Ver. 5. And—about the time of shutting of the gate— Rahab's house was evidently nigh to one of the gates of Jericho: she feigned, therefore, that, before the gate was shut, those whom they took for spies had gone out, and so had left her house but a very short time before. The spies arrived at the close of the day, and Rahab asserts that they went out in the dusk, just at the shutting of the gate.
Whither the men went, I wot not: pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them— The argument was plausible: if the two men who came to Rahab, and who, as she said, had gone out of the city at the shutting of the gate, were emissaries from the camp of Israel, they had only to follow them with diligence, and overtake them before they had repassed the Jordan: but Rahab most certainly told a falsehood; and it cannot be said that this lie was merely officious, since she uttered it to the king's people, and in prejudice to the safety of her country: but the idea of saving the life of two innocent persons evidently prevailed in her mind, and she thought she might harmlessly employ a falsehood to effect her purpose. Some of the ancient fathers of the church have thought the same; and St. Augustin, though very rigid upon the subject, granted it to be a very difficult question. See cap. 15 ad Consentinum. But this is carrying matters certainly to an excess. The fathers before St. Augustin, and all the Jewish doctors, condemn the practice altogether. It may, indeed, be said, in palliation of Rahab's crime, that if she had heard of what had happened to Pharaoh, Sihon, and Og, the same events could not be unknown to the king of Jericho; so that it was as natural for her to be afraid, and to provide for her own security, as for him to defend himself courageously, or perish in the attempt. For we apprehend, that to reject peace offered by a formidable conqueror, at the hazard of being massacred, for the love of a king who might very probably have been only a petty tyrant, and to continue attached to a people whom fear had disabled from defending themselves; we apprehend, I say, that to reject peace under such circumstances, and even supposing that the king of Jericho lawfully swayed the sceptre, would have been an instance of love for one's country, or rather for truth, which there was hardly room to expect from a Canaanitish woman; much less from a hostess so young as Rahab must have been, since she brought forth Boaz above thirty years after, as Junius has fully proved, in Jacob. She did, upon the whole, what might be expected from her in such a case, an honest action, and conformable to the will of God, in joining the party of those whom His powerful arm supported, and in relinquishing the interests of a nation, whom so many reasons united to render worthy of an utter destruction. Still more fully to justify the reception which Rahab gave to the Israelitish spies, and the asylum she afforded, two things may reasonably be supposed; 1. That God had revealed to this woman the wonders he had wrought in favour of the children of Israel, and his design of giving them the land of Canaan. By faith, we read, the harlot Rahab perished not; Hebrews 11:31. This faith seems to suppose something more than persuasion founded on common report; it supposes some divine warning, a Revelation 2. It is natural to suppose, that God had summoned the king and people of Jericho to submit themselves to the Israelites on pain of utter destruction; and that, while Rahab's fellow-citizens refused to comply with that summons, this woman, more submissive to the divine commands, took part with the Israelites, and asked in consequence of her option. The words of St. Paul favour this conjecture. Instead of saying, according to our version, by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, τοις απιστοις, he says, agreeably to the marginal rendering, perished not with them who were disobedient, τοις απειθησασι; i.e. disobedient to the orders which God had given them to submit to the Israelites. There was nothing, therefore, unfaithful, nothing criminal, in the asylum which Rahab afforded the spies; nothing which can be deemed treasonable in the care she took to screen them from the knowledge and search of the officers of the king of Jericho. Impressed with sentiments of true faith in the commands of God, that faith, that confidence in his word, was the principle of her whole conduct in this emergency; though we acknowledge, that she sinned by having recourse to a lie. Again: Rahab testified her faith by her obedience, and for this only is she celebrated in Scripture. Let those who find themselves in like circumstances imitate her in that wherein she is imitable, her humble submission to orders undoubtedly issued by God, and her eagerness to comply therewith; to them also will then belong that fine eulogium of St. James: Was not Rahab justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?—As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith, without works, is dead also. James 2:25-26. See Waterland's Scripture vindicated, part 2: p. 52.