Commentari biblici

Ver. 1. And Joshua—sent—two men to spy, &c.— Or had sent, as the Margin of our Bibles more properly renders it. Joshua had certainly sent the spies to Jericho before he issued in the camp the order mentioned ver. 10, 11 of the former chapter. This supposition removes every difficulty that can arise in this history with respect to the order of time, and clears up the 22nd verse of the present chapter. Moses had succeeded so indifferently in sending spies before to discover the land of Canaan, that it is surprising, at first view, that Joshua should venture to recur to this method. But, not to mention that he might be determined to it of his own mind, or perhaps by the express commands of God, without any solicitation on the part of the people, it appears, that he sent these two spies secretly, and that to him only they reported the success of their commission. As an able general, prudence required that Joshua should gain a knowledge of the place which he purposed to attack: his confidence in the divine promises did not exclude a diligent and judicious employment of such second causes as might favour the success of his enterprize. We would, therefore, translate the beginning of the verse in this manner: And Joshua, the son of Nun, had secretly sent out of Shittim two men to espy, and had said, &c. See Houbigant. By the land which Joshua orders them to go and view, we are not to understand the whole land of Canaan, but the environs of Jericho: the city, its avenues, its situation, its fortifications, the troops defending it; in a word, every obstacle that he would have to surmount in order to make himself master of it. The city of Jericho, situated in a wide plain according to Josephus, was but about seven miles and a half distant from Jordan. Maundrel says, that he came from Jericho to the banks of Jordan in two hours; which answers pretty nearly to the former calculation.

And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab— The doubtfulness of the term used by the sacred writer, to signify Rahab's mode of life, has divided interpreters. It may equally signify a hostess, and a prostitute. Onkelos takes it in the former sense, making Rahab to be the keeper of a public house, who received, victualled, and lodged strangers. Josephus, and several rabbis, are of the same opinion, which has also its partizans among Christians. St. Chrysostom, in his second sermon upon Repentance, twice calls this woman a hostess. It does not appear by the text, say some, that she followed any other trade; and it is improbable, that Salmon, who was one of the chief heads of the house of Judah, and was one of the ancestors of the Messiah, would have married her had she been a prostitute. And yet it must be owned, the greatest probabilities, in this particular, are against Rahab. The Hebrew word zonah constantly implies a prostitute. Thus the LXX understood it, and two apostles have approved of their version; see Hebrews 11:31. Jam 2:25 which they would not have done, considering her as a woman whose memory they ought to hold venerable, had they not been constrained by the laws of truth. Besides, it is observable, that, in this relation, Rahab says not a word of her husband or children, when she begs the life of her kinsfolks; which, considering the trade she carried on, must naturally render her suspected. We may add with Serrarius, that, perhaps, Rahab was one of those young women, who, in a religious view, devoted herself to impurity in the idol temples. The same critic supposes the moon to have been the tutelary deity of Jericho. See Calmet, and Leviticus 21:7.

And lodged there— Supposing Rahab to have actually lived in an irreproachable manner, it is nothing surprising to see the spies sent by Joshua on this discovery come by night to lodge at her inn. Whatever were her modes of life, her house was the most favourable place for the execution of their design. And it is sufficiently evident, from reading the sequel of this history, that God himself conducted them thither by a special direction of his providence.

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Ver. 4. And the woman took the two men, and hid them— Or rather, as some versions have it, Now the woman had taken the two men, and had hidden them; having, without doubt, perceived the king's officers coming, or being informed of the search which was made at the time when, being already instructed by the two spies, she had conferred with them and given them assurances of her fidelity.

And said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were— As if she had said, "My house is open to all: two men did come to lodge here; but I was not obliged to inform myself who they were, or whence they came; nor was it my business to inquire."

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Ver. 5. And—about the time of shutting of the gate— Rahab's house was evidently nigh to one of the gates of Jericho: she feigned, therefore, that, before the gate was shut, those whom they took for spies had gone out, and so had left her house but a very short time before. The spies arrived at the close of the day, and Rahab asserts that they went out in the dusk, just at the shutting of the gate.

Whither the men went, I wot not: pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them— The argument was plausible: if the two men who came to Rahab, and who, as she said, had gone out of the city at the shutting of the gate, were emissaries from the camp of Israel, they had only to follow them with diligence, and overtake them before they had repassed the Jordan: but Rahab most certainly told a falsehood; and it cannot be said that this lie was merely officious, since she uttered it to the king's people, and in prejudice to the safety of her country: but the idea of saving the life of two innocent persons evidently prevailed in her mind, and she thought she might harmlessly employ a falsehood to effect her purpose. Some of the ancient fathers of the church have thought the same; and St. Augustin, though very rigid upon the subject, granted it to be a very difficult question. See cap. 15 ad Consentinum. But this is carrying matters certainly to an excess. The fathers before St. Augustin, and all the Jewish doctors, condemn the practice altogether. It may, indeed, be said, in palliation of Rahab's crime, that if she had heard of what had happened to Pharaoh, Sihon, and Og, the same events could not be unknown to the king of Jericho; so that it was as natural for her to be afraid, and to provide for her own security, as for him to defend himself courageously, or perish in the attempt. For we apprehend, that to reject peace offered by a formidable conqueror, at the hazard of being massacred, for the love of a king who might very probably have been only a petty tyrant, and to continue attached to a people whom fear had disabled from defending themselves; we apprehend, I say, that to reject peace under such circumstances, and even supposing that the king of Jericho lawfully swayed the sceptre, would have been an instance of love for one's country, or rather for truth, which there was hardly room to expect from a Canaanitish woman; much less from a hostess so young as Rahab must have been, since she brought forth Boaz above thirty years after, as Junius has fully proved, in Jacob. She did, upon the whole, what might be expected from her in such a case, an honest action, and conformable to the will of God, in joining the party of those whom His powerful arm supported, and in relinquishing the interests of a nation, whom so many reasons united to render worthy of an utter destruction. Still more fully to justify the reception which Rahab gave to the Israelitish spies, and the asylum she afforded, two things may reasonably be supposed; 1. That God had revealed to this woman the wonders he had wrought in favour of the children of Israel, and his design of giving them the land of Canaan. By faith, we read, the harlot Rahab perished not; Hebrews 11:31. This faith seems to suppose something more than persuasion founded on common report; it supposes some divine warning, a Revelation 2:0. It is natural to suppose, that God had summoned the king and people of Jericho to submit themselves to the Israelites on pain of utter destruction; and that, while Rahab's fellow-citizens refused to comply with that summons, this woman, more submissive to the divine commands, took part with the Israelites, and asked in consequence of her option. The words of St. Paul favour this conjecture. Instead of saying, according to our version, by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, τοις απιστοις, he says, agreeably to the marginal rendering, perished not with them who were disobedient, τοις απειθησασι ; i.e. disobedient to the orders which God had given them to submit to the Israelites. There was nothing, therefore, unfaithful, nothing criminal, in the asylum which Rahab afforded the spies; nothing which can be deemed treasonable in the care she took to screen them from the knowledge and search of the officers of the king of Jericho. Impressed with sentiments of true faith in the commands of God, that faith, that confidence in his word, was the principle of her whole conduct in this emergency; though we acknowledge, that she sinned by having recourse to a lie. Again: Rahab testified her faith by her obedience, and for this only is she celebrated in Scripture. Let those who find themselves in like circumstances imitate her in that wherein she is imitable, her humble submission to orders undoubtedly issued by God, and her eagerness to comply therewith; to them also will then belong that fine eulogium of St. James: Was not Rahab justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?—As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith, without works, is dead also. James 2:25-26. See Waterland's Scripture vindicated, part 2: p. 52.

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Ver. 6. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house— We have elsewhere remarked in what manner the roofs of houses in this country were constructed. See Deuteronomy 22:8. They were flat, or rather terraces, on which men might either lie or walk.

And hid them, &c.— All this had passed before the arrival of the king of Jericho's officers, and upon a report of the search that they were ordered to make.

Stalks of flax— Hemp-wood,—line-stalks. See Ulpian. Digest. lib. 32: cap. 55 sect. 5.

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Ver. 9. She said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, &c.— As if she had thus addressed them. "Be not surprised at the care I take for your security. I, as well as you, believe in the one true God, absolute master of the fate of nations. I know that he hath resolved to give this country to the people of Israel; and I can already sensibly perceive the effect of his sovereign decree, in the terror which has seized on all the inhabitants of this land," &c. This terror is here painted by two very strong expressions. First, It was a terror fallen upon the inhabitants of the country; i.e. a sudden terror, which had struck them like thunder. Secondly, They fainted, or, as the Hebrew imports, they melted; as wax is made to melt in the fire: they were bereft of their strength and courage.

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Ver. 11. For the Lord your God, he is God, &c.— "Is a God whose power, far different from that of the idols, who only preside over certain places of which they are considered as the tutelar deities, extends through all nature, and hath no bounds." This fine confession of Rahab is a convincing proof of the purity of her sentiments. We are not to be surprised, after this, at the apostle's celebrating the faith of this memorable Canaanite; much less, that, animated by a faith so judicious and noble, she should receive as she did the spies sent by Joshua.

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Ver. 12. Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord— In acknowledgment of the signal service which Rahab had done the two spies, she requests of them a favour, which is, that, at the taking of Jericho, not only herself and her parents, but all those also of her family who were found in her house, should be exempted from the general destruction. And she desires that it may be assured to her by an oath: this was the greatest security she could have; an oath is the most respectable and sacred tie of fidelity in all discourses and promises. All nations have so deemed it. All have believed, that the gods, avengers of sin, were particularly so of perjury; and, doubtless, the worshippers of the true God should be the most religious of all mortals in their observance of an oath. But how lively must the faith of this woman have been, that could excite her to act as she did! She speaks of Jericho, rather as a city already taken, than as barely threatened; and behaves as if she actually beheld the accomplishment of God's aweful decree. Hence the precautions that she takes, and the oath which she requires, are so many proofs of the confidence wherewith she received the word of God, and of her perfect acquiescence in his will.

And give me a true token— That is, a sign, which might serve her as a safeguard, and put her house in perfect security against the violence of the soldiery. Houbigant renders it, and that you will give me a true token.

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Ver. 13. That ye will save alive my father, &c.— We here see what Rahab means in the foregoing verse by her father's house;—namely, his family: her enumeration of which demonstrates that she had neither husband nor children. By all that they have, she meant the children of her brethren and sisters, and all her kindred. See chap. Joshua 6:23.

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