_JOSHUA SENDS TWO SPIES, WHOM RAHAB RECEIVES AND CONCEALS: THEY GIVE HER AN OATH, THAT THEY WILL SAVE HER AND HER FAMILY: AFTER THREE DAYS' CONTINUANCE IN THE MOUNTAINS, THEY RETURN TO JOSHUA, AND RELATE ALL THAT HAD HAPPENED TO THEM._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 order mentioned ver. 10, 11 of the former chapter. This supposition removes every difficulty that can... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 4. _AND THE WOMAN TOOK THE TWO MEN, AND HID THEM_— Or rather, as some versions have it, _Now the woman had taken the two men, and had hidden them;_ having, without doubt, perceived the king's officers coming, or being informed of the search which was made at the time when, being already instr... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 5. _AND—ABOUT THE TIME OF SHUTTING OF THE GATE_— Rahab's house was evidently nigh to one of the gates of Jericho: she feigned, therefore, that, before the gate was shut, those whom they took for spies had gone out, and so had left her house but a very short time before. The spies arrived at t... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 6. _BUT SHE HAD BROUGHT THEM UP TO THE ROOF OF THE HOUSE_— We have elsewhere remarked in what manner the roofs of houses in this country were constructed. See Deuteronomy 22:8. They were flat, or rather terraces, on which men might either lie or walk. _AND HID THEM,_ &C.— All this had passed... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 9. _SHE SAID UNTO THE MEN, I KNOW THAT THE LORD HATH GIVEN YOU THE LAND,_ &C.— As if she had thus addressed them. "Be not surprised at the care I take for your security. I, as well as you, believe in the one true God, absolute master of the fate of nations. I know that he hath resolved to giv... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 11. _FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD, HE IS GOD,_ &C.— "Is a God whose power, far different from that of the idols, who only preside over certain places of which they are considered as the tutelar deities, extends through all nature, and hath no bounds." This fine confession of Rahab is a convincing pr... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 12. _NOW THEREFORE, I PRAY YOU, SWEAR UNTO ME BY THE LORD_— In acknowledgment of the signal service which Rahab had done the two spies, she requests of them a favour, which is, that, at the taking of Jericho, not only herself and her parents, but all those also of her family who were found in... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 13. _THAT YE WILL SAVE ALIVE MY FATHER,_ &C.— We here see what Rahab means in the foregoing verse by her _father's house;_—namely, his family: her enumeration of which demonstrates that she had neither husband nor children. By _all that they have,_ she meant the children of her brethren and s... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 14. _AND THE MEN ASSURED HER, OUR LIFE FOR YOURS_— i.e. We will perish rather than suffer you to receive the least injury; or, May we perish, if your demand be not complied with! They engaged themselves by oath, (see ver. 17.) so far as in them lay, in a firm persuasion that Joshua would not... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15. _THEN SHE LET THEM DOWN,_ &C.— Having thus mutually given their word to each other, she took advantage of the darkness of the night, to let them down by means of a cord, through a window of her house which opened to the country. This house was built _upon the wall,_ or in the wall itself... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 16. _AND SHE SAID UNTO THEM,_ &C.— It is not probable that the conversation which begins at this, and ends at the 22nd verse, was held under Rahab's window. Nothing could have been more imprudent. She certainly gave them this excellent advice on dismissing them, immediately before she let the... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 17-20. _AND THE MEN SAID UNTO HER,_ &C.— Before they left her house, they had answered her request with respect to her security; as they not only engaged themselves to perform it, but also settled with her about the token which was to be her safeguard, and to assist them in keeping their word... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 21. _AND SHE BOUND THE SCARLET LINE IN THE WINDOW_— It is pretty generally supposed, that Rahab bound it there immediately, and there left it till Joshua made himself master of Jericho. But, as this affectation might have made her suspected by the people of the city, it has seemed most reason... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 22. &C. _AND THEY WENT,_ &C.— The risk they had run took from them the desire of making fresh inquiries, which might have been as dangerous as useless, having already received sufficient information from Rahab at Jericho. Supplied with provisions, therefore, they concealed themselves in the n... [ Continue Reading ]