Rahab Hides the Israelite Spies

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Joshua 2:1) And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, "Go view the land, even Jericho." And they went and came into a harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

In the first chapter of Joshua in the last post, God had commissioned Joshua to take over in the place of Moses to lead the people into their promised land.  The first thing that comes to mind in this, the beginning of chapter 2, is the fact that Joshua is always called the son of Nun, as if Nun was a very important person.  However, I can find nothing that Nun did other than to father Joshua.  He is mentioned 29 times in the Bible, but always "Joshua, the son of Nun."  When would Joshua become important enough in his own right that "son of Nun" could be dropped?  I found a fascinating possible answer on this page:  Why is Joshua referred to in the Torah as “bin” Nun?  It seems that most of the time when someone was referred to as the son of someone, it was written as "ben."  The author of this page wrote that the Torah actually had the word as "bin" with Joshua and suggested that the words were not meant to be "bin Nun," but "binnun," a form of the word "binah" which meant something to the effect of "the understanding one."  Indeed, Joshua seems to have been an excellent student who would not depart from the tabernacle, even after Moses left (Exodus 33:11).  Therefore, this would have been a sort of new name given to Joshua, as the Lord often renamed His servants, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter, etc.  And as Judas Iscariot was almost always referred to as the one who betrayed Jesus, and James and John were the sons of thunder, this was Joshua, the understanding one.

Now back to commentary on Joshua 2:1, Joshua sent out two spies from their camp in Shittim in the plains of Moab, telling them to secretly check out the land, especially the land around Jericho.  The two spies went into the land and found lodging at Rahab the harlot's house.

(2) And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, there came men here tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country."

It was told to the king of Jericho that men from the Israelites had come into their land that night to search out their country.

(3) And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring forth the men that have come to you, who have entered into your house, for they have come to search out all the country."

It was evidently specifically told to the king that the Israelite men were lodging at Rahab's house, as he sent word to her to bring the men to him because he knew they had come to search out their country.

(4) And the woman took the two men and hid them, and said, "There came men to me, but I knew not where they were from."

However, Rahab hid the two Israelite spies and reported back to the king that men had come to her, but she didn't know where they had come from.  I find it interesting that most of the old commentators I study, John Wesley, Albert Barnes, Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, and John Gill, made a big deal of Rahab lying, writing that lying was never justified.  I hope that it's not me trying to justify a sin, but I honestly don't read, "Never tell a lie" in the Ten Commandments.  The ninth commandment says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."  You don't tell a lie about someone that will hurt them.  You don't falsely accuse them of something.  Rahab's lie helped the men.  In Hebrews 11:31, Rahab is honored for her act of faith, and there is no caveat that her unjust lie was forgiven her.  I admit that there are other scriptures that specifically say, "Do not lie" (Colossians 3:9, Leviticus 19:11, Proverbs 6:16-17, and others).  However, most of these refer to cheating and defrauding people.  I concede that telling insignificant lies that don't appear to hurt anyone might lead one down a slippery slope of telling lies more easily, so they should always be avoided.  However, as Peter and the apostles said in Acts 5:29, "We ought to obey God rather than men."  Certainly, when we are called to do or say something against God, we are to obey God even if that requires lying.  My point is not to condone lying, but I don't see that lying to the enemies of God to protect His men should be called out as an evil that had to be forgiven.  As a heathen and a harlot, Rahab surely must have been led by the Spirit of God to protect the men.  So was her lying to save them really an evil sin?

(5) "And it came to pass at the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out; where the men went, I do not know; pursue after them quickly, for you shall overtake them."

Rahab went on to tell the men looking for the Israelite spies, that when it was dark, the spies left her house, and she did not know where they had gone.  She encouraged them to pursue them quickly, as they might be able to overtake them, but of course, she was still lying and knew that was not the case.

(6) But she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.

Rahab had actually brought the spies up to the roof of her house and had hidden them under stalks of flax that she had laid on her roof, probably to dry them.

(7) And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan to the fords, and as soon as they who pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.

The men went out to the fords of the Jordan, assuming the spies had gone that way back to their camp.  Verse 5 spoke of the shutting of the gate, but apparently Rahab had meant that it was the time for the shutting of the city gate, but it actually wasn't shut until the men pursuing the spies had gone out of it.

(8) And before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, (9) And she said to the men, "I know that the Lord has given you the land and that your terror has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you."

Before the spies had lain down under the flax, probably meaning to go to sleep, as they were already hiding under the flax, Rahab had gone up to the roof to talk to them.  She said that she knew the Lord had given them their land, which would appear to be a divine revelation to her.  She knew God's people were a formidable people who struck terror in the hearts of the inhabitants of their land.

(10) "For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed."

Rahab told the spies that she and her people had heard how the Lord had dried up the Red Sea to allow His people to escape from the Egyptians, as well as how they had completely destroyed the Amorites and their kings.

(11) "And as soon as we had heard, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."

Rahab said that when she and her people had heard what God was doing for the Israelites, their countrymen melted in fear and had no courage.  Whether others did or not, Rahab herself realized that the Israelites' God must be the one true God of heaven and earth.  I still believe there was some divine revelation to Rahab to have her come to this conclusion about their God.

(12) "Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you will also show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token, (13) And you will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death."

Rahab asked the spies to swear to her that since she had done a great kindness to them in hiding them from their enemies, that they would in return show kindness to her and her father's house.  She asked for some sort of token that would assure her that her entire family would be spared from death.

(14) And the men answered her, "Our life for yours if you do not utter this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you."

The spies pledged their lives for hers as long as she (and her family) did not discuss this arrangement with her to anyone else.  Rahab had done what she did because she had faith in the one true God of the spies.  They could not have people trying to mimic Rahab's actions just to save themselves, so she must keep their agreement to herself.  They assured her that when the Lord had given them their land, they would indeed deal kindly and truly with Rahab and her family.

(15) Then she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was on the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

Rahab's house was on the town wall.  Perhaps the back wall of her house was part of the town wall which made it possible for escape even though the town gates were shut.  Rahab let the spies down by a cord through a window on the town wall.

(16) And she said to them, "Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers have returned, and afterward you may go your way."

Rahab told the spies to go to a mountain that was obviously near the city and hide themselves there so that their pursuers would not meet them on their way back from the fords.  She advised them that they stay in the mountain for three days to be sure the pursuers had returned, and then they could go on their way.

(17) And the men said to her, "We are blameless of this your oath which you have made us swear."

I believe what the spies meant to say to Rahab was that they would indeed faithfully adhere to the oath they made with her, and in that way they would be blameless, providing she upheld her part of the oath and did not tell a soul about their agreement (v. 14) and that she would do the following:

(18) "Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which you let us down by, and you shall bring your father, and your mother, and your brethren, and all your father's household, home to you."

The spies told Rahab that when they came back into her land to conquer it, she was to take a scarlet cord, probably the one by which she had let them down, and hang it in the window, the same one by which she had let them down, and bring all her father's family into her home.

(19) "And it shall be, whoever shall go out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood be on his head and we guiltless, and whoever shall be with you in the house, his blood be on our head if any hand be on him."

The spies went on to tell Rahab that as long as every member of her family stayed inside her house, they would be safe.  However, if any of them went outside her house, it would be their own fault when their blood was spilled, but if anyone within her house was harmed, their blood would be on the heads of the spies for not upholding their oath.

(20) "And if you utter this our business, then we will be quit of your oath which you have made us to swear."

The spies reiterated the fact that Rahab must not utter a word about their agreement, or they would not be bound by their oath.

(21) And she said, "According to your words, so be it." And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet line in the window.

Rahab agreed that she would do as the men said, and she sent them away.  She then went ahead and immediately bound the scarlet cord to her window.

(22) And they went and came to the mountain and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned. And the pursuers sought them throughout all the way but did not find them.

The spies went to the mountain as Rahab had directed them and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned from searching for the spies throughout all the way from Jericho to the Jordan and back again.  They did not find them, of course, because Rahab had hidden them and then directed that they hide in the mountain.

(23) So the two men returned and descended from the mountain and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun and told him all that befell them.

After the three days, the men descended from the mountain, passed back over the Jordan River, and returned to Joshua, where they told him everything that had happened to them.

(24) And they said to Joshua, "Truly the Lord has delivered into our hands all the land, for even all the inhabitants of the country faint because of us."

Unlike the spies Moses sent to search out the land of Canaan back in Numbers 13, who reported that they would be unable to go against the people of Canaan, these two spies were confident that their Lord had delivered the land to them because of Rahab's report that their whole country was terrorized and in fear because of the Israelites.  Whereas the spies of Moses did not have faith enough to trust the word of their Lord that they should go in and possess their land He had given them, these two spies had no need to see or hear anymore, but trusted that God had indeed delivered the land to them.