Joshua 2:2

And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.

It was told the king - by the sentinels who at such a time of threatened invasion would be posted on the eastern frontier, and whose duty required them to make a strict report to headquarters of the arrival of all strangers. The king was of course only a petty, though independent, ruler, each of the cities of Canaan at this period being governed by its own melek.