What Does Joshua 2:6 Mean?

But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them in the stalks of flax, which she had laid in rows upon the roof.

Joshua 2:6 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

THE KEY

The Hebrew root behind “hid” also forms “hidden treasure,” so concealment here is a way of keeping life beyond hostile sight.

THE MEANING

A life can be protected by remaining beyond hostile sight, under a covering made from what is already at hand. Here, ordinary flax becomes shelter because it is carefully arranged.

THE ROOT

וַתִּטְמְנֵם

vattitmenem

GROWS FROM

טמן

ṭ-m-n

To hide, conceal, or bury.

The root of “hid” also forms a Hebrew word for hidden treasure, joining concealment with the keeping of something valuable. The men are out of sight, yet this hiddenness preserves their lives.

ALSO GROWS

matmon: Hidden treasure.

מַטְמוֹן

Proverbs 2:4 uses this word for treasure sought while hidden, showing concealment as a way of keeping something precious.

tamun: Hidden, concealed.

טָמוּן

This form makes the root’s core sense visible: what is covered from sight remains present, though unseen.

THE PATTERN

Concealment can preserve life from a threat that would otherwise reach it.

And the woman conceived and bore him a son, and she saw that he was good, and she hid him three months.

Exodus 2:2 · SDVA mother keeps her infant’s life beyond the reach of danger by hiding him.

And he was hidden with her in the house of the LORD six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land.

2 Kings 11:3 · SDVA child’s hiddenness preserves his life through years of danger.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Anointed One in God.

Colossians 3:3 · SDVThe verse presents hidden life as held within a place beyond ordinary sight.

THE THREAD

If you seek her as silver, and dig for her as for hidden treasure.

Proverbs 2:4 · SDV

“Hid” in Joshua and “hid treasures” in Proverbs come from the same Hebrew root, ⁨טמן⁩ (ṭ-m-n), meaning to hide or conceal. Joshua shows hiddenness keeping life safe; Proverbs shows it keeping treasure sought after.

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