Albert Barnes Commentary Joshua 2:1

"And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying, Go, view the land, and Jericho. And they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lay there." — Joshua 2:1 (ASV)

A harlot’s house - In the face of the parallel passages (for example, Leviticus 21:7; Jeremiah 5:7) the rendering advocated for obvious reasons, namely, “the house of a woman, an innkeeper,” cannot be maintained. Rahab must remain an example under the Law similar to that under the Gospel (Luke 7:37), of a woman that was a sinner, yet, because of her faith, not only pardoned, but exalted to the highest honor.

Rahab was admitted among the people of God; she intermarried into a chief family of a chief tribe, and found a place among the best remembered ancestors of King David and of Christ, thus receiving the temporal blessings of the covenant in largest measure. The spies would of course go to such a house in Jericho as they could visit without exciting suspicion; and the location of Rahab’s, on the wall (Joshua 2:15), made it especially suitable. It appears from Joshua 2:4 that Rahab hid them before the King’s messengers reached her house, and probably as soon as the spies came to her house.

It is therefore most likely that they met with Rahab outside of Jericho , and ascertained where she lived in the city, and that they could entrust themselves to her care. Rahab (that is, “spacious,” “wide”; compare the name “Japheth” and Genesis 9:27, note) is regarded by the fathers as a type of the Christian Church, which was gathered from converts from the whole vast circle of pagan nations.