One of the intriguing things about studying the Bible is that you sometimes have to “dig” a little deeper to understand what the Lord is trying to tell us. God likes to challenge us to think, to imagine what it might have been like to be “in the shoes” of those originally receiving His message. As we saw in last week’s post, “three” days carried a symbolic message, as well as a literal one. https://www.cosdavis.com/three-days-two-spies-and-one-prostitute/.
Now, let’s think about the two spies who become involved in this adventure. Joshua 2:1 (a) says, “Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two spies secretly from Shittim, saying, ‘Go view the land, especially Jericho.'”
You may recall the disaster that took place 40 years ago when Moses sent twelve spies into the Promised Land. Ten of the twelve slandered the name of God with their faithless report and were doomed to die in the wilderness. Joshua, the new leader was one of the courageous faithful spies, and so was Caleb. What has Joshua learned?
Moses chose one man from each of the twelve tribes, an attempt to inspire ownership of the mission by all the tribes. Joshua, having remembered the former disaster, “sent two spies secretly” to Jericho. In the former case, the names of the twelve spies are listed (Numbers 13), but in this case the names of the two spies are omitted.
Why only two spies? Perhaps these were the only people Joshua counted trustworthy for such an important mission. Also, two spies could work more inconspicuously than a large number. As we learn, even the two spies were detected and had to be hidden from the king’s soldiers.
Who were the two spies Joshua sent to Jericho? We are not told, but a strong tradition says the two men were Caleb and Phinehas. Joshua had stood side by side with Caleb when the ten spies had lied and discouraged the people. He was solid, courageous, and had been trustworthy before.
What about Phinehas? Who was he and what evidence was there to support Joshua’s choice of him? Phinehas, the son of the priest, Eleazar, showed trustwortiness and courage in an incident recorded in Numbers 25:1-13. Joshua had witnessed how Phinehas had intervened when several of the Israelite men had begun having sexual relations with Moabite women and making sacrifices to their gods. He stopped a plague God had brought on the people by killing an man who brought a Midianite women to the door of the tent of meeting where the Israelites were weeping before the Lord.
We are not certain who the two spies were, but a good case could be made for Caleb and Phinehas. Whoever they were, they were trusted to gather information that would help Joshua plan for the attack against Jericho. But, as you will see, unknown to the spies was God’s plan to save a certain woman, a prostitute.
Speaking of the spies, “So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab and lodged there.” Joshua 2: 1 (b). This raises several questions for me. Did Joshua instruct them to go to her house? Did they accidentally “happen” upon her place? Why her place and not some other for the information they were after?
Who was Rahab? What do we know about her? Our introduction to her is very blunt and uncomplimentary, ” A harlot whose name was Rahab.” She earned her living as a prostitute. Doesn’t God have a sense of humor! Did they just get there by accident? No, God had a hand in this because He is merciful, and seeing what was in her heart, wanted to save her from the disaster that was about to befall her town. Plus, He had some big future plans for her.
This is the first, but not the last, mention of her in the Bible. Rahab is included in the “faith hall of fame” in Hebrews 11:31, and again in James 2:25 for her act of faith in helping the spies. But, the greatest fact about Rahab is found in Matthew’s genealogy of the our Lord Jesus. Matthew 1:1 begins, “The book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Beginning with Abraham, Matthew begins tracing the lineage of Jesus, coming to verse five which reads, “To Salmon was born Boaz by Rahab,” and ends with the birth of Jesus in Matthew 1:16. So, Rahab was in the line of women, a grandmother, through whom Jesus came and fulfilled the promise God made to Abraham!