What Does Joshua 2:21 Mean?
And she said, According to your words, so let it be. And she sent them away, and they went away. And she tied the cord of scarlet thread in the window.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.THE KEY
In Hebrew, the cord Rahab ties is also called hope, making expectation visible at her window.
THE MEANING
A promise takes visible form: words are followed by release, and expectation is tied at the opening of a home. The Hebrew word for the line also means hope, so hope here is something held in place, not left abstract.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Hope is only an inward feeling with no tangible form.
THE ROOT
תִּקְוַת
tiqvat
GROWS FROM
קוה
q-w-h
To wait for or expect; tiqvah also names a cord.
“line” in this verse is tiqvat. The word Rahab ties is tiqvah, a word that also means hope or expectation. Here, expectation becomes a cord fixed at the opening of her home.
ALSO GROWS
tiqvah: Cord; hope or expectation
תִּקְוָה
The same word names both the physical line in the window and the expectation it signifies.
qav: Line or measuring cord
קָו
This related line-word keeps the root’s concrete image of something stretched out and marked in place.
וַתְּשַׁלְּחֵם
vat'shalcheim
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send forth, release, or let go.
“sent them away” in this verse is vat'shalcheim. The verb carries the sense of release as well as sending. Rahab releases the messengers, they depart, and then she anchors the sign at her window.
ALSO GROWS
Shiloach: Sent waters; a pool or channel
שִׁלֹחַ
The name preserves the root’s outward movement, as water is sent forth.
shulchan: Table; provision extended
שֻׁלְחָן
This branch carries the image of something extended outward, echoing the root’s movement of sending forth.
THE PATTERN
A covenant promise becomes visible through a sign that marks what is held within it.
I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be the mark of a covenant between me and the earth.And the blood will be a mark for you upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will leap over you, and the blow will not be upon you to ruin you when I strike down the land of Egypt.And he received the mark of the cutting-around, a seal of the alignment of the trust he had while still uncut, that he would be the father of all who trust though they are uncut, and that alignment would be counted to them also.THE THREAD
Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you lowered us. And you shall gather to yourself, into your house, your father, and your mother, and your brothers, and all your father's household.Joshua 2:18 names this same tiqvah as the scarlet line and identifies it as the agreed sign for Rahab’s household. Verse 21 shows her tying it in place: the word for hope becomes a visible cord at the window.
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