THE STORY, Week #7, "The Bloodline of Jesus"

"The Bloodline of Jesus"

It has been forty years since the people Israel witnessed the plagues imposed upon the people of Egypt by the Lord God; forty years since they passed through the Red Sea; forty years since they became completely reliant upon God for their daily sustenance of manna and quail, forty years since they received the Law of God on the Mountain of God; forty years since they built the tabernacle and constructed the Ark of the Covenant; forty years since Moses spent twelve spies into the Promised Land; and forty years since the people refused to enter it.

Forty years is a long time...That's the equivalent of: ten presidential elections, twenty congressional

elections (Lord help us all!), ten Olympic Games, and the vast duration of my life (I am forty-two years old).

For the past forty years the people of Israel have essentially been waiting as their older generations died off due to God's promise that no one over the age of twenty would enter into the Promised Land due to their disobedience when the spies had reported back to Moses (Joshua and Caleb were exempted).  Everyone had died among the people, even Moses' own sister Miriam and his brother Aaron.  In the closing words of Deuteronomy we read that Moses, too, has died.  But, before his death, he passed his divine mantle of leadership onto Joshua, the son of Nun.  We read in the opening lines of Joshua, "After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, 'Moses my servant is dead.  Now, therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the Land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.  Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I will give you, just as I promised Moses.'" (ESV)

God then gives Joshua a prescription for how to take and enter into the Promised Land.  A prescription is a certified document, signed by a doctor, that allows us to purchase protected medicines that will hopefully restore us to health.  God's commands to Joshua act as a prescription when he tells Joshua, "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.  Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.  This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:7-10 ESV)

Jericho today

Joshua turns his attention to the work at hand and sends two spies across the Jordan River to check out the Promised Land in general, and the city of Jericho, in particular. Jericho was a very important city for a number of reasons:

1. It is believed to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world.  Archeologist have been able to date pottery and carbon date other materials to nearly 9,000 B.C.  It is also believed to be the lowest city in the world, sitting at nearly 800' below sea level.
2. There is a fresh water oasis at Jericho along with a large grove of palm and fig trees.  Fresh water and foot sources were very desirable in the ancient world (and today!).
3. A major highway passed by Jericho giving the city access to trade and wealth.
4. The city had walls that were nearly 13' tall and 6' wide sitting on a tell close to 40' high.  This would have been a formidable defense of the fresh water and food source.  That is, the people of Jericho had learned how to defend what was theirs.
5. Jericho, with her strong defenses, dominated the entryway from the east into Canaan.  The people of Israel were going to have to defeat the people of Jericho in order to claim their inheritance in the Promised Land.

The spies sent by Joshua enter  Jericho, not realizing that spies from Jericho were onto them from the beginning.  The men seek shelter in the home of Rahab the prostitute.  Surprisingly, Rahab chooses to help these men rather than turn them in.  She lies to her own people and confesses to the Israelite spies that, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.  For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.  And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath..." (2:9b-11). After this amazing revelation, Rahab goes on to ask for safety and deliverance for her and her family if she helps the men, and so, the entire nation of Israel.

Canaan (the Promised Land) was a dark, dark, spiritual place in the ancient world.  Jericho was actually known as the "moon city" because of its worship of the moon god.  We also know from both archeology and extra biblical literature that Canaan was full of pagan worship, dark magic, and human sacrifice--especially the sacrifice of children.  This was all an abomination before the Lord God.

The people's hearts in Canaan were hardened against the Lord God due to their deep seated, evil worship of false gods.  It is interesting that Rahab, a prostitute, the lowest in her social order, recognized who God was and sought out life through him.  While God was not going to allow these false religions to stand in the way of his people coming into the Promised Land, God does exercise great grace to those who turn from their evil ways and worship him.

For many years I have been deeply troubled by the book of Joshua in the Bible because of its storyline of the destruction of entire peoples: men, women, children, and their livestock.  I now see God's grace actively at work in this book.  One way to understand grace is to think of it as not getting what we do deserve.  It is the very opposite of justice.  In chapter 9 the Gibeonites, though using deception, submit to God's mercy and are spared.  In fact, every person and people group that submits to God is spared and shown mercy--yet those who harden their hearts to the will of God are dealt with severely.

Rahab is mentioned three times in the New Testament.  In Hebrews 11 she makes an appearance in the "Roll call of the saints," being commended for her great faith.  In James 2 she is lifted up as a person to emulate regarding her good works.  Rahab also makes an appearance in Matthew chapter 1, which is an amazing text;  she actually shows up in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus.  In fact, there are four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah the Hittite (Bath Sheba--she is not named directly) who make an appearance in Jesus' bloodline.  Each of these women were from outside of the covenant family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; yet God essentially adopted them into the family tree of Israel, and so the bloodline of Jesus.

This is good news!  This lesson of God's mercy and grace in the Old Testament is only amplified in the new as we learn that all who believe and trust in Jesus as both Lord and Savior have also been adopted into the family of God, the people Israel.  One of the hard truths of Scripture is that God does not grade on a curve. That is, my sin is not better than my neighbors sin.  In God's eyes sin is sin is sin is sin.  We are all guilty and all under the same judgment of death.  The story of Rahab (along with Tamar, Ruth,  and the wife of Uriah the Hittite) teaches us that regardless of our sin, or nation or origin, or color, or creed...that God desires to welcome us into his family, to adopt us as his own--claiming us in the blood and the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  For that we should be very thankful.

Soli Deo Gloria!  To God alone be all the glory!