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Welcome back and thank you for checking in with me today!

Last Week’s Work

MY PERSONAL TREASURE
Of the Huh?s and Wow!s the Spirit showed me last week, I feel drawn to melt and melted in verses 9, 11, and 24. Both Rahab (v9) and the spies (v24) said the inhabitants of [Jericho] melt away before the Israelites. She also revealed the hearts of her people melted when they heard what God had done (vv10-11). I’m interested in learning about that history and understanding exactly what she means by melting.

WHO (CHARACTERS)
I noticed these main characters in Joshua 2:

• Joshua. Son of Nun (vv1, 23-24), the Israelite commander who ordered the spies to view Jericho and the surrounding area.
• Two unnamed men. The whole book is about their secret (v1) mission from Shittim to Jericho to search out the land (v2); how they lodged with the prostitute, Rahab, in Jericho (v1) and made a deal with her to preserve her family (vv12-14) in exchange for her hiding them (vv4, 6), lying to the king’s guard (vv4-5), helping them escape through the window in the wall, and telling them the best way to avoid the returning posse (vv15-16).
• Rahab, the treasonous prostitute who lived in the Jericho city wall.
• King of Jericho, who apparently sent his dullest men to Rahab’s house to find the spies.
• Men, pursuers, sent to find the Israelite spies (vv7, 16, 22).
• The LORD. First mentioned by Rahab as the One who had [already!] given the Israelites her land and dried up the Red Sea in front of them (vv9-10). She also acknowledged He is God in the heavens and the earth (v11), and asked the men to swear by Him they won’t harm her and her family (vv12-13). The Israelite men agreed, indicating they’d deal fairly with her when the LORD gives [them] the land (v14). The spies also told Joshua the LORD had already given the land into their hands (v24).

Interestingly, the author didn’t name the spies, only the conquered kings (v10), plus Joshua, Rahab, and the LORD. 

WHERE (LOCATIONS)

I noted these locations:

• Shittim, where the spies and Joshua were when he gave them the command to view the land and Jericho (v1). The spies returned there and reported the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us (vv23-24).
• The land and Jericho (vv1-3), the area Joshua wanted the men to spy out, where most of the action happens.
• Rahab’s house (v1), where the spies lodged (v1), where the guard inquired about them and were told they’d gone (v3-5).
• The gate (v5), where Rahab said the spies had gone out (v5). It was shut right after the pursuers went out (v7).
• Rahab’s roof, where she hid the spies (v6), and where she and they made the deal to spare her and her family (vv8-14).
• The king’s men pursued the spies on the way to the Jordan [River], as far as the fords(v7).
• In the heavens above and on the earth beneath(v11), where Rahab says the LORD is God (v11). This reminded me of Ruth’s profession of faith (Ruth 1:16). Neither of these women knew the Hebrew God through culture or tradition but still believed in Him!
• Rahab’s window in the city wall, by which she helped the spies escape after the city gate had been closed (v15). In this window, she tied the scarlet cord that alerted the Israelites to save her family (vv18, 21).
• The hills, where the spies hid for three days so the pursuers wouldn’t find them (vv16, 22).

WHEN (TIMEFRAMES)

Here’s the timeline for the events in this passage:

• Day 1: Two spies, sent by Joshua, arrived at Rahab’s house in Jericho (v1). The same evening [tonight (v2)], the King of Jericho learned they’d arrived. The King sent his guard to Rahab’s to get them; she said they’d already left when the gate was about to be closed at dark (v5). So, the pursuers left town, and the gate was closed after them (v7).
• Before the [spies] lay down (v8) that night, Rahab struck a deal with them to keep her family alive. She told them the inhabitants of the land melt away because they knew what God did when [the Israelites] came out of Egyptand destroyed the Amorites. Their hearts melted as soon as [they] heard about the Israelites. The spies said they would deal kindly and faithfully with her, when the LORD gives us the land (vv9-14).
• Then(v15), she lowered them from a window in the wall and told them to hide in the hills for three days(v16). The spies told her to gather her family into her house and tie a scarlet cord in that same window when we come into the land.
  This context seems to indicate they discussed when and how the family would be saved as they were escaping out the window (vv15-20).  
• The spies waited the three days, then they returned to Joshua and gave him their report (vv22-24).

Dig-In Challenges

Here’s my plan for this week:

1. PRAY this prayer before I study.
2. MINE: Look for repeated concepts in this passage, including synonyms and pronouns referring to those concepts.
3. MINE: Locate any special statements (blessings, commands, curses, prayers, promises, requests, and/or warnings) in the passage. This time, I’m also going to notice another category: questions.
4. MINE: Note any lists (3 or more similar items) mentioned in Joshua 2.

Remember, you can download this printable summary of the DISO process for more specific instructions. I hope you’ll check in with me next week!

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