Joshua 6:23

23. And her brethren This term must be understood to include the sisters spoken of in Joshua 2:13.

All that she had This expression seems most naturally to include goods, and not kindred only. The neuter gender in the Septuagint and Vulgate supports this interpretation, and why should we deny that they were permitted to save all their portable possessions? We suppose that the spies had with them a large company of assistants, to carry her household furniture to the camp. It was honourable on the part of Joshua that she should suffer no loss, and that her faith should be profitable for the life that now is.

All her kindred Hebrews, all her families; that is, all who were related to Rahab, and also their families. God honours the family institution which he has ordained. He saves by families not only in the Old Dispensation, as in this case, and Noah, and many others, but also in the New, as in the case of whole households admitted to baptism.

Left them without the camp They were not prepared ceremonially to dwell among the Hebrews. It was not lawful for uncircumcised men, nor for females who had not publicly espoused the Jewish faith, to enter the camp, which was regarded as sacred because of the ark. This separation for a season would induce them to lay aside all their pagan habits, which an immediate reception might have confirmed.