1. two men as spies. The two spies evoke the two spies in the story in Numbers 13–14, Joshua and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who did not come back with a fearful report like their ten companions. This story, then, on the eve of the conquest, is framed as a pointed reversal of the failed spy mission in Numbers: there the Israelites quail before the gigantic inhabitants of the land; here a Canaanite woman reports that the inhabitants of the land quail before the Israelites.

Shittim. This place-name means “the Acacias.”

the house of a whore-woman . . . and they slept there. Sometimes biblical usage adds “woman” in this fashion to the designation of profession. “Whore,” in turn, seems to be used neutrally, not as a term of opprobrium. Though she may merely be providing the two men lodging, the narrative coyly plays with the sexual meaning of the verb shakhav, which also means simply to lie down, to sleep, or spend the night. Similarly, the verb “come to,” used in verses 3 and 4, also has a sexual meaning when the object of the preposition is a woman. In fact, Rahab in answering the king’s inquiry may be saying that the two men were merely her customers, and hence she had no idea that they might be spies.

3. the whole land. The king adds “whole” to the report that has been brought to him: these spies have come on an extensive reconnaissance mission. Jericho is a city-state, the prevalent political form in Canaan in this era, and would have governed surrounding territory.

4. the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. The sense of the verb is evidently pluperfect: she had hidden the spies before the arrival of the king’s emissaries.

as the gate was about to close at dark. The gates of the walled city were locked at nightfall.

5. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them. In this shrewd maneuver, Rahab simultaneously makes herself sound like a loyal subject of Jericho and encourages the king’s men to leave her house immediately, heading in what she correctly calculates will be the wrong direction.

6. stalks of flax laid out for her on the roof. The flax would have been laid out on the roof to dry in the sun. Hiding in the flax stalks may be a reminiscence of baby Moses hidden (the same Hebrew verb) in the ark among the bulrushes.

7. along the Jordan by the fords. This, as Rahab has rightly surmised, would be the most plausible route of pursuit because the men from Jericho are aware that the Israelites are encamped east of the Jordan and assume that the spies will try to reach a ford over which they can cross to return to their people.

9. your terror has fallen upon us and . . . all the dwellers of the land quail before you. Rahab is directly quoting the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:15–16), merely reversing the order of terms in the poem: “all the dwellers of Canaan quailed. / Terror and fear did fall upon them.” Her words are a verbatim confirmation of the assertion in the Song that the great news of the event at the Sea of Reeds reached the Canaanites and dismayed them.

10. what you did to the two Amorite kings. This triumph, reported in Numbers 21, at the other end of the story of Wilderness wanderings from the victory at the Sea of Reeds, is a recent event, perhaps having occurred in the last few months before the present narrative moment.

11. for the LORD your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. Rahab is cast as a good monotheist, persuaded of the LORD’s supreme sovereignty, as the Israelites are expected to be, by His dramatic intervention in history.

14. Our . . . lives in your stead to die. This drastic offer expresses their recognition of the awesome solemnity of the vow they are taking.

15. for her house was in the outer wall. Many fortified cities in the region had a double wall, and most interpreters understand the seemingly redundant qir haḥomah (“wall of the wall”) as an indication of the outer wall. In this way, being lowered by a rope from her window enables them to get out of the city even though the gate is locked.

16. And she had said to them. The context requires construing the verbs here and at the beginning of the next verse as pluperfects. Otherwise, one is left with the absurd situation of this dialogue taking place at a distance, both parties shouting, after she has lowered them with the rope.

Go to the high country. This is the mountainous area to the west of the Jordan Valley and in the opposite direction from the one taken by the pursuers. The terrain would also have afforded hiding places.

three days. As in chapter 1, the time span is formulaic, but it is also a plausible interval to wait until the pursuers have given up the chase.

17. We will be clear of this vow. Having stated that they are prepared to die in her stead should they violate the terms of the vow, they now stress that they will have no obligation to carry it out unless she strictly adheres to her own terms that they stipulate.

18. this scarlet cord you must tie in the window. This is a purely practical stipulation: the attackers need a sign to know which house they are to spare. The scarlet cord recalls the scarlet thread attached to the hand of the newborn twin Zerah in Genesis 38:28–30 and probably also the blood smeared on the lintel to ward off the Destroyer in Exodus 12:7–13.

20. And should you tell of this mission of ours, we will be clear of your vow. The concluding statement regarding a release from the vow concerns the vital interest of the two spies rather than the practical provision for the safety of Rahab and her family.

21. she tied the scarlet cord in the window. Though it is possible to understand this as an act she performs later, it may be that, mindful of the grave warning of the two men, she hastens to affix the agreed-on sign as soon as they leave, even though she knows the attack will not come for at least several days.

22. all along the way. This would be the road parallel to the Jordan.

23. crossed over. Now they take a ford across the Jordan back to the Israelite camp.

24. all the dwellers of the land quail before us. They are directly quoting one of those inhabitants, Rahab, who in turn is quoting the Song of the Sea. Thus the line from the poem becomes a kind of refrain that punctuates the middle and the end of this episode.