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Reading – Joshua 2:1-24
By
Dan and Brenda Cathcart
As
the children of Israel are preparing to cross the Jordan River and enter the
Promised Land, Joshua is preparing for what they would encounter when they
cross over near the city of Jericho. They have three days before they move
their camp the few miles from the Acacia grove on the Plains of Moab to the
banks of the Jordan River. Joshua makes use of these three days by sending two
men to spy out the land near Jericho.
Joshua 2:1 NKJV 1 Now Joshua the son
of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, "Go,
view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and came to the house of
a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.
As
we dig into this account involving Rahab and the unnamed spies, we will find an
incredible number of parallels to events in the Torah and hints at the coming
of Messiah.
The
account of the journey of the two spies and their encounter with Rahab is
sandwiched between the command to prepare to cross the Jordan River and the
command to actually cross the river. Joshua issues the command to prepare to
cross the Jordan in Jordan in chapter 1:
Joshua 1:10-11 NKJV 10 Then Joshua
commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 "Pass through the camp
and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within
three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which
the LORD your God is giving you to possess.'"
The
command to actually cross the river is issued three days later.
Joshua 3:2-3 NKJV 2 So it was, after
three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the
people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your
God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your
place and go after it.
From
this structure, we might expect to see a chiasm. This is exactly what we have
in this account. A chiasm is a symmetric literary pattern common in the Bible.
In a chiasm the ideas are presented in reverse order around a central theme.
The beginning and end of this chiasm is the three days of preparation indicated
in Joshua chapters one and three. The rest of the chiasm is completely
contained with chapter two. The outer layer of the chiasm is, as we have
stated, the three days of preparation beginning and ending. The next layer in
is Joshua sending out the spies in verse one and receiving them back in verses
twenty-three and twenty-four. The third layer is the account of Rahab hiding
the men from the pursuit by the king of Jericho in verses four through six and
the spies hiding from their pursuers in verse twenty-two. Moving in one more
layer, we come to the oath sworn by Rahab in verses eight through twelve and
the oaths returned by the spies in verses seventeen through twenty-one. The
center of the chiasm is the Rahab enabling their escape and safe return to
Joshua in verses fifteen and sixteen. So, let’s work our way through this
chiasm and discover not only the central theme, but interesting connections to
the Torah as we progress through each layer.
Chapter
two begins with Joshua secretly sending out two unnamed men to view the land
and it ends with him receiving the report of the two spies when they return. At
no time in the narrative do we learn the identity of these two men.
When
we read that Joshua sends out two men to check out the land near Jericho, we
immediately think of the twelve spies that Moses had sent out thirty-nine years
earlier to spy out the land. However, there are some significant differences
between these two events. When Moses sent the twelve men, the selection and
sending out of the spies was known among all the people.
Numbers 13:1-2 MKJV 1 And the LORD
spoke to Moses saying, 2 Send men so that they may search the land of Canaan,
which I give to the sons of Israel. You shall send a man from every tribe of
their fathers, everyone a ruler among them.
The
next verses name each of the twelve men and their tribal affiliation. They were
all men of distinction most likely well-known among their respective tribes. It
is as if a great fanfare is made of their being sent out. When the twelve spies
reported back, they did so to the entire congregation not just to Moses.
Numbers 13:26 NKJV 26 Now they
departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the
children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back
word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the
land.
This
contrasts with the anonymity of the two men Joshua sent out secretly who
reported back only to him.
Sending
out spies to check out the terrain and the strength of an enemy is actually a
good military tactic. Moses sent out spies before the children of Israel fought
against the Amorites east of the Jordan River. The problem wasn’t in sending
spies, the problem was how the spies viewed the land and God’s promises. When
the twelve spies returned from the land, ten of them brought a bad report and
the morale of the children of Israel plummeted.
Numbers 14:1-3 NKJV 1 So all the
congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the
whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of
Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3 "Why has the LORD
brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children
should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"
However,
when the two men Joshua sent out returned, they brought back the exact opposite
report as the ten spies. They reported that the Canaanites were terrified of
the Israelites and their God.
Joshua 2:23-24 NKJV 23 So the two men
returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to
Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. 24 And they
said to Joshua, "Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands,
for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of
us."
Moses
had told them that this would be the case when he addressed the people in the
month prior to his death. He told them that if they followed God’s ways
diligently, He would go before them and cause their enemies to tremble.
Deuteronomy 11:25 NKJV 25 "No man
shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you
and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to
you.
When
the two Israelites arrived in Jericho, they went to the house of a prostitute
named Rahab where she received them with peace.
Hebrews 11:31 NKJV 31 By faith the
harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had
received the spies with peace.
The
spotlight of this account is focused on Rahab because she is the only person
who is named! Who is Rahab? We are told that she is a harlot. The Hebrew word
translated as “harlot” is “zaw-naw,” number 2181 in Strong’s Concordance,
meaning to commit adultery, fornication, idolatry, to be a harlot or whore.
This word in its form as a noun is always translated as harlot or whore. In
Joshua chapter six when Jericho is conquered by Israel, she is mentioned three
times, each time with a reference to her being a prostitute. In the New
Testament, both James and the author of Hebrews attest to Rahab’s faith while
referring to her as a harlot. Her identity as a prostitute is an important
element in this account. It forms a kind of symmetry with the events that happened
after the Israelites arrived at the Acacia Grove on the Plains of Moab where
they were camped preparing to cross the Jordan River. At the time of the
Israelite’s arrival at Acacia Grove, Balak, King of Moab, hired Balaam to curse
Israel. When that didn’t work, Balaam and Balak sent the women of Moab to
commit harlotry with the Israelites.
Numbers 25:1-2 NKJV 1 Now Israel
remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the
women of Moab. 2 They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and
the people ate and bowed down to their gods.
In
an ironic juxtaposition, the Moabite women enticed Israel to engage in harlotry
at Acacia Grove, while Rahab the harlot protected the lives of the two
Israelites. This takes us to the next layer of the chiasm when Rahab acts
courageously to hide the spies from the King of Jericho.
Joshua 2:3-4 NKJV 3 So the king of
Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you,
who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the
country." 4 Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said,
"Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
Rahab
outwitted the king by misdirecting the men sent to find the two Israelites.
Rahab hid the two men under stalks of flax which is used to make linen, but
before the two men could lay down to sleep that night, she came to the men to
explain her motive in hiding them and what she hoped to gain from them. She,
like Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, saw the mighty power of God when He brought
the children of Israel across the Red Sea on dry ground. More recently she and
all the Canaanites saw how God helped the Israelites defeat the kings on the
east side of the Jordan River. Rahab acknowledged that she knows that Yehovah
is the God of not just Israel but of the heaven and earth.
Joshua 2:11-12 NKJV 11 "And as
soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any
more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in
heaven above and on earth beneath. 12 "Now therefore, I beg you, swear to
me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show
kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token,
Rahab
asks that the two men and, through them, the nation of Israel, swear an oath to
treat her and her family with kindness. The Hebrew word translated as
“kindness” is “kheh-sed,” number 2617, meaning kindness, favor, goodness,
lovingkindness, or mercy. The depth of meaning of this word goes much further
than just kindness. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament states
the view that:
…hesed denotes free acts of rescue or
deliverance which in prophetic usage includes faithfulness.”[i]
The
two men reply that not only will she be treated with kindness; she will be
treated “kindly and truly.”
Joshua 2:14 NKJV 14 So the men
answered her, "Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of
ours. And it shall be, when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal
kindly and truly with you."
The
pairing of these two words is also found in God’s declaration of His name to
Moses translated as “lovingkindness and truth.”
Exodus 34:6 NAS95 6 Then the LORD
passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God,
compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and
truth;
The
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament states that this pairing,
which occurs twenty-five times, means “faithful love” or “true kindness.”[ii]
The two men have entered into an agreement with her by swearing an oath. This hints
at the establishment of a covenant. Similar to a covenant, they agree to give
her a true token or a sign of their agreement, but the actual sign they will
give her is not mentioned until after the Bible recounts how Rahab helped them
escape from Jericho gives them instructions for how to return safely to the
Israelite camp. This is the center of the chiasm; it contains the central theme
and a third mention of the time frame of three days.
Joshua 2:15-16 NAS95 15 Then she let
them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so
that she was living on the wall. 16 She said to them, "Go to the hill
country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves
there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on
your way."
Rahab
acted on her kindness toward them to not only hide them, but to rescue them and
give them advice to elude capture. After this statement, the Bible returns to
the earlier conversation explaining what true token or sign the men will give
her.
Joshua 2:17-19 NKJV 17 So the men said
to her: "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us
swear, 18 "unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of
scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring
your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to
your own home. 19 "So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of
your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be
guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head
if a hand is laid on him.
The
true token that the men instructed Rahab to display was a “line of scarlet
cord” in the window. When they see the line of scarlet thread, the inhabitants
of that house would be spared. Once again, we see a direct connection back to
the Torah. In this passage we see a connection to the Passover just before God
delivered Israel out of Egypt. At the Passover, the children of Israel were to
paint the doorposts and lintels of their homes with the blood of the Passover
lamb and then go into their homes and remain there. The angel of death would
pass through Egypt and kill the firstborn of every house that had not applied
that blood to their doorposts and lintels. The scarlet thread is like the blood
of the Passover lamb, and the commandment to remain in the home keeps the
members of the household safe until after the battle is complete.
Two
words in this passage add to our understanding of this event. The word
translated as “token” in verse twelve is “oth,” number 226, meaning a signal,
flag, beacon, or omen. The sign or token that most people would be familiar
with is the sign of the rainbow that God gave to Moses. Like God would look in
the sky and see the rainbow and remember His covenant with Noah and all
creation not to destroy the earth with a flood, so too, the children of Israel
would look up and see the line of scarlet thread hanging from Rahab’s window
and remember their oath to spare all the inhabitants of that house.
There
is a hidden or deeper meaning in the original Hebrew contained in the phrase
“line of scarlet thread.” The word translated as “line” in verse eighteen is
the Hebrew word “tik-vaw,” number 8615, meaning a cord as an attachment;
figuratively it means expectancy, expectation, or hope, or the thing that I
long for. “Tik-vaw” is translated as hope, expectation, or thing that I long
for every time it appears in the Bible except in this use in Joshua. The Theological
Wordbook of the Old Testament comments on the meaning of the root word of
“tik-vaw.”
This root means to wait or to look
for with eager expectation.[iii]
Clearly,
in the literal understanding of the text, the sign Rahab is to display,
“tik-vaw” must be translated as line or cord. However, the deeper meaning of
this sign is that Rahab displayed a “hope or expectation of scarlet thread.”
This forms a deeper connection to Passover. She displayed the hope of salvation
like that of the hope of the children of Israel waiting in expectation that the
angel of death would pass over them!
The
account of the two spies continues with them fleeing to the mountains west of
Jericho where they hide for the remainder of the three days for the fourth
mention of three days. When the pursuit ends, they make their way back across
the Jordan River at one of its many fords and report back to Joshua.
So,
what is the central theme of the chiasm? Before answering this question, we
need to go back to Rahab’s identity as a harlot. Harlotry is often compared to
idolatry. After Joshua’s death, the book of Judges records that Israel played
the harlot with other gods.
Judges 2:17 NKJV 17 Yet they would not
listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed
down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked,
in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so.
Metaphorically,
Rahab represents idolatrous Israel who played the harlot with other gods. Rahab’s
name, number 7343, means proud. When proud Israel acknowledges God’s
sovereignty as Rahab did and asks for God’s kindness and truth, it will be
extended to her. The true sign God’s kindness and truth, His faithful love, is
the hope of the scarlet thread, the blood of the Passover lamb.
The
central theme is found when Rahab lowers the two men by a rope through the same
window from which she displays the line of scarlet thread. John Goldingay in
his commentary on the book of Joshua states it this way:
Salvation comes in the house of a
harlot, to the house of a harlot, and finally through the house of a harlot.[iv]
Salvation
comes in the house of Israel in the form of Yeshua, an Israelite born to Mary,
a woman thought to have committed adultery. Salvation comes to the house of
Israel, a nation steeped in idolatry and corruption when Yeshua preached the
coming of the Kingdom of God. Salvation comes through Israel when the good news
was preached to the entire world.
On
Yeshua’s final journey through Israel on His way to Jerusalem where He would be
the Passover lamb, he stopped in Jericho. While in Jericho, he stayed at the
house of a tax-collector named Zacheus who in many ways could be considered a
harlot in that he departed from the commandments of the LORD. Symbolically,
Yeshua stayed in the house of a harlot. Yeshua brought salvation to the house
of Zacheus that day.
Luke 19:8-10 NKJV 8 Then Zacchaeus
stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the
poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore
fourfold." 9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this
house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 "for the Son of Man has
come to seek and to save that which was lost."
When
God brought down the walls of Jericho in judgment for all the sins that had
been done throughout the land of Canaan, Rahab experienced salvation because
she believed in Yehovah, the God of heaven and earth.
Study
Questions:
1.
How are the two events (Moses and Joshua) about sending men into
the Promised Land similar? How are they different? What are the physical and
spiritual differences in the outcomes?
2.
Why is Rahab’s identity as a harlot important to the central theme
of this account?
3.
What elements of a covenant are present in the oaths that are
exchanged between Rahab and the two men? What other elements of a covenant are
present, especially that of the Passover covenant?
4.
The account of the two Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1:15-22 has many
parallel elements including that they were the only ones named in each event.
What are some other connections? What is revealed through the connections
between these two events?
5.
Another connection with this chapter in Joshua is the account of
the two messengers of God going into Sodom in Genesis 19:1-17. What are some
other connections? What is revealed through the connections between these two
events?
6.
What other insights did you gain from this teaching? What
indicators are there in this reading that point to Messiah Yeshua? What part or
parts of this reading shed light on the “The Promise of Rest?
Bonus: Hebrews
11:25 tells us that Rahab received the two men “with peace.” This connects to
Yeshua sending out the disciples in pairs in Luke 10:1-20. Compare their
mission with the missions of the two spies and the two messengers sent to
Sodom. What is revealed in these connections?
© 2023 Moed Ministries International. All rights reserved.
[i] Theological
Wordbook of the Old Testament. Editors R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer,
Bruce K. Waltke. Moody Publishers. ©1980. Page 305.
[ii] Theological
Wordbook of the Old Testament. Editors R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer,
Bruce K. Waltke. Moody Publishers. ©1980. Page 307.
[iii] Theological
Wordbook of the Old Testament. Editors R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer,
Bruce K. Waltke. Moody Publishers. ©1980. Page 791
[iv]
John Goldingay. Joshua. Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Historical
Books. Baker Academic. ©2023 John Goldingay. Page 102.
