Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Jericho was two hours' journey to the west of the Jordan, situated in a plain that was
formerly very fertile, and celebrated for its palm trees and balsam shrubs, but which
is now quite desolate and barren. This plain is encircled on the western side by a
naked and barren range of mountains, which stretches as far as Beisan towards the
north and to the Dead Sea on the south. Every trace of the town has long since passed
away, though it evidently stood somewhere near, and probably on the northern side
of, the miserable and dirty village of Rîha , by the Wady Kelt (see Robinson , Pal. ii.
pp. 279ff., 289ff.; v. Raumer , Pal. pp. 206ff.). Rahab is called a zonah , i.e., a harlot ,
not an innkeeper, as Josephus , the Chaldee version, and the Rabbins render the word.
Their entering the house of such a person would not excite so much suspicion.
Moreover, the situation of her house against or upon the town wall was one which
facilitated escape. But the Lord so guided the course of the spies, that they found in
this sinner the very person who was the most suitable for their purpose, and upon
whose heart the tidings of the miracles wrought by the living God on behalf of Israel
had made such an impression, that she not only informed the spies of the
despondency of the Canaanites, but, with believing trust in the power of the God of
Israel, concealed the spies from all the inquiries of her countrymen, though at the
greatest risk to herself.
Joshua 2:2-6
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.
When the king of Jericho was informed of the fact that these strange men had entered
the house of Rahab, and suspecting their reason for coming, summoned Rahab to give
them up, she hid them (lit., hid him , i.e., each one of the spies: for this change from
the plural to the singular see Ewald , §219), and said to the king's messengers: keen
(OT:3651), recte , "It is quite correct, the men came to me, but I do not know where
they were from; and when in the darkness the gate was at the shutting (i.e., ought to
be shut: for this construction, see Gen 15:12), they went out again, I know not
whither. Pursue them quickly, you will certainly overtake them." The writer then adds
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