Jericho must fall. Israel can’t move inland while the possibility of an attack from the rear exists.
The Israeli Mossad evidently has a long history! “Joshua…sent out two men…to spy secretly, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho’” (Jos 2:1). If only there had been just two spies to search out the land 40 years before—and those two, Joshua and Caleb! Imagine all the grief they would have avoided. But now two unnamed men slip quietly into the city. Where to hide? “They went…to the house of a harlot named Rahab.” It might seem a strange choice, but it was the sort of place where many travelers would visit and many secrets were kept. Not this secret, however. “It was told the king of Jericho, saying, ‘Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country’” (v 2). He not only knew the house where they had hidden, but that they were Israelites and were there on a reconnaissance mission. But the proprietor was up to the subterfuge. She quickly hid the two under flax drying on her flat roof and then concocted a story to misdirect the troops. We should hasten to note that the New Testament commends her faith, not her falsehood. When the soldiers were gone, she brought the men out and explained what had motivated her to switch sides: “I know that the Lord has given you the land…and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you” (v 9). Notice she uses not the generic name for God, but Jehovah, the covenant-keeping One, the God she wanted. Then she told them what was in the local news about Egypt, Sihon, and Og. Jericho didn’t stand a chance! There’s more to come in the next lesson, but let’s pause to ask: Why is this story so important? God had told them to destroy all the Canaanites. But what if someone pleads for His mercy? What then?