Joshua 2

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Joshua 2

1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.

3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.

4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:

5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.

6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.

8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;

9 And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token:

13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.

17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.

18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.

19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.

21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.

23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:

24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.

Notes

Cross Reference

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

<html>And Yehoshua sent. I am forced to say that it was during the mourning for Moshe that he sent them, since at the end of three days following the conclusion of the mourning for Moshe, they crossed the Jordan, and it was from this fact that we learned that Moshe died on the seventh day of Adar, by counting back thirty three days from the day they came up from the Jordan which was the tenth day of the first month.¹The month of Nissan. And you must say that from the time the spies were sent they did not cross the Jordan until the fifth day, as it is said: they remained there three days until the pursuers returned.²See verse 22. That same night they crossed [the Jordan] and came back to Yehoshua ben Nun. Yehoshua rose early that morning and they departed from Shittim.³See Chapter 3:1. That was the fourth day. They spent the night there before crossing. Therefore they did not cross the Jordan until the fifth day.</html>

<html>Secret. In secret—this is the translation of Targum Yonason. He said to them: “Pretend to be deaf-mutes so they will not conceal their activities from you.” Another explanation: translate חֶרֶשׁ as חֶרֶשׂ or חֶרֶס, [חֶרֶס means pottery [in other words] “Load yourselves with pots in order to look like pottery salesmen.”</html>

<html>And view the land and Yericho. Wasn’t Yericho part of the land? Why then was it mentioned specifically? To indicate that it was as strong [fortified] as the entire land combined, because it was situated on the border. There are other such verses: Among the servants of David that were missing were nineteen men and Asaheil.⁴II Shmuel, 2:30. Wasn’t Asaheil included among the nineteen? [Why then was he mentioned specifically?] Because he was as strong as all of them. Another example: ‘And King Solomon was enamoured of many foreign wives and of Pharaoh’s daughter.’⁵I Kings, 11:1. Wasn’t Pharaoh’s daughter included among them? Why then was she mentioned specifically? Because he loved her as much as all of them. And also because of the sin involved since she caused him to sin more than all of them. This was taught in Sifre.⁶Bamidbar, 31:6.</html>

<html>A lady innkeeper. According to Targum Yonasson, an innkeeper who sold various kinds of foodstuff.</html>

Verse 2

<html>To scout. To search, and similarly it is said: ‘There he searched for food.’⁷Eyov, 39:29.</html>

Verse 4

<html>And she hid them.⁸The word וַתִּצְפְנוֹ is singular but the verse is said regarding the two men and should be plural. There are scriptural verses that speak of the plural as if it were singular. Since she was in a hurry to hide them and she hid them in a narrow place⁹She hid them in a place that normally would have sufficed for one person. it was as though they were one person. The Midrash of Rabbi Tanchuma states ‘That these two men were Pinchos and Caleiv, and Pinchos stood before them¹⁰Before the pursuers. but they did not see him because he was [invisible] like an angel.’¹¹Therefore there was no need to hide him and thus she actually hid only one man. Another interpretation: She hid each of them separately.¹²Therefore it is correct to say: she hid him. We find a similar verse: ‘Oil and incense gladden the heart’¹³Mishlei, 27:9. and it does not say יְשַׂמְחוּ לֵב, in the plural.</html>

Verse 6

<html>Stalks of flax. with their pods.</html>

Verse 7

<html>To the fords. These were places for crossing the water,¹⁴There were a number of crossing places linking both sides of the Jordan. for the pursuers thought they had turned back to return to the plains of Moav and the Jordan was between them.

And the shut the gate. The gatekeepers shut the gate.¹⁵According to Metsudas Dovid this refers to the gate of the city. The pursuers suspected that the spies were still in the city and by shutting the gates, they would be locked in and they would be able to find them.</html>

Verse 11

<html>And there was no longer any spirit. [The men had no spirit (desire)] even to lie with a woman. It was said by the Sages: There was no prince or ruler who had not had [sexual] relationships with Rochav, the harlot. She was ten years old when the Bnei Yisroel went out of Egypt, and she engaged in harlotry for forty years.</html>

Verse 12

<html>A true sign. You create the sign, so that when you come and capture the city, you will recognize the sign and keep me alive.</html>

Verse 15

<html>Then she lowered them down with the rope. With the same rope and through the same window her admirers would use to come up to her. She said: “Master of the World with these I have sinned, with these forgive me.”</html>

Verse 16

<html>Until the pursuers return.¹⁶How could she possibly have known that the pursuers would be coming back after three days? She must have had Divine inspiration to know they would return after three days.¹⁷Radak maintains that she reasoned that it was a day’s journey from Yericho to the Jordan. They would spend a day searching for the spies and then return to Yericho making a total of three days.</html>

Verse 17

<html>We will be free. We are holding you responsible for this, we depend on you to make this sign.</html>

Verse 18

<html>The line of red string. תִּקְוַת means a line or rope.</html>

Verse 19

<html>His blood is on his own head. The guilt of his killing is on his own head, for he will have caused his own death.

His blood is on our heads. The guilt of his killing will be upon us.</html>

Verse 23

<html>And crossed over. The Jordan river.</html>

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Table of Contents

Joshua 2

Joshua 2

Notes

Cross Reference

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 4

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 15

Verse 16

Verse 17

Verse 18

Verse 19

Verse 23