--- title: "Joshua 2 - Study King James Bible with cokes commentary on the holy bible" description: "Read Joshua 2 with cokes commentary on the holy bible commentary. 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" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2" --- [ Read](/kjv/joshua/2)[ Commentary](/study/joshua/2)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/joshua/2) Audio 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.* [Joshua 1](/study/joshua/1) [Joshua 3](/study/joshua/3) ## Commentary To verse 1 ***Ver.*****1.*****And Joshua—sent—two men to spy,*****&c.—** Or *had sent,*as the Margin of our Bibles more properly renders it. Joshua had certainly sent the spies to Jericho before he issued in the camp the order mentioned ver. 10, 11 of the former chapter. This supposition removes every difficulty that can arise in this history with respect to the order of time, and clears up the 22nd verse of the present chapter. Moses had succeeded so indifferently in sending spies before to discover the land of Canaan, that it is surprising, at first view, that Joshua should venture to recur to this method. But, not to mention that he might be determined to it of his own mind, or perhaps by the express commands of God, without any solicitation on the part of the people, it appears, that he sent these two spies *secretly,*and that to him only they reported the success of their commission. As an able general, prudence required that Joshua should gain a knowledge of the place which he purposed to attack: his confidence in the divine promises did not exclude a diligent and judicious employment of such second causes as might favour the success of his enterprize. We would, therefore, translate the beginning of the verse in this manner: *And Joshua, the son of Nun, had secretly sent out* *of Shittim two men to espy, and had said,*&c. See Houbigant. By *the land*which Joshua orders them to *go and view,*we are not to understand the whole land of Canaan, but the environs of Jericho: the city, its avenues, its situation, its fortifications, the troops defending it; in a word, every obstacle that he would have to surmount in order to make himself master of it. The city of Jericho, situated in a wide plain according to Josephus, was but about seven miles and a half distant from Jordan. Maundrel says, that he came from Jericho to the banks of Jordan in two hours; which answers pretty nearly to the former calculation. ***And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab*****—** The doubtfulness of the term used by the sacred writer, to signify Rahab's mode of life, has divided interpreters. It may equally signify *a hostess,*and *a prostitute.*Onkelos takes it in the former sense, making Rahab to be the keeper of a public house, who received, victualled, and lodged strangers. Josephus, and several rabbis, are of the same opinion, which has also its partizans among Christians. St. Chrysostom, in his second sermon upon Repentance, twice calls this woman a *hostess.*It does not appear by the text, say some, that she followed any other trade; and it is improbable, that Salmon, who was one of the chief heads of the house of Judah, and was one of the ancestors of the Messiah, would have married her had she been a *prostitute.*And yet it must be owned, the greatest probabilities, in this particular, are against Rahab. The Hebrew word *zonah*constantly implies *a prostitute.*Thus the LXX understood it, and two apostles have approved of their version; see [Hebrews 11:31](/kjv/hebrews/11/31). Jam 2:25 which they would not have done, considering her as a woman whose memory they ought to hold venerable, had they not been constrained by the laws of truth. Besides, it is observable, that, in this relation, Rahab says not a word of her husband or children, when she begs the life of her kinsfolks; which, considering the trade she carried on, must naturally render her suspected. We may add with *Serrarius,*that, perhaps, Rahab was one of those young women, who, in a religious view, devoted herself to impurity in the idol temples. The same critic supposes the moon to have been the tutelary deity of Jericho. See Calmet, and [Leviticus 21:7](/kjv/leviticus/21/7). ***And lodged there*****—** Supposing Rahab to have actually lived in an irreproachable manner, it is nothing surprising to see the spies sent by Joshua on this discovery come by night to lodge at her inn. Whatever were her modes of life, her house was the most favourable place for the execution of their design. And it is sufficiently evident, from reading the sequel of this history, that God himself conducted them thither by a special direction of his providence. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2","name":"Joshua 2 - Study King James Bible with cokes commentary on the holy bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Joshua 2 with cokes commentary on the holy bible commentary. 1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. 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