Joshua’s first action as leader was to direct overseers to urge the people to make provisions to enter Canaan in three days (Joshua 1:2, 10-11). He reaffirmed the promise of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh to help conquer the land west of Jordan before returning to the east bank (1:12-18).
Then, Joshua sent spies to secretly survey Jericho and the surrounding land. They went into the house of Rahab, a harlot living on the city wall. The king heard two Israelites had entered Rahab’s house and sent to have her turn them over. She lied, saying she did not know they were men of Israel and they had left as soon as darkness fell, about the time the gates would be shut. She urged the king’s men to pursue them, saying they should be able to overtake them. They went toward the fords of the river and the gates were shut (2:2-7).
She had come to believe in the true God due to the miracles He had worked to deliver Israel. She hid the spies in drying stalks of flax, making it March or April when the river was at flood stage. Rahab’s faith is seen in her words to the spies. She said, “I know that the Lord has given you the land…for the Lord your God, He is God of heaven above and on earth beneath” (2:9-11 NKJV). Her faith is also seen in her works of receiving the spies peacefully and sending them out another way (2:15-16; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25).
Rahab, deeply committed to her family, made the spies promise their lives would be spared. She let the men down by a cord, telling them to go to the mountains nearby. The mountains rose 1,500 or more feet above the plain and were about a mile away. They are primarily limestone and are full of caves well suited to hiding. The spies said they would keep their promise to save Rahab’s family on three conditions. First, she had to tie the red cord to the window by which she let them down to designate the house in which she lived. Second, she and her family had to remain in the house during the attack. Third, she had to keep quiet about their mission in Jericho (2:17-20).
Rahab’s faith should strengthen and enrich the faith each of us have in God and spur every child of God to serve Him with all his heart.
