Joshua 2:6

“But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, etc.] Before the messengers came; though Abarbinel thinks it was after they were gone, when she took them from the place of their concealment, and had them to the roof of the house, where she thought they would be safe and secure, should the messengers return, or others come in search of them, who would not, as she imagined, look for them there: and hid them with the stalks of flax; that is, under them, or “in flax of wood”, or “a tree” f26; which may with as much propriety, or more, be called a tree than hyssop, (<110433>1 Kings 4:33); as it is in the Misnah f27. Moreover, there was a sort of flax which grew in the upper part of Egypt…”

“she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax--Flax, with other vegetable productions, is at a certain season spread out on the flat roofs of Eastern houses to be dried in the sun; and, after lying awhile, it is piled up in numerous little stacks, which, from the luxuriant growth of the flax, rise to a height of three or four feet. Behind some of these stacks Rahab concealed the spies.”

“Stalks of flax - literally, “the carded fibres of the tree.” The flax in Palestine grew to more than three feet in height, with a stalk as thick as a cane. It was probably with the flax stalks, recently cut (compare Exodus 9:31, note) and laid out on the house roof to dry, that Rahab hid the spies. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Roof - Which was flat after their manner. Upon the roof - That they might be dried by the heat of the sun. Joshua 2:7”

“2:6 The inner fibers of flax were processed to make linen. The first step involved laying out the flax stems to dry on the flat rooftop.”

“to the roof: Jos 2:8; Exo 1:15-21; Deu 22:8; Sa2 11:2; Mat 24:17 hid them: Exo 2:2; Sa2 17:19; Kg1 18:4, Kg1 18:13; Kg2 11:2; Jer 36:26; Col 3:3; Heb 11:23 Joshua 2:7”