Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying, Go, view the land, and Jericho. They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lay there.
The spies probably stayed at Rahab’s house because they hoped to be less conspicuous there than they would have been if they had lodged elsewhere. [Note: See Butler, pp. 31-32, for a discussion of the many instances of irony in this chapter.] Josephus called Rahab an innkeeper, which she may have been. [Note: Josephus, 5:1:2, 7. See also Hess, pp. 83-84; and M. A. Beek, "Rahab in the Light of Jewish Exegesis," in Von Kanaan bis Kerala, pp. 37-44. Bush, pp. 31-32, strongly rejected this possibility.] The writer recorded Rahab’s name because she became an important person in Israel’s history. She was an ancestor of David as well as Israel’s helper on this occasion (cf. Matthew 1:5).