The big picture
Two unnamed spies enter Jericho, but Rahab becomes the chapter's central figure. She hides them when the king's agents arrive, redirects the search, and then supplies the intelligence that matters most. Jericho has heard of the Red Sea and the defeats of Sihon and Og, and fear has already hollowed out the city's confidence. Rahab interprets those events by confessing that Israel's God rules heaven and earth, then asks protection for her entire household. The escape through her wall-window becomes the place where a carefully defined oath is marked by a scarlet line. When the spies finally return to Joshua, they do not bring back a technical survey of Jericho's defences. Their conclusion largely echoes Rahab: the LORD has given the land, and its inhabitants are fainting. The woman inside the threatened city has effectively written the scouts' most important report.
Central truth
Joshua 2 presents Rahab acting on her confessed conviction that the LORD has given Israel the land, protecting the spies and securing an oath signaled by the scarlet cord before Israel ever crosses the Jordan.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Joshua 2:1: “And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s…”
Slow down at the turning point
Joshua 2:12: “Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me…”
Keep this word trail visible
house, land, LORD, pursuers, country, Jericho
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Joshua 2:1-3
Two spies in the wrong house
Read verse 1 and let the surprise stand: the spies go straight to "an harlot's house, named Rahab". Explain that an inn or a house on the wall would be a natural place for strangers to lodge without attracting comment, and do not invent anything the text does not say about the visit. Then show how quickly they are discovered in verses 2 and 3. Teach this first because the chapter turns on the contrast between Israel's careful plan and how fragile it is; within hours the mission depends entirely on the woman in whose house they are staying.
Joshua 2:4-7
The flax, the gate and the lie
Walk through Rahab's actions in order: she hides the men under the flax, sends the king's men off toward the Jordan fords, and lets the gate shut behind them. Explain "wist not" and "wot not" as "did not know". Acknowledge that she lies. The chapter does not stop to approve or condemn the lie, and the teacher should not either; the later commendations in Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 praise her faith and her receiving of the messengers, not her words to the king. Move on before the session becomes a debate about lying.
Joshua 2:8-11
The confession on the roof
This is the heart of the chapter, so slow down. Rahab begins with "I know" and moves through what Jericho has heard, how it has affected them, and what she has concluded. Underline "the LORD" in her mouth; she uses Israel's covenant name. The climax is verse 11: "he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath", the same confession Moses makes in Deuteronomy 4:39. Explain "melt" as courage dissolving. Teach the confession before the oath so learners see that the cord is the sign of a faith already spoken.
Joshua 2:12-14
Kindness for kindness
Rahab now asks for something, and her word is "kindness", which translates the Hebrew hesed, loyal covenant love. She has shown hesed to the spies and asks that it be shown to her father's house. Point out the "true token" she asks for. The spies swear: "Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business." Explain that they bind themselves to her with their own lives as the pledge. Teach this after the confession because her request is the request of someone who believes the LORD's word will come true and wants her family on the right side of it.
Joshua 2:15-21
A cord, a window and a house
Explain the setting: her house is "upon the town wall", so the window opens outside the city. The same cord that lowers the men becomes the sign that protects her house, "this line of scarlet thread". List the conditions of verses 18 to 20 on the board. Many traditions have heard a picture of the Passover blood or of Christ in the scarlet line; tell the class that this reading exists, and that the chapter itself presents the line as the oath's sign. Note the last clause of verse 21: she binds it at once.
Joshua 2:22-24
The report that turns fear around
Finish with the spies hiding three days and returning to Joshua. Put their report beside Numbers 13:31-33 so the class hears the contrast with forty years before. Their words "do faint because of us" repeat Rahab's "faint because of you" in verse 9. The chapter closes with Israel encouraged by a Canaanite woman's testimony. Teach it last because it carries the chapter into chapter 3: Israel will cross knowing the LORD has gone before them, and remembering that a promise has been made to a house on the wall.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"Rahab lied, so the Bible says lying is fine if it is for a good cause."
The chapter records the lie in 2:4-5 without commenting on it. Later Scripture commends Rahab's faith (Hebrews 11:31) and her receiving and sending away of the messengers (James 2:25); neither mentions what she told the king's men. Traditions have answered the ethical question in different ways, and the teacher can say so. What the text will not support is a lesson whose point is that deception is approved, because that is not what any passage about Rahab praises.
"Rahab was saved because she was a good person who helped Israel."
Rahab's own words put her trust in the LORD before her deed: "I know that the LORD hath given you the land" (2:9) and "he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath" (2:11). She hides the spies because she believes what she has heard. Hebrews 11:31 says "by faith" she did not perish. Her kindness is real and the spies honour it, but it grows out of her confession rather than replacing it.
"The scarlet cord is a magic charm that kept her house safe."
In 2:18-21 the cord is a sign attached to an oath. It works because the spies swore by the LORD and Israel keeps the oath in 6:22-25. The conditions matter too: the family must be inside, and Rahab must keep the matter secret. The cord marks the house; it does not protect anyone who walks out of the door (2:19). Readers who see a picture of later redemption in it are reading in a long tradition, but the chapter's own point is faithfulness to a sworn word.
"God chose a prostitute because he does not care how people live."
The Book of Joshua names Rahab's occupation openly, and the name stays with her (6:25), so the text does not hide it. What it shows is a woman from outside Israel, in a despised trade, coming to confess the LORD and being received. Matthew 1:5 places her in the line of David. The point is not that her life does not matter but that the LORD's mercy reaches people others would dismiss, and that she turns toward him.
Learning objectives
- Reconstruct the spies’ route into Jericho, onto Rahab’s roof, out the window, and into the mountain before their return to Joshua.
- Identify what Rahab has heard about the Red Sea and the Amorite kings and how she interprets those events in verses 9–11.
- Explain the relationship between Rahab’s protection of the spies and the oath protecting her household.
- Distinguish the scarlet cord as the agreed identifying sign in verses 18 and 21 from interpretations the chapter itself does not state.
- Describe the conditions attached to the spies’ oath, including remaining inside the house and keeping their mission undisclosed.
- Show how the spies’ report in verse 24 reverses the fear dynamic by reporting that the inhabitants of the land faint because of Israel.
Teacher preparation
- Locate Jericho, the Jordan, and the hill country west of the city on a map so the command to hide in the mountain for three days has geographical sense.
- Read Exodus 14 and Numbers 21:21–35 to refresh the two events Rahab names: the Red Sea crossing and the defeats of Sihon and Og.
- Note the flax laid in order on the roof in verse 6.
- Mark every oath condition in verses 12–21.
- Prepare to handle Rahab’s false directions in verses 4–5 without making the lesson depend on a moral question the chapter itself does not pause to settle.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Rahab explicitly says in verses 9 and 11 that she knows the LORD has given Israel the land and that “the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”
Scripture-supported
Her references to the Red Sea and the destruction of Sihon and Og in verse 10 correspond to Exodus 14 and Numbers 21, events already embedded in Israel’s recent history.
Strong inference
Rahab’s concealment of the spies, negotiation for her household, and placement of the cord show that her confession is not merely information she has heard.
Possible or traditional reading
The scarlet cord has often been read symbolically as anticipating blood or redemption themes elsewhere in Scripture.
Limit
The chapter does not identify the two spies by name, does not describe Rahab’s motives beyond what she says and does, and does not explicitly evaluate every means she uses while hiding them.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What does Rahab place over the spies on the roof in verse 6, and why is that detail more useful than simply saying she hid them?
What a good answer contains
Verse 6 says she "hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof." Flax was spread on flat roofs to dry before it was made into linen thread, so the detail shows that Rahab works with what her household already has. It also makes the hiding believable: piles of stalks are ordinary on a roof. A good answer sees that the Book of Joshua gives this detail because it places a faith that will be confessed in verse 11 inside a working house. A weak answer just says she hid them.
Show teacher guidance
The text says stalks of flax laid in order on the roof.
2. Which two past acts of the LORD does Rahab name in verse 10?
What a good answer contains
She names "how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt" and "what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og" (2:10). One event is forty years old and the other is recent. The strong answer notices that she knows Israel's history better than many Israelites did in the wilderness, and that she credits the first to the LORD by name. A weak answer lists the events without noticing who she says acted.
Show teacher guidance
Expect the drying of the Red Sea and the defeat of Sihon and Og.
3. What conclusion does Rahab draw from the reports she has heard?
What a good answer contains
Her conclusion begins "I know that the LORD hath given you the land" (2:9) and rises to a confession: "for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath" (2:11). Between those lines she admits that hearts in Jericho "did melt". A good answer separates the fear she shares with her city from the faith she alone acts on. Everyone heard; only Rahab asked for an oath. Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 later point to exactly this combination of believing and acting.
Show teacher guidance
Use verses 9–11.
4. What exactly must happen for Rahab’s household to be protected when Israel comes?
What a good answer contains
Four conditions, from 2:18-20: she must bind "this line of scarlet thread in the window"; she must gather "thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household" into the house; anyone who goes out into the street is responsible for his own blood; and she must not "utter this our business". A good answer lists all four and notices that the protection covers a household, not just Rahab. A weak answer jumps straight to symbolism and skips what the cord actually does in the text.
Show teacher guidance
Trace verses 18–20: bind the scarlet line in the window, gather father, mother, brethren, and household into the house, keep them inside, and do not disclose the spies’ business.
5. Why do the spies tell Rahab to go to the mountain rather than directly back toward Israel’s camp?
What a good answer contains
Because "the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords" (2:7), the obvious route home is watched. Rahab sends them the opposite way: "Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days" (2:16). The hills west of Jericho had caves and cover. A good answer sees that Rahab knows her land and gives the spies practical counsel that saves them. Verse 22 confirms it worked: "the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not."
Show teacher guidance
Verse 16 explains that the pursuers are on the road toward the Jordan.
6. What is different about the spies’ report to Joshua in verse 24 from the fear Israel showed forty years earlier?
What a good answer contains
Forty years earlier ten spies came back saying the people of the land were too strong (Numbers 13:31-33), and the nation wept. These two say, "Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us" (2:24). The second half of their report is Rahab's own words from 2:9. The strong answer sees that the report that strengthens Israel comes, in part, from a Canaanite woman's confession. A weak answer praises the spies for courage they hardly showed.
Show teacher guidance
Stay with verse 24: they report that the LORD has delivered the land and that the inhabitants faint.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Separate what Rahab heard, what she concluded, and what she did.
Relationships and community
Trace how Rahab’s request expands beyond her own safety to her father, mother, brethren, sisters, and their households.
A cord in the window
List every function the scarlet cord actually has in this chapter before discussing any later symbolism.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Into Jericho
Read 2:1-3 and set the scene with a quick sketch of the wall, the gate and the roof.
Flax and the gate
Read 2:4-7. Take question one and question five together. Name the lie, give the first confusion one minute, and move on.
The confession
Read 2:8-11. Take questions two and three. Write Rahab's three steps on the board: heard, melted, confessed.
The oath and the cord
Read 2:12-21. Take question four and the third confusion, about the cord as a charm.
The report
Read 2:22-24 with Numbers 13:31 and take question six.
Take it home
Hand out the sheet, read the key verse together and pray.
90 minutes
Who would you expect
Ask the class who in Jericho they would expect to help Israel. Write the answers down, then read 2:1.
The house on the wall
Read 2:1-7. Take questions one and five. Show a picture of flax drying if you can, and explain wist and wot.
The lie
Work through the first confusion. Read Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 and ask what each praises. Close the topic once the class has seen what the text commends.
The confession on the roof
Read 2:8-11 slowly, then Deuteronomy 4:39. Take questions two and three and the second confusion.
Kindness and the cord
Read 2:12-21. Explain hesed. Take question four, then the third confusion. Mention the Passover reading as a tradition, not the text's statement.
The report
Read 2:22-24 beside Numbers 13:31-33 and take question six.
A woman named in the line of David
Read Matthew 1:5 and work through the fourth confusion with care for anyone with a past they are ashamed of.
Application
In pairs, complete the heard, concluded, did application from the plan.
Close
Read the key verse together, give out the handout and pray.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Make a roof from a table and hide two children under a pile of paper strips for the flax. Let another child knock as the king's messenger. Then lower a red ribbon from a window drawn on paper. Keep the focus on Rahab believing that Israel's God is the true God and helping the spies. Do not explain her occupation; call her a woman who lived in a house on the city wall, and leave the lie for older learners.
Youth
Ask them what it would take for them to change sides in a conflict where everyone around them is on the other team. Read 2:9-11 as Rahab doing exactly that. Let them wrestle with the lie honestly, then show what Hebrews and James praise. Talk about reputation: she is called a harlot, yet she becomes one of the best remembered women in Israel. Keep it about faith and mercy, not about the details of her trade.
Adults
Give time to the contrast with Numbers 13, and to Rahab's theology in verse 11, which is better than most of Israel's in the wilderness. Raise the question of her household: she negotiates for parents, brothers and sisters, and that may speak to adults carrying worry for their families. Handle the ethics of the lie without forcing a single answer, and keep the attention on what the chapter itself holds up.
One to one
Read 2:8-14 together and ask what Rahab knew and how she came to know it. If the person is new to faith, let Rahab's journey from hearing to confessing to acting be a gentle model. If they carry shame about their past, show that the Book of Joshua names Rahab honestly and still shows her received. Ask what one "true token" of their own trust they might show this week.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Joshua 2:1–24
The passage in brief
Joshua sends two spies to Jericho, and they stay at the house of a woman named Rahab, built into the city wall. When the king searches for them, she hides them under flax on her roof. She tells them that Jericho has heard what the LORD did at the Red Sea and to the kings east of the Jordan, and she confesses that the LORD is God in heaven and on earth. She asks them to spare her family. They agree, and she ties a scarlet cord in her window as the sign.
A verse to keep
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
Joshua 2:11 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What had Rahab heard about the LORD, and what did she conclude from it (2:9-11)?
What did Rahab ask the spies to do for her family (2:12-13)?
How was the report of these spies different from the one given forty years earlier?
This week
Write down one thing you have heard that God has done, and tell one person what you believe about him because of it.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
