Joshua sends two men to spy out the land of Canaan, especially the great city of Jericho. The walls of Jericho are tall and thick, and the people inside are very afraid — they have heard how the God of Israel dried up the Red Sea and defeated mighty kings. The whole city trembles.
The two spies slip into the city and find shelter at the house of a woman named Rahab. Her house is actually built right into the city wall. But the king of Jericho hears that Israelite spies have come, and he sends soldiers to find them. Rahab hides the spies under bundles of flax she has drying on her rooftop. When the soldiers come knocking, she sends them off in the wrong direction.
That night, Rahab climbs up to the rooftop and speaks to the spies. What she says is extraordinary. She tells them that she knows the LORD — Israel's God — has given them this land. She has heard what He did at the Red Sea. She has heard how He defeated kings. And deep in her heart, something has happened. She believes. This is faith — trusting that what God has said and done is true, even before you see it all with your own eyes.
Rahab makes a request. She asks the spies to show kindness to her family when Israel conquers Jericho. She has shown them kindness, and she asks for a sign — a promise — that they will be saved.
The spies agree. They tell Rahab to hang a scarlet cord from the window of her house when Israel comes. Anyone inside her house, marked by that red cord, will be kept safe. Rahab lowers the spies down through the window by the cord, and they escape into the hills. Before they leave, she hangs the scarlet cord in the window straight away — trusting the promise.
Rahab is someone the people of Israel might never have expected God to save. She is a Canaanite, not an Israelite. She has not lived a good life. But God is doing something wonderful here. He is bringing redemption — rescue and restoration — to someone who seems far from Him. And He uses something small and red to mark it: a cord hanging in a window, promising safety through blood.
The spies return to Joshua and report everything. 'The LORD has surely given all the land into our hands,' they say. God's plan is moving forward, and He has already placed faith in an unexpected heart inside the very walls that are about to fall.
Christ in This Story
The scarlet cord Rahab hangs in her window points forward to Jesus, whose blood marks out all who are rescued from judgment. Just as anyone inside Rahab's household was saved by the sign of that red cord, all who trust in Christ are sheltered by His blood shed on the cross. Rahab herself — a Canaanite woman saved by faith — is included in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, showing that God's redemption reaches across every boundary. Her story declares that salvation has always been by grace through faith, not by birthright or goodness.
Historical Context
Jericho is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, located near the Jordan River in the region archaeologists call the southern Levant. It sat at a strategic crossing point into Canaan, which is why Joshua targeted it first. Ancient Canaanite cities like Jericho often had casemate walls — hollow double walls in which people actually built homes and storage rooms, which fits perfectly with the detail that Rahab's house was built into the city wall (Joshua 2:15).
Flax was a common crop in the ancient Near East, harvested in the spring and laid flat on rooftops to dry before being spun into linen. The spies' arrival coincides with this harvest season (Joshua 2:6; 3:15), a historically grounded detail that anchors the story in real agricultural life. Rahab's profession and social position would have made her house an inconspicuous stop for travelers — and yet God chose precisely this woman and this place as the beginning of His people's entrance into the Promised Land.
Let's Pray
Heavenly Father, thank You that You save people we would never expect, because Your grace reaches everywhere. Thank You that You gave Rahab faith to trust You, and that You keep every promise You make. Help us to trust Your promises too, and to remember that Jesus is the true sign of rescue for all who believe. Amen.