Josh.2
Full Lesson HERE
INTRODUCTION. While the Israelites were camped in the plains of Moab, the first barrier to the promised land facing them was the Jordan River. Their next obstacle after crossing the river was the strategically located city of Jericho which lay in the river valley. The city was about eight to ten miles northwest of the Dead Sea and just west of the main ford on the lower river. A spring watered the area and today still waters the modern oasis. West of the city the hills of Judea rise abruptly, and just one mile away is a 1500-foot-high ridge. These hills to the west of the city are cut by valleys and gorges which lead to the interior of the land. Jericho, therefore, guarded the entrance to the land of Canaan and was a fortified city.
In preparation for the Israelite invasion of Canaan, Joshua sent two spies into the city of Jericho. The two men came to the house of a woman whose name was Rahab. When the king of the city heard that there were Israelite spies in Jericho, he sent messengers to Rahab demanding she turn them over to him, but she hid the spies on the roof of her
house. Rahab told the spies the city feared the children of Israel, for they had heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Red Sea, and how the Israelites had destroyed Sihon and Og and their armies. She asked the men to save her and her family when they attacked the city, and the men agreed.
After dark Rahab let the spies down over the wall, for her house was on the city wall. She told the men to go to the mountain and hide for three days, for the king had sent men to the fords of the Jordan to search for them. This mountain Rahab mentioned was probably the 1500-foot-high ridge just west of the city and in the opposite direction from where the searchers had gone.
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