John Calvin Commentary Joshua 6:23

"And the young men the spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; all her kindred also they brought out; and they set them without the camp of Israel." — Joshua 6:23 (ASV)

And the young men that were spies went in, etc., God, undoubtedly, wished those to be safe whose minds he inclined in this way to embrace deliverance. If it had been otherwise, they would have rejected it no less proudly and with no less scorn than the two sons-in-law of Lot.

But an even better provision was made for them when, by being placed outside the camp, they received a strict command to abandon their former course of life.

For if they had been immediately admitted and allowed to mix indiscriminately with the people, the thought of their impurity might perhaps never have occurred to them, and they might in this way have continued to indulge in it. Now, when they are placed apart so that they may not, by their infection, taint the flock, they are impressed with a feeling of shame that may urge them to serious conversion.

It cannot be meant that they were set apart in this way for safety, lest anyone in the crowd might have risen violently against them, for they would have been received by all with the greatest favor and gladness, while they might have been attacked more easily in a solitary place, and even with impunity.

Their impurity, therefore, was brought visibly before them, so that they might not, while polluted, come rashly forward into the holy meeting, but rather might become accustomed by this rudimentary training to change their way of life.

For it is added shortly afterward that they lived in the midst of the people; in other words, having been purged from their defilements, they began to be regarded in the very same way as if they had originally belonged to the race of Abraham.

In short, the meaning is that after they had confessed their previous impurity, they were admitted indiscriminately along with others. By this admission, Rahab gained one of the noblest fruits of her faith.