How did the house of Rahab survive in Joshua 6?

Question

(KJV)Joshua 2:15

Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

(KJV)Joshua 6:20, 23 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. [23] And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.

How did they manage to bring out Rahab & her family after the fall of the wall?

Answer 1

Sometimes what is not mentioned in the Hebrew text is just as important as what is mentioned.

The home of Rahab the harlot was collocated in the wall of Jericho (Josh 2:15), and her home also opened to the top of the city wall, where she had hid the spies (Josh 2:8). The spies commanded her to stay in her home when the conquest of the city was to occur (Josh 2:19). In other words, she and her household survived notwithstanding that Rahab's residence was built inside the wall. The text does not mention that she or her family suffered from the collapse or implosion of the wall. What is mentioned is that the fatalities in the city that ensued were by the swords of the Israelites (Josh 6:21), and therefore not from collapsing walls. In other words, the wall collapsed so as to allow entrée to the Israelites, who, in turn, killed the inhabitants, plundered, and then burned the city. Thus the complete destruction of the city wall is not mentioned, but instead the complete destruction of the city itself (through subsequent plunder, killing of the people, and burning). The curse by Joshua against the city was not against anyone who rebuilt the city wall, but on anyone who refortified the city and rebuilt its gates (Josh 6:26). Please notice that the reconstruction of the city walls of the city is not mentioned in the curse of Joshua. The city was subsequently refortified some 500 years later with the reconstruction of the city gates (1 Kings 16:34); please note that the rebuilding of the city walls is not mentioned in this latter passage of 1 Kings 16:34.

In other words, what is not mentioned in the text is that the walls had been destroyed in toto. Rahab and her family escaped unscathed notwithstanding that they were hidden inside the city wall. The Hebrew text in Joshua 6:20 also mentions the adverb נֶגֶד (neh'-ghed ), which means what is "straight ahead" or opposite you. After the collapse of the wall, the Israelites proceeded "straight ahead" to the part of the wall in front of them that collapsed. (The curse of Joshua suggests that this was the part of the wall where the city gates were located.) Thus the adverbial implication is that wall "in front of their face" collapsed. So what is not mentioned is that the entire wall circling the city had collapsed, but instead what collapsed was that portion of the wall "straight ahead" of them that had allowed entrée to the Israelites to kill, plunder, and then to burn the city. (People dying from collapsing walls is not mentioned.) Thus what Joshua had cursed was not the rebuilding of the city walls, but the refortifying (verb) and reestablishment (verb) of the city and its gates.

Answer 2

This is not mentioned, although one can assume (?) that they survived the walls falling inward. One interesting note is that she is called a "prostitute" {KJV Harlot}. In that culture a woman could be raped & called thus (quite possible in light of Jericho's reputation). Also, it may also be noted that she could have been called thus because she was unmarried and was not reliant on a man for her income, i. e. had her own source income.. Joshua 2:6 (?) mentions the FLAX she had stacked on the roof. This could very well mean (& probably DID) have her own sources income. Flax was used to make LINEN (not cotton) which the priests & others used. The type of linen, biblically used) was called CAMBRIA which was denser and warmer than the cotton linen we are familiar with.

Answer 3

To understand and appreciate how Rahab's house survived the event in Joshua 6, first it should be recognised that the wall's fate to "fall down flat" was a miracle. And second, to grasp the wall's fate within the context of the narrative, it is necessary to understand the Hebrew word "tachath" in Joshua, which is given in English as "flat".

In Strong's Concordance, "tachath" [8478] conveys the idea of collapse "in [same] place" and supports the Targum's rendering in Joshua 6:5 "...and it shall be swallowed up under it..." Thus the wall sunk, to God's desired depth, in order to leave enough of the wall visible as a memorial of the miracle.

The memorial is supported by four environmental circumstances:

1. the wall's falling down flat did not damage the houses, even the houses in, on top, and against the wall.

2. the wall's falling down flat did not cause rocks and debris to roll down the hill into the Israelites.

3. the wall's falling down flat did not form a choking, blinding cloud of dust.

4. the wall's falling down flat did not hinder the Israelites from immediately running up the hill into the city and going through the streets and houses during their first herem [aggressive behavior that displayed their obedience to God's command to claim the promise land].

It was the first environmental circumstance that enabled Rahab's house to survive the wall's falling down flat.

[Stanley Johnson, School Superintendent, Christ Baptist Church, Pastor Arthur D. Taylor, 1509 Church Lane, Philadelphia, Pa 19141 [christbaptistchurch@aol.com]

Answer 4

Archeologists debate The Excavation of Jericho (1907-1909) by Ernest Sellin and Carl Watzinger discovery of 2-residential walls (House of Rahab) standing at the north side of Jericho's inner city wall - as proof of [Yehoshua (Joshua) 2:15] "for her house was in the town wall" (כִּ֚י בֵיתָהּ֙ בְּקִ֣יר הַֽחוֹמָ֔ה )