17 "The city shall be under the ban , it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord ; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live , because she hid the messengers whom we sent . 18 "But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban , so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban , and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. 19 " But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord ; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord ." 20 So the people shouted , and priests blew the trumpets ; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet , the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat , so that the people went up into the city , every man straight ahead , and they took the city . 21 They utterly destroyed everything in the city , both e man and woman , young and old , and ox and sheep and donkey , with the edge of the sword . 22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land , " Go into the harlot's e house and bring the woman and all she has out of there , as you have sworn to her." 23 So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside e the camp of Israel . 24 They burned the city with fire , and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold , and articles of bronze and iron , they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord . 25 However, Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all she had, Joshua spared ; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day , for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho . 26 Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time , saying , " Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho ; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation , and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates ." 27 So the Lord was with Joshua , and his fame was in all the land .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Joshua 6:17-27
Commentary on Joshua 6:17-27
(Read Joshua 6:17-27)
Jericho was to be a solemn and awful sacrifice to the justice of God, upon those who had filled up the measure of their sins. So He appoints, from whom, as creatures, they received their lives, and to whom, as sinners, they had forfeited them. Rahab perished not with them that believed not, Acts 14:31. She, and they with her, were plucked as brands from the burning. With Rahab, or with the men of Jericho; our portion must be assigned, as we posses or disregard the sign of salvation; even faith in Christ, which worketh by love. Let us remember what depends upon our choice, and let us choose accordingly. God shows the weight of a Divine curse; where it rests there is no getting from under it; for it brings ruin without remedy.