Joshua 2

What's going in the book of Joshua? The people were redeemed in Exodus. The Land is redeemed in Joshua. We are redeemed in the New Testament. The entire creation is redeemed in Revelation.

(1) Then Joshua SECRETLY sent out *two spies from the Israelite camp at **Acacia Grove. He instructed them, "Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around ***Jericho." So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named ****Rahab and stayed there that night.

• *two spies: The Hebrew word for "spies" can also mean "witnesses" - a parallel with the two witnesses in Revelation. This is also a parallel with Moses sending in 12 spies in Numbers 13:1 - 14:45 and Deuteronomy 1:19-46. Joshua does not yet know how God is going to enable them to conquer Jericho; so, he's scoping the city to discover its defenses, its layout, its weaknesses and the attitude of its inhabitants. Notice he's sending them out "SECRETLY" - any guess why?
• **Acacia Grove: Hebrew Shittim. This is the second time the Israelites have been here. The first time, Balak and Balaam tried to subvert them: Numbers 25:1: While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women.
• ***Jericho
  • Jericho was strategic in  conquering the land of Canaan, for it was just on the other side of the Jordan and having conquered the city the children of Israel could go straight through the city and begin to divide and conquer the rest of the land.
  • Jericho was about six miles from the Jordan River and about 10 miles northwest of the Dead Sea, 670 feet below sea level.
  • A large gushing spring and the fertile plain surrounding the city earned it the distinction "the city of palm trees" (Deuteronomy 34:3; 2 Chronicles 28:15).
  • It had an inner wall and an outer fortified wall, several feet thick, separated by a distance of about 15 feet, enclosing about nine acres. Jericho was a formidable, even impregnable,  obstacle.
  • Jericho (Bet Yerah, "the House of the Moon God") was the capital of the strongest of the seven nations then occupying the land of Canaan. And, who is Allah?
• ****Rahab:
  • Pretty gutsy of these two guys just to waltz right into the town of the enemy and scout it out! Did they know the language? Would their accent betray them like Peter's accent betrayed him? Did they disguise themselves? How did they know to go to Rahab's house? Were they "spies" or were they on a godly mission to rescue a gentile who wanted to know this god of the Hebrews - "spies" means "witnesses".
  • While Joshua sent the spies to the city, God directed them to the home of one whom God intended to save! There was another purpose at work in sending the spies: to save Rahab. In this, we see the extent God goes to in bringing one woman and her father’s house to salvation - someone seemingly “impossible” to save and insignificant, like the Samaritan woman. God’s hand is not short to save people like Rahab, and He can work in amazing ways to bring salvation.
  • Why did they go to the house of a prostitute? Some scholars insist that she was just an innkeeper. Perhaps the Lord knew her thoughts and heart and deliberately directed the spies to her house. The Lord went ahead of them, according to Exodus 23, and had already prepared her heart just as He had sent His "angel" and fear ahead. Maybe the "angel"was sent ahead to look for any who would open his or her heart to God - reminds me of God's discourse with Abraham about Sodom and how one family was rescued from there before it was destroyed.
  • I suspect her "house" was somewhat like Kitty's Long Branch Saloon in the TV series Gunsmoke, that ran from 1955 to 1975, starring James Arness. It was never said, but it was pretty obvious that this was a saloon, an Inn and a house of ill repute and  Kitty, Marshal Dillon's girlfriend, who ran the place, was more than just the innkeeper.
  • Rahab, the poor outcast of Jericho, who had this strange faith in God, entered in with the people to possess the land that flowed with milk and honey. She is thus the type of Gentile sinners who are permitted to share in the unsearchable riches of Christ; to sit with him in the heavenlies; to form part of that new race which is gathering around the true Joshua, the Lord from Heaven. It is interesting to see how often in the Old Testament a Gentile is brought in - grafted into Israel as Paul says in Romans during the Acts period.
  • Over and over again throughout history God chooses very plain or nondescript people and exalts them LIKE US, draws them to himself, and then honors them with ministry responsibility. Rahab is an amazing example of this. God holds Rahab up on display as a model of saving faith. She exhibits amazing character qualities that commend themselves to God, and then He commends her to us in the New Testament in both Hebrews and in James. God loves to turn things upside-down. He chooses the most unexpected people to work with. He specializes in social outcasts. Remember, Jesus will be criticized for his involvement with tax collectors, publicans and sinners - those who are looked down upon because of lifestyle choices they have made.
  • Rahab had a past, but God gave her a future. No matter what you have done, what sin you have in your past, remember that God can forgive you. We are all sinners in God's eyes and through Jesus we can all be pure before God - made whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7). Sometimes, Christians can be judgmental about different sins, but God never is. God took a Gentile prostitute and made her a Woman of Faith.
  • Rahab risked everything, and even became a traitor to her state. She rejected her pagan gods and put her trust in the God of Israel. This was a daring thing to do, but she did it and became one of the only two women in Hebrews 11 as great examples of faith. Sarah is the other woman, and Sarah means princess. So we have the princess and the prostitute, the high and the low, but both are examples of great faith, and they make it clear that faith is an open choice for all.
  • God forgave Rahab her prostitution. He forgave David his adultery and murder. He forgave Peter his denials. He forgave the thief on the cross. He forgave Paul his persecution. He forgave those who nailed him to the cross. God is in the forgiveness business!
  • Matthew 1:5: Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse.Two gentile women, Rahab and Ruth, in the line of David and Jesus. Matthew deliberately names these women, which would not normally have been done.
  • Hebrews 11:31: It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
  • James 2:25: Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.

(2) But someone told the king of Jericho, Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

• How did the "someone" know they were Israelites? Who was this "someone"? Was the gatekeeper suspicious? Did the king have someone stake out Rahab's "house" to watch for suspicious characters?
• You can be sure that Satan knew!

(3) So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: "Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land."

• Notice that they don't enter her "house" to search for them. Eastern custom prohibited a man from entering a woman's house uninvited.

(4) Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn't know where they were from.

• A lie! Was it a sin? Should she have betrayed them by telling the truth? Could she have said something else to avoid lying yet not betraying the spies? How about those who hid Jews in their homes and businesses from the Nazis?
  
• Had the spies been discovered in her house, she probably would have been executed as a traitor.
• We read in Hammurabi's Code, the prevailing law in the land: '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).

(5) They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don't know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them."

(6) (Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of *flax she had laid out.)

• *flax was used to make linen. It was the time of the barley harvest, and flax and barley are ripe at the same time in the Jordan valley, so that the bundles of flax stalks might have been expected to be drying just then. The flax would have been on the roof drying. The flax was now ripe, just before Passover. This indicates a possible date of March/April (flood stage time for the Jordan), since this was when flax was sun dried. Why would a prostitute be making linen? And, was she dyeing some of it red? So, here we have a possible picture of the rapture - a Jew rescuing a Gentile! A Gentile is going to be "rescued" (raptured) before destruction (the "tribulation)! See the timing here - a pretrib rapture! Rahab is a picture of the church. 1 Thessalonians 5:9: We are NOT appointed unto wrath! Just as Lot and his family were rescued before the destruction and Noah and his family were rescued before the destruction!
• As a side note, there is a famous chapter in Proverbs that teaches how to be a "righteous woman". One of the characteristics of such a woman is the fact she gathers and prepares flax. (See Proverbs 31:13 -a woman more precious than rubies). How many men have a woman like that, an angel who entered their lives, and don't realize or appreciate what gift God has brought them! If a woman is treated as more precious than rubies, she will be just that to him.

(7) So the king's men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king's men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.

(8) Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them.

(9) "I KNOW the Lord has given you this land," she told them. "We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror.

• How did a Canaanite prostitute know (1) God’s covenant name (Lord - YHWH); (2) the covenant stipulations; and (3) their exodus experience? Perhaps, she heard by word of mouth from some of her customers, but this would not have given her more than information. Here, she says she knows the Lord (YHWH) has given them the land. She has come to this conclusion on her own - no one else in the city seemed to think that, though they were afraid. God has possibly been preparing her heart, just as we read sometimes about a Muslim in a Muslim country coming to wonder about this Jesus and eventually being saved. She now casts her lot with God and with the Israelites - there's no turning back now.
• Now comes this profound and unexpected moment of Rahab’s confession of faith in the God of Israel. It is here that we learn the “why?” behind Rahab’s risky protection of 2 men who were complete strangers to her. She begins with the words “I KNOW ”. I know, she says, that the Lord has given Israel this land; of course this is referring to HER land, the very place she lives as a Canaanite. Actually the Hebrew does NOT say that the Lord gave Israel the land, it says YHWH gave Israel the land. Rahab knew the formal personal name of the God of Israel.
• The first thing we notice about Rahab here is that she has been prepared by God even before the spies have entered her house.
• She and all Jericho had watched as a million and a half Israelites, maybe as many as 3-5 million, swarmed up the Jordan and encamped at Shittim, only a dozen miles across the flat Jordan valley. When the East Jordan kingdoms of Ammon and Bashan fell to their armies, terror spread throughout the region. Jericho's king had probably issued a strict command to report all suspicious foreigners. The city was in a panic.
• It was no accident that two spies picked Rahab's home to lodge. The location of where they lodged may have just seemed like a logical choice to make. It turns out that God was "behind the scenes" and wanted the spies to come to this house to rescue Rahab and her family.
• Beware of coincidences, they happen all the time, but you shouldn't trust in the fact that whatever is happening is "just" a coincidence. It was no "coincidence" that the two spies went to Rahab.
• Exodus 23:27: “I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

(10) For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left *Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.

• *Egypt: So, the inhabitants of Jericho have been hearing about these Israelites for forty years and now the day has finally arrived!
• The account of Israel’s victory over Sihon and Og is recorded in Numbers 21 and Deuteronomy 2-3.
• "The people who in Rahab's time most frequently used such houses of prostitution were the traveling merchants. From them, she had repeatedly heard of the nation which was approaching from Egypt, and of the God of Israel who had perfected such striking miracles." - Abraham Kuyper, Women of the Old Testament.

(11) No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.

• The battle was won 40 years ago!
• How did she know about this supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below? She showed that she had replaced her previous belief in Baal (to whom were attributed those characteristics), with a belief in the LORD (Yahweh).

(12) "Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some *guarantee that

• *guarantee: The Holy Spirit is our guarantee - we are sealed.

(13) *WHEN Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families."

• *WHEN, not "if". Notice her family does not include a husband (just like the Samaritan woman). Rahab has faith not only in what God has done, and can do, but in faith of what He will do. She has faith that He will spare her family.
• Joshua 6:17; 6:25: Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies. ... So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.

(14) "We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety," the men agreed. "If you don't betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you *WHEN the Lord gives us the land."

• *WHEN, not if.
• Joshua 6:22-23: Meanwhile, Joshua said to the two spies, “Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute’s house and bring her out, along with all her family.” The men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel.

(15) Then, since Rahab's house was built into the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window.

• In double-walled cities, the poorer and outcasts would have lived in the less safe area between the walls.
• For about 250 years, biblical critics claimed that this story was mythological, or at best historical fiction, because there was no evidence that there were houses built into city walls in the ancient near east. But the excavations in Jericho after the turn of the century showed that the city was surrounded by double walls with twelve feet between them. And they found evidence that simple houses were built on top of timbers that were spread between the two walls. These were like poor squatter's houses sitting on top of the city wall.
• Robert Bratcher and Barclay Newman in A Translators Handbook on the Book of Joshua by the United Bible Societies, have an interesting comment: “Archaeological excavations reveal that at one time Jericho had two city walls, an inner one and an outer one, separated by a space of some 3.5 to 4.5 meters. Houses were built on heavy timbers laid from one wall to the other: the window through which Rahab let the men down looked out from the outer wall”.
•  

(16) "Escape to the hill country, she told them. "Hide there for *three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.”

• *three: Here's that THREE! Remember all the references to "three" in chapter 1?
• This referred to the rugged hill country to the west and south of Jericho, the opposite direction from the camp of Israel.

(17) Before they left, the men told her, We will be bound by the oath we have taken ONLY IF you follow these instructions.

(18) When we come into the land, you must leave this *SCARLET ROPE hanging from the window through which you let us down. And all your family members-your father, mother, brothers, and all your relatives-must be here inside the house.

• *SCARLET ROPE:
  • I doubt the spies and Rahab realized the significance of the red or scarlet color - it was simply obvious and available. But, the Lord saw to it that it was there and that they chose it because of what it represented.
  • Some scholars believe the red cord Rahab hung from her window represents sacrificial blood, the blood of animals in the Old Testament and the blood of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
  • As early as the first century, commentators such as Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, Ireneaus, Origen and more saw this scarlet cord as a symbol of the blood of Jesus.
  • Also parallels the procedure prescribed at the time of the Passover - the blood on the door posts.
  • The Hebrew word translated "rope" here ("thread" in the KJV) is usually translated "hope" as in Psalm 71:5: O Lord, you alone are my hope. I've trusted you, O Lord, from childhood.
  • S.D. Walters has suggested that the scarlet rope may have been the mark of a prostitute, a "red rope" district, if you will.
  • This cord would have been seen each time the Jewish army marched around the city, thereby giving all of the soldiers ample time to mentally locate this house. The binding of the scarlet cord in her window was for the purpose of identifications, so that when Israel made their attack upon Jericho they might know which was her house, and spare it.
  • It must be borne in mind that when the spies gave her those instructions they did not know that the Lord was going to work a miracle, and cause the walls of the city to fall down without any assault upon them by Israel. That was not revealed to Joshua until later (6:5), illustrating the fact that God’s will is made known unto us only a step at a time - He sees the end from the beginning (Acts 15:18), but He does not always allow us to do so (John 13:7). So, He has to cause the walls to fall down, EXCEPT for the part where Rahab lived and was awaiting rescue.
  • That rope was the "token" for which she had asked (verse 12), and it enabled the army of Israel to ascertain which was her house - just as the sprinkled blood on the doorposts of the Hebrews in Egypt caused the angel of death to recognize their houses and pass over them, when He went forth to slay the firstborn (Exodus 12:13); and just as the 144,000 who are exempted from judgment are "sealed in their foreheads" (Revelation 7:3), their identifying mark being that of obedience to the Lord (Revelation 14:1-5).
  • The term “rope” in verse 15 is different from the term “rope” used in verse 17. The first implies a corded strong rope, the second a much smaller, weaker rope or thick thread. By putting out this small rope or thread, it did not draw undue attention to her home by the inhabitants of Jericho.
  • Genesis 38:27-30: When the time came for Tamar to give birth, it was discovered that she was carrying twins. While she was in labor, one of the babies reached out his hand. The midwife grabbed it and tied a scarlet string around the child’s wrist, announcing, “This one came out first.” But then he pulled back his hand, and out came his brother! “What!” the midwife exclaimed. “How did you break out first?” So he was named Perez. Then the baby with the scarlet string on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah. It was Perez who breached first, later leading to the bloodline of King David and Jesus. These references infuse the symbol of red string with strong links to bloodline, and the promise of inheritance in Perez's case, while forgiveness and protection are conjured from Rahab's story.
  • Red strings may also signify sacrifice. During Yom Kippur, there is historically a 'scapegoat' ritual, in which two goats are presented. One is tied around the horns with red string and set free while the other has red string tied around the neck, to indicate it should be slaughtered, as it now bears the sins of Israel. Jesus is represented as the scapegoat for humanity. In John's Gospel, chapter 1 verse 29, John declares of Jesus, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
  • In Exodus, the blood of a sacrificial lamb was put over doorways as protection during the tenth plague.

(19) If they go out into the street and are killed, it will not be our fault. But if anyone lays a hand on people inside this house, we will accept the responsibility for their death.

(20) If you betray us, however, we are not bound by this oath in any way."

(21) "I accept your terms," she replied. And she sent them on their way, leaving the scarlet rope hanging from the window.

• Hebrews 11:31: It was BY FAITH that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. She was not saved because she harbored the spies. She was saved because she believed in God. And the evidence that she believed God was that she harbored the spies. One paraphrase puts it this way: “Because the prostitute Rahab trusted God, she gave the Israelite spies a friendly welcome.” Rahab the prostitute did not perish. Why? By faith, through grace, not due to any inherent goodness on her part. She just believed God.
• By this point, Rahab has already expressed faith: she acknowledged God and that God could and would act in her life. But there was more to be done. Faith alone isn't good enough, though we Protestants like to think so. Faith must produce action. As the Book of James tells us, "faith without works is dead." The two spies explain to Rahab that she must act - she must not betray them and she must put the scarlet cord in the window. Failure to act, despite her claim of faith, will result in her destruction. Faithfully, Rahab ties the cord and awaits the results.

(22) The spies went up into the hill country and stayed there *three days. The men who were chasing them searched everywhere along the road, but they finally returned without success.

• *three days: Joshua must have sent these guys out even before issuing the order for them to break camp; otherwise, you have a real problem with the "three days".

(23) Then the two spies came down from the hill country, crossed the Jordan River, and reported to Joshua all that had happened to them.

• Crossing the Jordan in either direction at this flood time could not have been easy.

(24) "The Lord has given us the whole land," they said, "for all the people in the land are terrified of us."

• The spies told Joshua of the fear of the Canaanites (verse 2:9). This is a fulfilled prophecy from Exodus 23:27 and Deuteronomy 2:25.

---

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.

---

NOTE: Sources and References are on line at: http://joshua-biblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/joshua-references-and-sources.html