The first act of Joshua, therefore, was to send two spies to reconnoitre this important place. Setting out from Shittim, or the _meadows of Acacia_, and crossing the Jordan, they effected their entrance into the house of a woman named Rahab on the city wall. Their arrival was not unobserved, and was reported to the king of Jericho. He sent to Rahab’s house, and demanded their surrender, but she had already concealed her visitors among the flax-stalks spread out to dry on the flat roof of her house, and when the king’s messengers arrived, she informed them that the two men had departed, and advised a speedy pursuit. Misled by this information, the officers of the king went after them in all haste, while she came up to the spies upon the roof, and related what had occurred. The townsfolk, she said, had heard of the marvellous passage of the Red Sea, and of the defeat of the great Amorite chiefs on the east of Jordan, and despaired of offering any effectual resistance to a nation thus visibly protected by a God powerful _in heaven above, and in earth beneath_ (Josh. ii. 11). These fears she herself shared, and now offered to assist them (Heb. xi. 31, Jas. ii. 25) in escaping, by letting them down by a cord from her window, that they might fly to the “jagged range of the white limestone mountains[145]” behind the city, and conceal themselves for three days till their pursuers were returned. As a requital for this kindness she implored them at the capture of the city, which she regarded as certain, to spare her life, and the lives of her father and mother, and all her relatives. To this the spies assented, and having agreed that the scarlet cord should be bound in the window whence they effected their escape, to mark out the house to their comrades, and be a pledge of its security, suffered themselves to be lowered down, and in the course of three days, after hiding in the mountains, once more crossed the Jordan, and announced to Joshua the despondency of the people of Jericho. Early therefore the next morning the Hebrew leader broke up the encampment on the upper terraces of Shittim, and descended to the lower banks of the Jordan, where three days were spent in ceremonial purifications, and in preparing for the passage of the river. The Ark was to lead the way borne by the priests, and the people were to follow at a distance of 2000 cubits, or nearly a mile, and were assured that the feet of the priests should no sooner rest in the river, than the waters from the south would be cut off from the waters that came down from above, and would stand on a heap, thus at once affording a passage, and a pledge of future and complete victory over all the nations of Canaan (Josh. iii. 1–13).