In this section of Scripture, Joshua send out two spies who are unnamed to us, but the Lord knows their names, and they were to especially check out the walled city of Jericho. They went to the prostitute's house of Rahab. There she hid them and made a covenant with them that since she spared their lives, that they would spare her life, as well as her family. The spies agreed that if she does not tell anyone, and if she hangs this scarlet cord out her window, and if they stayed in her house, then the agreement would stand, but if not, they would be released from the oath. They were let down by the scarlet cord, and hid for three days as Rahab suggested, and when they got back to Joshua, they told him that the Lord had given them the land because the people feared them. Joshua commanded the people to consecrate themselves and follow the Ark of Covenant at a distance. The priests carried the Ark to the river which was at flood stage, and when their feet touched the water, it stopped running and the land dried up. The priests went to the center of the riverbed while all the nation crossed over on dry ground. Once they crossed, Joshua sent 12 men, one from each tribe, to go to the center of the bed and carry a large rock to bring back to where they stayed, and they set them up as a sign to tell their children of the amazing thing that the Lord did for them. Once that was done, the priests finished crossing, and as their feet touched the dry ground, the water came flooding back. The Lord then called for all the men to be circumcised, because no one who was born during their wandering in the wilderness had been. The Lord told Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you" (5:9). Joshua met the commander of the army of the Lord, and he bowed down and asked what did the Lord require of him, and he said, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy" (5:15). Joshua obeyed.
