Joshua 2:16

16 She had said to them, "Go up into the hills. The men who are chasing you won't be able to find you. Hide yourselves there for three days until they return. Then you can go on your way."

Joshua 2:16 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 2:16

And she said unto them, get ye unto the mountain
Which was near to the city, and is supposed to be the same which is now called Quarantania: Dr. Shaw, a late traveller in those parts, says {m}, from the mountain Quarantania, the very same perhaps where the two spies concealed themselves, ( Joshua 2:16 ) , we have a distinct view of the land of the Amorites, of Gilead, and of Bashan, the inheritance of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasseh--to it joins the mountain of Adummim, and through it the road is cut that leads from Jerusalem to Jericho, where probably it was from the very nature of the situation that the man fell among thieves, ( Luke 10:30 ) ; which very probably is the same mountain which Josephus F14 says hung over the city, and was a very barren one; though the singular may be put for the plural, since, as Strabo says F15, it was surrounded with mountains:

lest the pursuers meet you;
on their return from the fords of Jordan, being disappointed:

and hide yourselves there three days:
some of the Jewish Rabbins, as Jarchi and Kimchi, observe that she had this by the revelation of the Holy Ghost, that the pursuers would return at the end of three days; but the latter more truly remarks, that this was said by conjecture; that Jericho being, as he says, one day from Jordan, and a little more, by going, returning, and searching for the spies, they would be three days in doing it:

until the pursuers be returned;
into the city; for until they were they could not be in safety, but must be in danger of being met by them and taken up:

and afterward may ye go your way:
to Jordan, and so to the camp of Israel, and that without fear.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 Travels, p. 276. Ed. 2.
F14 De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 2.
F15 Geograph. l. 16. p. 525.

Joshua 2:16 In-Context

14 So the men made a promise to her. "We'll give up our lives to save yours," they said. "But don't tell anyone what we're doing. Then we'll be kind and faithful to you when the LORD gives us the land."
15 The house Rahab lived in was part of the city wall. So she let the spies down by a rope through the window.
16 She had said to them, "Go up into the hills. The men who are chasing you won't be able to find you. Hide yourselves there for three days until they return. Then you can go on your way."
17 The men said to her, "You made us take an oath and make a promise. But we won't keep it
18 unless you do what we say. When we enter the land, you must tie this bright red rope in the window. Tie it in the window you let us down through. "Bring your father and mother into your house. Also bring your brothers and everyone else in your family into your house.
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