Joshua 2:1-6
Summary for Josh 2:1-24: 2:1-24 a Like any good military commander, Joshua sent out spies or scouts to get information about his objective.• Because Israel planned to approach Canaan from the east, they could not bypass Jericho. 2:1 b Acacia Grove was about eight miles east of the Jordan River on the plains of Moab, across from Jericho (see Num 25:1 c).
• In the house of a prostitute strangers could avoid unwanted attention. According to tradition, Rahab was an innkeeper as well as a prostitute (Josephus, Antiquities 5.1.2). Other evidence from the ancient Near East suggests that women who owned and operated inns were often prostitutes.
2:2 d The spies’ speech probably gave them away. Hebrew and Canaanite were both dialects of the same language but with differences in vocabulary and grammar.
2:3 e Jericho’s king assumed Rahab was both loyal to the city and unaware of the men’s mission.
Summary for Josh 2:4-5: 2:4-5 f It is not necessary either to condone or condemn Rahab’s lying to the king’s messengers. She might have had no concept of any ethical standards God had given Israel. Or the higher ethical value of saving lives might supersede the normal requirement to be truthful.
2:6 g The inner fibers of flax were processed to make linen. The first step involved laying out the flax stems to dry on the flat rooftop.
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