Yes, Even a Canaanite Prostitute - a study of Joshua 2:4-21
- mww
- 3 hours ago
- 15 min read
A prostitute was the first Canaanite convert.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Joshua 2
This is a straightforward chapter. Joshua sends spies into the land before he leads his army across the Jordan River, and the first target is Jericho. At Jericho, they meet and receive aid from Rahab, an "innkeeper" who knows they are God's people and does not want to fight against God. There are some interesting ethical debates available in these verses.
I know that the Lord has given you this land (2:9)
Getting Started: Things to Think About
Indulge Your Inner Spy
Let's put on our ridiculous hat (because things like this are actually happening around the world right now). Let's say that Coca-Cola discovered that Pepsi was assembling a crack espionage team at their headquarters near New York City, and they needed you to find out what their plan was so they could stop it. Let's also say that the internet doesn't exist. How would you do it? What's your plan?
This week's passage involves Joshua's spies getting intel on Jericho, and it's a harrowing story when you think about it. Exciting, sure. More like terrifying to me.
Variation: Spying on History
I take no credit for this. My Serendipity Bible (more on this below) has the fun topic, "What event in history would you like to go back and spy on?" I love that.
For Such a Time as This
One of my favorite random characters in literature is Barliman Butterbur, the guy who runs the Prancing Pony inn in the Lord of the Rings books. He lives his entire life in a backwater town along an important trade route, running an inn that his family had owned for generations. I'm sure his life was drudgery. BUT, on one night, he plays host to the main characters of the series and helps them when they were in dire need. Only later did he learn who they were and what they were doing.
A normal, plain, boring life. But on one night, he helped save the world.
What's a story from someone you know who lived a normal life but at one point did something incredibly important? (It might have only affected a small number of people, but it was incredibly important to them.)
Because of book and movie series, we think of heroes as someone who does world-changing things over and over again. But the reality of life is that most of us will only have a few situations like that happen around us. For us, life is about quiet faithfulness. But when that crazy / scary / lifechanging situation arises, what will we do?
Rahab was just an innkeeper. But she had one moment to save her family and change the course of history -- and she took it.
The Importance of Fine Print
This week's passage spends a strange amount of time on the details of Rahab's arrangement with the spies. Like, an inordinate amount of time.
But let's be honest -- how important is the fine print?
Prompt you group for stories about the fine print. Maybe you have someone in contract negotiations, or you have someone who just didn't pay close enough attention to the fine print. What's a story about when the fine print proved to be hugely important?
For Rahab, her family's safety was on the line; she wasn't leaving any of it to chance. I think that's a valuable lesson this week (even if it isn't the main point).
Where We Are in Joshua
Our focal passage almost immediately follows last week's. God has appointed Joshua the leader of the Israelites for the conquest of the Promised Land, and the people have all declared that they will follow and obey.
But before they begin the conquest, Joshua wants some more intel about the land. Remember that Joshua was part of the group of spies that went through the Promised Land 40 years before:
In that post, I shared this map from jesuswalk.com:
The spies didn't follow the Jordan River, so they didn't know exactly what was around Jericho, and in any event it was 40 years before. Let's get some fresh intel in here.
This Week's Big Idea: Jericho, Part 1
I love this graphic, but I'm not sure who originally created it. I found it at Prehistoric Jericho (Tell es-Sultan): The Oldest City in the Ancient Levant – Ancient Levant
Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world, and there are countless websites with archeological data and speculation about it.
We will talk more about Jericho in the future when the walls come tumbling down.
For right now, the important thing is the location of Jericho. I found this map on Leon Maudlin's blog.
The Israelites are on the eastern side of the Jordan River, just north of the Dead Sea. When they enter the Promised Land, the first city they will encounter is Jericho. Jericho is old and walled. The Israelites know nothing about siege warfare or tactics. The people are nervous. And if they can't conquer Jericho, their military campaign is DOA. Joshua understands this, so he sends a couple of spies to learn what they can, hoping something will prove inspiring to his scaredy-army. And that's this week's passage.
I do want to introduce you to the controversy around Jericho and archeology. Jericho was destroyed multiple times in antiquity (multiple "destruction layers"), and there are lots of arguments about when these destructions happened. I believe that the Conquest happened around 1400 BC. A famous archeologist who found a destruction layer at Jericho involving an earthquake and fire (i.e., Joshua 6) believes that happened around 1550 BC. (With the immediate reaction that the Bible is entirely wrong and untrustworthy. Oy.)
If you are interested in this, here is an article from a Christian who believes that there is another destruction layer in 1400 that also lines up with Joshua 6:
And here is an article from a Christian who believes that the archeologist was wrong, that the earthquake and fire did in fact happen around 1400 BC:
Personally, I'm not too worried about this. Every time archeologists discover something new, it tends to confirm the Bible. I'm happy to let them keep digging and learning.
Last week, on Wednesday night, David shared this video. Because our passage is pretty straightforward, you might have a few minutes to spare to watch. It's interesting.
Bonus Big Idea: All's Fair in Love and War?
The bigger topic I want us to think about is the morality of Rahab. Think about this.
Rahab deceives her king.
Rahab commits treason against her own city.
Those things are bad, right? (And there's the whole prostitution thing, but I'm putting that off to the side at the moment.)
But let's also consider the New Testament:
Heb 11:31 By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.
Jam 2:25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?
Wow! The very act of treason was a "work" that demonstrated her faith. What do we do with this?
We've talked about the "hierarchy of obedience" multiple times. In other words, if God gives you one command, and your country gives you a different command, you obey God. I think we all understand that.
I'd like to encourage you to steer your group discussion in a different direction: what do Christians do in wartime? Can a Christian be a soldier? Can a Christian be a spy?
I think we all understand that a Christian can be a soldier; but that's something we think about because we know Christians who are soldiers. We probably don't know many spies, so we've probably not thought about that.
Spying, or espionage in general, is based on deception, manipulation, and taking advantage of people. Can a Christian do that?
Well, the New Testament answers that question for us in Hebrews 11 and James 2: yes. But I think it would be worth diving into that. Are there countries a Christian should not commit espionage in service of? (I would say yes.) Are there certain methods a Christian should not use in espionage? (I would say yes.) But when lives are at stake, I think the questions get harder. What would I do in those kinds of situations? Would I feel good about it?
[Note: I bring up Dietrich Bonhoeffer below as an illustration.]
Part 0: The Setting (Joshua 2:1-3)
2:1 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”
These verses are short. Just start here.
Why would Joshua send the spies secretly? Probably because he still felt burned by the last spies. Let's keep this under the rug until he knows what the spies are going to report.
Prostitution and Inns. Make this clear: "inns" in those days were also houses of prostitution. that's just how it was. We have no reason to believe that the spies were indulging! (But the king thought they were -- verse 3 has some sexual connotations.) Rahab, a prostitute, ran a brothel that was also an inn. But the local "inn" (read: "brothel") would have been the logical place for them to go -- (1) it would have been the only place in town where people expected to be incognito, and (2) it would have been a place where people heard secret. (And (3) it was in the wall, meaning they could escape quickly.)
Brothels and Espionage. I find this topic interesting, but I also don't have a safe way for us to learn more about it. In every war I've read about, I've found at least one story about how a brothel engaged in spying for the enemy. Without imagining anything, just understand that those circumstances are ripe for a woman (or man, in the case of the Russians) to pry sensitive information out of someone. Some prostitutes from WWII are recognized as war heroes.
Why did the king look for them there? Probably because it was the only logical place for spies to go, and he simply assumed it. Hammurabi's law code has a specific entry for an innkeeper to have to report a gathering of criminals in her brothel. But it's possible that the spies were simply noticed and flagged.
[Aside: "King". Canaanite towns were basically independent city-states, and their leaders were "kings".]
The king basically gave Rahab her story for her. He assumed that the spies went to the brothel as paying customers and Rahab didn't know anything about it! His mistake cost him the city (and his life).
Part 1: Rahab's Act (Joshua 2:4-7)
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 At nightfall, when the city gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!” 6 But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof. 7 The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the city gate was shut.
If you had any doubts that Rahab was also into intelligence gathering, dump 'em. Her network gave her plenty of warning that the king was coming to look for her "guests". And indeed, she knew well ahead of time that they were spies for Israel! (Or she figured it out based on their actions.) But more about this below.
Rahab lies to her king to protect these spies. The next section explains why, so here you would probably just have a discussion about what is "allowable" Christian behavior in time of war.
Spotlight: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
You could go any number of directions with this, but the one that jumps to my mind is Bonhoeffer. If you don't know anything about him --
His The Cost of Discipleship is still a must-read classic. But for our purposes, my focus is on how he got connected with an attempt to assassinate Hitler. If you're willing to brave the depths of the internet, you'll find wildly varied opinions about this -- whether it's ever okay for a Christian to be party to assassination. What do you think and why?
[Note: one of my conundrums is the line between assassination and treason. Rahab did not kill the king herself, but her actions led to his death. Does that matter? But it gets deeper -- did she believe that her actions would result in that outcome? Does that matter?]
As further evidence of her experience with "discretion", Rahab knew the safest place to hide the spies; further, when she sees the officials, she knows she needs to get them away from her home as quickly as possible, and she knows just how to do it. It's a lie, and it works. It's also a lie that saves her life:
6:17 But the city and everything in it are set apart to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers we sent.
The ethics of the situation is very interesting to consider, but don't spent too much time on it. The Bible defends her, and in any event this chapter is just a set-up for what's to come.
A last observation would be about the importance of walls and gates in the ancient world. Before explosives, before battering rams, goodness, before catapults, a sturdy wall was a sure defense against marauders. And Jericho had a spring within its walls, so it could last for a while! (Some have noted that the presence of flax on the roof might be evidence for the harvest recently coming in, making them feel rather siege-proof.)
Part 2: Rahab's Reason (Joshua 2:8-13)
8 Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. 11 When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now please swear to me by the Lord that you will also show kindness to my father’s family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”
To be sure, if I'm one of those men, there's no way I'm falling asleep.
We finally get to the reasoning: Rahab believes that the One True God is with the Israelites, and that anyone who opposes them is opposing God -- thus, anyone in Jericho who does not aid the Israelites is fighting against God.
That, I think, makes her actions must easier to explain and support. BUT -- it's not always that clear. I think our ethical debates come in when we don't have the "neon sign from heaven" helping us know which "side" is right.
An advantage (?) to her line of work is that Rahab was quite up on all of the regional news. She was very aware of the exploits of the Jews -- including an event that happened 40 years before! We studied the Red Sea event before (God Really Parted the Red Sea -- a study of Exodus 14:19-31) But we didn't study the account of Og and Sihon in Numbers 21.
"Amorite" was the local term for the tribes in the mountainous regions of the area.
The "terror" was in fulfillment of God's promise in Exodus 15:15-16.
The phrase "completely destroyed" will come up again in Joshua 6; it's relatd to the Holy War aspect of what's going on. God wasn't sending the Israelites to war so they could enrich themselves on spoils; He expected all possible spoils to be destroyed. Again, we'll talk more about this in chapter 6.
Some don't like Rahab's self-preservation instincts. They think she's being too shrewd and demanding. Please don't think that way. Rahab doesn't know how God "works" (and for that matter, neither do the spies! but more about that in the next section). All she knows is what has been reported to her; she is clearly expecting God to entirely wipe out Jericho, and she doesn't know what other way to keep her family alive.
Was Rahab's "kindness" to the spies sincere or selfish? Why can't it be both? Again, she doesn't really know much about God. She just knows that He is going to win, and she doesn't want to be on the opposite side. She saw helping the spies as a way to demonstrate her "good faith" (and don't most people, before they become saved, think they're supposed to "do something"?). I'm on Team Rahab with this one. Again, what else is she supposed to do? Just trust that "it will all work out"? Until she knows more about God, I think it's understandable that she will try to handle the situation as she would any other in her life -- pay attention to the fine print.
I actually think it's pretty clear that she's not being selfish at all. First, note how many people she's trying to negotiate their salvation. But second, read the words -- she's not asking that they be given any kind of reward or special treatment. In fact, I think it's likely she thought they would become prisoners of war.
Let's read what the spies said, and then we can make some determinations.
Part 3/4 The Final Negotiations (Joshua 2:14-21)
14 The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the Lord gives us the land.” 15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city. 16 “Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.” 17 The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, 18 unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. 19 If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his death will be his own fault, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his death will be our fault. 20 And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.” 21 “Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.
I don't like dividing this into two sections, so I'm combining them for my own group.
I think the spies' "offer" is fascinating. They didn't know how God was going to conquer Jericho. It seems like they were expecting a kind of house-to-house action involving overwhelming the walls with lots of ladders and soldiers, which is why a scarlet cord on an exterior window made sense as the signal. (Yes, the similarity with the blood of the Passover Lamb on the doorpost is also there.)
The word "you" in "if you don't report" is plural, meaning that her entire family is a part of the conspiracy. Any one of them could spill the beans. (I think they thought Rahab was trustworthy -- why else would they say what they said -- but they didn't know all of these relative she was trying to save.)
Earlier, Rahab had spoken of kindness, and the spies reciprocate. This is the Hebrew word hesed, which is translated as "love" and "lovingkindness" and often used of how God treats His covenant people.
Rahab gives them a good plan to avoid capture, which they follow.
And then the spies get in on the fine print. They had no way of knowing where they would be stationed in the attack, so they couldn't think of any other way to guarantee this safety Rahab asked for. It's clear that they were good representatives of Joshua, because they wanted to keep their end of this bargain. They weren't using Rahab.
That's a lot of time spent on the fine print of a contract. I wonder why Joshua felt the need to include all of it?
My thought is that this would help defend / integrate Rahab's family into the Israelite nation. It would have been very clear to the Jews that Rahab's family were "outsiders", and this could be used to squelch discontent.
Rahab's action in verse 21 demonstrated her faith. She could have tried to run away with her family, but the king of Jericho would likely have sniffed that out and killed them. And even if they escaped, they would have been overrun by the Hebrews eventually. No -- the spies gave their word, and Rahab trusted it and acted on it. This is a valuable lesson. She didn't get say the words; she acted in faith.
This is also a good place to remind everyone that anyone in Canaan could have done as Rahab did and be spared. But they chose to fight God's people -- even knowing everything that Rahab knew! God did not order the slaughter of innocents but the conquering of His enemies.
The Scarlet Cord. What a powerful symbol. Rahab didn't know when the attack would come. And every day, she would see that cord in her window and wonder if the spies would hold up their part of the deal.
This is where things get fun -- God was not planning on using house-to-house warfare to conquer the city. He was going to bring the walls down in one fell swoop. And yet, God honored the spies' arrangement and didn't destroy Rahab's family in their house in the wall! Rahab could trust God, even in things she didn't understand and couldn't comprehend. We can also trust God, even when we don't know what His plan is.
I think that's a good wrapping-up point for this passage. Not too complicated; extremely important.