11 As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The Lord your God, he is God, etc. Here the image of Rahab's faith appears, as if reflected in a mirror, when casting down all idols she ascribes the government of heaven and earth to the God of Israel alone. For it is perfectly clear that when heaven and earth are declared subject to the God of Israel, there is a repudiation of all the pagan fictions by which the majesty, and power, and glory of God are portioned out among different deities; and hence we see that it is not without cause that two Apostles have honored Rahab's conduct with the title of faith This is sneered at by some proud and disdainful men, but I wish they would consider what it is to distinguish the one true God from all fictitious deities, and at the same time so to extol his power as to declare that the whole world is governed at his pleasure. Rahab does not speak hesitatingly, but declares, in absolute terms, that whatever power exists resides in the God of Israel alone, that he commands all the elements, that he orders all things above and below, and determines human affairs. Still I deny not that her faith was not fully developed, nay, I readily admit, that it was only a germ of piety which, as yet, would have been insufficient for her eternal salvation. We must hold, nevertheless, that however feeble and slender the knowledge of God which the woman possessed may have been, still in surrendering herself to his power, she gives a proof of her election, and that from that seed a faith was germinating which afterwards attained its full growth.
The Lord your God, he is God - From the rumour of God's miraculous interpositions Rahab believed, and makes the self-same confession to which Moses endeavors to bring Israel by rehearsing similar arguments Deuteronomy 4:39. Rahab had only heard of what Israel had experienced. Her faith then was ready. It is noteworthy, too, that the same reports which work faith and conversion in the harlot, cause only terror and astonishment among her countrymen. (Compare Luke 8:37-39.)
He is God in heaven above, and to earth beneath - This confession of the true God is amazingly full, and argues considerable light and information. As if she had said, "I know your God to be omnipotent and omnipresent:" and in consequence of this faith she hid the spies, and risked her own life in doing it. But how had she this clear knowledge of the Divine nature?
1. Possibly the knowledge of the true God was general in the earth at this time, though connected with much superstition and idolatry; the people believing that there was a god for every district, and for every people; for the mountains and for the valleys; see 1-Kings 20:23.
2. Or she received this instruction from the spies, with whom she appears to have had a good deal of conversation; or,
3. She had it from a supernatural influence of God upon her own soul. She probably made a better use of the light she had received than the rest of her countrymen, and God increased that light.
And as soon as we had heard [these things], our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for (e) the LORD your God, he [is] God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
(e) In this the great mercy of God appears, that in this common destruction he would draw a most miserable sinner to repent, and confess his Name.
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt,.... Particularly what were done to the two kings of the Amorites, who, and their people, were utterly destroyed, their goods made a prey of, and their countries seized upon and possessed:
neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you; they looked dejected in their countenances, had no heart to go about any business, trembled at the shaking of a leaf, or at the least rumour and report made that the Israelites were coming on and were at hand; they had no spirit to prepare to go out and meet them, or to defend themselves:
for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath; the Maker and Possessor of both; is the Governor of the whole universe, and does what he pleases in it; and disposes of all countries, persons, and things, as he thinks fit: this is a proof of her knowledge of the true God, and faith in him, and shows her to be a believer, and hence she is reckoned in the catalogue of believers, Hebrews 11:31; and her faith is proved to be of the right kind by the works she did, James 2:25.
"When we heard this" - Rahab proceeded to tell them, transferring the feelings of her own heart to her countrymen - "our heart did melt" (it was thus that the Hebrew depicted utter despair; "the hearts of the people melted, and became as water," Joshua 7:5), "and there did not remain any more spirit in any one:" i.e., they lost all strength of mind for acting, in consequence of their fear and dread (vid., Joshua 5:1, though in 1-Kings 10:5 this phrase is used to signify being out of one's-self from mere astonishment). "For Jehovah your God is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath." To this confession of faith, to which the Israelites were to be brought through the miraculous help of the Lord (Deuteronomy 4:39), Rahab also attained; although her confession of faith remained so far behind the faith which Moses at that time demanded of Israel, that she only discerned in Jehovah a Deity (Elohim) in heaven and upon earth, and therefore had not yet got rid of her polytheism altogether, however close she had come to a true and full confession of the Lord. But these miracles of divine omnipotence which led the heart of this sinner with its susceptibility for religious truth to true faith, and thus became to her a savour of life unto life, produced nothing but hardness in the unbelieving hearts of the rest of the Canaanites, so that they could not escape the judgment of death.
Melted - That is, were dissolved, lost all courage.
*More commentary available at chapter level.