Joshua 2:1-24
1 And Joshua the son of Nun senta out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
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.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.
4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
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 upon the roof.
7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.
8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;
9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faintb because of you.
10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, 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 in earth beneath.
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token:
13 And that ye 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.
14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.
17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bringc thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.
19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.
20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.
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 things that befell them:
24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faintd because of us.
Now chapter two, Joshua sent out two men to spy out the land, actually to spy out Jericho, because Jericho was the first city that they were going to come to. Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was one of the first; it was the first city that they came to once they crossed the Jordan River.
So these two spies came to Jericho, and they went into the house of a harlot's house, whose name was Rahab, and they had received them into her house (Joshua 2:1).
She shared with them how everybody was afraid of them. For they had heard how that God was with them, and how that God had stopped or parted the Red Sea so that they could come through. They heard how that they had destroyed the strong kings Sihon and Og. Thus, the fear of them had come upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Now someone came to the king of Jordan or Jericho, and he told him that there were two spies from Israel who would come into the city of Jericho. They had gone into the house of Rahab. So he said to Rahab, and she said, "Oh, well last night about the time it got dark just before they closed the gates, these men slipped out. Maybe if you hurry you can catch them." In reality she was drying flax up on her roof, and she hid them under the flax. So the king sent out men down towards the Jordan River to find these spies.
After they were gone out, she told them, "The king knows you're here and I know that God is gonna give you this city and I want you to spare me, and my family. So the spies said, All right, we'll make a covenant with you.
Now she lived right on the wall of this city, and she let them down over the wall with a scarlet cord or a rope.
They said, When we take the city, you leave this scarlet rope out, and everyone who is within the house will be saved. If any of your family goes out into the streets, then they're taking their lives into their own hands, they'll be slain with the rest of the people. But in order that they might be spared and be saved, they've got to stay in the house (Joshua 2:18-20).
So you let this scarlet rope down so that we'll know the house, and when we take this city, we'll spare all of your family that has gathered in the house.
Of course, there is a beautiful picture really of our place in Christ Jesus, the safety that we have abiding in Him. Those that are within Christ are safe no matter what comes. Abiding in Christ I have that safety. Outside of Him, I have nothing, I'm an open prey, but within Christ that beautiful safety that is ours.
So these spies made this covenant with her. And she said, Look when you get down from here,
you flee to the mountains (Joshua 2:22).
Now the mountains are right behind Jericho, they're actually the opposite direction from Jordan, but she said, "They're gonna look for you and you wait there in the mountains until they come back into the city, and then scat on down, cross the Jordan and get back to your people." So they went up into the mountains just above Jericho there, and waited for the men to come back from their futile search, and then they made it on back. And they told Joshua all that Rahab had told them of the fear that had come upon the inhabitants of the land and how that the Lord had delivered them into their hands.
It is interesting to me that as we read the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, that there are a few women that are listed in the genealogy. I can think of three offhand. One is a prostitute, Rahab. She's actually listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The other is Ruth, a Moabitess; and the third was Bathsheba, David's wife that he took by illicit kind of ways. Interesting that three such women should be chosen by God to be in the lineage of His Son. But yet to me there is a beauty to it, because Jesus came to identify with sinful man, that He might take upon Himself man's guilt and sin and die in his place. So rather than coming from some pure, royal, blue blood lineage, we find very common, sinful people listed in the line of Jesus Christ.
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