Joshua 6:22

"And Joshua said unto the two men that had spied out the land, Go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. And the young men the spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; all her kindred also they brought out; and they set them without the camp of Israel. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein; only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah. But Rahab the harlot, and her father's household, and all that she had, did Joshua save alive; and she dwelt in the midst of Israel unto this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And Joshua charged them with an oath at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Jehovah, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: with the loss of his firstborn shall he lay the foundation thereof, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. So Jehovah was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land."

Cook's comment on this chapter, making it typical of God's judgment of all people at the end of the age, is of interest. He said:

"The circumstances that lead up to the fall of Jericho are an acted prophecy, as was that fall itself, which sets forth the overthrow of all that resists the kingdom of which Christ is the head; and particularly the day of judgment, in which the overthrow will be finally accomplished."[29]

"She dwelt ... unto this day ..." (Joshua 6:25). The fact that Rahab was still living in Israel at the time this narrative was written is amazing proof regarding the date of Joshua. We like the way Adam Clarke noted it:

"This is one proof that the book was written in the time to which it is commonly referred; and it certainly might have been done by the hand of Joshua himself ... Marginal notes, which may have crept into the text later, to superficial observers, give it the appearance of having been written after the days of Joshua."[30]

Well, how do the critics handle this? Morton declared that it was not Rahab at all who was living at this time, but "her descendants.[31] Boling went to that old reliable assistant of all critical enemies of the Bible, THE REDACTOR![32] The weight of one thousand similar comments on this sacred text is nil. There never was a "redactor," and there is just as much authority for making Rahab in this passage mean her ancestors, as there is for making it mean her descendants. And what is that "authority"? It is exactly the same as that of Satan who said to Eve, "Ye shall NOT surely die!"

"It is remarkable that the ban against Jericho (as indicated in Joshua's curse against the city) was observed for four centuries afterward, until Hiel of Bethel broke it, and the curse was fulfilled in him (1 Kings 16:34)."[33] "The laying of the foundation was marked by the death of his oldest son, and the death of his youngest followed the completion of the city."[34] This is a warning, as Matthew Henry stated it, that, "It is always dangerous to build up what God wishes to be destroyed."[35]