Then Joshua son of Nun
The name "Joshua" is derived from the Hebrew "Yehoshua," meaning "Yahweh is salvation." Joshua, the successor of Moses, is a pivotal figure in the history of Israel, leading the Israelites into the Promised Land. His lineage as the "son of Nun" connects him to the tribe of Ephraim, one of the tribes of Israel. This introduction sets the stage for Joshua's leadership and the divine mission he is about to undertake.

secretly sent two spies
The act of sending spies "secretly" underscores the strategic and cautious approach Joshua takes in fulfilling God's command. The Hebrew word for "secretly" can imply discretion and wisdom, reflecting Joshua's understanding of the need for careful planning. This mirrors the earlier reconnaissance mission in Numbers 13, but with a more focused and faithful intent.

from Shittim
Shittim, also known as Abel-Shittim, was the last encampment of the Israelites before crossing the Jordan River into Canaan. The name means "acacias," referring to the trees that grew in the area. This location is significant as it represents a place of preparation and transition, where the Israelites were poised to enter the land promised to them by God.

saying, 'Go, look over the land, especially Jericho.'
Joshua's command to "look over the land" indicates a thorough and strategic assessment of the territory. The emphasis on "especially Jericho" highlights the city's importance as a fortified stronghold and gateway to Canaan. Jericho's walls were renowned, and its conquest would be a significant psychological and military victory for the Israelites.

So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab
The spies' entrance into "the house of a prostitute named Rahab" is a profound moment in the narrative. Rahab's profession and her subsequent role in aiding the Israelites reveal God's grace and the inclusion of Gentiles in His redemptive plan. The Hebrew term for "prostitute" can also mean "innkeeper," suggesting her home was a place where travelers lodged, making it a strategic choice for the spies.

and stayed there
The decision to "stay there" signifies a divine appointment, as Rahab becomes a key ally in the Israelites' conquest of Jericho. Her faith and actions lead to her inclusion in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5), demonstrating God's ability to use unexpected individuals for His purposes. This phrase encapsulates the theme of divine providence and the unfolding of God's plan through human history.

II.

THE SPIES AND RAHAB.

(1) Joshua . . . sent out of Shittim.--That is, he sent the spies before the people left the place where they had been encamped for some months (Numbers 22:1; Numbers 33:49). Shittim was the last stage of the Exodus under Moses. Probably the sending of these two spies was simultaneous with the issue of the general orders to Israel to prepare for the passage of Jordan within three days. The three days of Joshua 1:11; Joshua 2:22 appear to be the same period of time.

Two men to spy.--The sending of these spies should be compared, as to the general effect and character of the measure, with other similar events. There are three instances of sending spies in reference to Canaan--viz., (1) the sending of the twelve by Moses from Kadesh-barnea; (2) the instance before us; (3) the sending of men to view Ai. The present instance is the only one in which the measure had a good effect. In the case of the twelve, Moses describes the action as a manifestation of unbelief. The spies took upon them to discover the right path for Israel to take, a thing which was God's prerogative, not theirs (Deuteronomy 1:22; Deuteronomy 1:32-33). The men who viewed Ai (Joshua 7:2-3) came back and presumed to instruct Joshua how to proceed against it, with disastrous results. In this instance the two men brought back a report of the state of things in Jericho (exactly what they were ordered to do), which encouraged all Israel to proceed. Compare the effect of Gideon and Phurah's visit to the camp of Midian (Judges 7:11), "Thou shalt hear what they say, and. afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened." . . .

Verse 1. - And Joshua the son of Nun sent. Rather, as margin, had sent (see note on Joshua 1:2). It might have been at the very time when the command was given to the Israelites, for, according to a common Hebrew manner of speech (see, for instance, 1 Samuel 16:10), the three days (ver. 22) may include the whole time spent by the spies in their exploring expedition. Out of Shittim. Literally, from the valley of acacias. It is so called in full in Joel 3:18. This place (called Abel-Shittim in Numbers 33:49), in which the Israelites had sojourned for some time (see Numbers 25:1; cf. 10. 12:1), seems to have been in the plains (עַרְבֹת see note on Joshua 4:13) of Moab, by Jordan, opposite Jericho" (Numbers 33:48, 49, 50; Numbers 36:13; cf. Deuteronomy 1:5). It was "the long belt of acacia groves which mark with a line of verdure the upper terraces of the valley." (Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 298). The word Abel, or meadow, signifying the long grass with its juicy moisture, points to it as a refreshing place of sojourn and pasture for flocks, after the weary wandering in the wilderness. The acacia, not the spina AEgyptiaca of the ancients, the mimosa Nilotica of Linnaeus, but the acacia Seyal, a tree with a golden tuft of blossom, which is still (Tristram, 'Land of Israel,' p. 524) to be found on the spot, very hard dark wood, of which much use was made in the tabernacle and its fittings (see Exodus 25, 26, 36, 37, etc.). The name Abel was a common one in Palestine, and is the same as Abila, from whence comes Abilene (Luke 3:1). We may add that it has nowhere been said that they were at Shittim. We find this out from Numbers 25:1. This undesigned coincidence is beyond the power of an inventor, and far beyond the power of a compiler who was not only untrustworthy, but so clumsy that he made the most extraordinary blunders in the management of his matter (see note on next verse, and also on Joshua 1:11). Two men. Young men, as we are told in Joshua 6:23, and therefore active, fleet of foot as well as brave and prudent. All these qualities, as the subsequent narrative shows, were urgently required. "Joshua himself was full of God's Spirit, and had the oracle of God ready for his direction. Yet now he goes, not to the Propitiatorie for consultation, but to the spyes. Except where ordinarie meanes faile us, it is no use appealing to the immediate helpe of God; we may not seek to the posterne, but where the common gate is shut. It was promised Joshua that bee should leade Israel into the promised land, yet hee knew it was unsafe to presume. The condition of his provident care was included in that assurance of successe. Heaven is promised to us, but not to our carelessnesse, infidelitie, disobedience" (Bishop Hall). Secretly. Literally, dumbness or craftiness (the noun being used adverbially), implying the silence and skill required for the task. He who knows how to he silent possesses one at least of the elements of success. The necessity of silence and secrecy may be inferred from Joshua 6:1. Keil, however, following the Masoretic punctuation, regards" secretly" as referring to the Israelites, and the spies as sent unknown to the army, that no depressing report might damp their courage. Jericho. "The city of fragrance" (from רָוַח to breathe, and in the Hiphil, to smell a sweet odour), so called from its situation in the midst of palm trees, from which it was called "the city of palm trees עִיר הַתְּמָרִיּם in Deuteronomy 34:3, 2 Chronicles 28:15; cf. Judges 1:16. The vast palm grove, of which relics are even now occasionally washed up from the Red Sea, preserved by the salt in its acrid waters, has now disappeared. We read of it as still existing in the twelfth century, and indeed traces of it were to be seen as late as 1838. A dirty and poverty-stricken village called Riha, or Eriha, is all that now marks the site of all these glories of nature and art, and the most careful researches have until lately failed to discover any remains of the ancient city. It is doubtful whether the ruins observed by Tristram ('Land of Israel,' p. 216) are not the ruins of soma later city, built in the neighbourhood. Bartlett, p. 452, believes Riha to be the site of the later Jericho of our Lord's day, but Tristram would, with less probability, identify Riha with Gilgal. They both, however, place the site of ancient Jericho about a mile and a half from Riha. Conder thinks its true position is at the fountain Ain-es-Sultan. Lenormant, in his 'Manual of Oriental History,' remarks on the skill of Joshua as a military tactician. Whether he followed the advice of his experienced leader, or whether we are to attribute his success to special guidance from above, he certainly displayed the qualities of a consummate general. "Jericho," says Dean Stanley ('Sinai and Palestine,' p. 805), "stands at the entrance of the main passes from the valley of the Jordan into the interior of Palestine, the one branching off to the southwest towards Olivet, the other to the northwest towards Michmash, which commands the approach to Ai and Bethel. It was thus the key of Palestine to any invader from this quarter." He illustrates by Chiavenna (or the key city, from its situation), in Italy. Lenormant remarks that from an ordinary historical point of view the strategy of Joshua is worth notice. It was the practice ever followed by Napoleon, and, he adds, by Nelson also, to divide his enemies, and crush them in detail. Had Joshua advanced upon Palestine from the south, each success, as it alarmed, would have also united the various communities of the land, under their separate kings, by the sense of a common danger. Thus each onward step would have increased his difficulties, and exposed him, exhausted by continued efforts, to the assaults of fresh and also more numerous enemies, in a country which grew ever more easy to defend and more perilous to attack. But by crossing the Jordan and marching at once upon Jericho, he was enabled, after the capture of that city, to fall with his whole force first upon the cities of the south, and then on those of the north. The political condition of Palestine at that time (see Introduction) did not permit of a resistance by the whole force of the country under a single leader. A hasty confederation of the kings of the south, after the treaty with Gibeon, was overthrown by the rapid advance of Joshua and the battle of Beth-boron. By this success he was free to march with his whole army northward, against the confederation of tribes under the leadership of the king of Hazor, whom he overcame in the decisive battle of Merom. There is no hint given in the Scripture that in this strategy Joshua acted under the special guidance of the Most High. The probability is, that in this, as in all other of God's purposes effected through the agency of man, there is a mixture of the Divine and human elements, and that man's individuality is selected and guided as an instrument of God's purpose, which, in this instance, was the chastisement of the Canaanitish people, and the gift of the Holy Land as a possession to the descendants of Abraham. That Joshua was not indifferent to human means is shown by this very verse. Into a harlots house. Many commentators have striven to show that this word simply means an innkeeper, an office which, as Dr. Adam Clarke proves at length, was often filled by a woman. It has been derived from זוּן to nourish, a root also found in the Syriac. The Chaldee paraphast and many Jewish and Christian interpreters have adopted this interpretation, in order, as Rosenmuller remarks, "to absolve her from whom Christ had His origin from the crime of prostitution." But St. Matthew seems to imply the very opposite. The genealogy there contained mentions, as though of set purpose, all the blots on the lineage of Christ as was fitting in setting forth the origin of Him who came to forgive sin. Only three women are there mentioned: Tamar, who was guilty of incest; Rahab, the harlot; and Ruth, the Moabitess. And the LXX. render by πόρνη. Calvin calls the interpretation "innkeeper" a "presumptuous wresting of Scripture." Hengstenberg ('Geschichte des Reiches Gottes,' p. 197) also rejects the interpretation "innkeeper," and maintains the right of the spies, who, he says, were no doubt chosen by Joshua for their good character, to enter a wicked woman's house for a good purpose. It does not appear that the spies entered the house of Rahab with any evil intent, but simply because to enter the house of a woman of that kind - and women of that kind must have been very numerous in the licentious Phoenician cities - would have attracted far less attention than if they had entered any other. Even there it did not escape the notice of the king, who had been thoroughly alarmed (ver. 3) by the successes of Israel eastward of Jordan. Origen, in his third homily on Joshua, remarks that, "As the first Jesus sent his spies before him and they were received into the harlot's house, so the second Jesus sent His forerunners, whom the publicans and harlots gladly received." Named Rahab. Origen (Hom. 3) sees in this name, which signifies room (see Rehoboth, Genesis 26:22), the type of the Church of Christ which extends throughout the world, and receives sinners. And lodged there. Literally, and lay there, perhaps with the idea of lying hid, for they did not (ver. 15) spend the night there.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Then Joshua
יְהוֹשֻׁ֣עַ־ (yə·hō·wō·šu·a‘-)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3091: Joshua -- 'the LORD is salvation', Moses' successor, also the name of a number of Israelites

son
בִּן־ (bin-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1121: A son

of Nun
נ֠וּן (nūn)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 5126: Nun -- father of Joshua

secretly
חֶ֣רֶשׁ (ḥe·reš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2791: Magical craft, silence

sent
וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח (way·yiš·laḥ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

two
שְׁנַֽיִם־ (šə·na·yim-)
Number - md
Strong's 8147: Two (a cardinal number)

spies
מְרַגְּלִים֙ (mə·rag·gə·lîm)
Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 7270: To walk along, to reconnoiter, to be a, tale-bearer, to lead about

from
מִֽן־ (min-)
Preposition
Strong's 4480: A part of, from, out of

Acacia Grove,
הַשִּׁטִּ֞ים (haš·šiṭ·ṭîm)
Article | Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 7851: Shittim -- a place East of the Jordan, also a wadi perhaps West of Jerusalem

saying,
לֵאמֹ֔ר (lê·mōr)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“Go,
לְכ֛וּ (lə·ḵū)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

inspect
רְא֥וּ (rə·’ū)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 7200: To see

the land,
הָאָ֖רֶץ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

especially Jericho.”
יְרִיח֑וֹ (yə·rî·ḥōw)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 3405: Jericho -- a city in the Jordan Valley captured by Joshua

So they went
וַיֵּ֨לְכ֜וּ (way·yê·lə·ḵū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

and entered
וַ֠יָּבֹאוּ (way·yā·ḇō·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

the house
בֵּית־ (bêṯ-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of a prostitute
זוֹנָ֛ה (zō·w·nāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2181: To commit adultery, to commit idolatry

named
וּשְׁמָ֥הּ (ū·šə·māh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 8034: A name

Rahab
רָחָ֖ב (rā·ḥāḇ)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 7343: Rahab -- a harlot in Jericho

and stayed
וַיִּשְׁכְּבוּ־ (way·yiš·kə·ḇū-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7901: To lie down

there.
שָֽׁמָּה׃ (šām·māh)
Adverb | third person feminine singular
Strong's 8033: There, then, thither


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OT History: Joshua 2:1 Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent (Josh. Jos)