Commentaries Dictionaries Concordances

The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

Joshua 2:1

JOSHUA—NOTE ON Joshua 2:1 Shittim was east of the Jordan River, though its exact location is unknown (see Numbers 25:1). into the house of a prostitute. There is no suggestion of a sexual relationship between the spies and Rahab. Her house most likely was a kind of inn or way station and a logical place to gather information. Although a prostitute, Rahab was saved by God’s mercy. She is remembered as an ancestor of Christ (Matthew 1:5), and for her faith (Hebrews 11:31) and good works (James 2:25).

⇐ ⇔ ⇒
Continues after advertising

See also Joshua 2:1 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    CHAPTER II _Joshua sends out two spies to examine the state of the_ _inhabitants of the land, particularly those of Jericho, who_ _are entertained at the house of Rahab_, 1. _The king of Jericho i...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    AN HARLOT’S HOUSE - In the face of the parallel passages (e. g. Leviticus 21:7 : Jeremiah 5:7) the rendering advocated for obvious reasons, namely, “the house of a woman, an innkeeper,” cannot be main...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    2. THE SPIES AND RAHAB'S FAITH CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The spies sent forth (Joshua 2:1)_ 2. Rahab's faith and works (Joshua 2:2) 3. The escape of the spies and assurance given (Joshua 2:15) 4. The return...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    II. TWO HEBREW SPIES VISIT JERICHO AND EVADE CAPTURE. The narrative is inconsistent with Joshua 1:11, Within three days ye are to pass over Jordan. The events in ch. 2 must have taken longer than thre...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    JOSHUA. He had been one of the twelve spies himself. Numbers 13:8; Numbers 13:16. SENT. had sent. See Joshua 1:11. Compare Joshua 1:2. m

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Joshua 2:1-7. The Mission of the Spies to Jericho 1. _sent out_ Or, _had sent_. Comp. ch. Joshua 1:11; Joshua 3:2. This was probably on the same day that Joshua received the Divine command to cross t...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    _VER._ 1. _AND JOSHUA—SENT—TWO MEN TO SPY,_ &C.— Or _had sent,_ as the Margin of our Bibles more properly renders it. Joshua had certainly sent the spies to Jericho before he issued in the camp the or...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    _Rahab Hides the Spies Joshua 2:1-7_ 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...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _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 AN HARLOT'S HOUSE, NAMED RAHAB, AND LODGED THERE._ Joshua...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    2:1 harlot's (d-27) Lit. 'the house of a woman, a harlot.'...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    SHITTIM] i.e. 'Acacias.' The district referred to is the part of the Jordan basin opposite Jericho, where acacias still are found. AN HARLOT'S] 'We know nothing of her after-conduct, but we may well b...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE TWO SPIES AT JERICHO Joshua himself had been one of twelve sent by Moses on a similar errand, some thirty-eight years before (Numbers 13). The incident, natural in itself, acquires a special inter...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    COME IN, AND RECEIVE GOD’S PROMISES! JOSHUA _BRIAN ROWLANDS_ Maps to help you to study this book are on the Internet at www.easyenglish.info. CHAPTER 2 JOSHUA SENDS TWO MEN TO LOOK OVER THE LAN...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    II. THE SPIES AND RAHAB. (1) JOSHUA... SENT OUT OF SHITTIM. — That is, he sent the spies before the people left the place where they had been encamped for some months (Numbers 22:1; Numbers 33:49). Sh...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ יִּשְׁלַ֣ח יְהֹושֻׁ֣עַ ־בִּן ־נ֠וּן מִֽן ־

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER VII. THE SPIES IN JERICHO. Joshua 2:1. IT was not long ere Joshua found an occasion not only for the exercise of that courage to which he had been so emphatically called both by God and the...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    A HEATHEN WOMAN'S ACT OF FAITH Joshua 2:1 “To view the land” was a hazardous undertaking. The physiognomy of the Hebrews would certainly betray them, and it did. The sacred writer does not commend Ra...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Forty years before this time the spies had been sent out and had brought back to Moses their reports of the land. Of these, Joshua had been one of the two who had brought back a report revealing their...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    The third thing Joshua did was to secretly send two spies to Jericho to survey the surrounding land and especially the city. These two found a woman of faith in a heathen city. Rahab was a harlot livi...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of (a) 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. (a) W...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    CONTENTS This Chapter contains that memorable history which is handed down to gospel times, with such honourable testimony of the harlot Rahab. Joshua having sent spies from Shittim to Jericho, Rahab...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    The book of Joshua naturally follows the five books of Moses, and indeed is connected more manifestly with those that go before it than might appear to an ordinary reader. It opens not with a mere par...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _A NOTABLE WOMAN_ ‘An harlot … named Rahab.’ Joshua 2:1 We are to travel back into that remote past in order to study a woman who holds a unique place in Bible history, one whose story is a romance...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    1._And Joshua the son of Nun sent, _etc. The object of the exploration now in question was different from the former one, when Joshua was sent with other eleven to survey all the districts of the land...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    The second chapter contains the interesting history of Rahab. How beautiful. it is to see the grace of God setting up its way-marks from the beginning, that the eye of faith may know where to rest, wh...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN SENT OUT OF SHITTIM TWO MEN,.... Or "had sent" p; for this was done before the above order to depart: it is a tradition of the Jews q, that they were Caleb and Phinehas; but...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    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 an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there. Ver. 1. _...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _And Joshua sent_ Or, _had sent_, before the directions mentioned in the preceding chapter (Joshua 2:10,) were given to the officers. This best agrees with Jos 2:22 of this chapter, and the rest of th...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 Rahab receiueth and concealeth the two spies sent from Shittim. 8 The couenant betweene her and them. 23 Their returne and relation. 1 AND Ioshua the sonne of Nun sent out of Shittim two men, to s...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And Joshua, the son of Hun, sent out of Shittim, a town in Moabitis, where he had his headquarters, this probably having taken place even before the officers of the host made the proclamation througho...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The Spies at Rahab's House...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    THE SPIES RECEIVED AND HIDDEN BY RAHAB (vv. 1-24) Joshua then sent two spies to "view the land, especially Jericho"(v. 1).Twelve men had been sent before at the request of the people (Deuteronomy 1:...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    LODGED: _ Heb._ lay...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-7 Faith in God's promises ought not to do away, but to encourage our diligence in the use of proper means. The providence of God directed the spies to the house of Rahab. God knew where there was o...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    JOSHUA CHAPTER 2 Joshua sends two spies to Jericho; they are sought after; Rahab hides them; deceives the messengers, JOSHUA 2:1. She acknowledges that God had given them the land; her reasons, JOSHUA...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Joshua 2:1 Joshua H3091 son H1121 Nun H5126 sent H7971 (H8799) two H8147 men H582 Grove H7851 spy...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    CHAPTER 2. THE SPIES IN JERICHO. This chapter gives an account of the spies sent by Joshua to Jericho, and of their entrance into the house of Rahab, who hid them from the king's messengers. It descri...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Joshua 2:1. Spies are a part of the unhappy machinery of war. They are counted as necessary as the general, or as the boy who blows the bugle. It is with an army and in a war that Joshua is now to dis...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Rahab and the Jericho spies. CHARACTERS: Joshua, two spies, Rahab, king of Jericho. CONCLUSION: Let not God's people be afraid of their most powerful enemies, for their God can, when He pl...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Joshua 2:1. _Sent out two spies._ Many read, “Joshua had sent out.” Being a wary general he would lose no time in gaining every kind of information. _A harlot's house, named Rahab._ The word is render...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Joshua _. .. _ sent out _. .. _ two men to spy._ THE SPIES DESPATCHED I. The position in which joshua and the Israelites were placed. It was a difficult task that had been performed by Moses; did no...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _THE MISSION OF THE TWO SPIES_ CRITICAL NOTES.— Joshua 2:1. Joshua sent] Or, as in the margin, had sent. It is probable that the spies had left the camp for Jericho one or two days before the giving...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION RAHAB AND THE SPIES.— JOSHUA 2:1 AND JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN SENT. Rather, as margin, _had_ sent (see note on Joshua 1:2). It might have been at the very time when the command was given

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    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 th...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Ephesians 5:5; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25; Joshua 21:31; Joshua 5:10;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    PREPARING TO POSSESS THE LAND Joshua 2:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS 1. The men who fell by the way. The closing verses of Joshua 1:1, give the story of Joshua's preparations to carry out God's instructions,...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Sent — Or, had sent: See note ... "Joshua 1:11" Two men — Not twelve, as Moses did, because those were to view the whole land, these but a small parcel of it. To spy — That is, to learn the state of t...

Continues after advertising