Rahab, letting the spies go that they might proceed, “hung the scarlet cord in the window,” v. 21. It was said indeed, above [in] quaest. 23, [that] this hanging-out of the cord could be taken as if it were that very [cord] which she used for letting them down — not [the one] which, after they were already let down, she employed as a sign, by their prescription, [at] v. 18. Yet rightly is this latter hanging-out understood [here]. 1. Because the former had already been narrated [at] v. 15. 2. Because there it was said [that it] is more like the truth [that] all these [things] were said and done after they, now let down, stood outside, beyond the city, at the ramparts. 3. Because so it seems also to Radak, Lyranus, Abulensis, Cajetan, [and] Masius. But then this [point] of doubt arises: whether, when they were let down and departing, she at once hung out that cord, or [only] afterward, and when? There are two opinions. 1. [That] of Radak: [that it] was hung out only when Jericho began to be be-[sieged]—
(col. 379)
—[the siege]. And to this Cajetan subscribes, when he says: “Although the ancient Interpreter [Vulgate] signified at the same time the letting-down of the spies and the hanging-out of the cord, the Hebrew letter [text] nonetheless does not signify simultaneity — since it describes these actions by several clauses, saying, ‘and she let them down and they departed; she tied the scarlet thread in the window.’ For from these words it is not had when she hung out that cord, but only that she tied it there — which could and ought to have been done after many days; but this is written in this place to terminate the narration of the deeds [done] by the woman.” 2. [The opinion] of Masius, Lyranus, [and] Abulensis: [that it] was hung out at once. But among these again there is contention about the manner and cause of so hasty a hanging-out. For Lyranus thinks the cord [was] then hung out so that it would hang thenceforward continually, until Jericho should be captured; but Abulensis [thinks it] hung [only] for a while, while the spies were present and could see [it], [and] afterward [that it] was removed, until the Israelite forces should be present and besiege the city. Again, Lyranus will [have] that done for the sake of diligence and memory — so that, being solicitous about so great a sign (in which there was so much moment), she should set it up at once, lest by some forgetfulness or occupation it happen afterward not to set [it] up. But Abulensis [holds that] Rahab hung out the cord at once, so that the spies could see the manner in which, when the city was to be stormed, she would hang [it], and might recognize that sign perfectly. I would not reject any of these opinions as improbable; yet [the view] which makes more for my judgment is [the one] which will [have] that cord hung out by Rahab at once. 1. Because our Interpreter rather intimates this. 2. Because Lyranus’s ground is good. 3. Because with it can also—
(col. 380)
—be well joined [the reason] which Abulensis brings. 4. Because, if anything stood in the way [preventing] Rahab’s having at once to hang out the cord, this one thing, I think, would have been [it]: lest that sign be seen by the Jerichoites, and thus she come into suspicion and peril. But this would have been [a risk] too, if she had begun to hang [it] out when the city was besieged — and so much the more, by how much all [things] are then more suspect. But now, before the Israelites cross the Jordan, [there is] still greater security and less suspicion — especially since the Jerichoites would not notice whether that cord had hung [there] first on that [particular] day, or already before. And if, on some other [occasion], for some other cause, she had been wont to use a cord of that kind — as, above [in] quaest. 20, some said — the matter would be much more expedited [free of difficulty]. This, however, is not at all necessary. For the rest, [that] she arranged [it] for her house is easy to understand, and yet kept [it] secret until the Israelite army came; and with great and diligent zeal and caution she saw to it that, when she foresaw the city now on the point of being captured, her father, mother, and the other kinsfolk (as Josephus bk. 5 says) should come within her house, so that, the city falling, they themselves might stand safe and unharmed. Nor can it be doubted but that [the things] which she now so nobly believed and spoke about GOD (as [is] seen [in] v. 9, 10, and following) she accurately urged her own [people] to embrace [as] her faith and worship, and often seriously and ardently prayed the same [God] to prosper the spies’ journey, and her own plan — that he should illumine the minds of her own [people] with heavenly rays, and snatch them away with her from the imminent destruction of the city.