own guilt, public confession of faith in
Christ’s power to save, his fear of God, rebuking sin, etc., all seen in his few words
as he hung on the cross.’
WHEDO , "1. Sent out — Some render had sent, as in the margin, and suppose
that the spies had been sent out some days before the events of the last chapter. But
the vav consecutive with which this verse begins ( ‫וישׁלח‬ ) is properly rendered Then
sent Joshua, etc., and a pluperfect rendering will not materially relieve the difficulty
stated in Joshua 1:11. “Even if the spies had been despatched before the events
narrated in Joshua 1:10-18, it would not be grammatically correct to render ‫וישׁלח‬ as
a pluperfect; and much less is this allowable if such a supposition be unfounded.” —
Keil.]
Shittim — The plain of acacia shrubs at the foot of the mountains on the eastern
side of the Jordan, directly opposite Jericho, in which Moses had last pitched the
Israelitish camp. umbers 25:1; umbers 33:49.
Secretly — The Masoretic conjunctive accent connects this word with saying, rather
than with to spy, as is done in the English version; but the word is best understood
as qualifying Joshua’s whole procedure. He communicated his orders to the two
men, and also sent them out secretly in order to avoid betrayal by any evil-minded
person in his own camp. All spying necessarily involves secrecy, and in this case the
perilous business was a military necessity. An unexplored land was before them, and
the number and spirit of the enemy, and his military preparations and plans, were
utterly unknown to Joshua. Faith always uses means.
Even Jericho — The command may be better rendered. Go view the land, and

13. particularly Jericho. This ancient town, (called also the “City of Palm Trees,”) was
situated in a plain of the same name about six miles west of the Jordan, near where
it enters into the Dead Sea, and about nineteen miles northeast of Jerusalem. It was
a walled city, rich and populous, having commerce with Babylon and the far East.
According to Stanley it was the only important town in the Jordan valley, and its
situation must always have rendered its occupation necessary to any invader from
the east. “It was the key of western Palestine, as standing at the entrance of the two
main passes into the central mountains. From the issues of the torrent Kelt, on the
south, to the copious spring, afterwards called the ‘Fountain of Elisha,’ on the
north, the ancient city ran along the base of the mountains, and thus commanded
the oasis of the desert valley, the garden of verdure, which clustering around these
waters has, through the various stages of its long existence, secured its prosperity
and grandeur.” The modern village Rihah is, by some travellers, identified with
ancient Jericho, and is described by Dr. Olin as one of the meanest and foulest of
Palestine, containing about forty houses, with a sickly, indolent, and vicious
population.
Came into a harlot’s house — [Literally, into the house of a woman, a harlot. Their
entrance into such a house would excite less suspicion, and, her house being upon
the wall, (Joshua 2:15,) their escape from the city in case of necessity would be more
easy. Knobel supposes that, as it was evening twilight when the spies reached
Jericho, the time when harlots were wont to walk the streets, (Job 24:15; Proverbs
7:9; Isaiah xxiii, 16,) they met with Rahab at some corner and followed her to her
house.] Josephus and other Jewish writers, and also some Christian commentators,
unwilling to believe that these spies, intrusted with such a responsible mission,
would have gone to a harlot’s house, or that Rahab, who married Salmon and
became an ancestress of our Lord, and is commended by an apostle, could have been
a woman of ill-fame, maintain that she was not a harlot, but a hostess or inn-keeper.
But the Hebrew word ‫זונה‬ means always, elsewhere, a harlot, and is so rendered in
the Septuagint and Vulgate. Also in the ew Testament she is called emphatically
the harlot, η πορνη, (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25.) And not only on philological
grounds is the rendering hostess untenable, but oriental customs are against such an
interpretation. In the east there are no proper inns, but as a kind of substitute there
are khans or caravansaries (See note and cut at Luke 2:7.) It would have been a
thing without parallel in that land for a single woman, or even a man, to be found
keeping a public house. Rahab was probably unmarried; for though she had father
and mother, brothers and sisters, (Joshua 2:13,) there is no hint that she had
husband or child, and it is notorious that in the east rarely any but disreputable
women remain single. On her falsehoods and her faith, see note on Joshua 2:5,
Lodged there —Rather, they lay down there. Joshua 2:8 shows that they ascended
the house top to pass the night there.
COKE, "Ver. 1. And Joshua—sent—two men to spy, &c.— Or had sent, as the
Margin of our Bibles more properly renders it. Joshua had certainly sent the spies
to Jericho before he issued in the camp the order mentioned ver. 10, 11 of the
former chapter. This supposition removes every difficulty that can arise in this

14. history with respect to the order of time, and clears up the 22nd verse of the present
chapter. Moses had succeeded so indifferently in sending spies before to discover the
land of Canaan, that it is surprising, at first view, that Joshua should venture to
recur to this method. But, not to mention that he might be determined to it of his
own mind, or perhaps by the express commands of God, without any solicitation on
the part of the people, it appears, that he sent these two spies secretly, and that to
him only they reported the success of their commission. As an able general,
prudence required that Joshua should gain a knowledge of the place which he
purposed to attack: his confidence in the divine promises did not exclude a diligent
and judicious employment of such second causes as might favour the success of his
enterprize. We would, therefore, translate the beginning of the verse in this manner:
And Joshua, the son of un, had secretly sent out of Shittim two men to espy, and
had said, &c. See Houbigant. By the land which Joshua orders them to go and view,
we are not to understand the whole land of Canaan, but the environs of Jericho: the
city, its avenues, its situation, its fortifications, the troops defending it; in a word,
every obstacle that he would have to surmount in order to make himself master of it.
The city of Jericho, situated in a wide plain according to Josephus, was but about
seven miles and a half distant from Jordan. Maundrel says, that he came from
Jericho to the banks of Jordan in two hours; which answers pretty nearly to the
former calculation.
And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab— The doubtfulness
of the term used by the sacred writer, to signify Rahab's mode of life, has divided
interpreters. It may equally signify a hostess, and a prostitute. Onkelos takes it in
the former sense, making Rahab to be the keeper of a public house, who received,
victualled, and lodged strangers. Josephus, and several rabbis, are of the same
opinion, which has also its partizans among Christians. St. Chrysostom, in his
second sermon upon Repentance, twice calls this woman a hostess. It does not
appear by the text, say some, that she followed any other trade; and it is
improbable, that Salmon, who was one of the chief heads of the house of Judah, and
was one of the ancestors of the Messiah, would have married her had she been a
prostitute. And yet it must be owned, the greatest probabilities, in this particular,
are against Rahab. The Hebrew word zonah constantly implies a prostitute. Thus
the LXX understood it, and two apostles have approved of their version; see
Hebrews 11:31. James 2:25 which they would not have done, considering her as a
woman whose memory they ought to hold venerable, had they not been constrained
by the laws of truth. Besides, it is observable, that, in this relation, Rahab says not a
word of her husband or children, when she begs the life of her kinsfolks; which,
considering the trade she carried on, must naturally render her suspected. We may
add with Serrarius, that, perhaps, Rahab was one of those young women, who, in a
religious view, devoted herself to impurity in the idol temples. The same critic
supposes the moon to have been the tutelary deity of Jericho. See Calmet, and
Leviticus 21:7.
And lodged there— Supposing Rahab to have actually lived in an irreproachable
manner, it is nothing surprising to see the spies sent by Joshua on this discovery
come by night to lodge at her inn. Whatever were her modes of life, her house was

15. the most favourable place for the execution of their design. And it is sufficiently
evident, from reading the sequel of this history, that God himself conducted them
thither by a special direction of his providence.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
This chapter details the sending of the spies to reconnoiter the city of Jericho.
Holmes' opinion that this chapter is "from a different source"[1] and that it does
not really belong in this book at all is based upon the failure to observe its vital
connection with the whole narrative. In Joshua 1 and Joshua 2 are given the
preparations Joshua made for the invasion of Canaan. Keil summarized these as
follows:
"(1) Instructions were issued to the people to prepare.
(2) A renewal of the pledge of the trans-Jordanic group to aid the struggle was
required by Joshua.
(3) Spies were sent out to reconnoiter the land."[2]
The first two of these fundamental preparations were given in Joshua 1, and here
we have the third, namely, that of the sending out of the spies. One may only pity
the willful BLI D ESS that is evidenced by anyone's missing such an obvious and
necessary connection.
As to why Joshua sent out spies, it would appear to have been only what any
competent general would have done. Joshua, at this point did not know HOW God
would deliver Jericho without any kind of a military assault, and, besides that, there
was a Divine precedent in Moses' sending out the spies some forty years earlier,
Joshua himself having been a part of that mission ( umbers 13). In the light of all
the facts, we should have been greatly surprised if Joshua had OT sent out spies!
The whole chapter is devoted to the narration of this third preparatory step by
Joshua antecedent to the invasion.
THE SPIES GO TO THE HOUSE OF RAHAB
"And Joshua the son of un sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying,
Go view the land, and Jericho. And they went and came into the house of a harlot
whose name was Rahab, and lay there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying,
Behold, there came men in thither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the
land. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, bring forth the men that are
come to thee, that are entered into thy house; for they are come to search out all the
land. And the woman took the two men, and hid them; and said, Yes, the men came
unto me, but I knew not whence they were: and it came to pass about the time of the
shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out; whither the men went
I know not: pursue after them quickly; for ye will overtake them. But she had
brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid

16. in order upon the roof. And the men pursued after them the way to the Jordan unto
the fords: and as soon as they that pursued after them were gone out, they shut the
gate."
"Joshua ... sent out of Shittim ..." This place was five or six miles east of Jordan,
just as Jericho was about the same distance west of Jordan. "Shittim means Acacias,
and they are still found in that area."[3]
"Two men as spies secretly ..." The critics insult this passage as being
"redundant,"[4] That type of cavil is based on the proposition that the word "spies"
automatically means "secretly," such a cliche being itself untrue. When Joshua
himself went out as a spy forty years earlier, all Israel knew of the sending out of
those spies and of their disastrous report (by the majority) that resulted in the
cursing of Israel for the space of forty years. Thus, the word "secretly" in this place
means that Joshua concealed their mission from everyone, even in Israel, except
from himself. This clearly was done to avoid the mistake that followed the earlier
example of sending out spies. Keil and many other able scholars have accurately
discerned this. "This was done so that, if the report proved unfavorable, the people
might not be thrown into despair as they had been in the times of Moses."[5]
"The house of a harlot whose name was Rahab ..." Adam Clarke and others have
insisted that "harlot" here actually means "innkeeper," and that there is no reason
to question the character of this woman.[6] It is true that many harlots ran inns,
casting some doubt upon what, exactly, may be meant here, but we believe that
Matthew's mention of only four women in the ancestry of Jesus - the four being:
Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba - is powerful evidence that Rahab was a
common harlot. There is no other consideration that would entitle her to a place in
this list. Also, the particular words used with reference to Rahab, both in the O.T.
([~zownah]) and in the .T. ([@porne]) "definitely class her as a common harlot,
not as a [~qedeshah] (temple or cult-priestess)."[7] Then, there is the almost
invariable custom of the times in that part of the world, that, "Inns, in the ordinary
sense, were never kept by women."[8]
Such a fact as this truth about Rahab always embarrasses "nice people," who in all
too many cases are too conceited and self-righteous ever to be saved. In all ages, it
has been the worst of sinners, in many cases, who most readily turned to God for
salvation. Christ himself stated that, "The publicans and the harlots go into the
kingdom of God" (Matthew 21:31) before the Pharisees! This pattern distinguished
the early church also, which counted among its members those who once had been
the very worst of sinners, including, thieves, drunkards, idolaters, adulterers,
homosexuals, revilers, extortioners and covetous persons (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
Therefore, we favor understanding Rahab as a prostitute in the ordinary sense of
the word. Our word "pornographic" comes from the Greek word applied to her in
the .T. How, then, should we account for the declaration that, "She was an
innkeeper"?[9] We believe that men have always been reluctant to admit either
their own sins, or the former sins of the saved, whether in their own case, or in that

17. of others. Similar efforts have been applied to the story of Mary Magdalene. Christ
came to save sinners, and it does the Lord no honor to cover up the sins of the
people whom he redeemed. It is the same foolish effort that marks the words of
apologists who deny that Rahab's lie was sinful. Holwerda, for example, in a
passage quoted by Woudstra, argued that, "Truth can mean something different
than agreement with fact! It means loyalty toward the neighbor and toward the
Lord!"[10] This is certainly a sinful and unlawful "crutch" to support a lie.
The story of Rahab has always intrigued the Christians of every age. Charles H.
Spurgeon delivered one of his most memorable sermons on "Rahab." (For a sermon
outline based partially upon Spurgeon's great masterpiece, see Vol. 10 of my .T.
commentary series (Hebrews, under Hebrews 11:31).)
Although Plummer freely admitted the immorality of Rahab, he nevertheless tried
to justify the entry of the spies into Rahab's house, saying, "It does not appear that
the spies entered Rahab's house with any evil intent!"[11] We are not at all
convinced by such an opinion. The basic truth is that, as soon as these men hit town,
they made a bee-line to the most popular whorehouse (known to the king) in town
not to do anything wrong? We pray that Plummer was right! In favor of that view is
the observation made by Philbeck that, such a place, "Was the least likely to arouse
suspicion."[12]
"And Jericho ..." "At least three cities of this name have been identified in this
location: (1) the Jericho of the .T.; (2) the Jericho of the O.T.; and (3) the Jericho
of Roman times."[13] Two of these existed simultaneously in days of our Lord's
ministry, the same being the explanation of why one of the synoptics described a
certain miracle of Jesus as taking place "as he was leaving Jericho," and another
said the same miracle took place "as he was entering Jericho." Both Jericho's were
mentioned by Taylor: "A town grew up near the ancient site (razed by Joshua) ...
There were two adjacent cities by that name, so the miracle was wrought at a place
between the two."[14]
The location of the Jericho that fell to Joshua is not definitely known. Woudstra
says, "The question of identification must be left open. There are still many
unexplored tells in the area."[15]
"And it was told the king of Jericho ..." At that time, and until about the 9th
century, kings, even of extensive areas were called after the name of their capital. In
Jonah, for example, the king of Assyria is referred to as "the king of ineveh." Such
designations are a mark of very great antiquity, and such signs compel us to look at
the age of Moses and Joshua as the period when all of these first O.T. books were
written. Palestine at the time of the conquest by Israel had about thirty-two such
kinglets over that many little kingdoms.
It is significant that the king's representatives were very easily deceived by Rahab,
indicating that the king himself considered her to be dependable.

18. Most of the recent versions supply in this chapter at appropriate places the
pluperfect tenses which are missing in the Hebrew (due to the deficiency of that
language in those days) translating Joshua 2:6, for example, thus: "The woman had
brought them up on the roof, etc." This necessity is well understood by translators.
Holmes professed ignorance of this, however, and stated that, "Joshua 2:15-17
should be omitted. We can hardly think of the conversation being continued
between Rahab at the window and the spies on the ground outside the wall!"[16]
The use of the pluperfect in such verses clears up everything.
The general morality of people throughout the world at the times in focus here was
very imperfect, even on the part of the Israelites. Rahab, like the Israelites, is
commended in the Word of God, "not for her immorality (adultery and falsehood),
but for her FAITH,"[17] and especially for her works in moving to support God's
people. See Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25.
"The stalks of flax ..." (Joshua 2:6) reveal several things: (1) The time of the year
was about March or April, that being the time when the flax was ready to harvest.
[18] (2) It also meant that the Jordan was flooding (Joshua 3:15), as it always did at
harvest time. (3) Likewise, there is a glimpse here of Rahab's cultivation and
processing of flax, indicating that that industry was at least one source of the
woman's livelihood. The flax industry dates from "the earliest times in
Palestine."[19]
CO STABLE, "Verse 1
The two men sent out as spies were young (cf. Joshua 6:23). Joshua sent them out
secretly (cf. Joshua 7:2). He did not want a recurrence of the Kadesh Barnea
rebellion ( umbers 13-14).
"He had learned by experience that spy reports should be brought to the leaders
only, for the people did not have sufficient orientation or experience to properly
evaluate such a report." [ ote: Davis and Whitcomb, p33.]
Their mission was to explore the area Israel would enter, especially Jericho. Jericho
is possibly the lowest city on earth, lying about750 feet below sea level. [ ote: See
The ew Bible Dictionary, 1962ed, s.v. "Jericho," by Kenneth A. Kitchen.] Their
object was to determine when and how to attack, not whether to attack.
"Sending out men for reconnaissance was a widespread phenomenon in the east.
Moreover, a prostitute"s or innkeeper"s house was the accustomed place for
meeting with spies, conspirators, and the like. Thus, for example, we read in
Hammurabi"s Code: "If scoundrels plot together [in conspiratorial relationships] in
an innkeeper"s house, and she does not seize them and bring them to the palace,
that innkeeper shall be put to death" (law 109). In a Mari letter we read about two
men who sow fear and panic and cause rebellion in an army. Also, the pattern of a
three-day stay in an area when pursuing escapees has support in ancient eastern
sources; for example the instructions to the Hittite tower commanders specify that if
an enemy invades a place he must be pursued for three days. In the same collection

19. of instructions we find that it is forbidden to build an inn (arzana) in which
prostitutes live near the fortress wall, apparently because of the kind of danger
described in Joshua 2." [ ote: Moshe Weinfeld, The Promise of the Land: The
Inheritance of the Land of Canaan by the Israelites, pp141-43.]
Jericho was not a large city, but it had strong fortifications and a strategic location
on the eastern frontier of Canaan. It lay just a few miles west of the Jordan River in
the Jordan Valley. If the Israelites were to gain a foothold in Canaan, they would
have to defeat Jericho.
The spies probably stayed at Rahab"s house because they hoped to be less
conspicuous there than they would have been if they had lodged elsewhere. [ ote:
See Butler, pp31-32 , for a discussion of the many instances of irony in this chapter.]
Josephus called Rahab an innkeeper, which she may have been. [ ote: Josephus,
5:1:2 , 7. See also Hess, pp83-84; and M. A. Beek, "Rahab in the Light of Jewish
Exegesis," in Von Kanaan bis Kerala, pp37-44. Bush, pp31-32 , strongly rejected
this possibility.] The writer recorded Rahab"s name because she became an
important person in Israel"s history. She was an ancestor of David as well as
Israel"s helper on this occasion (cf. Matthew 1:5).
PULPIT, "RAHAB A D THE SPIES.—
Joshua 2:1
And Joshua the son of un sent. Rather, as margin, had sent (see note on Joshua
1:2). It might have been at the very time when the command was given to the
Israelites, for, according to a common Hebrew manner of speech (see, for instance, 1
Samuel 16:10), the three days (verse 22) may include the whole time spent by the
spies in their exploring expedition. Out of Shittim. Literally, from the valley of
acacias. It is so called in full in Joel 3:18. This place (called Abel-Shittim in umbers
33:49), in which the Israelites had sojourned for some time (see umbers 25:1; cf.
umbers 25:10. umbers 12:1), seems to have been in the plains ( ‫ֹת‬ ‫ב‬ ְ‫ַר‬‫ע‬ see note on
Joshua 4:13) of Moab, by Jordan, opposite Jericho" ( umbers 33:48, umbers
33:49, umbers 33:50; umbers 36:13; cf. Deuteronomy 1:5). It was "the long belt
of acacia groves which mark with a line of verdure the upper terraces of the
valley.". The word Abel, or meadow, signifying the long grass with its juicy
moisture, points to it as a refreshing place of sojourn and pasture for flocks, after
the weary wandering in the wilderness. The acacia, not the spina AEgyptiaca of the
ancients, the mimosa ilotica of Linnaeus, but the acacia Seyal, a tree with a golden
tuft of blossom, which is still to be found on the spot, very hard dark wood, of which
much use was made in the tabernacle and its fittings (see Exodus 25:1-40; Exodus
26:1-37; Exodus 36:1-38; Exodus 37:1-29; etc). The name Abel was a common one in
Palestine, and is the same as Abila, from whence comes Abilene (Luke 3:1). We may
add that it has nowhere been said that they were at Shittim. We find this out from
umber 25:1. This undesigned coincidence is beyond the power of an inventor, and
far beyond the power of a compiler who was not only untrustworthy, but so clumsy
that he made the most extraordinary blunders in the management of his matter (see

20. note on next verse, and also on Joshua 1:11). Two men. Young men, as we are told
in Joshua 6:23, and therefore active, fleet of foot as well as brave and prudent. All
these qualities, as the subsequent narrative shows, were urgently required. "Joshua
himself was full of God's Spirit, and had the oracle of God ready for his direction.
Yet now he goes, not to the Propitiatorie for consultation, but to the spyes. Except
where ordinarie meanes faile us, it is no use appealing to the immediate helpe of
God; we may not seek to the posterne, but where the common gate is shut. It was
promised Joshua that bee should leade Israel into the promised land, yet hee knew it
was unsafe to presume. The condition of his provident care was included in that
assurance of successe. Heaven is promised to us, but not to our carelessnesse,
infidelitie, disobedience" (Bishop Hall). Secretly. Literally, dumbness or craftiness
(the noun being used adverbially), implying the silence and skill required for the
task. He who knows how to he silent possesses one at least of the elements of success.
The necessity of silence and secrecy may be inferred from Joshua 6:1. Keil, however,
following the Masoretic punctuation, regards" secretly" as referring to the
Israelites, and the spies as sent unknown to the army, that no depressing report
might damp their courage. Jericho. "The city of fragrance" (from ‫ַח‬‫ו‬ ָ‫ר‬ to breathe,
and in the Hiphil, to smell a sweet odour), so called from its situation in the midst of
palm trees, from which it was called "the city of palm trees ‫יּם‬ ִ‫ָר‬‫מ‬ְ‫ַתּ‬‫ה‬ ‫ִיר‬‫ע‬ in
Deuteronomy 34:3, 2 Chronicles 28:15; cf. 1:16. The vast palm grove, of which relics
are even now occasionally washed up from the Red Sea, preserved by the salt in its
acrid waters, has now disappeared. We read of it as still existing in the twelfth
century, and indeed traces of it were to be seen as late as 1838. A dirty and poverty-
stricken village called Riha, or Eriha, is all that now marks the site of all these
glories of nature and art, and the most careful researches have until lately failed to
discover any remains of the ancient city. It is doubtful whether the ruins observed
by Tristram are not the ruins of soma later city, built in the neighbourhood.
Bartlett, p. 452, believes Riha to be the site of the later Jericho of our Lord's day,
but Tristram would, with less probability, identify Riha with Gilgal. They both,
however, place the site of ancient Jericho about a mile and a half from Riha. Conder
thinks its true position is at the fountain Ain-es-Sultan. Lenormant, in his 'Manual
of Oriental History,' remarks on the skill of Joshua as a military tactician. Whether
he followed the advice of his experienced leader, or whether we are to attribute his
success to special guidance from above, he certainly displayed the qualities of a
consummate general. "Jericho," says Dean Stanley, "stands at the entrance of the
main passes from the valley of the Jordan into the interior of Palestine, the one
branching off to the southwest towards Olivet, the other to the northwest towards
Michmash, which commands the approach to Ai and Bethel. It was thus the key of
Palestine to any invader from this quarter." He illustrates by Chiavenna (or the key
city, from its situation), in Italy. Lenormant remarks that from an ordinary
historical point of view the strategy of Joshua is worth notice. It was the practice
ever followed by apoleon, and, he adds, by elson also, to divide his enemies, and
crush them in detail. Had Joshua advanced upon Palestine from the south, each
success, as it alarmed, would have also united the various communities of the land,
under their separate kings, by the sense of a common danger. Thus each onward
step would have increased his difficulties, and exposed him, exhausted by continued
efforts, to the assaults of fresh and also more numerous enemies, in a country which

21. grew ever more easy to defend and more perilous to attack. But by crossing the
Jordan and marching at once upon Jericho, he was enabled, after the capture of
that city, to fall with his whole force first upon the cities of the south, and then on
those of the north. The political condition of Palestine at that time (see Introduction)
did not permit of a resistance by the whole force of the country under a single
leader. A hasty confederation of the kings of the south, after the treaty with Gibeon,
was overthrown by the rapid advance of Joshua and the battle of Beth-boron. By
this success he was free to march with his whole army northward, against the
confederation of tribes under the leadership of the king of Hazor, whom he
overcame in the decisive battle of Merom. There is no hint given in the Scripture
that in this strategy Joshua acted under the special guidance of the Most High. The
probability is, that in this, as in all other of God's purposes effected through the
agency of man, there is a mixture of the Divine and human elements, and that man's
individuality is selected and guided as an instrument of God's purpose, which, in
this instance, was the chastisement of the Canaanitish people, and the gift of the
Holy Land as a possession to the descendants of Abraham. That Joshua was not
indifferent to human means is shown by this very verse. Into a harlots house. Many
commentators have striven to show that this word simply means an innkeeper, an
office which, as Dr. Adam Clarke proves at length, was often filled by a woman. It
has been derived from ‫זוּן‬ to nourish, a root also found in the Syriac. The Chaldee
paraphast and many Jewish and Christian interpreters have adopted this
interpretation, in order, as Rosenmuller remarks, "to absolve her from whom
Christ had His origin from the crime of prostitution." But St. Matthew seems to
imply the very opposite. The genealogy there contained mentions, as though of set
purpose, all the blots on the lineage of Christ as was fitting in setting forth the origin
of Him who came to forgive sin. Only three women are there mentioned: Tamar,
who was guilty of incest; Rahab, the harlot; and Ruth, the Moabitess. And the LXX.
render by πόρνη. Calvin calls the interpretation "innkeeper" a "presumptuous
wresting of Scripture." Hengstenberg also rejects the interpretation "innkeeper,"
and maintains the right of the spies, who, he says, were no doubt chosen by Joshua
for their good character, to enter a wicked woman's house for a good purpose. It
does not appear that the spies entered the house of Rahab with any evil intent, but
simply because to enter the house of a woman of that kind—and women of that kind
must have been very numerous in the licentious Phoenician cities—would have
attracted far less attention than if they had entered any other. Even there it did not
escape the notice of the king, who had been thoroughly alarmed (verse 3) by the
successes of Israel eastward of Jordan. Origen, in his third homily on Joshua,
remarks that, "As the first Jesus sent his spies before him and they were received
into the harlot's house, so the second Jesus sent His forerunners, whom the
publicans and harlots gladly received." amed Rahab. Origen (Hom. 3) sees in this
name, which signifies room (see Rehoboth, Genesis 26:22), the type of the Church of
Christ which extends throughout the world, and receives sinners. And lodged there.
Literally, and lay there, perhaps with the idea of lying hid, for they did not (verse
15) spend the night there.
PULPIT, "Joshua 2:1-12

22. Rahab and the spies.
Three points demand our attention in this narrative. First, the conduct of Joshua;
secondly, of the spies; and thirdly, of Rahab.
I. JOSHUA'S CO DUCT. Here we may observe that—
1. He does not despise the use of means. He was under God's special protection. God
had promised (Joshua 1:5) that he would not fail him nor forsake him." He had seen
miracles wrought in abundance, and was destined to receive other proofs of God's
extraordinary presence with him. Yet he does not rely on these, where his own
prudence and diligence are sufficient. We must learn a similar lesson for
ourselves—
(a) in our external undertakings,
(b) in our internal warfare.
In both "God helps those that help themselves." We must "work out our own
salvation," because it is "God that worketh in us," by ordinary as well as by
extraordinary means. To pray to God for special help or direction, without doing
our best to use the means placed within our reach, to exercise our reason, and to see
His directing hand in the external circumstances of our lives, is mere fatalism. To
expect to be freed from besetting sins, to triumph over temptations without effort on
our own part, to have victory without struggle, perfection without perseverance, is
mere selfishness and indolence.
2. The use of ordinary means, where possible, is a law of God's kingdom. God might
have written His gospel in the skies. He might have proclaimed and might
reproclaim it in voices of thunder from heaven. He might make it an irresistible
influence from within. But He does not. He uses human means. Jesus Christ, like
His prototype, sent His disciples two and two to go before Him. (Mark 6:7; it is
implied in Matthew 10:1; Luke 10:1). Human influence has ever since been the
means of propagating Divine truth. And not only so, but to use extraordinary means
when ordinary would suffice was a suggestion of the devil, peremptorily rejected
twice by Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:4, Luke 4:12); and this,
because this world is God's world as well as the other: reason and prudence, though
subordinate in importance, yet are as much God's gifts as faith.
II. THE CO DUCT OF THE SPIES.
1. They preferred duty to reputation. The only house they could enter without
suspicion was a house whither, under ordinary circumstances, it would have been
impossible for them to go. So Christ's disciples must not fear the comments of the
evil-minded when duty calls upon them to incur suspicion. To give needless cause
for slander is a sin: to shrink from seeking the lost for fear of it is a greater.
Compare Boaz (Ruth 3:14) with the spies here, and both with Jesus Christ (Luke

23. 7:37, Luke 7:38). Ministers of religion, physicians, and the purest-minded Christian
women do not fear to visit the lowest haunts of vice for the temporal or spiritual
welfare of those who inhabit them. It is well that their garb should proclaim the fact
that they are on an errand of mercy. All needful precautions should be taken to
preserve their reputation. But often they will have to put reputation and all in God's
hands, when duty calls, and they may be sure that all is safe with Him.
2. They went unmurmuring on a task of the utmost peril. So must God's messengers
now take their lives in their hands when they visit the sick, either to serve their
bodies or their souls. The missionary confronts a similar risk when he carries to
savage nations the good tidings of salvation by Christ. If He preserve them alive,
they thank Him for His goodness; if not, the blood of such martyrs is still the seed of
the Church. Men do and dare all for the sake of the temporal reward of the Victoria
Cross. The messengers of Jesus Christ ought not to be less willing to risk all that is
worth having in this life for the Eternal Crown. How rare is this spiritual gallantry,
as we may call it! Yet it is rare only because genuine faith is rare. We believe in
rewards that we can see. The unfading crown excites few longings, because it is of
faith, not sight.
3. They did not recklessly expose themselves to danger. When Rahab bid them
conceal themselves, they did so. They willingly accepted her aid in letting them
down from the wall, and her advice in concealing themselves in the caves of the
mountains. In so doing they did but anticipate the command, "When they persecute
you in one city, flee ye into another" (Matthew 10:23). Thus St. Peter concealed his
residence from the disciples (Acts 12:17); St. Paul was let down in a basket from the
wails of Damascus (Acts 9:25; 2 Corinthians 11:33); St. Cyprian retired from his see
for awhile that he might still continue to guide it while his guidance was needed. So
now, to expose one's life unnecessarily is suicide, not sanctity.
III. RAHAB'S CO DUCT.
1. Her faith. This is commended in Hebrews 11:31. It was manifested by her
conduct, as St. James tells us in Joshua 2:1-24 :25. For
(a) she incurred danger by acting as she did. This was a proof of the sincerity of her
profession. For no one willingly incurs danger for what he does not believe. And
(b) the reason for her acting as she did was faith in God. It might not have been a
strong faith. It was certainly a faith which had not had many advantages. She could
have known little about Jehovah; but she recognised His hand in the drying up of
the Red Sea and the discomfiture of Sihon and Og. Then
(c) the seems to have lived up to her light. To be a harlot was no very grievous
offence in the eyes of a people who regarded that profession as consecrated to the
service of the gods, as was the case in Babylonia, Syria, Cyprus, Corinth, and a host
of other places. Yet she was not idle, as the stalks of flax imply, and perhaps, in spite
of her impure life, the guilt of which she had no means of realising, she might have

24. been one of those (Proverbs 31:18) who "seeketh wool and flax, and worketh
willingly with her hands." And so she was permitted to "feel after God and find
him" as other sinners have been, through His merits who cried, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do."
2. Her unselfishness. She receives the men, knowing the danger she was in. She risks
her life rather than give them up. She takes every care for their safety by her
prudence and the excellent advice she gives them. As the next section shows, she had
a regard, not merely for her own safety, but for that of her kindred. And this is a
proof that she had striven to a degree after better things. For it is well known that
nothing more deadens men and women to the gentler impulses of our nature,
nothing has a greater tendency to produce cruelty and callousness to suffering, than
the systematic indulgence of sensual passion.
3. Her falsehood. As the notes have shown, this was of course a sin, but in her case a
venial one. Even Christian divines have held it to be a debatable question whether
what Calvin calls a mendacium officiosum, a falsehood in the (supposed) way of
duty, were permissible or not. And though this casuistry is chiefly that of Roman
Catholic divines, yet Protestants have doubted whether a lie might not lawfully be
told with the intent of saving life. In Rahab's time the question had never arisen.
Heathen and even Jewish morality had hardly arrived at the notion that the truth
must in all cases be spoken. Sisera requested Jael, as a matter of course, to do what
Rahab did. Jonathan deceives his father to save David's life, and he is not blamed
for doing so (1 Samuel 20:28, 1 Samuel 20:29). David deceives Ahimelech the priest
(1 Samuel 21:2). Even Elisha appears not to have adhered to strict truth in 2 Kings
6:19, and Gehazi is not punished so much for his lie as for his accepting a gift which
his master had declined. Jeremiah, again, tells without hesitation the untruth
Zedekiah asks him to tell (Jeremiah 38:24 27). How, then, should Rahab have
known that it was wrong of her to deceive the messengers of the king, in order to
save the spies alive?
4. Her treachery to her own people. This, under ordinary circumstances, would also
have been a sin. But here the motive justifies the act. It was not the result of a mere
slavish fear of Israelite success. It was due to the fact that she recognised the
Israelites as being under the protection of the true God, who would punish the
idolatry and impurity of the Canaanites. Resistance, she knew, was vain. Jehovah
had given them the land. There could be no harm in delivering her own life, and and
the life of those dear to her, from the general slaughter. Besides, neither as a
probable consequence nor in actual fact did the escape of the spies, through Rahab,
affect the fate of Jericho. ot as a thing probable from her action, for the report of
the spies, though it might supply Joshua with valuable information, could not bring
about the fall of Jericho. Her conduct was not like that of Ephialtes at Thermopylae,
or of Tarpeia at Rome. or did the report of the spies actually bring about the fall
of Jericho, for it was effected by supernatural means. In conclusion, it may be
remarked that Rahab was in a sense the "first fruits of the Gentiles." She was
justified by faith, not by works, in the sense in which St. Paul uses the words. That is
to say, her former life had not entitled her to the favour of God, though her work in

25. saving the spies was effectual as an evidence of her faith. She was forgiven, saved,
numbered among faithful Israel, and became a "mother in Israel." And as a
"woman that was a sinner," she was a type of those whom Jesus Christ came to
save, who, "dead in trespasses and sins, were quickened" by the grace and mercy of
the true Joshua, our Lord Jesus Christ.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "THE SPIES I JERICHO.
Joshua 2:1-24.
IT was not long ere Joshua found an occasion not only for the exercise of that
courage to which he had been so emphatically called both by God and the people,
but for calling on others to practise the same manly virtue. For the duty which he
laid on the two spies - detectives we should now call them - to enter Jericho and
bring a report of its condition, was perhaps the most perilous to which it was
possible for men to be called. It was like sending them into a den of lions, and
expecting them to return safe and sound. Evidently he was happy in finding two
men ready for the duty and the risk. Young men they are called further on (Joshua
6:23), and it is quite likely that they were leading men in their tribes. o doubt they
might disguise themselves, they might divest themselves of anything in dress that
was characteristically Hebrew, they might put on the clothes of neighbouring
peasants, and carry a basket of produce for sale in the city; and as for language,
they might be able to use the Canaanite dialect and imitate the Canaanite accent.
But if they did try any such disguise, they must have known that it would be of
doubtful efficacy; the officials of Jericho could not fail to be keenly on the watch,
and no disguise could hide the Hebrew features, or divest them wholly of the air of
foreigners. evertheless the two men had courage for the risky enterprise. Doubtless
it was the courage that sprang from faith; it was in God's service they went, and
God's protection would not fail them. To be able to find agents so willing and so
suitable was a proof to Joshua that God had already begun to fulfil His promises.
Joshua had been a spy himself, and it was natural enough that he should think of
the same mode of reconnoitering the country, now that they were again on the eve of
making the entrance into it which they should have made nearly forty years before.
There is no reason to think that in taking this step Joshua acted presumptuously,
proceeding on his own counsel when he should have sought counsel of God. For
Joshua might rightly infer that he ought to take this course inasmuch as it had been
followed before with God's approval in the case of the twelve. Its purpose was
twofold - to obtain information and confirmation. Information as to the actual
condition and spirit of the Canaanites, as to the view they took of the approaching
invasion of the Israelites, and the impression that had been made on them by all the
remarkable things that had happened in the desert; and confirmation, - new proof
for his own people that God was with them, fresh encouragement to go up bravely to
the attack, and fresh assurance that not one word would ever fail them of all the
things which the Lord had promised.

26. We follow the two men as they leave Shittim, so named from the masses of bright
acacia which shed their glory over the plain; then cross the river at "the fords,"
which, flooded though they were, were still practicable for swimmers; enter the
gates of Jericho, and move along the streets. In such a city as Jericho, and among
such an immoral people as the Canaanites, it was not strange that they should fall in
with a woman of Rahab's occupation, and should receive an invitation to her house.
Some commentators have tried to make out that she was not so bad as she is
represented, but only an innkeeper; but the meaning of the word both here and as
translated in Hebrews 11:1-40 and James 2:1-26 is beyond contradiction. Others
have supposed that she was one of the harlot-priestesses of Ashtoreth, but in that
case she would have had her dwelling in the precincts of a temple, not in an out-of-
the-way place on the walls of the city. We are to remember that in the degraded
condition of public opinion in Canaan, as indeed much later in the case of the
Hetairai of Athens, her occupation was not regarded as disgraceful, neither did it
banish her from her family, nor break up the bonds of interest and affection
between them, as it must do in every moral community.* It was not accompanied
with that self-contempt and self-loathing which in other circumstances are its fruits.
We may quite easily understand how the spies might enter her house simply for the
purpose of getting the information they desired, as modern detectives when tracking
out crime so often find it necessary to win the confidence and worm out the secrets
of members of the same wretched class. But the emissaries of Joshua were in too
serious peril, in too devout a mood, and in too high-strung a state of nerve to be at
the mercy of any Delilah that might wish to lure them to careless pleasure. Their
faith, their honour, their patriotism, and their regard to their leader Joshua, all
demanded the extremest circumspection and self-control; they were, like Peter,
walking on the sea; unless they kept their eye on their Divine protector, their
courage and presence of mind would fail them, they would be at the mercy of their
foes.
*It is somewhat remarkable that the present village of Riha, at or near the site of the
ancient Jericho, is noted for its licentiousness. The men, it is said, wink at the
infidelity of the women, a trait of character singularly at variance with the customs
of the Bedouin. "At our encampment over Ain Terabeh (says Robinson) the night
before we reached this place, we overheard our Arabs asking the Khatib for a paper
or written charm to protect them from the women of Jericho; and from their
conversation it seemed that illicit intercourse between the latter and strangers that
come here is regarded as a matter of course. Strange that the inhabitants of the
valley should have retained this character from the earliest ages; and that the sins of
Sodom and Gomorrah should still flourish upon the same accursed soil."-"
Researches in Palestine," i, 553.
Whether disguised or not, the two men had evidently been noticed and suspected
when they entered the city, which they seem to have done in the dusk of evening.
But, happily for them, the streets of Jericho were not patrolled by policemen ready
to pounce on suspicious persons, and run them in for judicial examination. The king
or burgomaster of the place seems to have been the only person with whom it lay to

27. deal with them. Whoever had detected them, after following them to Rahab's house,
had then to resort to the king's residence and give their information to him. Rahab
had an inkling of what was likely to follow, and being determined to save the men,
she hid them on the roof of the house, and covered them with stalks of flax, stored
there for domestic use. When, after some interval, the king's messengers came,
commanding her to bring them forth since they were Israelites come to search the
city, she was ready with her plausible tale. Two men had indeed come to her, but she
could not tell who they were, it was no business of hers to be inquisitive about them;
the men had left just before the gates were shut, and doubtless, if they were alert
and pursued after them, they would overtake them, for they could not be far off.
The king's messengers had not half the wit of the woman; they took her at her word,
made no search of her house, but set out on the wild-goose chase on which she had
sent them. Sense and spirit failed them alike.
We are not prepared for the remarkable development of her faith that followed.
This first Canaanite across the Jordan with whom the Israelites met was no
ordinary person. Rays of Divine light had entered that unhallowed soul, not to be
driven back, not to be hidden under a bushel, but to be welcomed, and ultimately
improved and followed. Our minds are carried forward to what was so impressive
in the days of our Lord, when the publicans and the harlots entered into the
kingdom before the scribes and the pharisees. We are called to admire the riches of
the grace of God, who does not scorn the moral leper, but many a time lays His hand
upon him, and says ''I will, be thou clean." "They shall come from the east, and
from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer
darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
In the first place, Rahab made a most explicit confession of her faith, not only in
Jehovah as the God of the Hebrews, but in Him as the one only God of heaven and
earth. It would have been nothing had she been willing to give to the Hebrew God a
place, a high place, or even the highest place among the gods. Her faith went much
further. "The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath."
This is an exclusive faith - Baal and Ashtoreth are nowhere. What a remarkable
conviction to take hold of such a mind! All the traditions of her youth, all the
opinions of her neighbours, all the terrors of her priests set at nought, swept clean
off the board, in face of the overwhelming evidence of the sole Godhead of Jehovah!
Again, she explained the reason for this faith. ''We have heard how the Lord dried
up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did
unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and
Og, whom ye utterly destroyed." The woman has had an eye to see and an ear to
hear. She has not gazed in stupid amazement on the marvellous tokens of Divine
power displayed before the world, nor accepted the sophistry of sceptics referring
all these marvels to accidental thunderstorms and earthquakes and high winds. She
knew better than to suppose that a nation of slaves by their own resources could
have eluded all the might of Pharaoh, subsisted for forty years in the wilderness,

28. and annihilated the forces of such renowned potentates as Sihon and Og. She was no
philosopher, and could not have reasoned on the doctrine of causation, but her
common sense taught her that you cannot have extraordinary effects without
corresponding causes. It is one of the great weaknesses of modern unbelief that with
all its pretensions to philosophy, it is constantly accepting effects without an
adequate cause. Jesus Christ, though He revolutionized the world, though He
founded an empire to which that of the Caesars is not for a moment to be compared,
though all that were about Him admitted His supernatural power and person, after
all, was nothing but a man. The gospel that has brought peace and joy to so many
weary hearts, that has transformed the slaves of sin into children of heaven, that has
turned cannibals into saints, and fashioned so many an angelic character out of the
rude blocks of humanity, is but a cunningly devised fable. What contempt for such
sophistries, such vain explanations of facts patent to all would this poor woman have
shown! How does she rebuke the many that keep pottering in poor natural
explanations of plain supernatural facts, instead of manfully admitting that it is the
Arm of God that has been revealed, and the Voice of God that has spoken!
Further, Rahab informed the spies that when they heard these things the
inhabitants of the land had become faint, their hearts melted, and there remained
no more courage in them because of the Israelites. For they felt that the tremendous
Power that had desolated Egypt and dried up the sea, that had crushed Sihon King
of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan like nuts under the feet of a giant, was now
close upon themselves. What could they do to arrest the march of such a power, and
avert the ruin which it was sure to inflict? They had neither resource nor refuge -
their hearts melted in them. It is when Divine Power draws near to men, or when
men draw near to Divine Power that they get the right measure of its dimensions
and the right sense of their own impotence. Caligula could scoff at the gods at a
distance, but in any calamity no man was more prostrate with terror. It is easy for
the atheist or the agnostic to assume a bold front when God is far off, but woe betide
him when He draws near in war, in pestilence, or in death!
If we ask, How could Rahab have such a faith and yet be a harlot? or how could she
have such faith in God and yet utter that tissue of falsehoods about the spies with
which she deluded the messengers of the king? we answer that light comes but
gradually and slowly to persons like Rahab. The conscience is but gradually
enlightened. How many men have been slaveholders after they were Christians!
Worse than that, did not the godly John ewton, one of the two authors of the
Olney hymns, continue for some time in the slave trade, conveying cargoes of his
fellow creatures stolen from their homes, before he awoke to a sense of its infamy?
Are there no persons among us calling themselves Christians engaged in traffic that
brings awful destruction to the bodies and souls of their fellow-men? That Rahab
should have continued as she was after she threw in her lot with God's people is
inconceivable; but there can be no doubt how she was living when she first comes
into Bible history. And as to her falsehoods, though some have excused lying when
practised in order to save life, we do not vindicate her on that ground. All falsehood,
especially what is spoken to those who have a right to trust us, must be offensive to
the God of truth, and the nearer men get to the Divine image, through the growing

29. closeness of their Divine fellowship, the more do they recoil from it. Rahab was yet
in the outermost circle of the Church, just touching the boundary; the nearer she
got to the centre the more would she recoil alike from the foulness and the falseness
of her early years.
We have to notice further in Rahab a determination to throw in her lot with the
people of God. In spirit she had ceased to be a Canaanite and become an Israelite.
She showed this by taking the side of the spies against the king, and exposing herself
to certain and awful punishment if it had been found out that they were in her
house. And her confidential conversation with them before she sent them away, her
cordial recognition of their God, her expression of assurance that the land would be
theirs, and her request for the protection of herself and her relations when the
Israelites should become masters of Jericho, all indicated one who desired to
renounce the fellowship of her own people and cast in her lot with the children of
God. That she was wholly blameless in the way in which she went about this, in
favouring the spies against her own nation in this underhand way, we will not
affirm; but one cannot look for a high sense of honour in such a woman. Still,
whatever may be said against her, the fact of her remarkable faith remains
conspicuous and beyond dispute, all the more striking, too, that she is the last
person in whom we should have expected to find anything of the kind. That faith
beyond doubt was destined to expand and fructify in her heart, giving birth to
virtues and graces that made her after life a great contrast to what it had been. o
doubt the words of the Apostle might afterwards have been applied to her - "Such
were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of the Lord."
And yet, though her faith may at this time have been but as a grain of mustard seed,
we see two effects of it that are not to be despised. One was her protection of the
Lord's people, as represented by the spies; the other was her concern for her own
relations. Father, mother, brothers, and sisters and all that they had, were dear to
her, and she took measures for their safety when the destruction of Jericho should
come. She exacted an oath of the two spies, and asked a pledge of them, that they
would all be spared when the crisis of the city arrived. And the men passed their
oath and arranged for the protection of the family. o doubt it may be said that it
was only their temporal welfare about which she expressed concern, and for which
she made provision. But what more could she have been expected to do at that
moment? What more could the two spies have engaged to secure? It was plain
enough that if they were ever to obtain further benefit from fellowship with God's
people, their lives must be preserved in the first instance from the universal
destruction which was impending. Her anxiety for her family, like her anxiety for
herself, may even then have begun to extend beyond things seen and temporal, and a
fair vision of peace and joy may have begun to flit across her fancy at the thought of
the vile and degrading idolatry of the Canaanites being displaced in them by the
service of a God of holiness and of love. But neither was she far enough advanced to
be able as yet to give expression to this hope, nor were the spies the persons to whom
it would naturally have been communicated. The usual order in the Christian life is,
that as anxiety about ourselves begins in a sense of personal danger and a desire for