Joshua 2:22

Jos 2:22-23. Three days — Supporting themselves there with the provisions which Rahab had furnished them with. The way — That is, in the road to Jordan, and the places near it, but not in the mountains. Passed over — Jordan unto Joshua.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Jos_2:22. Abode there three days] One clear day, and part of two others. The spies were probably sent out on the sixth of Abib; on the evening of the same day as that on which they arrived at Jericho they escaped to the mountain; they waited in hiding there throughout the next day, and through the night and the day and the greater part of the night following, when they returned to Joshua, and made their report.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_2:22-24

WITH AND “WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD”

I. He who watches and works without God, watches and works in vain. The king of Jericho had sent to take the spies, but they escaped out of his hand; “the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.” “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain;” so, apparently, out of the rich experience of his life the aged David counselled his son and successor in “The Song of degrees for Solomon.” The children of God, when they are without the presence of their heavenly Father, labour as much in vain as the greatest idolater or infidel. The king of Jericho and his pursuers fail; equally do the Israelites themselves, when a week or two later they go up without God against Ai. Moses well said, “If Thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.”

II. He who goes out under the care of God is safe from the wrath of man. If Rebekah and Jacob had not lied, the younger son would still have inherited the blessing. The promise of God needed no falsehood of men to make it into a truth. If Rahab had said only the thing which was right, God could with equal ease have secured the safety of these His two servants. Even had it been otherwise, they had been no less safe; they fall well, who fall into their Father’s arms. Where God does not bless our righteous efforts to preserve ourselves, we need not seek safety in sin. Those were noble blushes which rose on the face of Ezra, when he said, “I was ashamed to require of the king a band of men and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way” (cf. Ezr_8:21-23). Paul in his perils; Luther at Worms; Wesley preaching under threats of violence and falling stones.

III. He who reports the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord can never report too confidently or too cheerfully. The ten spies had given the report of fear; these give the report of faith. The giants and the Anakim were probably as huge as they were forty years before, the cities walled up as near to heaven, and the Israelites no larger than they were formerly; but where fear then saw grasshoppers in the presence of giants, faith said now, “Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land.” The message of these two men to Joshua was full of confidence, full of cheerfulness, and full of praise. They thanked God for victories yet to come.

1. He who makes the best of everything which concerns God, serves God and men much better than he who is timid and doubting and depressed. It is quite possible to make too much of the work of men; we cannot well over-report God. Too many modern servants are far more like the ten spies than the two.

2. A bad report of Divine things is not only injurious to others, but most harmful to ourselves. Good Bp. Hall well said, “Our success or discomfiture begins ever at the heart. A man’s inward disposition doth more than presage the event. If Satan sees us once faint, he gives himself the day. There is no way to safety, but that our hearts be the last that shall yield.” We have need to keep our heart with all diligence; for out of it, even in this sense, there are issues of life. The glad confidence in Christ which some constantly manifest carries its own reward; for “the joy of the Lord is their strength,” and hardly less strength to all who are sufficiently with them to catch the enthusiasm of their praise.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

We have here the safe return of the spies Joshua had sent, and the great encouragement they brought with them to Israel to proceed in their descent upon Canaan. Had they been disposed to discourage the people, as the evil spies did that Moses sent, they might have told them what they had observed of the height and strength of the walls of Jericho, and the extraordinary vigilance of the king of Jericho, and how narrowly they escaped out of his hands; but they were of another spirit, and, depending themselves upon the divine promise, they animated Joshua likewise. 1. Their return in safety was itself an encouragement to Joshua, and a token for good. that God provided for them so good a friend as Rahab was in an enemy's country, and that notwithstanding the rage of the king of Jericho and the eagerness of the pursuers they had come back in peace, was such an instance of God's great care concerning them for Israel's sake as might assure the people of the divine guidance and care they were under, which should undoubtedly make the progress of their arms glorious. He that so wonderfully protected their scouts would preserve their men of war, and cover their heads in the day of battle. 2. The report they brought was much more encouraging (v. 24): "All the inhabitants of the country, though resolved to stand it out, yet do faint because of us, they have neither wisdom to yield nor courage to fight," whence they conclude, "Truly the Lord has delivered into our hands all the land, it is all our own; we have nothing to do, in effect, but to take possession." Sinners' frights are sometimes sure presages of their fall. If we resist our spiritual enemies they will flee before us, which will encourage us to hope that in due time we shall be more than conquerors.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(22) Three days—i.e., probably until the completion of three days from the commencement of their mission, according to the usual inclusive reckoning of the Old Testament.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22–24. Return of the Spies to Joshua

22. the mountain] See above, Jos_2:16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they went, and came unto the mountain,.... Rahab had directed them to, the mountain Quarantania; see Gill on Jos 2:16,

and abode there three days; being, no doubt, supplied with food by Rahab; and it might not be three wholly, but one whole day and part of the other two:

until the pursuers were returned; to the city of Jericho, as might reasonably be supposed:

and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way; from Jericho to the fords of Jordan, searching every hedge, field, and village as they went and returned:

but found them not; Rahab having hid them in her house, and then sent them to the mountain, there to remain till the return of the pursuers.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Unto the mountain - Probably the mountains to the west and north of Jericho, called afterward, from the belief that the 40 days of our Lord’s temptation were passed among them, the Quarantania. The spies avoided at the first the neighhourhood of the Jordan, where the pursuers sought them: and amidst the grottoes of the limestone rocks, which in later ages were the abode of numerous hermits, they could readily shelter themselves for three days.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Abode there three days; supporting themselves there with the provisions, which after the manner of those times and places they carried with them, which Rahab furnished them with.

Throughout all the way, i.e. in the road to Jordan, and the places near it, but not in the mountains.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. Abode there three days — In reckoning time, the Jews count as whole days the parts of days which may be included in a given period. Hence the body of Jesus was said to be in the tomb three days, though it was laid there on Friday evening and he came forth on Sunday morning — a space of thirty-six hours. See note on Mat_12:40. [So these spies may have remained in the caverns of the mountains only parts of three days, and the entire time of their absence from the camp at Shittim fell within the three days at the end of which, if not before, Joshua intended to be on his march across the Jordan. See note on Jos_1:11.] 23. Passed over — That is, Jordan. These scouts were probably expert in swimming, for the Jordan was then at its flood.

Came to Joshua — It is not necessary to suppose that they returned to the camp at Shittim. But the history most naturally implies this.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Three days - Supporting themselves there with the provisions, which Rahab had furnished them with. The ways - That is, in the road to Jordan, and the places near it, but not in the mountains.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The spies remained three days in the mountains, till the officers returned to the town, after searching for them the whole way in vain. The mountains referred to are probably the range on the northern side of Jericho, which afterwards received the name of Quarantana (Arab. Kuruntul), a wall of rock rising almost precipitously from the plain to the height of 1200 or 1500 feet, and full of grottoes and caves on the eastern side. These mountains were well adapted for a place of concealment; moreover, they were the nearest to Jericho, as the western range recedes considerably to the south of Wady Kelt (vid., Rob. ii. p. 289).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

The two Israelites spies leave Jericho.

their pursuers returned

It may be helpful to say they returned to Jericho. AT: "their pursuers returned to the city of Jericho" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

found nothing

This refers to the men not finding the spies.

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.