Joshua 2:1 - Meaning and Application

In these verses we see Joshua’s good judgment in sending spies to inspect this important crossing point, which was likely to be fiercely defended when Israel entered Canaan (v. 1). He told them to go and look at the land, especially Jericho. Moses had also sent spies (Numbers 13), and Joshua had been one of them, but that mission ended badly. Still, Joshua now sent spies in a different way, not to survey the whole land, but only Jericho, and not to report to the whole camp, but to Joshua alone.

Joshua acted like a careful commander, always thinking ahead for the good of the people. He wanted to begin well and not stumble at the very start. It would not have been wise for him to cross Jordan himself in disguise, so he sent two men, or, as the Septuagint says, two young men, to inspect the land. From their report, he could plan the attack on Jericho.

We should learn several things from this. First, leaders often have to see through the eyes of others, so they must choose those they trust very carefully. So much depends on the honesty of the people they send. Second, trust in God’s promise should not replace our efforts, but should stir us to act wisely. Joshua was sure God was with him, yet he still sent men ahead. If we neglect proper means while claiming trust in God, we are not trusting him, we are testing him.

Notice also how ready these men were to take such a risky task. They were putting their lives in danger, yet they went in obedience to Joshua, in zeal for the camp, and in confidence that God, who guards all Israel, would protect them in the path of duty.

We also see God’s providence, his wise guiding care, directing the spies to Rahab’s house. We are not told how they crossed Jordan, but they did come to Jericho, which was about seven or eight miles from the river. There they looked for lodging and were led to the house of Rahab, called a prostitute, a woman who had once been known for shameful behavior. That old reputation still clung to her name, even though she had repented and changed her life.

Simon the leper (Matthew 26:6), though healed of his leprosy, still carried that name. In the same way, Rahab is called Rahab the prostitute, even in the New Testament, where her faith and good works are praised. This teaches us several things. Great sin is no barrier to God’s forgiving mercy, if it is truly repented of in time. We read of tax collectors and prostitutes entering the kingdom of the Messiah and being welcomed into its blessings (Matthew 21:31). It also shows that some people who were once very wicked can later become great in faith and holiness.

Even those who have truly turned from the sins of their youth should expect to carry some shame from them. When they are reminded of those old sins, they should renew their repentance and bear the reminder patiently. As far as we can tell, God’s people had only one friend, only one person willing to help them, in all Jericho, and that was Rahab the prostitute. God often uses people of very different moral backgrounds to serve his purposes and protect his church.

If the spies had gone to any other house, they would likely have been betrayed and killed without mercy. But God knew where they had a true friend, though they did not, and he led them there. What seems random to us is often ruled by divine providence for its wise ends. Those who faithfully acknowledge God in their ways will find that he guides them with his eye (Jeremiah 36:19, Jeremiah 36:26).

We also see Rahab’s faith and kindness in receiving and protecting these Israelites. People who keep inns welcome all kinds of guests and expect to treat them politely. But Rahab went beyond common courtesy. She acted from faith when she received in peace those against whom her king and country had declared war (Hebrews 11:31).

She welcomed them into her house, and they stayed there, though she clearly knew where they had come from and why they were there, as she later said to them (Joshua 2:9). When she saw that they had been noticed entering the city and that attention had been drawn to them, she hid them on the flat roof of the house and covered them with stalks of flax (Joshua 2:6). If the officers came to search, they would likely not find them there.

Those flax stalks had been laid out by Rahab herself to dry in the sun before being beaten and prepared for use. This suggests that she had one of the marks of the virtuous woman, who “looks for wool and flax, and works willingly with her hands” (Proverbs 31:13). From this honest work, one might hope that, whatever she had been before, she was not now living as a prostitute.

When she was questioned about the men, she denied that they were in her house, and so she turned away the officers who came with a warrant to search for them. No wonder the king of Jericho sent to ask about them (Joshua 2:2, Joshua 2:3). He had reason to fear, because the enemy was at his door, and fear made him suspicious of every stranger. He had reason to demand that Rahab bring the men out to be treated as spies. But Rahab not only said she did not know them or where they were, she also told the pursuers that the men had already gone out, and that they might still be caught if the officers hurried after them (Joshua 2:4, Joshua 2:5).

This was a good work, and the apostle James speaks of it approvingly (James 2:25). He says Rahab was justified by works, that is, shown to be righteous by what she did, when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. She did this by faith, a faith that was stronger than her fear of the king’s anger. She believed, from what she had heard about the wonders God had done for Israel, that Israel’s God was the only true God, and that their claim on Canaan would certainly succeed.

Because of that faith, she sided with them, protected them, and sought their favor. If she had said, “I believe God is yours and Canaan is yours, but I dare not help you,” her faith would have been dead and inactive, and it would not have justified her. But her faith was alive and active, because she exposed herself to great danger, even the danger of death, in obedience to it. True believers are those who can find it in their hearts to risk something for God.

Those who take the Lord as their refuge by faith also take his people as their people, and they cast in their lot with them. Those who have God as their hiding place should show their gratitude by sheltering his people when needed. “Let my outcasts dwell with you” (Isaiah 16:3, Isaiah 16:4).

We should be glad for any chance to show the sincerity and zeal of our love to God by risky service for his church and kingdom among people.

But there is also something here that is not easy to defend, and yet it must be defended, or else it could not be counted such a good work. First, it is clear that she betrayed her country by sheltering its enemies and helping those who planned its ruin. That could not fit with her loyalty to her king, or with her duty and love for the community she belonged to. What justifies her in this case is that she knew the Lord had given this land to Israel (Joshua 2:9). She knew this from the clear miracles God had done for them, which confirmed that gift. Her duty to God was higher than her duty to any earthly ruler.

If she knew God had given them the land, then it would have been a sin to side with those who tried to stop them from taking it. But since no such clear gift of land to any people can now be proved, this cannot be used to excuse treacherous acts against the public good.

Second, it is clear that she deceived the officers who questioned her with a lie, saying she did not know where the men came from and that she did not know where they had gone. What are we to say about that? If she had told the truth, or stayed silent, she would have betrayed the spies, and that would certainly have been a great sin. It does not seem she had any other way to hide them except by this misleading answer, telling the officers to chase them another way. If they let themselves be fooled by that, then so be it.

No one is bound to accuse themselves, or their friends, of what they know to be good, even if others question it as a crime. This was a completely unusual case, so it cannot be turned into a rule for ordinary life. In this case, what was allowed may not be allowed in common situations.

Rahab knew, from what had already happened across the Jordan, that the Canaanites were not to be shown mercy. From that she concluded that, if mercy was not owed to them, truth was not owed either. In her mind, those who might lawfully be destroyed might also be deceived. Still, most teachers think this was a sin, though they say it was less serious because, as a Canaanite, she had not been taught enough about the evil of lying. Yet God accepted her faith and forgave her weakness.

Whatever we make of this one case, we know for sure that it is our duty to speak truthfully to our neighbor, to hate and fear lying, and never to do evil so that good may come of it (Romans 3:8). God accepts what is meant sincerely and honestly, even when there is weakness and foolishness mixed in, and he is not quick to punish every fault. Some suggest that what she said may have been true of some other men.