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mannafest.faith

Joshua 2:13

in Joshua 2

that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will deliver us from death.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.

KJV

And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

This verse in Joshua 2

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Yet this Rahab was afterwards advanced to be a princess in Israel, the wife of Salmon, and one of the ancestors of Christ, Matt. i. Those that faithfully serve Christ and suffer for him he will not only protect, but prefer, and will do for them more than they are able to ask or think.

This site's exposition

Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD

on Joshua 2:12-14

She asks them to swear by the LORD, the covenant name, and Adam Clarke reads that as the measure of what she had learned. The word for “kindness” is the covenant word for loyal love, and she asks it back in the terms she gave it. Her list names father, mother, brothers and sisters, with no husband or children, and the men stake their own lives on the bargain.

This site's exposition

my father and mother, my brothers and sisters

Clarke thinks she had learned that the whole population was doomed, which is why she asks for a covenant to deliver them from death. Joshua 6:25 records that they lived on in Israel. Henry notes that Rahab became the wife of Salmon and an ancestor of Christ at Matthew 1:5.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

On account of her faith and hospitality, Rahab the harlot was saved. For when spies were sent by Joshua, the son of Nun, to Jericho, the king of the country ascertained that they had come to spy out their land, and sent men to seize them, in order that, when taken, they might be put to death. But the hospitable Rahab receiving them, concealed them on the roof of her house under some stalks of flax. And when the men sent by the king arrived and said, "There came men unto you who are to spy out our land; bring them forth, for so the king commands," she answered them, "The two men whom you seek came unto me, but quickly departed again and are gone," thus not discovering the spies to them. Then she said to the men, "I know assuredly that the Lord your God has given you this city, for the fear and dread of you have fallen on its inhabitants. When therefore you shall have taken it, keep ye me and the house of my father in safety." And they said to her, "It shall be as you have spoken to us. As soon, therefore, as you know that we are at hand, you shall gather all your family under your roof, and they shall be preserved, but all that are found outside of your dwelling shall perish." Moreover, they gave her a sign to this effect, that she should hang forth from her house a scarlet thread. And thus they made it manifest that redemption should flow through the blood of the Lord to all them that believe and hope in God. You see, beloved, that there was not only faith, but prophecy, in this woman.

A commentator

Clement of Rome

1 CLEMENT 12 · Written before 99.

proposed

For her faith and hospitality Rahab the harlot was saved. For when the spies were sent forth into Jericho by Joshua the son of Nun, the king of the land perceived that they were coming to spy out his country, and [he] sent forth men to seize them, that being seized they might be put to death. So the hospitable Rahab received them and hid them in the upper chamber under the flax stalks. And when the messengers of the king came near and said, "The spies of our land entered into your house; bring them forth, for the king so orders," then she answered, "The men truly, whom you seek, came to me, but they departed immediately and are journeying on the way"; and she pointed out to them the opposite road. And she said to the men, "Without a doubt I perceive that the Lord your God will deliver this city to you; for the fear and the dread of you is fallen upon its inhabitants. When therefore it shall come to pass that you take it, save me and the house of my father." And they said to her, "It shall be even so as you have spoken to us. Therefore, when you perceive that we are coming, you shall gather all your folk beneath your roof, and they shall be saved; for as many as shall be found outside of the house shall perish." And moreover they gave her a sign, that she should hang out from her house a scarlet thread, thereby showing beforehand that through the blood of the Lord there shall be redemption for all them that believe and hope on God. You see, dearly beloved, not only faith, but prophecy, is found in the woman.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

She was convinced of the supremacy of Jehovah, and her earnest stipulations for the preservation of her relatives amid the perils of the approaching invasion, attest the sincerity and strength of her faith.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Deliver our lives from death - She had learned, either from the spies or otherwise, that all the inhabitants of the land were doomed to destruction, and therefore she obliges them to enter into a covenant with her for the preservation of herself and her household.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

A true sign. You create the sign, so that when you come and capture the city, you will recognize the sign and keep me alive.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 2:12:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהַחֲיִתֶ֞םand you will let live

    vehachayitemH2421 →282 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אָבִ֣יfather my

    ʾaviH1 →1212 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • אִמִּ֗יmother my

    ʾimiH517 →220 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • אַחַי֙brothers my

    ʾachaiH251 →630 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • אַחְיוֹתַ֔יsisters my

    ʾachotaiH269 →

  • וְאֵ֖תand <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לָהֶ֑ם[belong] to <the> them

    lahem

  • וְהִצַּלְתֶּ֥םand you will deliver

    vehitzaltemH5337 →212 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • נַפְשֹׁתֵ֖ינוּlives our

    nafshoteinuH5315 →754 times

  • מִמָּֽוֶת׃from death

    mimavetH4194 →156 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Joshua

Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, John Martin, 1816, National Gallery of Art. Public domain.
Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, John Martin, 1816, National Gallery of Art. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Clement of Rome, Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 12; Clement of Rome, 1 CLEMENT 12; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.