Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 2:5
And it came to pass [about the time] of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I know not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
5. shutting of the gate ] A necessary precaution owing to the absence of all artificial light from the streets of Oriental towns.
when it was dark ] In the East, night comes on soon after sundown, and the evening twilight is of very short duration.
I wot not ] Strict truth was a virtue but little known or practised in ancient times, and Rahab must not be judged by the same standard of morality as we should apply to our own days. “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not” (Heb 11:31). “It would be a mistake, an anachronism, to apply to a dweller in one of the old Canaanite cities, amidst the worshippers of false and cruel deities, destitute of one ray either of Law or Gospel light, principles of conduct and character which we owe to the Revelation of all truth and all duty by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Epistle is content to say only this, Behold in the example of this woman the working of that faith which grasps the unseen. Behold the action of faith upon evidence presented and upon an alternative of conduct. Behold the inference of truth honestly drawn, and the preference, on the strength of it, of the future to the present. Behold, St James adds (Jas 2:25), how faith differs from opinion, and evidences its existence by the sign of work. The hearts of other inhabitants of Jericho were melting, she tells us, with the terror of Israel, she alone acted upon the conviction, and added another element to the ‘great cloud of witnesses.’ ” Dr Vaughan’s Heroes of Faith, pp. 263, 264.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. When it was dark] So it appears that it was after night that the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, ordering her to produce the persons who lodged with her. The season itself was friendly to the whole plot: had these transactions taken place in daylight, it is scarcely possible that the spies could have escaped. But this is no excuse for the woman’s prevarication, for God could have saved his messengers independently of her falsity. God never says to any, Do evil that good may come of it. See at the end of the chapter (Jos 2:24).
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The time of shutting of the gate; either of her house, or rather of the city, which was shut at a certain time.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. the time of shutting of thegatesThe gates of all Oriental cities are closed at sunset,after which there is no possibility either of admission or egress.
the men went outThiswas a palpable deception. But, as lying is a common vice amongheathen people, Rahab was probably unconscious of its moral guilt,especially as she resorted to it as a means for screening her guests;and she might deem herself bound to do it by the laws of Easternhospitality, which make it a point of honor to preserve the greatestenemy, if he has once eaten one’s salt. Judged by the divine law, heranswer was a sinful expedient; but her infirmity being united withfaith, she was graciously pardoned and her service accepted (Jas2:25).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass, [about the time] of the shutting of the gate,…. Of the city, which was done every night, and at a certain time:
when it was dark; the sun set, and night come on:
that the men went out; out of her house, and out of the city too, as she said, though it was a downright lie, as well as what follows:
whither the men went I wot not; though she knew they were not gone, but were now in her house; she might not scruple telling a lie, being brought up a Heathen, and being done with a design to save the lives of persons that belonged to a people she was persuaded were the people of God, and to whom he had given the land; though her lies are not to be justified; evil is not to be done that good may come; nor are men to tell lies one to another upon any account; but these sins, with others, the Lord forgave her:
pursue after them quickly, and ye shall overtake them; this she encouraged them to do, to get rid of them the sooner, and to remove all suspicion of her having any respect for them, and of being concerned in concealing them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5. [
The men went out This statement was a wilful falsehood, and cannot be justified by saying that oriental hospitality required a person to utter falsehood if necessary to defend a guest. It may, indeed, relieve the case somewhat to urge that before the Gospel strict truth, in Jew or heathen, was a virtue utterly unknown; but it is altogether superfluous to attempt either to apologize for Rahab’s previous harlotry or to justify her falsehoods. We must distinguish, however, between her vices and her virtues. The sacred writers record her vices without a word of comment or apology. Even with this alloy, however, they attest the justifying power of her faith. The epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 11:31) extols her faith in Israel’s God, and James (Jas 2:25) makes mention of her praiseworthy works of hospitality. The one declares that her faith saved her from perishing with the unbelieving inhabitants of Jericho; the other shows that her faith was not without its appropriate fruits.] Verse 11, however, shows that Rahab had long entertained a sincere faith in Jehovah as the true God, and her conduct toward the spies was the imperfect manifestation of that faith which resulted in her true incorporation into Israel, and obtaining a place in the genealogy of the Messiah. Mat 1:5. Her falsehood on the present occasion was far less condemning than that of Abraham on two occasions. Gen 12:13; Gen 20:2. It was also a stratagem of war, which even our Christian civilization has hardly attained the virtue of disusing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 5. Andabout the time of shutting of the gate Rahab’s house was evidently nigh to one of the gates of Jericho: she feigned, therefore, that, before the gate was shut, those whom they took for spies had gone out, and so had left her house but a very short time before. The spies arrived at the close of the day, and Rahab asserts that they went out in the dusk, just at the shutting of the gate.
Whither the men went, I wot not: pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them The argument was plausible: if the two men who came to Rahab, and who, as she said, had gone out of the city at the shutting of the gate, were emissaries from the camp of Israel, they had only to follow them with diligence, and overtake them before they had repassed the Jordan: but Rahab most certainly told a falsehood; and it cannot be said that this lie was merely officious, since she uttered it to the king’s people, and in prejudice to the safety of her country: but the idea of saving the life of two innocent persons evidently prevailed in her mind, and she thought she might harmlessly employ a falsehood to effect her purpose. Some of the ancient fathers of the church have thought the same; and St. Augustin, though very rigid upon the subject, granted it to be a very difficult question. See cap. 15 ad Consentinum. But this is carrying matters certainly to an excess. The fathers before St. Augustin, and all the Jewish doctors, condemn the practice altogether. It may, indeed, be said, in palliation of Rahab’s crime, that if she had heard of what had happened to Pharaoh, Sihon, and Og, the same events could not be unknown to the king of Jericho; so that it was as natural for her to be afraid, and to provide for her own security, as for him to defend himself courageously, or perish in the attempt. For we apprehend, that to reject peace offered by a formidable conqueror, at the hazard of being massacred, for the love of a king who might very probably have been only a petty tyrant, and to continue attached to a people whom fear had disabled from defending themselves; we apprehend, I say, that to reject peace under such circumstances, and even supposing that the king of Jericho lawfully swayed the sceptre, would have been an instance of love for one’s country, or rather for truth, which there was hardly room to expect from a Canaanitish woman; much less from a hostess so young as Rahab must have been, since she brought forth Boaz above thirty years after, as Junius has fully proved, in Jacob. She did, upon the whole, what might be expected from her in such a case, an honest action, and conformable to the will of God, in joining the party of those whom His powerful arm supported, and in relinquishing the interests of a nation, whom so many reasons united to render worthy of an utter destruction. Still more fully to justify the reception which Rahab gave to the Israelitish spies, and the asylum she afforded, two things may reasonably be supposed; 1. That God had revealed to this woman the wonders he had wrought in favour of the children of Israel, and his design of giving them the land of Canaan. By faith, we read, the harlot Rahab perished not; Heb 11:31. This faith seems to suppose something more than persuasion founded on common report; it supposes some divine warning, a Revelation 2. It is natural to suppose, that God had summoned the king and people of Jericho to submit themselves to the Israelites on pain of utter destruction; and that, while Rahab’s fellow-citizens refused to comply with that summons, this woman, more submissive to the divine commands, took part with the Israelites, and asked in consequence of her option. The words of St. Paul favour this conjecture. Instead of saying, according to our version, by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, , he says, agreeably to the marginal rendering, perished not with them who were disobedient, ; i.e. disobedient to the orders which God had given them to submit to the Israelites. There was nothing, therefore, unfaithful, nothing criminal, in the asylum which Rahab afforded the spies; nothing which can be deemed treasonable in the care she took to screen them from the knowledge and search of the officers of the king of Jericho. Impressed with sentiments of true faith in the commands of God, that faith, that confidence in his word, was the principle of her whole conduct in this emergency; though we acknowledge, that she sinned by having recourse to a lie. Again: Rahab testified her faith by her obedience, and for this only is she celebrated in Scripture. Let those who find themselves in like circumstances imitate her in that wherein she is imitable, her humble submission to orders undoubtedly issued by God, and her eagerness to comply therewith; to them also will then belong that fine eulogium of St. James: Was not Rahab justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith, without works, is dead also. Jam 2:25-26. See Waterland’s Scripture vindicated, part 2: p. 52.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The apostle James had it in commission from the Holy Ghost, to tell the church, that the harlot Rahab was justified by works, but then it was, as he observed, the works of faith: meaning that her belief in the God of Israel, was not a cold inactive faith, but a faith that was so well founded, through grace, as to manifest itself in all suitable conduct. Jas 2:25 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jos 2:5 And it came to pass [about the time] of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
Ver. 5. And it came to pass. ] See Jos 2:4 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
whither. Some codices, with one early printed edition, read “and whither”.
wot. Anglo-Saxon “know”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
of shutting: Jos 2:7, Neh 13:19, Isa 60:11, Eze 47:1, Eze 47:2, Eze 47:12, Rev 21:25
the men went out: Jer 50:20, Rom 3:7, Rom 3:8
Reciprocal: 1Sa 19:14 – she said 2Sa 17:20 – They be gone