But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the
country
Whom he had sent on that errand, ( Joshua 2:1 ) ; and what follows he had said unto them before the people entered into the city, and perhaps before the walls of it fell; and indeed from ( Joshua 6:16 Joshua 6:17 ) , it appears to have been said at the time he gave the people orders to shout:
go into the harlot's house:
he does not mention her name but they full well knew who he meant:
and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath;
not so much her substance, as her father's household, she had got together there, that they might be saved, as had been promised her:
as ye sware unto her;
so that this order was partly on account of her kindness to them, ( Joshua 6:17 ) ; and partly on account of the oath which they had taken, and which Joshua would have inviolably kept.