Joshua 2:18 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 2:18
Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
land
בָּאָ֑רֶץba.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
bind
תִּקְשְׁרִ֗יtik.she.Ri
H7194
to tie · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular
line
תִּקְוַ֡תtik.Vat
H8615
literally a cord (as an attachment) · noun, common feminine singular construct
scarlet
הַשָּׁנִ֨יha.sha.Ni
H8144
crimson · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
thread
חוּט֩chut
H2339
a string · noun, common masculine singular construct
window
בַּֽחַלּוֹן֙ba.cha.lOn
H2474
a window (as perforated) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
by
הוֹרַדְתֵּ֣נוּho.rad.Te.nu
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix
bring
תַּאַסְפִ֥יta.'as.Fi
H622
to gather for any purpose · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular
father
אָבִ֨יךְ'a.Vikh
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
mother
אִמֵּ֜ךְ'i.Mekh
H517
a mother (as the bond of the family) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
brethren
אַחַ֗יִךְ'a.Cha.yikh
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
father’s
אָבִ֔יךְ'a.Vikh
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
household
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
home
הַבָּֽיְתָהha.Ba.ye.tah
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute + directional suffix
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
Joshua 6:23 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; an…
Joshua 2:21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
Joshua 2:12-13 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s hou…
Genesis 19:12-17 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, br…
Leviticus 14:4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
Acts 10:33 Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear…
Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and sc…
Genesis 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
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…
she said--rather "she had said," for what follows must have been part of the previous conversation.
Get you to the mountain--A range of white limestone hills extends on the north, called Quarantania (now Jebel Karantu), rising to a height of from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet, and the sides of which are perforated with caves. Some one peak adjoining was familiarly known to the inhabitants as "the mountain." The prudence and propriety of the advice to flee in that direction rather than to the ford, were made apparent by the sequel.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 2:18
This line of scarlet thread - תקות חוט השני tikvath chut hashshani. Probably this may mean, this piece of scarlet cloth, or, this cloth (made) of scarlet thread. When the Israelites took the city this piece of red cloth seems to have been hung out of the window by way of flag; and this was the sign on which she and the spies had agreed.
John Gill on Joshua 2:18
Behold, when we come into the land,.... The land of Canaan, and into this city, into that part of it, as the Septuagint, where her house was, meaning not themselves only, but the people of Israel they belonged to:
thou shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by; the word by refers either to the scarlet thread they were let down by, said to be a cord, Joshua 2:15; and therefore must be a line twisted with various scarlet threads, as Kimchi; who observes, that according to the Targum, it was the border of a red garment; or to the window through which they were let down, as the Septuagint version; it may refer to both, and the sense be, that the same t…
The Church Fathers
This command too is given to her who was once a "harlot": "All," she says, "who shall be found in your house shall be saved. But those who go out of the house — we are free from this oath of yours." If anyone, therefore, wishes to be saved, let him come into this house of her who was once a "harlot." Even if someone from that people wishes to be saved, let him come to this house, that he may be able to obtain salvation. Let him come to this house, in which the blood of Christ is the sign of redemption. For among those who said, "his blood be upon us and upon our children," the blood of Christ is unto condemnation. For Jesus "was set for the fall and for the rising again of many," and therefore, to those who contradict his "sign," "his blood" is made unto punishment, but to those who believe, unto salvation. Let no one, therefore, persuade himself, let no one deceive himself: outside this house, that is, outside the Church, no one is saved; if anyone goes outside, he becomes guilty of his own death. This is the sign of the blood, because here too is the purification which is established through the blood.
For the faith of the sacred Scripture sets forth that the Church is not without, nor can be separated nor divided against itself, but maintains the unity of an inseparable and undivided house; since it is written of the sacrament of the passover, and of the lamb, which Lamb designated Christ: "In one house shall it be eaten: ye shall not carry forth the flesh abroad out of the house." Which also we see expressed concerning Rahab, who herself also bore a type of the Church, who received the command which said, "Thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household unto thee into thine house; and whosoever shall go out of the doors of thine house into the street, his blood shall be upon him." In which mystery is declared, that they who will live, and escape from the destruction of the world, must be gathered together into one house alone, that is, into the Church; but whosoever of those thus collected together shall go out abroad, that is, if any one, although he may have obtained grace in the Church, shall depart and go out of the Church, that his blood shall be upon him; that is, that he himself must charge it upon himself that he perishes; which the Apostle Paul explains, teaching and enjoining that a heretic must be avoided, as perverse, and a sinner, and as condemned of himself. For that man will be guilty of his own ruin, who, not being cast out by the bishop, but of his own accord deserting from the Church is by heretical presumption condemned of himself.
Dictionary and topics
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Handicraft — (Acts 18:3; 19:25; Revelation 18:22) A trade was taught to ail the Jewish boys as a necessary part of their education. Even the greatest rabbis maintained themselves by trades (Delitzsch). Says Rabbi…
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…
Scarlet — This dye was obtained by the Egyptians from the shell-fish Carthamus tinctorius; and by the Hebrews from the Coccus ilicis, an insect which infests oak trees, called kermes by the Arabians. This…
Reconnoissance · Of — Of
Token · S — S
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).
Our life for yours, etc. They imprecate death upon themselves, if they do not faithfully make it their business to save Rahab. For the interpretation adopted by some, We will pledge our lives, seems far-fetched, or too restricted, since their intention was simply to bind themselves before God. They constitute themselves, therefore, a kind of expiatory victims, if any evil befalls Rahab through their negligence. The expression, for yours, ought, doubtless, to be extended to the parents, brothers, and sisters. They therefore render their own lives liable in such a sense, that blood may be required of them, if the family of Rahab do not remain safe. And herein consists the sanctity of an oath,…
In conclusion, the spies guarded against any arbitrary interpretation and application of their oath, by imposing three conditions, on the non-fulfilment of which they would be released from their oath. הזּה for הזּאת is to be explained in Jos 2:17 from the fact that the gender is often disregarded in the use of the pronoun (see Ewald, 183, a.), and in Jos 2:18 from the fact that there the gender is determined by the nomen rectum (see Ewald, 317, d.).
Jos 2:18
The first condition was, that when the town was taken Rahab should make her house known to the Israelites, by binding "the cord of this crimson thread," i.e., this cord made of crimson thread, in the window from which she had let them d…
The hill country of central Canaan began its steep rise just west of Jericho. Thinking that the two spies would head directly to Israel’s camp across the Jordan, the pursuers from Jericho would naturally head eastward. When the pursuers gave up, the spies could slip across the Jordan unhindered.
Rashi on Joshua 2:18
The line of red string. תִּקְוַת means a line or rope.
