Here’s a crazy Bible story for you:
Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.” They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there.
Joshua 2:1 NET
When I read a snippet like that from the Bible, my imagination goes wild. How in the world did this happen? Joshua sends two spies out on reconnaissance. They are about to tackle a major battle with a fortified city and they need intel, so these two guys sneak in, then decide to visit a prostitute… and spend the night?? Who’s idea was that? Did they know she was a prostitute when they picked her house? Or did they just pick her house at random, find out she was a prostitute, THEN decide to spend the night when she seemed friendly? And even if a prostitute acts friendly, wouldn’t you guess her motive was more in line with her career than her character?
Here’s more of the story:
The king of Jericho received this report: “Note well! Israelite men have come here tonight to spy on the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this order to Rahab: “Turn over the men who came to you – the ones who came to your house – for they have come to spy on the whole land!” But the woman hid the two men and replied, “Yes, these men were clients of mine, but I didn’t know where they came from. When it was time to shut the city gate for the night, the men left. I don’t know where they were heading. Chase after them quickly, for you have time to catch them!”
Joshua 2:2-5 NET
It would seem, “visiting a prostitute” was the perfect alibi. Even so, wouldn’t you love to hear how this went down when these two guys got back to camp and gave their report? I can hear the questions now.
“So what happened?”
“You did WHAT??!! You stayed where???!!!”
“Did you really think she would help our cause?”
“What did she do?”
“Just who’s idea was it to spend the night with a prostitute anyway?”
I wonder what their answer was?