Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Joshua sends scouts to Jericho: Rahab receives, hides, and directs them. The people of Jericho, getting wind of the matter, pursue them. They, verse 9, having made a pact of silence with the suppliant Rahab, promise safety to her household, and give as a sign a scarlet cord. Sent away by her through a rope they flee, verse 15, and hide in the mountains for three days; and finally, verse 23, they return to Joshua, report the fear of the Jericho inhabitants, and promise victory over them.
Vulgate Text: Joshua 2:1-24
1. Joshua the son of Nun therefore sent from Shittim two men as scouts in secret, and said to them: Go and survey the land and the city of Jericho. They went and entered the house of a harlot woman named Rahab, and lodged with her. 2. And it was reported to the king of Jericho, and it was said: Behold, men from the children of Israel have entered here by night to spy out the land. 3. And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying: Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house; for they are spies, and they have come to survey the whole land. 4. And the woman took the men and hid them, and said: I confess they came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5. And when the gate was being shut at dark, they likewise went out; I do not know where they went. Pursue them quickly and you will overtake them. 6. But she had made the men go up to the roof of her house and covered them with stalks of flax that were there. 7. And those who had been sent pursued them by the road that leads to the ford of the Jordan; and as soon as they had gone out, the gate was shut. 8. Those who were hiding had not yet fallen asleep when the woman came up to them and said: 9. I know that the Lord has given you this land; for your terror has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land have grown faint. 10. We have heard that the Lord dried up the waters of the sea for your entrance when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you destroyed. 11. And hearing these things we were terrified, and our heart melted, nor did any spirit remain in us at your approach; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below. 12. Now therefore swear to me by the Lord that as I have shown mercy to you, so you also will deal with my father's house; and give me a sure sign, 13. that you will save my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all that belongs to them, and deliver our lives from death. 14. And they answered her: Our lives for yours unto death, if only you do not betray us. And when the Lord shall have given us the land, we will deal with you in mercy and truth. 15. So she let them down by a rope from the window, for her house was built upon the wall. 16. And she said to them: Go up to the mountains, lest those returning meet you, and hide there three days until they return; and then go your way. 17. And they said to her: We shall be free from this oath by which you have bound us, 18. if, when we enter the land, this scarlet cord is the sign, and you tie it in the window through which you let us down; and you gather your father and mother, your brothers, and all your kindred into your house. 19. Whoever goes out the door of your house, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be innocent. But the blood of all who are with you in the house shall fall on our heads if anyone touches them. 20. But if you wish to betray us and bring this matter to light, we shall be free from this oath by which you have bound us. 21. And she answered: As you have said, so let it be. And sending them off to go, she tied the scarlet cord in the window. 22. And they, walking, came to the mountains and remained there three days until those who had pursued them returned; for though they searched along every road, they did not find them. 23. When these had entered the city, the scouts returned and descended from the mountain; and, crossing the Jordan, they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had happened to them, 24. and said: The Lord has delivered all this land into our hands, and all its inhabitants are prostrate with fear.
Verse 1: Joshua sent from Shittim two men as scouts
1. 'Joshua the son of Nun therefore sent' (the Septuagint has 'Nave,' but corruptly: for from the affinity of the Greek letters nu and zeta, Noun was corrupted to Naue) 'from Shittim two men as scouts.' — These words should be connected to verse 9 of chapter 1, and placed before verse 10. For this is a hysteron proteron [reversal of chronological order], as I said there. Joshua, stirred up and strengthened by God to invade Canaan, immediately did so and sent scouts to Jericho, which was near the Jordan, in order to subdue it first. Therefore 'he sent' means 'he had sent' — namely, before he ordered the Hebrews to prepare for the crossing of the Jordan after three days in chapter 1, verse 10. For the perfect tense is used in place of the pluperfect.
Mystically, St. Augustine, Sermon 106 On the Seasons: 'Jesus,' he says, 'sends two scouts, because the true Jesus was about to give two commandments of love. For truly, what else does the true Jesus send to us, except that we should love God and love our neighbor? Jesus therefore said: Prepare food for yourselves, and be ready for the third day. For just as then, with food prepared, they came on the third day to the river Jordan, so also now in the Catholic Church, having taken up the spiritual food of faith, hope, and charity, one arrives at the mystery of the Trinity and the sacrament of Baptism.'
'From Shittim.' — Shittim was in the plains of Moab near the Jordan and Mount Nebo, where Moses had died a month before, Deuteronomy 34. At Shittim the people fornicated with the daughters of Moab and Midian, and there Phinehas stabbed with a dagger an Israelite fornicating with a Midianite woman, Numbers 25. And from this place the Shittim trees are named, whose wood is the lightest, most lustrous, and most beautiful of all, and which does not decay; hence from it all the boards of the ark, the tabernacle, and the temple were made.
'Two.' — The Rabbis say, or rather fabricate, that these two were Phinehas and Caleb; but who would believe that Phinehas, already designated by God as High Priest, and Caleb, weighty in authority and years, were chosen for such a dangerous mission? Especially since the Roman-corrected Septuagint calls them neaniskous, that is, 'young men,' and they are so called in chapter 6, verse 23, in the Hebrew.
'In secret.' — Hebrew: cheresh, that is, silently, secretly; so the Chaldean [Targum]. This was done both so that the enemies, the people of Jericho, would not imprison and kill them; and so that their own Hebrews would not learn of it — for just as 38 years before they had murmured because of the scouts sent out, so now they could easily murmur again. Add that in difficult matters, especially military ones, the success of the expedition often depends on the strictest secrecy. For secrets easily leak from citizens to the enemy. So Cajetan, Masius, and Serarius.
The Rabbis interpret cheresh as 'dumb' or 'deaf,' or 'potter,' as if Joshua had ordered the scouts to pretend to be deaf and dumb, as if ignorant of the Canaanite language; or, as others say, potters, and that they should carry earthen vessels as if to sell them in Jericho. But these are fabrications and fables of the Rabbis. They would more plausibly say that the scouts pretended to be rustics. For scouts are accustomed to go about as country folk, who freely enter cities, and to conceal their schemes under the pretense of rusticity. For the root charas with shin means not only 'to be silent' and 'to become deaf,' but also 'to plow' and 'to fabricate'; while cheres with sin means 'potsherd' and 'earthen vessel.'
'Survey the land' — not only Canaan in general, but the land near the Jordan, which I intend to invade as soon as the Jordan is crossed — namely, whether it is fortified, whether the inhabitants are warlike, whether they are spirited and prepared for battle with us, etc. So the Emperor Leo prescribes for his general in his Tactics, chapter 13, number 2: 'By scouts and spies you shall diligently investigate the condition of the enemy, noting their numbers and the quality of their battle line; and so you shall prepare yourself against them, lest you be suddenly and unexpectedly attacked by them.' And chapter 20, number 178: 'If you wish to do something secretly against the enemy, or to move camp, or to carry out some other operation, entrust this plan to no one except one of your officers; for at such times there are very many who, eager for reward, will betray your plans to the enemy.' And in the same chapter, number 216: 'Since a good hunter hunts wolves and foxes with skill, so you too will catch the enemy's spies with cleverness. For if you post guards outside your rampart and then order them to detain every stranger and interrogate him, and not release him until he has stated his commander's name and his unit, and where he is from, and the password of his unit, and you investigate those who cannot do this to find out who they are, you will easily discover their spies.'
Vegetius also cleverly suggests this method of catching spies in Book 3 of On Military Matters, last chapter: 'When an enemy spy is secretly wandering in the camp,' he says, 'let all be ordered to return to their tents during the day, and the spy will immediately be detected' — because he has no tent.
'And the city of Jericho.' — As if to say: especially and above other places, survey the city of Jericho. He commands this because Jericho was the principal city in that region, nearest to the Jordan and most strongly fortified. Similar phrases are: 3 Kings [1 Kings] 11:1, 'King Solomon loved foreign women and (that is, but especially) the daughter of Pharaoh.' Psalm 17 [18]:2, 'He rescued him from the hand of his enemies, and from the hand of Saul' — namely, his chief and fiercest persecutor. 2 Kings [2 Samuel] 2:30, 'Nineteen men of David's servants were missing, besides Asahel' — the foremost of all. Mark 16:7, 'Tell his disciples, and (that is, especially) Peter.'
Now, Jericho was formerly a great and populous city (hence it had its own king, as is clear from the following verse), situated in a flat and most fertile region. There balsam, which is a most fragrant liquid, the finest in the world, grows — nowhere else. It abounds in rose gardens, sugar canes, palm groves — hence it was called the City of Palms — so that it seems to have been a paradise on earth. It is distant, according to Josephus, Book 5 of The Jewish War, chapter 4, sixty stadia from the Jordan, that is, seven and a half Italian miles, which make two and a half French leagues of one hour each; it is distant from Jerusalem 150 stadia, that is, eighteen and a half Italian miles, which make six and a quarter French leagues. In Jericho, Elisha was a guest and dwelt, 4 Kings [2 Kings] 2. There also Christ called Zacchaeus down from the sycamore tree, Luke 19.
Jericho was so named either from yareach, that is, 'moon,' because the plain surrounding Jericho has the shape of a crescent moon — so Arias Montanus; or from ravach, that is, 'to spread wide,' because it is situated on a very broad plain; or from moreach, that is, 'fragrance,' because it breathes forth the sweetest fragrance of balsam, honey, roses, etc. So Josephus, Masius, and Pagninus.
Symbolically, Jericho is a type of the world, which is unstable and changes like the moon; is very broad; and offers fragrant delights to its lovers — but which immediately vanish like scents and vapors. Hence Jesus called Zacchaeus from it to Himself, teaching him to despise worldly things and to seek heavenly things as most excellent and enduring forever. So St. Gregory, Rupert, and others.
'They went' (either by swimming, or by a ford, as is indicated in verse 7, or crossing the Jordan by boat) 'and entered the house of a harlot woman named Rahab.' — For 'harlot,' the Hebrew has zonah, which signifies both an innkeeper or tavern-keeper, as the Chaldean [Targum] and the Rabbis translate, and a prostitute. The Septuagint here translates it as 'prostitute,' and since St. Paul calls her such in Hebrews 11:31, it is possible that Rahab was both an innkeeper and a prostitute. For women without husbands who keep public inns often fall into the danger of fornication, or at least suspicion of it — although our Serarius in Tobias 6, chapter 1, Question III, argues at length that in that era inns and public lodgings were not in use.
Therefore, it is certain that Rahab was a prostitute; it is uncertain whether she was also an innkeeper. By prudent counsel indeed, and by God's guidance, these scouts went to the house of Rahab, where they hid most secretly, since her house was near the gate and attached to the city wall. It was therefore most opportune for them, both for resting and hiding and for escaping, should the need arise. So Arias, Vatablus, Masius, and others.
'Named Rahab.' — Rahab in Hebrew means the same as 'expansion' or 'she expanded herself,' as indeed she did, when, married to Salmon, she became the mother of David, Solomon, all the kings, and of Christ Himself — about which more shortly below. Moreover, Torniellus says Rahab was at this time fourteen or fifteen years old, as was her husband Salmon; for around the age of one hundred they begot Boaz, the great-grandfather of David, as will be clear at the end of the book of Ruth. But this is hard to believe; hence I shall examine it in chapter 6, verse 25. St. Jerome notes on Matthew chapter 1 that in the genealogy of Christ, no women are named except those infamous for infidelity or immorality — namely Ruth, Tamar, and Rahab — so that He who, as Jerome says, had come for the sake of sinners, being born of sinners, might blot out the sins of all. So also St. Ambrose, Chrysostom, Euthymius, and others.
Rahab also received the Hebrew scouts, enlightened and impelled by God, as if they were agents of the divine plan to subdue Canaan for the faithful people. For she understood that God wished to use her service in this matter, and therefore wished that she should receive, hide, and direct them. She was therefore bound to obey God, and to hand over her impious fellow citizens and her homeland to the people of God, and, so to speak, to betray them — just as Abraham was bound to obey God when He commanded him to sacrifice his son Isaac.
Verse 3: The king of Jericho sent to Rahab
3. 'And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab.' — 'King,' that is, a petty king, chief, or prince of the city of Jericho. For at that time individual cities had their own kings, that is, rulers and leaders. Hence in chapter 12, verse 9, thirty kings of thirty cities are named, all of whom Joshua conquered. The king therefore judged that these two strangers were Hebrews and spies; for in times of war, to the fearful all are suspects. Their foreign clothing, language, and customs increased the suspicion.
Verse 4: The woman took the men and hid them
4. 'And the woman took the men and hid them.' — From the Hebrew, with Vatablus, you may clearly translate: 'Now the woman had taken those two men and had hidden him (that is, each of them separately, says Arias)'; she had hidden them before the royal messengers arrived to search for them. When she heard her neighbors murmuring that the two strangers who had turned aside to her house were spies, or by some other indication, or at least by probable suspicion, she conjectured that the arrival of these two at her house would be reported to the king. Therefore, anticipating this denunciation and fearing an investigation and search of her house, she prudently forestalled it and hid the scouts. And perhaps while the royal messengers were arriving for the search, she was still occupied with concealing the scouts — and this is what our translator [the Vulgate] implies when he renders: 'And the woman took the men and hid them.'
The Rabbis explain the Hebrew phrase 'she hid him,' in the singular, as follows: Rahab hid only one, namely Caleb; for Phinehas replied to her: 'I am a priest; and priests, being like angels, are visible when they wish to be, and cannot be seen when they do not wish it.' And so they think that only Caleb, not Phinehas, was hidden by Rahab. But these inventions of the Rabbis are the usual fabrications of those fable-makers. More plausibly, Pseudo-Philo — not the famous one, but the obscure writer of Biblical Antiquities (though a Hebrew) — says that these scouts were the two sons of Caleb, namely Kenaz and Seeniamian. Where he got this, I do not know.
Verse 5: I do not know where they went
5. 'I do not know where they went.' — The crafty woman lies. Calvin here attributes this to her as a fault, but one so mixed with the virtue of hospitality that it was not imputed to her as guilt. But this is an error blasphemous toward God. For it makes God, as it were, blind — one who allows His eyes to be covered and veiled so that He does not see the vice; or an accomplice and partner of the wicked, who does not regard vices as vices and does not count them as faults.
This lie, however, was not pernicious but officious [well-intentioned], and therefore venial, especially in a rude and pagan woman who had persuaded herself that lying in this case was permissible — indeed, honorable — as being necessary to save her guests. Nor is this surprising, since in former times Plato, Origen, St. Jerome, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Cassian, and many others, both Christian and pagan, held that lying is sometimes permissible, and that it should be used like hellebore [a dangerous but occasionally necessary medicine], as I showed in discussing the lie of the midwives, Exodus 1.
Furthermore, Abulensis here, Question 30, holds that Rahab was moved by God to a venial sin, namely to this officious lie. For God, he says, can move a person to sin venially on account of the great good that follows from it, and lest the person fall into greater sins. Similarly, he says, if someone seeks another's life for an unjust death, and another person can save that life by a simple lie, he ought to save it, and if he refuses to lie, the other will perish unjustly.
But these claims are false and paradoxical. For God cannot be the author of any sin, since He is supreme purity, truth, and holiness. Furthermore, it is not permissible to lie even if the salvation of the whole world would follow from it. For evils are not to be done that good may come, says the Apostle; nor is a lie necessary to save another's life, for one can in such a case use an amphibology [ambiguous speech]. And even if it were necessary, it would still not be permissible to lie, because lying is intrinsically evil and sinful, and may never be done in any circumstances.
You will object: This lie was for the destruction of her own nation, which she was betraying to the Hebrews, their enemies; therefore it was pernicious. I respond: this lie was indeed harmful to the Canaanites and the people of Jericho. Nevertheless, because Rahab, by God's instinct, knew for certain that they had been proscribed by God for their crimes and destined for destruction, and therefore given over to the Hebrews with all their possessions, she neither ought nor could — except wickedly — champion the unjust cause of the people of Jericho and oppose the just and pious cause and war of the Hebrews, and resist God Himself. On the contrary, in order to obey God, with most courageous faith and piety, she most bravely and holily exposed herself to the danger of death; so that the Apostle rightly praises her for this in Hebrews 11:31, and St. James asserts that she was justified by these works in chapter 2, verse 25. Therefore, enlightened and touched by God, she turned from her lust through repentance and a resolve of chastity to God, and became a Hebrew and a saint. And so by this generous act of hospitality, by which she opened the way for the Hebrews into Canaan, she ennobled herself and so bound the Hebrews to her that, on account of her beneficence, Salmon, prince of the tribe of Judah, took her as his wife; and from her descended all the princes and kings of Judah, and finally Christ Himself, as is clear from Matthew 1, where she is named and set before other women in the genealogy of Christ — because she was both a foreigner and a harlot, and because she had been of the greatest service to the people of God. For although she was a foreigner, having now converted to Judaism she could be taken in marriage by a Jewish prince. For the marriages of such women are not forbidden in Deuteronomy 7:3, but only those of foreign women who persist in idolatry, as is clear from verse 4.
The Hebrews relate that by this faith and piety Rahab merited that eight Prophets and Priests should be born from her lineage, namely Jeremiah, Hilkiah, Seraiah, Maaseiah, Baruch son of Neriah, Hanamel, Shallum, Ezekiel, and Huldah. Hanamel was the son of Shallum, the cousin of Jeremiah. The same Hebrews also number nine gentile women who, marrying Hebrew husbands or attaching themselves to the Hebrews, were converted by them and bore faithful and distinguished offspring, namely: Hagar the Egyptian, wife of Abraham; Aseneth, wife of Joseph; Zipporah the Midianite, wife of Moses; Shiphrah and Puah the midwives, who saved the Hebrew infants from Pharaoh's slaughter, Exodus 1:15; Pharaoh's daughter; Rahab; Ruth; and Jael.
Moreover, St. Augustine, in his book Against Lying, chapter 15: 'What is written,' he says, 'that God dealt well with the Hebrew midwives and with Rahab the harlot of Jericho, happened not because they lied, but because they were merciful to the people of God. It was not, therefore, their deceit that was rewarded in them, but their goodwill: the kindness of their heart, not the wickedness of their lying.'
Verse 6: She covered them with stalks of flax
6. 'Onto the roof.' — Hebrew: gag, that is, 'roof,' as the Chaldean [Targum] and Septuagint translate, which in Judea was flat, so that one could walk, lie down, and sit on it. See the commentary on Deuteronomy 22:8. It is called a 'solarium' [sun terrace] because it is exposed to the sun. Tropologically, Origen, Homily 3 on Joshua: 'She places those she has received in the upper parts,' he says, 'and establishes them in the lofty and exalted sacraments of faith. For no one who is sent by Jesus is found below, lying on the ground, but remains in the upper places.'
'And she covered them with stalks of flax.' — Hebrew: 'with flax of wood,' but the Hebrews call 'flax of wood' the woody flax, or that which becomes woody — namely flax that consists of whole stalks, which the Latin translator clearly expressed by rendering 'stalks of flax.' For the Hebrews apply the name 'wood' also to plants such as rushes, hyssop, and flax, which gradually harden and become woody in their stalks, as is clear from 3 Kings [1 Kings] 4:33. Masius, therefore, rashly criticizes our translator here. For the Chaldean [Targum] and Josephus support him, translating 'bundles of flax.' And Pagninus translates 'stalks of flax,' and the Zurich Bible translates 'little stems of flax.' This verse explains verse 4. Serarius proves this at greater length here in Question 25.
Verse 9: I know that the Lord has given you this land
'They grew faint.' — Hebrew: namoggu, that is, they melted like wax, dissolved and wasted away. For immense terror liquefies, enervates, and dissolves all strength and all the powers of soul and body. The Chaldean [Targum]: 'they were broken.' Vatablus: 'they were dismayed with fear of you,' that is, seized by panic terror they, as it were, melt away. The Septuagint, verse 11, translates exestemen, that is, 'we were astounded, we became ecstatic, we were carried outside ourselves and failed, we were driven from our mind.' For terror makes people helpless in counsel, deranged in mind, and virtually senseless.
Verse 10: Whom you destroyed
10. 'Whom you destroyed.' — Hebrew: hecharamtem, that is, you made them anathema, you anathematized them — that is, you slaughtered and killed them as an anathema, that is, as a victim consecrated to God and to divine justice and vengeance. See the commentary on Leviticus chapter 27, verse 28.
Verse 11: The Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below
11. 'For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath' — as if to say: your God alone is the true God, who rules heaven and earth with eternal dominion and works wherever He wills. For in Hebrew it is Elohim, a word that signifies God as the governor of all things. The sense is: since the true God fights for you, neither the Canaanites nor anyone else can resist Him and you, or keep you from possessing this land — as is sufficiently demonstrated by the terror God has cast upon them, which has rendered them, though otherwise most valiant, unwarlike and nerveless. The Chaldean [Targum] translates: 'And that the Lord your God is God, whose divinity is in heaven above, and who rules over the earth below.' This is what Moses says in Deuteronomy 33:26: 'The Rider of heaven is your helper. His magnificence courses through the clouds; His dwelling is on high, and beneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out the enemy from before you, and will say: Destroy!' — where I said more on this subject.
Rahab, therefore, partly from the miracles and prodigies, partly from God's illumination, recognized that the idols of the Canaanites were false and fictitious gods, and that the God of the Hebrews alone was the true God (for in Hebrew He is Yahweh). And therefore she believed in Him, hoped in Him, loved Him, and, repenting of her sins, begged His forgiveness — and so was justified, as the Apostle teaches in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 31, and James in chapter 2, verse 25.
Verse 14: Our lives for yours unto death
14. 'Our lives for yours unto death' — that is, may our lives perish, that is, may we perish, may God destroy us, or may the earth swallow us, if the Hebrews harm you. For they swear, as Rahab had requested, with an imprecatory oath, as is clear from verse 17. They knew that Joshua and the Hebrews would ratify this, and indeed that they would give thanks for so great a service of hospitality, by which the entrance to the promised land was being opened, and would bestow even greater benefits on her. They knew likewise that the law of God commanding all Canaanites to be killed was not to be understood of her who had so kindly received the Hebrews and opened the way for them into Canaan for so many victories. For equity dictated this to them. The Chaldean [Targum] translates: 'Our lives are given for your lives.'
Vatablus clearly: 'We devote our lives to death for you, pledging that we will show you kindness and fidelity'; which he explains thus, as if to say: 'We will save you even if we must die.' But the former explanation is more authentic.
'We will deal with you in mercy and truth.' — 'Truth,' that is, equity and fidelity, as Vatablus translates — namely, returning service for service, and fulfilling in deed the pledge of safety we have given you. For there is a truth of justice, just as there is of speech, so that we truly perform the good we have truly promised. Of this John says in his Gospel, chapter 8: 'He (the devil) did not stand in the truth, that is, in the faith and obedience promised to God.' And in his Third Epistle: 'You walk in truth.' And elsewhere: 'The Lord will look upon truth.' And: 'All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.'
Verse 15: She let them down by a rope from the window
15. 'So she let them down by a rope from the window.' — Just as Paul was let down from a window at Damascus in a basket, of which these scouts were a type and figure, Acts 9:25.
'For her house was built upon the wall.' — The Septuagint: 'Because her house was in the wall, and she herself dwelt in the wall.' This happens also at Rome and elsewhere where there is complete peace; for in wartime it is dangerous, since through houses attached to the wall, scouts and enemies themselves can securely enter and leave the city.
Verse 16: Go up to the mountains
16. 'Go up to the mountains' — that is, to pathless and remote places. Mystically, Origen says: Christ commanded the Apostles to preach heavenly things, as if saying: Do not walk through valleys; flee lowly and abject things; teach the exalted and the sublime.
'We shall be free from this oath by which you have bound us' (that is, by which you caused us to swear, or to which you compelled us, so Pagninus and Vatablus).
Verse 18: This scarlet cord
18. 'If, when we enter the land, the sign is this scarlet cord.' — So read the Hebrew, Chaldean [Targum], Septuagint, and Roman texts, without a negation. The Complutensians and others, however, read with a negation: 'the sign is not.' The sense, therefore, is: We shall not hold ourselves innocent and we shall free our pledge from this oath by which we swore to save you and yours, [unless] you tie this cord to the window, so that by it as a sign all the Hebrews may distinguish your house from the rest, and know that it is the one we swore to preserve. So Vatablus.
But since the Hebrew nekiim, that is, 'innocent,' more properly means 'free' and 'released from the obligation of the oath' — or, as they commonly say, 'deobligated,' as is clear from verses 17 and 20 — the sense from the Hebrew here seems to be: We shall be free and released from our oath if you do not keep the two things we rightly demand. For we demand first that you give us this cord as a sign that this is your house; and second, that you gather all your relatives into your house, so that we may know they are yours, not strangers. If you do not keep these two conditions, we shall be released from our oath; but if you do keep them, we shall consider ourselves bound by it and will faithfully observe it. Hence the Complutensians and others, as I said, read with a negation: 'We shall be free,' etc., 'if the sign is not this cord.'
'This scarlet cord' (Hebrew: 'rope'). — 'This,' namely, the one that is here before our eyes. Others: 'This,' namely, the one by which you let us down through the wall, so that the same thicker rope which freed the scouts from the hands of the Canaanites might also free Rahab, their deliverer, from the hands of the Hebrews. The scouts give the sign of the rope, which Rahab had requested in verse 12, and which they ought to have given before being let down from the wall. But in the confusion of danger it did not occur to them at the time, since everyone's attention was fixed on escaping the danger through a safe descent from the window.
'Scarlet.' — By God's providence this was arranged, so that through it, being red, the blood of Christ might be represented. Hence St. Ambrose, Book 5 On the Faith, chapter 5, considers that Rahab wished to signify by this scarlet cord the Passion of Christ, by whose faith and merits she was freed from death of both soul and body. Hear him in Book 5 On the Faith, chapter 4, near the end: 'The harlot saw this, and she who in the destruction of the city would have despaired of any remedy for salvation — because faith had conquered — raising up the signs of faith and the banners of the Lord's Passion, tied the scarlet cord in the window, so that the likeness of the mystic blood, which was to redeem the world, might flourish. Thus outside, the name of Jesus was to the fighters for victory; inside, the likeness of the Lord's Passion was to those in peril for salvation. Hence, because Rahab understood the heavenly mystery, the Lord says in the Psalm: I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me.'
So also St. Augustine on Psalm 86 [87]: 'I will be mindful,' he says, 'of Rahab. Who is this? That harlot in Jericho, the harlot who received the messengers and sent them out by another way, who trusted in the promise, who feared God, who was told to hang a scarlet cord from the window — that is, to have on her forehead the sign of the blood of Christ. She was saved there, and she signified the Church of the nations. Hence the Lord said to the proud Pharisees: Truly I say to you, tax collectors and harlots go before you into the kingdom of heaven. They go before, because they use force. They press forward by believing, and faith yields, nor can anyone resist, because those who use force seize it.'
So also St. Jerome, Epistle 2 to Nepotian, teaches at length that the scarlet cord is a symbol of the blood of Christ, as well as of the burning charity with which Rahab was aflame. And Origen here, Homily 4: 'The blood of Christ is the sign of redemption,' he says, 'in the house of Rahab, that is, in the Church.'
'And all your kindred' — that is, not only parents but uncles, maternal aunts, cousins, and even in-laws — namely, the spouses of relatives and the husbands of female relatives. For these through their wives and husbands belonged to Rahab and were counted as her kin. Abulensis denies this, Question 55, on the ground that in verse 13 Rahab requested only the rescue of her brothers and sisters. But this is undeserved, for by the name 'brothers' and 'sisters,' nephews, nieces, and relatives are understood among the Hebrews; for those whom she called 'brothers' there, she here calls 'kindred.'
Verse 19: His blood shall be on his own head
'His blood shall be on his own head.' — 'Blood,' that is, the guilt of his own shed blood shall fall back upon himself, as if to say: he shall perish by his own fault, not ours, because he did not keep the agreements.
20. 'Free' — that is, released and absolved from the obligation of the oath.
21. 'And sending them off' — that is, bidding them farewell, for example by saying 'Go in peace,' or 'Peace be with you'; for she had already let them down by the cord through the wall. So here she bids farewell to those already sent away.
Verse 22: They remained in the mountains three days
22. 'They came to the mountains and remained there three days' — not complete days, but partial or begun ones. For on the third day of the month Nisan, or March, sent by Joshua, they scouted Jericho and lodged with Rahab. But since their arrival was immediately reported to the king and he ordered a search for them, Rahab let them down through the wall that very night. Having been let down and sent away, they hid in the mountains for three days — namely the fourth, fifth, and sixth of Nisan — but only partially, since on the sixth day toward evening they returned to Joshua.
Therefore, what Josephus writes does not seem true — namely, that after their entry into Jericho, they spent the entire following day exploring Jericho. For in that case they would have been betrayed and captured. They learned enough from Rahab about the fear and condition of the city, so that such a thorough survey was unnecessary, especially in such great danger with everyone's eyes on them. For because of the proximity of the Hebrews, all the people of Jericho were dismayed and, as it were, half-dead, as Rahab says. Therefore, they had shut their city and were guarding it most strictly, closely inspecting and examining everyone who entered, especially foreigners, and reporting their names to the king — as is customarily done each day toward evening in cities that fear a nearby enemy.
If anyone is unwilling to be constrained by these tight chronological limits and prefers to reckon three full days of hiding, let him say that the scouts were sent by Joshua and arrived in Jericho not on the third day of Nisan, after the completion of the thirty days of mourning for Moses' death, but before they were completed, on the first of Nisan, so that on the second day they scouted Jericho, on the third day they set out to return and hid in the mountains for three full days, and on the sixth day they returned to Joshua. So Salian, following Lyranus and Masius.
Verse 24: Prostrate with fear
24. 'And prostrate with fear.' — Hebrew: 'melted with fear.' See the commentary on verse 9.
Allegorical and Tropological Interpretation of Rahab
Allegorically, St. Augustine, Origen, and Rupert say: Rahab represents the Church of the Nations. First, because just as she, says Rupert, chapter 10, was previously a den of demons and a brothel of idols, but from unfaithful and unchaste became faithful and chaste through receiving the Hebrew scouts, so the idolatrous and impure nations, through receiving the Apostles, became Christian and holy.
Second, just as Rahab was saved by the scarlet cord, so the Church was saved by the blood of Christ.
Third, Rahab saved all her relatives, and thus, it seems, led them all to faith in and worship of the true God of the Hebrews. Hence also Rahab in Hebrew means 'expansion': so the Church has expanded among all nations. Fourth, outside the house of Rahab all were killed: so outside the Church all perish, and salvation is granted to no one. Fifth, Rahab was justified by faith and hospitality, and so also the Church is justified by faith and charity.
Tropologically, Rahab is every sinful and penitent woman, like Magdalene, who through Joshua and the scouts — that is, through Jesus and apostolic men — is transformed from a wanton into a chaste and holy woman, and is therefore saved from the destruction of hell; indeed, she also saves others, when she persuades them to repentance and purity by her word and example.