Joshua · chapter 2 of 24
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Joshua 2 tells how Joshua sends two spies to Jericho, where Rahab, a woman of the city, hides them on her roof and misleads the king's men. Rahab confesses that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below, and asks that her family be protected. The spies promise to spare her if she ties a scarlet cord in her window, and they return to Joshua with the news that the people of the land are afraid.
With Joshua 1 the people are ready to cross the Jordan, but first Joshua sends two men to look over the land, especially Jericho, the first city Israel will meet on the other side. Forty years earlier the spies Moses sent had brought back a report of fear; this time the story shows how God prepares the way even among the people of Canaan.
From Shittim, Joshua secretly sends two spies with orders to look over the land and Jericho. The men enter the house of a woman named Rahab, described as a prostitute. Someone tells the king of Jericho, who sends word demanding that she hand the men over. Rahab has hidden them among stalks of flax on her roof, and she tells the messengers that the men left at dusk and that if they hurry they can catch them.
Before the spies lie down, Rahab goes up to speak with them. She tells them she knows the Lord has given them the land, that terror of Israel has fallen on everyone, and that they have heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea and how Israel destroyed the kings Sihon and Og. She confesses that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below, and asks that, as she has dealt kindly with them, they deal kindly with her and her father's family, and give her a sure sign. The men swear to protect her with their own lives if she does not reveal their mission.
Rahab lets them down by a rope through the window, since her house is built into the city wall, and advises them to hide in the hills for three days. The spies explain the condition: she must tie a scarlet cord in the window and gather her whole family inside her house; anyone who goes out into the street will be responsible for his own blood. She ties it. The spies spend three days in the hills, cross the Jordan again and tell Joshua that the Lord has given the land into their hands and that all its people are melting in fear.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Rahab tells the spies that she knows the Lord has given them the land and that fear of Israel has fallen on its inhabitants. It shows that God's works were already known in Canaan and that he was preparing the ground before his people arrived.
Rahab confesses that the Lord, Israel's God, is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. A Canaanite woman outside the covenant recognizes what many in Israel forget: the Lord rules over everything.
Rahab asks that, since she has been kind to the spies, they swear by the Lord to be kind to her family and spare them from death. Her faith comes out in a concrete plea for mercy, not just in words.
The spies tell her to tie the scarlet cord in the window through which she let them down and to gather her family in the house. The cord, a sign of protection, recalls the blood on the doorposts at Passover and points to a rescue that depends on trusting the promise.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: From Shittim, to look over the land and Jericho. — Joshua 2:1
Answer: On her roof, under stalks of flax. — Joshua 2:6
Answer: How the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea and how Israel destroyed Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites. — Joshua 2:10
Answer: That the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. — Joshua 2:11
Answer: A scarlet cord tied in the window, with her family gathered inside her house. — Joshua 2:18-19
Answer: That the Lord had given the whole land into their hands and that all its people were melting in fear before them. — Joshua 2:24
Joshua 2 reminds us that God works where we least expect it. Rahab was a Canaanite, lived in a condemned city and had a hard reputation, yet she listened to what God had done and dared to trust him. The Bible does not present her as someone who deserved to be saved but as someone who believed. In a small group you can talk about who seems far from God in your community and how you can tell them what God has done.
The chapter also shows faith that acts: Rahab risked her life, protected the spies and asked mercy for her family. Her story does not justify just any deception, but it does teach us to take God's side when it costs something. Ask your class where faith asks for a concrete step today, even when we do not have all the answers.
Joshua 2 ends with the spies back in camp, convinced that God has already won the battle in the hearts of Canaan, and with Rahab and her family waiting under the sign of the cord. In Joshua 3 the crossing of the Jordan begins, the first great act of God on entering the land.
Rahab was a woman of Jericho, described as a prostitute, who protected the spies and confessed Israel's God. The New Testament remembers her: Matthew includes her in the genealogy of Jesus, Hebrews lists her among the heroes of faith, and James highlights her works. Her story shows that God welcomes anyone who trusts him, whatever their past.
The text tells what she did and praises her faith, but it does not comment on the morality of each word. Many interpreters see a dilemma between protecting innocent lives and telling the truth in wartime; others stress that what is commended is her faith and loyalty to the Lord, not the deception itself. It is best to read the story without turning it into a general rule.
In the story it is the practical sign that marked Rahab's house so that it would be spared. Many Christian readers connect it with the protecting blood of the Passover, but the text does not explain it that way; the essential point is that Rahab's rescue depended on believing the promise and staying inside the house.