After Pentecost Devotional - Day 63

“Rahab and her family had to stay in a place just outside the Israelite army camp. But later they were allowed to live among the Israelites, and her descendants still do.” Joshua 6:25

Israel always had difficulties relating to immigrants in their midst. This passage points to a time-limited issue in regard to becoming full participants within Israel. It also points to the fact that Israel did include Rahab, her family, and their descendants. This was a process, but it was a process designed for inclusion and welcome.

At first blush, they were kept just outside the Hebrew camp. They were not allowed full participation prior to a period of ritual purification. This purification process was likewise required of the Hebrews themselves who became ritually impure through contact with various elements that were a draw towards fertility cult worship. Certain foods, bodily fluids, and processes dealing with birth and death were so often deemed to hold power in relation to controlling the gods that these were declared taboo in relation to participation in the worship life of Israel.

What we do not grasp from a surface reading of the text is that it is this issue of going through a period of purification in order to participate fully in the life of Israel that is in play here. Rahab and her family were being brought into the life of Israel, including this question of purification that was required of the rest of the members of the camp. In placing them just outside the camp, they were already being included into the community of Israel, subject to the very same regulations under which the rest of the community worked, lived, and worshipped.

Rahab's full participation in the life of the community was based on her declaration of faith in Yahweh. It was followed by her actions that flowed from that same declaration. She was giving up her former life and ties to a community removed from the worship of Yahweh, even as she herself was apparently more than a casual participant in that life of fertility cult worship. By casting her lot with the people of Yahweh, they accepted her into their society as equal to their own dependence upon Yahweh's provision. This is what they were supposed to do as the people of Yahweh. This was in keeping with the instructions given in regard to living with immigrants in their midst. It was part of their mission to bring all peoples into relationship with Yahweh.

Going forward, we will find that Rahab became part of the lineage of King David and consequently of Jesus. She was brought into the community of Israel, becoming an integral part, not of its margins, but brought within its core. In regard to the Levitical laws, her children would participate in the redistribution of land every fifty years. As Yahweh had redeemed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, bringing them into a new land in which Yahweh would continue to provide for one and all, so Rahab and her family were being redeemed by their participation in the community of Israel.

This has been the pattern for some immigrants, while others have been deemed a threat and excluded. Normally, however, it is the first generation that is excluded and only the second and third generations who participate fully in the life of a nation.

How do your attitudes and actions include or exclude others around you?


"Lord, make me more aware of how I should include strangers in my own community."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gospel Is Not Conservative

Image
Fundamentalism and conservativism are intrinsically averse to change. They are tied with conserving a status quo or moving back to a former era. They seek a safe place, a respite from change and transformation in the world around them. They are threatened by new ideas. They fear that the foundations on which they base their lives will be uprooted, causing their view of reality to fall apart. Growth depends on change. Life requires change. Survival depends on responding to changes in our environment. It requires new ideas. It requires new answers to old questions, as well as new questions with even newer answers. Jesus was by no means conservative. Jesus challenged the status quo. He fought against the groundwork of much of the religious thought around him, as well as the structures erected to empower its values. He called out those who benefited from social, religious, and political power. He demonstrated God's love, forgiveness and grace to those deemed una...
Read more

God in the Hands of Angry Sinners

Image
Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” set a very poor direction for much of Christianity in the Colonies. His Puritan tradition presented God as an essentially angry deity whose desire was to condemn and torture. Grace or mercy existed simply in regard to how long God waited until calling down judgment upon sinners. That is not good news. It never was. Such is not the message of Jesus whom the gospel writers claim as good news. They echo the words of the celestial messengers declaring Jesus’ birth as good news of great joy to all peoples. Rather than look to Jesus as the clearest example of God’s identity, character, and will, that tradition surrounding Edwards began with an altogether different understanding that could not account for what Jesus actually taught. The Puritan perspective began with angry sinners and projected that upon God. Anger begins with fear, uncertainty, discomfort, and the inability to control one’s environment, ot...
Read more

Our Language of Choice

Image
I woke up this morning and decided to be a woman. I really like the idea of earning less money on the job. I like the idea of being passed over for promotions. I like that I will be held more accountable for the care of my home and familial responsibilities than any of the men around me. I’m looking forward to having my expertise ignored. I like that I’ll more likely be treated as a lower-level assistant to male colleagues than an actual colleague. It should be a good experience to live as more of a target for domestic violence and abuse. It will be so freeing to let go of my bodily autonomy and place it in the hands of men who will not understand me. With so many voices in our society shifting back toward the attitudes of 70 years ago, I am really looking forward to setting aside all trappings of male privilege and power to live as a second class citizen whose voice and opinions are essentially irrelevant. Just look at all the advantages women have! They get t...
Read more