Joshua 2:16

16 Then she said to them, "Go toward the highlands so that those chasing you don't run into you. Hide there for three days until those chasing you return. Then you may 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.

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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 The men said to her, "We swear by our own lives to secure yours. If you don't reveal our mission, we will deal loyally and faithfully with you when the LORD gives us the land."

15 So she lowered the spies on a rope through the window. Her house was on the outer side of the city wall, and she lived inside the wall.

16 Then she said to them, "Go toward the highlands so that those chasing you don't run into you. Hide there for three days until those chasing you return. Then you may go on your way."

17 The men said to her, "We won't be responsible for this pledge you made us swear

18 unless, when we come into the land, you tie this red woven cord in the window through which you lowered us. Gather your father, your mother, your brothers, and your whole family into the house with you.