Joshua 2:1

The two men sent out as spies were young (cf. Joshua 6:23). Joshua sent them out secretly (cf. Joshua 7:2). He did not want a recurrence of the Kadesh Barnea rebellion (Numbers 13-14).

"He had learned by experience that spy reports should be brought to the leaders only, for the people did not have sufficient orientation or experience to properly evaluate such a report." [Note: Davis and Whitcomb, p. 33.]

Their mission was to explore the area Israel would enter, especially Jericho. Jericho is possibly the lowest city on earth, lying about 750 feet below sea level. [Note: See The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Jericho," by Kenneth A. Kitchen.] Their object was to determine when and how to attack, not whether to attack.

"Sending out men for reconnaissance was a widespread phenomenon in the east. Moreover, a prostitute’s or innkeeper’s house was the accustomed place for meeting with spies, conspirators, and the like. Thus, for example, we read in Hammurabi’s Code: ’If scoundrels plot together [in conspiratorial relationships] in an innkeeper’s house, and she does not seize them and bring them to the palace, that innkeeper shall be put to death’ (law § 109). In a Mari letter we read about two men who sow fear and panic and cause rebellion in an army. Also, the pattern of a three-day stay in an area when pursuing escapees has support in ancient eastern sources; for example the instructions to the Hittite tower commanders specify that if an enemy invades a place he must be pursued for three days. In the same collection of instructions we find that it is forbidden to build an inn (arzana) in which prostitutes live near the fortress wall, apparently because of the kind of danger described in Joshua 2." [Note: Moshe Weinfeld, The Promise of the Land: The Inheritance of the Land of Canaan by the Israelites, pp. 141-43.]

Jericho was not a large city, but it had strong fortifications and a strategic location on the eastern frontier of Canaan. It lay just a few miles west of the Jordan River in the Jordan Valley. If the Israelites were to gain a foothold in Canaan, they would have to defeat Jericho.

The spies probably stayed at Rahab’s house because they hoped to be less conspicuous there than they would have been if they had lodged elsewhere. [Note: See Butler, pp. 31-32, for a discussion of the many instances of irony in this chapter.] Josephus called Rahab an innkeeper, which she may have been. [Note: Josephus, 5:1:2, 7. See also Hess, pp. 83-84; and M. A. Beek, "Rahab in the Light of Jewish Exegesis," in Von Kanaan bis Kerala, pp. 37-44. Bush, pp. 31-32, strongly rejected this possibility.] The writer recorded Rahab’s name because she became an important person in Israel’s history. She was an ancestor of David as well as Israel’s helper on this occasion (cf. Matthew 1:5).