Joshua send out spies before they get started, but unlike the catastrophe at Kadesh-barnea forty years ago, he only sends two  The lodge at Rahab’s house, and she relates in verses 8-11 that the genuine fear at their approach that has spread through the land.  the lord’s work in their behalf at the Red Sea and with their victories over the Amorites has been more than simply noticed.  Indeed the spies themselves have been noticed, and have been reported to the king of Jericho.

The Flight of the Spies, as in Joshua 2:15, by James Tissot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rahab negotiates an agreement with the spies to spare her and her whole father’s house in exchange for her silence about their business.  So when the king’s men come for them, she has hidden them away and sends their pursuers off in the wrong direction.  After letting them down from the window of her home with a rope, she has them hide in the hills until it is safe to go on their way.

Instructions for her and her family in verses 18-19 for when the Israelites come into the land are distinctly reminiscent of the night before the 10th plague and the passover of Exodus as Moses gives instructions in Exodus 12:22  – she is warned to keep the whole family in the “marked” house after the people of Israel arrive.

Rahab is mentioned in Matthew 1:5 in the ancestry of Jesus Christ.

Read or listen to audio of ESV version of this selection from this link.

/Robert

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

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