Rahab Helps Spies Sent by Joshua

Joshua 2 (KJV)

Before traveling into the Promised Land, Joshua sent two men as spies into Jericho to search the country. On their journey, the two men lodged in the home of Rahab, a harlot.

The King of Jericho received word of the spies and sent some of his men to Rahab's to have the spies brought forth. Rahab hid the spies among flax stalks on her roof and told the king's men that the spies had left when the gate was closed. She told the king's men that if they pursue the spies quickly that they should be able to overtake them. The king's men left in pursuit of the spies.

When all was clear, Rahab went to the roof and expressed to the spies how the people of the land became discouraged because they had heard how the Lord parted the Red Sea. They also heard how Sihon and Og, the Amorite kings, were destroyed. Rahab knew how their land had been given by the Lord; therefore, she sought to have her life and her family's life spared from death. The spies said to Rahab, "Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee" (Joshua 2:14).

Then, Rahab helped the spies to escape by lowering them from her window. She instructed them to hide themselves in the mountain for three days until the king's men return. Before departing, the spies said to Rahab, "Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and they brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window" (Joshua 2:18-21).

The spies followed Rahabs instructions to remain in the mountain for three days before returning to report to Joshua. "And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us" (Joshua 2:24).