Chapter Two

1. Reception of the spies in Rahab’s house. 9. Rahab’s confession. 12. Her request and the oath of the spies. 21. Their departure from Rahab’s house and return.

Joshua 2:1. And Joshua son of Nun sent two spies secretly from Shittim and said: Go, inspect the land and Jericho. The two men went and came to Jericho and entered the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and stayed the night there. The third preparatory measure in the sequence of biblical events consisted of a secret embassy from Shittim, where the camp of Israel was stationed at that time (Num 25:1), of two spies to inspect Jericho and the region surrounding it. Whether the spies were sent on the same day in which the crossing of the Jordan was announced is not stated. They were sent not by divine command and not with the knowledge of the people, as before (Num 13:1), but secretly: out of fear, one must suppose, of grave consequences that had accompanied the previous spy mission (Num 14:1). The words “two young men” are read only in the Greek LXX translation, though in some of its ancient manuscripts (the Ambrosian) the word νεανίσκοι is replaced by ἄνδρες – “men,” as these spies are ordinarily called in the present chapter according to the Hebrew text and the translation of blessed Jerome. While the names of the spies are not given in the biblical text, the name of the harlot from Jericho is preserved, in whose house they stayed. The words “and stayed the night” represent a translation of the Hebrew verb (“ishkavu”), which is ordinarily used to mean “to lie down, to settle, to rest.” Among the meanings of this verb that best suit the content of this passage is its basic meaning: “to lie down, to settle,” in view of the purpose of the journey of the two men as spies; they did not need merely lodging and not even rest after an approximately 5–6 hour journey,19 but shelter in Jericho from which they could make observations about its condition and the mood of its inhabitants. In the sense of “settled” the Hebrew word was understood also by the Greek translators, who rendered it through κατελύαν 20 – “vitasta” in the Slavonic Bible, that is, found themselves a temporary refuge; in blessed Jerome it is translated as quieverunt – “they rested.” Why they found this refuge in Rahab’s house is explained by the supposition that, while in it, they hoped to arouse the least suspicion from their arrival; and the location of Rahab’s dwelling near the city wall, about which the spies could have learned beforehand, or, as some suppose,21 from Rahab herself, whom they met outside the city, made her house most suitable for observing the condition of the city wall and surveying the surroundings. In any case, the choice of a place to stay in Jericho made by the spies proved, not without the consent of divine will, to be entirely appropriate: they learned in Rahab’s house what they needed to know.

Joshua 2:2. And it was told the king of Jericho: Behold, men of the children of Israel have come here this night to spy out the land. The hope of the spies to escape suspicion and persecution did not, however, prove justified. Their arrival was noticed and became known to the king of Jericho. “This night” – according to the Hebrew text and some of the ancient manuscripts22 of the LXX (the Ambrosian and Oxford), though in the Vatican, Alexandrian and many other manuscripts these words are absent, for which reason they are placed in brackets in the Slavonic Bible. By this the text shows that the report of the arrival of some men from the children of Israel reached the king of Jericho some time after their arrival, at the approach of night.

Joshua 2:3. The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to spy out all the land. Rahab was required to turn over the visitors as dangerous men who had come “to spy out all the land” for a successful attack upon it. The word “all” is not read here in the majority of the Greek translation manuscripts and in the Slavonic Bible, but it is read in the Hebrew text and in some Greek manuscripts. The king of Jericho was obviously aware of the intention of the Israelites to conquer Canaan and therefore saw in the visitors precisely the spies who would extend their reconnaissance to other Canaanite cities as well, for which reason those sent from the king attributed to the visitors the intention to spy out “all the land.” The phrase “by night” placed here in brackets is read in many Greek translation manuscripts and agrees with them in the Slavonic Bible, but is absent in the Hebrew text, and there is no reason to insist on adding it to the text, since the indication of night in the matter of turning over the visitors could not have had particular significance; this “by night” was transferred, probably, from Josh 2:2.

Joshua 2:4. But the woman took the two men and hid them and said: It is true, men came to me, but I did not know from where they were; Joshua 2:5. and when it came time to close the gates at dusk, they left; I do not know where they went; pursue them quickly, you will overtake them. Joshua 2:6. And she herself brought them up to the roof and hid them among bundles of flax that she had laid out on the roof. Knowing the extremely anxious mood of her government, Rahab foresaw this demand to turn over the visitors and had already resolved not to do so, but rather to take measures to hide them in her house. To those sent from the king, however, she gave false testimony, saying that she did not know from what country or people the visitors who had been with her came from, and that they had already left her house before dusk, “when the gates were to be closed.” Without pronouncing judgment on Rahab’s deed and testimony, the biblical narrator reveals by the further exposition of her words and actions the possibility of understanding the motives by which she acted, and at the same time evaluating her deed. “In bundles of flax”: in the Hebrew text “bepishat ha etz” – according to a literal translation “in flax wood” or “flax stalks”; in the LXX: λινοκαλάμῃ – “in a mat of flax” in the Slavonic Bible, in Jerome: stipula lini – “flax straw,” that is, in the stalks of flax, only recently removed from the field and not yet beaten, the fiber of which has not been separated from the wood. There is no indication in the text or translations that the flax was bundled. In the Jordan valley, thanks to the tropical climate, flax, like other grain plants, ripens in March–April and reaches a height of more than 3 feet, and in thickness resembles a reed; the stalks of flax are dried in Syria and Egypt even now on the flat roofs of houses.23 Rows of such long flax, resembling reeds, spread on the roof, could indeed serve as a good hiding place for the spies.

Joshua 2:7. The men sent in pursuit went after them toward the Jordan to the very ford; and the gates were shut immediately after those who pursued them had gone out. As in the Hebrew text, so also in the Greek LXX translation, this verse begins with the words “and those men”; the word “sent” represents a free rendering, suggested, in all probability, by the translation of blessed Jerome: qui missi fuerant. “To the very ford,” literally from the Hebrew: “to the ford,” in the LXX: ἐπὶ τὰς διαβάσεις – “to the crossings” in the Slavonic Bible. It refers to a place of crossing the Jordan known in ancient times, near Jericho (Judg 3:28; 2 Sam 19:17), at the ordinary low water level in it.

Joshua 2:8. Before they lay down to sleep, she went up to them on the roof Joshua 2:9. and said to them: I know that the Lord has given the land to you, for the dread of you has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land are fearful of you; Joshua 2:10. for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed; Joshua 2:11. when we heard of this, our hearts melted, and there is no courage left in any of us because of you; for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below; When the men sent from the king had departed, Rahab went up to the roof to the spies and told them the motive by which she had not turned them over. She showed kindness to them on the conviction that the Lord, whom they worship, would give them the land of Canaan. She already sees the beginning of this in the unusual fear and despair that have taken hold of the inhabitants of this land. In a state of the same fear and under the influence of faith that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, to whom no one can offer resistance with impunity, she resolved rather to show them kindness than to turn them over, and through the latter course to avoid falsehood and betrayal of her own city. Rahab did not fully express the latter; perhaps she did not clearly understand it, but nonetheless she gave false testimony to those sent from the king, and thus committed a sin, which did not bring judgment upon her because it was forgiven for her faith, though imperfect, but living and active, which she demonstrated in saving foreigners, not without danger to herself (in case of a successful search), and by which she was justified by God (Jas 2:25; Heb 11:31); her faith has all the greater value in that it arose from the same reports which in others produced only fear.

Joshua 2:9. and said to them: I know that the Lord has given the land to you, for the dread of you has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land are fearful of you; Joshua 2:10. for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed; Joshua 2:11. when we heard of this, our hearts melted, and there is no courage left in any of us because of you; for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below; “The Lord has given.” The word “Lord” in the Hebrew text corresponds to “Yahweh” or “Yah-way,” as it was probably pronounced in ancient times by the Hebrews. Rahab learned this name, of course, along with the reports of the deeds of His omnipotence, which aroused in her faith in Him. “The land”; the word “the” is placed in the Slavonic Bible in brackets and serves to convey the definite article with which the word “land” is placed in the Hebrew text and Greek translation. “God” after “Lord” is not read in the Hebrew text and is added on the basis of the Greco-Slavonic translation. The words “of you” are not found in the Alexandrian and some other Greek manuscripts. Rahab’s profession of faith: “the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below” – has an undoubted similarity to that which Moses taught the people of Israel (Deut 4:39), but far from complete: in the words “God in heaven” “Elohim” is read without the definite article with which this divine name is placed in Deuteronomy (ha–elohim) and which shows that the God denoted by it is God in the proper sense or the only one. Also absent from Rahab’s profession are the words read in the mentioned place in Deuteronomy – “still” or “yet” (Deut 4:39), – which excludes the thought of the existence of any God other than the God of Israel. This comparison of the two professions shows that Rahab, though she has raised herself high in her faith above her compatriots, having believed in the God of Israel as the true God, had not yet at that time attained complete faith that He is the only God.

Joshua 2:12. Therefore swear to me by the Lord your God that, as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal kindly with the house of my father, and give me a sure sign, Joshua 2:13. that you will spare alive my father and mother and my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death. Joshua 2:14. The men said to her: Our lives for yours! If you do not reveal this matter, then when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and truly with you. Rahab, having stated the motive by which she showed kindness to the visitors, on her part asks them not to refuse kindness to her and to all her near relatives when Jericho is taken, of which she speaks as if it were already a settled matter, and demands that they confirm their promise with an oath by the name of the Lord and give a sure sign of the fulfillment of the oath. Out of gratitude and sincere desire to show kindness for the good deed done, the spies give an oath, but make its fulfillment conditional on the condition that their coming to Jericho remain unknown to anyone from outside. The words “a sure sign” or “a sign truly” (Slavonic Bible) are read in the Hebrew text and some Greek translation manuscripts, the Latin translation and the Complutensian Polyglot, but are absent in the Vatican, Alexandrian and some other manuscripts. By a sure sign, or literally from the Hebrew, “a sign of truth,” is understood an object that assures the fulfillment of the oath. Such an object was the “scarlet cord” indicated in Josh 2:18. “Our lives for yours shall be forfeit if you disclose” or “Our souls for your souls to death.” This second, Slavonic, translation, which serves as a literal rendering of both the Greek and Hebrew text, is the most forceful and expressive in its brevity, which characterizes an oath. In these words of the oath, certainly, the name of God is not invoked, but it is necessary to think that they do not constitute everything that the spies said when giving Rahab an oath. The belief that they fulfilled her request – “to swear by the Lord” – is compelled by the existence among the Israelites of the concept of an oath as precisely an “oath of the Lord” (Exod 22:11; 2 Sam 21:7), and also by the fact that the oath of the spies, as shown by its exact fulfillment (Josh 6:20-21), was recognized as fully binding, as was the oath of the Lord. To explain the absence of God’s name in the spies’ oath by the incompleteness of the biblical writer’s information about its content is encouraged by the fact that when he speaks of the oath given to the ambassadors of Gibeon, he also does not indicate that the leaders of Israel sealed it with the name of the Lord (Josh 9:15), though this oath, as is seen from the further narrative (Josh 9:18), was an oath of the Lord. The plural number of the verb “if you do not reveal” according to the present Hebrew text, in some Greek manuscripts and the Latin translation, with which the Slavonic Bible agrees (“if you do not reveal”), is replaced by the singular number; this latter is most appropriate in this place in view of the fact that the words of the spies are addressed to one Rahab and there is no indication in the text of the presence of other members of her family during the conversation; in the singular also this condition is expressed according to the Hebrew text in Josh 2:20: “but if you tell.” It is worthy of note, moreover, that in the Vatican, Alexandrian and some other Greek manuscripts, instead of the words of the spies “if you disclose this matter” and further to the end of the verse, the words of Rahab are transmitted: καὶ αὐτὴ εἶπεν Ὡς ἂν παραδῷ Κύριος ὑμῖν τὴν πόλιν, ποιήσετε εἰς ἐμὲ ἔλεος καὶ ἀλήθειαν – “and she said: And it shall be when the Lord gives you the city, you will show kindness and truth to me” (Slavonic Bible). This ancient Greek translation, belonging to the LXX (see Field. Origenis Hexapl.), was not recognized in ancient times as an accurate rendering of the original, and was therefore replaced, as shown by other Greek manuscripts (NN. X, XI, 85), by a different translation consistent with the present Hebrew text. The correctness of the Greek translation represented by these latter manuscripts is attested to by the translation of blessed Jerome, consistent with the present Hebrew text and with the Greek translation of the latter manuscripts.24

Joshua 2:15. And she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, and she dwelt in the wall; Joshua 2:16. and she said to them: Go to the hills, so that those who are pursuing you will not meet you; hide yourselves there for three days until those who are pursuing you have returned; and afterward you may go on your way. Rahab was satisfied with the oath of the spies and let them go, letting them down by a rope through the window of her house, which opened beyond the city wall, which apparently served at the same time as the back wall of the house itself. In doing so, she gave them advice to go to the hills and hide themselves for three days.

Joshua 2:17. And the men said to her: We will be released from this oath of yours, if you do not do this: Joshua 2:18. Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down; and you shall gather into your house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household; Joshua 2:19. and if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be upon his own head, and we will be innocent; but if a hand is laid upon anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our heads; Joshua 2:20. and if you disclose this matter, we shall be released from the oath which you made us swear. As the spies left Rahab’s house, they expressed again in brief, somewhat fragmentary words, in accordance with their state of mind, the conditions she was to fulfill in order for their oath to retain its full force. First, they pointed out to Rahab the visible sign she had requested. In the present Hebrew text the word “sign” is not present, but it is read in the Greek translation: θήσεις τὸ σημεῖον – “you shall set a sign” (Slavonic Bible), as also in the Latin, on the basis of which this word could be added to the Russian translation, as well as the pronoun “this,” read in the Hebrew text, Greek and Latin translations and referring to “the scarlet cord.” The latter was pointed out by the spies in the immediate manner because by its bright-red color it could serve as the most noticeable distinguishing sign for Rahab’s house. But at the same time, the choice of it depended also on the fact that “a scarlet thread” according to the Old Testament ceremonial ordinances belonged to the symbols of cleansing from leprosy (Lev 14:4) and contact with a dead body (Num 19:6), generally to the symbols of salvation. From this aspect, the scarlet cord, distinguishing Rahab’s house from others, pointed to the salvation granted to her, and at the same time served as a prefigurement of the future salvation of the Gentiles. According to blessed Theodoret, “as Joshua’s spies sent by him saved a believing harlot, giving her a “scarlet cord” as a sign of salvation (Josh 2:18), so the apostles of our Savior removed the ancient harlot, the church devoted to various idols, from her former wickedness and made her worthy of eternal blessings, not using a scarlet thread as a sign, but granting her salvation through the most holy blood.”25 The two other conditions for the preservation of Rahab and her household consisted in the requirement that all those belonging to the latter be in her house at the time the city was taken, and that she tell no one about this matter.

Joshua 2:17. And the men said to her: We will be released from this oath of yours, if you do not do this: “If you do not do this”: this expression is added to remove the obscurity of the biblical text due to its brevity. Nevertheless, in other ancient and modern translations there is no such addition.

Joshua 2:19. and if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be upon his own head, and we will be innocent; but if a hand is laid upon anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our heads; The words “shall be innocent of” are brought in from the Slavonic Bible, in accordance with the LXX translation: τῷ ὅρκῳ σου τούτῳ.

Joshua 2:20. and if you disclose this matter, we shall be released from the oath which you made us swear. Further words “if anyone harms us, or” are likewise added from the Slavonic Bible in accordance with the majority of Greek manuscripts: ἐὰν δέ τις ἡμᾶς ἀδικήσῃ; in Origen’s Hexapla these words were marked as unnecessary against the Hebrew text (Field). * * * From Shittim to the Jordan is counted as 2 1/2 hours’ journey (K. Raumer. Palastina, 1860, p. 266); from the Jordan to Jericho 2 hours (ibid., 206); crossing the swollen Jordan at that time, of course, would take about 1 hour. So it is read in the Vatican, Alexandrian and other ancient manuscripts, as well as in the Lucian recension. Instead of κατελύαν, κατέπαυσαν “rested” is read in the Oxford manuscript and the Aldine Bible. Cook. Commentary 2:20. The words τὴν νύκτα read in the Moscow Greek Bible are not found in the Alexandrian manuscript. N. V. Tristram. The natural history of the Bible. 1880, 12: 445–446. Cook. Commentary. U. 2:20. The Latin translation of this passage: Cum que tradiderit nobis Dominus terram. faciemus in le misencordiam et ventatem – “and when... the Lord gives us the land, we will show you mercy and truth.” The Works of Blessed Theodoret, vol. I, p. 272.