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After Moses was dead, God spoke
to Joshua, and told him not to fear, for He was with him, to strengthen
him to conquer his enemies; and that, in three days, he and the Israelites
should go over Jordan into Canaan. Then Joshua called two men, and
sent them secretly to Jericho, to spy out the land. The men obeyed,
and went to the house of a woman named Rahab, and stayed there. Very
soon after, the king of Jericho heard that two Israelites were come as
spies, and he sent to Rahab, and told her to bring out the men. But
Rahab took them, and hid them in the house, and told the messengers that
the men were gone, she knew not where; so the messengers went away to seek
them. When they were gone,
Rahab went up to the two Israelites, to the flat top of the house, where
she had hid them under some stalks of flax, and she said to them, "I
know God has given you this land; I have heard all the wonderful things He
has done for you, and I believe that He is the true God of Heaven and
earth. I have been kind to you, and hid you from your enemies here;
when you come and take Jericho, be kind to me, and save me and my family
from the sword." The spies said, "Yes, when God gives us
the land, we will be kind to thee, and spare thee." The woman
let them down from the window by a rope, and told them to go quickly to
the mountain, and hide there three days, till the enemies were
returned. Then the men said, "As soon as we are gone, bind a
scarlet thread in the window, that we may remember the house when we see
it; and then we will save thee and all thy family; but tell no one that we
have been here." Rahab promised not to tell, and the men went
away, and she bound the scarlet thread in the window. Rahab
was a heathen, and did not know much of the true God; but when she was
told of the wonderful things He did for His people, she believed.
She believed He would do what He said, and give the land to the
Israelites; and it was in faith that she hid the spies, and sent them away
safely. It was not right of Rahab to say that the men were gone,
when she had hid them in her house: but Rahab did not know that
lying is so great a sin as God says it is.
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