Joshua 2 explained: Rahab Hides the Spies

Spies sent to Jericho (v. 1)

Joshua quietly sends two men from the camp at Shittim, east of the Jordan River, to scout Jericho, the first city in Israel's path. They stay with Rahab, a prostitute, perhaps because a house where strangers came and went would draw little notice.

Rahab hides them (vv. 2-7)

When the king demands the men, Rahab hides them under stalks of flax drying on her flat roof and lies that they already left before the city gate closed at dusk. The search party rushes off toward the river crossings, and the gate is shut behind them.

What Rahab has heard (vv. 8-11)

Rahab says the whole city is terrified by the stories of the sea drying up when Israel left Egypt, and of two kings east of the Jordan whose peoples Israel wiped out. From this, an outsider concludes that Israel's God rules heaven and earth.

A promise for her family (vv. 12-14)

Because she spared them, she asks the spies to swear by the LORD to spare her parents, siblings and their households. They pledge their own lives for hers, as long as she keeps the plan secret.

The red cord (vv. 15-21)

Her house is built into the city wall, so she lowers them by rope from her window, and they agree that a red cord tied there will mark her home, with only those inside it spared. Many interpreters have compared the cord to the blood marking Israelite doors at the first Passover, and Christians have long read it as a picture of rescue through Jesus' death.

The report to Joshua (vv. 22-24)

The spies hide in the hills for three days, cross back over the river and tell Joshua the people of the land are already melting with fear. Unlike the spies sent forty years earlier, whose report frightened Israel, these return confident, echoing Rahab's own words.

Key verse: Joshua 2:11

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Rahab's lie to protect the spies was right in her situation, or a wrong that God overlooked because of her faith.

Something to think about

When, if ever, is it right to break loyalty to your own community because you believe something bigger is at stake?