What makes the spies answerable for someone’s blood under their oath to Rahab?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

If anyone touches a person who remains with Rahab inside her house, that person’s blood falls on the spies’ heads. A person who goes outside bears his own blood, and the spies are free of responsibility. Betraying them and making the matter known also releases them from the oath.

Chapter breakdown

Josue, son of Nun, sends two men secretly from Setim to view the land and Jericho. They enter and lodge in the house of Rahab, whom the source calls a harlot. The king of Jericho is told that Israelite men came by night to spy on the land. He sends Rahab a command to bring out the men in her house because they came to view all the land. She hides them and says they came to her but she did not know where they were from. She says they left together when the gate was closing in the dark, that she does not know where they went, and that a quick pursuit will overtake them. The account instead says she took them to her house’s top and covered them with flax stalks. The pursuers go along the road to the Jordan’s fords; once they leave, the gate is shut.

Before the hidden men are asleep, Rahab goes up to them. She says she knows the Lord has given them the land, because dread of them has fallen on the inhabitants and all have lost strength. They have heard that the Lord dried the Red Sea’s water when Israel came out of Egypt and what Israel did to Sehon and Og, the two Amorrhite kings beyond the Jordan whom it killed. Hearing these things frightened them: their hearts fainted and no spirit remained at Israel’s coming. She says the Lord their God is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

Rahab asks them to swear by the Lord that, as she has shown them mercy, they will show mercy to her father’s house and give a true token. She asks them to save her father, mother, brethren, sisters, and everything belonging to them, and deliver their souls from death. They answer by pledging their lives for them unto death, provided she does not betray them. When the Lord gives them the land, they will show her mercy and truth.

She lowers them with a cord from a window because her house joins close to the wall. She tells them to go into the mountains, lest they meet the pursuers returning, and hide there for three days until the pursuers come back; then they can go on their way.

The men state the conditions for being blameless regarding the oath. When they come into the land, the scarlet cord must be a sign tied in the window through which she lowered them. She must gather her father, mother, brethren, and all her kin into her house. Anyone who goes outside its door bears his own blood on his own head, and the spies are free of responsibility. The blood of those with her inside falls on the spies’ heads if anyone touches them. If she betrays them and makes the matter known abroad, they are released from the oath. Rahab agrees to their terms, sends them away, and hangs the scarlet cord in the window.

The spies go to the mountains and remain three days until their pursuers return. The pursuers search the whole way but do not find them. After the pursuers go back into the city, the spies come down from the mountain, cross the Jordan, and return to Josue, son of Nun. They tell him everything that happened and say the Lord has given all the land into their hands, with all its inhabitants overthrown by fear.

The story inside

Rahab hides the men whom Jericho’s king demands she produce, then gives a departure account contradicted by the narrator’s report of concealment under flax. The pursuers leave toward the Jordan’s fords. Rahab tells the spies what the inhabitants have heard about the Red Sea and the two kings and how those reports frightened them. She asks for mercy for a fully named household; the spies give a life pledge with conditions. The cord, gathered kin, inside/outside responsibility and nondisclosure terms define that promise. She agrees and hangs the cord. Her three-day hiding advice is followed, the search fails, and the spies return to Josue. Their escape and report occur here; the household’s later deliverance does not.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The narrator distinguishes Rahab’s words from her actions. She says the men left, but the account says she concealed them under flax on her house’s top. The pursuers’ road and the closing gate are also recorded.
2
The oath is specific. It covers named relatives and their belongings, requires a scarlet sign and gathered kin, distinguishes responsibility inside and outside the door, and is released by betrayal and disclosure. A general promise of guaranteed safety would lose these terms.
3
The report of fear has stated grounds. Rahab names the dried Red Sea and Sehon and Og’s deaths. The spies later return after a three-day stay and unsuccessful search, reporting all events and the inhabitants’ fear; the chapter does not yet record Jericho’s capture.

Test your recall

Under the spies’ oath, why does the location of Rahab’s kin inside or outside the door change who bears responsibility for their blood?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 22487–22516
Josue Chapter 2 Two spies are sent to Jericho, who are received and concealed by Rahab. 2:1. And Josue, the son of Nun, sent from Setim two men, to spy secretly: and said to them: Go, and view the land, and the city of Jericho. They went, and entered into the house of a woman that was a harlot, named Rahab, and lodged with her. 2:2. And it was told the king of Jericho, and was said: Behold there are men come in hither, by night, of the children of Israel, to spy the land. 2:3. And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying: Bring forth the men that came to thee, and are entered into thy house: for they are spies, and are come to view all the land. 2:4. And the woman taking the men, hid them, and said: I confess they came to me, but I knew not whence they were: 2:5. And at the time of shutting the gate in the dark, they also went out together. I know not whither they are gone: pursue after them quickly, and you will overtake them. 2:6. But she made the men go up to the top of her house, and covered them with the stalks of flax, which was there. 2:7. Now they that were sent, pursued after them, by the way that leadeth to the fords of the Jordan: and as soon as they were gone out, the gate was presently shut.
Lines 22518–22533
2:8. The men that were hid were not yet asleep, when behold the woman went up to them, and said: 2:9. I know that the Lord hath given this land to you: for the dread of you is fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land have lost all strength. 2:10. We have heard that the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea, at your going in, when you came out of Egypt: and what things you did to the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the Jordan, Sehon and Og whom you slew. 2:11. And at the hearing these things, we were affrighted, and our heart fainted away, neither did there remain any spirit in us, at your coming in: for the Lord your God he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath.
Lines 22535–22544
2:12. Now, therefore, swear ye to me by the Lord, that as I have shewed mercy to you, so you also will shew mercy to my father’s house: and give me a true token. 2:13. That you will save my father and mother, my brethren and sisters, and all things that are theirs, and deliver our souls from death. 2:14. They answered her: Be our lives for you unto death, only if thou betray us not. And when the Lord shall have delivered us the land, we will shew thee mercy and truth.
Lines 22546–22551
2:15. Then she let them down with a cord out of a window: for her house joined close to the wall. 2:16. And she said to them: Get ye up to the mountains, lest perhaps they meet you as they return: and there lie ye hid three days, till they come back, and so you shall go on your way.
Lines 22553–22570
2:17. And they said to her: We shall be blameless of this oath, which thou hast made us swear, 2:18. If, when we come into the land, this scarlet cord be a sign, and thou tie it in the window, by which thou hast let us down: and gather together thy father and mother, and brethren, and all thy kindred into thy house. 2:19. Whosoever shall go out of the door of thy house, his blood shall be upon his own head, and we shall be quit. But the blood of all that shall be with thee in the house, shall light upon our head, if any man touch them. 2:20. But if thou wilt betray us, and utter this word abroad, we shall be quit of this oath, which thou hast made us swear. 2:21. And she answered: As you have spoken, so be it done: and sending them on their way, she hung the scarlet cord in the window.
Lines 22572–22583
2:22. But they went and came to the mountains, and stayed there three days, till they that pursued them were returned. For having sought them through all the way, they found them not. 2:23. And when they were gone back into the city, the spies returned, and came down from the mountain: and passing over the Jordan, they came to Josue, the son of Nun, and told him all that befel them, 2:24. And said: the Lord hath delivered all this land into our hands, and all the inhabitants thereof are overthrown with fear.