[ One-Verse Meditation]

Judges 1:25) “And when the man showed them the entrance to the city, they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.”

[Meditation]

As we shared in yesterday’s meditation, Judges 1 shows the faithlessness of Israel after the death of the leader Joshua. Anxiety about war and a longing for Canaanite culture; their hearts are left with a record of repeated failures: “they could not drive them out,” and “they did not drive them out at all.”

The clan of Joseph, before the battle for Bethel, makes a deal with a man coming out of the city. They tell him they will spare him if he shows them the entrance to the city. This scene brings to mind the story of Rahab the prostitute from Jericho. On the surface, it looks like the same kind of salvation story: both betray their own people and cooperate with Israel to save their lives.

However, the destinies the Bible shows for the two are polar opposites. Rahab, with her confession of faith, “for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11), comes into the community of Israel and becomes one of God’s people. And in the end, she obtains the glory of being included in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, what about this man from Luz? The Bible records his final whereabouts this way: “And the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name Luz…” (v. 26). After being saved, he turns his back on the house of God (‘Bethel’) and leaves for another land, rebuilding ‘Luz,’ his old identity. His salvation was not a ‘new beginning’ of entering the community of eternal life, but merely a ‘temporary survival’ to continue his old life elsewhere.

This is the tragedy of the era of the Judges. The result of the faithlessness of ‘could not drive out’ and ‘did not drive out’ is a life that ends up building another ‘Luz.’ It is the same for us. We still walk in steps of ‘not driving out’ and ‘failing to drive out.’ We stumble daily. But we are not to be disappointed, because the Lord’s grace is bestowed upon those very steps—the grace that transforms ‘Luz’ into ‘Bethel.’

[Prayer]

“Lord, today I want to live not as the nameless man from Luz, but as Rahab of Jericho. Let me know You as she did, and help me reach out for what is precious and valuable, for true life. Amen.”
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[Daily Reading]

Judges 1:22-36