Joshua 2 · a question people ask
Is the scarlet line a picture of Jesus' blood?
The chapter gives the line one use. The men tell Rahab, "when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down" (2:18), and to gather her family into the house (2:18). "She tied the scarlet line in the window" (2:21). Rahab had asked them for "a true sign" (2:12); the text doesn't say whether the line is that sign. No New Testament verse mentions the line; Hebrews and James speak of her receiving and sending the spies (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). Christians read the line in two main ways. Both agree it was tied as the men said, and that her household was brought out and saved alive when Jericho fell (6:23, 6:25).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The mark the men asked for
Those who hold this view read the line as what the men made it: a mark on the house they had sworn to spare. What kept the family safe was the oath and staying inside: "Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him" (2:19). When Jericho falls, Joshua sends the men to "the prostitute’s house", "as you swore to her" (6:22).
Joshua 2:18-19 · Joshua 6:22
A picture like the Passover
Those who hold this view set the line beside the Passover. There the blood was "a token on the houses where you are" (Exodus 12:13), and "None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning" (Exodus 12:22). Here, "whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head" (2:19). Some who hold this view go further: reading it beside Paul's words, "Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place" (1 Corinthians 5:7), they see in the scarlet line a picture of Jesus' blood. They hold it as a reading of the pattern, not as something the New Testament says about Rahab.
Exodus 12:13 · Exodus 12:22 · Joshua 2:19 · 1 Corinthians 5:7
The verses
“Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign;”
“Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.”
“She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window.”
“By faith Rahab the prostitute didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.”