Joshua sent the two spies to spy out the good land, especially Jericho (v. 1a). Joshua’s real purpose in sending out the spies was to find Rahab.
Verses 1b through 22 are concerned with Jehovah’s providing of Rahab the harlot. God provided Joshua for the gaining of the land. However, there was the need of a Gentile female for the spreading of Christ, and for this God provided Rahab the harlot.
Rahab believed in the God of Israel (vv. 8-11; Heb. 11:31a). She told the spies that she knew that Jehovah had given the land to the people of Israel and that all the inhabitants of the land melted before them. She went on to say that they had heard how Jehovah had dried up the water of the Red Sea before Israel when they came out of Egypt and what they did to the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, whom they utterly destroyed. Then Rahab declared, “Jehovah your God, He is God in heaven above and upon earth beneath” (Josh. 2:11b). Because of her faith in God, she “did not perish with those who were disobedient” (Heb. 11:31a).
Rahab turned to Israel and their God, and she trusted in Him and His people (Josh. 2:12-13). She asked the spies to deal kindly with her father’s house and to give her some token of trust that they would preserve her father, mother, brothers, and sisters and deliver their lives from death. She committed herself to them and was pleading with them for mercy. This indicates that she turned her whole being not only to God but also to God’s people.
Rahab was willing to receive the spies, hide them, and deliver them by her acts out of her faith (vv. 1b-7, 15-16, 22; James 2:25). Her receiving, hiding, and delivering the spies were acts of faith. This indicates that her faith was active. After receiving the spies, she had good fellowship with them concerning what God intended to do.
Joshua 2:17-21 speaks of the sign for Rahab and her household to be saved.
The spies told Rahab to hang a line of scarlet thread in the window of her house (v. 18). According to their word, “she tied the scarlet line in the window” (v. 21).
The scarlet thread tied in the window of Rahab’s house was hung out in the open; it was there for everyone to see. Thus, the scarlet thread tied to the window typifies an open confession of the redeeming blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Rahab made such an open confession and believed that by this sign she and her household would be delivered.
This sign for Rahab and her household to be saved indicates God’s household salvation to the Gentile sinners (Acts 16:31). We praise the Lord for His marvelous household salvation. Acts 16:30 and 31 reveal that whereas the Lord’s salvation is for the individual believer, the unit of His salvation is the household. This is also illustrated by the cases of the whole house of Noah (Gen. 7:1, 13) and of the houses of Israel (Exo. 12:3-4). The case of the whole house of Rahab confirms that the family, the household, is the unit of God’s salvation. In the New Testament the principle of household salvation is illustrated by the cases of the house of Zaccheus (Luke 19:5-6, 9), the house of Cornelius (Acts 11:13-14; 10:24, 44, 48), the house of Lydia (16:14-15), and the house of the Philippian jailer (16:32-33).
Rahab was a condemned Canaanite qualified to be destroyed, but she became one of the main ancestors of Christ, associated with Christ in His incarnation for the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy, by turning to God and His people and by being married to Salmon (Matt. 1:5a), the son of a leader of Judah, a leading tribe of Israel (1 Chron. 2:10-11), and probably one of the two spies.
Joshua 2 concludes with the two spies’ return and report (vv. 23-24). They related to Joshua all that had happened to them and told him that Jehovah had given the land into the hand of Israel and that all the inhabitants of the land had melted before Israel. The report of the spies was a right word in faith, yet Israel still needed to take the land by faith in God, sacrificing themselves for God’s interest that they might share in what God had gained for the accomplishment of His eternal economy.