God Upholds His End (Joshua 2:1-24) Series

Last week, by the end of chapter 1, we had a pretty good feel for the questions we are supposed to bring to the book of Joshua as we read. Yahweh, Joshua, and Israel are going to work together to conquer the land of Canaan. All three-- Yahweh, Joshua, and Israel-- have pledged their commitment to this task.

But there are three conditions-- three "onlys" attached to all of this. And most of them, in the end, revolve around Joshua. Joshua needs to be strong, and brave, and obedient. If he isn't, Yahweh won't be with him. And if Yahweh isn't with him, and/or if Joshua isn't brave, the tribes won't follow him.

So we find ourselves nervous. We know there are a lot of things that can go wrong. We know that this entire thing feels a little like a house of cards.

Chapter two begins like this, in verse 1:

(1) And Joshua son of Nun sent from Shittim two men [as] spies, secretly, saying,

"Walk!

See the land and Jericho,"

In chapter 1, Joshua had responded to Yahweh's command to be strong and brave by telling the people to pack up. In three days, they would cross the Jordan and take the land Yahweh is giving them.

In the meantime, Joshua decides he will use this time to his advantage, by sending two spies into the land.

Now, Joshua is not the first of God's leaders to send spies into the promised land. Yahweh had commanded Moses to do the same thing in Numbers 13. There, the people saw the Nephilim-- the descendants of the sons of God (Gen. 6), and they were terrified (Num. 13:33). They didn't trust in Yahweh's ability to bring them victory, and that entire generation ended up dying in the wilderness because of their lack of faith.

So when we hear that Joshua is sending two spies, we cringe. We're not sure that Joshua is doing something wrong. We aren't ready to call this "sin." But at this point, we can't be sure what he's doing, or thinking. And we know what happened last time spies were sent-- the end result was fear, and disobedience. We read this, and we get a sinking feeling in our stomach. It brings back lots of bad memories.

Verse 1 continues:

and they went,

and they entered the house of a woman prostitute.

Now, her name [was] Rahab,

and they lied down there,

Why? Of all the places to end up, it's at the house of a prostitute? Really? We find ourselves thinking, maybe they are trying to maintain a low profile, and the best way to do that is in the seedy part of town, paying cash. I don't know. But I'm not sure they needed to explore a prostitute's house. And that nervous feeling in my stomach? It's turning into an ulcer.

Verse 2:

(2) And it was said to the king of Jericho, saying,

"LOOK! Men have come here tonight from the sons of Israel to search out the land!,"

So. Joshua send in two explorers, secretly. And it's not bad enough that they end up at a prostitute's house. The king also learns, on the very first day, that Israelite men have come-- tonight-- to search out the land. Unbelievable.

Verse 3:

(3) And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying,

"Bring out the men--the ones coming to you -- who have come to your house--

because to search out all the land they have come.

And then, on top of all of this, the king knows exactly where the men are staying. He knows everything. And the king's men are at the door, saying this: "Bring them out. We know the spies are there; we know where they are from; we know what they came to do."

The situation is hopeless.

Verse 4:

(4) and (next) the woman took the two men,

and (next) she hid them,

and (next) she said,

"Correct/true! [that] they came to me-- the men--

and I didn't know from where they [are],

(5) and the gate was closed at darkness,

while the men went out.

I don't know where the men went.

Pursue quickly after them,

because you will overtake them."

If you compare English translations on Joshua 2:4, you're going to be very confused. The NIV, RSV, and ESV make it sound like Rahab had already hidden the spies on the roof, before the king's men come.

But let me read the KJV here:

4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them.

The KJV, and NRSV, make it sound like Rahab hid them after the king's men came knocking on her door.

This is a huge difference. Right? The KJV and NRSV correctly translate the verb here.

The NIV, RSV, and ESV look at this situation, and they say, "There is absolutely no way that Rahab could've taken the men, brought them upstairs, hidden them, and then come down and been like, 'Nope. Not here anymore.'"