Rahab and the Spies - Joshua 1:1 - 2:24

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Bible Stories

Rusty's Notes

Pacers... finallyThe Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Old Testament and serves as a historical account of Israel's conquest and settlement in the Promised Land, Canaan.

• It follows the leadership transition from Moses to Joshua and highlights God's faithfulness in fulfilling His promises to the Israelites.
• Joshua – Yahweh saves (Hebrew) – Jesus (Aramaic)
• The date of the Exodus was probably about 1446 B.C. (cf. 1 Kings 6:1).
• Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness (Exod. 16:35; Num. 14:33-34).
• Thus, Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered the land about 1406 B.C.
• The Book of Joshua begins with events in or very close to the year 1406 B.C.
• Chapters 1-12 – The conquest of the land
• Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim (Num. 13:8; 1 Chron. 7:27)

ENCOURAGEMENT OF JOSHUA
JOSHUA 1
1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant,

• For Joshua, this didn’t occur until 24:29.

the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant: 2 “Moses my servant is dead.

• They mourned Moses for 30 days.

Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. 3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—and west to the Mediterranean Sea. 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or abandon you.

• Map

6 “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their ancestors to give them as an inheritance.

• By Yahweh's appointment, Joshua is probably to wear two hats—that of military commander and that of estate administrator.

7 Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.

• Knowing the Law was only the first step.
• Practicing it was what would make Joshua effective.

8 This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

• Talk about it; think about it; do it!

9 Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
A       I will be with you (v. 5).
   B       Be strong and courageous (vv. 6, 7).
      C       That you may have success (v. 7).
         D       This Book of the Law (v. 8).
      C'      Then you will have success (v. 8).
   B'      Be strong and courageous (v. 9).
A'      The LORD your God is with you (v. 9).
 
JOSHUA PREPARES THE PEOPLE
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get provisions ready for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit.’”

• The Jordan River wanders about two hundred miles to cover the sixty-five mile distance from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea, dropping an additional six hundred feet below sea level as it goes.

12 Joshua said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh,  13 “Remember what Moses the Lord’s servant commanded you when he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest, and he will give you this land.

• It was not rest in the sense of freedom from conflict, but rather, resting in contrast to journeying.
• Even after the seven-year conquest of the land, there was still much land that the Israelites had to take from the Canaanites and possess (13:1; 23:1-13; cf. 24:1-28; Judg. 1:1).
• Therefore, this rest was the entrance into, and initial participation in, the inheritance the LORD had promised His people.

14 Your wives, dependents, and livestock may remain in the land Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But your best soldiers must cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers and help them 15 until the Lord gives your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they too possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. You may then return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of what Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on the east side of the Jordan.”

• They are getting ready to cross over into the land and battle their enemies.
• They have to do this in their own physical strength.

16 They answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go. 17 We will obey you, just as we obeyed Moses in everything. Certainly the Lord your God will be with you, as he was with Moses. 18 Anyone who rebels against your order and does not obey your words in all that you command him, will be put to death. Above all, be strong and courageous!” [1]

• The Israelites were praying for Joshua!
• They were going to obey or be put to death.
• Four sources of Joshua's strength: (1) a faithful past, (2) a distinct call, (3) the sense of the presence of God, and (4) the indwelling of the Word of God.

 
SPIES SENT TO JERICHO
JOSHUA 2
1 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.”

• Earlier they had sent the spies to see if they could take the land.
• Now they are being sent, not to see if they can take the land, but to find the best way to enter the land.
• Two young men, according to 6:23.
• Jericho is possibly the lowest city on earth, lying about 750 feet below sea level.
• The spies' object was to determine where to attack, not whether or not to attack.

So they left, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.

• Less conspicuous because men were always visiting.
• The writer recorded Rahab's name because she became an important person in Israel's history.
• She became an ancestor of David and Jesus Christ, as well as Israel's helper on this occasion (cf. Matt. 1:5 -Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab)
• Hebrews 11:31 - By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.[2]

2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 At nightfall, when the city gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!” 6 But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof.

• Rahab lied (sin), but she was also a prostitute.
• Lying in such a case would save a life, whereas not lying might result in an innocent person's death, which would be worse.
• However, God can and has sometimes intervened when people commit to doing the right thing.
• Some have justified Rahab's lying on the basis of holy war: Since the Israelites were commanded to kill the Canaanites, it was legitimate for her to mislead Israel's enemy by telling a lie.

7 The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the city gate was shut.

• Assuming that the spies had fled back to the Israelite camp, the men of Jericho pursued and searched all along the road from their city to the place where travelers forded the Jordan River —about five miles.

 
THE PROMISE TO RAHAB
8 Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.

• The Israelites had not even begun to enter the land but everyone in Canaan knew what was about to happen to them.

10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. 11 When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.

• The melting of the Canaanites' hearts pictures utter despair.

12 Now please swear to me by the Lord that you will also show kindness to my father’s family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”

• If Rahab talked too much, her life was in danger; but if we don't talk enough, the lives of lost people around us are in danger.

14 The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the Lord gives us the land.”
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city. 16 “Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.”
17 The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, 18 unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. 19 If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his death will be his own fault, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his death will be our fault. 20 And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.”

• The spies gave their solemn promise to spare Rahab and her household, but specified three conditions that Rahab had to meet:
• 1. She had to make her home known to the Israelites when they attacked (v. 18).
• 2. She had to assemble her family into her home before the battle (v. 18).
• 3. She had to keep the mission of the spies a secret (vv. 20, 14).

21 “Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.

• The color had symbolic significance, too, since red recalls blood and vigorous life.
• Rahab's cord answered, therefore, the same purpose with the blood sprinkled upon the door-posts in Egypt, which secured the first-born from the destroying angel.

22 So the two men went into the hill country and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. They searched all along the way, but did not find them. 23 Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them.

• Joshua had learned by experience that spy reports should be brought to the leaders only, for the people did not have sufficient orientation or experience to evaluate such a report correctly.

24 They told Joshua, “The Lord has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”[3]

• "The spies violated God's explicit command that none of the people living in the land were to be spared (Deut 7:1-6; 20:16-18).
• Rahab, however, turned to God and sought deliverance.
• Her experience is proof of the gracious saving purpose of God.
• His overarching decree is that 'everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved' (Joel 2:32).
• This is one of the most dramatic examples of grace in the OT and is set in bold relief by the questionable aspects of Rahab's profession and conversion.
• "The salvation of Rahab is an example of what God would have done for others.
• The king and the other citizens of Jericho knew all she knew, but they did not turn to Israel's God for mercy.

The fear that drove her to beg for mercy drove them in their stubborn rebellion.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jos.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Heb 11:31.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jos 2:1–24