Summary:
The word “token” here (v.13) means a sign you’ll keep your promise, as it does in Genesis 9:11-13. God gave the world a token that He’d spare the world the judgment of any future universal floods, and Rahab wanted a token of the spies’ promise to spare her and her family from the judgment of death when the Jews conquered Jericho. She would have to utter the “business” of the agreement they made with her (v.14) with her family, of course, but she couldn’t tell anyone else, or they’d all claim to be related to her!
The “pursuers” (v.16) were the king’s storm troopers, the ones who came to Rahab’s house looking for the spies, the ones she misdirected to save the spies. If the spies headed toward the river to join the people of Israel, they’d run into the pursuers who were hunting them in that area, so she told the spies to head for the mountain that was five miles away (v.16). These two spies were a type of the Lord’s disciples (Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1), who were to head for the mountains when they saw the beast stand in the temple (Mt.24:15-17), for that was a sign he was about to start pursuing Tribulation Jews. They were just on Rahab’s “housetop” (v.6 cf. Mt.24: 17). The dispensation of grace interrupted all of that.
This token was “scarlet” (Josh.2:18), the same color as the “token” in Exodus 12:3-13. The passover blood token there was a type of Christ (ICor.5:7), the passover lamb of God that took away our sins (John 1:29). He saves us from God’s wrath in hell, as the lamb saved the Jews from God’s wrath in Egypt, and the scarlet token in Joshua 2 saved Rahab from God’s wrath when His people conquered Jericho.
Salvation for Rahab’s family was found in her, making her a type of how salvation will be found in the remnant in the Tribulation (Joel 2:32). But her family members had to remain in her house (Josh.2:19,20), a type of how Tribulation Jews will have to abide in Christ (John 15:4). True Jewish believers will abide in Him (IJo.2:19). If they don’t, they’ll show they never “believed to the saving of the soul” (Heb.10:39). If her family didn’t abide in her house they’d get “burned” when the Jews burned the city, a type of getting burned in hell for not abiding in Christ (John 15:6).
“Scarlet” (Josh.2:21) is specifically associated with the blood of animal sacrifices (Heb.9:19,20), and those calves and goats were types of the sacrifice of Christ (Mt.26:26-28).
The “three days” the spies had to stay in the mountain (Josh.2:22) were a type of the three years that Tribulation Jews will have to remain in their “place” in the mountains in the wilderness (Rev.12:13,14).
The spies say that God “hath” already delivered Jericho into their hands (v.23,24), because once they saw how terrified the people of Jericho were of Israel, they knew the battle was as good as won (cf. Judges 7:13-15). If you’re afraid of Satan and his host, you should know he is afraid of you, because he knows that the battle for your soul is already won. Colossians 2:13-15 says that there was an unseen battle going on at Calvary between the Lord Jesus and Satan and his host, a battle the Lord won when He died for your sins and “spoiled” Satan of the souls that he used to possess. That spoiling that takes effect for individuals when they believe the gospel.
Satan is not afraid of you personally, of course. He’s afraid of what you might say. When you tell someone that the battle for their soul is as good as won, that’s called giving them the gospel. And Paul says the gospel “is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom.1:16). So when you give someone the gospel and they believe it, even Satan himself can’t keep that soul from being saved. So Satan and his host “do faint” (cf. Josh.2:24) because of you when you share Christ with a lost sinner. So why not give Satan a bad day by sharing the gospel with someone today!
