Joshua 6 records how God directed the Israelites to conquer Jericho in part through His miraculously working through them to bring down the wall of the city. After the wall had fallen down (Josh. 6:20), the Israelites annihilated everyone in the city except for Rahab and her father’s household (Josh. 6:21-25).
Near the end of that account of their conquest, in a statement that could be easily overlooked, the Holy Spirit provides a striking implicit authentication of the miraculous nature of the Israelites’ conquest of Jericho:
Jos 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Joshua relates here that Rahab was dwelling in Israel “even unto this day.” Because “this day” in this verse refers to the time that Joshua wrote the book, Rahab was still alive when Joshua wrote the book and was therefore a living non-Israelite witness to what had happened when the Israelites conquered Jericho.
Anyone who would have had doubts at that time about the miraculous conquest of Jericho could have come to Rahab herself and received firsthand verification of what took place at that time. By inspiring Joshua to pen these words, the Holy Spirit thus gave to many of those who were the first readers of the book a glorious implicit authentication of God’s miraculously working through the Israelites to bring about that conquest!
Furthermore, these words also serve the same purpose for all subsequent believing readers of the book because it informs us implicitly that those who first received the book would have rejected the book had they determined through direct contact with Rahab that its record of that conquest was inauthentic. In this way, Joshua 6:25 implicitly authenticates for every reader the miraculous nature of the Israelites’ conquest of Jericho!
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