Joshua 6:21
annihilated <02763> [And they.]
The Canaanites were ripe for destruction; and God was pleased, instead of destroying them by a pestilence, a famine, or an earthquake, to employ the Israelites as the executioners of his vengeance. Had an angel been commissioned to slay them, who would have charged him with iniquity or cruelty? In all public calamities infants are involved; and tens of thousands of infants die in great agony every year. Now, either God is not the agent in these calamities, (which opinion, though often implied in men's reasonings on these subjects, is not far from atheism;) or they must consist with the most perfect justice and goodness.
annihilated <02763> [utterly.]
Joshua 8:25
Joshua 2:1
sent <07971> [sent. or, had sent. Shittim.]
spies out .... secretly <07270 02791> [to spy secretly.]
Jericho <03405> [even Jericho.]
prostitute <0802 02181> [harlot's house.]
Though the word {zonah} generally denotes a prostitute, yet many very learned men are of opinion that it should be here rendered an innkeeper or hostess, from {zoon,} to furnish or provide food. In this sense it was understood by the Targumist, who renders it, {ittetha pundekeetha,} "a woman, a tavern-keeper," and so St. Chrysostome, in his second sermon on Repentance, calls her [pandokeutria.] The Greek [porn‚,] by which the LXX. render it, and which is adopted by the Apostles, is derived from [perna¢,] to sell, and is also supposed to denote a tavern keeper. Among the ancients, women generally kept houses of entertainment. Herodotus says, "Among the Egyptians, the women carry on all commercial concerns, and keep taverns, while the men continue at home and weave." The same custom prevailed among the Greeks.
[Rachab.]
spent the night <07901> [lodged. Heb. lay.]
