Chapter 3: The Woman in the Wall

Before crossing the Jordan, Joshua sent two men ahead in secret to scout the land, especially Jericho.

The city was surrounded by massive double walls, an outer wall and an inner wall, with houses built into the space between them. The gates were heavy and guarded. No army had breached it in living memory.

The two spies slipped inside and found shelter in the house of a woman named Rahab. She was a prostitute. Her home was built directly into the city wall, with a window that looked out over the land beyond. It was the kind of house that strangers could enter without raising questions.

But someone noticed. Word reached the king of Jericho that Israelite spies had entered the city. Soldiers came to Rahab's door.

RAHAB“Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. They left at dusk, before the gate was closed. Go after them quickly. You may catch them.”— Joshua 2:4-5

It was a lie. The two men were on her roof, hidden under stalks of flax she had laid out to dry. The soldiers believed her and chased toward the Jordan. The city gate shut behind them.

That night, Rahab climbed to the roof. She said to the spies that the people of Jericho were paralyzed with fear. Everyone in Canaan had heard what God did at the Red Sea, and how Israel had completely destroyed Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, along with their armies and their cities, on their way to Canaan.

This woman also declared that their God, the Lord, is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Rahab was the only one who chose faith.

RAHAB“Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, as I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.”— Joshua 2:12-13

The spies swore it. Her life for theirs.