Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly. Faith is manifested by an active persevering use of means (James 2:22.); and accordingly Joshua, while confiding in the accomplishment of the divine promise (Joshua 1:3), adopted every precaution which a skillful general could think of to render his first attempt in the invasion of Canaan successful. Two spies were despatched to reconnoitre the country, particularly in the neighbourhood of Jericho; for, in the prospect of investing that place, it was desirable to obtain full information as to its site, its approaches, the weak and assailable parts of its walls, the character and resources of its inhabitants. This mission, which in many respects was a perilous onethey had to swim across the swollen river, required the strictest privacy, and it seems to have been studiously concealed from the knowledge of the Israelites themselves, lest any unfavourable or exaggerated report, publicly circulated, might have dispirited the people, as that of the spies did in the days of Moses.
Jericho, [ Yªriychow (H3405), also Yªreechow (H3405) (Numbers 22:1) and Yªriychoh (H3405) (1 Kings 16:34); Septuagint, Ierichoo (G2410); classical writers, Ierikous]. Some derive this name from a word signifying 'new noon,' in reference to the crescent-like plain in which it stood, formed by an amphitheater of hills; others, from a world signifying 'its scent,' on account of the fragrance of the balsam and palm trees in which it was embosomed. Its site was long supposed to be represented by the small mud-walled hamlet Er-Riha (Reland's 'Palaestina,' pp. 383, 829; Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' 2:, pp. 279, 285); but recent researches have fixed on a spot about half an hour's journey westward, where large ruins exist, and about six or eight miles distant from the Jordan. It stood at the western extremity of a great palm forest, nearly three miles broad and eight miles long, but of which not a vestige now remains (Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' p.
301). It was for that age a strongly-fortified town, the key of the eastern pass through the deep ravine, now called Wady-Kelt, into the interior of Palestine.
They went, and came into an harlot's house, [ zownaah (H2181), or more fully, as here, 'ishaah (H802) zownaah (H2181), a prostitute: a participle from zaanaah (H2181), to commit fornication, to play the whore]. Many expositors, desirous of removing the stigma of this name from an ancestress of the Saviour (Matthew 1:5), have called her a hostess or tavernkeeper [deriving the word from zuwn (H2109), to nourish]. This view is strenuously supported by Dr. Adam Clarke; and he further defends it by the authority of the Chaldee Paraphrast [who renders the ittetha pundekeetha, a woman, an innkeeper, the Chaldee pundak being an evident corruption of the Greek pandokeion, an inn, as Buxtorf has remarked.] But scriptural usage (Leviticus 21:7; Deuteronomy 23:18; Judges 11:1; 1 Kings 3:16), the authority of the Septuagint [ pornee (G4204)], followed by the apostles (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25), and the immemorial style of Eastern khans, which are never kept by women, establish the propriety of the term employed in our version. Her house was probably recommended to the spies by the convenience of its situation, without any knowledge of the character of the inmates. But a divine influence directed them in the choice of that lodging-place.