Joshua 2:12-14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 2:8-21

The matter is here settled between Rahab and the spies respecting the service she was now to do for them, and the favour they were afterwards to show to her. She secures them on condition that they should secure her. I. She gives them, and by them sends to Joshua and Israel, all the encouragement that could be desired to make their intended descent upon Canaan. This was what they came for, and it was worth coming for. Having got clear of the officers, she comes up to them to the roof of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 2:12

Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord ,.... Which being a religious action, and done by men that feared the Lord, she knew it would be binding upon them: the Targum is,"swear to me by the Word of the Lord:" since I have showed you kindness ; by receiving them with peace into her house, and hiding them when inquired for and demanded of her; in doing which she risked her own, life, had this treachery to her country, as it would have been deemed, been discovered; that you... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 2:13

And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters ,.... She makes no mention of any husband or children she had, as harlots seldom have, and which seems to confirm her character as such; and so Abarbinel observes, that her father's house is only mentioned to tell us that she had no husband, for she was an harlot and had no children, and puts her father and mother in the room of an husband, and her brethren and sisters in the room of children: and all... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 2:14

And the men answered her ,.... The two spies: our life for yours ; or "our souls in your stead to die" F9 נפשנו תחתיכם למות "anima nostra pro vobis ad moriendum", Pagninus, Montanus. ; that is, we engage for the security of your lives, should they be in danger; we promise to die in your room and stead rather than you should: this they said not as though their lives would be required of them for them, but to assure her of the safety of her and her father's house, on the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 2:12

Swear unto me by the Lord - This is a farther proof that this woman had received considerable instruction in the Jewish faith; she acknowledged the true God by his essential character Jehovah; and knew that an oath in his name was the deepest and most solemn obligation under which a Jew could possibly come. Does not this also refer to the command of God, Thou shalt fear the Lord, and shalt swear by his name? See the note on Deuteronomy 6:13 . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 2:13

Deliver our lives from death - She had learned, either from the spies or otherwise, that all the inhabitants of the land were doomed to destruction, and therefore she obliges them to enter into a covenant with her for the preservation of herself and her household. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 2:14

Our life for yours - "May our life be destroyed if we suffer yours to be injured!" This is what was anciently called in our country pledging - staking, a man's life for that of his neighbor or friend. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 2:12

Verse 12 12.Now, therefore, I pray you, swear, etc. It is another manifestation of faith that she places the sons of Abraham in sure possession of the land of Canaan, founding on no other argument than her having heard that it was divinely promised to them. For she did not suppose that God was favoring lawless intruders who were forcing their way into the territories of others with unjust violence and uncurbed licentiousness, but rather concluded that they were coming into the land of Canaan,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 2:14

Verse 14 14.Our life for yours, etc. They imprecate death upon themselves, if they do not faithfully make it their business to save Rahab. For the interpretation adopted by some, We will pledge our lives, seems far-fetched, or too restricted, since their intention was simply to bind themselves before God. They constitute themselves, therefore, a kind of expiatory victims, if any evil befalls Rahab through their negligence. The expression, for yours, ought, doubtless, to be extended to the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 2:1-12

Rahab and the spies. Three points demand our attention in this narrative. First, the conduct of Joshua; secondly, of the spies; and thirdly, of Rahab. I. JOSHUA 'S CONDUCT . Here we may observe that— 1. He does not despise the use of means. He was under God's special protection. God had promised ( Joshua 1:5 ) that he would not fail him nor forsake him." He had seen miracles wrought in abundance, and was destined to receive other proofs of God's extraordinary presence with... read more

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