Joshua 2:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 2:11
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.
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 1st person common plural
hearts
לְבָבֵ֔נוּle.va.Ve.nu
H3824
the heart (as the most interior organ) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
melt
וַיִּמַּ֣סvai.yi.Mas
H4549
to liquefy · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
remain
קָ֨מָהKa.mah
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
courage
ר֛וּחַRu.ach
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular absolute
man
בְּאִ֖ישׁbe.'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
because
מִפְּנֵיכֶ֑םmi.pe.nei.Khem
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָ֣הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God
אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם'e.lo.hei.Khem
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
God
אֱלֹהִים֙'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
heaven
בַּשָּׁמַ֣יִםba.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
above
מִמַּ֔עַלmi.Ma.'al
H4605
properly · preposition + cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
earth
הָאָ֖רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 4:39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none…
Joshua 5:1 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, whi…
Joshua 7:5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in th…
Isaiah 13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
Jeremiah 16:19-21 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth,…
Daniel 4:34-35 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most…
Daniel 6:25-27 Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.
Zechariah 8:20-23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 2:8-21
The matter is here settled between Rahab and the spies respecting the service she was now to do for them, and the favour they were afterwards to show to her. She secures them on condition that they should secure her.
I. She gives them, and by them sends to Joshua and Israel, all the encouragement that could be desired to make their intended descent upon Canaan. this was what they came for, and it was worth coming for. Having got clear of the officers, she comes up to them to the roof of the house where they lay hid, finds them perhaps somewhat dismayed at the peril they apprehended themselves in from the officers, and scarcely recovered from the fright, but has that to say to them which will…
THE COVENANT BETWEEN HER AND THEM. (Jos 2:8-21)
she came up unto them upon the roof and said--Rahab's dialogue is full of interest, as showing the universal panic and consternation of the Canaanites on the one hand (Jos 24:11; Deu 2:25), and her strong convictions on the other, founded on a knowledge of the divine promise, and the stupendous miracles that had opened the way of the Israelites to the confines of the promised land. 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.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 2:11
He is God in heaven above, and to earth beneath - This confession of the true God is amazingly full, and argues considerable light and information. As if she had said, "I know your God to be omnipotent and omnipresent:" and in consequence of this faith she hid the spies, and risked her own life in doing it. But how had she this clear knowledge of the Divine nature?
1. Possibly the knowledge of the true God was general in the earth at this time, though connected with much superstition and idolatry; the people believing that there was a god for every district, and for every people; for the mountains and for the valleys; see Kg1 20:23.
2. Or she received this instruction from the spies, with wh…
Do you see how with faith she takes on her lips the word of the Lawgiver? "And I realize that your God is up in heaven and down on the earth, and that apart from him there is no God." Rahab is a prefigurement of the church, which was at one time mixed up in the prostitution of the demons and which now accepts the spies of Christ, not the ones sent by Joshua the son of Nun, but the apostles who were sent by Jesus the true Savior. "I learned," she says, "that your God is up in heaven and down on the earth, and that apart from him there is no God." The Jews received these things and did not safeguard them; the church heard these things and preserved them. Therefore, Rahab, the prefigurement of the church, is worthy of all praise.
Pass now, pray, to the others who were saved by repentance. Perhaps even among the women someone will say, "I have committed fornication and adultery. I have defiled my body with every excess. Can there be salvation for me?" Fix your eyes, woman, upon Rahab, and look for salvation for yourself too. For if she who openly and publicly practiced fornication was saved through repentance, will not she whose fornication preceded the gift of grace be saved by repentance and fasting? For observe how she was saved. She said only this: "Since the Lord, your God, is God in heaven above and on earth below." "Your God," she said, for she did not dare call him her God, because of her wantonness. If you want scriptural testimony of her salvation, you have it recorded in the Psalms: "I will think of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me." The salvation procured by repentance is open to men and women alike.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jericho — Place of fragrance, a fenced city in the midst of a vast grove of palm trees, in the plain of Jordan, over against the place where that river was crossed by the Israelites (Josh. 3:16). Its site was…
Canaanites, The · Terrified at the approach of Israel — Terrified at the approach of Israel
Cowardice · . — .
Hospitality · .Rahab to the spies — .Rahab to the spies
Jews, The · Enemies of, obliged to acknowledge them as divinely protected — Enemies of, obliged to acknowledge them as divinely protected
Kindness · .Rahab to the spies — .Rahab to the spies
Reconnoissance · Of — Of
Treaty · Sacredness of — Sacredness of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Joshua 2:11
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt,.... Particularly what were done to the two kings of the Amorites, who, and their people, were utterly destroyed, their goods made a prey of, and their countries seized upon and possessed:
neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you; they looked dejected in their countenances, had no heart to go about any business, trembled at the shaking of a leaf, or at the least rumour and report made that the Israelites were coming on and were at hand; they had no spirit to prepare to go out and meet them, or to defend themselves:
for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath; the Maker and P…
The Lord your God, he is God, etc. Here the image of Rahab's faith appears, as if reflected in a mirror, when casting down all idols she ascribes the government of heaven and earth to the God of Israel alone. For it is perfectly clear that when heaven and earth are declared subject to the God of Israel, there is a repudiation of all the pagan fictions by which the majesty, and power, and glory of God are portioned out among different deities; and hence we see that it is not without cause that two Apostles have honored Rahab's conduct with the title of faith This is sneered at by some proud and disdainful men, but I wish they would consider what it is to distinguish the one true God from all…
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 Jeri…
Although the people of Canaan incurred God’s judgment, Rahab’s declaration of faith (proven genuine by her aid to the spies) brought her into the people of God (Heb 11:31).
Rashi on Joshua 2:11
And there was no longer any spirit. [The men had no spirit (desire)] even to lie with a woman. It was said by the Sages: There was no prince or ruler who had not had [sexual] relationships with Rochav, the harlot. She was ten years old when the Bnei Yisroel went out of Egypt, and she engaged in harlotry for forty years.
