JOSHUA - Chapter 2
v1 Then Joshua sent out two men from Shittim. He sent them in secret to see what the land was like. ‘Go’, he said, ‘Look at all the country. Look well at the city called Jericho.’ When they came to the city, they went into the house of Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute.
Commentary
Verse 1
This verse shows us how clever Joshua was as a soldier. It also shows us his trust in God. The best way to attack Canaan was from the south. But the Canaanites protected that road well. Joshua chose to enter the promised land at Jericho from the east. He could then attack the towns and cities in the north and in the south.
Joshua still had two big problems.
---1. The Israelites had to cross the river Jordan.
---2. They had to destroy Jericho city.
Joshua sent two men in secret to see what the land was like. He told them to look at all the country. He told them to look well at the city called Jericho. He wanted to know about the people in Jericho. He needed to know what they thought. He needed to know if they were powerful. He needed to know if they were afraid.
Rahab had been a prostitute. She may have still been a prostitute when the two men visited her. Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 suggest that she was. She is an example of how God can change a person.
Rahab was probably the only person in Jericho who trusted the God of the Israelites. God brought the two men to her house. If they had gone to any other house, the people there probably would have told the king.
The King of Jericho
v2 People spoke to the king of Jericho. ‘Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to see what our land is like’, they said. v3 So the king of Jericho sent a message to Rahab. ‘Bring out the men who are staying in your house. They have come to see what all our land is like!’ he said. v4 But the woman had hidden the two men. ‘Yes, some men did come to me. I did not know where they had come from’, she said. v5 ‘When it was getting near the time to close the gate of the city, they left. I do not know where they went. If you go after them quickly, you may catch them.’ v6 (But she had taken them up to the roof. She had hidden them under some plants that she was drying there.) v7 So the king’s men went out to find the two Israelites. They went towards the place where people could cross the river Jordan. As soon as they had gone out, people shut the gate.
Commentary
The above verses give more information about Rahab and how she helped the spies.
Verses 4-7
Rahab trusted the God of Israel. She put her life in danger. She even lied to protect the two men that Joshua had sent. But we should not lie, even when things get difficult. The Bible says that it is wrong to lie (Proverbs 12:22).
Think about this. What would you do if you were in a similar situation?
Rahab on the Roof
v8 Rahab went up to the roof. She spoke to the men as they prepared to sleep. v9 ‘I know that the Lord God has given this land to you’, she said to them. ‘I know that we are all very afraid of you. Everyone who lives in this part of the world is very afraid. v10 We heard how you came out of Egypt. And the Lord dried up the Red Sea for you. And we heard what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites. They lived east of the Jordan, and you destroyed them completely. v11 When we heard all this, we felt very weak. We were very afraid. This is because the Lord, your God, is God. He rules the heaven above and the earth beneath.’
Commentary
The above verses continued the story of Rahab. Notice how much Rahab knew the story of the Israelites coming out of Egypt and crossing the Red Sea.
Verses 9-11
Several years before this event, the Israelites were afraid of the Canaanites. They had received punishment because of their lack of faith. This punishment lasted 40 years. But during that time, people in Canaan were afraid of the Israelites. The Israelites should not have worried.
Notice what Rahab believed about God:
---1. He is the only God - ‘the Lord, your God, is God’ (verse 11).
---2. He is a personal God. That is, God cares about people - ‘your God’ (verse 11).
---3. He is an active God - he gave the land to the Israelites (verse 9); he dried up the Red Sea (verse 10).
---4. He is a powerful God - ‘the Lord, your God, is God. He rules the heaven (the place where God lives) above and the earth beneath (verse 11).
Rahab Asked For a Promise
v12 Rahab continued, ‘Now, please make me a promise. I have been kind to you. So, say that you will be kind to my family. As you believe in God, make your promise true. Give me something to show that you will keep your promise. v13 Show me that you will save the lives of my family. Save my mother, father, brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them. Please do not let anyone kill us.’
v14 ‘We will save your life if you save ours. Do not tell the king about us. When the Lord gives this land to us we will keep our promise. We will be kind to you’, the men said to her v15 So Rahab put a rope out of the window. (The house where she lived was part of the city wall.) The men climbed down the rope. v16 ‘Go to the hills’, she told them. ‘The men who are looking for you will not find you there. Hide there for three days until they return here. Then you can go back to your people.’
v17 ‘We will keep the promise that we have given to you’, the men said to her. v18 ‘This is what you must do. Tie this red string in the window that we go out through. Do this when we come to take your city. Get your father, mother, brothers and sisters and all your family into your house. v19 If anyone goes out into the street, he may die. That will be his own bad mistake. And you will know that we kept our promise. But if anyone in the house with you dies, then we should suffer punishment. v20 It would be different if you told anyone about this. Then we would not have to keep the promise that we have given to you.’ v21 Rahab agreed with the men, and sent them away. When they had gone, she tied the red string in her window.
Commentary
Verses 12-13
Rahab showed her courage. She trusted God and the Israelites. She would need to tell her family about the two men who had visited her. That might be dangerous. Her family also had to have faith in her.
Verses 14-21
The two men made a covenant with Rahab. A covenant is an agreement or promise between two people. Rahab promised not to tell anyone. The two men promised to protect her. When people made a covenant, they often used something physical. For example, the rainbow is a sign of God’s promise not to flood the whole earth again (Genesis 9:12-13). Bread and wine are a sign of the new covenant that God has made with his people (Luke 22:19-20).
The men told Rahab to hang a red string in her window. This was the sign that the Israelites would not kill her or her family.
Red is the color of blood. The red string reminds us of the blood that was put on the doors at the first Passover (see Exodus 12). God told the Israelites to kill a young sheep. Then they had to put its blood by their doors. God killed the oldest sons in every family in Egypt. This was a terrible punishment for the people in Egypt. But God protected the sons of the Israelites, because of the blood.
The red string also reminds us of the blood of Jesus. The Israelites saved Rahab because she put the red string in her window. Jesus saved us from God’s punishment for our sins when he died for us (Hebrews 9:14).
The Two Israelites Hid
v22 The two Israelites went into the hills and they hid there. The king’s men looked everywhere for them for three days. They did not find them, so they returned to Jericho. v23 Then the two men came down from the hills and they crossed the river Jordan. They went to Joshua. They told him everything that had happened. v24 ‘We are sure that the Lord has given the whole country to us. All the people there are very afraid of us’, they said.
Commentary
Verses 22-24
The two men returned to Joshua. They were sure that God would give the land of Canaan to them. They were sure that God would bless the Israelites as they entered the land.
We, too, can be sure that God will bless us. The only thing that will stop us will be our own lack of faith.
More About Rahab
The New Testament mentions Rahab three times.
---1. Matthew 1:5 Rahab was an ancestor of Jesus. This is unusual because Rahab was not an Israelite. Rahab was not a very good woman. God chose her because of her faith. It does not matter how bad we are. God can still use us.
---2. Hebrews 11:31 In Hebrews 11, there is a long list of people from the Old Testament who had faith in God. This list mentions Rahab.
---3. In James 2:25 Rahab receives honor because of what she did. ‘Faith without action is dead’ (James 2:26).
Read Ruth 4:21 and Matthew 1:5 to find out who Rahab was related to.
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