Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Sunday, March 21, 2021

Sunday Sermonette: Scout's Honor

Joshua 2 is inherently puzzling. Why is this story here? What are we to take from it? And, like many of the stories in the Bible, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.


Remember that in Numbers 13, Joshua was one of 12 scouts Moses dispatched to check out Canaan and assess it for conquerability. God wound up killing 10 of them for not telling Moses what he wanted to hear, but Joshua and Caleb said it was definitely gettable, so they were spared and in fact Joshua wound up getting the top job. So obviously these two guys know what news they're supposed to come back with. Note that they don't learn anything of tactical value, only that the people are afraid of the Israelites. Since they're already committed to the invasion and God has promised them success, this information wouldn't seem to matter one way or the other.


And how did they get into the city and find their way to the house of ill repute? Maybe they asked the concierge where they could get laid. Somebody recognized them and the news got back to the king, but nobody tried to challenge or grab them at the time. Note that nobody on either side seems to have any problem with Rahab's profession. One must ask whether the spies availed themselves of her services. It would seem to follow because there's no other reason for them to have stayed there.

 

It seems to me that building a house with a window into the city wall is probably not the greatest idea. That this prestige dwelling is used as a whorehouse says something about the priorities of the city fathers. On the whole a strange tale. 


Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.[b] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”

14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”

15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”

17 Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. 20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”

21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”

So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

22 When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them. 23 Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them. 24 They said to Joshua, “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 2:10 Or the Sea of Reeds
  2. Joshua 2:10 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.



2 comments:

Don Quixote said...

Wonder if they used their AAA cards to get a better overnight rate?

But seriously ... I'm thinking Rahab's window was more of an opening (no glass). But still, why have openings in the city's wall?

Perhaps one purpose for this story was to show that the might of the Hebrew's deity precedes him. And even if their god guarantees them victory ahead of time, they still have to do their part with reconnaissance (while getting in some R&R). It's like having the female romantic interests in James Bond stories and movies.

Cervantes said...

Yes, window glass was not invented until about 100 C.E.