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The Front Lines



            "Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.”
                 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.” 
                So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. Now she had said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.” 
            The men said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”
            “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window. (Joshua 2:12-21)

            We usually think that Rahab was the only resident of Jericho who survived. She wasn't. Her parents, her brothers (plural) and sisters (plural) and "all who belong to them," which could mean Rahab's in-laws, or nieces and nephews, or maybe even slaves. The obvious and uncomfortable question this raises is who we would arrange to save if we were in a situation like Rahab. It's not just a question of whether or not you love the people. You also have to either be able to trust them or restrain them. It wouldn't do a lot of good to invite people to be rescued who would then report you to the king. How many of your family members would be ready, willing and able to be an accessory to treason? How many of them would be afraid enough to take this dangerous step toward a possible future among the people who destroyed your home town and killed most of the people you know?
            Of course, this is not quite the situation we face today. There's less "life or death" for Christians involved, but it's still what Christians face as they deal with family members who aren't Christian. It is life or death for the non-Christians. The Scarlet Cord is what they need. I don't know...maybe inviting them into our lives more than we have is part of the answer. 
            The Jerichoites trusted in their walls. Perhaps part of what led Rahab to take the steps she did is the fact that her house was part of that wall system. She'd heard what God did to Egypt. Perhaps she looked at her home and realized that she was on the front lines in a battle between Jericho and "that God." Maybe that's another way to be more convincing to our family members... by being on the front lines.

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