Joshua 2:17

The men said. Or, “had said,” that is, before she let them down. It is most improbable that she would have dismissed them before the conditions discussed in verses 16-20 were agreed upon, or that she would converse with them about such matters after they were let down. Nor would she begin her discourse in her house, and not complete it until she had let them down the wall. The statement in verse 18, “which thou didst let us down by,” does not necessarily prove that these words were spoken after they had descended. Speaking of the future, they naturally think of the present as being in the past, and of the action now contemplated as already completed (see Volume I, page 27).