In keeping with, “Slow down!” your reading for today is Joshua 2:1-14. This is the first half of the narrative about Rahab. As you did with the first chapter, just read this section for content. Your only goal is to learn the narrative. A couple of historical details will help you visualize what you’re reading.
1. Jericho was the biggest and most fortified city in Canaan at the time, with a huge wall surrounding it. In fact, it was what they call a casemate wall - an outer and inner wall 10 to 15 feet apart with the space in between filled with dirt and rubble. This created a very thick wall at less expense than a solid fortification. The rubble in between also acted as a shock absorber against battering rams.
2. The poorest people - and outcasts like prostitutes - had homes built over this span, “on top” of the walls. This real estate was the most vulnerable if the city was ever attacked.
3. The residents of Jericho all knew about Israel. It’s pretty hard to miss 2-3 million people camped 14 miles away. But note that they’d also heard about Israel’s miraculous crossing of the Red Sea 40 years earlier.
OK, read the passage and enjoy the story. We’ll certainly be coming back again and again, “chewing the cud” to get more out of it.

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