Surprise, Surprise (1)
Then the two men returned and came down from the hill country, and they crossed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun. Then they reported to him all that had happened to them. And they said to Joshua, “The Lord has indeed handed over to us all the land; furthermore, all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of us.” Joshua 2:23-24 NASB
Indeed – These two verses contain a hindsight insight. Unfortunately, the translation hides this. We can uncover the implication in the Hebrew text by paying close attention to the alternative words used in the original.
First, verse 23. The part of this verse translated “all that had happened to them” is this Hebrew phrase:
כָּל-הַמֹּצְאוֹת אוֹתָם
I’ve highlighted the critical word because it’s not exactly what “happened.” Here’s the literal rendering:
הַמֹּצְאוֹת is “the happenings of theirs.” The root is מָצָא (māṣāʾ), which means “to find.”[1] There is another Hebrew word for “happening.” That word is קָרָה (qārâ), but it implies “unexpected happenings.” In this verse, the verb implies that these “happenings” were expected. While qārâ is about surprises, here the word means it was not a surprise. How can this be? Surely the spies didn’t go to Jericho expecting Rahab to hide them. But the verb implies that all that has happened was expected to happen. How this can be the case is answered in the next verse, unfortunately completely hidden in the translation.
The translation reads, “The Lord has indeed handed over.” But the Hebrew is:
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֶל-יְהוֹשֻׁעַ כִּי-נָתַן יְהוָה בְּיָדֵנוּ
Notice the highlighted phrase. It is literally “because gives YHVH.” By translating כִּי as “indeed” rather than “because,” the NASB removes the hindsight insight of the spies. The reason the spies can use māṣā (to find expectantly) rather than qārâ (unexpectedly) is because God has given everything into their hands. They realize this after the fact, but it doesn’t change the actual events. The encounter with Rahab, her reaction and assistance, their promise—all of it was God’s doing. They just didn’t know it at the time. When they report the events to Joshua, they report them as the fulfillment of divine intervention, not as unexpected happenstance.
There’s a lesson here. I’m sure you already see it. Ecclesiastes spells it out: “Indeed, he does not know what is to happen; even when it is on the point of happening, who can tell him?” (8:7 JPS). God works undercover. Typically, we only see His hand after the fact. It seems that the hindsight insight of the spies is the same for us. māṣā instead of qārâ.
Topical Index: māṣā, to find, ki, because, hindsight, Joshua 2:23-24, Ecclesiastes 8:7
[1] Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 1231 מָצָא. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 521). Chicago: Moody Press.
