Joshua 6:22

6:17-27 Jericho was to be a solemn and awful sacrifice to the justice of God, upon those who had filled up the measure of their sins. So He appoints, from whom, as creatures, they received their lives, and to whom, as sinners, they had forfeited them. Rahab perished not with them that believed not, Heb 11:31. All her kindred were saved with her; thus faith in Christ brings salvation to the house, Ac 14:31. She, and they with her, were plucked as brands from the burning. With Rahab, or with the men of Jericho; our portion must be assigned, as we posses or disregard the sign of salvation; even faith in Christ, which worketh by love. Let us remember what depends upon our choice, and let us choose accordingly. God shows the weight of a Divine curse; where it rests there is no getting from under it; for it brings ruin without remedy.

But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country,.... Whom he had sent on that errand, Joshua 2:1 ; and what follows he had said unto them before the people entered into the city, and perhaps before the walls of it fell; and indeed from Joshua 6:16 , it appears to have been said at the time he gave the people orders to shout: go into the harlot's house: he does not mention her name but they full well knew who he meant: and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath; not so much her substance, as her father's household, she had got together there, that they might be saved, as had been promised her: as ye sware unto her; so that this order was partly on account of her kindness to them, Joshua 6:17; and partly on account of the oath which they had taken, and which Joshua would have inviolably kept.

Joshua 6:22-25 . The harlot’s house — Which, together with the wall upon which it leaned, was left standing, by a special favour of God to her. Left them without the camp of Israel — Till they were cleansed from the impurities of their Gentile state, and instructed in the Jewish religion, and solemnly admitted into that church, for which Rahab’s good counsel and example had doubtless prepared them. Joshua saved Rahab alive — For that general command to root out the Canaanites seems to have had some exceptions, in case any of them had sincerely and seasonably cast off their idolatry and wickedness, submitted to the Israelites, and become members of the church of God. She dwelleth in Israel unto this day — This shows that the book of Joshua was written while Rahab was alive.

22–25. The Rescue of Rahab 22 . Go into the harlot’s house ] We are told that Rahab’s house was upon the town wall , and that she dwelt upon the wall . But though the walls of Jericho fell down flat, her house was preserved. They fell by faith , and she was saved by faith ( Hebrews 11:30-31 ). as ye sware unto her ] See above, Joshua 2:14 .

Jos 6:22-25. Rahab Is Saved. 22, 23. Joshua had said … Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath—It is evident that the town walls were not demolished universally, at least all at once, for Rahab's house was allowed to stand until her relatives were rescued according to promise.

Accursed - Better as in margin, ("devoted" ( Leviticus 27:28 note). In other cases the inhabitants only of the towns were slain; their cattle and property became the booty of the victors. But Jericho, as the first Canaanite city that was captured, was devoted by Israel as first-fruits to God, as a token that Israel received all the land from Him. Every living thing was put to death (Rahab and her household excepted) as a sacrifice to God, and the indestructible goods were Joshua 6:19 brought into the treasury of the sanctuary.

Verse 22. - Had said. Here we have an instance of the use of the perfect as a pluperfect. We can hardly suppose, as Keil observes, that Joshua gave these orders in the midst of the turmoil and confusion attendant on the sack of the city (see above, Joshua 1:11 ; Joshua 2:1 ). Go into the harlot's house. The preservation of Rahab's house must have been a part of the miracle, since it was upon the city wall (cf. Hebrews 11:30, 31 ). Joshua 6:22

After the taking of Jericho, man and beast were banned, i.e., put to death without quarter ( Joshua 6:21 ; cf. Joshua 6:17 ); Rahab and her relations being the only exceptions. Joshua had directed the two spies to fetch them out of her house, and in the first instance had them taken to a place of safety outside the camp of Israel ( Joshua 6:22 , Joshua 6:23 ). "Her brethren," i.e., her brothers and sisters, as in Joshua 2:13 , not her brothers only. "All that she had" does not mean all her possessions, but all the persons belonging to her house; and "all her kindred" are all her relations by birth or marriage, with their dependants (cf. Joshua 2:13 ). Clericus is correct in observing, that as Rahab's house was built against the town-wall, and rested partly upon it ( Joshua 2:15 ), when the wall fell down, that portion against or upon which the house stood cannot have fallen along with the rest, "otherwise when the wall fell no one would have dared to remain in the house." But we must not draw the further inference, that when the town was burned Rahab's house was spared. (Note: The statements made by travellers in the middle ages, to the effect that they had seen Rahab's house (Rob. Pal. ii. pp. 295-6), belong to the delusions of pious superstition.) וגו מחוּץ ויּנּיחוּם (Joshua 6:23; cf.

Genesis 19:16), "they let them rest," i.e., placed them in safety, "outside the camp of Israel," sc., till they had done all that was requisite for a formal reception into the congregation of the Lord, viz., by giving up idolatry and heathen superstition, and turning to the God of Israel as the only true God (to which circumcision had to be added in the case of the men), and by whatever lustrations and purifications were customary at the time in connection with reception into the covenant with Jehovah, of which we have no further information.

[Bible] 6:16. And when in the seventh going about the priests sounded with the trumpets, Josue said to all Israel: Shout: for the Lord hath delivered the city to you: 6:17. And let this city be an anathema, and all things that are in it, to the Lord. Let only Rahab, the harlot, live, with all that are with her in the house: for she hid the messengers whom we sent. 6:18. But beware ye lest you touch ought of those things that are forbidden, and you be guilty of transgression, and all the camp of Israel be under sin, and be troubled. 6:19. But whatsoever gold or silver there shall be, or vessels of brass and iron, let it be consecrated to the Lord, laid up in his treasures. 6:20. So all the people making a shout, and the trumpets sounding, when the voice and the sound thundered in the ears of the multitude, the walls forthwith fell down: and every man went up by the place that was over against him: and they took the city, 6:21. And killed all that were in it, man and woman, young and old. The oxen also, and the sheep, and the asses, they slew with the edge of the sword. 6:22. But Josue said to the two men that had been sent for spies: Go into the harlot's house, and bring her out, and all things that are hers, as you assured her by oath. 6:23. And the young men went in, and brought out Rahab, and her parents, her brethren also, and all her goods, and her kindred, and made them to stay without the camp. 6:24. But they burned the city, and all things that were therein; except the gold and silver, and vessels of brass and iron, which they consecrated unto the treasury of the Lord. 6:25. But Josue saved Rahab the harlot, and her father's house, and all she had, and they dwelt in the midst of Israel until this present day: because she hid the messengers whom he had sent to spy out Jericho. At that time, Josue made an imprecation, saying: