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Selected Verse: Joshua 2:7 - Basic English
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Jos 2:7 |
Basic English |
So the men went after them on the road to Jordan as far as the river-crossing: and when they had gone out after them, the door into the town was shut. |
| |
King James |
And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords--That river is crossed at several well-known fords. The first and second immediately below the sea of Galilee; the third and fourth immediately above and below the pilgrims' bathing-place, opposite Jericho.
as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate--This precaution was to ensure the capture of the spies, should they have been lurking in the city. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| The sense is, that "they pursued along the way which leads to Jordan and across the fords;" probably those described in Jdg 3:28. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
Upon this declaration on the part of the woman, the king's messengers ("the men") pursued the spies by the road to the Jordan which leads across the fords. Both the circumstances themselves and the usage of the language require that we should interpret the words in this way; for המּעבּרות על cannot mean "as far as the fords," and it is very improbable that the officers should have gone across the fords. If they did not succeed in overtaking the spies and apprehending them before they reached the fords, they certainly could not hope to do this on the other side of the river in the neighbourhood of the Israelitish camp. By "the fords" with the article we are to understand the ford near to Jericho which was generally used at that time (Jdg 3:22; Sa2 19:16.); but whether this was the one which is commonly used now at the mouth of Wady Shaib, almost in a straight line to the east of Jericho, or the more southerly one, el Helu, above the mouth of Wady Hesban (Rob. Pal. ii. p. 254), to the south of the bathing-place of Christian pilgrims, or el Meshra (Lynch, p. 155), or el Mocktaa (Seetzen, ii. p. 320), it is impossible to determine. (On these and other fords near Beisan, and as far up as the Sea of Galilee, see Rob. ii. p. 259, and Ritter Erdk. xv. pp. 549ff.) After the king's messengers had left the town, they shut the gate to prevent the spies from escaping, in case they should be still in the town. כּאשׁר אהרי for אשׁר אהרי is uncommon, but it is analogous to אחרי־כן אשׁר in Gen 6:4.
Jos 2:8-9
Notwithstanding these precautions, the men escaped. As soon as the officers had left Rahab's house, she went to the spies, who were concealed upon the roof, before they had lain down to sleep, which they were probably about to do upon the roof, - a thing of frequent occurrence in the East in summer time, - and confessed to them all that she believed and knew, namely, that God had given the land to the Israelites, and that the dread of them had fallen upon the Canaanites ("us," in contrast with "you," the Israelites, signifies the Canaanites generally, and not merely the inhabitants of Jericho), and despair had seized upon all the inhabitants of the land. The description of the despair of the Canaanites (Jos 2:9) is connected, so far as the expressions are concerned, with Exo 15:15 and Exo 15:16, to show that what Moses and the Israelites had sung after crossing the Red Sea was now fulfilled, that the Lord had fulfilled His promise (Exo 23:27 compared with Deu 2:25 and Deu 11:25), and had put fear and dread upon the Canaanites.
Jos 2:10
The report of the drying up of the Red Sea (Exo 14:15.), of the defeat of the mighty kings of the Amorites, and of the conquest of their kingdoms, had produced this effect upon the Canaanites. Even in the last of these occurrences the omnipotence of God had been visibly displayed, so that what the Lord foretold to Moses (Deu 2:25) had now taken place; it had filled all the surrounding nations with fear and dread of Israel, and the heart and courage of the Canaanites sank in consequence.
Jos 2:11
"When we heard this" - Rahab proceeded to tell them, transferring the feelings of her own heart to her countrymen - "our heart did melt" (it was thus that the Hebrew depicted utter despair; "the hearts of the people melted, and became as water," Jos 7:5), "and there did not remain any more spirit in any one:" i.e., they lost all strength of mind for acting, in consequence of their fear and dread (vid., Jos 5:1, though in Kg1 10:5 this phrase is used to signify being out of one's-self from mere astonishment). "For Jehovah your God is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath." To this confession of faith, to which the Israelites were to be brought through the miraculous help of the Lord (Deu 4:39), Rahab also attained; although her confession of faith remained so far behind the faith which Moses at that time demanded of Israel, that she only discerned in Jehovah a Deity (Elohim) in heaven and upon earth, and therefore had not yet got rid of her polytheism altogether, however close she had come to a true and full confession of the Lord. But these miracles of divine omnipotence which led the heart of this sinner with its susceptibility for religious truth to true faith, and thus became to her a savour of life unto life, produced nothing but hardness in the unbelieving hearts of the rest of the Canaanites, so that they could not escape the judgment of death.
Jos 2:12-14
After this confession Rahab entreated the spies to spare her family (father's house), and made them promise her on oath as a sign of their fidelity, that on the capture of Jericho, which is tacitly assumed as self-evident after what had gone before, they would save alive her parents, and brothers and sisters, and all that belonged to them (i.e., according to Jos 6:23, the children and families of her brothers and sisters), and not put them to death; all of which they promised her on oath. "A true token," lit. a sign of truth, i.e., a sign by which they guaranteed the truth of the kindness for which she asked. This sign consisted in nothing but the solemn oath with which they were to confirm their assurance, and, according to Jos 2:14, actually did confirm it. The oath itself was taken in these words, "our soul shall die for you," by which they pledged their life for the life of Rahab and her family in this sense: God shall punish us with death if we are faithless, and do not spare thy life and the lives of thy relations. Though the name of God is not really expressed, it was implied in the fact that the words are described as swearing by Jehovah. But the spies couple their assurance with this condition, "if ye utter not this our business," do not betray us, sc., so that we should be pursued, and our life endangered; "then will we show thee mercy and truth" (cf. Gen 24:27). |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Fords - Or passages, that is, the places where people used to pass over Jordan, whether by boats or bridges. The gate - Of the city, to prevent the escape of the spies, if peradventure Rahab was mistaken, and they yet lurked therein. |
28 And he said to them, Come after me; for the Lord has given the Moabites, your haters, into your hands. So they went down after him and took the crossing-places of Jordan against Moab, and let no one go across.
27 And said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has given a sign that he is good and true to my master, by guiding me straight to the house of my master's family.
14 And the men said to her, Our life for yours if you keep our business secret; and when the Lord has given us the land, we will keep faith and be kind to you.
23 So the searchers went in and got out Rahab and her father and mother and her brothers and all she had, and they got out all her family; and they took them outside the tents of Israel.
12 So now, will you give me your oath by the Lord, that, because I have been kind to you, you will be kind to my father's house,
13 And that you will keep safe my father and mother and my brothers and sisters and all they have, so that death may not come on us?
14 And the men said to her, Our life for yours if you keep our business secret; and when the Lord has given us the land, we will keep faith and be kind to you.
39 So today be certain, and keep the knowledge deep in your hearts, that the Lord is God, in heaven on high and here on earth; there is no other God.
5 And the food at his table, and all his servants seated there, and those who were waiting on him in their places, and their robes, and his wine-servants, and the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
1 Now when the news came to all the kings of the Amorites on the west side of Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites living by the sea, how the Lord had made the waters of Jordan dry before the children of Israel, till they had gone across, their hearts became like water, and there was no more spirit in them, because of the children of Israel.
5 The men of Ai put to death about thirty-six of them, driving them from before the town as far as the stoneworks, and overcoming them on the way down: and the hearts of the people became like water.
11 And because of this news, our hearts became like water, and there was no more spirit in any of us because of you; for the Lord your God is God in heaven on high and here on earth.
25 From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you.
15 And the Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to me? give the children of Israel the order to go forward.
10 For we have had news of how the Lord made the Red Sea dry before you when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, on the other side of Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you gave up to the curse.
25 All people will give way before you: for the Lord your God will put the fear of you on all the land through which you go, as he has said.
25 From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you.
27 I will send my fear before you, putting to flight all the people to whom you come; all those who are against you will go in flight, turning their backs before you.
16 Fear and grief came on them; by the strength of your arm they were turned to stone; till your people went over, O Lord, till the people went over whom you have made yours.
15 The chiefs of Edom were troubled in heart; the strong men of Moab were in the grip of fear: all the people of Canaan became like water.
9 And said to them, It is clear to me that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has come on us;
8 And before the men went to rest, she came up to them on the roof,
9 And said to them, It is clear to me that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has come on us;
4 There were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days; and after that, when the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children: these were the great men of old days, the men of great name.
16 And Shimei, the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, got up quickly and went down with the men of Judah for the purpose of meeting King David;
22 And the hand-part went in after the blade, and the fat was joined up over the blade; for he did not take the sword out of his stomach. And he went out into the...