The Israelite spies leave Rahab’s house. They remain in the hill country west of Jericho for three days until the king’s agents who searched for them return to the city. Then, unlike the 10 spies in Numbers 13 who gave a negative report, they return to Joshua and tell him the LORD will give them victory over Jericho.
Joshua 2:22-24 describes the safe return of the Israelite spies to the camp of Israel.
The previous sections explain how the LORD used a prostitute named Rahab to save two spies sent by Joshua to search out Canaan and the city of Jericho. When the spies reached the city, the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, asking her to deliver the men into his hands. Rahab hid them and lied to the king’s agents by urging them to pursue the Israelite spies on the road (Joshua 2:1-7).
While the Israelite spies were still in Rahab’s home, she approached them and confessed the LORD their God as the true and sovereign God. She asked them to swear to spare her and her family’s lives when they returned to destroy Jericho. The men agreed to protect her if she kept their maneuvers a secret (Joshua 2:8-14). Rahab told them how to escape to return to their camp safely. The men reiterated their vow and emphasized three conditions Rahab must fulfill: hang a scarlet cord in her window, confine her family in her home, and refrain from reporting any information. Rahab agreed to these terms, released the spies, and tied the cord in the window, as instructed (Joshua 2:15-21).
As the story unfolds, the narrator tells us that the spies did what Rahab had advised in verse 16: They departed and came to the hill country (v. 22). The hill country was the region on the west side of the Jordan River and the city of Jericho. To the east of Jericho was a plain which went to the River. The royal messengers pursuing the spies had headed east toward the Jordan and its fords per Rahab’s instructions (Joshua 2:7). But the spies went in the opposite direction to avoid any possibility of crossing paths with the men of Jericho who were searching for them. They remained there for three days until the pursuers returned. In other words, their lives were not in danger. Meanwhile, the pursuers had sought them all along the road but had not found them. Perhaps they thought the Israelite spies had left Rahab’s house so quickly that they already crossed the Jordan River. In any case, their search was fruitless.
After remaining hidden for three days, the two men returned and came down from the hill country and crossed over (v. 23). Once the Israelite spies crossed the Jordan River, they knew they were safe; there was no more fear of detection. The coast was clear. They came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and related to him all that had happened to them.
The passage summarizes the men’s statements to Joshua in two parts.
First, they said to him: Surely the LORD has given all the land into our hands (v. 24a). They echoed Rahab’s words in verse 9: “I know that the LORD has given you the land.”
Second, the spies quoted the last part of Rahab’s words in verse 9 to encourage Joshua, saying: All the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us (v. 24b). The verb melted away means “to lose courage” or “become weak” (Deuteronomy 20:8). That means the citizens of Jericho would tremble when they heard about the Israelite army. They would eventually lose the battle because the LORD, the great warrior, would fight for His people.
The term translated as LORD is “Yahweh” in the Hebrew text, the self-existent and eternal God who revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). It is the name by which God established a covenant relationship with the Israelites, taking them as His treasured possession and making them a holy (“set apart”) nation (Exodus 19:4-6). In our passage, the spies acknowledged the power of their God and believed He had already given them the land. They gave an encouraging report to Joshua because they knew the LORD who would fight the battle to give victory to His people over their foes.
Their report is the exact opposite of what the ten fearful spies reported forty years earlier to Moses. The ten spies were sure that all of Israel would die if they went to war against the people of Canaan (Numbers 13:27-29, 31-33). Their fear spread to the other Israelites, leading to a panicked rebellion. God punished this lack of faith by declaring that the Israelites would wander for forty years in the wilderness so that the old generation could die off, and the younger generation could enter and inherit the Promised Land. This was now being fulfilled, with these two spies showing faith in God that they would conquer the land of Canaan. These two spies reflect Joshua and Caleb, who were the only spies from the first reconnaissance forty years earlier who believed God would deliver Canaan to Israel as He promised (Numbers 13:30, 14:6-9). As the armies of Israel prepare to enter Canaan and conquer, there is no hint of fear, doubt, or turning back this time.
A few chapters later Joshua would fulfill the promise made from the spies to Rahab.
“However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” (Joshua 6:25)
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Joshua 2:22–24 meaning
Joshua 2:22-24 describes the safe return of the Israelite spies to the camp of Israel.
The previous sections explain how the LORD used a prostitute named Rahab to save two spies sent by Joshua to search out Canaan and the city of Jericho. When the spies reached the city, the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, asking her to deliver the men into his hands. Rahab hid them and lied to the king’s agents by urging them to pursue the Israelite spies on the road (Joshua 2:1-7).
While the Israelite spies were still in Rahab’s home, she approached them and confessed the LORD their God as the true and sovereign God. She asked them to swear to spare her and her family’s lives when they returned to destroy Jericho. The men agreed to protect her if she kept their maneuvers a secret (Joshua 2:8-14). Rahab told them how to escape to return to their camp safely. The men reiterated their vow and emphasized three conditions Rahab must fulfill: hang a scarlet cord in her window, confine her family in her home, and refrain from reporting any information. Rahab agreed to these terms, released the spies, and tied the cord in the window, as instructed (Joshua 2:15-21).
As the story unfolds, the narrator tells us that the spies did what Rahab had advised in verse 16: They departed and came to the hill country (v. 22). The hill country was the region on the west side of the Jordan River and the city of Jericho. To the east of Jericho was a plain which went to the River. The royal messengers pursuing the spies had headed east toward the Jordan and its fords per Rahab’s instructions (Joshua 2:7). But the spies went in the opposite direction to avoid any possibility of crossing paths with the men of Jericho who were searching for them. They remained there for three days until the pursuers returned. In other words, their lives were not in danger. Meanwhile, the pursuers had sought them all along the road but had not found them. Perhaps they thought the Israelite spies had left Rahab’s house so quickly that they already crossed the Jordan River. In any case, their search was fruitless.
After remaining hidden for three days, the two men returned and came down from the hill country and crossed over (v. 23). Once the Israelite spies crossed the Jordan River, they knew they were safe; there was no more fear of detection. The coast was clear. They came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and related to him all that had happened to them.
The passage summarizes the men’s statements to Joshua in two parts.
First, they said to him: Surely the LORD has given all the land into our hands (v. 24a). They echoed Rahab’s words in verse 9: “I know that the LORD has given you the land.”
Second, the spies quoted the last part of Rahab’s words in verse 9 to encourage Joshua, saying: All the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us (v. 24b). The verb melted away means “to lose courage” or “become weak” (Deuteronomy 20:8). That means the citizens of Jericho would tremble when they heard about the Israelite army. They would eventually lose the battle because the LORD, the great warrior, would fight for His people.
The term translated as LORD is “Yahweh” in the Hebrew text, the self-existent and eternal God who revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). It is the name by which God established a covenant relationship with the Israelites, taking them as His treasured possession and making them a holy (“set apart”) nation (Exodus 19:4-6). In our passage, the spies acknowledged the power of their God and believed He had already given them the land. They gave an encouraging report to Joshua because they knew the LORD who would fight the battle to give victory to His people over their foes.
Their report is the exact opposite of what the ten fearful spies reported forty years earlier to Moses. The ten spies were sure that all of Israel would die if they went to war against the people of Canaan (Numbers 13:27-29, 31-33). Their fear spread to the other Israelites, leading to a panicked rebellion. God punished this lack of faith by declaring that the Israelites would wander for forty years in the wilderness so that the old generation could die off, and the younger generation could enter and inherit the Promised Land. This was now being fulfilled, with these two spies showing faith in God that they would conquer the land of Canaan. These two spies reflect Joshua and Caleb, who were the only spies from the first reconnaissance forty years earlier who believed God would deliver Canaan to Israel as He promised (Numbers 13:30, 14:6-9). As the armies of Israel prepare to enter Canaan and conquer, there is no hint of fear, doubt, or turning back this time.
A few chapters later Joshua would fulfill the promise made from the spies to Rahab.
“However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”
(Joshua 6:25)