“Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out two spies from Shittim, ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, ‘Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.’ So the king of Jericho sent This message to Rahab: ‘Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.’ 
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, ‘Yes the men came
to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.’ (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)’“

Joshua 2:1-5 

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December 1, 2025  

In Joshua 1, the Lord made it clear to Moses that He was about to give the land to the people of Israel. He also commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous. There is a dynamic interplay between the manifestations of God’s power and the responsibility of His people to follow His direction. None of this would have happened without God’s hand. But God’s plan included bold leadership and obedience to His Word. God undertakes His redemptive work in this world through people who obey Him and seek to build His kingdom, even broken people, as we shall see. 

Joshua began carefully sending out two spies in secret to cross the Jordan and check out Jericho. This walled city dominated the opposite side of the Jordan Valley that Israel was about to invade. The two spies apparently reached Jericho late in the day and found lodging at the house of a prostitute named Rahab. The identity and mission of the Israelite spies was apparently not a well concealed secret, because their arrival and whereabouts were immediately reported to the king of Jericho. The king acted and ordered Rahab to hand over the two men who had come as spies and entered her house.  

Rahab hid the truth from the king of Jericho in order to protect the men who had come to her, even pretending to anticipate their capture by urging the pursuit of them. As we shall see, her heart had been affected by reports of God’s power at work on behalf of the Israelite people. Her lie presumably saved the lives of the two Israelite men whom she had already hidden on her rooftop.  

There are other episodes from Scripture where God used human deception to accomplish His purposes. Rebecca and Jacob misled Isaac, so that Jacob as the younger brother would receive His father’s blessing (Genesis 27:5-29). The messianic line was preserved through Tamar, when she enticed her father-in-law Judah (Genesis 38:13-30). These examples are not justification for lying or deceit, but a reminder that our all-powerful God uses even our shortcomings for His purposes. The amazing thing is that as flawed broken people who miss the mark every day, we remain His workmen engaged in the building of His kingdom by His power.  

Questions for reflection and discussion:  

  • How does God’s power to use even your failures to work His redemptive plan give you the courage to reach out to lost people?  
  • Why does the word of God set absolute integrity in all of our dealings as a standard for believers living in this world?  

Church Reading Plan: 1 Chronicles 29; 2 Peter 3