In Joshua 2:1 God had already told Joshua three times to be “strong and courageous” then the 2 ½ tribes on the eastern part of the Jordan admonished him to be the same yet when it comes down to it Joshua wants to send out two spies to check things out before the nation goes for it. Apparently Joshua didn’t want a repeat of 40 years earlier so he sent out only two guys the same number that has said go for it 40 years earlier and some suggest one of them was Caleb who guaranteed a 50% successful response rate.
Now when we get to verse 24 we are told the response of the two spies is “Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.” Though we are never told their names tradition says that these two were Caleb and Phinehas but we can’t be sure. Most of the commentators put the emphasis upon their mission to “go view the land” and very little upon their calling which was to be a witness which was first to Rahab and her house but the nation had already become aware according verse 9-10 that the Lord had given them the land and had done great and mighty things on their behalf. All of this takes place after the initial command of 1:11 in “three days you will cross over this Jordan”. There are two things that this indicates:
1. Faithfulness: Joshua’s words did not go unheeded as they initiated a plan by which they were ready to act when the order went forth.
2. Preparation: Equally impressive to their faithfulness is that Joshua found two unnamed individuals who were prepared ahead of the rest to go into the land and as such they were the first two folks to walk into what God had promised them.
Friend’s success is dependent upon God’s leading and empowerment and our faithfulness to respond to this as seen in our preparation. These two qualities are best summed up by what Jewish tradition suggest were the two men sent out by Joshua and Caleb whose life is best described as faithful and the High Priest Eliezer whose responsibility it was to daily prepare for the temple sacrifices.
Hey friends do you realize that the Lord has called you into the land to testify to its inhabitants that the Lord is strong and powerful on behalf of those who put their trust in Him? These two fellows were the first to walk into the promises and the inhabitants of the land had already heard of God’s greatness, as God had already had gone ahead of them! I rather think that these two guys needed to hear what Rahab said concerning the testimony of God’s greatness as much as they needed to testify to her!