Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 2:14
And the men answered her, 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.
14. Our life for yours ] Literally, Our soul instead of yours for death, or instead of yours to die, as in the margin. “Oure soule be for you into deth,” Wyclif.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Our life for yours – See the margin. This is (see Jos 2:17) a form of oath, in which God is in effect invoked to punish them with death if they did not perform their promise to save Rahabs life. Compare the more common form of oath, 1Sa 1:26, etc.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Our life for yours] “May our life be destroyed if we suffer yours to be injured!” This is what was anciently called in our country pledging – staking, a man’s life for that of his neighbour or friend.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our life for yours; we pawn and will venture our lives for the security of yours. Or, may we perish, if you be not preserved.
This our business, i.e. this agreement of ours, and the way and condition of it, test others under this pretence secure themselves. By which they show both their piety and prudence in managing their oath with so much circumspection and caution, that neither their own consciences might be insnared, nor the public justice obstructed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. the men answered her, Our lifefor yours, if ye utter not this our businessThis was a solemnpledgea virtual oath, though the name of God is not mentioned; andthe words were added, not as a condition of their fidelity, but asnecessary for her safety, which might be endangered if the privateagreement was divulged.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the men answered her,…. The two spies:
our life for yours; or “our souls in your stead to die” i; that is, we engage for the security of your lives, should they be in danger; we promise to die in your room and stead rather than you should: this they said not as though their lives would be required of them for them, but to assure her of the safety of her and her father’s house, on the following condition:
if ye utter not this our business; not their business in searching the land, for the discovery of that would be of little avail after they were gone; for it was known already that there were persons come to search the land; but “this our word” k, what they were going to say to her and bid her do, as a sign of safety to her and hers; which, if she discovered, others would give out the same sign, and then they could not promise her safety; or if she did not take care to bring in her father, mother, brethren, and sisters, and theirs into her house, they could not engage to protect them:
and it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land; not the whole land, but Jericho and the laud about it, that when that part of it should be delivered into their hands:
that we will deal kindly and truly with thee; “kindly”, by sparing her and her father’s house; “truly”, by faithfully performing the promise and oath they made to her.
i “anima nostra pro vobis ad moriendum”, Pagninus, Montanus. k “verbum nostrum hoc”, Pagninus, Montanus; “sermonem nostrum hunc”, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Spies Escape, vs. 14-24
The two spies stood in analogy in the place of the Lord, and they agreed to Rahab’s request. If her confession proved genuine she would be saved from the destruction of Jericho.
She could also guide her parents and family to salvation, but they must also prove their sincerity by not divulging what had passed between the spies and Rahab In fact, they would also prove their faith in so doing. Rahab let the spies down through a window of her house situated in the wall of Jericho, by a scarlet cord.
This cord was to be left hanging in the window as the token of their agreement. Some have been reminded of the blood of Christ by this cord. By His blood men escape destruction, and that blood is the token of their deliverance before God. (1Jn 1:7)
The king’s search for the spies must have been very diligent and seems to have taken about three days. During this time the two spies hid in the mountain just outside Jericho.
Those who tour Israel and come to Jericho today have this mountain pointed out to them as the mount of temptation, where Jesus was tempted of the Devil for forty days following His baptism.
After expiration of the three days the spies recrossed the Jordan and came to Joshua. They told him all that had happened to them and expressed their opinion, on the basis of their experiences, “Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land.” Immediately, Joshua set in motion plans which God had given him to move the people across the river into Canaan.
From the things of Joshua 2, let us learn 1) the Lord allows us to prove Him and learn for ourselves that He can make us overcome in all situations; 2) the mighty deeds of the Lord on behalf of His people ought to convict the world today of His greatness; 3) comparatively, there are still very few who respond and turn to the Lord from the world; 4) once convicted of the Lord’s leadership and will in us we may then encourage others by our own willingness to trust Him and take a stand.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14. Our life for yours, etc. They imprecate death upon themselves, if they do not faithfully make it their business to save Rahab. For the interpretation adopted by some, We will pledge our lives, seems far-fetched, or too restricted, since their intention was simply to bind themselves before God. They constitute themselves, therefore, a kind of expiatory victims, if any evil befalls Rahab through their negligence. The expression, for yours, ought, doubtless, to be extended to the parents, brothers, and sisters. They therefore render their own lives liable in such a sense, that blood may be required of them, if the family of Rahab do not remain safe. And herein consists the sanctity of an oath, that though its violation may escape with impunity, so far as men are concerned, yet God having been interposed as a witness, will take account of the perfidy. In Hebrew, to do mercy and truth, is equivalent to performing the office of humanity faithfully, sincerely, and firmly.
A condition, however, is inserted, — provided Rahab do not divulge what they have said. This was inserted, not on account of distrust, as is usually expounded, but only to put Rahab more upon her guard, on her own account. The warning, therefore, was given in good faith, and flowed from pure good will: for there was a danger that Rahab might betray herself by a disclosure. In one word, they show how important it is that the matter should remain, as it were, buried, lest the woman, by inconsiderately talking of the compact, might expose herself to capital punishment. In this they show that they were sincerely anxious for her safety, since they thus early caution her against doing anything which might put it out of their power to render her a service. In further distinctly stipulating, that no one should go out of the house, or otherwise they should be held blameless, we may draw the important inference, that in making oaths soberness should be carefully attended to, that we may not profane the name of God by making futile promises on any subject.
The advice of Rahab, to turn aside into the mountain, and there remain quiet for three days, shows that there is no repugnance between faith and the precautions which provide against manifest dangers. There is no doubt that the messengers crept off to the mountain in great fear, and yet that confidence which they had conceived, from the remarkable interference of God in their behalf, directed their steps, and did not allow them to lose their presence of mind.
Some have raised the question, whether, seeing it is criminal to overleap walls, it could be lawful to get out of the city by a window? But it ought to be observed, first, that the walls of cities were not everywhere sacred, because every city had not a Romulus, who could make the overleaping a pretext for slaying his brother; (41) and secondly, That law, as Cicero reminds us, was to be tempered by equity, inasmuch as he who should climb a wall for the purpose of repelling an enemy, would be more deserving of reward than punishment. The end of the law is to make the citizens secure by the protection of the walls. He, therefore, who should climb over the walls, neither from contempt nor petulance, nor fraud, nor in a tumultuous manner, but under the pressure of necessity, could not justly on that account be charged with a capital offence. Should it be objected that the thing was of bad example, I admit it; but when the object is to rescue one’s life from injury, violence, or robbery, provided it be done without offence or harm to any one, necessity excuses it. It cannot be charged upon Paul as a crime, that when in danger of his life at Damascus, he was let down by a basket, seeing he was divinely permitted to escape, without tumult, from the violence and cruelty of wicked men. (42)
(41) This is an instance of the quiet and almost sly humor which occasionally betrays itself in Calvin’s other writings, and shows, that had it comported with the general gravity of his character, he might easily have added wit to the other weapons with which he fought the battles of the faith. In private life, when greater freedom was allowable, it appears, according to Beza’s statement, to have not infrequently contributed to the charm of his conversations. — Ed.
(42) The whole objection, as to the overleaping of walls, is so ridiculous in itself, and so very inapplicable to the circumstances of all parties at the time, that it is difficult to understand why Calvin should have condescended to notice it at all, or, at least, given himself so much trouble to refute it. If one might hazard a conjecture, it would be that some question of a similar nature had been raised in regard to the walls of Geneva, and given a local interest to a discussion which otherwise seems somewhat out of place. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jos. 2:14. Our life for yours] The sentiment is, If we fail to regard your lives as sacred, may God so fail to think of ours. It became afterwards a common form of oath in Israel. (Cf. Rth. 1:17; 1Sa. 3:17; 1Sa. 25:22; 1Ki. 19:2, etc.)
Jos. 2:16. Get you to the mountain] Probably the cavernous mountain to the north of Jericho, which the Arabs now call Kuruntul (F. R. Fay).
Jos. 2:18. This scarlet thread] This crimson cord. The dye is supposed to have been made from the larv of the cochineal insect, called in Arabic kermes, or crimson.
Jos. 2:19. His blood be upon us] A common form of adjuration (Eze. 33:4; Mat. 27:25, etc.).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 2:14-21
SOCIAL INTEGRITY AND THE PUBLIC FAITH
Perhaps no one knows the value of integrity better than those who abuse it. Just as the great are valued after their death, and just as we prize our mercies when they have departed from us, so they who have forfeited their truthfulness have a keen appreciation of its worth. It is not a little suggestive that this woman who has just told a lie to shield the spies, proceeds immediately to ask an oath from them, wherein she and her family may find some assurance of salvation. Probably the cruelties attendant on the worship of Baal, and the lewd rites connected with the service of Ashtoreth, had so far debased the public conscience of the Canaanites generally, that Rahab had become familiar with both deceit and its consequences in many forms. She proves herself an adept in deceiving others, and then asks a solemn covenant to protect herself from similar deception. This is ever the way where truth is lightly esteemed; they who think that there is little harm in telling lies, ever confess the measure of their wickedness by the suspicions and precautions in which they endeavour to shield themselves from the deceit of others. The distrust of a liar is a sort of habitual confession, If every one were as wicked as I am, life would have no securities, and would become unbearable. Thus, ever, out of its own mouth the judgment of sin is spoken.
I. The importance of public integrity. It is a national calamity when a nation is not believed. When the policy of a government is made up of diplomacy and subtlety and acts of small cleverness, the policy is ruinous; it may be dignified by the name of statesmanship, but the name can only make the ruin greater by deferring it, through a temporary concealment. A good label will not alter the contents of a poison-bottle, nor can a promising name keep a rotten vessel afloat through a storm. One Machiavel is not only enough to pass a name into a proverb, and to introduce a new set of words into language; he is also enough to curse a country for generations, till some succeeding Garibaldis, through self-denying and disinterested integrity, shall, notwithstanding mistakes, do a little to restore the public faith. It was a terrible verdict for Crete, when their own poet, Epimenides, wrote, Liars and sluggish gluttons, savage beasts, the Cretans are, and when an apostle gave the sentiment the fearful prominence of a Scripture record, in which the nations still read, The Cretans are alway liars. The commercial world could not go on for a month, if credit were not maintained. There are few pulpits where the relation of truth to prosperity is preached as it is on Change. He who does anything to lessen the faith of men in each other, does just so much to ruin them for all prosperity in the things of this life and the next. Probably one or two of our own countrymen in high places, during the last quarter of a century, have done sufficient to lower the tone of the public conscience manifestly and appreciably for a long while to come. When falsehoods are repeatedly told, which depend on a sufficient amount of grave impudence and effrontery in the teller to provoke the laughter of the hearers, it is perfectly well understood that the laughter makes the audience in some measure participators in the untruth, and that rebuke is silenced in its very beginnings. Thus it has got to be known in some quarters, that a great liar need only have an equivalent impudence and gravity, to be heard and received as though he were only a wit, and no liar at all. This flippancy of untruth, practised by anybody, is an incalculable wrong to everybody, and as such it should be resented.
II. The culture of the public conscience.
1. These spies were most careful not to make a promise which they could not keep. They held Rahab bound by several conditions. (a) They would not be responsible, unless she bound the sign of the crimson cord in the window. As God Himself had once bidden the Israelites to mark their houses, so that the destroying angel might pass them by, in like manner this woman is to distinguish her house from the abodes of those who were delivered over to destruction. (b) The spies covenanted that they would be guiltless of the blood of any of this family who might be slain out of the house. Any one might say, I am of Rahabs family; nothing would avail, but to be in the covenanted dwelling-place. (c) The spies would be blameless, unless Rahab kept the oath a secret. Let her once betray that, and all Jericho might bind its windows with crimson cord.
2. These two spies were representative men, and it was therefore most important that the promise should be made carefully. (a) Joshua was held bound by the word of these men. They were his servants. (b) All Israel was bound by their word. The men represented the nation. (c) Even God graciously condescended to recognise the promise of the spies as His own bond. While almost all of the wall of the city seems to have fallen, the part on which Rahabs house stood was safely preserved (chap. Jos. 6:22-23). Had this one promise to a Canaanite been broken, the good faith of Israel would have been despised among the idolaters, wherever it had become known; added to this, the Israelites themselves would have been harmed. These men who were sent to spy out the land cultivate a conscience void of offence, Joshua and Israel support them, and the Divine seal is set to this care of a truthful spirit. The Divine teaching of the O.T. in these early times is most emphatic in the stress which it lays on truthfulness. No one can carefully read of the solemn tokens which God gives with His own covenants, and the solemn charges which are given in connection with vows, oaths, and all forms of promise made by men, without being made to feel that all lying and deceit are hateful to God. Promises were, in every case, to be made with the utmost care, and when once given, to be most sacredly kept.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos. 2:14.THE SELF-PRODUCING POWER OF PIETY.
In the record given of the creation we read of the tree whose seed was in itself. All life tends to spontaneous increase. It is ever thus with the life of God in a human heart. Of each grace it may be said, Its seed is within itself.
I. Mercy begets mercy. Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy. Rahab had risked her life for the spies, and now they readily respond, Our life for yours, or literally, Let our soul be to die instead of you.
II. Faith stimulates faith. Rahab had said, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. Under her influence the spies have insensibly and more than ever come to regard this as a truth; thus they answer, When the Lord hath given us the land.
III. Kindness and truth reproduce themselves in kind. We will deal, etc. Rahab, though false to some, had been kind and true to them, and nothing of her good words falls to the ground.
Jos. 2:18. It seems necessary to bear in mind, when reading this verse, that fanciful interpretations of Scripture may be no part of the teaching of God. Any quantity of imaginative nonsense has been written on the incidents of this chapter, and particularly of this red cord. Thus Lyra, who is followed by Mayer, and partly by some others, found here, that by Rahab is meant the church of the Gentiles; by the two spies, the sending forth of the apostles two and two; by Jericho, the mutable moon; by the king of Jericho, the devil; by the scarlet red cord there is figured out the blood of Christ, etc., and ad lib. Can it be seriously thought that God ever meant to teach this, or anything like it? Ought we not to ask with some anxiety if we can teach as Divine truth things of this character, without grave harm to many who hear us? The maxim of Cecil is a good rule for us allThe meaning of Scripture is the word of God. Nothing else ever was, ever is, or ever will be.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
14. Our life for yours According to Osiander, this form of oath may be thus paraphrased: “We place our life and soul in the hand of God as a pledge for thee, in order that he may destroy us if any one injures thee or thine.”
If ye utter not this our business This is the indispensable condition on which their oath and her deliverance depend.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And the men answered her, “Our life for yours, if you do not tell about this our business, and it shall be, when YHWH has given us the land, that we will deal faithfully and truly with you.” ’
Their pledge was a strong one, that their own lives might be forfeit if they failed (compare Rth 1:17; 1Ki 2:23; 1Ki 20:10 for similar oaths). The condition was that she did not inform anyone about what they had been doing there, or what they had promised her. They were confident that YHWH would give them ‘the land’, that is, in this case, that part by the Jordan. And when He did so they swore to show faithfulness and kindness and to be true to their promise.
LXX omits ‘if you do not tell about this our business’ but compare Jos 2:20 where LXX does have it. It may well be that LXX was ironing out repetitions.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 14. And the men assured her, Our life for yours i.e. We will perish rather than suffer you to receive the least injury; or, May we perish, if your demand be not complied with! They engaged themselves by oath, (see ver. 17.) so far as in them lay, in a firm persuasion that Joshua would not fail to ratify what they had promised solely for the public good.
If ye utter not this our business Or, as the Hebrew signifies, this our word;in the engagement we make with you. Persuaded that their oath must be kept, these prudent Israelites did not think proper to give it rashly; they specify the condition upon which they undertake it, namely, that Rahab should keep secret what had passed between her and them. Without this, others than those of her family might have taken shelter in her house, or other houses than her’s might have imitated the token, by which the latter was to be known; and thus have deceived the vigilance of those, who, as executioners of God’s commands, were to spare none but herself, and those who belonged to her.
We will deal kindly, &c. That is, “We will exercise mercy towards you, and will keep our promise.” The Scripture often makes use of these expressions to denote the favours of God towards his children, and the faithfulness wherewith he performs the promises he has made them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I pass over all the several particulars of the agreement between Rahab and the spies, to call the Reader’s attention to the interesting circumstances to which Rahab was enjoined by the spies, as signals between her and Israel. In the scarlet thread which the men of Israel gave Rahab, is there not somewhat of a sacramental design, similar to what God had enjoined Israel at the passover, when the blood was to be sprinkled upon the door post? And as, the apostle had it in commission from the Holy Ghost to tell the church in after ages, that all this referred to the blood of sprinkling of Jesus, who was and is our passover: did not both refer to one and the same thing, that the security of all redeemed souls is only in Jesus? And again, that none of her family at the time of Jericho being destroyed, should go without the doors of the house on pain of death; was not this a still further evidence of the same thing, very plainly proving; that one and the same object was intended to be conveyed under both sacramental signs? See Exo 12:12-13 . Compared 1Co 5:7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jos 2:14 And the men answered her, 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.
Ver. 14. If ye utter not this our business. ] On this condition we assure thee of safety. God’s promises also are with a condition, which is as an oar in a boat, or stern of a ship, and turneth the promise another way.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ye. Some codices, with one early printed edition, and Vulgate, read “thou”.
kindly and truly = in lovingkindness and faithfulness. Perhaps Figure of speech Hendiadys (App-6), “in true loving-kindness”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
for yours: Heb. instead of you to die, 1Ki 20:39
when the Lord: Jos 6:17, Jos 6:25, Gen 24:49, Num 10:29-32, Jdg 1:24, Jdg 1:25, 1Sa 20:8, 2Sa 9:1, Pro 18:24, Mat 5:7
Reciprocal: Lev 5:4 – to do evil Deu 7:2 – make no Jos 2:19 – his blood Pro 11:13 – he Act 23:22 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 2:14. Our life for yours We will venture our lives for the security of yours. Our business That is, this agreement of ours, and the condition of it, lest others, under this pretence, should secure themselves. By which they show both their piety and prudence in managing their oath with so much circumspection, that neither their own consciences might be insnared, nor the public justice obstructed.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:14 And the men answered her, {f} 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.
(f) We warrant you on pain of our lives.