Rahab Helps the Spies

Context

Israel was camped east of the Jordan River, close to the land God had promised but not yet across the border. Moses was gone, and Joshua son of Nun now led the people. Ahead of them stood Jericho, a strong city near the route into the land.

Jericho was the first place Joshua chose to investigate, but the mission would not remain hidden for long. Before the two men could return, they would have to find help inside a city whose ruler wanted them brought out.

Story

From the camp at Shittim, Joshua secretly sent out two men. He told them to look over the land, especially Jericho. They went and came to the house of a woman named Rahab, who was known as a prostitute, and they stayed there.

Their arrival did not stay hidden. Word reached the king of Jericho that men from Israel had come that night to search out the country. The king sent orders to Rahab: bring out the men who had entered her house, because they had come as spies.

Rahab had already hidden them. When the king’s messengers came, she said that the men had come to her, but she had not known where they were from. She told them that the men had left at dark, just as the city gate was about to close. If the messengers hurried, she said, they might still catch them.

In fact, the two spies were on Rahab’s roof. She had covered them with stalks of flax that were laid out there. The pursuers left the city and went toward the Jordan River crossings, searching for the men. As soon as they went out, the city gate was shut.

Before the spies settled down for the night, Rahab came up to the roof. Her words explained the risk she had taken. She told them that she knew the LORD had given Israel the land. The people of Jericho were afraid, she said, and courage had drained out of them because of Israel.

They had heard what the LORD had done at the Red Sea when Israel came out of Egypt. They had heard about Sihon and Og, the Amorite kings on the other side of the Jordan, who had been defeated. These reports had not only frightened Rahab; they had led her to a clear confession.

“The LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

Then Rahab asked the spies to make a sworn promise. Since she had shown them kindness, she asked them to show kindness to her father’s household. She pleaded for the lives of her father and mother, her brothers and sisters, and all who belonged to them.

The men agreed, pledging their lives for hers, as long as she did not reveal their mission. When the LORD gave Israel the land, they said, they would deal kindly and faithfully with her.

Rahab’s house was built into the city wall, so she helped the men escape through a window. She lowered them by a cord and told them not to go straight back toward Israel’s camp. The pursuers would be watching the road. Instead, she told them to go into the hills and hide there for three days, until the searchers returned. After that, they could go on their way.

Before they left, the spies made the terms of the oath clear. When Israel came into the land, Rahab was to tie a scarlet cord in the same window through which she had lowered them. She was to bring her father, her mother, her brothers, and her father’s household into her home. Whoever stayed inside her house would be under their protection. Whoever went out into the street would have to bear the consequences himself. If anyone inside the house was harmed, the spies would be responsible. But if Rahab told anyone about their mission, the oath would no longer bind them.

Rahab accepted their words. She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

The two men followed her instructions. They went into the hills and stayed there three days, while the pursuers searched along the way and did not find them. When the search was over, the spies came down from the hills, crossed back, and returned to Joshua.

They told him everything that had happened. Their report was not only about the city. They had heard Jericho’s fear from Rahab’s own mouth. They said that the LORD had given the whole land into Israel’s hands, because the people of the land were losing heart before them.

What We Learned

• God’s work had gone ahead of Israel. Rahab and the people of Jericho had already heard what the LORD had done.
• Rahab responded to what she knew of God. Though she lived inside Jericho, she confessed that Israel’s God ruled heaven and earth.
• Kindness and faithfulness matter in danger. Rahab protected the spies, and they bound themselves by oath to protect her household.
• The promise required Rahab to gather her family inside the house. The scarlet cord was a concrete sign tied to that promise.
• The spies returned with confidence because Rahab’s words confirmed what God was doing: the land was being given into Israel’s hands.